Technologies

A Beloved ‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ Character Just Made Her Fighting Game Debut

Lucy’s hacking fighting style fits well within the Guilty Gear universe.

Lucy, a supporting character from the Netflix show Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, is now available as a guest character in the fighting game Guilty Gear Strive.

There isn’t much backstory as to how Lucy wound up in the Guilty Gear universe other than that she was in a deep dive on the net and wound up somewhere else. Lucy is a high-mobility character with ranged attacks thanks to her whip (called a monowire, familiar to cyberpunk veterans). Her hacker’s toolkit allows her to apply debuffs to her opponents and hack them when making certain special moves. She has strong aerial mobility, as well. Arc System Works released a guide video showing off her moves.

Fighting games have been around since the arcades. In the past, new characters were only made available via sequels and other iterations. Thanks to the internet, however, games now behave like a service, with expansions and new characters available for those who pay up for extras.

Like Street Fighter VI, Fortnite and Overwatch 2, Guilty Gear uses season passes to give players new content and features. Lucy is the final character for season 4. Creating that trickle of content not only keeps players engaged for longer, it also offsets development costs and adds to publishers’ bottom line.

The latest update to Guilty Gear Strive introduces a new online mode called Ranked Match. Here, players can battle opponents of similar rank with the goal of reaching the highest rank, vanquisher. The newest update also brings balance adjustments.

The season 4 pass costs $25 and is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox and PC. Lucy can also be bought individually for $9. Guilty Gear Strive was released on Nintendo Switch earlier this year, but the season 4 character pass won’t arrive until fall. There’s no word on a Switch 2 version.

Technologies

With Apple’s Siri AI Overhaul Delayed, Google Might Help It Catch Up

Siri’s long-delayed overhaul could end up powered by Google’s Gemini AI, a move that shows how urgently Apple is trying to close the gap with rivals.

Apple is reportedly weighing up a potentially major change to its digital assistant: powering a revamped Siri with Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence tool.

According to Bloomberg, the companies are in early discussions about a partnership that could reshape Apple’s AI strategy for the iPhone, iPad and Apple’s other products. While no agreement is in place, the talks signal Apple’s growing urgency to keep up in the generative AI race.

Siri, once a pioneer, has lagged behind its voice assistant rivals. Apple had planned to roll out a smarter, AI-driven Siri in 2025 as part of its Apple Intelligence initiative, but executives delayed the launch until spring 2026, admitting the early version wasn’t reliable enough to ship. That setback has left Apple at a disadvantage while Samsung, Microsoft and Amazon push ahead with AI assistants that are more conversational and capable.

Apple has long prided itself on controlling the technologies that make its products distinct, but generative AI has proven harder to master internally. To bridge the gap, Apple has leaned on partners: today’s Siri can already route certain requests to OpenAI’s ChatGPT when its own models fall short, and later this year, Apple Intelligence is set to upgrade that integration with GPT-5. You’ll be able to call on ChatGPT for writing help, image understanding and complex questions directly through Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence.

That reliance underscores the fact that Apple’s own models aren’t yet competitive at the same scale as its rivals.

Apple is reportedly exploring additional options, including Anthropic’s Claude and, most prominently, Google’s Gemini. A deal with Google wouldn’t just inject advanced capabilities into Siri, it would echo a long-running partnership between the two companies. Google already pays billions annually to remain the default search engine on Safari, and a Gemini deal could extend that relationship into Apple’s core AI experience.

If the talks advance, we may see a very different Siri emerge in the coming years: one less constrained, more conversational and powered by the same AI that underpins Google’s own products.

Apple and Google didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Technologies

US Government Makes $8.9B Investment to Take 10% Stake in Intel

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 23, #804

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Aug. 23, #804.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

The NYT Connections puzzle is often tough, but today’s is next-level tough. The blue category went wild with long, almost archaic vocabulary. See my rant below when I spoil the blue category for you. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Cars get thirsty too.

Green group hint: Place to play.

Blue group hint: Trickery.

Purple group hint: Who thought of that?

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Liquids you put into cars.

Green group: Arena.

Blue group: Skulduggery.

Purple group: Modern inventions.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is liquids you put into cars. The four answers are brake fluid, coolant, fuel and oil.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is arena. The four answers are bowl, coliseum, hippodrome and stadium.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is skulduggery. The four answers are chicanery, deceit, legerdemain and subterfuge.

OK, first, «skulduggery» is one heck of a word, but then … legerdemain? Seriously? The dictionary defines that as «skillful use of one’s hands when performing conjuring tricks.» New one on me.