TechRadar News

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 Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

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 #600) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• SNOOT
• BREAST
• FREE
• CHEST
• BUTTER
• SNOB
• BACK
• EXPERT
• BEAK
• TRUNK
• CRITIC
• CASE
• CONNOISSEUR
• SNOUT
• CRATE
• HONKER

NYT Connections today (game #600) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Where to keep it
• GREEN: Nose slang 
• BLUE: They know what they like…
• PURPLE: In the pool

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 #600) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: STORAGE CONTAINERS
• GREEN: SCHNOZZ 
• BLUE: ONES WITH DISCERNING TASTES
• PURPLE: STARTS OF SWIMMING STROKES

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

NYT Connections today (game #600) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #600, are…

• YELLOW: STORAGE CONTAINERS CASE, CHEST, CRATE, TRUNK
• GREEN: SCHNOZZ BEAK, HONKER, SNOOT, SNOUT
• BLUE: ONES WITH DISCERNING TASTES CONNOISSEUR, CRITIC, EXPERT, SNOB
• PURPLE: STARTS OF SWIMMING STROKES BACK, BREAST, BUTTER, FREE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Connections reaches number 600 with a classic set of humour, grammar, wordplay and nagging questions about “the fourth word”.

Just as there are 40 different words for “snow” in Finnish, there are dozens for “nose” in English – particularly for the larger nozzle, of which SCHNOZZ (derived from the Yiddish word shnoits, for snout) is one of the finest.

Naturally, with BEAK, BUTTER and BREAST in the starting grid, I momentarily thought “chicken” was one link. Meanwhile, TRUNK could have found itself in the nose list as well as STORAGE CONTAINERS.

My fourth word issue today is SNOB. It’s included in a list that includes CONNOISSEUR and EXPERT, which is interesting as it’s usually a word that’s associated with uppity people who dismiss things for frivolous reasons (often price or reputation). Being classified as ONES WITH DISCERNING TASTE is exactly how a snob would justify themselves. Perhaps including Scholar, Buff, or Devotee instead would have made things too easy. Or maybe those words aren’t good enough for Connections?

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, 30 January, game #599)

• GREEN: GAME DAY FARE BEER, DIP, PIZZA, WINGS
• YELLOW: INTANGIBLE QUALITY AIR, AURA, HALO, VIBE
• BLUE: KEEP GOING ON ABOUT, WITH "ON" DWELL, HARP, INSIST, LINGER
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH EUROPEAN CAPITALS BERNIE, PARISH, RIGATONI, ROMEO

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.

• Mark Zuckerberg teases third-gen smart glasses for 2025 in investor call
• He also called 2025 a “defining year” for Meta's smart glasses plans
• We don't have any official release date or price info yet

Recent leaks suggest that Meta is gearing up to launch a new generation of smart glasses this year – ones that are just like its existing Meta Ray-bans, but with a built-in display to show you previews of the images you snap with their camera plus notifications from your phone. While Mark Zuckerberg didn’t reveal any specific details on these rumored specs in the company’s recent Q4 2024 investor call, his comments about a “third-generation” of the technology and saying 2025 will be a “defining year” for Meta in the smart glasses category make me think a release is all but guaranteed.

Here’s exactly what Zuckerberg said according to the call’s official transcript on the subject of the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses: “Our Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses are a real hit, and this will be the year when we understand the trajectory for AI glasses as a category. Many breakout products in the history of consumer electronics have sold 5-10 million units in their third generation. This will be a defining year that determines if we're on a path towards many hundreds of millions and eventually billions of AI glasses.”

Glossing over the ambitious “billions of AI glasses” target, what’s notable is that Zuckerberg highlights the importance of third-generation technology in determining the success of future iterations of that hardware, and then in the next breath says that 2025 will be the defining year for Meta in terms of smart glasses – suggesting the year will be defined by the success of Meta’s own third-gen glasses.

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses so far have two generations under their belt – the original Ray-Ban Stories which launched in 2021, and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses that came out in 2023. So for a third-generation of the hardware to bring about a defining year in 2025, Meta would have to launch it first.

Zuckerberg was careful not to promise a launch explicitly, but his comments go barely a hair from crossing that line, and in conjunction with leaks we’ve heard I’m feeling confident we’re getting new Meta specs this year. So, what could they have in store for us, and what do I want to see?

Phone, voice and button controls are fine for now (Image credit: Ray-Ban / Meta) What I want to see from the next Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses 1. Full-color displays

Leaks haven’t gone into specifics in terms of the precise quality of the hardware’s components, but they have effectively promised us the existing smart glasses with a “single small in-lens screen”, per people familiar with the project. Having tested other smart glasses, this means the display will effectively be half in your vision. This will have the advantage that it shouldn’t be too obscuring, though focusing on what it’s showing you may take some getting used to.

Given that other leaks suggest this display can show you previews of the photos you take with the specs, I hope that means it’ll be full-color – my main request for this display upgrade – and while I would prefer a two-lens solution there is one potential advantage a single lens would have: price.

2. Not too pricey

Better than IPX4 water and dust resitance would be good too (Image credit: Meta)

I expect the Ray-Ban Meta glasses with a display will cost more than the standard (display-less) pair we have currently at $299 / £299 / AU$449, though I hope rumors they could cost $1,000 (around £800 / AU$1,600) aren’t correct. I understand innovation isn’t cheap, but $1,000 feels way too expensive – especially for a product Zuckerberg and Meta hope will see mainstream success.

My hope is they cost somewhere around $650 (£550 / AU$1,050) with lens upgrades being what perhaps pushes them towards that higher $1,000. If the default model is that expensive then I’d expect a few upgrades – such as transition lenses by default (as my smart Ray-Bans with transition lenses are a game changer), improved speakers, and an upgrade I hope they get regardless of a price hike: better cameras.

3. Upgraded camera

The 12MP snapper the existing model boasts is fine for Meta AI’s Look and Ask tool (which allows the AI to see what you see for context to your requests), but I’ve found the quality isn’t the best – nine times out of ten I’d rather use my phone.

There are occasions that the smart glasses have been awesome for first-person footage – I’ve recorded clips and taken pics at concerts without losing out on the moment because I’m behind a phone screen – but a quality improvement would make my snaps higher quality, and would mean I’d rely on them much more frequently.

It’s unlikely we’d get smartphone-quality 50MP cameras, but a boost to the 12MP count – or some other sensor upgrades to improve their performance – certainly wouldn’t go amiss.

A better camera would be ideal (Image credit: Meta) 4. Longer battery life

Finally, the most important factor that needs an upgrade is battery. While Meta boasts a four-hour max battery life, the specs can only really achieve this with more intermittent use – such as occasionally asking questions or taking snaps. If you want to stream music or livestream your perspective to Instagram, you’ll burn through their battery more quickly, and I expect a display won’t help things.

Ideally, the next-gen specs would boast at least an actual four-hour battery life with the display on, though I’d accept three hours as perhaps a more reasonable target. If they can only approach one or two hours with the display on I’d be concerned about how useful the specs will be, though the project will be a balancing act from Meta between battery, specs, price, and weight.

You might also like

• Meta's Horizon app was the no. 1 iPhone app on Christmas Day – and I'm not surprised
• This haptic vest might be my new favorite Meta Quest 3 accessory
• TCL has 3 new smart glasses which are all in the running for the best of 2025 already

• Integrated tube amp promises a warmer, more inviting sound
• Hybrid ANC, LDAC and USB-C for higher-res audio
• $799 (about £652 / AU$1,303)

We've seen small vacuum tubes in headphone amps with the promise of a warmer, more involving audio experience, but the new Écoute vacuum tube headphones have decided to cut out the middleman and put a whole hi-fi on your head. The headphones include a Korg Nutube P61 right in the earcups for an authentic tube sound with class A/B amplification.

We first saw these headphones on Kickstarter, where the project exceeded its funding target by a huge margin. And now they're available to buy through regular routes, albeit for a lot more than the initial backers paid: the price for early birds was $379 to $399, but the price now is $799 (about £652 / AU$1,303).

(Image credit: Écoute) Écoute vacuum tube headphones: key features

The idea of putting a tube in a pair of headphones does tend to bring mental images of massive lightbulb-sized tubes to mind, but Korg's tube is positively microscopic compared to the ones you'll find in the likes of McIntosh's tube amps. Which is just as well, because a traditional tube is far too fragile to survive in the outside world, and it would also make the headphones much heavier. These ones are a relatively lightweight 424g, thought that's much weightier than the 250g of the Sony WH-1000XM5.

In addition to the tube and amp, there's hybrid ANC with transparency mode, Siri and Google Assistant voice control and both analog and digital input: the latter, over USB-C, supports 32-bit/384kHz audio, which is way higher than even most audiophile headphones dare to go.

The claimed frequency response is 20Hz to 20kHz, the drivers are 40mm in size, and there's Bluetooth 5.3 with LDAC. Battery life is a claimed 20 hours at full volume.

I haven't heard these headphones so I can't say whether the tube delivers on its promises; at this price I'd want to wait until the reviews are in before deciding whether to go for these or our current premium pick of the best wireless headphones for sound, the Dali iO8. But those are tubeless…

You might also like

• The best headphones
• The best wired headphones for serious sound
• The best over-ear headphones, wired and wireless

• According to a former Rockstar developer, GTA 6 could run at 30FPS on consoles
• Mike York thinks the studio is "shooting for 30FPS" on PS5 and Xbox Series X and 60FPS on PC
• The former dev doesn't think players will get "60FPS raw out the gate on a base console"

A former Rockstar developer has said Grand Theft Auto 6 will be locked at 30FPS on PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

In a now-deleted Kiwi Talkz podcast episode, Mike York, who previously worked on Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 as an animator, shared his thoughts on the next GTA entry and expects the game to run at 30FPS on console (thanks, GamesRadar).

"I don't know if they'll be able to pull off 60fps," York said. "I don't think so. I think they're gonna be shooting for 30fps – and a locked 30fps, meaning it never dips below that.

"They're gonna try to optimize as much as they can to where it never goes below 30. But it can be bumped up to 40, 41, 52, whatever, and I bet you, like, later, once it's on PC, it'll probably get super optimized and changed and new graphics cards that come out and you'll be able to run it at 60fps probably at that time."

When GTA 5 first launched in 2013, the game ran at 30FPS on PS3 and Xbox 360 but later received a 60FPS upgrade when the game eventually came to PS5 and Xbox Series X. If GTA 6 launches locked at 30FPS, we'll likely see a similar boost in performance next-gen.

"I don't think [at the] initial release it'll come out at 60fps unless it's getting those 60fps by [using] an AI upscaler thing like the PlayStation is doing, unless something is coming in and helping it get those 60fps," York added. "I don't think it'll get the 60fps raw out the gate on a base console. PS5, for instance. Maybe PS5 Pro, or whatever, but I still don't think so.

"I don't know what they're doing over there. I don't know how massive this is going to be. But from my experience, they're going to squeeze every little freaking thing they can out of it and then optimize later for 60 frames because it's not as important as just making the game amazing at 30 frames."

GTA 6 is expected to launch in the Fall of 2025, but it's unclear when the potential PC version will be released.

You might also like...

• GTA 5's Trevor wants his character to die in GTA 6: 'It would be fun if Trevor appeared in it just to be killed at the beginning... I think that would be cool'
• PSN accounts will now be optional for some PlayStation games on PC, but there will be 'incentives' for users who link them
• Phantom Blade Zero switches up the soulslike formula by introducing four difficulty options, will also feature 20 hours of additional side content on top of its 30 hour story

• Cybernews team find an AI-powered Slack tool is leaking data online
• GitLab commits and Slack Huddle conversations are being exposed
• The company was notified, but hasn't reacted yet

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an AI tool for Slack is leaking private user data, including chat messages and other communication.

The tool is called Struct Chat, and is designed to enhance productivity within Slack. It offers features such as organizing and summarizing threads, answering questions, and generating newsletters, and costs $29.95 per month.

In mid-October 2024, the Cybernews researchers found a “company-owned unprotected web service” streaming user data. The exposed instance was an Apache Kafka Broker, a real-time distributed message streaming platform.

Taking appropriate action

As the researchers explained, this platform acted as a central hub for moving data between different applications. As such, it handles large amounts of data and is a popular target.

“While observing the data stream for a brief period, we encountered examples of GitLab commits, Slack Huddle conversations, and data from other services. This enables threat actors to track and read messages and other events in real-time and extract sensitive company and personal information without any restraints,” the researchers said.

Here is the full list of exposed information:

• Tokens, IDs, first and last names
• Email addresses
• Conversations with other users and the bot AI, timestamps
• Internal team names and other general information
• Event data and type (what the user is doing, for example, updating Slack profile)
• Links to pipelines, internal URLs, CD/CI (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment) statuses

Allegedly, the company developing this tool, also called Struct Chat, was notified about the findings multiple times. However, as of January 27, the leak has not yet been addressed.

“In one hour, the unprotected instance transmitted data from over 1,000 unique users from 200 unique companies. This leak can easily be exploited to gather users' personally identifiable information, such as full names, email addresses, chats, and other internal communications, various internal links and resources,” Cybernews researchers concluded, urging all users to be careful and “take appropriate action”.

Via Cybernews

You might also like

• Travel data of almost 500,000 users exposed in Daytrip leak
• Here's a list of the best firewalls around today
• These are the best endpoint security tools right now

• Sony has announced changes to PS Plus
• From January 2026, monthly PS4 games will no longer be regularly offered on the service
• Fewer PS4 games will also come to the Game Catalog

Sony has announced some changes to its PlayStation Plus subscription service, cutting down on the number of monthly PS4 titles that will be offered in the future.

As explained on a recent post to the PS Blog, Sony has noticed that “many” players are “currently playing on PS5 and have shifted toward redeeming and accessing PS5 titles from the Monthly Games and Game Catalog benefit.”

As a result, PS Plus will be “evolving with this trend” and focus more heavily on offering monthly PS5 games and adding more PS5 titles to the Game Catalog.

This shift will not occur straight away, though, and is set to begin in January 2026. Sony notes that it “may still provide titles that can be playable on both PS4 and PS5” after that date, but I would expect the number to be drastically reduced.

The blog post rounds things off by stating that the company will “continue to evolve the experience of PS Plus and optimize the benefits you receive” and looks “forward to adding new PS5 titles monthly for you to enjoy.”

This is definitely a shame, though it’s not difficult to understand why this decision was made. The PS5 was released in November 2024, so has been on the market for almost five years now. The PS4, in contrast, came out in November 2013 so is more than a decade old. Although many gamers are still hanging on to their old machines, offering benefits for those on such a dated console so far into its successor’s life would be quite strange.

For the PS4 players out there, this might finally be the push you need to consider an upgrade. To pick up a PS Plus membership for less, be sure to visit our guide to the cheapest PlayStation Plus deals. To learn more about its various benefits, see our comprehensive PS Plus Tiers explained page.

You might also like

• Doom: The Dark Ages is id Software’s biggest ever Doom game, and includes ‘the largest AI we’ve ever created’ on the studio’s ‘most powerful engine yet’
• The new Assassin's Creed Animus Hub is exactly the kind of thing I expected it to be: part launcher, part lore and story hub, and a sensible central point
• I asked two Assassin's Creed Shadows developers what they're most excited for fans to see, and here's what they said

• Google has added a Breakout-style game as a new Easter egg
• The game can be played entirely within your web browser
• It’s sure to bring back nostalgic memories for retro games lovers

I was just as much of a gamer when I was a child as I am now, but back then it was Aladdin and Space Rocks 3D that occupied my time rather than Stardew Valley and Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m a sucker for nostalgia, so every time I see one of these classic titles it sends me back to my early years.

And that’s exactly what happened when I was alerted to a new Easter egg from Google. Type the words “block breaker” into the search engine and you’ll see a large tile for a playable Breakout-style game. Just click Play to get started – it runs within any of the best web browsers.

Breakout is a classic Atari game from 1976 that puts you in control of a paddle at the bottom of the screen. You’ve got to bounce a ball upwards into rows of colored bricks at the top of your monitor, breaking them down until none remain.

I never played the original Breakout, but we had a clone on my family’s home PC. The name of the game escapes me, and a quick bit of research shows a nearly unlimited number of Breakout copycats exist, but it was enjoyable enough that the game’s imagery is still seared into my memory.

Embrace the power-ups

(Image credit: Google)

Just a few seconds with Google’s Easter egg is enough for that nostalgic feeling to return. Google’s effort is complete with old-fashioned sound effects and blocky graphics that any retro games lover will enjoy. But what really hits home for me is its inclusion of power-ups, from those that increase the paddle size to lasers that fire at the blocks, Space Invaders-style.

The pick of the power-ups is the one that introduces additional balls into the mix. It transforms the game from one where you can carefully aim the ball at specific bricks to one where you frantically race your paddle across the screen in a desperate bid to prevent the balls from going out of play. Hitting bricks becomes secondary at this point – and forget trying to aim properly at them – yet it’s a wildly enjoyable mad dash of a game mode.

Google’s game captures many of the features that made this game type great, including the unbeatable feeling you get when the ball bounces between the top row of bricks and the upper limit of your screen, smashing block after block as a reward for your perfectly placed shot.

So feel free to give it a go and see what high score you can get. Just be careful you don’t forget your day’s other tasks in the process.

You might also like

• Netflix for retro games? Sega is considering its own subscription service
• Antstream Arcade review: affordable arcade game streaming
• A new retro gaming app has landed on iOS – and it can emulate 38 different consoles

• 5% of annual revenue is threatened by fragmented cybersecurity solutions, report warns
• Leaders are under pressure to cut costs without compromising security postures
• Half of execs say that fragmented solutions are stopping them from innovating

Businesses are losing an average of 5% of their annual revenue simply due to fragmented cybersecurity solutions, new research has claimed.

A report by IBM and Palo Alto Networks found more than half (52%) of execs now state fragmented solutions are preventing them from innovating and managing cyber threats efficiently, highlighting a major challenge which stands in the way of increased security and financial efficiency.

Three-quarters now agree better security integration is crucial to ongoing digital transformation and governance, so the need to remove hurdles is vital.

Businesses are struggling with cybersecurity

Four in five execs are now facing pressure to reduce security costs while simultaneously improving their security postures, but two in five (41%) say that fragmentation has driven up their procurement costs. Half (52%) also note that complexity is the biggest obstruction to their cybersecurity operations.

“Security executives need to enable innovation, protect assets and derive value from their cybersecurity investments to help their organisations thrive and further their business goals," noted IBM Global Managing Partner for Cybersecurity Services Mark Hughes.

The report reveals how platformization can tackle many of the hurdles faced by businesses today – “consolidating multiple tools into a unified platform not only bolsters security posture but enables organizations to experience up to four times better return on investment from their cybersecurity investments,” the companies said in the release.

Four in five platformization adopters say they have full visibility into potential vulnerabilities and threats, while the same number of non-platform organizations say their security operations cannot deal effectively with the number of threats and attacks they face.

“We have seen the positive impacts of adopting a platformized approach to security, and the benefits of what it delivers to organisations. In today’s AI-fueled world, strong partnerships are more essential than ever," added Palo Alto Networks President for Next Generation Security, Karim Temsamani.

The two companies say that businesses must choose partners that streamline security operations, conduct incident response drills to assess the effectiveness of their platforms, and continue to educate themselves around cybersecurity to stay ahead of the curve.

You might also like

• Rise of AI is causing many firms to worry about their cybersecurity
• Consider the best endpoint security software and best antivirus software
• We’ve listed the best online learning platforms to support your upskilling efforts

Prime Video has announced that it will be the new home for streaming Lionsgate movies in the US starting in 2026, and will also get a bunch of the studio's 2025 films. The movies will appear on Starz first, immediately after release, with Prime Video getting them exclusively in an "early window" just after that, according to Deadline.

Lionsgate makes the John Wick, The Hunger Games and The Strangers franchises, and is also where Guy Ritchie and Paul Feig are currently making their movies, among others.

The 2026 deal will include the next Hunger Games movie, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, and Now You See Me 3 based on the planned release dates. It may well also include the planned releases of Orphan 3, John Wick Chapter 5, a Highlander remake from John Wick director Chad Stahelski with Henry Cavill, and the new American Psycho adaptation coming from Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino.

I say "may well" because they don't have release dates yet, and Prime Video and Lionsgate haven't said how long this deal will last.

The deal will also include the option bring some of Lionsgate's 2025 movie slate exclusively to Prime Video, and the list of films available for this includes the John Wick spin-off Ballerina, Saw XI, The Strangers Chapter 2 (and Chapter 3), a new crime thriller starring Sydney Sweeney called Americana, and Guy Ritchie's next movie In The Grey. However, it's not confirmed which of these movies would be included.

Prime Video will also license some of Lionsgate's TV back catalog, which includes the likes of Weeds and Nurse Jackie.

A deal made just for me

As a lover of thriller movies – especially time-filler mid-tier thrillers, of the kind that would absolutely have once starred Ashley Judd – this is going to make Prime Video pretty indispensable to me among the best streaming services.

Lionsgate is one of the last bastions of solid thriller movies, and its list of upcoming movies is packed with them, from some interesting new directors to known safe hands such as John Wick director Stahelski.

You've got horror thrillers, action thrillers, crime thrillers – these are the things I put on in the evenings when my brain is exhausted and I don't want to mull my options too hard. "Oh, the new Guy Ritchie movie is out? Great, I can't wait to see Henry Cavill (I assume) punch someone and say a charming line." (I've now checked, and Henry Cavill is, in fact, in it).

This deal basically establishes Prime Video as my go-to service on those days, and the news comes just as I've been starting to get annoyed with the service's reminders at the start of every movie that it added ads in for my paid service that didn't used to have ads.

But the ads have proven to be relatively unintrusive, and with the guarantee of a steady throw of thrillers, this definitely keeps me on board.

You might also like…

• Prime Video’s most-watched shows are a mixed bag – here are 3 with flawless 100% Rotten Tomatoes scores
• Reacher season 3: release date, trailer, confirmed cast, plot synopsis, and more news on the hit Prime Video show's return
• Prime Video's On Call has been robbed of good reviews – here are 3 better crime dramas with over 85% on Rotten Tomatoes

• Nothing has confirmed that the Phone 3a series will land on March 4
• A specs leak suggests the series will include the 3a and 3a Pro
• We've also seen a hands-on photo of what's reportedly the 3a

After several teasers, Nothing has confirmed that the Nothing Phone 3a series will land on March 4.

Posting on X, the company shared a short video teaser, seemingly showing a phone's camera block. We have a good idea of why that's being shown too, since a previous Nothing teaser hinted that the brand would soon be launching its first-ever phone with a telephoto camera.

This post also mentions that a 'series' of phones is coming, so you can expect at least two – but since this is the 3a series, don't expect the mainline Nothing Phone 3 to make an appearance.

Phone (3a) Series. Power in perspective.4 March 10 AM GMT. pic.twitter.com/auesJycJQyJanuary 30, 2025

We do, however, have a good idea of what devices to expect in March; according to Android Headlines, we’ll get the Nothing Phone 3a and the Nothing Phone 3a Pro.

Sadly, the Nothing Phone 3a doesn’t sound especially high-end, with leaker @gadget_bits adding that it will apparently have a mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, a 6.8-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery with 45W charging, a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide, a 50MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom, and a 32MP front-facing camera.

Android Headlines additionally states that this phone will come in two configurations – one with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and the other with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

We haven’t heard as much about the Nothing Phone 3a Pro, but Android Headlines states that it will only be available in a 12GB / 256GB configuration, and that it will be sold in a choice of black or gray shades, while the standard Nothing Phone 3a will be sold in a choice of black or white.

A hands-on photo of a hidden phone

Nothing Phone 3a Camera arrangements leaked? pic.twitter.com/g228fK1qlyJanuary 29, 2025

We’ve also seen a hands-on photo of what’s reportedly the Nothing Phone 3a, courtesy of @saaaanjjjuuu (via GSMArena). It’s hidden away in a case so that leaks like this won’t reveal too much, but you can see that there are three rear cameras, matching the report above.

Possible telephoto camera aside, the specs we’ve heard so far seem reasonable but nothing special. Still, we’re intrigued by how the Nothing Phone 3a Pro might improve on the specs above.

Plus, if anything, this leaves us even more excited for the Nothing Phone 3. After all, if even the Nothing Phone 3a is getting a telephoto camera and generally solid specs, and the 3a Pro is presumably better than that device, the Nothing Phone 3 will likely be better still. So, while it’s a shame that we might be waiting a little longer for mainline Phone 3, it will hopefully be worth the wait.

You might also like

• Nothing Phone 2 review: exactly what it looks like, flashy and new
• Best Android phones: top-performing and most affordable
• Hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 review: feeling left behind and waiting for the future

• A leaky DeepSeek database was discovered by researchers
• The database allowed for total operation control takeover
• An attacker could extract passwords, chat logs, and more

Not long after emerging onto the AI scene and significantly disrupting the US tech markets, a leaky DeepSeek database has reportedly been discovered online.

The ClickHouse database that belongs to DeepSeek was found by Wiz cybersecurity researchers, and allowed for full database operations controls.

The database has since been secured, but the researchers warn it could have exposed chat history, secret keys, backend details, log streams, API Secrets, and operational details.

DeepLeak

The leaky database was apparently found within minutes of Wiz beginning its research, with the researchers noting that if exploited, the database operations would allow an attacker to escalate privileges within the DeepSeek environment.

The vulnerability was discovered after two open ports were found that lead directly to the ClickHouse database without any authentication checks. Upon further investigation, the researchers discovered they were able to run commands in the HTTP interface to access over 1 million sensitive log entries.

If abused by an attacker, the database could be exploited to access plaintext passwords, chat histories, API Keys and more. After Wiz notified the exposure to DeepSeek, the vulnerability was immediately addressed and secured.

The Wiz researchers recommend businesses looking to use and adopt AI tools into their workflow pay close attention to the security of each solution, and protect customer data from exposure when using AI platforms.

You might also like

• Take a look at our guide to the best endpoint protection
• These are the best business VPNs
• Could clever hardware hack be behind DeepSeek's groundbreaking AI efficiency?

• Square report finds more than four in five restaurant and beauty leaders want to use more AI
• Businesses are spending more time on hiring and operations than before
• Companies are investing in their payment experiences with the rise of BNPL

If you run an ecommerce business, then payment gateway giant Square reckons you will have an expensive year ahead, with considerable investments anticipated across the board.

Following a recent announcement by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves on how the country's government plans to stimulate economic growth, Square’s ‘Future of Commerce’ report explores how businesses plan to tackle the “triple challenge” of sustained high inflation, shrinking consumer spend, and the need to raise prices.

Key to future investments is artificial intelligence, with many businesses hoping to realize productivity boosts to tackle operational and financial efficiency.

UK businesses are investing to cut costs

Square found 85% of restaurant leaders plan to invest in AI and automation, with staff marketing and promotions (77%), inventory management (77%), payments (76%), and menu optimization (76%) all hopeful areas for improvement.

“As businesses continue to face economic pressures, we’re seeing them invest in growth and experimentation as they find new, streamlined ways to work and deliver exceptional customer service – particularly through using time-saving and experience-enhancing technology," noted Square UK Executive Director Samina Hussain-Letch.

Businesses are looking to acquire and maintain connections with their customers – 71% are planning to increase investment in their loyalty or reward schemes. Restaurant leaders are following suit with 83% of them agreeing such programs help increase order size, encourage repeat visits, and deliver ROI.

The study also found that 73% of leaders now spend more time on hiring than they did a year ago, with 75% spending more time on business operations.

In other areas, retailers are looking to merge the physical and digital shopping experience for a more seamless transaction.

It’s worth mentioning that it is not just eateries that are looking to cash in on customers – 84% of beauty workers are also looking to use AI and automation to help with marketing and inventory management over the next year.

UK consumers heavily rely on the Buy Now, Pay Later market and it is set to rise from £30 billion to £47 billion by 2029 – a 57% increase.

Looking ahead, the need for further digitization of business processes, both operationally and customer-facing, is evident, and companies that are willing to stay ahead of the curve will see the best outcomes.

You might also like

• Rise of AI is causing many firms to worry about their cybersecurity
• Take your store online with the best ecommerce platforms
• Boost your business with the best free website builders

Jump to your region

US Nvidia RTX 5080 stock

UK Nvidia RTX 5080 stock

Today's the day! The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 goes on sale today, January 30, and stock is expected to sell out fast - and we're here to help you find the best places to buy the Nvidia RTX 5080.

The Nvidia RTX 5080 will go on sale on January 30 at 6AM PT / 9AM ET / 2PM GMT with an MSRP of $999 in the US and £979 in the UK.

In our review of the Nvidia RTX 5080, we were impressed with the performance of the GPU, with it almost hitting RTX 4090 levels of performance (a GPU that cost a lot more money when it launched), though the generational leap from the RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 Super to the RTX 5080 isn't the biggest.

However, with hardware improvements in the form of more CUDA cores, fourth-gen RT cores, fifth-gen Tensor cores, and 16GB of GDDR7 memory, the RTX 5080 is a brilliant graphics card for people looking to play the latest PC games at 4K, especially with the new features included with DLSS 4, Nvidia's AI-powered image rendering software.

There's a lot of hype around the RTX 5080 (and its bigger sibling, the RTX 5090, which we also show you where to buy), and that means there could be a real rush when the RTX 5080 goes on sale, especially as we've been hearing rumors that stock levels could be low.

So, finding out where to buy the Nvidia RTX 5080 during this frenzy could be difficult, which is where we come in. We'll be keeping tabs on all the major retailers in the US and UK and will be updating this page live to point you towards where you can buy the GPU - without being ripped off by scalpers.

WHERE TO BUY RTX 5080: US QUICK LINKS

• Nvidia: Buy direct from Nvidia (including Founders Edition and third-party GPUs)
• Amazon: Major retailer will hopefully have stock
• Best Buy: Founders Edition will be on sale
• Newegg: Founders Edition will go on sale soon
• B&H: Preorders start at 9:00am ET, Thursday January 30
• Micro Center: Retailer will have stock on January 30
• Adorama: Worth checking for stock when sales go live

WHERE TO BUY RTX 5080: UK QUICK LINKS

• Nvidia: Buy Founders Edition and third-party GPUs direct
• Amazon: Should have a wide range of RTX 5080 models
• Ebuyer: Already lists RTX 5080 models but no pre-orders (yet)
• Scan: Get notified when RTX 5080 GPUs go on sale
• Overclockers: Respected retailer should have stock on launch day
• Box: Another well-known store for PC components should have stock
• EE: The mobile network operator is getting in on the act, selling RTX 5080 on a first-come first-serve basis
• CCL: RTX 5080 GPUs from Palit, Gigabyte and more
• Currys: Lots of third party options starting at £1,139.99

WHERE TO BUY RTX 5080 IN THE US

Nvidia RTX 5080 deals at Amazon
Amazon is expected to be a reliable source of RTX 5080 stock as with nearly everything else - that's the good news. The bad news is that everyone else will think to check Amazon, so I expect stock to be dwindling or already sold out very soon after launch. You will likely find some options if you don't mind shelling out a bit extra for a third-party GPU, though.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 deals at Nvidia
Listed for $999, the RTX 5080 FE stock on Nvidia's website is sure to sell out particularly quickly. If your plan was to go directly to the source, I'd get in now before scalpers and resellers take over. However, if you're able to snag one, the FE cards are at a reasonable price, feature a sleek design, and are even small enough to fit into an SFF build.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 deals at Best Buy
Best Buy is similar to Amazon in that you can expect a solid stock of Nvidia's new 5000 series cards, but they'll be flying off the shelves and into carts without a second look at the price tag.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 deals at Newegg
Newegg, a personal favorite tech retailer of mine, is a fantastic location to find upgraded 5080s from Asus, Zotac, MSI, and more. Newegg is also offering trade-in value on your current GPU towards the new card, so if you want to get some value from your 30 series card, this is an excellent opportunity.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 deals at B&H
B&H is another solid retailer to search for third-party RTX 5080 deals. It just added its 5080 stock to pre-order pages within the last few days, so I believe it'll have a decent backlog of MSI, Asus, and Gigabyte 5080s to sling around come January 30.View Deal

WHERE TO BUY RTX 5080 IN THE UK

Not to worry UK folks, Nvidia hasn't forgotten about you - though stock is proving to be just as hard to get there as well. Here's what we dug up from retailers like Ebuyer and Box:

Nvidia RTX 5080 deals at Nvidia
Nvidia has stock for the RTX 5080 on its UK website as well, but like the US counterpart, stock is moving very quickly. Founders Edition cards will be selling like hotcakes, but you can also find third-party GPUs on Nvidia's website.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 stock at Overclockers
Overclockers UK is an excellent site for buying PC components, and it has already listed its 5080 stock, and there are a fair number of cards on offer with prices starting at £1,099.99.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 stock at Ebuyer
Ebuyer is another fantastic site to check for new PC components, and the 5080 launch is no exception. Like everywhere else, be sure to check back in on January 30 to assess the available stock.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 stock at Scan
Scan also just populated its GPU pages with swathes of RTX 5080 cards from Gigabyte, Asus, Zotac, and MSI. For now, the only thing you can do is get notified when they're available, but be sure to check back first thing January 30.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 stock at EE
While EE is better known for selling smartphones and tarrifs, it's also going to be selling the RTX 5080 on January 30 on a first-come-first-serve basis from £1,245.99.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 stock at Currys
Currys has a wide range of RTX 5080 GPUs from third party makers such as Asus and Palit. Currently, the Asus GeForce RTX 5080 16GB Prime OC is the cheapest option at £1,139.99.View Deal

Nvidia RTX 5080 stock at CCL
CCL is a dependable retailer for computing components and is offering plenty of third party RTX 5080 models. Stock will also be limited to one per customer, which will hopefully slow down how fast these sell out today.View Deal

• These are the best graphics cards of 2025

(Image credit: Future)

Launch day is finally here! We'll be here all day, monitoring stock at all the major retailers and beyond to try and help you snag an RTX 5080.

It looks like RTX 5090 stock is going to vanish in a flash, so you might have better luck than those hunting for Nvidia's new flagship GPU, but there's no guarantee this one will be easier to pick up...

We're still hours away from the official stock drop, but Micro Center's RTX 5000 page has seemingly gone down, returning a 403 Forbidden error at the time of writing. Either too many people were visiting the page, or Micro Center has taken it offline intentionally to prep it for sales...

As we approach the hour when the RTX 5080 goes on sale, I have to say that stock levels are looking rather dicey.

MSI has issued a statement revealing that it'll only be opening pre-orders for the RTX 5090 today, with actual cards shipping on February 6 instead. However, the RTX 5080 will be available on MSI's online storefront.

(Image credit: Temporary-Director46)

Some eager shoppers are even camped out in front of physical stores in the US to try and snag one of these highly prized GPUs. The image above is from a Reddit post showing people camping four days before the launch.

While I can't stop you from doing that, I would personally recommend avoiding the cold and just bookmarking this page...

(Image credit: Future)

While we all wait for the Nvidia RTX 5080 to go on sale in a few hours, make sure you read our Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 review by our components editor John Loeffler. John's been reviewing GPUs for us for many years now, and there's no one's opinions on graphics cards I respect more, so definitely take a look. He was impressed, giving the new GPU a very good four and a half stars.

Speaking of our RTX 5080 review, definitely dive into the relative performance of the best graphics cards on the market and see whether the RTX 5080 is the right card for you.

If you're seriously considering upgrading to Nvidia's RTX 5080, I'd head to one of the websites that lets you get a notification as soon as stock drops in - these being Nvidia, Best Buy and B&H Photo in the US, and Nvidia, Scan, Overclockers, and Box in the UK (links above) - so you can try your best to beat the scalpers and resellers.

If you live near a Micro Center, you might have a good chance of picking a 5080 up in person. It's offering a voucher system on a first-come first-serve basis that guarantees you'll be able to purchase a GPU on launch day (though it doesn't guarantee a specific model or manufacturer). Micro Center stores also have a rule in place that allows only one 5080 or 5090 per customer, meaning if you don't mind waiting in line, this could be a good chance to pick up a Blackwell card the day it comes out.

If you'd prefer to try your luck at buying one online, Newegg is a great place to look. It's offering a trade-in deal on your current GPU towards a new 5000 series card. Just for fun, I looked at how much I'd get if I traded my (fully-functioning, undamaged) MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti in - $419 towards a new GPU isn't shabby at all.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

You can't talk about Nvidia's new graphics cards without talking about AI and DLSS, can you?

DLSS is the tech that allows Nvidia to tout results like the new $549 5070 performing as well as 2022's $1,599 RTX 4090 - it's also cause for heated debate in the PC gaming world, as enthusiasts are divided on whether "fake frames" should be considered in performance metrics.

While all RTX cards (including the 20, 30, and 40 series GPUs) will be able to utilize most of DLSS 4's features, as of right now only the new 50 series cards will benefit from the latest improvements like Multi Frame Generation (though it looks like Nvidia may be bringing MFG to older cards).

If you read through our Nvidia RTX 5090 review, you'll find "In non-upscaled 1440p gaming, you're looking at a roughly 18% better average frame rate and a 22.6% better minimum/1% framerate for the RTX 5090." over the 4090 - so it seems DLSS isn't everything the 5000 series has to offer.

(Image credit: Future)

Oof, we've just published some worrying news - some sources are saying that Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU stock will be ‘basically non-existent’ for launch day, and RTX 5080 doesn’t sound like it’ll be much better.

It seems retailers could be getting less stock from Nvidia than with the RTX 4080 launch. While RTX 5080 GPUs from third party makers like Asus and Gigabyte might be easier to get hold of, this latest news, combined with recent rumors, suggests it could really be a struggle to find stock - which is why this guide will be so useful.

(Image credit: Shutterstock / rudall30 / Asus)

If you're thinking of buying the RTX 5080 today, then you'll also want to make sure that the rest of your PC is able to support it.

One consideration is the PSU (Power Supply Unit), as you need something that will be able to cope with the demands of the RTX 5080, as well as powering the other parts of your PC as well.

Asus ROG's RTX 5080 page lists the ROG THOR III 1600W (or 1200W at least) power supply as the "perfect PSU companion" to the newly-listed ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7 OC Edition graphics card - now that's a lot of power.

This version of the 5080 also comes stocked with not two, or even three, but four fans along with rows of heatsink fins to keep the heat from slowing down clock speeds, and 16GB of Nvidia's new GDDR7 video memory will definitely be a sight to behold.

Check out our guide on the best PSUs for more options.

If you're in the UK and near Bolton, you could head over to Scan Computers, which is holding a launch day event that will have RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 GPUs for buying in-person.

Sure, not the most convenient way of getting a new GPU, especially if you don't live near Scan Computers (which is also selling the GPUs online), but if you can get there, it could be a good way to make sure you get an RTX 5080.

You can find out more about the Scan Nvidia 50-series launch event here.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

We're approaching the final countdown, with RTX 5080 stock going on sale in just over an hour's time. Now is a good time to get retailers loaded up.

Posted by OverclockersUK on 

Overclockers UK's Facebook page is hyping up the launch - looks like they will have lots of stock! But how long will it last?

Checking Amazon US and there's no placeholder RTX 5080 GPUs yet. However, there are pre-built PCs with the RTX 5080 in its listings. This might be a better way of getting hold of a GPU, especially if you need to upgrade other parts of your PC.

• CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme Gaming PC, AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 4.4GHz, GeForce RTX 5080 16GB, 32GB DDR5, 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD - $2,299.99
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR Gaming PC, Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF 3.9GHz, GeForce RTX 5080 16GB, 32GB DDR5 - $2,319.99
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR Gaming PC, Intel Core Ultra 9 285K 3.7GHz, GeForce RTX 5080 16GB, 64GB DDR5 - $2,699.99
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme Gaming PC, AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 4.3GHz, GeForce RTX 5080 16GB, 64GB DDR5, 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD - $2,769.99

Over in the UK, we can see Overclockers UK's RTX 5080 models and their prices. While we're still around 55 minutes away from being able to buy them, you can at least get an idea of what kind of price you'll be paying for the new GPU.

(Image credit: Zotac)

The most affordable RTX 5080 model from Overclockers UK looks like it'll be the Zotac GeForce RTX 5080 Solid, which is £1,099.99.

Next cheapest looks like they'll be the Gainward GeForce RTX 5080 Phoenix and Palit GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming Pro which will both go on sale in around 50 minutes for £1,159.99.

For US readers looking to buy the RTX 5080 from Best Buy, you'll need to make sure you have a Best Buy account ahead of the GPU going on sale, including providing location details. It's best to get this sorted now, so you're in with a better chance of getting hold of an RTX 5080 when things kick off in about 45 minutes!

(Image credit: Future)

Speaking of Best Buy, it might be the best place to get hold of an affordable RTX 5080, as it is selling the Founders Edition RTX 5080 for $999.99.

Remember, if you're looking for the RTX 5090, we have a dedicated where to buy the RTX 5090 live guide as well!

We're now 30 minutes away from the RTX 5080 (and the RTX 5090) going on sale, and it looks like there's a lot of excitement building about this launch.

Interesting fact from the Overclockers UK page, which says that "Pre-Orders for this product will begin after 2pm on the 30th January. Models will be put on sale at varying intervals after this time."

So we might see a staggered release of stock, so if things sell out quickly in 25 minute's time, there might still be a chance that some models will be available to buy later on.

Just under 10 minutes to go! Use this time to make sure you're signed into any retailers you're trying to buy from, as this will speed up the process when checking out - and every second could count!

OK stock should now be on sale! Good luck!

Nvidia's page hasn't updated for the RTX 5080 going on sale yet, so I'm keeping an eye on that...

Best Buy has the RTX 5090 Founders Edition in stock for $1,999.99!

Oh! It's now saying sold out, but there's other options like the GIGABYTE - AORUS GeForce RTX 5090 MASTER ICE 32G - White which is 'coming soon'

Looks like Best Buy's stock is all selling out very fast, so best check other retailers.

Looks like Overclockers UK website has crashed under the pressure of people trying to buy the RTX 5080 - I'll keep you posted. Also in the US, it seems stock has already sold out.

OK UK buyers! It looks like Scan has got stock!

All in stock:

• MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB VENTUS 3X OC Blackwell Graphics Card - £979
• ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 SOLID 16GB Blackwell Graphics Card - £979
• PALIT NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GAMING PRO Blackwell Graphics Card - £979

Microcenter seems to have stock for the RTX 5080 for buying in store, which could be a good way to get hold of the new GPU, though you'll need to be near a store with stock.

If you have the budget, one way of getting an RTX 5080 is to buy a pre-built PC with it in - this can sometimes be a good choice if you need to upgrade lots of components in your PC. Adorama has sold out of standalone RTX 5080s, but it has the CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme Liquid Cooled Gaming Desktop Computer, AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7GHz, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB, Windows 11 Home, Black for $2,419.99.

You're essentially paying an extra $1,400 for some pretty decent components.

Overclockers UK website is still having issues - sometimes it's up, then it crashes. If you can get through, it might be a good bet as stock sells out elsewhere.

Overclockers also has some pre-built PCs with the RTX 5080 GPU for sale and in stock, if you really want to get hold of the GPU.

In the UK, Novatech will be selling RTX 5080 GPUs, though it doesn't say when. It could be a retailer that gets the next batch of stock when it's made available.

Still no sign of any RTX 5090 on Amazon's US site.

STOCK ALERT!

Overclockers UK is back up and has RTX 5080 GPUs in stock and at decent prices!

• Palit GeForce RTX 5080 GameRock 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £1,299
• MSI GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming Trio OC 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £1,469.99

If the above say out of stock, go back to the RTX 5080 product page and click 'Add to basket' it seems to work!

STOCK UPDATE!

CCL has RTX 5080 GPUs in stock and delivering from tomorrow! Be quick as it might sell out (it's UK only I'm afraid).

• Palit GeForce RTX 5080 GameRock 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card - £1,349.99
• INNO3D GeForce RTX 5080 X3 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card - £1,349.99
• INNO3D GeForce RTX 5080 X3 OC 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card - £1,399.99

• Palit GeForce RTX 5080 GameRock OC 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card - £1,399.99
• Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 WINDFORCE SFF OC 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card - £1,399.99
• Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 AERO SFF OC 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card - £1,399.99
• Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 GAMING OC 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card - £1,499.99

More RTX 5080 UK stock at CCL:

• MSI GeForce RTX 5080 VENTUS 3X PLUS 16GB OC GPU - £1,499.99
• MSI GeForce RTX 5080 GAMING TRIO 16GB OC GPU - £1,499.99
• MSI GeForce RTX 5080 GAMING TRIO 16GB OC GPU - £1,499.99
• ASUS GeForce RTX 5080 TUF Gaming 16GB OC GPU - £1,499.99
• MSI GeForce RTX 5080 GAMING TRIO WHITE 16GB OC GPU - £1,559.99
• ASUS GeForce RTX 5080 ROG Astral 16GB OC GPU - £1,599.99
• Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 AORUS MASTER 16GB OC GPU - £1,699.99
• Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 AORUS MASTER ICE 16GB OC GPU - £1,699.99
• Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080 Xtreme Waterforce 16GB OC GPU - £1,799.99

The rise of Generative AI, from tools like ChatGPT to a new wave of AI tools, is reshaping technology demands, driving a surge in the need for advanced CPUs and GPUs. These powerful processors, with ever-increasing thermal design power (TDP)—like Nvidia’s GB200 Grace Blackwell superchip consuming 1,200W per GPU with racks powering 120kW—are pushing power and cooling requirements to unprecedented levels, making traditional air cooling solutions insufficient.

Enter liquid cooling. With adoption projected to grow at a 45% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2023 to 2028, direct-to-chip liquid cooling solutions, powered by coolant distribution units (CDUs), are transforming how data centers handle the heat generated by high-performance AI workloads. Cooling efficiency isn’t just a consideration—it’s a necessity as AI processors continue to push power and density boundaries.

This article examines how CDUs are supporting thermal heat management, enabling operators to meet the relentless cooling demands of AI and high-performance computing while paving the way for the next generation of data center efficiency.

What is a Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU)?

A CDU is the heartbeat of a liquid cooling system, carefully regulating coolant temperature and flow rates to maintain optimal cooling efficiency. By managing the coolant flow to IT equipment and returning the IT heat to the facility’s water for re-cooling, CDUs help stabilize temperatures and minimize the risk of overheating. In direct liquid cooling, the CDU plays a vital role by allowing for temperature conditioning to prevent condensation and by isolating the IT equipment from harsher facility water, which may contain mineral deposits, particulates, and other impurities that could damage cooling systems or reduce efficiency.

CDUs are also pivotal for increasing system longevity. According to a recent Uptime Institute study, over 70% of unplanned downtime in data centers is linked to power and cooling system failures. With advanced CDUs, operators can reduce such risks, ensuring reliable operations even under heavy workloads.

Different Types of CDUs: Liquid-to-Liquid vs Liquid-to-Air

Liquid-to-Liquid and Liquid-to-Air CDUs both serve the essential function of cooling IT equipment but are suited for different environments based on their cooling mechanisms and efficiency levels. Liquid-to-Liquid CDUs are ideal for facilities with access to facility water, offering high cooling capacity and efficiency due to the superior thermal conductivity of water.

These systems transfer heat from the IT equipment’s coolant loop to the facility’s water loop using a heat exchanger, which is well-suited for high-density environments. In contrast, Liquid-to-Air CDUs use air-cooled radiators and fan systems to dissipate heat into the surrounding air, making them a better choice for locations without access to facility water, though they typically offer lower overall cooling capacity and efficiency.

While both systems include similar components needed to run (such as pumps, temperature control systems, and filtration), the key difference lies in how they transfer heat. Liquid-to-liquid CDUs rely on primary and secondary pumps to circulate coolant and water, while Liquid-to-Air CDUs depend on fans to move air over radiators. Maintenance for both systems is essential, though Liquid-to-Air CDUs may require more frequent attention to air filters and fan components.

In contrast, liquid-to-liquid systems require monitoring the water loop and its cleanliness. Ultimately, the choice between a Liquid-to-Liquid or Liquid-to-Air CDU depends on the available infrastructure and specific cooling and efficiency goals, with Liquid-to-Liquid systems excelling in high-density environments and Liquid-to-Air systems offering flexibility where water access is limited.

Industry Trends and Future Directions

The adoption of liquid cooling is on a sharp upward trajectory. In 2023, only 10% of data centers used liquid cooling, but this figure is expected to reach 50% by 2030. Driving this shift are the increasing thermal demands of AI and HPC and environmental considerations. Traditional air cooling can consume up to 40% of a data center’s energy, with goals for advanced cooling to reduce energy expenditures to as little as 5% of total IT load. This is a significant factor in reducing overall Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).

CDUs are also addressing water conservation challenges. Records obtained by the Financial Times reveal that data center water consumption has spiked by nearly two-thirds since 2019, with over 1.85 billion gallons consumed in 2023 compared to 1.13 billion gallons in 2019. Technologies that eliminate reliance on evaporative cooling are becoming indispensable. Eco-friendly coolants and closed-loop systems are gaining traction, helping operators reduce their environmental footprint.

Conclusion

As AI and HPC workloads intensify, data centers must adopt cutting-edge solutions like CDUs to stay ahead. By enabling efficient, scalable cooling, CDUs not only support operational demands but also align with sustainability goals. With liquid cooling expected to dominate the market by 2030 and the data center cooling market set to exceed $20 billion by 2028, the time to embrace these technologies is now. CDUs are not just a tool for cooling—they are the foundation for a sustainable, high-performance future.

We list the best web hosting services.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

The cyber threat landscape has reached a critical tipping point.

According to the UK government's 2024 Cyber Security Breaches Survey, a staggering 50% of businesses experienced some form of cyber breach in the last 12 months, with this figure rising dramatically to 70% for medium businesses and 74% for large businesses.

Phishing attacks dominate the threat landscape, accounting for 84% of business breaches, followed by email impersonation (35%) and malware (17%).

The statistics, while alarming, reveal only part of the challenge facing organizations today. The most pressing issue isn't just the increasing frequency of attacks, but also the growing disparity between how quickly attackers can breach systems and how long organizations take to respond.

Contemporary security technologies can detect threats within minutes, yet the average time for organizations to fully identify, contain and restore systems stretches to about 20 days – with recovery times far longer. This extended vulnerability window gives cybercriminals ample time to infiltrate networks, compromise sensitive data and even establish a backdoor for future attacks.

Recent headlines have highlighted the devastating impact of delayed response times across various sectors. From the UK Air Traffic Control's miscommunicated cyber incident last year to UnitedHealth's delayed response to a massive data leak in April this year, as well as ongoing challenges faced by British Ambulance Services and Nuclear plant Sellafield, the impact of inadequate response times continues to be felt.

These incidents underscore a troubling reality. When organizations cannot respond swiftly to cyber threats, the consequences ripple far beyond immediate operational disruption. The financial toll is substantial – IBM reports a 10% increase on the cost of an average data breach in 2024, rising to $4.8million.

The evolution of cybersecurity tools

That said, the cybersecurity industry has made remarkable strides in developing defensive technologies, yet many organizations struggle to maximize their potential.

Modern Extended Detection and Response (XDR) platforms represent a significant advancement, offering sophisticated threat detection and automated response capabilities that can identify and neutralize threats across an organization's entire IT infrastructure.

The latest generation of security tools also incorporates predictive capabilities, leveraging vast databases of threat intelligence to anticipate and prevent attacks before they materialize. These systems can link seemingly unrelated events across different parts of the network – in doing so, subtle patterns that might indicate an emerging threat can be identified – a key part in taking detection timelines from days to hours.

This evolution from reactive to proactive defense represents a crucial step forward in closing the response time gap. However, the form of data remains crucial. Too often, we see organizations dealing with theoretical data as opposed to actual, real-time information. Relying on the former may prove effective in theory, in practice, it’s a different story altogether. No one organization's defense is the same.

Building a cyber safe culture

Indeed, creating an effective cyber defense requires more than deploying the latest security tools – it demands a fundamental shift in organizational culture.

Security posture assessments need to become an ongoing process rather than a periodic checkbox exercise. By continuously evaluating and adjusting defenses, organizations can identify and address vulnerabilities before attackers have the chance to exploit them. The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities has become key to this effort, not least because it has reduced time needed to spot and investigate potential threats but also the ability to bring contextual data into play, allowing a more informed response.

Best practices for rapid response

Indeed, a robust cybersecurity strategy must seamlessly integrate people, processes and technology.

Security teams require immediate access to clear and actionable threat intelligence through intuitive interfaces that support rapid decision-making. Protection must extend across the entire attack surface, from cloud infrastructure to remote work endpoints, to create a unified defense against increasingly sophisticated threats.

Modern security platforms can automate initial containment measures, which will buy precious time for security analysts to investigate and respond to incidents. However, technology must be supported by clear protocols for incident communication and stakeholder coordination. While building these defenses requires significant investment, the potential costs of a serious breach can be markedly higher – both in immediate financial terms and long-term reputational damage.

The most effective rapid response strategies now incorporate real-time monitoring of the complete environment. In the most effective cases, this monitoring is bolstered by strong detection and response processes, which provide the correct amount of insights into each individual risk and the damage it is capable of causing. After, cyber teams can quickly understand the scope and nature of any security incident, facilitating faster and more targeted responses.

Looking ahead

A proactive security posture, supported by continuous adaptation and improvement, has become essential for survival. This means not only keeping pace with emerging threats but anticipating and preparing for tomorrow's challenges. It means being cyber safe – not just cyber secure. The current gap between attacker capabilities and defender response times represents one of the most pressing challenges in modern cybersecurity. However, organizations that combine cutting-edge mindset backed by the right technology with robust processes and a cyber safety-conscious culture can work to close this gap. The objective isn't merely to catch up with cyber attackers – it is to stay ahead of them.

Checkout our list of the best identity management software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• A new approach called DualPipe seems to be the key to DeekSeek's success
• One expert describes it as an on-GPU virtual DPU that maximizes bandwidth efficiency
• While DeepSeek has used Nvidia GPUs only, one wonders how AMD's Instinct would fare

China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot has stunned the tech industry, representing a credible alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT at a fraction of the cost.

A recent paper revealed DeepSeek V3 was trained on a cluster of 2,048 Nvidia H800 GPUs – crippled versions of the H100 (we can only imagine how much more powerful it would be running on AMD Instinct accelerators!). It reportedly required 2.79 million GPU-hours for pretraining, fine-tuning on 14.8 trillion tokens, and cost - according to calculations made by The Next Platform - a mere $5.58 million.

But exactly how DeepSeek's developers managed this feat is likely down to a clever hack.

A virtual DPU on the GPU itself

First, some background. DeepSeek is an advanced Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) language model designed to optimize performance by selectively activating only the most relevant parts of its architecture for each task. The third version of the model, DeepSeek-V3, features a total of 671 billion parameters, with only 37 billion activated for any given token prediction. This selective activation massively reduces computational costs while maintaining high performance and accuracy – which you’ll see if you try it.

It’s easy to be skeptical of DeepSeek and the claims made regarding its training, but the paper reveals some of the magic the developers came up with to make the most of the crippled hardware they had to work with. This includes the creation of the DualPipe algorithm for efficient pipeline parallelism.

According to the information published by DeepSeek, DualPipe overlaps forward and backward computation, reduces latency, and optimizes data movement across GPUs. By efficiently managing communication, it minimizes idle time (pipeline bubbles) and dynamically balances GPU compute cores (Streaming Multiprocessors) between computation and communication, preventing data transfer bottlenecks as the model scales.

A commenter on The Next Platform describes DualPipe as "essentially creating a virtual DPU on the GPU itself to handle all-to-all communication," which highlights its role in optimizing data transfer efficiency.

The paper goes into further detail, "In order to ensure sufficient computational performance for DualPipe, we customize efficient cross-node all-to-all communication kernels (including dispatching and combining) to conserve the number of SMs dedicated to communication. The implementation of the kernels is co-designed with the MoE gating algorithm and the network topology of our cluster. To be specific, in our cluster, cross-node GPUs are fully interconnected with IB, and intra-node communications are handled via NVLink.”

Example DualPipe scheduling for 8 PP ranks and 20 micro-batches in two directions. The micro-batches in the reverse direction are symmetric to those in the forward direction, so we omit their batch ID for illustration simplicity. Two cells enclosed by a shared black border have mutually overlapped computation and communication. (Image credit: DeekSeek) You might also like

• Check out our list of the best AI tools around today
• “This is a wake-up call" - the DeepSeek disruption: 10 experts weigh in
• DeepSeek forced to pause new signups following large scale cyberattack

• Apple will premiere a new show – Sunday Night Soccer – for the next MLS season
• MLS Season Pass is returning in 2025 with two new ways to watch the games
• T-Mobile customers will get free access to MLS Season Pass

January’s nearly wrapped, and next month, in February 2025, the Major League Soccer season will kick off. Every game, along with commentary and a backlog of footage as well as documentaries, will be available courtesy of the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. And it’s an especially exciting year for Major League Soccer beyond Lionel Messi sticking around as it’s the league's 30th season.

Celebrating that milestone, as well as making an effort to expand the programming, is an entirely new show – Sunday Night Soccer – and there are more ways to stream MLS Season Pass, one without even subscribing.

MLS Season Pass will still cost $14.99 a month or $99 for the season, or $12.99 a month and $79 for the entire season if you subscribe to Apple TV Plus – one of the best streaming services around. But, if you’re a T-Mobile or Metro by T-Mobile customer, you’ll get MLS Season Pass for free starting on February 18 as part of “T-Mobile Tuesdays.”

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple’s service gives you access to every game with no blackout dates and is available in over 100 countries. You also get commentary during the game in English and Spanish and access to shows such as Sunday Night Soccer and major tournaments like the League Cup, the All-Star Game, and Audi MLS Cup Playoffs games.

Until this season, you could stream MLS Season Pass content – including the matches – anywhere you could access Apple TV. That’s really any Apple device courtesy of the Apple TV app, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV 4K, as well as countless streaming boxes including the Roku Ultra and native on smart TV interfaces like Samsung’s Tizen, Google TV, and Amazon Fire TV.

However, Apple is partnering with Comcast Xfinity and DirecTV to make it a bit easier to hop in and watch a game. First, with Comcast, MLS Season Pass will be integrated into the Xfinity user interface, allowing you to search for an MLS game, much like how you search for a channel or other on-demand content. You’ll even be able to find the games or programming like MLS 360 right within the guide, which goes for set-top boxes, X1, and the Xfinity Stream app across devices.

(Image credit: Comcast/Apple)

Xfinity subscribers will be able to watch MLS 360 the entire 2025 season for free and get a free preview of MLS Season Pass from February 22 to March 2. If you’d like to subscribe, you can do so right through the Xfinity interface at the same price.

DirecTV customers will be treated to that same free trial, and the service will also integrate MLS Season Pass into the existing interface. This means that you can surf channels 480 through 495 to find the match or other programming that you want to watch.

It’s an interesting move from Apple that will likely expand the viewership of MLS Season Pass. It also speaks to how folks want to watch sports, as many stick with traditional cable services or digital alternatives like Xfinity Stream, YouTube TV, or Hulu with Live TV to watch games across the MLB, NHL, NBA, and NFL on a channel guide.

Ultimately, Apple and MLS still want to expand the sport and get more eyes on it, and both moves add up to doing just that. The 2025 Major League Soccer season will kick off on February 22, 2025, at 2:30 PM ET, with a match between Inter Miami CF and New York City FC.

If you can’t wait until then, you can watch last year’s championship on MLS Season Pass and select preseason games beginning on February 11, 2025. The service will also debut Onside: Major League Soccer, an eight-part documentary series, on February 21, 2025.

You can see the trailer for that below and subscribe, as well as learn more about, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV here.

You might also like

• We asked Apple about how to get the most of its Sports app for the iPhone, and how it updates so fast
• Max just made a big change, and your streaming life will probably get easier
• "If you’re a sports fan, I think you're going to be very happy with it," Apple's Eddy Cue explains how the tech giant made its new Sports app

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 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 NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

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 #1102) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* 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 #1102) - 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 1.

Quordle today (game #1102) - 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 #1102) - 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 #1102) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• W

• C

• S

• S

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

Quordle today (game #1102) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1102, are…

• WEEDY
• CHIRP
• STALE
• SUGAR

I tried a small tweak to my start words today. After my first word – AUDIO – came up with two yellow A letters (bottom left and right) I entered STARE instead of my regular STEER. Although it gave me an incredible start, landing SUGAR on my third guess, I would have got to WEEDY a lot quicker if I’d have stuck to my system.

Meanwhile, the Sequence was a real tricky one today; getting VENOM took me about 20 minutes.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Daily Sequence today (game #1102) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1102, are…

• VENOM
• SHEIK
• LEANT
• CELLO

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1101, Wednesday 29 January: CROWN, SCENE, AGILE, CRANK
• Quordle #1100, Tuesday 28 January: TOKEN, DAISY, INANE, PLIED
• Quordle #1099, Monday 27 January: ANGEL, GLOBE, MAYOR, BRAVE
• Quordle #1098, Sunday 26 January: WATER, ORBIT, BRIDE, TOUCH
• Quordle #1097, Saturday 25 January: GIVER, GROOM, GUSTO, MAKER
• Quordle #1096, Friday 24 January: GRIND, STOCK, SERVE, TOUCH
• Quordle #1095, Thursday 23 January: RUGBY, SASSY, WORRY, BANAL
• Quordle #1094, Wednesday 22 January: SLANT, TRUNK, WOOZY, EATEN
• Quordle #1093, Tuesday 21 January: CHART, VIGOR, PRINT, SPAWN
• Quordle #1092, Monday 20 January: SIXTY, THONG, TATTY, ROBIN
• Quordle #1091, Sunday 19 January: WREST, RINSE, SCOUR, CANNY
• Quordle #1090, Saturday 18 January: BLARE, ITCHY, BICEP, PIPER
• Quordle #1089, Friday 17 January: CATCH, WEARY, SWOON, LATHE
• Quordle #1088, Thursday 16 January: PARTY, BLUNT, TWEED, PLANT
• Quordle #1087, Wednesday 15 January: RISEN, PLATE, RURAL, ENVOY
• Quordle #1086, Tuesday 14 January: SWARM, SCRAP, ONION, BELCH
• Quordle #1085, Monday 13 January: EYING, GIDDY, CHEAP, PETAL
• Quordle #1084, Sunday 12 January: BRIEF, PETAL, WOMAN, FELON
• Quordle #1083, Saturday 11 January: ASCOT, FIBER, ROGUE, SMELL
• Quordle #1082, Friday 10 January: BIGOT, INLET, LEECH, TUNIC

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 NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Stopping by woods on a snowy evening

NYT Strands today (game #333) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• LOVE
• STORE
• LOSE
• DELVE
• SAME
• LOST

NYT Strands today (game #333) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Words from a classic verse

NYT Strands today (game #333) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 5th row

Last side: right, 5th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #333) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #333, are…

• FROZEN
• DARK
• DEEP
• LAKE
• SLEEP
• SHAKE
• LOVELY
• BELLS
• SPANGRAM: FROST POEM

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 1 hint

Today’s Strands is a lot easier if you are familiar with Robert Frost’s classic poem about briefly stopping to wonder at the natural world.

Frost called the poem, written in 1922, "my best bid for remembrance", so how wonderful that it’s been given a brief blast of spotlight in this puzzle. If you have the time there’s a wonderful, crackly, archive interview with the poet on YouTube, where he reads it in his fabulously deep voice. It’s fantastic.

Anyway, I must go. I’ve got promises to keep – well, a promise to myself to play and write about Connections next.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, 30 January, game #333)

• SOCK
• GLOVE
• STICK
• SHADOW
• FINGER
• MARIONETTE
• SPANGRAM: PUPPET MASTER

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.

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 Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

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 #599) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• HALO
• RIGATONI
• AIR
• WINGS
• ROMEO
• HARP
• DIP
• DWELL
• PIZZA
• PARISH
• LINGER
• VIBE
• BERNIE
• AURA
• BEER
• INSIST

NYT Connections today (game #599) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• GREEN: Watch party snacks 
• YELLOW: Charisma
• BLUE: Annoyingly persistent
• PURPLE: Look for Euro cities 

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 #599) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• GREEN: GAME DAY FARE 
• YELLOW: INTANGIBLE QUALITY 
• BLUE: KEEP GOING ON ABOUT, WITH "ON" 
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH EUROPEAN CAPITALS 

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

NYT Connections today (game #599) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #599, are…

• GREEN: GAME DAY FARE BEER, DIP, PIZZA, WINGS
• YELLOW: INTANGIBLE QUALITY AIR, AURA, HALO, VIBE
• BLUE: KEEP GOING ON ABOUT, WITH "ON" DWELL, HARP, INSIST, LINGER
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH EUROPEAN CAPITALS BERNIE, PARISH, RIGATONI, ROMEO

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

Today’s random set of words remained random for quite a while, until I slowly made sense of it.

I fell for the very obvious trap, convincing myself that we were looking for angelic accoutrements – WINGS, HALO, HARP – before abandoning this quest after linking BEER, DIP and PIZZA with snack food essentials.

If a group has anything to do with food then I’ll get it, but the second I’m required to apply some actual general knowledge I flounder and this was the case today with STARTING WITH EUROPEAN CAPITALS; Paris and Rome I should have seen, but Riga, the capital of Latvia, was a stretch. And full disclosure I thought the capital of Switzerland was Zurich, not Bern.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 29 January, game #598)

• YELLOW: OWNED BORE, HAD, HELD, POSSESSED
• GREEN: THINGS YOU MIGHT DO IN YOUR SLEEP DREAM, DROOL, SNORE, TALK
• BLUE: MOVIE SERIES WITH 2024 RELEASES ALIEN, GLADIATOR, VENOM, WICKED
• PURPLE: ____ HOUSE FULL, GINGERBREAD, HAUNTED, WHITE

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.