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Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections No. 450 for Sept. 3.

Here are some hints and the answer for Wordle No. 1172 for Sept. 3.

Here are some hints, and the answers, for the Sept. 3 Strands puzzle, No. 184.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now nearly 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #953) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #953) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #953) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #953) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #953) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• A

• A

• O

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #953) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #953, are…

• ATOLL
• ANGER
• OCEAN
• SWEEP

There were no massive complications awaiting you among today's Quordle answers. ATOLL is probably the hardest of the four, on account of its repeated LL and that it's not the most obvious of words, but the letters are all common, so chances are you'll have had most of them on the board by the time you needed to solve it. SWEEP also has a repeat, an E in this case, but again is a common word. Overall, this is about as straightforward as Quordle gets.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #953) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #953, are…

• BOAST
• BASAL
• HAUTE
• SHARD

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #952, Monday 2 September: HABIT, LODGE, PLAIN, DRIFT
• Quordle #951, Sunday 1 September: RABBI, CRAWL, GUPPY, BRAND
• Quordle #950, Saturday 31 August: AWOKE, TIBIA, ITCHY, SNACK
• Quordle #949, Friday 30 August: ARISE, OLDER, ISSUE, ERUPT
• Quordle #948, Thursday 29 August: DECAY, DRUID, AVOID, KNEED
• Quordle #947, Wednesday 28 August: VIOLA, GONER, CAVIL, SHARE
• Quordle #946, Tuesday 27 August: ABYSS, DAILY, AGONY, MUSKY
• Quordle #945, Monday 26 August: NEVER, CHUNK, AUNTY, CROUP
• Quordle #944, Sunday 25 August: APTLY, LEVER, STORK, WIDOW
• Quordle #943, Saturday 24 August: EVENT, APNEA, SWATH, IRONY
• Quordle #942, Friday 23 August: LAUGH, SATYR, CACHE, CLONE
• Quordle #941, Thursday 22 August: BEARD, PAYER, BROWN, TRUCK
• Quordle #940, Wednesday 21 August: ALOFT, SNUCK, LAPSE, COMIC
• Quordle #939, Tuesday 20 August: CHIEF, SNORT, OUNCE, MILKY
• Quordle #938, Monday 19 August: GIVEN, STIFF, STOOL, ANTIC
• Quordle #937, Sunday 18 August: DEPTH, JUICY, GAWKY, INLAY
• Quordle #936, Saturday 17 August: HUMUS, FRONT, FUNNY, DRYLY
• Quordle #935, Friday 16 August: BRICK, CABLE, INBOX, FLOSS
• Quordle #934, Thursday 15 August: STINT, TRAIL, DECAL, BRAIN
• Quordle #933, Wednesday 14 August: TENOR, CLEFT, USHER, CREEP

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #450) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• TOO
• REAL
• FORE
• SPARE
• WON
• ARROW
• EXTRA
• POUND
• KNUCKLE
• EXCUSE
• OVER
• BLOCK
• SAVE
• BEYOND
• PARDON
• YEN

NYT Connections today (game #450) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• Yellow: Forgive
• Green: More
• Blue: Money, money, money
• Purple: blank [word for a part of the body]

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #450) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: ABSOLVE
• GREEN: EXCESSIVELY
• BLUE: GLOBAL CURRENCIES
• PURPLE: ___HEAD

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #450) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #450, are…

• YELLOW: ABSOLVE EXCUSE, PARDON, SAVE, SPARE
• GREEN: EXCESSIVELY BEYOND, EXTRA, OVER, TOO
• BLUE: GLOBAL CURRENCIES POUND, REAL, WON, YEN
• PURPLE: ___HEAD ARROW, BLOCK, FORE, KNUCKLE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I very nearly went down a wrong alley here, spotting that WON, TOO and FORE were all homophones for numbers, and debating whether any of the others might fit that pattern. And then I thought maybe there was a 'ball' connection – as in KNUCKLE ball, SPARE ball, EXTRA ball… but for once I didn't play the first thing I spotted and instead kept looking until I found a group that simply had to be correct. That was the GLOBAL CURRENCIES blue group, with POUND, REAL, WON and YEN, and I followed that with the toughest purple group, a classic blank [something] connection that this time was 'words that go before head'. With those two complete, the others were easy to pick off.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 2 September, game #449)

• YELLOW: PECULIAR CURIOUS, FUNNY, OFF, WEIRD
• GREEN: ASSIGNMENT JOB, POSITION, POST, STATION
• BLUE: CLASSIC COLLECTION ITEMS COIN, COMIC, RECORD, STAMP
• PURPLE: CHAIN ___ LETTER, MAIL, REACTION, STORE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #184) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Striking sounds

NYT Strands today (game #184) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• LINE
• CRINGE
• SLOT
• LOAN
• TANK
• NILL

NYT Strands today (game #184) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Heard in a church?

NYT Strands today (game #184) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: Top, 3rd column

Last: Bottom, 3rd column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #184) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #184, are…

• TOLL
• RING
• CLANG
• PEAL
• KNELL
• JINGLE
• TINKLE
• CHIME
• SPANGRAM: BELLTONES

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Who knew there were so many different words for BELL TONES, as the spangram would have it? Well, me for one – because I found this to be very, very easy. The theme clue of 'Striking sounds' was a fairly hefty hint towards the concept here, and when I spotted TOLL by accident it confirmed my suspicion as to what was needed. Without even needing to look at the board I predicted that the likes of PEAL, RING and CHIME would be there, and the spangram itself was similarly simple to uncover.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday 2 September, game #183)

• ESQUIRE
• VISCOUNT
• KNIGHT
• QUEEN
• DUCHESS
• EARL
• BARON
• SPANGRAM: TITLES

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

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China recently threatened serious economic retaliation against Japan if it imposed further restrictions on the servicing and sales of chip making equipment to Chinese companies. It’s reported that China could react by cutting Japan’s access to minerals which are essential for automotive production.

Cars are one of Japan's biggest exports, and Toyota is one of the most influential organizations in the country. Toyota has also invested heavily into Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC’s plant in Kumamoto, so would certainly be amongst the most affected by the potential new Japanese export restrictions.

This comes as the US has applied pressure on Japan to align more strictly with its efforts to curb China’s technological power, specifically in semiconductor strategy. The US previously imposed an embargo on China to halt exports of the most sophisticated chips (primarily used in military hardware) from reaching the country, but it's reported that some companies were working around the ban.

Chip War

Chinese domestic industry is not yet able to produce the most high tech chips which power some of the technologies that it leads in (especially AI), but has been able to access the capabilities through cloud computing services to circumvent US export restrictions.

The US has recently funded a program to establish chip manufacturing on US ground, but as it stands, Taiwan accounts for 68% of the semiconductor market. US senior officials are said to be working with Japanese counterparts to protect the supply of crucial materials.

Toyota and chip maker Tokyo Electron are amongst the most at risk if exports are affected, with the latter’s shares falling almost 2% following the news of the strained Japan/China relationship.

It’s not yet clear whether Japan will bow to US demands and introduce export restrictions, or what specific repercussions this would have on Japanese industry. Biden is said to be confident that an agreement will be reached by the end of the year.

Via Bloomberg.

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Micro-LED TVs are something of a white whale for the biggest TV manufacturers. The display technology has plenty of potential, promising emissive pixels and infinite contrast without sacrificing brightness levels and deep blacks. It also doesn’t suffer from the degradation in performance associated with organic display types like the best OLED TVs.

Thanks to how micro-LED TVs are manufactured – with clusters of “micrometer-scale LEDs”, or “almost microscopic lights” transferred onto larger LED modules – you get an incredible amount of brightness control at the pixel level, as well as the ability to rearrange LEDs in different modular combinations.

However, micro-LED has been touted as the ‘next big thing’ in televisions since 2018, when Samsung released its first micro-LED TV, The Wall, with little progress being made to bring down its gargantuan production costs in the years since.

We are seeing new micro-LED TVs being released: in 2024, Samsung unveiled 76-inch, 89-inch, 101-inch and 114-inch models. However, even that smallest 76-inch version retails for $90,000, which is obviously highly prohibitive when it comes to mass adoption. The LG Magnit micro-LED TV, meanwhile, caters explicitly to “luxury clients” according to the company's press release. It retails for $237,000 and is only available at 118-inch and 136-inch sizes.

Price does seem to be the bottleneck to wider micro-LED implementation. In June 2024, ETNews reported that Samsung told manufacturing partners that production costs needed to be slashed by 90% to make micro-LED competitive in today’s TV market. And it does look like both LG and Samsung, the key drivers of micro-LED development, are pulling back on investment in the technology for the time being (via FlatPanelsHD).

So why the fuss about micro-LED? Well, costs aside, it solves a lot of problems plaguing the leading TV display technologies – or, it did when investment into micro-LED development was still flowing. To understand what’s changed, we need to talk about OLED.

Solution to a missing problem

(Image credit: Sam Rutherford, Endgadget)

OLED has emerged as the premium TV technology of the decade. While OLED screens are still pricier than traditional LCD-LED displays, you can now get an excellent OLED TV for under $1,000, and at a variety of different sizes (the LG C4 OLED ranges from 42 to 83 inches). And even mid-priced OLED TVs tend to come with excellent viewing and gaming specifications, from 4K resolution and 120Hz frame rates to Dolby Vision HDR.

OLED offers infinite contrast with truly deep blacks, thanks to its ability to turn pixels off entirely, as well as excellent color reproduction. The main issue plaguing OLED has been its historically dim brightness output – long making it great for evening movie nights but middling for daytime viewing.

However, gains in OLED brightness over the years are remedying this, both with traditional OLED screens (this year’s LG C4 hit over 1,000 nits peak brightness in our review) and OLED–QLED hybrids like the Samsung S95D, which reached nearly 1,900 nits in our testing. Concerns over burn-in have largely been squashed, too.

This makes the promise of micro-LED – the benefits of emissive display technologies, without the downsides of organic displays – a little less certain, especially when a micro-LED TV costs 10-20 times that of a similarly sized OLED.

The future of micro-LED TVs

(Image credit: Future)

While attending CES 2024 earlier this year, a TCL representative told us that micro-LED TVs were likely still 5-10 years away from being commercially viable – and who knows how long after that until these TVs are actually affordable for most people. Depending on how OLED and mini-LED technologies develop in the years ahead, and on the investment decisions of the biggest TV manufacturers, we might never get to that point at all.

As long as a micro-LED TV costs as much as a small house, they’re going to be the reserve of billionaires, supervillains or Hollywood production sets using micro-LED tech to replace the green screen – rather than everyday TV enthusiasts looking for a good home cinema system. So we wouldn't hold out for micro-LED rather than grab one of the best TVs already available today.

Micro-LED’s biggest problem right now is that the competition is so dang good – which feels like a good problem for most TV shoppers to have.

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Netflix's new Jeff Goldblum show, Kaos, features the actor playing god: quite literally, because he's the Greek god Zeus. The show is a very modern spin on one of mythology's oldest characters, and while the reviews have been decidedly mixed Kaos looks like it's another big hit for the streamer. And if myths are your thing, there's plenty more best Netflix shows to keep you entertained. Here are three of our favorites with god-like Rotten Tomatoes scores.

Blood of Zeus

Originally known as Gods & Heroes, this adult animated series is set in Ancient Greece and follows Heron, the demigod son of Zeus, as he tries to save both Olympus and Earth. Heron is an invention of the series, although there were plenty of demigods hinted at in the original myths. Season 1 has the full 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and so does the second season. Espinof says it's "one of the most entertaining animated series available". 

According to ScreenAnarchy, "Resplendent in darkly beautiful animation, Blood of Zeus feels like a graphic novel brought to life" while Paste Magazine would clearly give season 2 of the show more than 100% if they could: "We finally have a follow-up season that largely matches and, in many cases, surpasses its predecessor thanks to compelling bad guys, improved visuals, and similarly clever allusions to age-old narratives."

Ragnarok

Now in its third season, Ragnarok takes place in a small town poisoned by pollution and rattled by melting glaciers where the End Times feel imminent. It's a coming-of-age story with a dark mythological twist and some pitch-dark humor, centring on two young men who just happen to be the latest incarnations of Thor, god of thunder, and Loki, god of mischief. 

According to Book and Film Globe: "Ragnarok is awkward and bizarre at its best" and that's a compliment: the original myths are awkward and bizarre too, and "the young characters in this show actually feel genuinely angry in a way that's appropriate for youth, particularly in terms of the kinds of problems youths these days face".

The Sandman

We're in two minds about recommending this given the allegations against creator Neil Gaiman, but it'd be a shame if the great work and performances on display here were overshadowed by its writer. We rated The Sandman very highly, describing it as "oh-so-nearly brilliant" and paying particular regard to a "supremely talented cast who breathe life into The Sandman's eclectic cast of characters":

Tom Sturridge, Gwendoline Christie, Boyd Holbrook, Vivienne Acheampong, Jenna Coleman and Mason Alexander Park. It's the story of Morpheus, one of seven mythical beings, who becomes trapped on Earth and who discovers that the Dream Dimension he called home has fallen into ruin. 

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Research from KnowBe4 reported that critical infrastructure sustained more than 420 million cyber attacks between January 2023 and January 2024, a rise of 30% from the previous year. Physical frameworks such as power grids, transportation, and communications networks are particularly at risk due to the disruption any failures would cause.

As infrastructure across the globe becomes increasingly digitized, reliance on the internet leaves them vulnerable to cyber threats. Power grids in Europe and the United States, for example, are increasingly at risk from a ‘cyberattack deluge’, and have been inundated with attacks by the thousand since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The infrastructure of over 160 countries has been targeted, with the primary target being the US, followed by the UK, Germany, India, and Japan. The threat actors reportedly most often originated from China, Russia, and Iran.

Cyber War

Attacks on infrastructure have the potential to cripple the daily lives of millions, with hospitals and businesses at risk, as well as millions left without access to bank accounts or power. The number of attacks on utilities has quadrupled since 2020. When you consider the heightened physical threat, such as the sabotage of internet cables, there is potential for devastating damage.

Earlier this year, US water networks were identified as a serious target for foreign-backed threat actors. Whilst so far these have only caused minimal disruption, Leonard Birnbaum, chief executive of E.ON, one of Europe’s largest utilities, said that “the crooks are becoming better by the day,” commenting, “I am worried now and I will be even more worried in the future.”

Research suggests that in the event of an attack, it’s most likely that electrical power facilities would be the first target, with railroads, communications, and manufacturing facilities behind. These are, of course, calculated scenarios - but the rise in cyber attacks highlights the need to invest in cyber security now more than ever.

Via KnowBe4

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Cybernews researchers have uncovered a colossal data leak believed to be related to People Data Labs (PDL), a San Francisco-based data broker, containing over 170 million records.

Breached data includes sensitive information like full names, phone numbers, emails, location, skills, professional summaries, education history and employment history, putting those affected at risk of identity theft.

An unprotected Elasticsearch server has been identified as being responsible for the leak, discovered by the team on June 25, indicating that a third party may have been responsible for managing PDL’s data.

PDL data leak includes 170 million records

Although an unknown threat actor is likely responsible for leaking the data, Cybernews has highlighted the poorly protected Elasticsearch server as a key vulnerability.

The team summarized: “The existence of data brokers is already a controversial issue, as they often have insufficient checks and controls to ensure that data doesn’t get sold to the wrong parties.”

If the leak does indeed pertain to PDL, it won’t be the first time the company has been associated with a leak. In October 2019, it was revealed that more than a billion records from the company’s databases were exposed online, believed to have affected 622 million individuals. At the time, PDL said that it wasn’t responsible for the leak.

Cybernews continued: “If this is a new leak, and not processed and enriched data from the 2019 leak by a third party, such an incident would show a high level of ignorance from the company regarding personal data security.”

Those who suspect they may have been affected together with anybody who has received any suspicious emails, or simply those wanting to maintain the highest levels of digital hygiene, should change their passwords regularly and use a trusted password manager, enable two-factor authentication and monitor their accounts.

TechRadar Pro has contacted People Data Labs to confirm its association with this leak, but we did not receive an immediate response.

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