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

Apple has released the much-anticipated iOS 18.1 recently and users with iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 lineup are going gaga about the new Apple Intelligence features.

ALSO READ: Here’s how it’s different from latest iOS 18.0.1 that is crucial for iPhone 16 owners

The Apple Intelligence features would not be available for iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus or older models. But that does not mean iOS 18.1 is unnecessary for these users. Because iOS 18.1 is loaded with 28 security fixes for all iPhone users.

Major security fixes

Issues in the iOS Kernel and Safari browser WebKit are said to be fixed in the update. An issue in the Kernel, titled CVE-2024-44239, that allows apps to leak sensitive kernel state has been fixed.

Two WebKit issues have also been patched. The first issue, CVE-2024-44261, would have allowed an attacker to view restricted content from the lock screen while the latter, CVE-2024-44244, prevented the Content Security Policy from being enforced when a maliciously crafted web content gets downloaded.

Another issue was CVE-2024-44255, which would let a malware app to run shortcuts without user consent. Three privacy bugs in Siri and a flaw that allows hackers to breat out of Web Content sandbox have also been fixed.

Other bug fixes

In Podcasts, there was an issue with unplayed episodes being marked as played. This will be fixed with iOS 18.1.

Videos recorded at 4K 60 fps while the device is warm have been experiencing stutter while scrubbing the video playback in Photos. This issue has been fixed.

Another issue that has been fixed is the digital car keys not unlocking or start a vehicle with passive entry after restoring from a backup or transferring directly from another iPhone.

There were complaints that iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models failed to restart on certain occasions. This has also been fixed.

Call recordings

This allows you to record live phone calls. There will be an automatic announcement that the call is being recorded.

Camera Control

This new feature allows iPhone 16 series users to switch to the front TrueDepth Camera using Camera Control

Spatial camera mode

For users with iPhone 15 Pro and above, a new Spatial camera mode will be available allowing them to capture spatial photos and videos

Hearing Test and Hearing Aid

Hearing Test and Hearing Aid features require AirPods Pro 2 with firmware version 7B19 or later. The Hearing Test feature gives you scientifically validated hearing test results while the Hearing Aid feature provides personalised, clinical-grade assistance.

The Hearing Aid feature is intended for those with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. It is automatically applied to sounds in your environment as well as music, videos and calls.

Other improvements

Control Centre will have new options to add connectivity controls individually and reset your configuration. RCS Business Messaging allows you to connect with businesses over RCS. This needs network provider support.

Venom: The Last Dance is set to win the North American box office for the second weekend in a row, according to a forecast by Boxoffice Pro.

Sony Pictures’ sci-fi action movie is projected to earn between between $17 million and $23 million at theaters across the U.S. and Canada after raking in $51 million on its debut a week ago.

Starring Tom Hardy (Venom, Mad Max: Fury Road), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, The Martian), and Juno Temple (Ted Lasso, Killer Joe), Venom: The Last Dance currently has an audience score of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, but a paltry 39% rating from more than 160 reviews by professional critics. It also has a less-than-stellar 6.2 rating on IMDb, while Digital Trends’ gave it only 1.5/5.

The movie’s official logline reads: “Eddie and Venom, on the run, face pursuit from both worlds. As circumstances tighten, they’re compelled to make a heart-wrenching choice that could mark the end of their symbiotic partnership.”

Check out the trailer below:

Eyeing second spot at this weekend’s domestic box office is a new movie starring Tom Hanks called Here.

Forecast to earn between $3 million and $7 million, Here is described as “a generational story about families and the special place they inhabit, sharing in love, loss, laughter, and life.” The movie is directed by Robert Zemeckis and is notable for its use of generative AI technology to face-swap and de-age the actors.

Also starring Robin Wright (Forrest Gump, Unbreakable) and Paul Bettany (WandaVision, A Beautiful Mind), Here hasn’t got off to a great start on Rotten Tomatoes, currently scoring only 38% from just over 50 reviews by professional critics (the Guardian’s 1/5 review calls it “a total horror show”), and just 5.6 on IMDb.

Watch the trailer below:

There’s a chance that Smile 2, on its third weekend, could nab second spot from Here, as the horror movie is forecast to take between $3 million and $5 million. Its ratings are certainly better, scoring 85% among professional critics and 81% among audience-goers on Rotten Tomatoes, and 7.2 on IMDb. Check out the trailer below:

Android Auto support has abruptly stopped for older phones. Google had previously revised the minimum version of Android required for the platform, but the company had allowed it to run on older versions of Android.

Google stopped support for Android Auto on older versions of Android

Android Auto is one of the most powerful platforms for in-car navigation. It allows using an Android phone’s functions via the infotainment console.

Modern versions of Android have Android Auto baked in. However, older versions of Android and the platform had a dedicated and optional app. In other words, before Android 9, users had to download the Android Auto app from the Google Play Store and then sync it with their vehicle’s infotainment system.

Google had ensured Android Auto worked all the way back on Android 6. However, back in July 2022, Google revised the minimum Android version required for Android Auto.

From Android 6, the search giant mandated Android 8 as the lowest version of the OS. The same happened recently. Google has reportedly stopped supporting Android Auto on Android 8 and lower versions of the OS.

What is the minimum version of Android needed to run Android Auto?

Earlier this year, Google raised the minimum requirement for Android Auto to Android 9. It is, however, interesting to note that several Android 8 users were able to use Android Auto on their devices. This concession seems to have stopped.

According to a Reddit thread, Google seems to be strictly enforcing the minimum requirement rule. In other words, smartphones running Android 8 are being greeted by a notification that says, “This phone no longer supports Android Auto.”

It seems Google had been lenient, and it was not enforcing the requirement, presumably to offer people more time for an upgrade. Although the chances are rather slim, there could be a few Android smartphones running Android 8 in 2024. After all, the version arrived way back in 2019.

Google could be enforcing the requirement because Android 9 and newer versions of the OS have Android Auto integrated within. This offers a streamlined experience. Additionally, it is possible that Google might be removing Android Auto from the Play Store as a standalone app, and keeping it as an updatable system app.

Android Auto has had multiple bugs recently, and it even stopped functioning in one of the beta versions of Android 15. Moreover, the app could be breaching EU rules. Google could be enforcing the rule to limit such issues as ensuring backward compatibility is often very complex.

It’s getting harder and harder not to view the Humane AI Pin as destined to go down as one of tech’s all-time stinkers and cautionary tales. After reviews questioning why it existed, returns that outpaced its sales and a warning that its Charge Case could pose a “fire safety risk,” the company is now recalling the latter. The issue stems from the case’s battery cells, supplied by a third-party vendor, which could overheat and cause a fire hazard.

Humane posted on Thursday that it’s conducting the voluntary recall “out of an abundance of caution.” The startup says its charging case is the only accessory affected — not the battery booster, charging pad or Pin itself. “The issue is isolated to battery cells used in the Charge Case Accessory,” Humane wrote. “It is not related to its hardware design.”

The company says one of its battery suppliers is to blame. “Our investigation determined that the battery supplier was no longer meeting our quality standards and that battery cells supplied by this vendor can pose a fire risk,” Humane wrote. The company says it’s severed ties with the supplier and is currently evaluating a new one.

In fairness to Humane, the recall was (in its words) the result of only one incident where a user plugged it into a third-party USB-C cable and power source. It hasn’t received reports of injuries or damage. As easy as it is to poke fun at an overhyped company’s other shoe dropping, at least it’s informing consumers and conducting the recall voluntarily rather than trying to bury it for the sake of PR. Perhaps Humane can look to Samsung for inspiration on rebounding from a product that catches on fire — and not in a good way.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) posted a blurb about the recall with more detail. It says consumers who bought the Charge Case separately will receive a $149 refund. Those who got the case as part of the Humane AI Pin Complete System will get $129 back. In addition, Humane will supply replacement charging cases, but don’t expect them anytime soon: The estimated wait is three to six months. The CPSC says about 10,500 units are affected.

Humane advises charge case owners to “dispose of the product in accordance with any local and state laws” rather than chucking it in the trash. Presumably, that’s to avoid a real dumpster fire to match the metaphorical one at Humane.

OpenAI transformed its popular ChatGPT service into a powerful search engine today, marking the company’s boldest move yet to compete with Google. The upgrade lets users ask questions in plain English and get real-time information about news, sports, stocks, and weather — features that until now required a separate search engine.

“We believe finding answers should be as natural as having a conversation,” an OpenAI spokesperson told VentureBeat. The company will roll out the feature first to paying subscribers, with plans to expand to free users in coming months.

ChatGPT Search: How OpenAI’s new AI-powered web search actually works

Unlike traditional search engines (i.e. Google and Bing) that return a list of links, ChatGPT now processes questions in natural language and delivers curated answers with clear source attribution. Users can click through to original sources or ask follow-up questions to dig deeper into topics.

The technology builds on OpenAI’s SearchGPT experiment from July, which tested the search features with 10,000 users. That limited release helped the company refine how its AI processes web information and attributes sources.

The system runs on a specialized version of GPT-4o, OpenAI’s most advanced AI model. The company trained it on massive amounts of web data and fine-tuned it to understand context across longer conversations.

Major news publishers partner with OpenAI to power next-generation search results

Major news organizations including the Associated Press, Axel Springer, and Vox Media have partnered with OpenAI to provide content. The deals aim to address long-standing concerns about AI systems using publishers’ work without permission or payment.

“ChatGPT search promises to better highlight and attribute information from trustworthy news sources, benefiting audiences while expanding the reach of publishers like ourselves who produce premium journalism,” said Pam Wasserstein, President of Vox Media, in a statement. Publishers can opt out of having their content used for AI training while still appearing in search results.

Inside OpenAI’s $5 billion bet on custom chips and AI infrastructure

The launch comes as OpenAI races to build its own technology infrastructure. The company recently announced deals with AMD, Broadcom, and TSMC to develop custom AI chips by 2026 — a move to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s expensive processors.

These investments don’t come cheap. Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest backer with nearly $14 billion invested, said this week the partnership will cut into its quarterly profits by $1.5 billion. OpenAI itself expects to spend $5 billion this year on computing costs.

This massive investment in custom silicon and infrastructure signals a crucial shift in OpenAI’s strategy. While most AI companies remain dependent on Nvidia’s chips and cloud providers’ data centers, OpenAI is making an ambitious play for technological independence. It’s a risky bet that could either drain the company’s resources or give it an insurmountable advantage in the AI arms race.

By controlling its own chip destiny, OpenAI could potentially cut its computing costs in half by 2026. More importantly, custom chips optimized specifically for GPT models could enable capabilities that aren’t possible with general-purpose AI processors. This vertical integration — from chips to models to consumer products— mirrors the playbook that helped Apple dominate smartphones.

The new search features will appear on ChatGPT’s website and mobile apps. Enterprise customers and educational users will get access in the next few weeks, followed by a gradual rollout to OpenAI’s millions of free users.

For now, Google remains the dominant force in search. But as AI technology improves and more users grow comfortable with conversational interfaces, the competition for how we find information online appears poised for its biggest shake-up in decades.