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A new tech company is hoping to revolutionize the way we do laundry and we got to see it firsthand at CES 2025.

Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections No. 578 for Thursday, Jan. 9.

Nvidia's new Cosmos model is another sign that devices and machines are getting better at understanding their environments.

CNET's Bridget Carey takes a look at Hyundai Mobis' new holographic window display at CES 2025

It's hard to dislike AI home robots when they are cute babies. CNET's Bridget Carey checks out TCL's latest smart home concept, an AI companion robot for kids named Ai Me ("Aime").

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Off the hook!

NYT Strands today (game #312) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• LOAF
• FINE
• SCAM
• CORK
• SKIP
• PICK

NYT Strands today (game #312) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Chicken of the sea

NYT Strands today (game #312) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 4th row

Last side: right, 3rd row

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

NYT Strands today (game #312) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #312, are…

• BIGEYE
• BLUEFIN
• SKIPJACK
• ALBACORE
• YELLOWFIN
• SPANGRAM: TUNA FAMILY

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 hints

It took me two hints before I cottoned on to today’s Strands being all about Tuna – or “the chicken of the sea” as one canned tuna brand calls it, which is not accurate but is a bit more catchy than obligate ram generators of the sea.

Because we think of tuna in cans or fillets rather than as living creatures, it’s easy to forget their size – Atlantic YELLOWFIN tuna are enormous and can weigh as much as a horse. They’re fast too, swimming at speeds of 42mph.

My favourite fact about the tuna is that they never stop moving, as their movement and respiration are connected and because of this they don’t stop to sleep and instead employ a technique where they shut down one half of their brain so they can continue moving and staying vigilant to threats and then after a while shut down the opposite half of their brain. I’ll try it when I do Strands tomorrow.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, 8 January, game #311)

• OVEN
• SINK
• ISLAND
• BACKSPLASH
• COUNTERTOP
• SPANGRAM: KITCHEN REMODEL

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.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

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

Quordle today (game #1081) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

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

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

Quordle today (game #1081) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #1081) - 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 #1081) - 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 #1081) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• R

• H

• T

• I

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

Quordle today (game #1081) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1081, are…

• RESET
• HUMOR
• TENOR
• IMAGE

I came close to getting Quordle in six goes today, but seven still equals my PB, although I really struggled to get IMAGE. I knew it ended in E and had an M and I, but after guessing Maize it took me a good few minutes of brain freeze and word inventing until I got to image.

Today, I got to that stuck stage where I almost guessed words I knew were incorrect just so I could fill out the puzzle.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #1081) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1081, are…

• FILLY
• NORTH
• BROOK
• NAVAL

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1080, Wednesday 8 January: MINCE, SADLY, RISEN, VOUCH
• Quordle #1079, Tuesday 7 January: CREED, FILET, ROUTE, TAPER
• Quordle #1078, Monday 6 January: PIVOT, WOOLY, GRUNT, GROOM
• Quordle #1077, Sunday 5 January: BORAX, JUDGE, CADET, SALON
• Quordle #1076, Saturday 4 January: CORER, CRATE, QUASI, EXIST
• Quordle #1075, Friday 3 January: PERKY, QUARK, NAVEL, SHEEN
• Quordle #1074, Thursday 2 January: UNIFY, SWORE, DEPOT, INTRO
• Quordle #1073, Wednesday 1 January: CLING, SUITE, WORRY, TONIC
• Quordle #1072, Tuesday 31 December: PLUMP, TUBER, IRATE, ICILY
• Quordle #1071, Monday 30 December: TODDY, GROIN, GROWN, VERVE
• Quordle #1070, Sunday 29 December: PURER, SPLAT, RABID, EMCEE
• Quordle #1069, Saturday 28 December: BUNCH, LABOR, TRIPE, BUNNY
• Quordle #1068, Friday 27 December: BRAWL, LYING, ORGAN, CRONY
• Quordle #1067, Thursday 26 December: TATTY, OVERT, FLOUR, SWEPT
• Quordle #1066, Wednesday 25 December: LIVER, CRIER, SHORE, MURKY
• Quordle #1065, Tuesday 24 December: TIPSY, SCALE, FLYER, VALVE
• Quordle #1064, Monday 23 December: SNAKE, SAVVY, ELBOW, TWEED
• Quordle #1063, Sunday 22 December: DOUBT, SLURP, PAPER, CIVIL
• Quordle #1062, Saturday 21 December: STRIP, BUDGE, SAPPY, SHELF
• Quordle #1061, Friday 20 December: PENAL, EAGLE, DILLY, QUITE

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

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

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

NYT Connections today (game #578) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• SHINING
• FINANCE
• TABLE
• SIT
• STAND
• STAY
• TO
• IT
• SEA
• STALL
• COME
• FROM
• LEGAL
• HEEL
• BOOTH
• SALES

NYT Connections today (game #578) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: A pitch to sell from
• GREEN: Well trained 
• BLUE: The office
• PURPLE: Last line of patriotic song

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 #578) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: VENDOR'S SPOT AT A MARKET
• GREEN: DOG COMMANDS
• BLUE: CORPORATE DEPARTMENTS
• PURPLE: LAST WORDS IN "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL" 

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

NYT Connections today (game #578) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #578, are…

• YELLOW: VENDOR'S SPOT AT A MARKET BOOTH, STALL, STAND, TABLE
• GREEN: DOG COMMANDS COME, HEEL, SIT, STAY
• BLUE: CORPORATE DEPARTMENTS FINANCE, IT, LEGAL, SALES
• PURPLE: LAST WORDS IN "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL" FROM, SEA, SHINING, TO

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

It’s an odd feeling getting the purple group second, and not one I’ve experienced often. “FROM SEA TO SHINING sea” felt almost too obvious – like, yellow-group obvious.

My first thought about today’s words was Stephen King novels – IT, The SHINING, The STAND – and that’s as far as I got before seeing the LAST WORDS IN “AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL” and DOG COMMANDS.

VENDOR’S SPOT AT A MARKET didn’t include the best one – blanket on the floor, the spot most often deployed by someone who doesn’t have an official spot at the market. There’s a Saturday market near me where another “spot” comes into play – opened suitcase on top of a dustbin. This is a style of selling that’s exclusive to perfumes of dubious provenance, the suitcase necessary for speedy departures. Best to stick to sellers with a BOOTH, STALL, STAND or TABLE.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 8 January, game #577)

• YELLOW: SECTION BRANCH, DIVISION, LIMB, WING
• GREEN: ACCESSORIES FOR PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT BOW, DRUMSTICK, MALLET, PICK
• BLUE: DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF AN ELEPHANT EAR, MEMORY, TRUNK, TUSK
• PURPLE: WORDS MISSPELLED IN NU METAL BAND NAMES BISCUIT, CORN, LINCOLN, STAINED

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.

Janisse Quiñones, CEO of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said the fight to contain the flames has put immense strain on the system.

(Image credit: Etienne Laurent)

As hurricane-force winds fan the most destructive wildfires in California history across bone-dry foothills, communities face the dual threat of natural forces and a warming world.

Authorities say that before a Green Beret blew up a Cybertruck in front of the Trump International Hotel, he consulted ChatGPT—exactly the scenario police have been warned of for the past year.

Eligible taxpayers can prepare and file their returns early at no cost.

• HP ZBook Ultra 14-inch G1a mobile workstation PC weighs less than 2Kg
• It is the only device in its category able to support 128GB of RAM
• G1a is also powered by the fastest mobile CPU right now, the AMD AI Max+ Pro 395

HP has released a compact powerhouse which it says could challenge what is possible in mobile computing.

The company says this workstation enables users to handle complex AI workflows, render graphics-intensive projects, and work with large language models (LLMs) locally.

The ZBook Ultra is powered by the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 processor, boasting 16 cores and 32 threads with clock speeds ranging from 3.0 GHz (base) to 5.1 GHz (boost).

Fast charging delivers 50% in 30 minutes

The new HP ZBook Ultra comes with AMD Radeon Graphics and a neural processing unit (NPU) that delivers up to 50 TOPS for AI-enhanced tasks.

There's 128GB of unified LPDDR5X memory and the ability to allocate up to 96GB directly to the GPU, with storage options offering up to 4TB of PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD.

The HP ZBook Ultra 14-inch G1a Mobile Workstation gives the option of a WUXGA (1920 x 1200) anti-glare panel, which features ultra-wide viewing angles, 400 nits of brightness, and 100% sRGB color accuracy.

For an even more enhanced visual experience, the device offers a vibrant 2.8K OLED display with touch support, boasting refresh rates from 48Hz to 120Hz, 100% DCI-P3 color accuracy, and it's TÜV-certified for low blue light.

This device comes with a couple of connectivity options including USB Type-C port (10Gbps), an HDMI 2.1 port, a combined headphone/microphone jack, Wi-Fi 7 support, and, on the left side, a Thunderbolt 4 port.

On the right, there's another Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB Type-A port with 10Gbps and charging support, and a security lock slot.

Powered by an HP XL Long-Life 4-cell, 74.5Wh polymer battery which supports fast charging technology, the ZBook Ultra gets 50% charge in 30 minutes.

The heavy-duty performance of the device, weighing about 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg), with a thickness of only 0.73 inches, is cooled by the HP Vaporforce Thermals.

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Authorities in South Korea are continuing to try to arrest impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, following his failed declaration of martial law over a month ago. As the country continues to be mired in political crisis, analyst are studying the health of the country's democracy. And as our correspondent in Seoul tells us, they're drawing comparisons to recent events in the U.S.

Extremely dry conditions coupled with high winds have led to an explosive wildfire situation in southern California.

Multiple fires have erupted across the Los Angeles area since Tuesday. Tens of thousands of people have had to evacuate, and firefighters are struggling to contain the flames.

Adria Kloke is one of the of people who has had to flee. She packed up her belongings, along with her cat, and left her home in Pacific Palisades on Tuesday. Kloke shares her story with NPR.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org

Email us at considerthis@npr.org

(Image credit: Apu Gomes)

New York became the first place in the US to implement the surcharge on driving, following the example of a few international metro areas.

NPR visited a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C., to see how residents and staff are faring during a cold emergency. The shelter is busy year-round, though the frigid weather brings in more people.

(Image credit: Dee Dwyer)

Research shows that 5-minute walking breaks every half hour offset the harm of too much sitting. But that is easier said than done. These 5 tips can help you maintain movement throughout your day.

The strangest gadgets from day 2 of CES, with robots, plants and things that go in your mouth.

• TCL unveils its TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G Android phone
• The NXTpaper tech makes week-long battery life possible
• The price is impressive

I'm happy to celebrate the day-long battery life I get with most flagship iPhone and Android handsets, but what if they offered a week of battery life and cost $199? Impossible, right? Not if you're TCL, apparently. Today at CES 2025, the Chinese electronics giant best known for affordable big-screen TVs is bringing the TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G Android phone to the US and Canada and, yes, it fits this bill.

This active 6.8-inch handset achieves 7 days of battery life using TCL's proprietary NXTPaper technology. TCL calls it E Ink-like but this is not electronic paper technology (I previously saw it on the 14-inch TCL NxTPaper 14 Pro). The FHD+ screen is still LCD but uses a series of layers to kill reflectivity and remove blue light. The combination gives NXTPaper-based screens an almost matte-paper, magazine-like look.

(Image credit: TCL)

We’re covering all of the latest CES news from the show as it happens. Stick with us for the big stories on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok for the latest from the CES show floor!

So, yes, they're easy on the eyes but also a lot less bright. NXTPaper's technology makes it more of a power-sipping display. The TCL 60XE will not run in this mode all the time, though. There's a physical switch on the phone to enable the NXTPaper effect, and the 7-day battery life would be if you used it in NXTPaper mode 24/7 (standby would be an astounding 26 days).

Interestingly, this new phone won't even feature the latest edition of TCL's NXTPaper technology. TCL told us that NXTPaper 4.0 will arrive later this year, but only on its new TCL NXTPaper 11 Plus tablet, also announced at CES. NXTPaper 4.0 uses nano-matrix lithography, a new screen etching process to create microstructures on the cover glass that effectively kill reflections without undermining visual quality.

It's not clear when NXTPaper 4.0 will arrive on handsets. The next best thing, NXTPaper 3.0, is available on the TCL 60XE, as well as a few other enticing features that might make it a surprise winner in the 2025 Android market.

Specs that include a 50MP front camera, 32MP rear camera, 256GB storage, and 8GB of RAM (expandable to 16GB) would normally add up to a phone that costs at least $800. But TCL is bringing in the TCL 60XE at $199 in the US and Canada.

That's an unheard-of price for a phone that will last for days on a change (depending on how often you use the NXTPaper mode). As for build quality, camera capability, and overall performance, I'll know more when I get my hands on the new Android handset.

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