Mashable

SAVE $40: As of Nov. 1, Apple AirPods (2nd Gen) are on sale for $89 at Walmart, saving you 30% on list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods (2nd Gen) $89.00 at Walmart
$129.00 Save $40.00 Get Deal

A new pair of AirPods doesn't need to break the bank, especially if your only priority is a good listening experience and not the latest model on the block.

In fact, as of Nov. 1, you can get a pair for under $100 at Walmart. Reduced by 30%, Apple AirPods (2nd Gen) are on sale for just $89. This deal includes the charging case (charged via cable, not wireless).

SEE ALSO: Apple AirPods 4 vs. AirPods 3: What's the difference?

The 2nd Gen AirPods are a classic of the range, delivering incredible sound and great compatibility with all your Apple devices. There isn't the fancier spec that you'll find on some of the newer models, such as noise cancellation, but you still get superior sound quality and a battery life that promises to keep you listening all day. And who can argue with that for under $100?

Enjoy double-tap controls, quick access to Siri voice control (just say, "Hey Siri"), and easy setup with this model.

Head to Walmart before this deal runs out.

Stephen King has shared a new animated short film for kids called "Lily", performed and directed by Kate Siegel.

SAVE $130: As of Nov. 1, the Apple iPad (9th Gen) is on sale for $199.99 at Best Buy. That's a 39% saving on list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPad (9th Gen) $199.99 at Best Buy
$329.99 Save $130.00 Get Deal

If you're looking for a tablet upgrade and having the latest model isn't high on your priority list, you need to check out this great Best Buy deal. From Nov. 1, the iPad (9th Gen) is on sale for $199.99, saving you $130 on list price.

It's a versatile, and at this price, budget-friendly tablet with a 10.2-inch Retina display, giving you sharp and vibrant visuals. This model is powered by the A13 Bionic chip, ensuring a smooth performance for everyday tasks such as streaming, light gaming, and working.

SEE ALSO: Apple AirPods 4 vs. AirPods 3: What's the difference?

It is worth noting, however, that more recent models of the iPad have replaced the A13 chip with the much more powerful M chip. This new chip provides Mac-level performance, so if you're planning on using the iPad for intensive work, a newer model might be a better investment. For this, check out the iPad Air 2024, currently reduced to its lowest-ever price.

For general use, however, this discounted 9th Gen model is still a steal. It also supports the first-generation Apple Pencil, so it can be used for notetaking or drawing. And it is ideal for FaceTiming and work calls, the 12 MP ultra-wide front camera boasts a 122-degree field of view and supports Center Stage, a feature that keeps you automatically centered during video calls as you move around.

Don't miss out on this great iPad deal, head to Best Buy now.

SAVE $55: As of Nov. 1, the Garmin Venu 3S is on sale for $349.99 at Best Buy. That's a 12% saving on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Garmin Garmin Venu 3S $394.99 at Best Buy
$449.99 Save $55.00 Get Deal

If you're looking to upgrade to a great, all-rounder smartwatch then look no further than the Garmin Venu 3S. It's a fantastic fitness and lifestyle tracker, and it's on sale for a limited time. As of Nov. 1, you can purchase this stylish watch from Best Buy for $394.99.

The Venu 3S is the perfect tracker for someone who enjoys a range of fitness activities as well as lifestyle tracking, and a nice improvement over the 2S. Health tracking features are vast, and include heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and even stress level feedback. Plus, it offers built-in GPS, so you can track your outdoor activities without needing to carry your phone with you.

SEE ALSO: Grab a big bargain on the Garmin vívoactive 5 at Amazon

The Venu 3S also comes with music capabilities. Download hundreds of songs to your watch, including playlists from Spotify, Amazon Music, or Deezer, and connect with wireless headphones.

Similarly to its predecessor, the screen is a bright AMOLED display, so it's nice and colorful as well as vibrant. And if battery life is important to you, the Venu 3S is seriously impressive. With a single charge, it can last up to 10 days in smartwatch mode and up to seven hours in GPS mode with music.

Head to Best Buy now for this great deal.

Cuffing season is here.

It coincides with autumn in the northern hemisphere and comes from the African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) term "cuffed," meaning partnered. The idea is that as the weather gets colder, folks will want to bundle up with one person for the winter as opposed to wanting to date around as they would in the warmer months.

Here's everything you need to know about cuffing season, including the biggest trends.

SEE ALSO: How to navigate cuffing season as a single person Is cuffing season real?

Cuffing season doesn't have scientific studies to back it up, explained sexpert for sex toy brand LELO, licensed psychologist, and certified sex therapist Dr. Laurie Mintz. Its popularity and anecdotal evidence, though, suggests there's something to it, Mintz told Mashable.

"Cuffing season likely has both biological and social influences. Biologically, testosterone peaks in October and November, increasing sexual desire. The drop in serotonin during the winter can lower mood, and being with a new partner might help boost that mood," Mintz explained. "Add to this the cold weather, which fosters a desire to snuggle, and the anticipation of the holiday season, which may create a yearning to avoid being alone during this time."

When is peak cuffing season?

Just as there's peak time for fall foliage, there's a peak time for dating app activity as well. Over the past three years, Tinder's highest activity over the autumn months has been the first two weeks of November, the app told Mashable. Using the apps at this time may lead to more matches.

Tinder identified "Peak Season" overall as Jan. 1 to Valentine's Day on Feb. 14. This year, users sent 58.7 million more likes and 11.4 million more messages during peak season than the rest of the year.

Featured Video For You How Tinder and other dating apps use algorithms to find your match — Horny on Main What are this year's cuffing season trends?

The dating apps identified several trends during this particular cuffing season:

1. Rise in open relationships, but a decrease in kink

Around a third of daters on OkCupid (34 percent) are open to, well, being open, according to the app's blog post. This is up slightly from 32 percent in 2022. At the same time, the amount of OKC users interested in kink and BDSM has slightly waned: down six percent in the last three years, from 42 to 38 percent.

Feeld, the app for kinky and nonmonogamous people, has seen that younger people are kinkier but also fantasize about monogamy.

2. Openness about tough topics

Nearly all (99 percent) of 1.5 million OkCupid daters believe mental health is as important as physical health. Out of almost one million OKC singles, 94 percent are open to discussing mental health with their partner. This is part of an ongoing trend since lockdown, where people are more vulnerable about their mental health.

Money can be a sticky subject, especially for those who just started dating. OkCupid found that singles who keep a budget get 25 percent more matches than those who don't — and have 16 percent more conversations on the app.

In terms of one's values, Tinder's resident relationship expert, Devyn Simone, advised singles not to waste their time with someone with mismatched values during cuffing season. "It's way better to have those real talks upfront than to find out at Thanksgiving that they've got beliefs you just can't get behind," Simone said.

3. Politics on the apps

OKC found that most respondents (68 percent) said it's not a deal breaker if their date votes for a different candidate. But the same amount of liberals said it is, compared to 30 percent of conservatives and 16 percent of moderates.

This is somewhat aligned with what Coffee Meets Bagel found, which is that most left-leaning users consider political alignment at least somewhat important.

Eighty percent of Tinder singles said politics are important to their identity, according to Simone, so most will appreciate an open conversation about where one stands. A study by Tinder earlier this year found political apathy can be a huge dating dealbreaker.

4. Renewed optimism for dating

While the vibe around dating right now is less than stellar — people are resorting to dancing on TikTok to find potential mates — Bumble found that more than half of Gen Z (55 percent) say they're looking forward to what the new year will bring them in their dating life, according to a survey of around 5,000 U.S. consumers between 18 and 35.

More than half of Gen Z respondents (54 percent) say the holiday season is the perfect time to date and find a potential partner. Forty-four percent are more excited to date in winter than any other season because of the seasonal events. 

Three out of four of all respondents see the "glass half full" when it does to dating and agree that some dates just don't work out, and 57 percent focus on the positives of dating — meeting someone new is the fun part. Let's all bring this kind of optimism into cuffing season this year.

There are tons of ways AI can help you in day-to-day life. AI can help you generate emails, get advice about work or other aspects of life, and so on. But it can also help with smaller tasks that you might not even think of using it for — like, for example, your grocery shopping. 

Curious about how you can use AI to make a better grocery list? Here are some ideas:

Use photos to add items to your list

Remember: AI models are multimodal, meaning photos in your prompt can become text. That can come in handy when making your shopping list.

Plenty of people still prefer to write their shopping lists using a good ol’ paper and pen — and it makes sense. After all, when you share a list with multiple people, sometimes it just makes sense to keep a list on the fridge or somewhere else in the kitchen rather than try and move to digital. At the end of the week, when you’re about to go buy what's on your shopping list, you can use an AI app to digitize your list so you can easily access it and tick things off on your phone.

AI object and text recognition has gotten very good over the years, and many AI services, like ChatGPT, can read even scratchy handwriting. That can let you take a photo of your physical list, and have it make a digital list for you, which you can then copy into another app, like Reminders, if you so choose.

Let AI break add recipe ingredients to your list

Even cooler than simply taking a photo of your list is having AI automatically create a list with all the ingredients you need. Because of the fact that AI can read many web pages, all you need to do is send the link to an AI chatbot like ChatGPT, and have it create a list for you. You could even have it change the amounts you need based on how many people you’re cooking for or how many servings you want — eliminating the need to do all that math manually. 

Use AI to create entire meal plans and shopping guide

Zoom out one step further — what if you don’t want to meal plan in the first place? AI services can help you there too — and they do so very easily. Simply ask a service like ChatGPT to help you meal plan. Give it any dietary restrictions, the number of meals you want planned, and how long you want to spend cooking those meals. You could even give it ingredients you already have. It’ll plan out those meals, and you can then have it tweak the list based on your input.

When you’re happy with the meal selection, tell it to make a full list (including amounts) of all the ingredients you need to make the meals, and you’re good to go. Of course, you’ll want to double-check the ingredients to make sure you don’t buy stuff you already have.

Use AI to streamline your shop

What if you already have a list, but you simply want it organized by section to ensure that you’re as efficient as possible? That’s easy. Copy and paste your shopping list straight into an AI service — ChatGPT perhaps — and ask it to organize the list based on which section of the supermarket each item is in. It may not have an internal map of your local grocery story, but it will at least lump everything into broad categories.

Could it get easier than that?

Sleep is really important. Plenty of us don’t do what it takes to get enough sleep — not to mention the fact that a large portion of people have sleep disorders that they don’t even know about. We’ve had sleep trackers and sleep-tracking tech to help us get a better understanding of our sleep for some time now, but AI could help supercharge the tech.

In fact, there are already plenty of AI-powered sleep apps already available. Curious about whether or not AI might be able to help you sleep? Here are some of the best AI-powered sleep apps.

SEE ALSO: Apple Watch Series 10 introduces a new sleep apnea feature Sleeptracker-AI

Sleeptracker has long been a favorite for tracking sleep and gaining a better understanding of it, but in recent years, the company has been leveraging AI tech to improve on what the app can offer. Sleeptracker is used in conjunction with a hardware tracker, which is placed under your mattress, and can track sleep of two people, with sensors on each side of the bed. The AI part of the app comes from the fact that Sleeptracker has trained its algorithms on data from over 1 million smart devices, combined with over 70 research studies, and vetted by Stanford Sleep Medicine and UCSF. The underlying tech was developed by Fullpower-AI, and it’s considered one of the more accurate sleep-tracking systems out there.

SleepScore

SleepScore, by SleepScore Labs, is another much-loved sleep-tracking system, and another of the most accurate ones. SleepScore was developed by ResMed, and it uses the microphones and speakers on your phone to analyze your movements and your breathing patterns. SleepScore Labs also has another app, called “Do I Snore or Grind,” and it uses the same tech to detect how regularly you snore or grind your teeth.

Nightly

Nightly leverages AI a little more than some of the competition. Nightly tracks your sleep, to be sure, but it also plays AI-generated sounds designed to help you sleep better, and based on your environment, how your day went (based on your input), and more. It has various white noise sounds and beats that Nightly says will help users get deeper sleep, and more. 

Sleep Cycle

Sleep Cycle is built around tracking your sleep with AI-powered algorithms, and actually using that information to help you feel better when you wake up. When you set an alarm in the app, it’ll use your sleep cycle information to wake you up at the point of your lightest sleep, helping ensure that you start your day feeling great. It also uses ambient sounds to detect your sleep, so you don’t need to wear anything or use other devices, if you don’t want to. 

Pillow

Pillow is designed to take some of the guesswork out of sleep-tracking. It leverages AI to process a massive range of data points around your sleep, and if you use it with an Apple Watch, you don’t need to do anything to start tracking — it’ll automatically track your sleep when it thinks you’re sleeping. It’ll even record audio when it detects you snoring, and use machine learning to give you a detailed sleep analysis after each night.

I really like to cook, but I don’t love planning my meals. It can be time-consuming, and I normally end up falling into the old recipes that I’ve made dozens of times. That, in turn, can often mean letting ingredients I bought for last week’s meals go to waste, not to mention the fact that it makes cooking a little less exciting.

But you don’t have to let those ingredients go to waste, and with AI in your kitchen, it’s easier than ever to plan meals and generate new recipes. That’s right — AI can generate completely new recipes for you to try out.

SEE ALSO: Where's the AI in these 'AI-powered' products for your home? An explanation.

Here are the best AI recipe generators:

Mr. Cook

The big selling point of these AI recipe generators is the ability to input ingredients you already have, which Mr. Cook does very well. On top of that, however, it also acts as a kind of recipe organization tool, allowing you to upload handwritten recipes or import recipes.

You can plan your meals, and input preferences, dietary restrictions, and more, so you can ensure that recipes perfectly fit your needs. You even have it suggest ingredient substitutions, allowing you to cook new recipes that you might not otherwise be able to, or want to, eat.

ChefGPT

ChefGPT lets you generate recipes based on ingredients in your pantry. But it won’t generate any old recipe — it lets you select difficulty levels and create meal plans rather than individual recipes. ChefGPT can integrate with your shopping list too, making the process of planning, shopping, and cooking simple and streamlined. 

DishGen

Along with generating recipes with your ingredients, DishGen puts minimizing food waste front and center, and lets you filter recipes by those that are human-verified, which can help you get a better idea of which recipes might be high-quality. Even better is the fact that DishGen will help you tweak recipes on the fly, so you can ensure it fits your taste around things like spice levels.

Let’s Foodie

Let’s Foodie can generate recipes based on your ingredients, but it can also make recipe recommendations based on previous recipes you have liked, and plan your meals. It also lets you exclude specific ingredients that you can’t eat or simply don’t like. 

MealPractice 

Last but not least is MealPractice, which allows you to input ingredients you have. It also makes meal-planning a little more social, allowing you to follow users that might have similar tastes to you. You can select preferences around the types of protein you want to use, whether you want something healthy or not, and so on.

It’s important to have a home with a look you love. The difference between coming home to a poorly organized setup, versus one that looks intentional and put together, can be huge. But not everyone can afford to spend cash on an interior designer.

Thankfully, with AI, you don’t have to spend that money. There are tons of great AI interior design apps to help you get the most out of your home, both when it comes to shopping for furniture and other items to round out your living space, and when it comes to maximizing the space with the items you already have.

SEE ALSO: IKEA's new furniture line attempts to take gamers out of the basement

Here’s a look at the best AI interior design apps:

Homestyler

Homestyler is one of the most-loved AI interior design apps, not only leveraging AI tech, but also augmented reality (AR), to help you visualize a design in your actual space. You can upload images of your space to place furniture, decorations, and more in, and  you can choose from a variety of styles, including Glam, Contemporary, Bohemian, and more.

Specific to AI is the fact that you can have the built-in AI Designer generate ideas of its own using your uploaded images, and based on your filters around style. You can even upload floor plans, and switch from interior designer to exterior design, so you can design every aspect of your home. 

Room Planner

Room Planner is a little more minimalistic than some of the others, but that also means it’s a little easier to use, and takes less time to get to actual ideas. You can have the app maintain your room’s color-scheme, ensuring that you won’t have to start from scratch when it comes to decorations and furniture. It’s also free, and lets you generate as many images as you want. The service is in beta, so it might generate some weird ideas from time to time, but because it’s free, it’s hard to have a big issue with that.

Dreamhouse AI

Dreamhouse AI is one of the more powerful options on this list, and while it’s not free, it is considered to offer some of the best designs. The service has a very user-friendly interface, and makes it easy to get up and running quickly, with high-quality designs and inspirations you can use to create your space.

The service has a monthly and yearly plan, and if you’re moving into a new home, it’s worth signing up for a month to get ideas for all the rooms in your new home — after which you can simply unsubscribe.

REimagineHome

Perhaps you’d prefer to use a web-based app than one on your phone, in which case REimagineHome is the way to go. This service also lets you upload images of your space, and allows you to stage bare rooms, or redesign rooms that are already furnished. 

Coohom

Most of the AI interior design apps so far can generate great ideas and inspirations, but what if you want ideas using furniture you already have? Coohom has a huge library of furniture that you can match to what you own, or at least find something pretty close — so you don’t have to try and imagine what your furniture will look like in a space. You can even import 3D renders from other sources. The software is a little more advanced than others, and there’s a bit of a learning curve — but if you’re willing to spend some time learning how to use the software, you might get more personalized results.

Over the past decade or so, as AI has become more common in the background, it got a lot more common for consumers with smart homes to build smart security systems on their own – rather than having to pay high fees to established old-school security companies. 

Given the fact that home security has become so much more democratized, you can bet that AI features are coming to those systems too. In fact, there are plenty of AI-based features that have already started rolling out to home security devices, ensuring that home security systems are more advanced and more helpful than ever. Here’s a look at some of the most common of those features – and how you can take advantage of them.

SEE ALSO: Google Home just massively expanded its capabilities  Object and person recognition

Object recognition is getting a whole lot more advanced. Over the past few years, security companies have been building better facial recognition into their cameras, ensuring that you always know who's at the door near your home. Those systems are going beyond that too, able to recognize objects like packages on your doorstep, vehicles parked in your driveway, and even license plates from suspect cars.

These features have tangible benefits; not only will you be able to know who's at your home and, but you'll be able to eliminate false alerts due to the movements of trusted individuals, ensuring you only get notifications when the system detects someone it doesn’t recognize. No longer are systems constantly sending notifications just because they detect a tree moving in the breeze. Object recognition ensures that they can filter out movement that's irrelevant to home security.

The majority of smart security cameras offer object or person recognition of some kind, especially when it comes to common objects like packages and people that a camera sees regularly.

Video analytics and summaries

Analytics from security cameras can go beyond simply detecting objects and people. Video analytics can allow cameras to better recognize when someone might be behaving suspiciously around your home. For example, cameras could identify that someone is carrying a weapon or something they might use to break into your home, then notify you of that behavior. Generative AI will allow those notifications to be richer and more helpful as well, thanks to the fact that it can help systems create summaries of activity that's detected with specifics about what the cameras saw.

Google has started leveraging AI for these analytics and summaries in the Google Home platform, and it's likely that others will follow suit, with Google more widely rolling out the feature to more cameras and systems.

Advanced automations

Smart home automations can be incredibly powerful as they allow you to set up your home to work without you needing to actually do anything. AI will help make those automations easier to set up and run more efficiently, largely through natural language recognition, which will allow you to set up automations with a simple command. For example, you could tell your smart home system to "always lock the door five minutes after I leave." This could be done without you having to scroll through menus, set up individual devices, and so on.

A feature like this is already rolling out as part of Google Home with certain Nest devices. It runs on the Help Me feature in Google Home, which allows you to text describing the automation you want to set up. The feature is expected to widely roll out by the end of 2024.

Better voice control

Smart security systems are often controlled with voice commands, allowing you to arm a system or camera using a service like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Google has announced that it's supercharging the Google Home platform with AI features based on Gemini, which will allow you to find out information about your smart home using the devices that you already have set up. The example that Google gives is that you'll be able to ask Gemini if the kids left their bike in the driveway, after which Gemini will be able to use a security camera that you might have set up in the driveway to find the answer to your question. This is another feature that Google has shown off and is expected to roll out widely by the end of 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 November 1's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable 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 deleted

Each 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 deleted

Players 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.

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for November 1 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Slow pace

• Green: Beers

• Blue: Cheesy carbs

• Purple: Types of effects

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Progress Slowly

• Green: Ways to Order a Beer

• Blue: Cheesy Corn Snack Unit

• Purple: ___Effect

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 today's Connections #509 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Progress Slowly: CRAWL, CREEP, DRAG, INCH

• Ways to Order a Beer: BOTTLE, CAN, DRAFT, TAP

• Cheesy Corn Snack Unit: BALL, CURL, DOODLE, PUFF

• ___Effect: BUTTERFLY, DOMINO, HALO, PLACEBO

Don'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.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for November 1

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Connections.

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for November 1's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for November 1 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for November 1, 2024 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

A number bigger than 3 but smaller than 10.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no reoccurring letters.

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter S.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

SIXTH.

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for November 1

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Wordle.

The Daily Mini Crossword is one of the many popular daily word games available on Mashable. Powered by Arkadium, the mini crossword offers a speed round of puzzle fun with clues that are sure to challenge experienced crossword enthusiasts.

But there's no need to let the challenge get in the way of your enjoyment! If moments are turning to minutes after getting stuck on a clue, find the answers you need to progress right here.

And when you're done, check out the many other word games you can play on Mashable, including a full-size crossword.

Also, if you get stuck on any other daily word games, such as Wordle, Connections, or Strands — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for November 1 SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

Here are the clues and answers to Daily Mini Crossword for Friday, November 1, 2024:

AcrossSubway alternative

• The answer is Cab.

Kind of bear

• The answer is Polar.

Crop up

• The answer is Arise.

Gestured greetings

• The answer is Waved.

____ Zeppelin

• The answer is Led.

DownPinkish orange

• The answer is Coral.

Breathing

• The answer is Alive.

Has foundation

• The answer is Based.

Furry foot

• The answer is Paw.

Wine choice

• The answer is Red.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to the latest Mini Crossword.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Sketchy.

SEE ALSO: Mini crossword answers for November 1 Hurdle Word 1 answer

DICEY

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Clever in a funny way.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for November 1 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

WITTY

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Up to.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for November 1 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for November 1 Hurdle Word 3 answer

UNTIL

Hurdle Word 4 hint

A cause of muscle pain.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for November 1 Hurdle Word 4 answer

CRAMP

Final Hurdle hint

To legally take in a child to raise.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

ADOPT

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Connections: Sports Edition is a new version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, 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 October 28's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for November 1 What is Connections Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each 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.

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Players 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.

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for November 1 Here's a hint for today's Connections Sports Edition categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Where to line up

• Green: Pitching success

• Blue: BOOMSHAKALAKA

• Purple: Playing field for armchair quarterbacks

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections Sports Edition categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow - Football positions

• Green - Strikeout

• Blue - Slang for dunk

• Purple - NFL video games

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 today's Connections Sports Edition #39 is...

What is the answer to Connections Sports Edition today

• Football positions: CB, P, TE, WR

• Strikeout: K, PUNCHOUT, SO, WHIFF

• Slang for dunk: HAMMER, JAM, SLAM, STUFF

• NFL video games: 2K, BLITZ, FEVER, STREET

Don'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.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

SEE ALSO: Mini crossword answers for November 1

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Connections.

Olivia Rodrigo surprised trick-or-treaters on Halloween for a fun segment on "Jimmy Kimmel Live".

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.

With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.

So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Friday, November 1, 2024:

AcrossWith 5-Down, rhyming Japanese philosophy of finding beauty in imperfection

• The answer is Wabi.

Sneaker bottoms

• The answer is Soles.

Typeface similar to Helvetica

• The answer is Arial.

Piece of grass

• The answer is Blade.

Personal items checked by bouncers

• The answer is IDs.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for November 1 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for November 1 DownDisney ___

• The answer is World.

Pen name

• The answer is Alias.

Pearl in a pearl necklace, e.g.

• The answer is Bead.

Bit of land in the ocean

• The answer is Isle.

See 1-Across

• The answer is Sabi.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to the latest Mini Crossword.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is the latest entry in the Life is Strange series — it's a direct follow-up to the original game that came out in 2015.

The game expertly showcases the original protagonist, Max, and her personal growth, while introducing a likable cast of new supporting characters. The story starts off incredibly strong, but the pacing feels rushed towards the end and the conclusion may not satisfy some players. Additionally, the gameplay mechanics feel a bit underwhelming.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure plot

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is set 10 years after the original game, with Max Caulfield returning as a photographer for Caledon University.

Credit: Deck Nine

Due to the events of the previous game, Caulfield no longer uses her time-rewinding powers. However, after her friend Safi is mysteriously murdered by a gunshot, she develops new powers that allow her to switch between timelines. Max alternates between her original timeline and another where Safi was never shot and utilizes clues from both to find out who killed Safi.

It’s an incredibly strong foundation and the mystery surrounding Safi’s death is a real page turner up until the last few chapters, which felt rushed and the ending was a bit unsatisfying. Without spoiling anything, the first three chapters kept my attention, but when all of the details started coming together, I couldn’t help but feel like the idea of Safi’s death was a sort of bait and switch.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure characters

Life is Strange: Double Exposure’s cast is quite small, which lets other supporting characters get their time to shine.

Credit: Deck Nine

For example, Max can see both versions of Safi’s best friend, Moses, when switching between the two timelines and how he reacts to certain events. This allows players to experience different facets and emotions of these characters, creating fully realized personalities.

Max shows strong character growth, too, learning from her actions 10 years ago during the events of the original game. She wants to avoid a repeat of what happened before, when her own selfish motives led to innocent people getting hurt. This is demonstrated throughout the game with her words and actions.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure mechanics

Shifting between timelines sounds like a really interesting gameplay mechanic on paper, but it feels underutilized in Life is Strange: Double Exposure.

Credit: Deck Nine

In the game, Max shifts timelines to complete simple tasks, like entering a room that’s locked in one reality but open in another. It doesn’t really get too much deeper than that. There was one scene where Max had to save a person from falling into a frozen lake as it was cracking, so she shifted the crumbling bed of ice with the other timeline’s undisturbed one. 

It was a very cool implementation of Max’s new powers, but those possibilities were only shown through cutscenes and not actual gameplay. I feel like the developers could’ve come up with some more different ideas to incorporate Max’s powers with gameplay.

Throughout the game, you’ll be presented with different choices and dialogue options on how to proceed. Some are more impactful than others. For example, Max finds out a character is planning on filing a restraining order on Safi, and she has the option to tell Safi about it. Whether the player chooses to tell Safi about it has ramifications during later chapters. This adds significant replayability to each playthrough, allowing you to experience different outcomes.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure graphics

The graphics in Life is Strange: Double Exposure are great, especially its art direction.

Credit: Deck Nine

It has a cartoon-ish look that avoids looking juvenile, and the facial expressions are the best the series has seen thus far. It’s vibrant with colors, and the contrast between the two timelines reflects the mood of each one. In the one where Safi is still alive, there’s a warm yellow hue to it, while the one where she's dead has a somber blue coloration. It’s a simple yet effective technique that can affect the mood.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure music and audio

The music and audio in Life is Strange: Double Exposure is good, but it wasn’t something that I paid particular attention to throughout the game. However, the game uses some licensed music from real-world artists like Tessa Rose Jackson & Feel for songs like “Wake,” “Illusion,” and “So This Is Lonely,” which stand out in the soundtrack.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure difficulty

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a narrative adventure game, so it doesn’t have any difficulty options.

Credit: Deck Nine

However, there are plenty of good accessibility options, such as softening the white bloom that occurs when shifting timeline, making the gameplay experience smoother.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure performance

Life is Strange: Double Exposure performed well on Xbox Series X. There were no hard crashes nor performance issues — and load times were reasonable. However, there were some issues with textures popping in when cutscenes were loading in, making for some weird visual glitches.

Is Life is Strange: Double Exposure worth it?

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a worthy follow-up for those who enjoyed Max’s original adventure. Without giving away spoilers, the game hints at future sequels, which occasionally undermines its story potential. This focus detracts from Double Exposure’s impact, leading to a somewhat underwhelming ending.

However, Max’s personal growth felt satisfying and the cast is likable. While the gameplay mechanics involving Max’s time powers could’ve been more fleshed out, the story was enough to keep my attention until the end. At $50, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is worth it for die-hard Life is Strange fans, but casual players can wait for a discount.

Instagram can be a great way to promote your side hustle, whether that's dog-walking, tutoring, creating UGC, selling vintage clothes, or another moonlighting endeavor. 

But it can also be a complex platform to get right, with many features, many post types, and a frustratingly mysterious algorithm. So we've compiled a few tips to make your Instagram presence as great as the business itself.

Set up an Instagram Business account

One of the first choices you'll make is whether to make a new account for your side hustle or, if you have one, use your existing personal account. There are benefits to both approaches: Creating a new account can make your business look more streamlined and legit. Plus, you'll be able to start fresh by targeting the exact type of followers you want as your customers. 

There's one big advantage of using your personal account: existing followers. If you go that route, though, you might need to revamp your profile and delete — or archive — photos that aren't aligned with your brand. For example, if you're starting a babysitting business, you'll probably want to send your party pics to the archives — unless they're from your little cousin's Bluey-themed bash. 

Either way, you'll want to set up an Instagram Business account, which you can do under "Edit profile" in the Instagram app. (The Instagram help website has the full instructions.) You can also link the account to your business's Facebook page if it has one.

Embrace some light branding

No need to go wild on this one — we know it's a side hustle, and we know you're busy. Still, a little branding magic can go a long way, including:

• A simple, eye-catching logo

• A color palette (this can be as simple as picking three colors and sticking to them as much as possible)

• If you're using text in your posts, one or two go-to fonts

Nail your Instagram bio

Your Instagram bio is a prospective customer's first impression of your business, so make sure it's good! Here, you'll want to provide basic information about your business. Some suggestions:

• The goods and/or services you provide

• Where you're located — and, if you're selling physical products, where you ship

• Your credentials (for example, a tutor might mention that they have a degree in education)

• Contact information (an email address, for example)

• A cute, pithy slogan

Links are also important to consider — to your professional website, your portfolio, and such. Instagram allows you to add five links directly, or you can opt for a service like Linktree if you have more.

Keep the posts flowing

Now that your account's scaffolding is set to go, it's time to post. There's no "ideal" number for how often you should post — it depends on your business and audience — but a good rule of thumb is 3-5 times per week. Use these posts to introduce yourself, show off your product, and explain what your business offers. For example, a dog trainer might make a post detailing the services they offer, a post introducing themselves and their credentials, and a post showing off a perfect "sit" from a canine client.

Don't just concentrate on grid posts, either. Stories and Reels are also key ways to engage potential customers. Stories are a great place to share real-time updates — the dog trainer might post a fresh, positive review or a video of a pup in the middle of a training session, for example. Reels provide an opportunity to hop on trending audio and memes, increasing your chances of going viral and getting lots of eyeballs on your business.

Plus, once you reach 10,000 followers, you'll be able to use the "swipe up" feature on your Stories, which will bring users directly to your website. Don't forget us when you get there!

Two spiral galaxies are on the precipice of a messy scuffle — a type of merger known as "galactic cannibalism," with the larger galaxy stripping stars off the smaller one. 

The galaxies, IC 2163 on the left and NGC 2207, are about 114 light-years away from Earth, located in the Eridanus and Canis Major constellations, respectively. NASA and its space agency counterparts have combined data from the James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope to learn more about such cosmic collisions.

The result: The snapshot that appears at the top of this story, the highest-resolution image yet of the galactic pair, revealing new insights into galaxy evolution and star formation. 

"Both galaxies have high star formation rates, like innumerable individual hearts fluttering all across their arms," according to the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which runs both telescopes.

SEE ALSO: Astronomers just found a galaxy way too advanced for its time The James Webb Space Telescope reveals where cold dust glows throughout the galaxies IC 2163 and NGC 2207 in the mid-infrared light range. Some of the pink dots may be faraway supermassive black holes known as quasars. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI

So far the two galaxies have only brushed against each other, with IC 2163, the smaller of the two, shifting slightly behind the other millions of years ago. You heard that right: This stuff moves slower than a horror film victim, screaming instead of fleeing from impending doom. Galactic collisions, for all their violence, occur over several hundred million years.

As many as 25 percent of galaxies are merging with others right now, and likely even more are affecting neighboring galaxies with their gravity. These interactions and exchanges of material often result in intense bursts of star formation, strongly implying the connection between galaxy mergers and the births of stars, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Combining data from Webb and Hubble has benefits for scientists because the observatories detect light at different wavelengths. To get the full picture of a cosmic object, it helps to have the full range of its electromagnetic spectrum, NASA says. Hubble senses visible light, while Webb picks up invisible light at infrared wavelengths. In short, a lot of dust and gas in space obscures the view to extremely distant and inherently dim light sources, but infrared waves can penetrate through the clouds. 

The Hubble Space Telescope provides a view of galaxies IC 2163 and NGC 2207 in ultraviolet light, showing their star-filled arms in bright blue and their cores in orange. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI

Evidence of the previous scrap between the galaxies appears in the shock fronts, where material from the galaxies has crashed into each other, represented in the image at the top of this story in bright red lines and distorted arms. 

"Even more tendrils look like they’re hanging between the galaxies’ cores," according to the institute. "Another extension 'drifts' off the top of the larger galaxy, forming a thin, semi-transparent arm that practically runs off screen."

And it seems the confrontation has already supplied the galaxies with star formation fuel. The areas of bright blue, captured by Hubble in ultraviolet light, and pink and white, mainly caught in mid-infrared by Webb, are star-forming regions. 

Some super star clusters peek out in the highest spiral arm that wraps above the larger galaxy on the right. Other bright spots are mini starbursts — locations where new baby stars are churned out rapidly. All around the core of the smaller galaxy on the left is evidence of new stars burning brightly. 

This pair of galaxies makes roughly two dozen new stars, each about the size of the sun, every year. That's about eight times more than the Milky Way's rate. The duo has also hosted about seven supernovas, cataclysmic star explosions, over the past few decades. That might not sound like many, but that's high compared to the average two per century in our home galaxy. 

Over eons, the galaxies may continue having these sorts of dalliances, before ultimately merging. It's hard to know how exactly it will unfold, but scientists think their cores could eventually converge into one. The process will wind down after the interacting regions run out of fuel for making new stars.