TechRadar News

• Microsoft previously offered details on installing Windows 11 on an unsupported PC
• That workaround has been removed from the support document that hosted it
• This could be to do with the release of the 24H2 update, which is now widely rolling out

Microsoft has just quietly removed information in its support documentation regarding installing Windows 11 via a (not recommended) workaround, one that allowed the OS to be hosted on a PC that doesn’t meet the hardware requirements.

Specifically, this was a workaround for machines that aren’t up to speed for the system requirements of Windows 11 in terms of having TPM 2.0, or not having a modern enough CPU. It involved tweaking the Registry of the OS in order to facilitate the installation.

TechSpot noticed that Microsoft had made the change, linking to the new, altered support document, and also providing a link to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine’s captured version of the old document.

As you can see if you compare the two, the instructions for ducking around the TPM 2.0 or CPU requirements are provided with the old doc in the box labeled ‘warning’ which makes it clear that there are risks involved with both installing Windows 11 on an unsupported PC and modifying the Registry.

It appears that warnings aren’t enough, and Microsoft doesn’t want anyone at all using this fudge now, even at their own risk, given the change to the doc here.

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Melnikov Dmitriy) Analysis: A decision prompted by Germanium?

Why has Microsoft made this change now, after leaving these workaround details in place for so long? Because as far as we are aware, this method still works.

One theory is that the recent release of Windows 11 24H2 may have changed the terrain that this workaround is built on, meaning that trying to dodge said system requirements could now be more problematic.

Remember, the platform that underpins Windows 11 was changed to an all-new affair with the 24H2 update, as Microsoft introduced Germanium. In short, that meant a lot of tweaks for the inner workings of the operating system that can’t be seen, but are most definitely there (and needed for Copilot+ PCs). The changes may cause more potential problems with the above installation workaround (particularly given that one of Germanium’s main pillars is to bolster security, as well as performance).

So, perhaps the workaround is simply more likely to run into issues now, though we’ve not seen reports of this from Windows users to back up this idea (not yet, anyway). As already noted, we aren’t seeing any evidence that this method doesn’t actually work anymore.

Obviously, you can still view the instructions (via the Wayback Machine as noted), so if you want to make the move to Windows 11 on an unsupported PC, that can still be done (in theory). Indeed, we have a much more in-depth look at this process in a guide here, so if you’re serious about installing Windows 11 in this way, check that out.

In that guide, we still don’t recommend taking this course of action, due to the potential risks involved – which, if the above theorizing is correct, may be even more perilous now that Windows 11 24H2 is in town with Germanium in tow.

As Windows 10’s End of Life comes ever closer, if you are still on the older OS due to not having a PC that supports Windows 11, then you need to start carefully examining your options. Clearly enough, Microsoft doesn’t think one of those choices should be to fudge Windows 11 on a PC with an old unsupported processor (or no TPM 2.0, or perhaps both).

Whatever the case, it appears that the looming deadline for Windows 10 support ending is making some people think about upgrading, and Windows 11 is suddenly becoming more popular. Expect more of that migration to come as 2025 rolls onwards.

You may also like...

• How to set up your new Windows 11 laptop
• If Microsoft's Windows 11 24H2 issues continue like this, I'll fully convert to SteamOS for gaming
• Windows 11 remains an unloved OS – but why won't people upgrade?

• The terrible lag on the volume control appears to be gone
• One of the most talked-about problems since the app update
• Sonos' CEO is gone and the firm promises to "do right" by its customers

2024 was a terrible year for Sonos and many of its customers thanks to a botched app update that removed key functionality and introduced problems. By the end of 2024 it still wasn't completely fixed. But it's a new year, and it seems there's been a new dawn as well as the departure of CEO Patrick Spence: one of the most annoying on-going issues with the Sonos app finally appears to have been fixed.

This is going to sound daft to non-Sonos users. But customers are celebrating a massive change: the volume control… works!

Our Managing Editor Matt Bolton has checked this out on his own Sonos system, and says it's true: Hell has frozen over, pigs have learnt to fly and the moon has turned to cheese. The volume control works instantly!

What Sonos users are saying

The news broke on the r/sonos subreddit, home of some of Sonos's biggest fans and most disappointed customers. "They finally fixed the volume control," Brian Nicholson rejoiced.

The problem with the volume control was simple: there was tons of lag between adjusting it in the app to actually hearing the volume level change – if it even did change. And of course, that's a feature you're going to use very regularly so even a little lag is going to get very annoying very quickly, since you might want to change volume a few times in quick succession to get it right.

The volume issues have been among the top problems discussed on the subreddit for many months now. But not everybody is reporting that their app is fixed; the issue seems to be fixed on iOS but some Android users are still reporting problems; other users say they've never encountered any issues at all.

Assuming the issue really is fixed and this isn't going to turn out to be a false dawn, the posters' relief is understandable – but it's still pretty damning that it's taken months to make the best Sonos speakers' volume control work properly.

You might also like…

• Sonos Arc Ultra: the best all-in one soundbar for the price
• The best wireless speakers
• The best soundbars for all budgets and TVs

• Salesforce is reportedly set to lay off an estimated 1,000 workers
• However its sales rep hiring push is reportedly still ongoing
• Salesfroce Q4 2025 results set to be announced this month

Salesforce is set to lay off around 1,000 workers (via Bloomberg) as it looks to restructure its workforce, but it won’t necessarily be reducing its headcount by this amount.

The CRM software giant is reportedly continuing its hiring efforts to acquire AI salespeople, and employees affected by the redundancies can reapply for other roles internally.

It’s unclear which divisions of the business are to be hit by the job cuts, as Salesforce has not made a public announcement.

Salesforce to shake up its staffing

The report comes from an unnamed person familiar with the matter, who stated that an estimated 1,000 employees would lose their current jobs.

We don’t know the extent to which the job cuts will affect the company, which had around 72,600 workers in January 2024 when it reported its fiscal year-end figures. Salesforce will next report its year-end figures at the end of February 2025.

While not as stark as previous years, Benioff notified around 1,000 workers of their redundancies in 2024 across at least two separate rounds (via layoffs.fyi). More than 8,000 lost their jobs in 2023.

In December 2024, Salesforce revealed it would be hiring 2,000 new sales employees – an attractive offer for the 9,000 referrals the company received in a short space of time.

Indicative of the ongoing changes, COO Brian Millham recently said at a conference: “We’re looking across the entire company to say, ‘Where can we get more efficiencies? How can we continue to get fuel for the work that we’re doing to go invest in scale going forward?”

Despite the bad news for some, the company’s revenue growth, marked by 8%, 8% and 11% increases over the first three quarters of its fiscal 2025, suggests that the layoffs are largely a shift in focus more than a reaction to poor financial performance.

Salesforce didn’t respond to our request for further information.

You might also like

• Worried about the news? Here are the best job sites and best recruitment platforms
• Upskill with the best online learning platforms
• Microsoft reveals another round of job cuts

Microsoft’s integration of OpenAI’s o1 model into Copilot last week brought the "Think Deeper" feature to all users. Think Deeper houses OpenAI's o1, a reasoning model capable of some pretty good reasoning capabilities and complex insights, despite taking longer than a regular AI model to respond. OpenAI launched o1 as part of ChatGPT last year, but this CoPilot integration spells the first time you can access the model for an extended period at no extra cost.

You can turn on the o1 model by clicking on the Think Deeper button before submitting the request. As for why you might want to use Think Deeper, well it gives you access to the complex reasoning and searching that OpenAI's o1 model is capable of, and also offers enormous improvements in terms of memory. Where standard Copilot models tend to forget quickly, the Think Deeper mode keeps track of what you request and the context throughout your conversation.

AI interior design

(Image credit: Screenshot Microsoft Copilot)

To put the model through its paces, I started with a somewhat straightforward request that had some wrinkles. I asked, "I want to renovate my small bedroom on a budget of $500. Can you suggest cost-effective ways to improve its look and functionality?"

The AI came back with not only a budget breakdown for different ideas, but detailed suggestions for paint colors, lighting, furniture, and personal items. It even offered ideas for cost-free changes like scents and sounds before capping off with questions to consider, a bit of philosophy, and a Frank Lloyd Wright inspirational anecdote.

Travel time

(Image credit: Screenshot Microsoft Copilot)

For my next query, I went a little broader and more complex, asking Copilot, "I’m planning a 5-day trip to London on a $2,500 budget. Can you help me plan an itinerary that includes must-see attractions, affordable lodging, and transportation tips?"

The response was a lot like talking to a travel agent, one who wanted to "craft a journey where every moment immerses you in the heartbeat of this vibrant city, all while keeping your wallet happy." The AI then set up a whole itinerary, with each day its own theme, like "The Royal Welcome" and "East London's Edge." Each had the day mapped out with things to do, their prices, ideas for where to eat and stay, and approximate costs. Were I planning such a trip as a first-timer to London, I could think of a lot worse as an outline to use before I left.

Notably, as with the redecorating request, Copilot became very philosophical again at the end, keeping up the travel agent theme by reminding me that "Travel is more than ticking off landmarks; it's about the moments that resonate with your own journey. Perhaps you'd love an afternoon sketching by the Thames, delving into quirky bookstores, or finding the perfect spot to watch the city's skyline light up."

Playing Cupid

(Image credit: Screenshot Microsoft Copilot)

For my last experiment, I went as simple as possible and asked Copilot to describe a perfect first date. As you can see above, the response is phrased in a very human style. Most notably, the AI remembered my earlier mention of DIY projects at home and decided to incorporate them into all of the date ideas. Whether these would actually be good first dates is debatable, but at least the AI is paying attention and remembering our earlier chat.

Copilot without the o1 model is definitely quicker but usually shallower as well. That's great for simple tasks but can mean there's a need for a lot of manual tweaking. Copilot with o1 is smarter, more thoughtful, and much better at maintaining context, but it sometimes gets lost in its own brilliance. That said, it does feel more like an actual AI collaborator. So, if you need deep AI-powered insights, asking Copilot to Think Deeper is a great idea. Just don't use it when you're in a hurry, because in those circumstances, a brilliant overthinker is not ideal.

You might also like...

• OpenAI’s Sora AI video generator set to launch as company announces '12 days of OpenAI
• Happy 2nd birthday, ChatGPT! Here are 5 ways you've already changed the world
• ChatGPT o1-preview can solve riddles faster than me and I kind of hate it for it

I’ve always been fascinated by the promise of futuristic technology. Watching films with smart houses, robotic assistants, and virtual reality, I often imagine a world where all the hard work is handled by automation: press a button, problem solved instantly. Within the context of the business world, I see a similar emergence of new technologies with the ability to help businesses thrive.

Struggling with inventory tracking? There’s an app for that. Need to drive more sales and manage customer relationships? There’s an app for that, too. From paying your team to marketing your services, to invoicing your customers and paying your bills, every business challenge now has a dedicated tool ready to assist.

But when does relying on multiple disconnected technologies shift from boosting your business to undermining productivity? For many growing businesses, the tipping point begins when the ‘app bloat’ sets in - being bogged down by too many disconnected digital tools that don’t work together, leading to more inefficiencies and wasted time.

According to a recent study, 98% of businesses report that their digital tools are not sufficiently optimized to support long-term scale — meaning these businesses are stuck in the dreaded app trap with no real results. Investing in another app to get organized may be tempting, but the truth is simple: adding more software doesn’t solve the problem.

Finding the Right-Sized Solutions Can Be a Challenge

When a business is starting out, it makes sense to solve operational challenges by adopting tools that address specific operational challenges, such as managing inventory, activating marketing campaigns, or tracking sales. However, as a business grows, the demand for a scalable, integrated solution increases. . Without a cohesive software investment strategy, businesses risk focusing on short-term fixes instead of long-term integration and efficiency.

Over time, businesses can accumulate a patchwork of specialized apps - each designed to solve a specific problem, but not designed to work seamlessly together. The survey found that businesses use an average of 10 different digital solutions to manage operations. This fragmentation often leads to operational inefficiencies, forcing teams to manually transfer data between systems which increases the risk of errors and impacts productivity. For instance, a retailer may use different apps for inventory tracking, supplier management, and financial forecasting. This forces retail leaders to spend hours manually data entry, leading to delayed insights, outdated inventory data, and higher operational costs.

These inefficiencies add up quickly. Respondents reported spending an average of 25 hours per week on manual data entry and reconciliation across apps. That’s valuable time that could be better spent on strategic initiatives to drive growth.

The financial impact is equally significant. According to the survey, businesses overspend an average of $3,000 per month on unused or rarely used apps, amounting to $36,000 annually in unnecessary costs. Optimizing the tech stack to reduce waste and eliminate inefficiencies is not just a cost-saving measure; it's a critical step for businesses seeking sustainable growth.

Staying Ahead with Artificial Intelligence and Automation

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has quickly become an essential tool for businesses of any size looking to scale operations efficiently, with nearly 9 in 10 businesses (95%) agreeing that AI is crucial for success in today’s economic climate. AI’s ability to automate repetitive tasks like data entry, customer support, and reporting allows businesses to shift focus from administrative burdens to strategic growth.

By streamlining processes, AI frees teams to innovate and explore new opportunities instead of being weighed down by manual workflows. With AI-powered solutions, businesses can achieve more with fewer resources, creating the capacity to grow without adding complexity.

Beyond automation, AI tools deliver predictive analytics that empowers businesses to make smarter, data-driven decisions. For example, a restaurant chain can leverage AI to analyze customer preferences and spending patterns by region, helping marketing teams craft location-based campaigns tailored to customer trends.

Integration is Key to Growth

As technology advances at record speed, growing businesses need to stay agile and adaptable. That means focusing on future-proofing the business for sustainable, long-term success instead of investing in the latest shiny tool on the market. To unlock new growth opportunities, these businesses need an integrated digital business solution that empowers smarter, faster decisions, boosts productivity and increases capacity for success.

When it comes to a connected platform solution, the survey found that 95% of businesses see the value in integrating apps and software for scaling their business. By consolidating tools into a unified system with robust integration capabilities, businesses can rely on a single source of truth accessible across departments, significantly reducing manual data reconciliation. This kind of visibility also allows teams to make faster, better-informed decisions to stay competitive in the market. Here are three ways businesses can drive better integration:

Prioritize multi-functional platforms: When selecting software, ensure it ticks all the boxes of the business. Does it easily integrate different functions like finance and marketing? Platforms that offer all-in-one functionality can streamline workflows and connect various aspects of the business, ensuring smoother communication and data flow between departments.

Re-evaluate your tech stack regularly: Conducting consistent audits of software investments can help identify redundancies and underutilized tools that are driving up costs and slowing operations. Removing this excess will streamline the tech stack and help business leaders gain a better understanding of where they can automate further.

Invest in employee training: Ensuring everyone on your team understands how to use the solution will maximize the benefit of the platform, foster collaboration, and reduce the reliance on outdated apps.

As it turns out, the futuristic tech-driven world we envisioned still needs a little fine-tuning. While today’s technology can make things easier, businesses still need to be savvy about what technologies actually help move their business forward. With a smart, integrated system, escaping the app trap and unlocking sustainable growth is within reach.

We've compiled a list of the best online collaboration tools.

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

When news that Dyson was adding a handheld vacuum to its range reached my ears, I was excited. This is a brand known for its cutting-edge engineering; its boundary-pushing designs. What innovations would it come up with for the all-new Dyson Car+Boat?

Turns out, not many. When I unboxed my review model, it felt familiar. The specs, too, seemed very similar to what I remembered from another vacuum. Then I got my old Dyson V8 out, to compare, and had a Lindsey Lohan Parent Trap moment. The Car+Boat wasn't just similar to the V8, it was identical. To create the Car+Boat, Dyson has taken a V8, removed the wand and floorheads, and popped one new attachment into the box. It even says 'Dyson V8' on the box of my review model.

The Dyson V8 (left... or is it right?) next to the Dyson Car+Boat (Image credit: Future)

All of Dyson's stick vacuums can be turned into handheld model by removing the floor wand and adding a detail tool, so if you already have a newer Dyson, you might well feel put out if you decided to shell out for a Car+Boat. Two of the three attachments included with the Car+Boat are also bundled in as standard with Dyson's stick vacuums – namely the Crevice tool and Combo tool. I assume the third (a new handheld attachment) will also be added to Dyson's accessory store at some point, too.

I'm writing this the day before the new model goes on sale to the general public, and there's a chance Dyson will have shifted its wording to make it clearer that the Car+Boat isn't a new model by the time it's officially released to the public. I think that would be a good move, because if you're aware of it, the fact that the Car+Boat is the same as the V8 isn't necessarily a bad thing. Let me explain...

A handy solution?

When I first heard about this model I said I thought it looked set to blow other handhelds out of the water, and now I've tested it out properly for my Dyson Car+Boat review, many of the things I was initially enthusiastic by turned out to be just as impressive in practice.

The V8 isn't the best Dyson vacuum based on specs. It came out in 2016, and there are currently three newer vacuums in the lineup: the Dyson V11, the V15 Detect and Gen5detect. However, the V8 is the best option for handheld use. It's the lightest of the three (considerably so, in the case of the newest Gen5detect, which clocks in a 7.7lbs compared to the V8's 5.6lbs). It's also the most compact, and therefore better at getting into awkward nooks and crannies.

The relatively compact size of the V8 makes it suited to use as a handheld (Image credit: Future)

In fact, I'd go as far as to say the V8 is better suited to use as a handheld than it is as a floor vacuum. The dust cup is slightly irritatingly small for a whole-home vacuum, but generous for a handheld. Same goes for the battery life – 50 minutes might not be enough time to clean a large home, but it's more than enough for a car, and far longer than you'll get with even the best car vacuums on the market.

You're not getting the suction-maximizing in-line design introduced with the V11 (where the cyclones, wand and dust cup are all stacked in a line), but that's perhaps less of an issue when the suction head is so close to the motor, rather than all the way at the end of a wand.

In short, the V8 is still an excellent handheld vacuum. I'd be excited to see what Dyson could come up with if it tried something truly new in the handheld vacuum area.

You might also like...

• Browse the best cordless vacuums
• Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus review
• Dyson vacuum cleaner tool guide: what each one does, and which you need

• Microsoft Paint now features a Copilot AI
• New AI Paint tools include Cocreator, Image Creator, and Generative Erase
• Windows is adding AI search to find photos using natural language

Microsoft Paint, that humble program you may only call up for a very quick image crop, is getting an AI upgrade thanks to a new Copilot button. Microsoft’s AI assistant can now help create and enhance any sketches or MS Paint-based visions you care to put down in pixels. For now, the update is limited to Windows Insiders, though, presumably, Microsoft will expand access as they refine the feature.

For those with access, clicking the Copilot button in the Paint taskbar will offer a menu of AI-powered features. That includes Image Creator, which turns text prompts into images using OpenAI's DALL-E model, Cocreator, which uses AI to combine text prompts with any doodles you make in Paint to produce a new kind of artwork, and Generative Erase, which can take objects (or people) out of an image without disturbing the background.

This isn’t the first time Paint has flirted with AI. In 2023, Microsoft started adding Cocreator to Paint, followed by generative fill, which lets you remove or modify parts of an image by instructing the AI to replace them with something new. This simply organizes all the AI tools neatly under the Copilot banner, making it easier to find and use them in one place.

Paint is just one of the stations Copilot is setting up across Windows. The AI is already built into the Windows taskbar, the Edge browser, the Office 365 platform, and even some keyboards. That said, offering AI in Microsoft Paint fits with how people might actually use the application. Making and editing images is the whole point of Paint; Copilot simply expands those abilities.

Organization Copilot

But this isn’t just about Paint. Microsoft is also rolling out updates to its AI-powered search, which first appeared in preview earlier this month. Until now, AI search only worked with files stored locally on your PC. This new update expands to cloud storage as well, meaning you can now find your OneDrive photos just by describing them.

Instead of scrolling through endless folders of screenshots and vacation photos, you can type something like “beach sunset from last summer” and let AI do the rest. It’s a small but significant shift toward a more intuitive way of managing files.

Paint may not be the most exciting Microsoft tool, but the incorporation of AI tools is notable as an evolution of an app that many assumed Microsoft would abandon years ago. Instead, Paint may thrive in the AI era thanks to the very simplicity that has made it appealing for decades.

You might also like

• Microsoft's AI Copilot makeover lets it see and speak
• Microsoft Copilot just gave you ChatGPT’s second best reasoning model for free, but there are some limitations
• Microsoft could be about to rebrand its AI into Windows Intelligence rather than Copilot

• Ahead of Super Bowl LIX, Apple Music is just $2.99 for six months for select customers
• It's a great time to give the streaming service a go and ditch Spotify
• Apple Music offers a million songs, including many in lossless

Whether you let Apple Music expire after a free trial or have never been tempted by its deep integration with the iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, HomePod, and iPad, the temperature to switch to Apple’s music streaming service is at an all-time high.

Why? Well, beyond lossless audio that meets the Spatial Audio standard for free, basically every song imaginable, and excellent curated playlists, Apple Music is offering new subscribers an excellent deal ahead of Super Bowl LIX and the Apple Music Halftime Show. You can get six months for just $2.99, an exceptional savings.

That’s a full $8 off the $10.99 a month price for an individual plan, so you’ll save around $63 over six months. This makes it an especially attractive offer if you’ve been loyal to Spotify or another service and really gives you a reason to switch. Or if you’re not completely sold, this lets you give Apple Music a go for just $3.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff)

While it lacks a fancy, visually attractive Wrapped functionality at the end of the year, it makes up for it in many ways. A Replay playlist arrives each month, meaning that current Apple Music subscribers can see a list of the songs they played and listened to the most, among other statistics, for January 2025.

Apple Music’s library contains well over 100 million songs, many of which are also available in Lossless, Dolby Atmos, and Spatial Audio formats. This means that with the right equipment – speakers, soundbars, earbuds, or headphones – you’ll get a more immersive listening experience. While Amazon Music offers this as well as Tidal, it’s something that Spotify can’t touch – even if it promised ‘Hi-Fi’ many many moons ago.

Not to mention, if you’re using an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch, the main ‘Music’ app is where Apple Music lives. It’s also integrated quite well, allowing you to share tracks easily and even ask Siri to play your favorite songs, playlists, or artists by default. Further, on the big screen, courtesy of an Apple TV 4K – or on other devices – you get Apple Music Sing, which is the best lyric experience, in my opinion, and a super fun way to karaoke with almost any track available on the platform.

(Image credit: Future)

Like Spotify, you’ll find a bunch of playlists, including top lists by region and city, as well as curated ones by the Apple Music team and even some artists. There are also several radio shows to pick from and music videos to watch.

Suffice to say, at just $2.99 for six months, there’s really never been a better time to at least give Apple Music ago. Apple says it’s available for new and eligible customers, so you’ll want to head over to the promo page and see if you’re eligible. We’re waiting to hear back if this is global, but we spotted a banner for £2.99 for six months.

You might also like

• AirPods 4 fall to just $99 for the first time, and this is a price I can get on board with
• Amazon Music Unlimited just got a price hike – giving you no reason to choose it over Spotify or Apple Music
• I got a first look at the new Lego flower sets in a botanical garden, and the Mini Orchid should be on your list
• I pitted ChatGPT’s new o3-mini reasoning model against DeepSeek-R1, and I was shocked by the results

• “Internet dress” blends human and robotic elements
• Designer Maximilian Raynor spent almost a month making this dress
• No, it's not for sale

In a fusion of technology and haute couture, fashion designer Maximilian Raynor has unveiled a dress unlike any other.

Crafted from 12,000 feet of repurposed fiber optic cable, the 50-pound dress is a striking representation of the internet’s physical form.

The dress was created through a collaboration between Raynor and web hosting firm Equinix.

Following in the footsteps of Chanel’s 2016 data center-themed runway show and IBM’s recent project transforming chip fab sounds into music, the dress, codenamed ProjectMax, made its debut ahead of London Fashion Week, turning heads with its intricate and futuristic design.

A dress "made of the Internet"

Raynor, known for designing avant-garde pieces for celebrities like Lady Gaga and Chappell Roan, described the dress as the “personification of the internet herself.”

He explained, “I imagined a character that is the embodiment of data—somewhat robot, somewhat human—emerging from a pile of wires to create this dramatic look.”

In addition to discarded internet cables, the dress uses metal nuts, and bolts sourced from Equinix’s 260 data centers across 33 countries.

Raynor spent 640 hours weaving together the stretchable, 25kg garment, but it's not for sale and won't be reproduced, only serving as a statement piece.

“By bridging the gap between physical and virtual, we wanted to create something tangible that works as a unique talking point to highlight the many thousands of connections that are created by Equinix to support economies and societies every day," Bruce Owen, Equinix's EMEA president, told Data Center Dynamics.

"The design pays homage to the physicality of the vital infrastructure that makes up the Internet," he added.

"Rather than some sort of weird magic or unexplainable force that just happens to work, it’s a physical, intricate network of cables, traversing land and sea and creating physical connections housed in Equinix data centers worldwide."

You may also like

• Mysterious hyperscaler plans to build Europe's largest cloud and AI data center that will suck enough electricity to power 20,000 homes
• India's richest person wants to build the world's largest data center, five times the capacity of Microsoft's biggest site
• Lacking in space? Here are some tiny printers for small office spaces

• A new phishing campaign is targeting businesses and individuals in over 50 countries
• Experts warn attackers are hiding malicious links in PDFs using a never-before-seen obfuscation technique
• Use the best antivirus software and activate advanced mobile threat defense solutions

PDF files, long considered a safe and reliable way to share documents, are now being weaponized by cybercriminals in a sophisticated phishing campaign targeting mobile users.

New research from Zimperium’s zLabs team claims this new threat involves malicious PDFs delivered via SMS messages whose senders impersonate the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Attackers are using advanced techniques to hide malicious links within the files, exploiting the trust users place in the format to steal sensitive data.

Why mobile users are vulnerable

This campaign reportedly targets organizations and individuals in over 50 countries with over 20 malicious PDF files and 630 phishing pages identified so far.

Attacks commence once the victim clicks on the malicious link hidden in the PDF; usually containing requests for personal information, including names, addresses, and credit card details.

Mobile devices are considered especially vulnerable to this type of attack because, on smaller screens, users have limited visibility into file contents before opening them.

Malicious links in these PDFs are even more difficult to detect than usual, because the attackers aren't using the standard /URI tag to embed links, allowing the malicious content to evade detection by traditional endpoint security software.

“Although USPS has no involvement, cybercriminals exploit its trusted name to mislead and target users,” said Nico Chiaraviglio, Zimperium zLabs' Chief Scientist.

“This campaign shows the growing sophistication and continued rise of mishing attacks, emphasizing the need for proactive mobile security measures,” he added.

How to protect yourself

One of the most effective ways to stay ahead of this type of attack is to verify the sender’s details, and the metadata of any attachment you open; even more important measures to take as business email attacks are becoming a bigger threat than ever for businesses.

You may also want to avoid clicking on links embedded in PDFs or SMS messages. Instead, navigate directly to the official website or use the organization’s mobile app.

Furthermore, to stay safe from malware on mobile devices, ensure you’re using the best Android antivirus or best iPhone antivirus software.

You may also like

• Check out our top picks for the best malware removal software right now
• We've also listed the best firewalls available
• Common internet scams and how to avoid them

We’re all hopelessly online these days, but our kids are more connected to the internet than any generation that came before them. Of course, that connectivity can come at the cost of privacy. It’s natural for parents to want to protect their children and their privacy before sending them out to explore the Internet, but do you have all the tools necessary? If you’re not using Norton VPN Ultimate, you could be missing out on incredible technology that can help keep your family safe when browsing the internet.

Protecting your family’s privacy online

(Image credit: Norton VPN)

It’s common these days for our personal information to be available online, but such lax security comes with some legitimate threats. Bad actors are always looking for your family’s data and can use easily tracked information on your favorite devices to steal your identity, financial information, and more. Norton Ultra VPN is an award-winning VPN service that ensures your family is safe and secure online.

Robust toolsets like IP Masking, Data Encryption, and Antivirus Protection can help provide anonymity in today’s hyper-connected digital landscape. With a VPN, targeted ads are a thing of the past, as identifying information about your family’s location and browsing history becomes encrypted.

Masking your location with a VPN can also have the added benefit of granting you access to your favorite content from your favorite streaming service. No more losing access to your kids’ favorite show when traveling to a different region!

Parental Controls put you in charge

(Image credit: Norton VPN)

Norton VPN Ultimate offers an impressive array of parental controls that put you in charge of determining your family’s online activity. Relying on online filters like safe search controls can be limiting, and don’t prevent your children from directly accessing inappropriate websites. With Norton VPN Ultimate, you can block unsuitable websites and prevent your children from accessing unapproved content.

Accessing content is only the tip of the iceberg, though. Norton VPN Ultimate features a well-rounded screen time feature, giving you the power to control not just what your children see, but for how long. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) recommends less than two hours of screen time a day for children, and even less for those under the age of six. We all know our kids aren’t keeping to those guidelines on their own, and it can be time-consuming as a parent to count down every minute of screen time our kids are exposed to. Norton VPN Ultimate’s screen time feature gives us the power to monitor and limit screen times as we see fit, in addition to providing all these other privacy and safety tools.

All-in-one data protection, antivirus protection, and family set tools? Yes, please.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

You could sit and download a plethora of apps and software to cover all of the devices your family uses to browse, game, and shop online. Or, you could save yourself the hassle of trying to remember all those passwords and just sign up for a Norton VPN Ultimate to provide you and your family with peace of mind. Norton VPN Ultimate’s toolkit is stacked with everything you need to protect your family from the ills of the internet, including robust antivirus and malware detection, data encryption, parental controls, and so much more. You can try this one-stop-shop VPN right now, and rest easy knowing Norton VPN Ultimate is backed by a 60-day money-back guarantee. Keeping your family safe online has never been easier.

• Nvidia integrates DeepSeek-R1 as a NIM microservice
• AWS supports DeepSeek-R1 with a focus on scalable and cost-efficient AI deployment
• Microsoft also has future local deployment plans for DeepSeek

Having taken the AI world by storm in recent weeks, DeepSeek has now made significant strides in expanding the accessibility of its advanced reasoning models.

The company has announced its flagship DeepSeek R1 model is now available on multiple platforms, including Nvidia, AWS, and GitHub.

DeepSeek’s open source nature allows developers to build models based on its architecture, and, at press time, there are 3,374 DeepSeek-based models available collaborative AI-model development platform Hugging Face.

Nvidia, AWS, Github & Azure now offers DeepSeek

On AWS, DeepSeek-R1 models are now accessible through Amazon Bedrock which simplifies API integration and Amazon SageMaker which enables advanced customization and training, supported by AWS Trainium and Inferentia for optimized cost efficiency.

AWS also offers DeepSeek-R1-Distill, a lighter version, through Amazon Bedrock Custom Model Import. This serverless deployment simplifies infrastructure management while maintaining scalability.

Nvidia has also integrated DeepSeek-R1 as a NIM microservice, leveraging its Hopper architecture and FP8 Transformer Engine acceleration to deliver real-time, high-quality responses.

The model, which features 671 billion parameters and a 128,000-token context length, utilizes test-time scaling for improved accuracy.

It also benefits from Nvidia’s Hopper architecture, using FP8 Transformer Engine acceleration and NVLink connectivity. Running on an HGX H200 system, DeepSeek-R1 can generate up to 3,872 tokens per second.

Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry and GitHub have further expanded DeepSeek’s reach, offering developers a secure and scalable platform to integrate AI into their workflows.

Microsoft has also implemented extensive safety measures, including content filtering and automated assessments. The company claims that it plans to offer distilled versions of DeepSeek-R1 for local deployment on Copilot+ PCs in the future.

DeepSeek-R1 took the world by storm by offering a powerful, cost-efficient AI model with advanced reasoning capabilities and has dethroned popular AI models like ChatGPT.

R1 was reportedly trained for just $6 million, with its most advanced versions being about 95% cheaper to train than comparable models from NVIDIA and Microsoft.

You may also like

• Nvidia calls DeepSeek an 'excellent AI advancement' and praises the Chinese AI app's ingenuity
• OpenAI says DeepSeek used its models illegally, and it has evidence to prove it, new report claims
• DeepSeek and the race to surpass human intelligence

• Security outfit VIPRE processed 7.2 billion emails to deliver a scathing report
• It found 90% of emails sent are classified as spam, with the US topping the spam senders list
• Rising threats for 2025 include QR code phishing and adoption of deepfakes

VIPRE processed 7.2 billion emails in 2024 and uncovered a staggering 858 million instances of spam, with the majority flagged due to content (437 million) or the links inside (411.62 million).

The security firm's latest email threat analysis research also revealed over 90% of all emails identified as spam included unsolicited commercial messages and malicious phishing attempts which attempt to evade secure email provider filtering.

VIPRE found the US is the leading source of spam emails, followed by the UK, with countries like Switzerland and Sweden also among the top senders.

The rise of malspam and phishing

The digital age has brought an overwhelming deluge of email spam; other recent research claims businesses reportedly received 20 billion spam emails in 2024.

Malspam, or malicious spam, continues to be a significant threat, and attackers are known to switch up their attack methods.

In Q1 2024, 78% of malspam used attachments, while Q2 saw a shift to 86% using links. By Q4, attachments had regained prominence, with PDF, DOCX, and XLSX files being the most common carriers of malware.

Links remained the most common phishing tool, with URL redirection accounting for 51% of phishing attempts. QR codes emerged as a new attack technique, with their usage in phishing emails rose from 1% in Q1 to 12% in Q4.

VIPRE's report encourages vigilance against emails purportedly coming from CEOs and top business executives; the firm found 70% of all scam emails use this format. Such spam emails primarily target the manufacturing sector (32%), energy (9%), retail (8%), health (5%), and government (4%). Microsoft remained the most spoofed brand with the likes of DocuSign, Apple, and Google also topping the list.

To combat these evolving threats, organizations must adopt a multi-layered approach to email security. Implementing email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can help prevent spoofing and impersonation while investing in AI-powered detection tools can provide real-time protection against emerging threats.

In addition, enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) via authenticator apps adds an additional layer of security, while continuous user education is essential for identifying phishing attempts.

On the backend, behavioral analysis and endpoint protection systems should also be deployed to detect and block suspicious messages and malware.

“This annual email landscape analysis provides valuable insight into the cybersecurity threats that will challenge businesses in 2025,” said Usman Choudhary, Chief Product and Technology Officer at VIPRE Security Group.

“To counter the increasingly automated and AI-enhanced email-based threats, organisations need to implement robust email security technologies and foster a culture of highly vigilant security awareness among employees, in equal measure. This dual approach presents the most realistic and effective approach to surmount the ever-advancing and difficult-to-spot email-based threats.”

You may also like

• We've listed the best free email services right now
• Phishing attacks surge in 2024 as cybercriminals adopt AI tools and multi-channel tactics
• Over 2 million risky Android apps were blocked from the Play Store last year

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Monday, February 3 (game #1106).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 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 #1107) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

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

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

Quordle today (game #1107) - 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 0.

Quordle today (game #1107) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1107) - 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 0.

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 #1107) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• B

• D

• M

• J

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

Quordle today (game #1107) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1107, are…

• BIRTH
• DRAWN
• MILKY
• JOIST

I only just scraped through today thanks to some brain freeze. That said, without incorrectly guessing the word “Right” when I already had an incorrect “T”, I would never have got BIRTH. Sometimes a mistake can unlock the rest of the puzzle – that’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.

I certainly should have also guessed JOIST ahead of Moist – it’s exactly the kind of word Quordle loves to catch us out with. Or maybe I'm just paranoid.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #1107) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1107, are…

• APRON
• COCOA
• GUESS
• CURLY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1106, Monday 3 February: SLEET, TENSE, SEIZE, SCAMP
• Quordle #1105, Sunday 2 February: LOUSY, PENNE, CHUMP, SALVE
• Quordle #1104, Saturday 1 February: FACET, BLISS, FLUFF, FRANK
• Quordle #1103, Friday 31 January: PARER, SYNOD, BRAWN, BANJO
• Quordle #1102, Thursday 30 January: WEEDY, CHIRP, STALE, SUGAR
• 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

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, February 3 (game #603).

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 Connections hints.

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 #604) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• FILE
• SAVE
• BUTTER
• CHICKEN
• SPREAD
• SAND
• UNDER
• STORE
• LADY
• FAVORITE
• STICKY
• PRESERVE
• KEEP
• BUFF
• PARLAY
• GRIND

NYT Connections today (game #604) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Put away for later 
• GREEN: Level the surface
• BLUE: Bet on it
• PURPLE: Add a handy body part

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 #604) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: CONSERVE 
• GREEN: SMOOTH USING FRICTION
• BLUE: SPORTS GAMBLING TERMS 
• PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE "FINGERS" 

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

NYT Connections today (game #604) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #604, are…

• YELLOW: CONSERVE KEEP, PRESERVE, SAVE, STORE
• GREEN: SMOOTH USING FRICTION BUFF, FILE, GRIND, SAND
• BLUE: SPORTS GAMBLING TERMS FAVORITE, PARLAY, SPREAD, UNDER
• PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE "FINGERS" BUTTER, CHICKEN, LADY, STICKY

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

The only STICKY group for me today was WORDS BEFORE “FINGERS” and this was just because I’d never heard of CHICKEN Fingers. If the group had included FISH I would have got it more quickly – although I believe that in the US this pinnacle of orange cuisine is called a Fish Stick.

The Fish Stick was invented by frozen food pioneer Clarence Birdseye and was originally made from herrings. It only became a product made from cod in the 1950s and its success was rapid in the UK, where they were marketed with the slogan “No bones, no waste, no smell, no fuss”. I’m not sure about that last part as it’s a given that if you clean your freezer you will always find some orange fishy crumbs preserved in the ice, even if you haven’t eaten a fish finger in years. Finger crumbs – the wooly mammoth of the modern suburbia.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 3 February, game #603)

• YELLOW: COMMENT AFTER AN INSULT BURN, OUCH, SNAP, ZING
• GREEN: TINY AMOUNT, WITH "A" BIT, LITTLE, MITE, TAD
• BLUE: BIT OF CITRUS GARNISH SLICE, TWIST, WEDGE, ZEST
• PURPLE: BUNGLE, WITH "UP" FOUL, LOUSE, MUCK, SCREW

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.

I love wrestling. I love the storylines, I love the athleticism, I love live TV, and I love the ridiculousness of it all. I turned 30 last month and there are very few interests that have stuck with me from my childhood, but wrestling is one of them. There have been times when my interest has withered, but the soap opera of wrestling always manages to reel me back in.

As of January, WWE’s headline weekly show, 'Monday Night Raw', is live on Netflix worldwide. We’re a month into the $5 billion deal and the road to the most important event of the wrestling calendar is underway (Wrestlemania), making now the perfect time to dust off your wrestling boots and get back into the action. Whether you loved WWE growing up and lost interest over time, or you’ve never seen a wrestling show in your life, now’s the perfect time to start watching WWE and I’m going to explain why.

Welcome to the Netflix era

(Image credit: WWE / Netflix)

The late 90s/early 00s was prime WWE, or as it was called back then WWF, before a legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund. With icons of the sport like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock leading the charge, WWE was hotter than ever before selling out arenas all around the United States. That was, until now. Following on from a monumental sale to TKO (the company that owns UFC), WWE is now setting record gates in stadiums across the globe and has never been more popular. With adults returning to wrestling to see John Cena’s final year or CM Punk’s incredible mic work, and children engrossed with new future legends like Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, WWE is thriving and it’s only going to get better from here on out.

Naysayers love to throw around the idea that wrestling is “fake” and the storylines cheesy, but as I grow older I come to respect the craft more than ever before. Wrestling is indeed pre-determined, but so are all the best TV shows and best movies. But the result of a match being decided beforehand shouldn’t be a reason to dismiss or avoid giving WWE a chance, after all some of the best wrestlers in the world like Seth Rollins and CM Punk can deliver live acting in one take that you wouldn’t be surprised to see in an Academy Award-winning drama. That might be hard to believe if you’re used to the ridiculousness of the 90s, but some of the best wrestling storylines nowadays, like the infamous tale of The Bloodline, a look at the Samoan wrestling dynasty with The Rock, Roman Reigns, Jey and Jimmy Uso, and Solo Sikoa, has been pure cinema. I’m talking about interweaving weekly storylines that have only grasped an audience but have essentially reinvented the wheel when it comes to how storylines can be portrayed on live television.

(Image credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

In the UK and the rest of the world, Netflix doesn’t only show Raw on a Monday, but also WWE’s Friday night show, SmackDown, as well as all the Premium Live Events like Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, and Summerslam. Speaking of Wrestlemania, the journey to the biggest event of the year began this weekend with one of the best PLEs we’ve seen in years. I may have watched wrestling for nearly three decades but I can’t remember the last time I’ve been sat on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, hoping my favorite wrestlers come out on top. The best bit, everything that happened on Saturday night at Royal Rumble is just the beginning of months of storytelling as we lead up to Wrestlemania 41 in Las Vegas on April 19th and 20th.

WWE has gone through years of irrelevancy, particularly as the company turned to PG audiences following the heyday of The Rock and Austin. But now the tides have turned and it’s not only culturally acceptable to say you watch wrestling, it’s almost cool again. Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, and Rhea Ripley, to name a few are pioneering something special on live TV and I implore anyone who’s ever watched wrestling in the past, or is looking for a new way to spend their Monday nights to give WWE on Netflix a go.

How to watch WWE on Netflix

US audiences can tune into WWE Raw every Monday night on Netflix, PLEs (the huge shows like Wrestlemania) are streamed live on Peacock.

For the rest of the world, like the UK and Australia, the full WWE catalog is available on Netflix, including WWE Raw, WWE Smackdown, and all PLEs, including Wrestlemania 41. Not only can you watch shows live, but there’s a full selection of previous shows dating back to the 80s, so you can catch up on your favorite nostalgia trip before getting stuck into modern-day action.

The next big WWE PLE is Elimination Chamber that will be streamed live on Netflix worldwide and Peacock in the US on March 1st. That said, give WWE Raw a try on Netflix at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET / 1 a.m GMT to see what all the fuss is about. I promise, if you appreciate great stories and incredible action, you’ll be hooked in no time.

You might also like

• Prime Video just launched another new exclusive streaming bundle
• Netflix just got more expensive – here's how much your next bill will go up by
• 3 new Netflix shows I can't wait to watch in February 2025

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, February 3 (game #337).

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Elf-centered

NYT Strands today (game #338) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• MICE
• HOME
• SLIME
• PIERCE
• BEER
• LIME

NYT Strands today (game #338) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Mischievous beings

NYT Strands today (game #338) - 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 #338) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #338, are…

• PIXIE
• FAIRY
• SPRITE
• HOBGOBLIN
• GREMLIN
• LEPRECHAUN
• SPANGRAM: IMPISH

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

The biggest challenge for me today was connecting the letters of the fiendishly tricky LEPRECHAUN. Other than that I couldn’t have wished for an easier Strands.

Seeing the letter X in the puzzle is always a big help and so it proved, helping me find PIXIE to begin the hunt.

Among the hint words was Beer, and HOBGOBLIN happens to be the name of a UK beer brand. Maybe this was just a happy accident, maybe there’s an ale-head at Strands HQ or maybe I’m just thirsty.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, 3 February, game #337)

• POACH
• BAKE
• BOIL
• BASTE
• PICKLE
• SCRAMBLE
• CODDLE
• SPANGRAM: MAKING EGGS

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.

Upsettingly, the first three seasons of my favourite sci-fi show, The Expanse, are reportedly about to be cruelly removed from Prime Video and it’s happening this Friday (February 7), giving you just a few short days to binge-watch them all!

I’m sure that there will still be a way to watch the first three seasons on one of the best streaming services somewhere eventually (I hope), but if you’re a Prime Video subscriber then this will be your last chance to watch it as part of your subscription. That's according to reports from Prime Video subscribers who have seen a message appear next to the title saying that it's 'leaving soon', but these messages are no longer available at the time of writing (we have contacted Prime Video asking for clarification and will update this article as soon as we hear back).

If you’ve never heard of The Expanse before, then let me fill you in on some essential lore of the finest sci-fi series you haven’t watched yet. Firstly, it’s based on the superb series of books (not to mention short stories and novellas) by James S.A.Corey, which is the joint pen name for two authors, called Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, that starts with Leviathan Wakes, and ends with the ninth and final book, Leviathan Falls.

• Watch The Expanse season 1 on Prime Video now

As always, the books are better than the TV show, but the TV series is still mostly faithful to the books and astoundingly good, even if it doesn’t cover the entire story – it stops at book six. The original TV series was produced by The SyFy Network and got canceled after its first three seasons. After that Amazon acquired the rights and produced three more seasons – you can see the bump up in budget this produced on screen – and it’s those original three seasons that are supposedly about to disappear from Prime Video for good.

The show begins at a point in time when humanity has already colonized the solar system, including Mars, the Moon, and most importantly, the Asteroid Belt and beyond, but that’s as far as we can reach – for now. Given our limited range and scant access to resources, things like water and air become incredibly valuable commodities, especially for the inhabitants of planets and asteroids that don’t have their own supplies of these things.

Series one focuses on a detective (Miller) and his search for a missing girl, but that’s just your way into the universe of The Expanse, which soon expands to dizzying proportions. Episode one starts with the crew of an ice miner called the Rocinante, or Roci for short, making a run from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the belt when they discover a derelict ship called the Scopuli, which holds a terrible secret that has the potential to change the destiny of humanity.

(Image credit: Amazon)

Throughout The Expanse we see the tensions between the different factions of humanity, the Earthers (that’s us), the Martians (or Dusters), who have gained independence from Earth, and the Belters, whose bodies have had to adapt to life in a low gravity environment, play out in a way that contains all the political intrigue and machinations that you’d find in wars between the Seven Kingdoms in the writing of George R.R.Martin. Several things stop The Expanse becoming simply ‘Game of Thrones in space’ though, but the main one is, surprisingly, physics.

Unlike most sci-fi shows which throw up get-out-jail-free super technologies (dilithium crystals, I’m looking at you) or fantasy TV shows that can always fall back on magic to explain how things happen, The Expanse, does a great job of providing plausible explanations for how space ships can travel such long distances in a relatively short period of time, in this case, the Epstein Drive. And when we see battles between space ships (and there are a lot!), the beam weapons, like the rail gun, they use don’t cause massive explosions, instead they chop through the hull of a ship like a wire through a block of cheese. And the tactical manoeuvres the captains pull off (having to flip their ship because of a forward mounted rail gun) feel real. In fact, The Expanse feels more like it belongs to the Three Body Problem universe than the Star Wars or the Star Trek ones.

But it’s not all about the physics. The characters are all excellently drawn. Mainly, it’s the ragtag crew of the Rosi, who keep you hooked. Along with James Holden as captain we have the XO, Naomi Nagata, pilot Alex Kamal and chief engineer Amos Burton, who has the strange ability to channel meanness into a super power when he needs to, but is loyal to a fault. Throughout the series we get additional crew members, particularly gunner Bobbi Draper, but the core group somehow manage to stay together, emotionally, even if not physically, in all the turmoil that follows.

The universal constant in The Expanse, however, is space, – the big nothingness that surrounds our tiny struggles. We humans feel like silly creatures compared to the vast unforgiving blackness. The universe doesn’t care if we live or if we die, and the real message of the show, if there is one, is that it’s up to us to care for each other because the universe doesn’t care about us.

You might also like

• Where to watch Resident Alien season 3 online: stream the sci-fi comedy from anywhere
• Dune: Part Two has just been added to Netflix - here are 3 other gripping sci-fi movies with over 87% on Rotten Tomatoes
• Excited for Silo season 2? Here are 4 more sci-fi shows on Apple TV Plus with over 83% on Rotten Tomatoes

• The latest Fire TV software update has removed a popular feature
• You can no longer hide unwanted apps on your homescreen
• It's possible to restore the functionality with an app called atvTools

Amazon isn't a stranger to quietly removing Fire TV features or breaking their functionality with software updates – and it's just struck again in the latest firmware push for its popular streaming gadgets.

A new Fire TV update, which has rolled out to first-gen and second-gen Fire TV Sticks among other devices, has removed the option of hiding apps on your homescreen (as spotted by AFTVNews).That means you're now stuck with a cluttered grid of apps you probably don't want, with no option to make them disappear.

Previously, you'd be able to press the 'context' button on a Fire TV remote (the one with three horizontal lines) and see the option to 'hide from your apps'. While it's possible to uninstall third-party apps, you can't do this for Amazon's own apps like Freevee or Prime Video. Thanks, Amazon.

The further bad news is that this also means that apps from other user profiles that you've set up on your Fire TV device will be shown across all user profiles. Unfortunately, there's evidence on the likes of Reddit that this downgrade has also hit other Fire TV Sticks including the more recent Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

The workaround

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023) home screen interface (Image credit: Future)

Fire TV Stick owners are becoming increasingly disgruntled with Amazon's software updates, which sometimes feel user-hostile – like last year's firmware that broke a number of popular third-party apps.

Fortunately, there does seem to be a workaround (for now) that lets you again hide apps that you don't want to see on your homescreen. As outlined by the YouTuber TechDoctorUK,the third-party app atvTools (available for Android and iOS) restores your ability to remove unwanted homescreen apps, albeit in a more long-winded way than before.

To do that with atvTools, open the app and connect to your Fire TV device. Now go the apps list, search for the app you want to remove from your homescreen, tap the three dots, and choose the 'disable' option. Once you refresh the apps grid on your Fire TV, the app should now have been hidden.

This likely won't be the last time we hear of Amazon disabling Fire TV Stick features, as Amazon has previously defended some updates in the name of improving security on Fire TV devices. If you're getting tired of these kinds of updates, it could be worth looking at alternatives like the Nvidia Shield TV Pro (see below), which just got a rare discount on Amazon US.

Streaming devices come in all shapes and sizes but if you want a premium offering, then it doesn't get much better than the Shield TV Pro. The device from Nvidia gives you cutting-edge AI upscaling capabilities and full support for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision content. One of the other benefits of this product is that you get the latest version of Android TV, which serves as a gateway to Nvidia’s game-streaming service, Geforce Now. View Deal

You might also like

• Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED TV review: the best Fire TV yet, and a solid option for sports and gaming
• Amazon Fire TV devices get two big hearing aid upgrades for family streaming
• Amazon Fire TV Soundbar review: a cheap, basic soundbar with benefits

Max never fails to disappoint when it comes to highly-rated content being added to the platform and this month it's no different. With 80 new Max movies available on February 1 alone, there's certainly a wide choice on offer to watch.

So where do you start? Well, I've sifted through everything new on Max in February 2025 and picked out three of the best Max movies and best Max TV shows with over 91% on Rotten Tomatoes that I'm excited to watch this month.

The Guilty

• RT score: 98%
• Age rating: R
• Length: 90 minutes
• Director: Gustav Möller
• Release date: February 1

The Guilty is a Danish movie that follows Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren), a former police officer who answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is disconnected, he attempts to rescue her from her kidnapper. Even though the movie is set in only one room, The Guilty still manages to engage you with its nail-biting tension and drama through Asger's urgent telephone conversations.

The White Lotus season 3

• RT score: 92%
• Age rating: TV-MA
• Length: ~60 minute episodes
• Creator: Mike White
• Release date: February 16

I've been waiting two years for The White Lotus season 3 to arrive, and now it's nearly time for an eclectic mix of wealthy socialites to check in to the infamous luxury hotel chain once again. The third season of the hit anthology series takes us to Thailand where the social satire will follow the exploits of various guests and staff over the span of a week. Show creator Mike White teased that season 3 is going to be "longer, bigger, crazier", so I'm definitely making a reservation to find out who will be in the body bag this time around.

Support the Girls

• RT score: 91%
• Age rating: R
• Length: 94 minutes
• Director: Andrew Bujalski
• Release date: February 1

Support the Girls stars Regina Hall as Lisa, the general manager of sports bar Double Whammies. Always optimistic and protective of her young female staff, her positivity is tested on a particularly challenging day. This indie workplace dramedy is an intimate day-in-the-life portrait of a woman under pressure as chaos ensues around her. Phew, working in hospitality seems hard.

You might also like

• Max rolls out a new multiview feature for 2025's NASCAR Cup Series that puts you in the driver's seat
• Max just made a big change, and your streaming life will probably get easier
• HBO renews The White Lotus for season 4 and the hit Max show's creator already has ideas for where to go next