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 #595) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• RAVEN
• SILO
• HITCH
• PROMO
• TRAILER
• DISCOG
• FISH
• TRACTOR
• BALLY
• FARM
• CLOISTER
• GATHER
• SEPARATE
• HUNT
• AXLES
• SECLUDE

NYT Connections today (game #595) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Nourish ourselves 
• GREEN: Segregate 
• BLUE: 18-wheeler 
• PURPLE: Places to boogie 

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 #595) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: WAYS TO GET FOOD 
• GREEN: KEEP APART 
• BLUE: PARTS OF A BIG RIG 
• PURPLE: DANCE EVENTS PLUS A LETTER 

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

NYT Connections today (game #595) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #595, are…

• YELLOW: WAYS TO GET FOOD FARM, FISH, GATHER, HUNT
• GREEN: KEEP APART CLOISTER, SECLUDE, SEPARATE, SILO
• BLUE: PARTS OF A BIG RIG AXLES, HITCH, TRACTOR, TRAILER
• PURPLE: DANCE EVENTS PLUS A LETTER BALLY, DISCOG, PROMO, RAVEN

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

Pure luck got me over the line without making any mistakes today. I had no idea what a BIG RIG is, but AXLES, HITCH, and TRAILER all sounded like they must be part of something mechanical and I took a chance on adding TRACTOR.

I would never have got DANCE EVENTS PLUS A LETTER. I’m trying to rewire my Connections thinking process so I see these tricky groups, but I always go to the most obvious links – and in this case I was thinking PROMO and DISCOG had something to do with music; back in the day when I was a music journalist we’d called an artist’s Discography their Discog, and a Promo was a record you’d be sent ahead of official release. The actual connection was, inevitably, a little more complicated!

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 25 January, game #594)

• YELLOW: SCHOOL PERIODS CLASS, HOMEROOM, LUNCH, RECESS
• GREEN: FEATURES OF A SKI RESORT LIFT, LODGE, MOGUL, SLOPE
• BLUE: WORDS DERIVED FROM JAPANESE EMOJI, GINKGO, KARAOKE, TYCOON
• PURPLE: WORDS AFTER THE PREFIX "TRI-" ANGLE, CYCLE, DENT, POD

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Ore so they say

NYT Strands today (game #329) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• PAIN
• COMA
• CLAD
• MULE
• TEAL
• BELL

NYT Strands today (game #329) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Vital elements

NYT Strands today (game #329) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: top, 3rd column

Last side: bottom, 4th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #329) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #329, are…

• NICKEL
• IRON
• COBALT
• CADMIUM
• ALUMINUM
• TITANIUM
• SPANGRAM: PURE METAL

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

It was pretty obvious from the theme clue what we were looking for today and, of course, my biggest fear was that I would have to spell out ALUMINIUM – or rather, ALUMINUM as those of you in the United States would have it. A few very obvious – and much easier to find and spell – PURE METALs were left out of the puzzle, including Gold, Copper, Zinc and Silver.

As I was completing the game my mind wandered to the heavy metal genre, and the thought that it was named that after IRON Maiden – iron being a particularly heavy metal. But actually, Google tells me it comes from the song Born to Be Wild by the '70s band Steppenwolf, which includes the phrase “heavy metal thunder”. So today I learned two things – that, plus how to spell ALUMINUM.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, 25 January, game #328)

• BALLOON
• COFFEE
• SUCCEED
• COMMITTEE
• WHIPPOORWILL
• SPANGRAM: LETTERS

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.

As expected, OpenAI has released its first autonomous AI agent, called Operator this week. Operator can act independently from you on your computer using a web browser doing pretty much anything that can be done in a web browser.

So, it can perform tasks like booking a restaurant table or buying groceries. You just tell it what you want it to do, and off it goes like a faithful Internet-enabled butler that potters away until the task is complete or it needs to come back to you with a question. Say, there’s no table available at 7.00pm, would Sir or Madam mind a 7.45pm table instead?

Of course, Operator doesn’t call you Sir or Madam, but it might as well. For all intents and purposes, this is the Internet butler that we were promised almost 30 years ago when Ask Jeeves was around.

Do you remember Ask Jeeves? It was a search engine from 1997 that had an image of an actual butler who stood ready and willing to find things for you online. The character was named after Jeeves, Bertie Wooster's valet in the fictional works of P. G. Wodehouse. Instead of typing in search terms, Ask Jeeves encouraged you to search for things using natural language questions, like “Find me the perfect accompaniment to a roast dinner.”

Of course, we all know that Google won the search engine war, and in 2006, Ask dropped the Jeeves persona and just became Ask.com. But somehow, we’ve come full circle with AI, and thanks to technologies like ChatGPT search and Perplexity, searching using natural language requests is back in fashion. As our Internet butlers, except now we call them AI agents...

The Ask Jeeves search engine. AGI is the real goal

It’s no secret that Sam Altman and OpenAI are really interested in AGI, artificial general intelligence, also often referred to as superintelligence. This is the ultimate goal for OpenAI, and why it was founded. Chatbots like ChatGPT might have taken the world by storm, but their popularity is almost like an unintended consequence (a theme I’ll return to later) of the race toward AGI.

In a video to promote the release of Operator, one of the OpenAI employees sitting next to Sam Altman comes right out and says, [Operator is] "about removing one more bottleneck in our path to AGI.”

While agents are clearly exciting, they’re not the destination for OpenAI; they’re just one more step along the path. AGI has the potential to change our world radically. Once we have created an artificial intelligence that’s smarter than we are, logically it should be able to construct even smarter versions of itself, and the level of intelligence rises rapidly.

We’ve just got to hope that it doesn’t decide to wipe us out. Not to worry you, but Geoffory Hinton, often referred to as the ‘Godfather of AI,’ recently upped his odds of technology wiping out humanity to 20%.

OpenAI's Operator in action. (Image credit: OpenAI)

And this is where we return to the theme of unintended consequences. Many experts see AI agents as a threat. While speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, artificial intelligence pioneer Yoshua Bengio warned that AI agents could be catastrophic for humanity.

Speaking to Business Insider, he said, "All of the catastrophic scenarios with AGI or superintelligence happen if we have agents." Bengio would rather we continue towards building AGI without using agents, which allows them to do things autonomously. "All of the AI for science and medicine, all the things people care about, is not agentic," Bengio said. "And we can continue building more powerful systems that are non-agentic."

Humanity's downfall

So, could it really be that something designed to act like an Internet butler and do menial tasks like help me buy my groceries accidentally gives AI the power to take over the world?

For now, it’s hard to imagine how an automated program that slowly plods through the process of booking me a table at a restaurant using a web browser is going to end in humanity's downfall, but AI agents will live or die by one thing - if people actually use them – and I’m not entirely convinced they will.

Personally, I don’t feel ready to hand over my credit card details to a computer program that will buy things for me to save me time because I’m just not sure I’m ever going to trust it not to make a mistake. Would you?

Perhaps OpenAI needs to give its Operator a more human face if it wants me to trust it, and as it turns out, I believe that good old Jeeves might be looking for a job these days...

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Black Mirror season 7: key information

- Launching on Netflix in 2025
- Will be six episodes
- No official trailer, but a 30-second teaser released
- New and returning cast confirmed
- First ever sequel episode based on season 4’s USS Callister
- No official plot synopsis revealed
- Brooker “in it for the long haul” for future seasons

Black Mirror season 7, the highly-praised and darkly satirical anthology Netflix series, will return in 2025. In true puzzling and curious fashion in keeping with the show’s ethos, we don’t have an exact release date or official plot details, but we have managed to gather intel about season 7 that’ll be sure to excite.

It's one of the best Netflix shows, offering a wealth of sci-fi scenarios spanning dystopias and tackling themes of surveillance, AI, and societal issues, to name but a few. For season 7, the show looks set to return with more chaotic and thought-provoking tales on the best streaming service.

Plus, there's an all-star cast already confirmed, which features returning characters in an unprecedented move for Black Mirror with the first-ever sequel. With a show like this, you're never quite sure what to expect, but we've scoured high and low for everything you need to know about Black Mirror season 7 from release date, to confirmed cast, to plot synopsis, and more news and rumors.

Black Mirror season 7: is there a release date?

Black Mirror S7 - coming 2025. #GeekedWeek pic.twitter.com/dZcfNQHc4cSeptember 19, 2024

While there’s no official release date just yet for the new season of Black Mirror, we know that Black Mirror season 7 will be released on Netflix in 2025.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in May 2024, Brooker revealed they were: “in mid-production at the moment, and it’s all quite mad right now.” While the first four seasons of Black Mirror released in differing months, season 5 and season 6 both came out in June. While we wouldn’t want to predict anything Brooker does, we’ll take a rough guess and say (hope) that we may see Black Mirror season 7 in the summer.

Black Mirror season 7: has a trailer been released?

This is by no means an official trailer, but we’ll even watch a 30-second teaser that pretty much shows a loading screen the entire time just to get a hint of what Black Mirror has in store next.

The clip reveals six episodes loading up for season 7, as well as a brief glimpse of a file titled: “INFINITY” and the USS Callister logo. We’ll delve into more on what this means in our cast and plot synopsis below. Full trailers for Black Mirror usually arrive mere weeks before the new season’s release, so we’ll be sure to update here when we can.

Black Mirror season 7: confirmed cast

The biggest Black Mirror season 7 news so far - the return of USS Callister (Image credit: Netflix)

Potential spoilers follow for Black Mirror season 7.

Black Mirror is renowned for its stellar cast list, which changes in every episode, thanks to its anthology style. And, during Geeked Week 2024, the Black Mirror season 7 lead cast was revealed and Brooker calls it: “embarrassingly stacked”:

• Milanka Brooks as Elena Tulaska
• Waleed Hammad as Po
• Osy Ikhile as Nate Packer
• Jimmi Simpson as Walton
• Paul G. Raymond as Kabir Dudani
• Cristin Milioti as Nanette Cole
• Edward Pishiyski Chlerich as Walton Clone
• Billy Magnussen as Valdack
• Siena Kelly as Maria
• Rosy McEwen as Verity
• James Nelson-Joyce as Kano
• Awkwafina as TBC
• Peter Capaldi as TBC
• Emma Corrin as TBC
• Patsy Ferran as TBC
• Paul Giamatti as TBC
• Lewis Gribben as TBC
• Rashida Jones as TBC
• Chris O’Dowd as TBC
• Issa Rae as TBC
• Tracee Ellis Ross as TBC
• Harriet Walter as TBC

Thanks to What’s On Netflix, we know a little more about some of the roles listed above, but the rest it seems we’ll have to wait to see. The report reveals that two of the characters, Verity (Rosy McEwen) and Maria (Siena Kelly) will play old schoolmates, who weren’t really mates at all, working together at the same company - an international snack company called Savorita. This episode will reportedly be titled: “Ring of Truth”.

We also know that Milanka Brooks, Billy Magnussen, Paul G. Raymond, Cristin Milioti, Osy Ikhile, and Jimmi Simpson are all cast members from season 4’s USS Callister episode. And why are their names here again? Well, we’ll delve into that exciting plot news below.

Black Mirror season 7: story synopsis and rumors

The crew of the USS Callister - minus two - star in Black Mirror season 7 (Image credit: Netflix)

Full spoilers follow for previous Black Mirror seasons below.

The biggest announcement for Black Mirror season 7 so far was made during Geeked Week 2024 where creator Charlie Brooker revealed: “We’ve got six episodes this time, and two of them are basically feature-length. Some of them are deeply unpleasant, some are quite funny, and some are emotional.”

The last time fans were treated to six episodes was back in season 4 and that is very relevant when it comes to what Brooker said next: “Fans of the show will recognize the cast of a certain spaceship from one of our episodes reappearing. We’ve done a sequel for the first time in Black Mirror history. Normally, I kill off all the characters at the end of an episode, and I kept some of ‘em alive. I’m growing as a human.” And, that episode is season 4’s USS Callister.

It’s no secret that Brooker loves to utilize shock and awe in his story-telling and in USS Callister he killed off Robert Daly, played by Jesse Plemons. Plemons’s name being vacant from the season 7 cast list all but confirms his death was final. Plus, the official synopsis for the episode is: “USS Callister will return… Robert Daly is dead, but the crew of the USS Callister, their problems are just beginning.”

Creator Charlie Brooker has more sci-fi tales to tell (Image credit: Netflix)

But, why now? According to Brooker who spoke to THR, it’s always been on the cards: “It was something we were looking at for quite a long time. There were various iterations it went through, various versions we wanted to do and were discussing on and off for several years. But there are a lot of schedules to sort out, and then the pandemic got in the way. It was something that looked like it wasn’t going to happen, and so I was delighted when it did.”

While we know about one episode of season 7, news on the ground regarding the others is, in true Black Mirror style, kept mysteriously under wraps. Though Brooker teased in May 2024: “We are doing something really cool right now that we’ve never done before - but I can’t say what it is.” We wouldn’t want to guess given how unique and perpetually shocking each Black Mirror episode is, but it's true to form for the sci-fi series.

When it comes to season 7 as a whole, Brooker revealed to Tudum, that it will feel: “a little bit OG Black Mirror.” He said: “It’s back to basics in many ways. They’re all sci-fi stories, but there’s definitely some horrifying things that occur, but maybe not in an overt horror-movie way. There’s definitely some disturbing content in it.”

The beauty of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror is the wealth of directors brought on to tackle different episodes and amidst the cast list reveal, there's Ally Pankiw (season 6's, Joan is Awful), Luke Taylor & Chris Barrett (Cautionary Tales), Haolu Wang (Bodies), Toby Haynes (season 4's, USS Callister), and David Slade (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) all listed. While that doesn't tell us the plot, it gives us an idea of the kind of directors and style we can expect for Black Mirror season 7.

Will there be more seasons of Black Mirror?

We'd love to see more Black Mirror, and so would Charlie Brooker (Image credit: Netflix)

With six seasons under his belt and a seventh on the way, the question emerges as to how much more there is to come from Brooker, but thankfully The Hollywood Reporter posed this very question to the man himself. With an anthology series, the possibilities are seemingly endless, though he said: “I’m sure I’ll find out when we’re not doing any more seasons! It will be made apparent to me at some point, I’m sure. But I’m in it for the long haul. I’m not going anywhere.”

After taking over Black Mirror from Channel 4 in 2015, the fate of the show now belongs to Netflix - though there’s been no official news from them yet as to whether a season eight is coming.

For more Netflix-based coverage, read our guides on 3 Body Problem season 2, Stranger Things season 5, Arcane season 2, and One Piece season 2.

• GeneralPurpose.8xlarge delivers 32 virtual cores and 128GB memory plus 275GB storage
• This is far cheaper than Azure or Google Cloud, but more expensive than onprem if you plan to keep it for 6 months or more
• You will - of course - need a separate computer to access that virtual workstation

AWS has expanded its WorkSpaces desktop-as-a-service offering with the introduction of two new workstation-grade instance types.

The company says these new instances will provide its customers with powerful cloud desktops for resource-intensive Windows workloads.

The new instance types, GeneralPurpose.4xlarge and GeneralPurpose.8xlarge, feature 16 and 32 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) with 64GB and 128GB of memory, respectively. Both include a 175GB root volume and 100GB for user file storage.

Windows-only

Amazon is positioning the two new offerings as being ideal for developers, scientists, financial analysts, and engineers who need to run demanding applications.

“Developers can handle large compilation and development tasks with tools like Visual Studio, IntelliJ, and Eclipse, while engineers and scientists can run complex simulations with MatLab, GNU Octave, R, and Stata,” the company says.

The GeneralPurpose.8xlarge instance is AWS’s first to offer 32 vCPUs but it’s not cheap. With Windows licensing, the 32 vCPU version costs $590 per month, while the 16 vCPU model is priced at $295 monthly. Hourly rates of $4.56 and $2.28 are also available for an additional $19 monthly fee.

Three’s no mention of pricing for Linux users, so it looks as if this is a Windows-only offering for now. Users with their own Windows licenses (BYOL) can save a small amount – the 32 vCPU version drops to $544 ($4.40 an hour) while the 16 vCPU model is $272 ($2.20 an hour).

Although AWS’s 32-core virtual workstation offers competitive hourly rates compared to Azure and Google Cloud, it remains pricier than on-premises options for extended use. Additionally, users will obviously still require a separate device to access these cloud desktops.

In parallel to this announcement, AWS also introduced updates to its EC2 Image Builder, allowing Microsoft Windows ISO files to be directly converted into Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), simplifying the process of using existing Windows licenses with Amazon WorkSpaces.

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• Apple has some catching up to do in AI
• Siri upgrades are reportedly a priority
• Apple also wants improved AI models

We've seen Apple Intelligence launched with a whole lot of hype over the last 12 months, and it seems there's a lot more to come in this area – with a newly leaked memo revealing Apple's top two AI priorities for the rest of 2025.

The memo was reported in an article by Bloomberg (via 9to5Mac), which states that highly rated Apple executive Kim Vorrath has been moved to the AI division with the task of "whipping artificial intelligence and Siri into shape".

John Giannandrea, Apple’s head of AI, announced the news in an internal memo that also apparently reveals two key goals for the division in the coming months: improving the Siri digital assistant and building better in-house AI models.

There is an acknowledgement that Apple is still some way behind when it comes to AI. We've just seen the AI-packed Galaxy S25 phones launched by Samsung, while Google is pushing its advanced Gemini AI into just about all of its apps and devices.

AI upgrades

Siri has already had some Apple Intelligence added (Image credit: Apple)

The two aims reportedly highlighted by Giannandrea make sense. Siri was ahead of its time when it made its debut back in 2011, but since then its been overtaken by its rivals – and it's an Apple product that users often complain about.

OpenAI's ChatGPT is an example of an AI assistant that's much more versatile and far-reaching, and Apple has added a ChatGPT extension to Siri with iOS 18.2 – an admission that Siri currently isn't up to par.

Eventually, Apple will want to cut ties with rival AI assistants, and improving its own Large Language Models (LLMs) will help with that – the second goal. The likes of OpenAI, Google, and Meta all have extensive LLMs powering their AI technology.

We've previously heard that Apple's own LLMs might have developed sufficiently by next year for a truly next-gen Siri 2.0 to emerge – so expect more news to appear when Apple unveils its plans for iOS 19 sometime in June at WWDC 2025.

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• Scientists at US Department of Energy explore concept of an "Exocortex"
• It is pitched as an extension of the scientist's brain with a word-based HCI
• It is uncharted territory as one member of the team puts it

AI is already a big part of our lives, shaping healthcare, transportation, education, customer service, retail, and creative industries, to give just a few examples.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory are currently exploring the concept of a science "exocortex," the integration of artificial intelligence with human cognitive capabilities, viewed as an extension of the scientist's brain.

The idea is to increase the cognitive abilities of researchers by providing a bridge between the human mind and a network of AI agents.

It will require a community

Kevin Yager, Electronic Nanomaterials Group leader at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), detailed the idea in Digital Discovery. The proposed exocortex is certainly ambitious in its scope, aiming to streamline specific research tasks through a swarm of inter-communicating agents.

Each AI agent would specialize in particular tasks - be it handling scientific literature, orchestrating experiments, or data synthesis - and their collective behavior could offer a synergy that significantly extends the cognitive reach of human scientists.

The exocortex could also aid scientific inspiration and imagination by leaning into hallucinations.

As Yager explains, "Although hallucinations are generally undesirable, their existence is intrinsic, and there is a tradeoff between hallucinations and creativity. In other words, some amount of hallucination is desirable to enhance creativity and communication. More broadly, evaluations of LLM creativity suggest that they can generate outputs that are non-trivially novel and useful to humans."

This vision is not without its challenges, naturally enough, and will require further advancements in AI, particularly in terms of reliability and efficiency across highly technical domains.

Yager says, “Research is required to determine how best to exploit LLMs to generate agentic modules that can perform tasks autonomously (over short timescales) by iterating on a problem.”

The development of a seamless word-based human-computer interface (HCI) will also be needed to make these interactions feel like natural extensions of the human thought process.

While still in a speculative stage, the concept of an exocortex feels like a natural evolution for AI.

As Yager says, “Interaction between a swarm of AI agents - each responsible for intelligently mediating access to a suite of research capabilities - and a human researcher should lead to the emergence of enhanced human capabilities. By expanding the researcher's intelligence into the exocortex, the researcher can accomplish more, as they are able to intuitively and seamlessly weave myriad physical, computational, and cognitive systems into their intellectual work.”

In an article on Tech Xplore, written by some of his colleagues, Yager issues a call to arms, stating: "We're entering unchartered territory with tremendous potential benefits for nanoscience and beyond. But no one person can do it alone. We need a community."

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Once the bargain alternative to pricey cable and satellite packages, the streaming landscape continues to grow in size – and cost. While some of the best streaming services continue to hike their prices, we’ve got your back, giving you the latest scoop on which service you can expect to pay more for in future.

Read below to find out which streamers are charging more in 2025 so far. And while it may seem like keeping up with your favorite shows is getting increasingly costly, you could always check out the best free streaming services out there, which will offer you a wealth of content for nada. Make sure to also check the best streaming deals in 2025 to save on your next subscription bill.

The biggest streamer to announce things were getting pricier in 2025 was Netflix. The streaming giant announced on January 22 that it was raising prices, with the company stating: “As we continue to invest in programming and deliver more value for our members, we will occasionally ask our members to pay a little more so that we can re-invest to further improve Netflix.” It should be noted, at time of writing, the price increases only apply to subscribers in Argentina, Portugal and North America.

This means that in the US, the standard ad-supported plan will now cost subscribers $7.99, $1 more than it did previously. Standard without ads is up a buck and a half, now costing $17.99 while the premium tier is now $24.99, a $2 increase. If the price increase has you debating whether to keep the service, our list of the best Netflix movies and best Netflix shows might help your decision.

The other streamer already increasing its prices this year is Discovery Plus, with things set to get a little bit more expensive for US subscribers. The hike went into effect on January 7 for news subscribers, with Discovery saying it would renew at the new rates for existing customers “on your first billing date on or after February 7, 2025.”

Discovery Plus currently offers two tiers, both of which have increased by $1, with the ad-supported plan now $5.99, while it’s $9.99 to go ad-free. Of course, most of Discovery Plus’ content can also be accessed through Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streamer Max – which is due to receive a global rollout in 2025 – and with plenty of new content arriving on Max in February, consumers may begin wondering whether to keep the stand alone streamer at all.

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One of my main complaints concerning Nvidia's RTX 4000-series of graphics isn’t, surprisingly enough, the massive wattage (though that is a legitimate concern) but the pricing. For the past couple of generations, Nvidia has been massively hiking up the cost of its cards, especially its best graphics cards like the RTX 4080. But it's mid-range offerings haven't been spared either. It’s become particularly noticeable with the absence of budget-minded cards to offset this phenomenon.

When rumors for the RTX 50-series began to accelerate, buyers rightfully worried that prices would face a far steeper climb while offering a performance return that didn’t reflect the increase. However, the 50-series received its full announcement at CES 2025 and we now know that the MSRP is shockingly affordable.

The flagship Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, widely thought to be a Titan due to its incredible specs, is priced at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$4,039 — while steep, it’s not too far off from the original $1,599 price tag of the RTX 4090. This is especially promising since the rumors all pointed to a price nearly double what it ended up being.

Then there’s the RTX 5080, which is $999 / £939 / AU$2,019, and the RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti with respective retail prices of $549 / £549 / AU$1,509, and $749 / £749 / AU$1,109. The 5080 is $200 cheaper than the RTX 4080 was at launch, and will hopefully have a solid increase in performance to boot.

Most impressively, Nvidia claims that the RTX 5070 will offer comparable performance to the RTX 4090's native performance with some help from DLSS 4, but at around a third of the initial MSRP, while the RTX 5070 Ti will come in at just $150 more with even better performance.

This is also incredibly promising since it is a generational decrease in price, as the RTX 4070 Ti initially retailed for $799, and the RTX 4070 launched at $599.

AMD has been fumbling hard lately

(Image credit: AMD / TechPowerup)

I’ve long complained about how graphics cards need to be made more affordable, and how Intel has been stepping in the right direction with its Intel Arc Battlemage series. Now it feels like Nvidia is finally doing the same, capping overall price increases while lowering the cost of its mid-range offerings somewhat to remain accessible.

This, unfortunately, is in direct opposite of AMD’s current approach. AMD has been known for years as being the more affordable option for cards, balancing solid performance with more competitive price tags. However, some troublesome new reports suggest that the upcoming RDNA 4 cards may miss the mark in terms of pricing.

The RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 don’t currently have official prices (though apparently will be ‘competitive’ with Nvidia), and it’s been officially confirmed that it won’t launch until at least March 2025. This puts Team Red on the back foot as Team Green’s RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 will be launching in February 2025 with a healthy MSRP. By the time AMD releases their GPUs, everyone might already have bought new Nvidia cards, or may just opt for the more premium Nvidia offerings if AMD's prices are too close to its competitors.

Even worse, new reports indicate that the RX 7400 and 7300, which would have been new aggressively budget-friendly RDNA 3 options, have been axed in favor of fully supporting RDNA 4. If this turns out to be true, then Team Red is giving up a serious advantage in the market.

Right now, we’re looking at a potentially major upset in terms of better budget options for graphics cards. Nvidia has been at least responsive to complaints about price inflation, while AMD seems rather lost on the GPU front.

It’s a shame too, as it would be more beneficial to consumers to have two giants on an even playing field in order to keep prices low.

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• Where to buy Nvidia RTX 5090
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• The Galaxy Z Flip 7 is again rumored to use the Exynos 2500
• Samsung's own silicon was missing from the Galaxy S25
• Using the CPU might mean cheaper prices for the foldable

With the Samsung Galaxy S25 launch out of the way, the next Samsung phone launches we can turn our attention to are for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 – and a key spec for the latter handset just leaked out.

According to long-time tipster @Jukanlosreve, Samsung will go with its very own Exynos 2500 processor for the Galaxy Z Flip 7, a processor that isn't being used in any of the Galaxy S25 handsets unveiled a few days ago.

This is something we've heard before, adding extra credibility to the rumor. The tipster lays out the full specifications of the chipset too, including a 10-core cluster, and it looks like an impressive piece of silicon on paper.

As you'll see from our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review, the 2024 version of the phone came fitted with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset from Qualcomm – and all the Galaxy S25 models are running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processors.

Exynos vs the rest

Exynos 2500 specifications for the Z Flip 73.3GHz ARM Cortex-X925 1core2.75GHz ARM Cortex-A725 2core2.36GHz ARM Cortex-A725 5core1.8GHz ARM Cortex-A520 2coreL3 Cache 16MB 9.6Gbps 16bit Quad-Channel LPDDR5X Memory UFS4.x STORAGE 1.3GHz Samsung Xclipse 950 GPU (AMD…January 25, 2025

Samsung has long used a mix of its own Exynos processors and those designed and made by third-party manufacturers in its smartphones, and there's always speculation ahead of every new Samsung handset about which CPUs will get picked.

Generally speaking, the Exynos processors are thought to be a little less powerful than the alternatives – though not so much to make a huge difference to the user experience. They're also cheaper for Samsung to make, which can mean less expensive phones.

The rumor is that Samsung has been struggling to mass produce the Exynos 2500 in sufficient quantities, which may explain why it didn't appear in the Galaxy S25 (some Samsung Galaxy S24 models used the Exynos 2400 chipset).

There haven't been too many leaks and rumors around the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 yet, but bigger screens could be on the way, and it seems likely that we're also going to get a less expensive Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 SE.

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• Mega HR claims Megan is the most sophisticated AI recruiter to date
• It can apparently manage up to 78% of frontline hiring tasks to cut costs
• It doesn't take lunches, go on holiday, take toilet breaks, go to sleep or gossip

Recruiters play an important role in the hiring process, matching qualified candidates with job opportunities at organizations, arranging interviews, and so on - so it probably won’t come as too much of a surprise to learn this is a task to which AI is perfectly suited.

Mega HR has unveiled Megan, an advanced AI agent designed to transform recruiting and hiring processes.

Megan (who hopefully is more stable than her movie AI namesake) can apparently automate up to 78% of frontline recruitment tasks and address common issues like applicant “ghosting,” where candidates fail to show up for interviews, don’t respond to job offers, or don’t arrive on their first day of work after accepting the position.

Self-training ability

Mega HR says its platform was designed from the ground up with an agentic mindset, allowing multiple AI agents to collaborate seamlessly, solving complex recruitment challenges step by step.

“Megan isn’t just another AI agent; she’s a paradigm shift in SaaS,” said Darren Bounds, Founder & CEO at Mega HR. “Customers are already spending much less time on our product and more time in Slack, conversing with Megan to get updates and finalize hiring decisions.”

One of Megan’s key features is continuous self-learning. By self-training on all architectural, behavioral, and informational changes, and incorporating them into her capabilities, Megan can “move between thoughts, problems, and concepts fluidly - like a human - yet with instant access to all relevant data,” Mega HR claims.

Megan can reduce workloads by managing a majority of hiring tasks, from creating job postings to finalizing offers. For applicants, she can provide timely updates and clear communication.

The platform uses neural-symbolic reasoning, combining the contextual strengths of neural networks with the logical capabilities of symbolic AI, to interpret resumes, job descriptions, and other hiring data with a large degree of nuance. In addition, the AI’s composable design allows various workflows to connect and evolve dynamically, making it possible to adjust processes without sacrificing reliability.

Active learning mechanisms allow Megan to seek out and process new data that align with user goals, and Mega HR says any decisions that Megan makes are easy to trace, understand and, presumably, challenge.

You can find out more about Megan at Mega HR and request a demo. The video below shows the AI in action.

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• Shiny discs were supposed to kill boring magnetic tape once and for all
• But cheap storage all but killed the media for data hoarders
• Tape remains the only true viable long-term solution but drives are far too expensive

It's 2025 and after almost 20 years, Sony has announced that it is ending Blu-ray media production as well as MiniDiscs, MiniDiscs data and miniDV tape, a few months after it got rid of its 5.5TB Optical Disc Archive cartridge.

I'd be quick to say that this is almost certainly is for blank media as opposed to pressed media (as in 4K Bluray movies and console games) since streaming, for all its convenience, doesn't quite match physical media when it comes to quality and convenience.

There are still plenty of Blu-ray media vendors around; a quick look on Amazon brings up familiar names such as Verbatim, Smartbuy, Ridata but I think that the writing is on the wall for Blu-ray with dwindling demand and the allure of alternative storage (external hard drives, portable hard drives, portable SSDs). Shiny disks are done and dusted, with no apparent heir to the throne (despite what we have written in the past).

In addition, optical disc will deteriorate over time; the Canadian Conservation Institute estimates that BD-R have an average longevity between 5 and 10 years old which can't be good news for those that have used write-only Blu-ray disks. In reality, it will very much depend on a lot of other factors like humidity, heat, storing conditions, dye quality etc.

As for the future of on-premise data storage, of the remaining candidates, tape is the one most likely to survive and thrive. Hard drives are great for low hundreds Terabytes and the use of helium means that at some point in the future, helium-based HDDs will become unusable. Western Digital says that the helium "remains contained within the drive throughout its operational lifespan", which is usually between 5 and 10 years, about the same as Blu-ray.

A single 18TB LTO-9 cartridge, retailing for $88, can replace 720 25GB Blu-ray disks, a bundle that costs $288 on Amazon

Désiré Athow

Solid-state storage is another one but it is still far too expensive for anything above double-digits TB backups. Put aside exotic storage media like glass, silica, ceramic, DNA and holographic, there's only one tried and trusted media remaining on the market, the grand-daddy of them all, the OG: the old, venerable but still very much alive tape, more specifically LTO (Linear Tape Open). Yes, that very technology that optical drives were supposed to eliminate.

The current generation, LTO-9, delivers 18TB per tape with LTO-10 expected to offer between 24TB and 36TB. Its roadmap, released in 2022, goes up to Gen 14 with a tape capacity of up to 576TB (yes, that's more than half a Petabyte). Ridiculous? Well, IBM and Fujifilm already demoed such a tape back in … 2020, that’s over four years ago.

Used extensively for long-term cold storage in data centers and enterprises, LTO has the backing of some of the biggest tech companies in the world and is therefore not going away anytime soon. Tape comes with its intrinsic issues: drives are expensive and data stored on a tape can only be accessed linearly. But, on the other hand, LTO media is very cheap, less than $5 per TB, can be stored easily and is durable with a lifespan of up to 30 years.

What I think could cement LTO’s status as the go-to media for data hoarders is an affordable LTO drive. Right now, the cheapest LTO-9 internal drive costs more than $4,300 and is not compatible with the majority of workstations because it uses SAS (Serial-attached SCSI) as physical interface. Adding an external enclosure bumps the price to just over $5,000. We reviewed an LTO-9 drive from OWC back in 2022.

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The hope for a $999 LTO-10 tape drive

Could a sub $1,000 drive change the market dynamics? No, I don’t think so. Large data hoarders, those requiring hundreds of TB worth of storage, are a tiny minority that will almost certainly have the financial clout (or/and incentive/contacts) to purchase an LTO-8 or 9 drive (or an autoloader) should they wish to. So yes, while I would love to have a $999 HPE external LTO-10 drive to use, that has absolutely no chance of happening.

Affordable cloud storage in the low terabyte orbit is the main reason why the total addressable market for low-price on-premise backup has shrunk so much. Blame the likes of BackBlaze (unlimited, $72/year for one computer), iDrive (10TB, $99.50/year), Internxt (5TB, $380 for life). There’s even Geyser Data, a cloud storage service powered by tape (aka TAPAS) at the low, low price of $1.55 per TB per month (100TB would cost $1,860 per year).

Cloud storage though should complement rather than replace on-premise storage as part of a comprehensive backup strategy; just remember that upload/download performance will never match an on-prem solution and for anything bigger than 10TB, prices will rise quickly if you’re planning for the next decade.

This week, Samsung not only debuted its new Galaxy S25 series smartphones (including a surprise Galaxy S25 Edge reveal), but we saw a slew of major tech news stories that you might have missed.

OpenAI teased its Operator agent, Netflix raised its prices (again), and TikTok was banned and unbanned – but its fate still hangs in the balance as its rivals move in. You can catch up on all this and more by scrolling down.

Once you've wrapped up this week's ICYMI, check out our picks for the 7 new movies and TV shows to stream this weekend (January 24).

7. Samsung Galaxy Unpacked showcased the S25 series...

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Another year, another Samsung Galaxy Unpacked to unpack (sorry!). This latest edition saw the Korean giant launch the Samsung Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra. At the same time, a fourth device – the Galaxy S25 Edge – was teased at the end of the presentation as ‘coming soon.’

So, what’s new? All three new smartphones boast the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, 12GB RAM, and a host of new Galaxy AI features, including Now Brief and Audio Eraser. The Ultra has enjoyed an iPhone-like redesign, and Samsung has added Galaxy Z Fold 6-style camera rings to every model in the lineup. The Galaxy S25 Edge, meanwhile, will be a super slim version of (we think) the 6.2-inch Galaxy S25, but Samsung hasn’t shared any official details about that phone just yet (apart from its name).

We were on the ground at Galaxy Unpacked and have already handled all three new S25 devices, so check out our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 review, hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus review, and hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review for our first impressions.

• Read more: Samsung Galaxy S25 launch as it happened

6. ... and game us new Galaxy AI goodies

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

The launch of the S25 range was really all about Galaxy AI, Samsung’s overarching name for all the AI features packed into these new, slim, futuristic phones. By detailing all the AI capabilities before the phones, Samsung seems to think that the AI features are more important than the actual phone specs, so what is the Korean company getting so excited about?

Now Brief and Now Bar are the two standout features of Galaxy AI, and they’re essentially like super-powered notifications. Because they link into all the other apps on your phone, not to mention all your other Samsung devices, you’ll find they can start suggesting things you should be doing before they need to be done or things you might need to be aware of, like heavy traffic on the way home.

Security is obviously a big issue with AI and Samsung is keen to emphasize the new Personal Data Engine. This keeps all your personal data on your device when AI is working its magic with it, so you don’t need to worry about it leaking out on the cloud.

• Read more: Samsung Galaxy S25’s new AI briefing feature makes me want to give Android a try

5. Fitbit issued a warning about its batteries

(Image credit: Future)

A tough 2024 for Fitbit has paved the way for an even more beleaguered start to 2025. While you'd have hoped your best Fitbit could help power you through your New Year's resolutions to kickstart January, the company is actually firefighting a serious battery overheating issue.

The company warned users that the Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 are both at risk and could pose a potential risk to users. The update is already rolling out, but it's not all good news. Customers are being encouraged to check their device eligibility and will receive a notification telling them to update their firmware.

The update will reduce the risk of affected batteries overheating but comes at the cost of reduced capacity, meaning your device will need to be charged more often.

It's not ideal, and Fitbit is offering $50 to affected customers as compensation. With Google sunsetting Fitbit in favor of the Pixel Watch line, maybe they should spend that money on a new smartwatch.

• Read more: Fitbit issues battery overheating warning over two of its most popular watches

4. TikTok and other apps went dark, and returned

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Daniel Constante)

TikTok went offline for a day before being allowed to return to the US thanks to an executive order signed by Donald Trump, though questions remain on how long it’ll be sticking around. Plus, it wasn’t the only service to go dark.

Marvel Snap and CapCut went dark – alongside other ByteDance-owned ventures – despite some (like Marvel Snap’s own developers) believing their software would be exempt from the ban. This prompted a wave of reactions from the apps and their rivals – Marvel Snap is searching for a new publisher, and Instagram announced Edits (its own CapCut rival).

There’s still a question about what TikTok’s fate will be, but it seems plenty are preparing for it to get banned in the US again if a sale doesn’t go through, so you might want to get ready for that too.

• Read more: Instagram has just revealed a new video-editing app

3. Netflix got a price hike – again

(Image credit: Shutterstock / MAXSHOT.PL )

Here we go again: Netflix is getting a price hike in the US effective immediately – yippee…

The standard plan with ads is going up $1 from $6.99 to $7.99 a month, the standard (no ads) plan is jumping to $17.99 from $15.49, and the premium plan will set you back $24.99 a month instead of $22.99.

Netflix said it “will occasionally ask our members to pay a little more so that we can re-invest to further improve Netflix” as a way to wave away criticism. While the increase isn’t massive (and hasn’t yet made its way to the UK or Australia), these slow and steady increases have made the service considerably more pricey over time, and it’s leading us to ask if we should just ditch the streaming service once and for all.

• Read more: Netflix just got more expensive

2. OpenAI's first AI Agent arrived

(Image credit: OpenAI)

AI Agents are going to be a big trend in 2025, and OpenAI is officially shipping its first one, dubbed 'Operator' as of January 23, 2025, as a research preview for ChatGPT Pro Subscribes. The gist here is that it is Computer Using Agent, basically an AI that can complete web tasks for you as it lives within a browser. It uses GPT-4o’s visual with advanced reasoning to let it browse the web and understand various elements.

Essentially, as seen in a shared demo, it can fill out forms for you, find a restaurant, and then book it for you on OpenTable. OpenAI even says that it can self-correct, though we’ll need to see what that looks like in practice. It’s early days, but Operator is exciting and OpenAI is also working on other AI Agents.

• Read more: Operator can make a dinner reservation and complete other tasks for you

1. Oscar nominations received AI backlash

(Image credit: A24)

The Brutalist – up for 10 Oscars – and Netflix’s Emilia Pérez – up for a record-breaking 13 Oscars, the most for a foreign film ever – came under fire this week over their use of Respeecher, an AI voice-changing tool.

It was used to make The Brutalist actors such as Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones sound more genuinely Hungarian and to increase the singing range of the Emilia Pérez lead’s Karla Sofìa Gascón by combining her voice with French pop star Camille.

The films’ creative teams have argued that AI simply augments the incredible performances of these actors in the same way that traditional editing does and that while the AI was used to help speed up the editing process, it still required the care and attention of human editors. However, it’s left a sour taste in many people’s mouths, especially after the major 2023 Hollywood strike, which rebelled against AI’s use in films – with some calling for these films to be disqualified because they used AI.

• Read more: Netflix caught up in AI Oscars controversy alongside The Brutalist

• Billions of passwords are breached each year, SpecOps report claims
• Millions of users are guilty of poor password hygiene
• Strong passwords are the first line of defense against data breaches

Passwords are being breached at an alarming rate, and threat actors are gaining access to victims accounts through weak and easily compromised credentials, experts have warned.

New research from SpecOps has revealed over a billion passwords were stolen in malware attacks in a 12 month period, highlighting just how widespread the issue is.

Most of us are guilty of using lazy passwords, or reusing credentials at some point, but new research from shows just how much harm that's doing to users.

Strength in numbers

Stolen credentials are involved in nearly half of all data breaches (44%), and with breaches often costing companies millions for each incident, the cost of lazy passwords could be seriously detrimental to your business.

The most commonly compromised password was "123456", being found in over 1.4 million breached credentials. Worryingly, of the 1.8 million breached administrator credentials, 40,000 admin portal accounts had the password ‘admin’, which means even IT workers aren’t taking the threat seriously.

However, an equally concerning discovery is that 230 million of the breached passwords actually met the standard complexity requirements - so were over eight letters, had at least one capital letter, one number, and one special character.

Length doesn’t necessarily protect a password, as over 31 million of the breached passwords were over 16 characters in length. Long passwords hashed with bcrypt can take ‘millions of years to crack’, but no matter how long your password is, if you reuse a breached password, it’s compromised immediately.

This just illustrates that when it comes to passwords, more is more, and you can’t be too careful with how you choose to protect your accounts. Hackers can exploit weak passwords through brute force attacks, mask attacks, and dictionary attacks - so common words and phrases aren’t recommended.

“The amount of passwords being stolen by malware should be a concern for organizations,” said Darren James, Specops Software Senior Product Manager.

“Even if your organization’s password policy is strong and meets compliance standards, this won’t protect passwords from being stolen by malware.”

Staying safe

Secure passwords are a vital protection against a number of different threats, including identity theft, and social engineering attacks, which can leave victims in real financial or legal difficulty.

To avoid being a victim of stolen credentials, there are some tips to bolster your passwords to make you as secure as possible.

Your password should ideally be at least 14 characters, with a mix of lowercase, capitals, symbols, and numbers.

The worst, most easily cracked passwords are any variation of 'Password123', '123456', or 'admin', so steer clear of anything generic.

Don't use the names or birthdays of family or friends, or well known characters, and try to make it as obscure as possible.

Frustratingly, best practice is to choose a new password for each site, since reused passwords make even the ultra-secure credentials useless if one site is compromised.

Make sure to never share your password with anyone, including friends and family - and never send yourself (or anyone else) your password via email, message, or any other form of comprisable communication. If you need help remembering your passwords, we suggest physically writing them down somewhere secure, where no one else has access to.

Don't give away your password to anyone calling or emailing you claiming to be your bank, a friend, or any unfamiliar source. Always call your bank back through their official number (which you can find online) before giving away any details.

If you want to use a third-party to make sure your credentials are as secure as possible, we've put together a list of the best password managers around. These can be used to keep all of your passwords in one place, and remove the hassle of having to remember each one.

Alongside this, you could use the best password generators on the market. These simply generate passwords that are secure and pretty much impossible to guess, since they're typically generated randomly using a set of criteria which make them a super secure option.

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• Roli has a new Piano AI Assistant to go with its latest instruments.
• The Piano AI Assistant offers personalized, real-time help and lessons.
• The AI is there to make learning and creating music more intuitive.

Piano teachers of both the strict and whimsical variety are a staple of movies and television, but music technology company Roli now offers a piano tutor built right into the instrument. The new Roli Piano features personalized AI guidance underneath the 49-key, $800 keyboard.

Roli's Piano AI Assistant does exactly what it sounds like: It makes learning music more straightforward and fun than practicing alone. It can guide players through scales, explain ways of varying a tune, and even explain some music history in the context of specific compositions. It’s like having a music teacher who never gets tired and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject.

“In a few years time, it will seem antiquated that a piano or keyboard can’t help guide you, can’t see your hands and respond to them in many ways, and can’t have a conversation to help you," Roli CEO Roland Lamb explained in a statement. "Today, we’re unveiling the new Roli Piano System that will help usher in this big shift.”

Music dreams

That Piano System is more than just the AI tutor and includes several features built into the keyboard. The Brightkey feature identifies the song you are playing and then lights the keys to guide you through notes and chords. Roli's instruments also come with the Roli Airwave tool, which uses computer vision and AI to track hand movements over the keyboard, thus enabling the AI assistant to make specific corrections as you learn to play a new piece. Plus, the keys are sensitive enough to how they are played that they can mimic mechanical pianos in terms of bending pitches and other complex musical shifts.

These AI tools might serve to make music more accessible to a lot of people keen to learn piano. Instead of giving up after their first clumsy rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” the AI assistant could encourage you to keep going. And for experienced players, the expressive features and personalized prompts can spark new creative ideas.

The $800 price tag is steep, but as these kinds of tools become more common, it's not hard to imagine a future where music education leverages AI to give more people a chance to learn.

AI may not be music to every piano player's ears, but it might be worth humming along with, at least.

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• Google’s Gemini app now controls smart homes through a Google Home extension
• Gemini can understand natural language to complete tasks
• The aim is to make smart homes more intuitive and easier to manage

Google wants Gemini to control your smart home devices and has upgraded the Gemini app with a new Google Home extension to manage all of your connected devices the same way you'd ask the AI assistant to answer any other query. So if you have the Gemini app and devices controlled by Google Home, you can link Gemini to your Google Home account.

The extension links Gemini with your lights, thermostats, and any other smart home devices, but with the benefit of Gemini's more flexible conversational ability. That means you could say, “It’s too bright in here,” and have Gemini dim the lights instead of needing to command setting the lights to 50% specifically. You can also manage multiple devices with more casual language. Rather than individually tweaking device settings, you can say, “Dim the living room lights, turn on the bedroom lamp, and lower the blinds.” Gemini can grasp the three commands for three sets of devices and act accordingly.

The same goes for media controls. Gemini can adjust volume, playback, and other aspects of your music and video players with the same flexibility. And if you’re trying to secure your home, Gemini can automatically open the Google Home app when dealing with cameras and locks, so your sensitive data stays secure.

One standout feature is its ability to answer burning questions like, “Did I leave the porch light on?” Gemini will check and let you know, saving you from awkwardly walking outside in your pajamas to check for yourself. Thanks to Gemini Live, you can even control some devices directly from your phone’s lock screen.

A Gemini home

Google has battled Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and other smart home assistants for years, but Gemini and its natural language controls might give the company an edge as people await Amazon's planned Alexa upgrade or experiment with similar assistants from smaller brands.

Smart homes have always been about convenience, but Google seems to be banking on people wanting a home that pays closer attention to residents and their needs. For now, that attention is limited to practical tasks like dimming lights or playing music. But as AI continues to evolve, who knows? Maybe one day you’ll tell your house, “I’m stressed,” and it’ll brew you a cup of tea, dim the lights, and cue up a soothing playlist.

Even with imperfections, Gemini’s new feature is a promising step toward the company's dream of incorporating Gemini in every aspect of your life. Gemini is becoming an everyday assistant that knows the difference between you asking to make things cooler by turning off the thermostat and making things cooler by turning on mood lighting and Barry White.

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Seeing double

NYT Strands today (game #328) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• BALL
• SOME
• SELL
• WOOL
• WITH
• TELL

NYT Strands today (game #328) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Pairs

NYT Strands today (game #328) - 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 #328) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #328, are…

• BALLOON
• COFFEE
• SUCCEED
• COMMITTEE
• WHIPPOORWILL
• SPANGRAM: LETTERS

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 hints

A lovely spelling test for us today, as we searched for double-double-letter words – or, in the case of COMMITTEE and WHIPPOORWILL, triple-double-letter words.

I had never heard of the latter before, so it took me quite a while to get right. I’ve since learned that it’s a bird and it’s named after its distinctive WHIP-POOR-WILL call.

Meanwhile, there is only one English word with four sets of double letters – SUBBOOKKEEPER. I’m surprised Strands didn’t include that one.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, 24 January, game #327)

• QUICK
• BRILLIANT
• BRIGHT
• CLEVER
• INTELLIGENT
• SPANGRAM: THATS GENIUS

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 #594) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• GINKGO
• SLOPE
• EMOJI
• ANGLE
• DENT
• TYCOON
• RECESS
• MOGUL
• LODGE
• LUNCH
• POD
• KARAOKE
• CLASS
• CYCLE
• LIFT
• HOMEROOM

NYT Connections today (game #594) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Timetable 
• GREEN: As seen at Powder Mountain 
• BLUE: Heard in Tokyo
• PURPLE: Must try harder

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 #594) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: SCHOOL PERIODS 
• GREEN: FEATURES OF A SKI RESORT 
• BLUE: WORDS DERIVED FROM JAPANESE 
• PURPLE: WORDS AFTER THE PREFIX "TRI-" 

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

NYT Connections today (game #594) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #594, are…

• YELLOW: SCHOOL PERIODS CLASS, HOMEROOM, LUNCH, RECESS
• GREEN: FEATURES OF A SKI RESORT LIFT, LODGE, MOGUL, SLOPE
• BLUE: WORDS DERIVED FROM JAPANESE EMOJI, GINKGO, KARAOKE, TYCOON
• PURPLE: WORDS AFTER THE PREFIX "TRI-" ANGLE, CYCLE, DENT, POD

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

Seeing GINKGO I immediately thought one group had to be about Japan. In my first guess I left out KARAOKE and included MOGUL instead – my thinking is that it was a trick, as there was a recent news story about a town in England called Stockport which is claiming to be the birthplace of karaoke, rather than Japan. But I was wrong. Obviously

The legend goes that a shopkeeper called Roy Brooke invented karaoke – basically singing along to hits of the day – in the early 1990s, but it was stolen by some visitors from Japan, who went on to market it around the world.

Karaoke is still massive in Stockport, where 12 pub teams compete against each other every Monday to be crowned the Karaoke Champions of Stockport. And that bit, at least, is a true story!

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 24 January, game #593)

• YELLOW: CONTEMPLATE BROOD, MUSE, PONDER, REFLECT
• GREEN: RUDE THINGS TO DO INTERRUPT, LITTER, POINT, STARE
• BLUE: VOCATION CRAFT, LINE, TRADE, WORK
• PURPLE: -_PATCH CABBAGE, NICOTINE, ROUGH, SOUL

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.

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 #1097) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.

* 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 #1097) - 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 #1097) - 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 #1097) - 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 3.

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 #1097) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• G

• G

• G

• M

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

Quordle today (game #1097) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1097, are…

• GIVER
• GROOM
• GUSTO
• MAKER

I attacked today’s Quordle with GUSTO, putting down the first words that popped into my head – and it worked a treat, as I checked out on my eighth go.

It’s odd when you get spidey senses about words, but the truth is I got lucky today by guessing a word that began with the letter G (GAMER), thus unlocking three part-completed words.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #1097) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1097, are…

• POSIT
• PERCH
• PAPER
• LEVER

Quordle answers: The past 20

• 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
• Quordle #1081, Thursday 9 January: RESET, HUMOR, TENOR, IMAGE
• Quordle #1080, Wednesday 8 January: MINCE, SADLY, RISEN, VOUCH
• Quordle #1079, Tuesday 7 January: CREED, FILET, ROUTE, TAPER
• Quordle #1078, Monday 6 January: PIVOT, WOOLY, GRUNT, GROOM
• Quordle #1077, Sunday 5 January: BORAX, JUDGE, CADET, SALON

• Asus recently released its Q-Release Slim feature for GPUs
• Said feature is reportedly damaging GPUs
• There's no current fix for this issue from Asus

Asus’s Q-Release Slim was first revealed in August 2024 during Gamescom. It is an eject feature on 800-series AMD and Intel motherboards that makes removing graphics cards much easier. However, the recently released feature is reportedly causing major headaches for buyers.

According to HXL and Andreas Schilling from HardwareLuxx (reported on by Tom’s Hardware), Q-Release Slim has been causing damage to graphics cards by scraping off the sides of the connector. This could potentially ruin your expensive graphics cards, including the recent RTX 5090.

The Q-Release Slim is supposed to be an improved version of the Q-Release launched back in 2021 for high-end Asus ROG motherboards. It lets you quickly eject cards by titling them while pulling upwards. However, the fault lies in the peg side of the PCIe slot on the motherboard, which has a metallic piece embedded in it that scrapes against the connector. If the card is ejected frequently, this can result in significant damage — something reviews and overclockers tend to do.

Uniko’s Hardware offers more insight into the matter, including several photos from the bilibili channel. The first is of the design flaw reportedly causing this issue, while two more are before and after the original card’s condition versus the damaging results of using the Q-Release Slim eject 60 times.

We’ve also reached out to Asus concerning this issue and will update this story with any statements from them.

This isn’t the only issue plaguing Asus either

This isn’t the only recent report concerning Asus motherboards either. Patch notes slipped out early, which revealed a BETA bios fix for a “microcode signature verification vulnerability,” apparently affecting Asus gaming motherboards.

Tavis Ormandy, the security researcher who spotted the leak, stated, "It looks like an OEM leaked the patch for a major upcoming CPU vulnerability, ie: 'AMD Microcode Signature Verification Vulnerability.’” He then continues, “I'm not thrilled about this. The patch is not currently in Linux firmware, so this is the only publicly available patch."

By the time Asus edited the patch notes to remove mentioning AMD’s microcode issue, AMD had already confirmed the vulnerability to The Register. "AMD is aware of a newly reported processor vulnerability. Execution of the attack requires both local administrator-level access to the system, and development and execution of malicious microcode," the company stated.

It seems that Asus motherboards have been embroiled in some serious trouble, which could spell disaster for both processors and graphics cards. Hopefully, the manufacturer can correct the issue soon, as the timing couldn’t be worse — with the release of the RTX 5000-series and new processors on the horizon.

• AMD confirms processor security flaws after Asus patch slips out early
• Painful GPU extraction woes could be a thing of the past with new motherboards
• Some of the most iconic AMD chips have a serious security flaw — which the company says it probably won't patch now