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To say that Garmin has upset its users with its new subscription service would be putting it mildly. The company recently announced Garmin Connect+, a new paid premium tier of its Connect app that features some shiny new paywalled features, including AI-powered insights and a performance dashboard for all of the best Garmin watches.

It hasn't gone down well. Thousands of furious Garmin fans have taken to Reddit over the news, demanding customers take a stand.

The uproar has been so intense that you might have actually missed what the subscription entails, so if you're at least a little bit curious or you'd happily give the free trial a go, here's what you get from Garmin Connect Plus for $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$12 per month or $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$120 annually.

1. Active Intelligence

(Image credit: Garmin)

Garmin Connect+ gets you AI-powered training insights. Garmin says you'll get personalized suggestions based on health and activity data. Previews showcase friendly summaries about your sleep, battery, and more. As you'd expect from AI, the insights will reportedly get better over time. Here's an example:

You fell 1 hour and 23 minutes short of your sleep need, but you still managed to charge your battery 57 points. You're ready for exercise today, but balance it with rest to avoid bottoming out.

2. Performance Dashboard

(Image credit: Garmin)

Connect+ features a comprehensive view of training data, available on the website, that lets you compare your fitness and health data over time. Showcased examples include your running duration comparison, time in power zones, average pace, and distance over time.

3. Live Activity

(Image credit: Garmin)

Your smartphone will now give you real-time heart rate, pace, reps and videos for your indoor workouts (such as strength and yoga) when paired with a compatible smartwatch.

4. Exclusive Coaching Guidance

(Image credit: Garmin)

As you use Garmin Run Coach or Garmin Cycling Coach, you'll get expert guidance from coaches, including educational content and videos.

5. Enhanced Livetrack

(Image credit: Garmin)

Starting an activity on a compatible device will now notify your friends and family via text, and you can create a personalized LiveTrack profile page for people to follow.

This seems to have changed the existing text feature for Garmin users, and we've got some concerns that this might have pushed some of the existing LiveTrack features behind a paywall. We've reached out to Garmin to confirm.

6. Social features

(Image credit: Garmin)

Finally, social features include exclusive badges, some of them worth an increased amount of points, and badge challenges that you can use to personalize your profile.

Not a lot?

The Garmin Connect+ subscription isn't enormously expensive, but it's not cheap either. As you can see, you don't get an enormous amount for your money, and Garmin hasn't exactly been forthcoming on the details about these features – this is really all the information we have right now.

As such, it's possible we'll get more detailed insight about some of these features over the coming days and weeks.

On paper, Garmin Connect+ looks pretty thin, and while that's not the main reason people are objecting to its rollout, I have to imagine that it's a factor.

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• IDC says AI demand drives hyperscalers to accelerate server infrastructure investments
• Super Micro challenges Dell with rapid revenue growth in 2024
• Nvidia leads GPU servers as AI adoption continues expanding rapidly

The global server market saw a record-breaking surge in the final quarter of 2024, with revenue nearly doubling compared to the same period in 2023.

New figures from IDC claim total server sales reached $77.3 billion in Q4 2024, marking a 91% year-over-year rise.

This rapid expansion, fueled by hyperscalers, cloud storage service providers (CSPs), and enterprises investing in high-performance computing, is expected to push the market past an annual run rate of $300 billion by 2025.

Record growth fuels server market expansion

A significant portion of this increase came from x86 servers, which saw a 59.9% revenue jump, while non-x86 servers experienced an unprecedented 262.1% year-over-year surge.

The growing adoption of AI-driven workloads has also contributed to the rise of servers equipped with embedded GPUs, with Nvidia maintaining a dominant 90% market share in this segment.

As AI integration accelerates, demand for high-performance servers, and the best dedicated server hosting providers, continues to reshape the industry.

Super Micro has also emerged as one of the fastest-growing server vendors, with its revenue surging by 55% in Q4 2024. With $5 billion in sales, it is now in a statistical tie with Dell Technologies, which saw a more modest 20.6% increase in revenue during the same period.

The company’s surge is largely fueled by demand for AI-optimized infrastructure, and best small business server solutions also favors other key players, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo, and IEIT Systems, all of which reported revenue growth exceeding 50% year-over-year.

“IDC expects AI adoption to continue growing at a remarkable pace as hyperscalers, CSPs, private companies, and governments around the world are increasingly prioritizing those investments,” said Lidice Fernandez, group vice president, Worldwide Enterprise Infrastructure Trackers.

“Growing concerns around energy consumption for server infrastructure will become a factor in datacenters looking for alternatives to optimize their architectures and minimize energy use”

Cloud service providers and hyperscalers accounted for nearly half of all server sales in Q4 2024, while ODM Direct category, comprising manufacturers that sell directly to large-scale operators like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud generated a staggering $36.57 billion in revenue during the quarter, marking a 155.5% increase year-over-year.

This surge in spending reflects the increasing demand for the best web hosting and cloud computing solutions as organizations migrate more workloads to the cloud and invest in AI-powered infrastructure.

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• DTS support seems to have been removed from 2025 LG TVs
• Almost all streaming services are Dolby, not DTS
• Your AV streamer or soundbar may have a DTS decoder

History appears to be repeating: LG has removed DTS support from its 2025 OLED TVs, including the LG C5, just like it did in 2020.

Noticed by TV reviewer Vincent Teoh (via FlatpanelsHD) reports, the EDID information on the LG G5 – the information that tells audio and video sources what formats a TV supports – doesn't include DTS audio.

When LG brought DTS back in 2023, we said that it was good news for home theater lovers, as it would give them support for content that didn't use Dolby Atmos. But it seems that according to LG's internal data, there weren't many such users or much of that content being played on LG TVs: Dolby was by far the most-used surround sound format.

That's largely because Dolby and Atmos is the preferred format of the best streaming services. The one notable DTS exception, the IMAX Enhanced streamed by Disney+, wasn't supported on LG TVs due to its particular variation on the format.

The 2025 models will be Dolby-only – but that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy DTS soundtracks.

If DTS is a dealbreaker, there are tons of C4 and G4 OLEDs still available – and for amazing prices now. (Image credit: Future) How to get around the lack of DTS on 2025 LG TVs

The issue here is all about decoding. DTS is a compressed audio format, and that means you need a device that can uncompress it and send it to one of the best soundbars, or your home theater speakers.

If your TV is removed from the equation, then it doesn't matter if it's supports DTS, though.

If your TV can't decode DTS, you may have other devices that can. So if your source device is connected to an AV receiver that's DTS-compatible, then you don't need to worry whether your TV has DTS: the decoding happens on your receiver, not on your TV.

With soundbars it's a little more complex, because you'll need a soundbar that supports HDMI passthrough as well as DTS so that the soundbar can handle the audio and send the video to the TV.

Many models don't offer that connectivity, though most high-end or mid-range models from Sony, Samsung and LG do. You can can connect one of the best 4K Blu-ray players or other DTS source directly to the soundbar's HDMI input and then connect the TV to the other port, and the soundbar will take and decode the DTS audio.

If that's not an option, there's one more thing you can do: if your LG TV (or any other TV) doesn't have the ability to decode DTS, but your 4K Blu-ray players does, then you can usually set the player to decode the DTS and to output uncompressed audio.

Try setting your player's audio output format to LPCM, often labelled Linear PCM. This format can be passed through the TV to your soundbar in surround sound without any concerns about format at all, though you'd lose the spatial sound of DTS:X.

It's a shame that LG has dropped this format, and we're not sure that LG TVs likely adding Eclipsa Audio in the future will really make up for it.

However, for the next few months, LG's 2024 TVs will remain on-sale, including the LG C4 and LG G4, and are arguably better value than its 2025 models – doubly so if you want DTS support…

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• A newly redesigned MacBook Pro is rumored to arrive in 2026
• If leaks are accurate, it will feature an OLED display and a thinner chassis
• This redesign will also be powered by Apple's M6 silicon

It could finally be happening, folks: the long-awaited OLED MacBook is finally on the way, if new claims from renowned Apple leaker Mark Gurman are to be believed.

Gurman has claimed in his latest Power On newsletter for Bloomberg that Apple is planning a major overhaul to the MacBook Pro in 2026, which will deliver several noteworthy changes – and chief among them is the introduction of a Tandem OLED display designed by Samsung, the same type seen on last year's new iPad Pro 13-inch.

It may also ditch the 'notch' in the screen for the webcam in favor of a floating 'hole cut' camera – perhaps adopting something more similar to the Dynamic Island seen on modern iPhones.

That's not all, though: Gurman's sources also state that the new MacBook Pro will feature a thinner design than previous models, stating that Apple "had once hoped to release this new version in 2025".

In other words, next year's MacBook Pro could look very different from the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro we reviewed back in November. But how does Apple plan to make its pro-grade laptop even more compact without sacrificing power? The answer could lie with the M6 chip.

Powered up

Yes, Gurman also believes that these next-gen MacBook Pros will come featuring the M6 chip (presumably also with M6 Pro and M6 Max versions) - implying that we can expect M5 MacBooks this year, without the OLED upgrade.

The M6 chips will be the first laptop processors from Apple that utilize chip fabricator TSMC's new 2nm process (alongside the expected A20 chips for iPhones). The 2nm process is expected to bring new developments in both performance and power efficiency, which could explain how Apple expects the M6 chips to run at a high performance level even in a thinner MacBook.

As for the MacBook Air, there's no news on any potential M5 or M6 variants, but we have to assume that they'll be in the works; after all, the new M4 MacBook Air didn't arrive on the scene until several months after the M4 chip landed in MacBook Pro and iPad Pro models. However, a previous report we covered claims that an OLED MacBook Air is still on the way, though it won't use the same Tandem OLED panel as the Pro and will likely arrive in 2027 or later - something that would align with Apple's existing release cadence, if the OLED MacBook Pro does indeed land in late 2026.

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• Ransomware gang C10p appears to have claimed its latest victim
• Sam's Club - Walmart wholesale club is investigating the breach
• The breach is most likely part of an earlier exploitation of a Cleo File Transfer vulnerability

Infamous ransomware gang C10p has posted files it claims belong to Walmart-owned membership organization Sam’s Club. The group posted a message on a dark leak site claiming “the company doesn't care about its customers, it ignored their security!!!”

This is the latest development in an earlier attack from late in 2024, where a vulnerability in Cleo File Transfer led to the compromise of at least two dozen organizations, with C10p claiming responsibility for stealing the information.

Researchers from CyberNews discovered the leaked information, but were told by Sam’s Club that there is currently no evidence of a security incident or intrusion, although the issue is being investigated.

Ransomware resurgence

Sam’s club claims to have over 70 million members, and over 2 million employees, with locations across North and Central America.

Sam’s Club customers can fill medical prescriptions and offer health screenings, which means the breach may have exposed extremely sensitive customer health information. Its suspected hackers intercepted the personal data of around 100,000 employees in the breach, although the scope of the compromise isn't yet known.

C10P is a notorious ransomware gang, and has been so prolific that it is fuelling a resurgence in ransomware in 2025, claiming responsibility for 385 attacks in the first few weeks of the year.

"The Clop ransomware gang are still making hay while the vulnerable secure file transfer sun continues to shine for them, raking in around half a billion dollars to date – quite a staggering success story," confirmed Matt Aldridge, Senior Principal Solutions Consultant at OpenText Cybersecurity.

"This continues an increasing trend we are seeing of ransomware gangs focusing on extortion based on data theft rather than purely on denied access to data through the use of encryption."

The group was formed in 2019, and has since been responsible for one of the biggest cyberattacks of 2023 - a breach that saw the data of over 600 organizations stolen, with more than 40 million customers affected.

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ChatGPT is currently down for many users, or at least behaving very erratically – and it isn't yet clear what's causing it or how long it'll last.

The website Downdetector is showing a large spike in reports in both the US and UK, with the issues starting at around 9amET / 2pm BST. Most users are reporting either laggy performance or error messages like "something went wrong" on the desktop version and "upstream connect error" on the mobile app.

We've also noticed some intermittent issues on the TechRadar team on both ChatGPT's mobile app and browser versions. So what's going on? Have too many Studio Ghibli image requests pushed OpenAI's over the edge, or is this (hopefully) just a short-term blip?

Here's everything we know about the latest ChatGPT outage so far...

The latest news

• ChatGPT is down for many users on both desktop and mobile
• The issues started at around 9am ET / 2pm BST
• The problems include error messages and laggy performance

When did the problems start?

(Image credit: Downdetector)

According to Downdetector, the latest ChatGPT outage started at around 9am ET / 2pm BST, when we saw a big spike in reports in both the US and UK.

The issues are seemingly intermittent, with the main problems including "something went wrong" error messages in ChatGPT's browser version and "upstream connect errors" in the mobile app.

We've seen both issues on the TechRadar team, though it doesn't appear to be a complete outage that's affecting everyone equally...

• Windows 11 has a new ‘Black Screen of Death’ that’s apparently rolling out
• It’s way more streamlined than the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ we’re all used to
• However, Microsoft has gone too far with paring it back, and it now has an unfortunate resemblance to a Windows update reboot

Microsoft appears to be changing the infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) for Windows 11, switching not just the color, but also majorly simplifying the look of the screen that appears when your PC locks up and crashes.

The traditional BSOD in Windows 11 is blue (hence the name) and it’s also furnished with some bits of information on the error that has caused the crash (I’ll come back to that). Furthermore, there’s a sizeable frowny face on the screen to let you know that something has gone seriously wrong with the operating system.

Windows Latest reports that the redesigned BSOD is apparently going live in Windows 11 24H2 already (or it’s at least rolling out to some users), as well as being spotted in testing. (Note that it’s a green screen, or GSOD, in testing, as that’s actually the color it’s always been for preview builds – but for anyone who isn’t a Windows tester, it’ll be black).

The bigger change than the color of the background is that the screen is far plainer, only offering a message stating that: “Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart.”

Microsoft has dispensed not only with the sad face, but also the QR code which you could scan with your phone (if you were quick) to try and get further details on the error that crashed your PC. You do still get a bit of error info at the bottom of the new black screen showing a stop code. (The URL shown for details on stop codes is also missing on the new screen.)

(Image credit: Windows Latest / Microsoft) Analysis: Blank space overload and an unfortunate update similarity

What to make of the refreshed BSOD is somewhat tricky. Has Microsoft gone too far with its streamlining here, and made the error screen too basic and uninformative? Well, you could certainly argue that, but there’s a counterargument in that the details provided by the traditional, and still current blue screen setup, for most folks – as the change is seemingly only just starting to roll out – are generally unhelpful anyway.

That QR code is unlikely to give you any joy if you do use it, as in my experience it just links to generic Microsoft support info, and nothing specific or relevant. (Although I fully admit, I’ve not used it in quite some time – or had many crashes in the recent past, to be fair to Microsoft). Overall, then, I don’t think it’s an element that’ll be missed. However, that said, the solution to this, at least longer-term, is not to dump it – but to make it more helpful. (The plan could be to return the code, though, or at least that’s possible).

As for the frowny face being deleted, some think that it’s kind of childish or silly to have it plastered across the screen, and I get where that’s coming from. However, it does clearly mark the BSOD as an error screen and it gets the message quickly across that ‘something bad has happened.’

As Windows Latest points out, the problem with the new black screen version of the BSOD is that it’s reminiscent of a Windows update running – with the plain black background, and completion percentage front and center – and that could be confusing for novices. They might not even notice the error message, tucked away in small text at the foot of the screen, and think their PC is somehow suddenly resetting to apply an update, perhaps. (That can happen, after all, in some unfortunate circumstances).

Overall, then, I like the idea of streamlining the BSOD, and I don’t think we need the QR code anyway – not as it stands – but Microsoft needs to do better than this replacement Black Screen of Death. Make the error text larger, and more readable at a glance (because you may only get a glance). And make it very clear that this is an error message – I wouldn’t insist on a frowny face, but a large error icon or similar could be displayed (maybe an icon of a spanner in the works). Whatever the case, fill up the acres of blank space in the new black screen to bring added clarity to what’s happening – and to make it clear that what’s happening isn’t a system update.

While this new BSOD is certainly present in test builds of Windows 11 – as a GSOD, as noted – I find it strange that Microsoft is pushing it out to finished versions of Windows 11 in this form, as Windows Latest asserts. But this does seem to be happening, given the screenshot the tech site has presented of the black – rather than green – screen of death (see above). So, I’d imagine this is a very limited rollout at this point, testing the waters with everyday users.

Longer-term, I’d like to see more helpful error messages in general for Windows 11’s BSOD, so that as well as a technical description, there could be clues for PC novices as to what went wrong (even just vague clues, as I appreciate that this is something of an ask).

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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, March 31 (game #1162).

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 #1163) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

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

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

Quordle today (game #1163) - 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 3.

Quordle today (game #1163) - 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 #1163) - 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 #1163) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• H

• B

• W

• E

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

Quordle today (game #1163) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1163, are…

• HUMUS
• BALMY
• WORRY
• ERECT

I’m still surprised when I breeze through Quordle without any errors, especially when my guesses begin with some big gaps.

Today, I got three words correct with three letters in each to guide me, but I was the most thrilled after getting HUMUS as it’s a word that’s most commonly spelled with a double M in the UK.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #1163) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1163, are…

• NOMAD
• UNTIL
• ADULT
• SASSY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1162, Monday 31 March: RECUT, MOODY, WHERE, BRACE
• Quordle #1161, Sunday 30 March: CRIME, DRINK, CLOVE, TRUER
• Quordle #1160, Saturday 29 March: LATER, ODDLY, CUMIN, AGREE
• Quordle #1159, Friday 28 March: TERSE, MUSHY, PROVE, FROND
• Quordle #1158, Thursday 27 March: CRONE, APNEA, LIGHT, AWOKE
• Quordle #1157, Wednesday 26 March: LEFTY, NOOSE, NOISE, TRIAD
• Quordle #1156, Tuesday 25 March: SNEER, WATCH, FLORA, STAIN
• Quordle #1155, Monday 24 March: FLOUT, SMASH, RAZOR, SMALL
• Quordle #1154, Sunday 23 March: ALLEY, GAMUT, GEESE, RADII
• Quordle #1153, Saturday 22 March: PICKY, BRACE, BOOZE, SURLY
• Quordle #1152, Friday 21 March: DITTY, VALOR, TOWER, AMISS
• Quordle #1151, Thursday 20 March: RIPER, STILL, WAFER, NOTCH
• Quordle #1150, Wednesday 19 March: FLAME, CARAT, SPAWN, TUNIC
• Quordle #1149, Tuesday 18 March: NAVEL, TREAT, COPSE, SLINK
• Quordle #1148, Monday 17 March: INFER, FLINT, CHUMP, SHEER
• Quordle #1147, Sunday 16 March: INPUT, RUMBA, ELUDE, BLANK
• Quordle #1146, Saturday 15 March: SPEED, CLASH, RISKY, GRATE
• Quordle #1145, Friday 14 March: BELIE, SPEAR, GROWL, ADOBE
• Quordle #1144, Thursday 13 March: AMISS, METAL, TEARY, SHORT
• Quordle #1143, Wednesday 12 March: AWASH, PUSHY, RALPH, PROOF

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, March 31 (game #659).

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 #660) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• ⊾
• &
• X
• )
• N
• P
• €
• →
• $
• (
• +
• £
• √
• R
• ¥

NYT Connections today (game #660) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Money
• GREEN: In addition
• BLUE: Pre-emoji comms
  PURPLE: Correct

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 #660) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: CURRENCY SYMBOLS
• GREEN: AND/TOGETHER WITH 
• BLUE: EMOTICON MOUTHS
• PURPLE: "RIGHT" 

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

NYT Connections today (game #660) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #660, are…

• YELLOW: CURRENCY SYMBOLS $, £, 7, €
• GREEN: AND/TOGETHER WITH &, +, N, X
• BLUE: EMOTICON MOUTHS (,), 0, Р
• PURPLE: "RIGHT" R, →, ⊾, V

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 mistakes

If the NYT was looking to make April Fools of us all then this was the perfect way to do it.

Hopefully it’s an experimental one-off for Connections, though – because like many people I suspect/hope, I found today’s puzzle baffling beyond belief.

The currencies were straightforward enough, but beyond that I struggled to find any links at all and wasted two mistakes thinking P, R, N and X were an acronym for something I didn’t know and that the ampersand along with the brackets and plus symbol were punctuation marks.

After thinking more laterally and pondering alternative uses for brackets I got there, but not before guessing P and X instead of P and 0.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 31 March, game #659)

• YELLOW: CONSUMED ATE, HAD, PUT AWAY, TOOK IN
• GREEN: ALSO AS WELL, BESIDES, TO BOOT, TOO
• BLUE: ATM OPTIONS BALANCE, DEPOSIT, TRANSFER, WITHDRAWAL
• PURPLE: __PLAY FORE, HORSE, SCREEN, WORD

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.

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, March 31 (game #393).

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… It's a sign!

NYT Strands today (game #394) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• MOSS
• BITE
• BREW
• SHOES
• ROOM
• SLING

NYT Strands today (game #394) - hint #3 - spangram letters How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 10 letters

NYT Strands today (game #394) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: bottom, 5th column

Last side: top, 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 #394) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #394, are…

• SHOWERS
• BUDS
• ROBINS
• POLLEN
• PUDDLES
• BLOSSOMS
• SPANGRAM: SPRINGTIME

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

There are some interesting cultural differences in today’s Strands that make it a little strange for someone from the UK.

ROBINS are something we associate with Christmas, while PUDDLES are a year-round phenomenon thanks to the combination of ceaseless rain, poor drainage and neglected street maintenance.

BLOSSOMS, meanwhile, are a global sign of SPRINGTIME and now, for the few weeks when fruit trees burst into flower, are often accompanied by people taking selfies in front of them.

I initially thought this was a tourist social media thing — over the weekend in London's Hyde Park I cycled past a queue of couples waiting for their turn to take snaps in front of a particularly fine cherry tree — but it’s spread everywhere. If they were in bloom year-round there’d be a lot less fuss.

April also marks the return of wasps and their long-term campaign of terror against the human race.

There are 120,000 different species of wasps in the world (the most common in the US are yellowjackets) and the only place on Earth where they don’t exist is Antarctica – a place where springtime doesn’t happen at all.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, 31 March, game #393)

• ROAN
• DAPPLE
• BUCKSKIN
• CHESTNUT
• PALOMINO
• SPANGRAM: HORSE COLORINGS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which 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.

• A Minecraft Movie's director has defended its visuals amid fierce fan criticism
• People have reacted negatively to the film's art style in various trailers
• Jared Hess said test screening audiences responded more positively to how it looks

Jared Hess has launched a staunch defense of A Minecraft Movie's visuals following fierce fan criticism of its art style.

Speaking exclusively to TechRadar, Hess admitted he was always concerned that the live-action-animated hybrid film ran the risk of having its own "Ugly Sonic moment."

The incident he's referring to, of course, is the nightmare fuel reveal of a humanoid-looking Sonic the Hedgehog in the first trailer for the Sega mascot's first movie. A vociferous backlash followed, and after Paramount Pictures saw sense and frantically raced to fix how Sonic looked in his big-screen debut, fans of the Blue Blur were much happier with the final product.

Minecraft fans formed an online mob after the first teaser for A Minecraft Movie dropped (Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/Mojang Studios)

Following the release of A Minecraft Movie's first teaser in September 2024, a similarly fierce fan campaign to overhaul the Warner Bros-produced film's horrifying visuals quickly gained traction online.

In fact, some long-time fans of the world's best-selling video game took it upon themselves to fix its art style. Numerous fan-made videos, including ones from X/Twitter user Alumio and Redditor JustinIsNotWeird, remade the teaser with the franchise's signature pixel art.

Unfortunately, Minecraft fans' calls to tweak the movie's actual aesthetic fell on deaf ears. Now, Hess has explained why A Minecraft Movie's visuals weren't overhauled in the seven months between the first trailer launch and one of 2025's new movies' forthcoming April 4 release.

Nope, kill it with fire, thank you (Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/Mojang Studios)

"You know, it's so funny because, ever since I boarded this project, people kept saying, 'Hey, we have to avoid an Ugly Sonic moment'," Hess told me. "That was something we talked about all the time.

"And then, you know, when the first teaser came out, there was so much that was taken out of context. Teasers tend to be short and visually blast you with content that doesn't have a lot of context."

People kept saying 'Hey, we have to avoid an Ugly Sonic moment'

Jared Hess, A Minecraft Movie director

"For the record, there was a lot of stuff [in the teaser] that was unfinished," Hess continued. "A lot of trailers have the look of a film that hasn't been fully realized. You've still got months of work to do on it, so, when those reactions came in, we said 'Oh, that [the backlash] is just something we have to navigate."

"But, we had such faith in the movie we were making. We'd started to screen it and, based on audience reactions, we knew we were on the right track. It's wild to be as a filmmaker as, even when you're test screening, you still have unfinished visual effect shots, so you're asking the audience to use their imagination as they watch it."

"So, it's amazing to see it once it's finally complete and see all pf the hard work that's gone into everything and into bringing this world to life. To be able to share it with people, and see them enjoy it and have a blast. it's a dream come true for any filmmaker."

I'll be *ahem* crafting more news exclusives from my chat with Jared Hess in the coming days, so make sure you check back in with me soon. And, don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for my review of A Minecraft Movie later this week to see what I made of Warner's take on Microsoft and Mojang's incredibly popular sandbox game.

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• The Atonemo Streamplayer is a Wi-Fi add-on for regular hi-fi systems
• Looks like a Zippo lighter, and is similarly sized
• 24-bit/192kHz DAC, and costs $99 / £99 (about AU$158)

If like many people you've got a really great sound system that doesn't have up-to-date streaming capabilities, the Atonemo Streamplayer was made for you. It's a tiny, affordable DAC that adds hi-res streaming audio to pretty much anything that can connect to its 3.5mm aux port.

According to Atonemo CEO Leo Ballesteros, the Streamplayer was made to solve "a huge problem" in the audio industry: "Why was there no way to make any speaker smart? The way an Apple TV makes any TV smart?"

(It's only fair to point out here that there have been quite a few products like this, including the WiiM Pro, Audio Pro Link2 and – back in the day – the Yamaha WX-AD10.)

(Image credit: Atonemo) Atonemo Streamplayer: key features

One of the key selling points here is that you’re not getting locked into a particular ecosystem or made to depend on the whims or app quality control of a single manufacturer.

The Streamplayer works with both AirPlay 2 and Google Cast, so you've got iOS and Android compatibility without requiring a standalone app: simply use whatever streaming app you prefer and send it to the Streamplayer. There's also Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect.

Specs-wise you're looking at Wi-Fi 6 with Bluetooth LE Audio and Auracast, a standard USB-C connector for power and lossless audio support of up to 24-bit/192kHz (although what you get will depend on the service you're streaming from).

I like the philosophy here: Ballesteros says he wants to "let people choose the speakers they love, without worrying about connectivity, ecosystems, or brand lock-ins." If the Streamplayer does what it promises, this could be a really good way to add useful extra features to the best stereo speakers.

The Streamplayer will ship this spring for $99 / £99 / about AU$158.

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• Nvidia's new 572:xx Game Ready Drivers are reportedly causing issues in InZoi and The First Beserk: Khazan games
• Issues appear to occur on RTX 4000 and RTX 3000 GPUs
• Game developers have advised previous-gen GPU users to use driver version 566.36 instead

If it wasn't evident enough already, Nvidia's recent Game Ready Drivers have frustrated users with persistent black screens and performance issues: I've already suggested gamers stay away until a resolution is found. Now, there's arguably even more of a reason to do so.

As reported by Wccftech, InZoi and The First Beserk: Khazan game developers on Steam are advising RTX 4000 and RTX 3000 series GPU users to avoid Nvidia's 572:xx drivers due to performance issues resulting in frame drops and stuttering. On Steam, both developers advise rolling back to driver version 566.36 if issues with the new drivers persist.

This comes after several complaints from users with the new drivers installed, many of whom have had black screens occur when installing or booting into Windows 11. More importantly here, it's the performance in these games that has raised concerns from devs, which is a surprise, to say the least.

It doesn't help that the latest driver version 572.83 offers DLSS 4 support for both games, so gamers won't be able to get the best out of them using Team Green's new technology for better image quality using the new super resolution transformer model.

Seemingly, Nvidia RTX 5000 series users are in the clear: both notes from the game devs suggest RTX 5000 series users should stick with the latest driver, so it begs the question. Could the Blackwell GPU lineup be the culprit for recent Game Ready Driver hiccups?

(Image credit: Krafton) This seems to happen with every new GPU lineup launch...

I recall purchasing an RTX 3080 Ti closer to Nvidia's RTX 4000 series launch, and I remember its new drivers leading to some performance issues at the time. With the new Blackwell lineup, it seems that this could be a pattern with every new GPU lineup.

Now, before I continue, I must mention that this is purely speculative, but I believe the driver issues may stem from support for the RTX 5000 series GPUs. The problems appear to have begun from the very first driver release for the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, which also added DLSS 4 support for all RTX GPUs - and the current issues are notably affecting previous-gen GPUs.

It's hard to believe that it's coincidental to see nearly system-breaking bugs suddenly crop up the moment support for a new GPU lineup arrives. We've reached out to Nvidia for a comment on the driver concerns, but we've yet to hear back from them. So, as I've mentioned before, just stick with a stable driver for now - or roll back to a previous version if you’ve already installed a 572 driver.

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• Apple has released a second release candidate for iOS 18.4
• The latest rumors suggest the update could be released on April 1
• Official release notes list Apple Intelligence upgrades and other new features

Apple has released the second release candidate for iOS 18.4, and though we still don’t have a release date for iOS 18.4 proper, it seems likely that the next mid-year iOS update is right around the corner.

Indeed, we expect iOS 18.4 to land as soon as this week (MacRumors predicts April 1), and this pre-release version of the update gives us an official idea of what to expect.

It seems that iOS 18.4 is a fairly substantial update by mid-year standards – Apple Intelligence continues its shaky rollout, the Photos app gets some new features, Apple News+ gets some tasty new recipes, and ambient music enjoyers are in for a surprise.

As for compatibility, all iPhone models that currently support iOS 18.3 – that's the iPhone Xs to the current-generation iPhone 16 lineup – will almost certainly support iOS 18.4.

New Apple Intelligence features

(Image credit: Apple)

iOS 18.4 sees Apple continue the rollout of Apple Intelligence for compatible devices, with a handful of features first announced in 2024 finally making their way to users.

The big ticket item this time around is Priority Notifications, which uses AI to identify important notifications and pin them to your lock screen.

Image playground also gets an overdue feature in the form of the Sketch style, which allows users to create images inspired by hand-drawn sketches using AI.

Another minor addition is review summaries in the app store; that's AI-generated overviews of user-generated app reviews.

Apple Intelligence also gets support for eight new languages: Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), French (France, Canada), Italian, Japanese, Korean, and German, as well as two local dialects of English, for Singapore and India.

Siri is conspicuously missing from these release notes: we had originally hoped to see Siri get its long-awaited Apple Intelligence update with iOS 18.4, but it looks like we'll be waiting even longer for this (hopefully) game-changing upgrade.

It now seems more likely that Siri will get its AI upgrade with iOS 19, which will likely release in September alongside the rumored iPhone 17 lineup.

Photos app updates

(Image credit: Future)

iOS 18.4 brings a selection of new features to the Photos app, making it easier to organize and rearrange your photos and videos.

All collections get a selection of filtering options, such as including or excluding photos from a particular album or sorting by either the oldest or newest photos first.

Users also gain the ability to sort their media by date modified, rather than date created, which is helpful for keeping recently cropped or edited photos together.

It’s also now possible to disable the automatically created Recently Shared and Recently Viewed albums, and hidden photos will no longer be imported to Mac or PC if the user has enabled the Use Face ID security option.

Apple News+ gets recipes

(Image credit: Apple)

With iOS 18.4, Apple News+ gains a new Food section full of stories about healthy eating, restaurants, and recipes.

It’s a fairly sizeable addition to the already fairly comprehensive Apple News+ service, and gives users plenty of new articles to dig into.

The Recipe Catalog allows users to save recipes for later, and a follow-along Cooking mode makes putting them into practice a piece of cake.

Keep in mind that this is a new feature for the Apple News+ service, which costs $12.99 / £12.99 / AU$19.99 per month, and not for the free Apple News app.

Vision Pro get its own iPhone app

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

iOS 18.4 adds the Vision Pro app to iPhone, giving Vision Pro users the ability to check for new spatial content and get quick information about their headset.

By the sounds of things, the app will automatically install for those with a Vision Pro headset registered to their Apple Account.

Ambient Music from the Control Center

(Image credit: Future)

This is a weird one. Apple is adding a dedicated Ambient Music feature to iPhone with iOS 18.4 – but it’s not its own app, or even a part of the Apple Music app.

Instead, users have to add the Ambient Music control to their control center, in a similar manner to the way Shazam is currently implemented.

Users then get access to four playlists of ambient music, titled Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing.

For those who haven’t come across ambient music before, it’s a form of relaxed, slow music that aims to be enjoyable to listen to without focus – typically we’re talking woodwinds, strings, synthesizers, and a lack of percussion.

The release notes don’t suggest that users will need an Apple Music subscription to use the new Ambient Music feature.

Other new features

As well as the new features listed above, iOS 18.4 also comes with a handful of smaller updates and bug fixes.

For example, screen time limits now remain in place when an app is uninstalled and reinstalled, and it's easier to add child-safe settings during device setup. Safari also gets recent search suggestions.

Additionally, 10 new system languages have been added to iOS: Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

Full release notes can be found on Apple’s developer blog. Be sure to let us know what you’re looking forward to most in the comments below.

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• Five kink and LGBT apps exposed sensitive user images
• The images were stored on a server without password protection
• The apps' developer left the issue unfixed for months

Five dating apps exposed over 1.5 million private and explicit images after storing the images in cloud storage buckets without any password protection.

Cybersecurity researchers found the image servers of BDSM People, Chica, Pink, Brish and Translove to be highly vulnerable to hackers, putting between 800,000 and 900,000 people at risk of blackmail and extortion.

The five sites are all from developer M.A.D Mobile, who was notified of the exposed servers on January 20 but did not remediate the issue until March 28, after the cybersecurity researchers published a report on the exposed servers.

Explicit images exposed

Cybernews researcher Aras Nazarovas discovered the exposed private image servers while conducting analysis on the code that powers the BDSM People app.

“The first image in the folder was a naked man in his thirties. As soon as I saw it I realised that this folder should not have been public," Nazarovas told the BBC.

On the servers, Nazarovas found several hundred gigabytes of photos, including images from profiles, images sent in direct messages, images that were supposedly removed from the app by moderators, photos from public posts, profile verification photos, and photos included in comments.

While the issue has now been remediated, there is no way of knowing how long the servers were exposed, or if Nazarovas was the only person to discover the trove of explicit images.

A M.A.D Mobile spokesperson said, “We appreciate their work and have already taken the necessary steps to address the issue. An additional update for the apps will be released on the App Store in the coming days.”

Outside of the risk of extortion posed by the unprotected cloud storage buckets, users of the apps in countries with hostile attitudes to LGBT peoples were also put at risk.

Dating apps and sites are lucrative targets for hackers due to the highly sensitive personally identifiable information they store. If hit by a ransomware attack, the attackers could not only extort the company for money, but also threaten individuals with the exposure of their data if they don’t pay a fee.

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• Oura Ring is moving 'Oura Advisor' out of beta
• The AI-powered wellness advisor launched in beta in July of 2024
• It works alongside the classic Oura tracking experience by letting you ask about data points and get more context

I’ve worn an Oura Ring daily for well over three years at this point, and one of the best parts of the experience that keeps me coming back is excellent, accurate data that’s always contextualized.

Thanks to my sleep score, I know how well I slept the night before, how I’m looking forward to the day ahead, and how I can track my activity throughout the day. It’s quite handy and helps to make the whole health and activity tracking experience a bit more actionable.

That’s why I was so intrigued when Oura announced a beta AI-powered wellness chatbot, Oura Advisor, in July 2024. I’ve used it plenty since it launched in beta, and evidently, many other Oura users have too. It’s now ready for primetime, as the wellness brand is making it a full-fledged feature in the app for paying members.

I’ve used it quite a bit during its beta testing period – the company has dubbed its beta program Oura Labs – and I like how it can complement the regular Oura experience. Do you have a question about your readiness score, or want to provide more context for why you were a little less active? The AI Advisor can tell you.

You can chat with Oura Advisor by typing things out, and it can even make recommendations for activities to help. Though, of course, with any software or AI-powered health feature, it’s not a doctor.

It is designed, however, to be a conversation, controlled at your directive, about your health – combining the data tracked within Oura and the company's scientific models with generative AI.

(Image credit: Oura)

In the full release, Oura’s upping the experience, which makes me more excited to give it even more of a try. For one, rather than just referring to a trend it might have picked up on – more active on a given day – it can also pull up visuals and provide them as answers. Beyond just pulling up a chart, Oura says that Advisor now has ‘Trend Detection,’ allowing it to quickly pull data and access metric baselines or learned detected trends.

Oura’s expanding Advisor's memory function promises that beyond remembering something, you expressly tell it, say that you’re recovering from an injury, and it will better weave in information from previous chats into the current one. While echoing a film or a Disney theme park ride, Oura promises it will be a more coherent storyline or conversation.

When you set up Oura Advisor, you will still have three styles to choose from – supportive, mentoring, or goal-oriented – but it’s now dynamic, allowing the generated responses to be more empathetic, joyous, or even determined on the fly. It will be interesting to see how much improvement this offers to the service I tested in beta.

Just like during the Oura Labs testing period, you can set notifications to remind you to interact with Advisor or pull it up on-demand when in the Oura app for iOS or Android. In its full-launch mode, Advisor is available globally in English.

While the feature was in beta under Oura Labs, the company says that 60% of folks who enrolled in Advisor used it several times a week, and 20% used it daily. I’m in the former of that group, but these changes could have me calling on the Advisor for a conversation more.

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• YouTube is testing a new feature that stops sending you notifications from channels you no longer watch
• The aim of the feature is to stop users from turning off push notifications altogether, instead adjusting certain alert settings for them.
• It could be a blessing for subscribers who are bombarded with unwanted notifications but not so much for YouTube creators

Clearing your YouTube notifications is a chore in itself, and it’s not the easiest, especially when you’re subscribed to channels that upload constantly - but YouTube is working on fixing that. In a new test, YouTube is turning off notifications from channels you no longer engage with, and the days of overwhelming push notifications are almost behind us.

YouTube made the announcement a few days ago, and it's aimed specifically at subscribers who have their notifications set to ‘All’, but don’t open these alerts. Notifications will still appear in your notification box in the YouTube app, but the platform will turn off push alerts so that you’re not bombarded with unwanted updates. YouTube has gone into detail about how this will pan out, stating the following in its announcement;

“Viewers who haven’t recently engaged with a channel despite having been sent recent push notifications will not receive push notifications in the experiment. Notifications will still be available via the notification inbox in the YouTube app. Channels that upload infrequently will not have their notifications affected”. It’s not certain if users will be notified if they’re missing these alerts, nor the duration of this experiment.

When creators upload content to YouTube, one of the main ways for them to boost views and subscriber count is to encourage viewers to turn on notifications so that they can be informed when a new video has been uploaded. If you’re a frequent YouTube user and serial video watcher like me, then you’ve probably found yourself turning on notifications for every channel possible, which, in retrospect, results in an overwhelming wave of alerts - but the aim of YouTube’s test is more than simply diluting excessive notifications.

YouTube is going through many changes right now, the biggest one is the addition of its new YouTube Premium Lite subscription plan. (Image credit: Future) Another time-saving perk, but one that could cost creators

There’s no arguing that having a platform take control of your notification settings is unorthodox and crosses the line into an invasion of personal settings. But this test could result in another time-saving perk from YouTube following its recent playback queue experiments.

Although it’s easy to amend your notification settings to avoid an avalanche of alerts, it’s common for YouTube subscribers to disable these altogether instead of adjusting the settings per channel - I'd know, I’m guilty of this. With this latest experiment, YouTube aims to sway viewers from disabling notifications entirely just because their notifications inboxes are stacking up, which is a helpful feature and one that I’m certain to be thankful for in the long run, but I can see how this can be damaging to creators.

Push notifications are one of the main things YouTube creators rely on to get their views up and keep their audience engaged as they directly alert their subscribers when videos go live, so YouTube making the executive decision for viewers to no longer receive alerts from channels is a bold move.

The platform is going through a lot of changes right now, having just launched its YouTube Premium Lite subscription tier, but let's hope it pays equal attention to the needs of those who rely on their YouTube channel to make a living.

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• Samsung Display unveils modular OLED wall-mounted screen
• The key tech change is 60% reduction in bezels on OLED displays
• It's very similar to Samsung's The Wall micro-LED product, but OLED

Samsung Display has unveiled a new modular OLED screen concept, in which a screen of a particular size or shape can be built using a series of smaller OLED displays tiled together (via Tom's Guide).

If the idea sounds familiar, that's because it's a very similar idea to Samsung's The Wall micro-LED screen – but this is the first time we've seen the idea applied to OLED.

The key tech change that's made this possible is that Samsung says it can reduce the bezel space needed on OLED and QD-OLED panels by 40%, bringing them down to 0.6mm. Now, each panel has that bezel, so actually there's a 1.2mm border between the screens, which will be enough of a black line to be noticeable, which is probably part of why this remains a concept for now.

But let's assume that Samsung can keep improving the tech and can make the bezel even smaller, in which case I think that makes this tech extremely interesting for creating giant projector-matching OLED TV screens. But I'm not necessarily interested in the square modular concept shown above – the same tech could be applied in other, similar ways.

I immediately started thinking about how the prices of the best OLED TVs rise exponentially as the sets get larger, because of particular quirks of OLED production, and how combining smaller screens could make them much more cost effective.

It's a 97-inch OLED! And it's real expensive. (Image credit: LG) Four 55-inch TVs in a trenchcoat

To illustrate what I mean, I'm going to use LG's OLED TVs rather than Samsung's, because of the sizes involved. The LG G5 (the company's flagship) range includes a 97-inch model, and it costs $24,999 / £24,999.

That's literally 10 times the price of the 55-inch LG G5 model, which costs $2,499 / £2,399. And the 97-inch model actually has an inferior panel – it's a couple of generations behind, and will be nowhere near as bright as the 55-inch model's Primary RGB Tandem four-stack panel.

The reason for this is that it's incredibly hard to make large-scale OLED TV panels in a cost-effective way. OLED screens are produced on huge sheets called 'mother glass' that are then cut down to smaller sizes; so you can produce nearly four times as many 55-inch screens per mother-glass sheet as you can 97-inch screens.

But also, OLED production still has yield problems, meaning that a lot of screens are produced imperfectly, and this wastage is factored in to the cost of the displays. If you're producing a lot of panels per mother glass (if you're making phone screens for example), then the wastage doesn't matter too much – losing a panel only wastes a tiny amount of your material and time.

But if you're making 97-inch panels and there's a problem, you've lost a huge amount of material and time, and those costs are factored into the pricing of the good panels, effectively.

So the modular concept is immediately interesting because it solves that issue: combine smaller screens into one larger display and reduce the wastage problem massively.

Could Samsung combine multiple Samsung S95F QD-OLED TVs, like the one here, into (Image credit: Future)

So what I'm thinking is this: if the bezels can be reduced further, could we have a 110-inch OLED TV in the future that's actually four 55-inch TVs combined in one unit? That's even larger than the 97-inch model, and yet could cost a (relatively) mere $10,000, based on the cost of four 55-inch LG G5 TVs.

And I've used LG as my example because of the easy size comparison to existing TVs, but this new tech is coming from Samsung to potentially use in its QD-OLED TVs – and that's even better, because these panels don't go any larger than 77 inches currently, so doing this would enable it to offer a giant OLED for the first time.

It's not as simple as all that, of course. Combining four 4K OLED panels means we're talking about an 8K TV, though Samsung has plenty of experience with 8K processing.

And additionally, a lot of purists – i.e., the people most likely to want this TV – would reject any sign of a seam between the panels, so unless the bezels can be totally removed I'm probably talking about something of a pipe dream.

But it wouldn't be the first time that a secret dual-screen setup has been used to make cutting-edge tech more realistically priced – the first 5K display on an Apple iMac was literally two 1280 x 1440 displays powered by a custom display processor to treat them as one unit, with no seam down the middle.

Obviously, building a TV out of small squares also solves the screen size problem, but there's a simplicity to fixing four 4K TVs together that solves problems such as dealing with a non-standard resolution.

I don't think we're going to see a 110-inch OLED built in this way competing with the best TVs any time soon – but if this bezel-reducing tech keeps improving, it could make possible the home theater screen of your dreams, especially with micro-LED not looking like it'll become affordable in the near future.

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• Report claims data centers and the aviation industry both account for 3% each of global carbon emissions
• By 2026, the world’s data centers will use as much electricity as Japan
• Germany is mandating highly efficient data centers from 2026

Increased artificial intelligence activity has led to skyrocketing demand for data centers, with new SPhotonix research claiming the facilities now account for the same amount of emissions as the global aviation industry.

Now accounting for 3% of global carbon emissions, the concern is AI and IoT will continue to drive data centers’ environmental impact up, and by 2030, they could consume as much as 13% of the world’s electricity.

SPhotonix says 149 zettabytes (ZB) of data was created in 2024 – after just four years, this annual figure could stand at 394ZB, around 2.6x more.

Data centers linked with growing emissions

Quantifying the concerns, SPhotonix revealed data centers currently consume 460TWh per year, but by just 2026, this could more than double to 1,000TWh, which is roughly the same as Japan’s total energy usage. By the end of the decade, these sites could account for 2.5 billion metric tonnes of CO2.

The research delves into different types of storage, and reveals HDD storage used for long-term cold data storage and archiving actually sues more data – in order to keep these HDDs at low temperatures for data preservation and drive health, large amounts of energy are required. Cold storage and archiving account for around three-fifths of all data stored today.

HDDs also tend to have a shorter lifespan than SSDs, meaning that they must be copied every seven to 10 years, which comes at the expense of high energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

“In an increasingly digital world, the environmental impact of data storage is quickly becoming a pressing concern with respective Governments and Regulatory bodies stepping in to enforce sustainability standards,” said SPhotonix Chief Science Officer Peter Kazansky.

Kazansky added that Germany will require new data centers to achieve a power usage efficiency of 1.2 or less from next year.

“Reliable data management plays a vital role in addressing energy challenges, enabling efficient resource allocation and long-term planning,” Kazansky concluded.

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There is no difference between web hosting and WordPress hosting. This is like asking transport vs cars what’s the difference? Transport is a system or means that carries goods or people from one point to another and a car is a type of transport. Web hosting is a service that stores and makes a website accessible over the internet and WordPress hosting is hosting optimized for WordPress-based websites. WordPress hosting is not a type of hosting. Types of hosting include shared, VPS, dedicated and cloud hosting. Hosting can be optimized for WordPress on all types of hosting (read what the best WordPress hosts have to say about this). Below, I’ll go into the details about hosting in general to help you understand more about WordPress hosting and web hosting.

Advantages of WordPress hosting

As mentioned above WordPress hosting is not a type of hosting like shared hosting or VPS hosting but because WordPress powers over 40% of websites many hosts have hosting packages optimized for WordPress. On top of WordPress being pre-installed (and possibly WooCommerce too), optimizations for WordPress include tailored server environments that boost performance through PHP, caching, and database configurations specifically for WordPress. This results in faster loading time and a better user experience.

You also get WordPress-specific support through dedicated WordPress support teams that offer expert assistance with platform-related issues simplifying troubleshooting. Plus, for advanced users WP-CLI integration allows access to the WordPress Command-Line Interface (WP-CLI) which enables WordPress sites to be directly managed from the command line for efficient bulk actions, updates, and troubleshooting.

There is often enhanced security too. Pre-installed security features, such as malware scanning and web application firewall (WAF) tailored to WordPress environments, protect websites against WordPress-specific threats.

If you already have a WordPress site, WordPress automigration tools simplify the migration processes saving you time and reducing the risk of errors.

The main types of hosting

WordPress hosting can be optimised for all types of hosting and each will have their own pros and cons for a WordPress site.

Shared hosting

On shared hosting multiple sites share the same server resources, including CPU, memory, storage, and bandwidth. It’s very cost-effective and beginner-friendly. It’s Ideal for small businesses and personal websites with low-traffic and basic needs. In most cases web hosts optimize all shared servers for WordPress because WordPress is so popular. You’ll notice this if you switch between the shared and WordPress plans on a site. Often the only difference is that you get directed straight to WordPress dedicated support if you submit a ticket.

On a shared server, performance may suffer at times due to high traffic from other websites on the same server or your own high traffic being throttled. It also has the theoretical potential for unauthorized access to data as you share the same server with multiple websites. However, there has never really been a successful attack of this kind. Still, if you hold sensitive data there are regulations on whether you can use a shared server or not so this potential security risk is taken seriously.

VPS hosting

WordPress hosting on a VPS is your own server environment with its own resources. This gives you greater control and customisation with root access meaning you can upload whatever you like (within reason) to your server. It is suitable for websites that have higher resource and security requirements.

However, managing a VPS requires more technical knowledge than shared hosting. Unless you opt for managed VPS hosting, you'll be responsible for server maintenance, software updates, and security configurations.

Dedicated hosting

On a dedicated server you get the entire physical server with hardware that’s not shared or accessible by anyone else. It’s one of the most expensive types of hosting but offers full control and the highest uptime. It’s best for high-traffic, complex websites, or those with strict security needs.

Dedicated WordPress hosting is the most powerful option – you have exclusive access to all server resources, giving you complete control over the server environment, fastest loading times, and optimal performance. It also allows you to implement advanced security protocols to protect your website from threats.

However, all that comes with a high price tag. It also requires significant technical expertise, and you’ll also be responsible for server maintenance – unless you go with a managed dedicated server.

Cloud hosting

In cloud hosting resources are pulled from a pool of resources. WordPress hosting on the cloud provides a blend of scalability, flexibility, and reliability. Multiple copies of your website can be stored in different places so if there is a disaster another copy of your website is ready to go.

Sometimes hosts just call their products cloud without any cloud benefits. At other times their infrastructure is based on cloud architecture but servers are packaged as traditional hosting solutions like shared and VPS. WordPress optimised hosting on cloud packages works the same way as shared or VPS hosting but with the added benefit of reliability.

WordPress hosting vs web hosting summary

In summary, WordPress hosting is not a type of hosting but rather hosting optimized for WordPress. Hosting for WordPress can be optimized on all types of web hosting and each has its own pros and cons. For most people hosting a WordPress site on a shared server is fine but for those that have sites that require more resources and reliability like online stores WordPress hosting on a VPS or cloud VPS server might be more suitable.