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Today's Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for June 14, #1456

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today's Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles. Today's Wordle puzzle might make you think of Halloween. People who use ADIEU as your first word, this is not your day. There's only one vowel and it's not in that word. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you

Alaska, Where Only 2% of Homes Have AC, Just Issued Its First Heat Advisory Ever

Alaska just crossed a first off its bucket list with the first-ever heat advisory for Sunday, June 15. Temperatures in central Alaska are expected to reach 86 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 30 Celsius) through the weekend and into the week of June 16. It's not as if Alaska never gets hot in the summer. However, as Jason Laney, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, Alaska, told CNET, "The frequency with which the heat is coming up is starting to be a bi

Google’s latest experiment brings NotebookLM’s best features to Search

TL;DR Audio Overviews emerged as one of Google’s breakout AI hits, synthesizing virtual podcasts with a pair of hosts. After debuting with NotebookLM and spreading to other Google services, the company is experimenting with Audio Overviews in Search. For this initial test, access is limited to the US and only supports English. Forgive us for sounding like a broken record by this point, but Google’s Audio Overviews have easily emerged as one of the company’s most genuinely impressive and usefu

Snapseed sprouts its first new growth in years, as major update blooms

Megan Ellis / Android Authority TL;DR Google has rolled out a big update to the Snapseed app for iPhone and iPad. The update refreshes the look and adds a new “Faves” tab. It appears there are no plans to update the Android version. You may remember Snapseed, the photo editing app Google acquired back in 2012. It’s been a while since Snapseed received a big update, but it looks like one just rolled out. The catch is that the update is only available for the iPhone and iPad. Spotted by 9to5G

The best Alexa devices of 2025: Expert tested

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

The best kids tablets of 2025 recommended by parents

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

The best drawing tablets of 2025: Expert tested

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Radio pulses detected coming from ice in Antarctica

Once detected and traced to their source, these particles can reveal more about cosmic events than even the most high-powered telescopes, Wissel added, as the particles can travel undisturbed and almost as fast as the speed of light, giving clues about cosmic events that happened lightyears away. Wissel and teams of researchers around the world have been working to design and build special detectors to capture sensitive neutrino signals, even in relatively small amounts. Even one small signal f

Google can now generate a fake AI podcast of your search results

NotebookLM is undoubtedly one of Google's best implementations of generative AI technology, giving you the ability to explore documents and notes with a Gemini AI model. Last year, Google added the ability to generate so-called "audio overviews" of your source material in NotebookLM. Now, Google has brought those fake AI podcasts to search results as a test. Instead of clicking links or reading the AI Overview, you can have two nonexistent people tell you what the results say. This feature is n

These VA Tech scientists are building a better fog harp

A fog harp prototype collects water vapor. Credit: Virginia Tech A fog harp prototype collects water vapor. Credit: Virginia Tech Arid coastal regions that are also prone to fog are prime locations for fog-harvesting devices as a water source, especially during prolonged droughts. But the standard technology is prone to clogging. Scientists at Virginia Tech have created an improved version of their earlier "fog harp" alternative design to address that issue, according to a new paper published i

Rufus 4.8 speeds up Windows ISO handling and To Go drive creation

Rufus is a small utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives. Oh, and Rufus is fast. It can be especially useful for cases where: You need to create USB installation media from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, UEFI, etc.) You need to work on a system that doesn't have an OS installed You need to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS You want to run a low-level utility Despite its small size, Rufus provides everything you need. Non-exhaustive list of ISOs Rufus is known

Rice University students design high-tech vest to help blind dogs navigate

What just happened? A playful Houston dog named Kunde inspired a group of Rice University engineering students to tackle a challenge faced by countless pets: how to help blind dogs explore their world without fear or frustration. Their answer is a high-tech vest that could soon offer new independence to visually impaired animals – without the discomfort of traditional aids. The project began when Kunde's owners, Grant Belton and AJ Price, reached out to Rice University's Oshman Engineering Desi

The spiritual sequel to the Pebble smartwatch is on track to ship in July

Eric Migicovsky, the creator of Pebble who's reviving the e-paper smartwatch with a new company called Core Devices, shared that the first new smartwatches are coming next month. The Core 2 Duo watch is on track to ship to pre-order customers in July and the pricier Core Time 2 is still on track to launch this year. The $149 Core 2 Duo is "near mass production" according to Migicovsky, and should land in the hands of all pre-order customers during July or August. If you pre-ordered, you'll be a

All Pixel Watch 3s are on sale at Best Buy - save $70 on the LTE model

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

The best lights for streaming in 2025: Expert tested

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Using computers more freely and safely (2023)

How can we use computers more freely and safely? the punchline Prefer software: with thousands rather than millions of users that seldom requires updates that spawns lots of forks that is easy to modify that you can modify These are my suggestions. Prefer software with thousands rather than millions of users, that doesn't change often, that seems to get forked a lot, that can be modified without specialized tools, and, ideally that you can make small changes to. Yourself. In a single af

I Convinced HP's Board to Buy Palm for $1.2B. I Watched Them Kill It in 49 Days

I've never shared this story publicly before—how I convinced HP's board to acquire Palm for $1.2 billion, then watched as they destroyed it while I was confined to bed recovering from surgery. This isn't just another tech failure analysis. I was the HP Chief Technology Officer who led the technical due diligence on Palm. I presented to Mark Hurd and the HP board, making the case for moving forward with the acquisition. I believed we were buying the future of mobile computing. Then I watched it

Will People Care About the ‘Minecraft’ Chicken Jockey From the Comfort of Their Homes?

A Minecraft Movie already had a towering built-in fan base thanks to its source material being the best-selling video game of all time. But few could have predicted that the movie—a goofy comedy starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa as human characters who get pulled into the chaotic cubic world—would become a Rocky Horror-style interactive sensation, with wild antics in theaters going viral almost overnight. Director Jared Hess found the “chicken jockey” frenzy to be hilarious; star Black took a

Hasbro’s ‘Star Wars’ SDCC Exclusive Is the Ultimate ‘Revenge of the Sith’ Set

Dark side, light side, it doesn’t matter. This year’s Hasbro Star Wars exclusive at San Diego Comic-Con is certainly the chosen one, and we’re going to take the high ground to acquire it. Celebrating 20 years of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Hasbro just revealed a six-inch Black Series set, exclusively for release at San Diego Comic-Con, of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and their epic lightsaber duel over the lava on Mustafar. Retailing for $110, the set will first be availa

The Switch 2 gives Splatoon 3 a fantastically fresh coat of paint

Splatoon 3 already looked phenomenal on the original Switch, in a way that seemed to defy the console’s hardware limitations. The game’s paint-slicked visuals were gorgeous, and its chaotic battles were a testament to how well the Switch could run software that was fine-tuned to make the best of its specs. What was most impressive, though, was the way Splatoon 3 kept refreshing itself for years after its initial 2022 release with a steady stream of new clothes, weapons, stages, and a nifty DLC e

Google tests Audio Overviews for Search queries

Google Search is experimenting with Audio Overviews for certain Search queries, the company announced on Friday. The feature was first introduced to NotebookLM, Google’s AI-based note-taking and research assistant. The tech giant says Audio Overviews will use its latest Gemini models to give users another way to absorb and understand information. “An audio overview can help you get a lay of the land, offering a convenient, hands-free way to absorb information whether you’re multitasking or sim

TechCrunch Mobility: The cost of Waymo

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced late this week that it plans to streamline the Part 555 exemption process to make it faster for automakers that want to deploy self-driving vehicles built without human controls like a steering wheel or pedals. The letter sent to “stakeholders” (meaning those com

Computing’s Top 30: Sukanya Meher

Sukanya S. Meher loves a good intersection. Especially the one between theory and application, which she first seriously explored in the realm of superconductor electronics. Today, Meher works in electronic design automation (EDA), bringing with her a unique perspective on circuit design, modeling, simulation, and tool development. This EDA work is also giving her the chance to explore a new intersection: that between technology design and customer success. As an AMS staff engineer at Synopsys

Microsoft's own Xbox handheld is "essentially cancelled"

TL;DR: Microsoft and Asus recently announced two new Xbox-branded handheld devices: the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. While these represent a new step for Xbox gaming on portable devices, a new report suggests that Microsoft has internally shelved its own Xbox handheld project – one that was never officially announced but had been the subject of considerable speculation. According to The Verge, Microsoft has "essentially canceled" its native Xbox handheld to focus on the Xbox software plat

Epic Games sues Fortnite cheat developer for selling wallhack and auto-aim tools

Editor's take: Multiplayer gaming is about fair fights, not shortcuts. But cheaters keep buying their wins, ruining it for everyone else. Epic Games is cracking down hard because cheating isn't just unfair – it's a threat to the whole game. Sorry, losers. Cheating doesn't pay. Epic Games recently announced a new lawsuit targeting developers of Fortnite cheating tools. The company is going after an individual who created software that lets players see through walls and use auto-aim. Epic shared

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors will step down as CEO; deputy Phil Rogers will take his place

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors is stepping down as CEO while his deputy CEO Phil Rogers will take over the top job in August. Wingefors spun his Swedish game holding company out of Nordic Games Group in 2016, and he renamed it Embracer Group in 2019. Wingefors was a controversial leader in the game industry, as he built up Embracer Group to more than 100 game studios, only to fall victim in the post-pandemic slowdown. As growth slowed, Wingefors had to lay off a lot of people, sell off studios or

Samsung snuck in a surprise for its latest SmartThings app update

Robert Triggs / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung has rolled out a sizeable update to the SmartThings mobile app. The changelog mentions a new Home Life survey, improved routine configurations, sharing Galaxy Tag location, and easier navigation of SmartThings Map View. Not listed in the changelog is support for SmartThings in Now Bar and Live Notifications. If you haven’t seen it yet, be on the lookout for a new update for the SmartThings mobile app. The smart home app has recently received a

Apple TV+ has two premieres this weekend, here’s what to watch

Following the successful debut of Stick, and ahead of the much-anticipated return of The Buccaneers for its second season, Apple TV+ has two releases this weekend that promise to grip both kids and adults alike. Here’s what to watch: Echo Valley From Apple Original Films, Echo Valley stars Julianne Moore (The Big Lebowski) as Kate, a mother whose stable life running a horse therapy ranch is shattered when her drug-addicted daughter Claire, played by Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), shows up covered

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How to buy the Nintendo Switch 2: Stock updates for Walmart, Target, Best Buy and more

Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission. Read more about how we evaluate products . You can finally buy the Nintendo Switch 2 in the US. The $450 console officially went up for sale on June 5, and several retailers have offered it both online and in-store in the week since. While millions of people have been able to snag the device, online inventory dried up fairly qu

How to turn off Google’s AI Overviews in web searches

Save some time (and energy and water) and Google without the “help” of AI. Google’s AI Overviews do not save me time. For one, I work for a tech blog and am therefore professionally curious as to whether or not the generated answers are correct, so I spend a few ticks figuring that out. (Answer: Sometimes, but not always!) Then things get existential as I contemplate how long a self-cannibalizing system can sustain itself — if the AI gives answers pulled from websites that survive on visits fr