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Trump’s return to the White House raises questions about whether the country will continue working on global climate initiatives.

(Image credit: Sergei Grits/AP)

Last week’s US election will affect the future for all of us. Here’s how we’ll cover it.

A study of cells from 84 brains finds that Alzheimer’s has two distinct phases, and that one type of neuron is especially vulnerable.

(Image credit: koto_feja/Getty Images)

• iPhones in the possession of police have been mysteriously rebooting
• A report has confirmed that it’s a security feature in iOS 18.1
• It's to protect your data from thieves, hackers, and others

If your iPhone gets lost or stolen, or otherwise ends up in the wrong hands, the last thing you want is for someone to access all your private data, which might include photos, bank details, account passwords and other sensitive information – and a new feature in iOS 18.1 appears to be designed to keep your data safe.

If your iPhone has gone unused for around 96 hours (or four days) since it was last unlocked, it will automatically reboot, providing it's running iOS 18.1 or later.

What’s the purpose of this? Well, when an iPhone is rebooted, it moves from what’s called After First Unlock (AFU) mode to a Before First Unlock (BFU) status. An iPhone running in BFU mode is more secure than one in AFU, making it much harder to crack or break into. The idea seems to be that this will thwart thieves who have your device and are waiting until they're able to get an unlocking device that will enable them to access your private data.

Apple indeed added a feature called "inactivity reboot" in iOS 18.1. This is implemented in keybagd and the AppleSEPKeyStore kernel extension. It seems to have nothing to do with phone/wireless network state. Keystore is used when unlocking the device.https://t.co/ONZuU9zVt2 https://t.co/4ORUqR6P6N pic.twitter.com/O3jijuqpN0November 8, 2024

Over the past week, this new feature has caused a lot of consternation among law enforcement officials. It was first cited in a case where a police forensic lab noted that a batch of iPhones that were awaiting forensic examination had all rebooted at around the same time, leading to speculation that Apple had implemented an unannounced security feature in iOS 18. While some initially thought that this could be an iPhone 16 bug that’s been known to cause devices to restart, fresh research suggests that’s not the case.

According to experts who spoke to 404 Media, iOS 18.1 contains a new feature called “inactivity reboot” that restarts a device after around four days of dormancy. This was confirmed by Magnet Forensics’ Christopher Vance, who wrote in a law enforcement group chat that iOS 18.1 contains an inactivity timer, and that when this timer runs out, “the device reboots, moving from an AFU state to a BFU state.”

Apple has a long history of pushing back against efforts by law enforcement to compromise the security of its devices, arguing that enabling a backdoor for police and other agencies would weaken the security of millions of innocent people’s devices, making it much easier for hackers to break into these products. After all, a backdoor for the police can be accessed by anyone with the right tools.

In this case it seems more likely that Apple’s motivation is to protect its users’ data from thieves and more common mishaps. After all, it’s probably more likely that you’ll have a phone stolen than have it forensically examined by the police. Either way, Apple’s new feature should protect you in both cases.

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• I'm a privacy expert—here are the 4 iOS 18 features I'm excited about
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday on whether a law that legislators adopted more than a decade before the Civil War bans abortion and can still be enforced.

(Image credit: Harm Venhuizen)

The Fed's latest rate cut means APYs up to 4.75% may not last much longer.

The Pentagon is pursuing every available option to keep US troops safe from the rising tide of adversary drones, including a robotic twist on its standard-issue small arms.

APYs are likely to keep falling after the Fed cut rates by a quarter-percentage point last week.

An NPR investigation finds thousands of veterans were pushed into high-cost mortgages by a program that was meant to help them. A rescue plan being rolled out by the Department of Veterans Affairs is excluding many vets who need help.

(Image credit: Michael Noble Jr.)

After her car key broke, Betsy Cornwell was stranded and all alone. Then the unlikeliest of heroes came to her aid.

(Image credit: Betsy Cornwell)

More people are getting cancer in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, and surviving, thanks to rapid advancement in care. Many will have decades of life ahead of them, which means they face greater and more complex challenges in survivorship. Lourdes Monje is navigating these waters at age 29.

(Image credit: Caroline Gutman for NPR)

The creators behind the viral TikTok account @lifeonfilm.27 give film cameras to strangers all over the world. In September, they handed one to one of the most powerful men in the world.

You have only a few broadband provider options in Cape Coral, but residents have some great fiber, cable and fixed wireless internet providers. Here are the best ones.

A person has tested positive in British Columbia, Canadian health officials said, though the results must be sent to another lab for confirmation.

(Image credit: Cynthia Goldsmith, Jackie Katz)

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

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

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

NYT Connections today (game #519) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CRUNCH
• SUBSTANCE
• DEMI
• BIG
• THRUST
• SPORTS
• MARS
• MEAT
• EARLY
• CORE
• DOVE
• LADY
• SUE
• PUSH-UP
• PAYDAY
• WIRELESS

NYT Connections today (game #519) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Candy favorites
• Green: Central point
• Blue: Gives you support (possibly!)
• Purple: Blank [avian]

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 #519) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: CHOCOLATE BARS
• GREEN: GIST
• BLUE: KINDS OF BRAS
• PURPLE: ___ BIRD

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

NYT Connections today (game #519) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #519, are…

• YELLOW: CHOCOLATE BARS CRUNCH, DOVE, MARS, PAYDAY
• GREEN: GIST CORE, MEAT, SUBSTANCE, THRUST
• BLUE: KINDS OF BRAS DEMI, PUSH-UP, SPORTS, WIRELESS
• PURPLE: ___ BIRD BIG, EARLY, LADY, SUE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 mistakes

Phew, this was a tough one! I needed all three extra guesses to solve it, and there was a large amount of guesswork involved in my answers too. I could easily have lost my streak here.

The problem was that all four groups were really tough; there appears to be no difficulty curve to it at all. Maybe yellow, supposedly the easiest of the four, is simple for some people – but not for me. I'm based in the UK, where PAYDAY, CRUNCH and DOVE are not famous CHOCOLATE BARS. Fortunately, I knew that PAYDAY and DOVE were US brands, and CRUNCH was an obvious one to go along with those two and MARS.

I also solved blue, KINDS OF BRAS, thanks to a shot-in-the-dark guess; I'm no expert (obviously), but had heard of PUSH-UP, WIRELESS and SPORTS – but not DEMI. But the latter sounded like it might fit, so in the absence of other ideas I went with it and got it right.

Purple was a monster. Eventually, I realized that LADY and BIG could both preceed BIRD, then spotted EARLY too. But I didn't have a fourth. Eventually, I guessed SUE simply because it seemed more likely than the other words I had left, MEAT, THRUST, CORE and SUBSTANCE. Apparently SUE BIRD is/was a US basketball player…

So, a very US-focused game today, and not particularly satisfying for me. But I got there in the end thanks to a lot of luck.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 10 November, game #518)

• YELLOW: BARREL-SHAPED CONTAINER CASK, CYLINDER, DRUM, TANK
• GREEN: GUIDE PILOT, SHEPHERD, STEER, USHER
• BLUE: N.F.L. TEAM MEMBER COWBOY, JET, RAM, RAVEN
• PURPLE: THINGS THAT SWING GOLFER, PENDULUM, SALOON DOORS, SWING

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.

It marks even more turmoil in an already rocky democratic transition process for Haiti, which hasn't held democratic elections in years in a large part due to the soaring levels of gang violence.

(Image credit: Brian Inganga)

Like almost every other industry, artificial intelligence stands poised to transform the way the built environment operates. But while generative AI tools like ChatGPT are a reasonably novel addition, other forms of the technology have been making major impacts in the construction sector for some time.

AI tools are already helping industry professionals with many use cases across the lifecycle of a project or asset – improving design, planning, safety, quality, sustainability, and productivity as a whole. The tech can handle the more monotonous tasks, allowing us to be more productive and creative with how we work.

Autodesk’s recent State of Design & Make Report found that AI is shaping business transformation across industries as trust in the technology grows, with almost two-thirds (61%) of construction leaders surveyed saying they are approaching or have achieved their goal of incorporating AI into their operations. Businesses are already using it to increase productivity and automate work, and leaders predict that generative AI will help people make critical design decisions about physical products, buildings, and digital assets in the next few years.  

AI is a key driver of digital transformation across AECO and in parallel, enables digital acceleration for companies to continually evolve and adapt to achieve their desired business outcomes.

I’m particularly excited about the way AI can level the playing field. It has the potential to bring construction’s tech capabilities up to speed with other, more digitally native industries, and also gives smaller firms access to the same game-changing tools as their heavyweight counterparts. A world where companies of all sizes can get the benefit of AI means more competition, more innovation and ultimately better outputs.

Augmenting a stretched workforce

Construction firms are faced with an aging workforce, attrition, and a well-publicized skills gap. According to the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), the industry recruited 200,000 new workers in the UK last year, but still experienced a net talent loss, with 210,000 leaving. The speed of digitalization is only widening this skills gap, with organizations vying for a limited pool of the best tech talent.

It’s no surprise then that 36% of industry leaders we surveyed in our report said supplementing a skills gap was a key use case for AI within their business. As workforces get leaner, businesses see AI’s potential to help manage workloads on smaller teams, free up employees for more meaningful and creative work, and plug talent shortfalls. While it doesn’t solve the core problem, AI will enable the brilliant people in our industry to achieve even more by augmenting and supporting their talents, and expertise.

When it comes to the successful implementation of AI in construction, having a skilled and knowledgeable workforce is key, so construction professionals will need to be trained on the tech, data analysis, and a multitude of systems to effectively use it on their projects. This requires a commitment to ongoing education and upskilling within the industry. The closer people are to understanding the benefits and risks of AI, the less inclined they’ll be to think that it will replace what they do, rather seeing its potential to augment and enhance our work.

A foundation of data excellence

Before adopting more complex technologies like AI, construction firms need the foundation of a solid digital and data strategy in order to produce truly actionable insights. Autodesk’s recent report with Deloitte, surveying construction leaders in 12 different countries, showed that those considered ‘data leaders’ were seven times more likely to deploy AI and machine learning solutions. The good news is that the UK has the highest share of data leaders (18%) of the five European countries analyzed, indicating the importance of data across UK construction.

But while the benefits of data leadership are clear, several challenges are hindering the widespread adoption of data-driven practices in construction. One significant barrier is data fragmentation. According to the Deloitte report, 43% of UK construction leaders reported that their organizations were storing data on too many different platforms, leading to difficulties in integrating and analyzing information. Using tools like a Common Data Environment (CDE) significantly helps businesses by providing a centralized, integrated and standardized platform for data management. This ensures project data is clean, well-organized and readily available for AI deployment.

Making AI work for the construction industry

The potential for AI to address some of construction’s most pressing challenges is enormous. We need to embrace AI and what it can offer to augment and enhance our working lives, while ensuring we don’t become overly reliant on it, which could lead to a drop in standards or quality of workmanship. This is why regulation and companies implementing guidance is crucial.

The impact of AI on the workforce is a topic of both excitement and anxiety. The risky and costly nature of most construction processes means that even the smallest of errors can have huge implications. As a result, there is often little appetite to move away from the traditionally known, tried, and tested ways of doing things, even when these innovative technologies have the potential to deliver substantial rewards.

By having a solid foundation of data leadership and management, and taking an approach to AI that puts our amazing people at the heart of it, AI can be a launchpad for the construction industry to reach new heights.

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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

Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections: Sports Edition No. 49 for Nov. 11.

Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections No. 519 for Nov. 11.

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