Nakisisa George on LinkedIn: You may not need Apple Pay to tap and pay with your EU iPhone soon (2024)

Connections is the latest New York Times word game that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for April 20’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.What is Connections?The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.Tweet may have been deletedEach puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer. If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.Tweet may have been deletedPlayers can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categoriesWant a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:Featured Video For YouConnections: How to play and how to winHere are today’s Connections categoriesNeed a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.Drumroll, please!The solution to Connections #314 is…What is the answer to Connections todayBalderdash: BUNK, CROCK, HOGWASH, HORSEFEATHERSTrack and Field Equipment: BATON, HAMMER, HURDLE, POLEParts of a Devil Costume: GOATEE, HORNS, PITCHFORK, TAILTypes of Knots: BEND, BOWLINE, HITCH, SHEEPSHANKDon’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.Is this not the Connections game you were looking for? Here are the hints and answers to yesterday’s Connections. var facebookPixelLoaded = false; window.addEventListener('load', function(){

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Trump Media, the parent company that owns Truth Social, has filed a formal complaint with the Nasdaq, expressing concern for potential market manipulation impacting the stock.Twitter Is Shifting Right | Future TechThe platform’s stock, DJT, has actually been doing well lately, all things considered. The stock gained as much as 45.3% this week, which is the best boost it’s gotten in nearly a month, Marketwatch writes. DJT had its best day immediately after it merged with a blank check company to become a publicly traded company in March. However, since then, it has suffered a number of downturns in value. CNN reports that it’s currently down about 50 percent since its all-time high last month. Now, the company has sent a letter to the head of Nasdaq, expressing concerns that “potential market manipulation” is impacting the stock. The letter, which was sent on Thursday and made public Friday in an SEC filing, is written by Devin Nunes, the former Congressman and Trump presidential transition team member who now serves as Trump Media’s CEO. The letter from Nunes states: I write to bring your attention to potential market manipulation of the stock of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (“TMTG”), which operates the Truth Social platform and has traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker “DJT” since March 26, 2024. As you know, “naked” short selling—selling shares of a stock without first borrowing the shares of stock deemed difficult to locate—is generally illegal pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Regulation SHO.The SEC says naked short selling can hurt impacted companies. The letter notes that, as of Wednesday, DJT had appeared on the Nasdaq’s “Reg SHO threshold list,” which is “indicative of unlawful trading activity.” Such lists, which are a regulatory requirement, can be indicative “of improper naked short selling,” Investopedia claims. The letter also claims that data “made available” to the Trump Media and Technology Group indicates that “just four market participants have been responsible for over 60% of the extraordinary volume of DJT shares traded: Citadel Securities, VIRTU Americas, G1 Execution Services, and Jane Street Capital.” Nunes’s letter concludes that this is “particularly troubling given that ‘naked’ short selling often entails sophisticated market participants profiting at the expense of retail investors.”In response to the claims, Citadel Securities brutally roasted Nunes in a statement the firm has been circulating to the press. That statement, which the company forwarded to Gizmodo, reads: “Devin Nunes is the proverbial loser who tries to blame ‘naked short selling’ for his falling stock price,” the statement reads. “Nunes is exactly the type of person Donald Trump would have fired on The Apprentice. If he [Nunes] worked for Citadel Securities, we would fire him, as ability and integrity are at

It’s not often we see an excellent portable gaming PC like the Steam Deck on sale for nearly half off, but today’s your lucky day. So long as you don’t mind buying it in certified refurbished condition, you can save hundreds when you purchase it directly (with a one-year warranty included)from Valve right now.The refurbished Steam Deck starts at $279 for the base model with 64GB of storage, which is about $120 cheaper than buying it in new condition. And if you need more storage, the 256GB and 512GB models are both on sale, too, for $319 and $359, respectively. Given they both start at $529 and $649 in new condition, that’s almost like getting them for up to half off. What’s great, too, is that Value says it’s thoroughly tested each refurbished unit, and all meet the same performance standards as new retail units — just with some small cosmetic blemishes.In case you need a refresher, Valve’s Steam Deck is a handheld that looks a lot like the Nintendo Switch. However, you can use it to play PC games, and it is a lot more powerful, with a seven-inch screen that’s more spacious than the one on the standard Switch. It also features tons of customizable controls, while the 512GB model even comes with an anti-glare screen.Source link By Nakisisa George

Image: SyFyIf you excitedly went to Peaco*ck on Thursday to watch the latest episode of Chucky, only to find it was not yet available to stream—and then screamed with the wrong kind of horror—you are not alone among the killer doll’s legions of fans.Zack Snyder Digs Into His “Rebel Moon vs Barbie” Ratings DiscourseUp until this week, episodes of Chucky were being released for streaming on Peaco*ck the day after their initial airings on Syfy and USA. And the first episode of Don Mancini’s highly anticipated second half of season three, which paused shooting during the strikes last year, did indeed show up the day after its April 10 premiere, as cable cutter fans were used to. But starting with this week’s installment, and continuing with the remaining two episodes, there’ll be a week-long break between airing and streaming, according to a Peaco*ck email sent to press, which specifically states “episodes available on Peaco*ck seven days after air.” The April 17 episode streams April 24; the April 24 episode streams May 1; and the May 1 finale makes its way to Peaco*ck on May 8.With hardly any warning or clear messaging for fans on any of Chucky’s official platforms, folks have taken to X to share their frustrations over the delay—especially those who signed up for Peaco*ck specifically to keep up with the show when it returned.It really makes no sense, especially since spoilers abound online—and is a buzzkill for a huge portion of fans if they’re seven days late to the discourse. It’s also really shooting a good show in the foot by denying its fanbase the chance to hype up new episodes, no matter how they tune in, each week. We need to get Chucky himself on the case to fix this! io9 has reached out to NBCUniversal for comment or clarification, and will update this post if we hear back.New episodes of Chucky season three air Wednesdays on Syfy and USA—and as of this week, the episodes are also available on Peaco*ck seven days after release. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.Source link By Nakisisa George

With The Jinx: Part Two coming to Max, you might be scratching your brain trying to recall all the relevant details unfurled in the groundbreaking true crime series’ first half. So let’s look back.SEE ALSO:How to watch ‘The Jinx: Part Two’On February 8, 2015, HBO released Andrew Jarecki’s six-part documentary series entitled The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, about the New York real estate scion and his suspected role in the disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen “Kathie” McCormack Durst; the death of his neighbor Morris Black; and the murder of his best friend Susan Berman. The series doggedly detailed all three cases, with the help of Durst. Intrigued by Jarecki’s 2010 film All Good Things, which was inspired by the then-unsolved missing persons case of Kathie, he reached out to the filmmaker, giving unprecedented access to the production team.In November 2023, less than a year after Durst’s death at age 78, HBO announced that The Jinx: Part Two would premiere on April 21, 2024. With six new episodes, the series continues with Chapter 7 and takes viewers through Durst’s final trial and last days. But if you’ve not got the time — or maybe the wherewithal — to rewatch the first six episodes, here’s everything you need to know about Robert Durst and The Jinx.Who was Robert Durst?Credit: Courtesy of HBOThough born the eldest son of New York real estate magnate Seymour Durst,Robert Durst spent much of his adult life known for his alleged criminal activities.The Durst Organization, which was formed by Robert’s grandfather Joseph, is a sprawling real estate conglomerate, responsible for both commercial and residential properties across NYC; the family itself is worth $8.1 billion. Under Seymour’s purview, the Durst Organization altered the city skyline, developing the Bank of America Tower, the Conde Nast Building, and Four Times Square.As for Robert, he had no interest in working for the Durst Organization, and instead opened a health food store in Middlebury, Vermont, called All Good Things. (Yes, the title of Jarecki’s narrative film came from this store.) Durst returned to New York in 1973, but it was his younger brother Douglas who took over the Durst Organization when Seymour retired in 1992. By this time, Robert was already a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Kathie.Robert severed ties with his family, who settled the lawsuit he brought against them in 2006 for $65 million. But his acrimonious relationship with his family, in particular with his younger brother, Douglas, continued. None of his siblings spoke with Jarecki for The Jinx, despite repeated attempts. In August of 2013, Durst was arrested for violating a restraining order placed against him by Douglas. This arrest is a major element of Chapter 6 of The Jinx, happening ahead of Durst’s final on-camera interview with Jarecki.Durst was later acquitted on trespassing charges,

Curls are beautiful, but taking care of and styling them can be a long, frustrating, and often expensive task. Whether you have tight coils, waves, or Shirley Temple spirals, sometimes you just want to smooth them out and not be bothered for a few days. Having a good tool, be it a hair straightener or a blow-dry brush, makes that process easier.WIRED’s Gear team has an array of curl types, needs, and hair-styling tricks, and we’ve all tried a lot of hair straighteners in our lifetimes. Some flat irons have left us with crispy ends and cramped hands, while others, like the ones listed here, gave us sleek hair. There’s a dizzying number of options around, but hopefully our favorite hair straighteners can help narrow down your search.Updated April 2024: We added GHD’s Chronos flat iron, BabylissPRO Nano Titanium Prima3100 Hair Straightener, and Drybar Reserve Vibrating Styling Iron. We also updated links and pricing.Special offer for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com, full Gear coverage, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.Source link By Nakisisa George

The Tesla Cybertruck was supposed to stop bullets. Turns out its owners should be more afraid of a bit of soap.An “unapproved lubricant” used on the Cybertruck’s accelerator pad caused it to slip off and get trapped in a bit of trim above the pedal, according to a recall report [PDF] by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. If you’ve been on TikTok this week, you might have seen what that can mean, thanks to a viral video of a Cybertruck owner whose accelerator jammed in the “pedal to the metal” position. Result: Every single driver who paid for a Cybertruck, all 3,878 of them, now has to haul their extremely angular EV to their local dealer in Tesla’s biggest recall to date. And as with a lot of news these days, how you react to the recall likely depends on whether you’re an obsessive fan of Elon Musk. The “masterful gambit, sir” crowd can easily play it down. After all, no one died. Nobody has even crashed, that we know of, as a result of this error. Tesla has offered a prompt fix (well, 20 days after it received its first customer complaint about the pedal, so prompt-ish). The lubricant-toting workers are at fault, not the company. Besides, look at the ongoing disaster at Boeing, which approved the use of dish soap in manufacturing the same door seal that blew off during a 737 Max flight in January. Next to Boeing, Tesla looks like a paragon of soapy safety. And yet judging by the ongoing slide of Tesla stock, which reached a one-year low after news of the Cybertruck recall hit Wall Street on Friday, not everyone takes this view. After all, it’s not the workers’ fault someone told them to put a completely unnecessary rugged-look pad on the accelerator. Nor should workers be blamed for rust marks appearing on a stainless steel truck, or a trunk that can pinch fingers, or a warning not to wash it in direct sunlight, or a flashing red “pull over” notice appearing on its screen minutes after at least one customer started driving. A punchline on wheelsCrucially for Tesla’s future, we may have reached a tipping point: The Cybertruck has become a punchline in a way that its owners cannot get out from under. The joke is that they are dupes who paid through the nose for an extremely expensive vehicle that looks like it was designed by a child and does not actually perform many of the functions we expect from a truck, and that they’ll put up with any design flaw whatsoever. You can see this clearly in the most-liked, and highly representative, comment on that viral TikTok. “Every Cybertruck owner is like ‘I paid 80k for this and it almost killed my entire family. Small issue. Love the car!'”Actually, the owner responded, he paid $122,000 with extras. “Sick flex, brother,” replied another TikTok user. “I also paid $122k to be a ludicrously irresponsible threat to any vehicle or pedestrian in my vicinity.”Cybertruck comedy, still legal, continued over on Musk’s Twitter (which,

If you’re the kind of Mario Kart 8 player who cares about winning and not just playing their favorite characters (Daisy and Peach supremacy), choosing the best combination of driver, vehicle, and wheels gets tricky.Luckily, thanks to data science and 19th-century Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, there’s a way to figure that out. Data scientist Antoine Mayerowitz applies one of Pareto’s principles, the Pareto front, to plot the best combination among the 703,560 possible decisions players must make in Mario Kart. Eurogamer helpfully explains that a Pareto front finds the best possible solution to a problem with different objectives.In a cool piece of data visualization you should definitely check out, Mayerowitz narrows down the possible choices to 25,704. From here, Mayerowitz plots the potential builds on a chart. Starting with the speed factor, the fastest characters are technically Bowser and Wario, but the story is different after adding acceleration to the mix. Some characters are dominated by just speed or just acceleration, but those that aren’t form a curve that’s called the Pareto front, the drivers most optimal if you want to prioritize those two factors. Cat Peach is in the middle of the Pareto front for speed and acceleration.The most optimal Mario Kart 8 characters, based on speed and acceleration using the Pareto front.Graph: Antoine MayerowitzNext, consider the vehicle build. There are around 585 combinations of karts, wheels, and gliders. Mayerowitz applies the Pareto front concept to this factor and ends up with 14 choices. The best choice from these 14 options depends on which factor the player wants to prioritize.However, if, like Mayerowitz, you prioritize speed and acceleration, then the best build is Peach on the Teddy Buggy with roller tires and the Cloud Glider. See, Princess Peach supremacy. Huh, I guess my method of just playing my favorite character works.Source link By Nakisisa George

Optimus Prime and Megatron in Transformers One.Image: ParamountTransformers is known for being “more than meets the eye.” But when it comes to the characters from Transformers One, it’s more than meets the eyes, nose, and mouth. The first trailer for the upcoming animated origin story landed this week and it revealed new looks for the iconic characters, as well as a decidedly goofy tone. Since the film is about two best friends becoming mortal enemies, we’re guessing that tone shifts a bit at some point. And the same is probably true for the looks of the characters—which, after seeing the trailer and some new character posters, feel much more human than we’re used to.In other iterations, the Transformers have had human facial features. During battles though, and sometimes in dialogue-heavy scenes, those are usually covered by something machine-like, which makes them seem more robotic (and easier for animators). That happens in this trailer too but you get the sense that, with all the playful banter, these designs are meant to be more relatable. And frankly, we’re not sure how we feel about the blocky noses, thin lips, and dead eyes.You can get a closer look at the four main characters—Orion Pax/Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth), D-16/Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry), Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson), and B-127/Bumblebee (Keegan-Michael Key)–in new character posters that follow, and let us know how you feel in the comments.Source link By Nakisisa George