Tangle Tech

Is it just me or is Strands on a difficult run at the moment? Maybe the NYT thinks it needs to be tougher in order to draw in more players. And frustrating though it sometimes is, I definitely prefer it when it really gets me thinking. If you're struggling with today's game then don't fret – I've got some hints for you below. Good luck! 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 #58) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands? • Today's NYT Strands theme is… Pour it on NYT Strands today (game #58) - hint #2 - clue words What are some good clue words today? Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system. • COIN • CHART • POINT • CHARD • CHEEP • DUSTY NYT Strands today (game #58) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram? • Added flavor NYT Strands today (game #

Amazon Prime continues to be a service juggernaut in the tech industry as the company has broken a new record. According to a recent announcement , Amazon revealed it managed to deliver over two billion items in the first three months of 2024 through Prime. That’s more than the total amount of packages they sent out in Europe to members last year.  Worldwide Amazon Stores CEO Doug Herrington stated in March that almost 60 percent of Prime orders "arrived the same or next day across" 60 of the largest urban areas in the United States. In London, Tokyo, and Toronto, "three out of four items" arrived at their destination in the same time frame. This success in the US seems to be the result of the logistical changes Amazon made in 2023 . They essentially divided up the country into “eight interconnected regions" to serve specific geographic areas. These regions have a “fulfillment center” housing a wide array of items, allowing the company to quickly deliver t

Artificial intelligence might seem a little less artificial today now that Memory is live for all ChatGPT Plus users. After a few months of testing in both the free and pay versions of the generative AI chatbot, OpenAI chose to enable the feature, for paying customers only, in all regions except Korea and Europe. ChatGPT 's memory is exactly what it sounds like. During prompt-driven "conversations" with the AI, ChatGPT Plus can now remember key facts about the conversations, including details about you, and then apply that information to future interactions. Put another way, ChatGPT Plus just graduated from a somewhat disinterested acquaintance to a friend who cares enough to remember that your birthday is next week or that you recently bought a dog. You can tell the system to implicitly remember something or just state facts about yourself that it will remember. Cross-chat memory introduction (Image credit: Future) I know, it's the kind of thing that c

A prominent hardware leaker has uncovered new patch notes revealing that the now-allegedly canceled AMD Navi 4X / 4C graphics cards would have been significantly more powerful than the current AMD flagship RX 7900 XTX.  Uncovered by Kepler_L2 (via Tweaktown ) , new patch notes for AMD GFX12 supposedly showcase Navi 4X die models, the newer equivalent of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX , which would feature up to 50% more shader engines, however, it's not looking likely that anything from RDNA 4 will be as quick as has been touted here. Specifically, the patch notes reveal that Navi 4X / 4C die GPUs would have featured nine shading engines which is a significant upgrade over the six available from Navi 31 for a significant boost. RNDA 4 appears to be targeting the value crowd , so while the tech could have technically rivaled leading models from Intel, it's likely the top-end was cut due to wanting to keep the prices competitive.  It calls back to an earlier leak at the end of last

Italian hi-fi maker Volumio has just launched a new audio device called the Motivo Streamer, Transport & Headphone Amplifier, which is best described as a high-res music streamer and iPad rolled into one compact and stylish package.  To control the device, Volumio has combined a sleek-looking 8-inch touchscreen with a retro-styled haptic control dial to make the whole entertainment experience feel more immersive. It boasts a range of software and hardware connectivity options, which means you can use it with any of the best music streaming services . It’ll also play nicely with your current home entertainment set up and a pair of the best noise-cancelling headphones , thanks to wide connectivity options. Under the hood, you’ll find a Sabre ES9038 DAC (that’s a digital to analogue converter), which supports all of the best-quality high-resolution music files. It also boasts dual-output analogue XLR balanced and RCA unbalanced outputs. With Volumio’s Premium software, which is in

HighPoint has unveiled the industry’s first 8-Channel PCIe Gen5 x16 NVMe Switch and NVMe RAID product lines.  Powered by Broadcom’s PEX89048 IC, these are designed to cater to high-demand, data-intensive applications and integrate Broadcom’s Gen5 PCIe switching technology to utilize x16 lanes of Gen5 host bandwidth, direct from the CPU, across Intel and AMD platforms. HighPoint says this unique architecture enables each AIC/Adapter to maximize transfer performance for up to 8 independent device channels, and support as many as 32 NVMe devices via backplane connectivity. Synthetic Hierarchy The Rocket 1600 series NVMe Switch uses native inbox drivers, meaning that a 2PB solution is possible using Solidigm 61.44TB SSDs , providing they already work with the system in question.  HighPoint's PCIe Gen5 NVMe AICs high-performance switching architecture integrates Broadcom’s 48-Channel PEX89048 switch IC to provide x16 lanes of dedicated PCIe Gen5 upstream bandwidth, ensuring x4 lan

I wouldn't describe today's NYT Strands puzzle as a particularly difficult one, but that doesn't make it easy either; very few of them could be called that. But don't worry! I have help for you below in the form of several hints to get you started. Check them out if you need them, scroll down to my commentary if not. 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 #56) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands? • Today's NYT Strands theme is… Coming clean NYT Strands today (game #56) - hint #2 - clue words What are some good clue words today? Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system. • DIET • WORSE • POEM • DITCH • WIDEN • WATCH NYT Strands today (game #56) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram? • Water fall NYT Strands today (game #56) - hint #4 - spangr

NAND-based storage devices are a fiercely contested sector, one in which Samsung has held the lead since 2002, but its rivals are gaining ground. The South Korean electronics giant has announced plans to commence mass production of its newest 290-layer ninth-generation vertical (V9) NAND chips, aimed at AI and cloud devices as well as large-scale enterprise servers. These utilize Samsung’s double-stack technology, rather than the triple stack method typically used. Other firms are closing in, however. SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker and Samsung’s archrival, intends to launch its 321-layer NAND tech early next year, while Chinese flash memory specialist Yangtze Memory Technologies says it plans to introduce 300-layer chips later this year. A game of chicken With the battle heating up, Samsung is already looking beyond the impending V9 launch, with industry insiders indicating that a staggering 430-layer tenth-generation (V10) NAND chip is expected to be u

It's a pretty good bet that the Google Pixel 8a is going to break cover at Google I/O 2024 on May 14, and as the day approaches, we've seen a pile of new leaks turn up that give us a better idea of what we can expect from this mid-ranger. First up is well-known tipster Evan Blass , who has posted an extensive set of pictures of the Pixel 8a. You can see the phone from the front and the back, and at an angle, and in its  four rumored colors: Obsidian (black), Porcelain (white-ish), Bay (blue), and Mint (green). P8a pic.twitter.com/tqn9FvDGlw April 25, 2024 See more These designs have previously been leaked , so there's not a whole lot that's new here, but it's more evidence that this is indeed what the Pixel 8a is going to look like. The images are sharp and clear too, giving us a good look at the design. It appears this phone will look a lot like the Pixel 8 and the Pixel 7a , with the recognizable camera bar around the back. It does seem as though thi

Drone brand DJI could soon be banned from operating in the United States. According to a report from The New York Times (NYT), a bill called the Countering CCP Drones Act “passed unanimously by the House Energy and Commerce Committee” last month. The legislation will move on to a floor vote in the House of Representatives within the next two months. If it passes there, it’ll continue onward to the Senate and potentially the President of the United State’s desk. There seem to be two main motivations behind this ban. One of the bill’s sponsors, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, claims “DJI presents an unacceptable security risk” pointing to the company’s connection to the Chinese government. The NYT mentions how vulnerabilities were discovered back in 2020 that CCP officials could’ve utilized to access the personal information of American users. Although these vulnerabilities have since been patched, that hasn’t stopped the US Department of Defense from prohibiting its armed

A new interview with the director behind the viral Sora clip Air Head has revealed that AI played a smaller part in its production than was originally claimed.  Revealed by Patrick Cederberg (who did the post-production for the viral video) in an interview with Fxguide , it has now been confirmed that OpenAI's text-to-video program was far from the only force involved in its production. The 1-minute and 21-second clip was made with a combination of traditional filmmaking techniques and post-production editing to achieve the look of the final picture. Air Head was made by ShyKids and tells the short story of a man with a literal balloon for a head. While there's human voiceover utilized, from the way OpenAI was pushing the clip on social channels such as YouTube, it certainly left the impression that the visuals were was purely powered by AI, but that's not entirely true.  As revealed in the behind-the-scenes clip , a ton of work was done by ShyKids who took the raw ou

New information on Fujifilm’s next camera, the X-T50, has recently leaked providing some insight into its performance. According to Fuji Rumors , the device will sport in-body image stabilization (IBIS). This feature will reduce the amount of camera shake to ensure crystal-clear photographs. It’s a piece of tech that can also be found on the higher-end Fujifilm X-T5 . What's more, the X-T50 is said to house a 40 MP X-Trans V image sensor just like its counterpart This could mean the new camera might perform just as well as the X-T5, capable of taking the same level of high-quality photographs. However, as NotebookCheck points out, this is unlikely since the X-T50 is supposed to be a budget model. Fujifilm won’t want to cannibalize sales of the X-T5 so the publication theorizes that the company will hold back their new device in some way.  The X-T50 could house older hardware like the X Processor 4 instead of the more recent X Processor 5. Certain functions, like the SD card s

Copyright is something of a minefield right now when it comes to AI , and there’s a new report claiming that Apple’s generative AI - specifically its ‘Ajax’ large language model (LLM) - may be one of the only ones to have been both legally and ethically trained. It’s claimed that Apple is trying to uphold privacy and legality standards by adopting innovative training methods.  Copyright law in the age of generative AI is difficult to navigate, and it’s becoming increasingly important as AI tools become more commonplace. One of the most glaring issues that comes up, again and again, is that many companies train their large language models (LLMs) using copyrighted works, typically not disclosing whether they license that training material. Sometimes, the outputs of these models include entire sections of copyright-protected works.  The current justification for why copyrighted material is so widely used as far as some of these companies to train their LLMs is that, not dissimilar t

Five years after LPDDR5 was first introduced, and a matter of months before JEDEC finalizes the LPDDR6 standard, Samsung has announced a new, faster version of its LPDDR5X DRAM. When the South Korean tech giant debuted LPDDR5X back in October 2022, its natural successor to LPDDR5 ran at a nippy 8.5Gbps. This new chip runs at 10.7Gbps, over 11% faster than the 9.6Gbps LPDDR5T variant offered by its archrival, SK Hynix. Samsung is building its new chips on a 12nm class process, which means the new DRAM isn’t only faster, but much smaller too – the smallest chip size for any LPDDR, in fact - making it ideal for use in on-device AI applications. Improved power efficiency “As demand for low-power, high-performance memory increases, LPDDR DRAM is expected to expand its applications from mainly mobile to other areas that traditionally require higher performance and reliability such as PCs, accelerators, servers and automobiles,” said YongCheol Bae, Executive Vice President of Memory Prod

Almost a billion mobile users, holding various devices, could have had their communications revealed to malicious third parties, a report from cybersecurity researchers Citizen Lab claims. It says different device manufacturers have used different keyboard apps which were relaying unencrypted communications, transmitting keystrokes via plaintext, and similar. Tencent QQ Pinyin, Baidu IME, iFlytek IME, Samsung Keyboard on Android, Xiaomi (with keyboard apps from Baidu, iFlytek, and Sogou), OPPO, Vivo, Honor, all of these allowed potential threat actors to decrypt Chinese mobile users' keystrokes, completely passively, and without the users needing to send any extra network traffic. The team says it believes the keyboard apps found on these devices were “revealing the contents of users’ keystrokes in transit”. Keeping private talk private The only manufacturer whose keyboard app was secure is Huawei, the researchers said. As for Apple and Google, neither app has a feature to tra

Apple may again be partnering with silicon chip manufacturer TSMC to produce its own AI server processor, according to a leak from Chinese social network Weibo. Yes, news of Apple’s next step into the world of artificial intelligence tools is unironically brought to you by, MacRumors reports, “the Weibo user known as ‘Phone Chip Expert’”, who suggests that the processor will be produced using TSMC’s state of the art 3 nanometer node. As MacRumors points out, the Weibo user known as Phone Chip Expert has form, having correctly identified ahead of formal announcements that the iPhone 7 would be water resistant and that the A16 Bionic chip would be exclusive to the iPhone 14’s Pro variant. Apple AI progress The Weibo user known as Phone Chip Expert may well be about to strike again with their clairvoyant powers, but it’s unclear as to exactly when Apple would formally announce such an AI processor, let alone launch it commercially.  In an increasingly AI-crazed world driven by da

I do like a wireless charger but I’ve never been too fussed about checking out MagSafe for iPhones… until now. That’s because gaming brand Elgato has come up with the MagSafe MS W5 Charging Stand. Ignore the clunky name that feels like an errant cat has wandered over a keyboard, and focus on the fact that this MagSafe charger stand is styled after a Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP – aka the most stylish handheld games console (sorry, PS Vita fans).  And, my oh my do I want one.  (Image credit: Elago) This is in spite of the charging stand being basically a hunk of stylized plastic that can't fold shut, does not have a functioning button and does nothing other than hold up a MagSafe-compatible iPhone. Sure it’ll facilitate the StandBy mode brought in by the iPhone 14 series and featured on the iPhone 15 quartet, but it won’t really do a whole lot else. So kill those hopes of getting a Nintendo emulator from the opened up App Store and playing retro Game Boy games on a

Hello! Today's Strands puzzle is a real head-scratcher, so you'll need your wits about you to solve it. Not feeling at your smartest today? Don't worry, I have some helpful hints for you below. (But you don't need them really. Go on, you can do it. You got this!) 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 #52) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands? • Today's NYT Strands theme is… This is a puzzle NYT Strands today (game #52) - hint #2 - clue words What are some good clue words today? Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system. • ROUND • LASER • DRIED • RATES • SQUARE • MAGE NYT Strands today (game #52) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram? • Figure them out NYT Strands today (game #52) - hint #4 - spangram position Where does today's spangra

Anker’s audio sub-brand Soundcore has very quietly launched a new pair of athletic earbuds known as the Sport X20. The company didn't exactly roll out the red carpet for the devices as it made the announcement on Reddit . But they do appear to be worthy successors to the Sport X10 . One of their main features is the adjustable ear hook. Made out of soft silicone, the hook can extend 4mm out and be rotated up to 30 degrees allowing you to create the perfect custom fit. They should maintain a good grip around your ear while also being comfortable to wear. To ensure the Sport X20 can withstand the rigors of the gym, Soundcore designed their earbuds to be tough. They have a resistance rating of IP68 making them completely dustproof and able to survive blasts of water. As if that wasn’t enough, the company is equipping the devices with SweatGuard as an additional layer of protection against moisture. Soundcore describes this technology as a “submarine-inspired seal” defending the int