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Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Give it a whirl!

NYT Strands today (game #191) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• RICE
• SICK
• SOCK
• BALL
• TALL
• SORT

NYT Strands today (game #191) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Come dancing

NYT Strands today (game #191) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: right, 5th row

Last: left, 6th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #191) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #191, are…

• WALTZ
• QUICKSTEP
• FOXTROT
• SALSA
• JIVE
• RUMBA
• SPANGRAM: BALLROOMDANCE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I have never tried ballroom dancing, and I almost certainly never will – but that didn't stop me completing this Strands puzzle in quick time. It's a very simple one, helped no end by the fact that the spangram, BALLROOMDANCE, is very long and winds its way across the center of the board. This reduces the possibilities for the letters surrounding it, making it easy to spot the likes of QUICKSTEP and SALSA. Uncommon letters helped, too – there's an X, a Z and a Q in there, and all are typically easier to work with than more common characters.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday 9 September, game #190)

• BOCCE
• CROQUET
• CORNHOLE
• HORSESHOES
• BADMINTON
• SPANGRAM: LAWNGAMES

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 nearly 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 Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.

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 #960) - 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 #960) - 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 2.

Quordle today (game #960) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

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

Quordle today (game #960) - 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 #960) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• P

• S

• A

• E

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

Quordle today (game #960) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #960, are…

• PLUMB
• SEIZE
• EARLY
• ASSET

If this is the 'Classic' Quordle by difficulty, then spare a thought for anyone attempting the new 'Extreme' variety. I only solved classic on the last guess, tripped up along the way by the likes of SEIZE (with its two Es and one Z) and ASSET (two Ss).

As it happened, I decided to attempt Extreme too today, and did manage to solve that – but only after a rollercoaster game that saw my secure the victory on the last attempt. And I was never playing within my comfort zone, that's for sure.

On the plus side, the Daily Sequence version of the game was relatively simple today – which was some relief after the other two Quordles.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #960) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #960, are…

• FLACK
• SHAKE
• SCARY
• ALTAR

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #959, Monday 9 September: CHIRP, BEADY, THETA, MINUS
• Quordle #958, Sunday 8 September: TEASE, AGATE, PRIDE, PLATE
• Quordle #957, Saturday 7 September: LASSO, TILDE, BUNCH, PRONG
• Quordle #956, Friday 6 September: FARCE, WOOLY, LOCAL, NIGHT
• Quordle #955, Thursday 5 September: SNIDE, EGRET, AMONG, SHINY
• Quordle #954, Wednesday 4 September: POINT, WITTY, GAFFE, ABUSE
• Quordle #953, Tuesday 3 September: ATOLL, ANGER, OCEAN, SWEEP
• Quordle #952, Monday 2 September: HABIT, LODGE, PLAIN, DRIFT
• Quordle #951, Sunday 1 September: RABBI, CRAWL, GUPPY, BRAND
• Quordle #950, Saturday 31 August: AWOKE, TIBIA, ITCHY, SNACK
• Quordle #949, Friday 30 August: ARISE, OLDER, ISSUE, ERUPT
• Quordle #948, Thursday 29 August: DECAY, DRUID, AVOID, KNEED
• Quordle #947, Wednesday 28 August: VIOLA, GONER, CAVIL, SHARE
• Quordle #946, Tuesday 27 August: ABYSS, DAILY, AGONY, MUSKY
• Quordle #945, Monday 26 August: NEVER, CHUNK, AUNTY, CROUP
• Quordle #944, Sunday 25 August: APTLY, LEVER, STORK, WIDOW
• Quordle #943, Saturday 24 August: EVENT, APNEA, SWATH, IRONY
• Quordle #942, Friday 23 August: LAUGH, SATYR, CACHE, CLONE
• Quordle #941, Thursday 22 August: BEARD, PAYER, BROWN, TRUCK
• Quordle #940, Wednesday 21 August: ALOFT, SNUCK, LAPSE, COMIC

Apple announced that it intends to add a hearing aid mode to its AirPods Pro 2.

Eligible Comcast and Instacart subscribers can score a basic premium subscription at no extra cost.

Starting at $129, the fourth-generation AirPods feature the same open design as their predecessor, but they have a refined new look and are powered by Apple's H2 chip. The higher-end model has ANC for $179.

The next generation of Apple’s car dashboard software is supposed to debut this year. But another Apple product event has come and gone without any CarPlay news.

It’s official: the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max have arrived, and with them the next generation of Apple smartphone chips – the A18 and A18 Pro.

The new iPhone 16 lineup and A18 series chipsets were revealed at Apple's September 9 'It's Glowtime' event.

You’ll find the A18 in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, and the A18 Pro in the newly enlarged iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max 

Apple claims you’ll see serious performance gains with these new chips, but in typical fashion hasn’t provided any concrete benchmarks, only percentage improvements compared to the previous generation.

For reference, when we say “previous generation”, we’re referring to the A16 Bionic chip found in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, and the A17 Pro chip found in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. 

Until we get our hands on the iPhone 16 lineup ourselves for testing, these claims from Apple are the best indication we have of the performance of these new chipsets.

A18 specs and performance improvements  

The A18 chip found in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus come equipped with a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU (which Apple dubiously calls “desktop class”), and 16-core Neural Engine optimized for large generative models. 

The CPU is split into two performance cores for heavier tasks, and four efficiency cores for lighter ones. Apple claims this CPU is 30% faster than the one found in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. 

Apple says A18 achieves the same performance as the previous generation while using 30% less power.

Apple makes bolder statements about the GPU, claiming a performance improvement of 40% compared to the previous generation, with native support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing – a way of realistically rendering light that's increasingly used in modern games.

Apple says the A18’s GPU achieves the same performance as the previous generation while using 35% less power.

The entire chipset has 17% more memory bandwidth compared to the A16 Bionic – this is how much data the system can process at once, though Apple hasn't provided specific figures.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar  A18 Pro specs and performance improvements 

Apple claims more modest improvements for the A18 Pro as compared to the A17 Pro, but this isn’t surprising given the already fantastic performance of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The company did, however, call the A18’s CPU the “fastest CPU in any smartphone” during the now-concluded 'It’s Glowtime' event.

The A18 Pro’s 6-core CPU is divided into two performance cores and four efficiency cores, with Apple claiming a 15% improvement in performance compared to the previous generation. 

The company says the A18 Pro achieves the same performance as the previous generation while using 20% less power.

Apple says the A18 Pro’s 6-core GPU – that’s one more core than the A18 – boasts a 20% performance boost over the A17 Pro.

Apple showed Death Stranding as an example of the type of games the A18 Pro can handle. The Kojima Productions game was first released on home consoles in 2019. 

Like the A18, the A18 Pro comes equipped with a 16-core Neural Engine, but also includes what Apple calls “next-generation machine learning accelerators”, ostensibly to improve AI performance. And, as with the A18, memory bandwidth is improved by 17%.

The A18 Pro comes with two extra sweeteners for pro users: Apple claims doubled video encoding speeds and faster USB 3 data transfer speeds, though this is as much detail as we were given during the event.

 The first 3nm smartphone chips 

Apple says the A18 and A18 Pro are the world’s first 3nm smartphone chipsets. In chip production, nanometers (nm) refers to the microscopic width of a single transistor on a chip, processor, or SoC. Each transistor can store one bit of information, so the more you can cram onto a surface, the more operations a chipset can complete.

We’ll have to check for ourselves whether Apple’s implementation of 3nm technology has generated any tangible benefits, but it’s an impressive first either way, and will most likely spur on other manufacturers to adopt 3nm over the coming year. 

Apple will release the newest iPhone operating system next week.

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A recent report by CYFIRMA has revealed the emergence of a new keylogger operating via a PowerShell script, a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft.

A keylogger is a type of malicious software that captures every keystroke on an infected system. By recording keyboard inputs, keyloggers can gather sensitive information such as login credentials, credit card numbers, and personal communications, and are often used to steal financial data or spy on individuals and organizations.

The keylogger analyzed in CYFIRMA's research uses Microsoft’s PowerShell script to capture keystrokes stealthily. PowerShell's native integration with Windows, combined with its powerful scripting capabilities, makes it an attractive target for attackers seeking to execute commands without direct user interaction.

PowerShell based keylogger

The researchers note this PowerShell keylogger showcases several advanced features that enhance its stealth and effectiveness in capturing sensitive information.

This includes its command and scripting interpreter, which enables the keylogger to execute commands through PowerShell without requiring user interaction, significantly complicating detection efforts.

The keylogger also performs system discovery, gathering critical information such as user profile directories, volume details, and cryptographic settings.

Furthermore, the keylogger establishes Command-and-Control (C2) communication through both a cloud server and an Onion server on the Tor network. This dual-channel communication not only maintains anonymity for the attackers but also complicates tracing efforts back to their source. It also incorporates a screen capture feature, allowing attackers to obtain visual data from the infected system in addition to logging keystrokes.

To evade detection, the keylogger employs encoded command execution, transmitting commands using Base64 encoding. This technique obscures the commands from traditional security measures.

It also makes persistent connection attempts via a SOCKS proxy, ensuring that even if initial connection attempts fail, the keylogger will continue trying to establish communication. While the current version of the keylogger lacks a fully developed persistence mechanism, the incomplete code indicates that future updates may enhance its ability to maintain a foothold on infected systems.

Given the advanced nature of this PowerShell-based keylogger, CYFIRMA notes organizations should implement robust cybersecurity measures to defend against such threats, including:

• Enhance security policies: Organizations should enforce stringent security policies to restrict the execution of unauthorized PowerShell scripts. This may involve disabling or limiting PowerShell usage where it is unnecessary and actively monitoring for any unauthorized execution attempts.
• Invest in advanced threat detection: Implement advanced threat detection systems that leverage machine learning and behavioral analytics. These systems can more effectively detect and respond to sophisticated threats, such as keyloggers.
• Educate employees: Conduct regular training sessions to raise awareness among employees about the dangers of phishing and other social engineering techniques, which are frequently used to deploy keyloggers.
• Conduct regular system audits: Schedule frequent system audits and integrity checks to detect any unauthorized modifications, including the presence of keyloggers. These audits help ensure compliance with established security policies.
• Deploy endpoint protection: Utilize endpoint protection solutions designed to detect and block keylogger activities. These solutions should be capable of identifying threats that operate using non-interactive PowerShell processes to bolster overall security.

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The State Department urged Israel to move quickly to investigate the death of a U.S. woman during a protest against Israeli settlements in the West Bank last week. Eyewitnesses said she was shot in the head by Israeli forces policing the protest. Israeli authorities have said they are investigating the incident.

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The task of washing a water bottle could deter your hydration. These self-cleaning water bottles will take the fuss out of keeping your bottle clean.

It's not a third-gen Apple Watch Ultra, but it is back in black.

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MASV has officially launched its new free-tier service, signaling a shift from a trial-based model to a fully functional free product.

The company says its move is designed to help media professionals, particularly those dealing with massive amounts of data, streamline their workflows and scale their operations without breaking the bank.

By offering up to 10 GB of data transfer per month at no cost, MASV seeks to address the growing need for fast, secure, and reliable file transfers in industries such as film, television, and digital media.

Helping high-volume data workflows

Traditional file transfer services often fall short when it comes to high-volume workflows, while legacy on-premises tools are plagued with complexity, security risks, and high costs. MASV says its free tier is designed to eliminate these challenges, allowing teams to build scalable and reliable workflows with minimal effort.

While MASV is offering 10GB of data for free every month, those handling larger files or requiring more frequent transfers have the option of pay-as-you-go and committed-use plans.

MASV can also integrate with existing tools and storage solutions, including over 25 of the most popular cloud storage applications.

The platform offers a self-serve model, meaning that users can quickly build and manage their workflows with little to no technical support, and MASV says its platform is designed to provide lightning-fast transfers without compromising data security.

The offer of 10GB of free cloud storage comes with a set of conditions that users should consider before diving in. While the initial 10GB is complimentary, the pricing structure for additional storage can quickly add up. After the first 10GB, users will be charged $0.25 per GB for the next 490GB. If your storage needs exceed that, the cost decreases slightly to $0.22 per GB for the next 2TB. For those requiring even more space, the rate drops further to $0.20 per GB for over 2.5TB.

In addition to the storage costs, there are also fees associated with the duration of storage. Users enjoy five days of free storage, but after that period, the cost is $0.07 per GB per month. This means that if files are stored beyond the initial five days, users will incur ongoing charges, which can accumulate depending on the amount of data stored. The initial allure of free storage may be overshadowed by the costs associated with additional storage and extended retention periods. Thus, potential users should carefully evaluate their storage needs and the long-term costs before committing to this service.

“The launch of our new free tier is an invitation for media professionals to build on the massive platform,” said Greg Wood, CEO of MASV. “MASV is committed to providing exceptional value and file transfer tooling to businesses with complex file transfer needs. We are proud of the innovation, continuous improvement of the product, and the close support we provide to customers, and we’re excited to see how people will use the free tier to build new high-performance file transfer workflows."

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