Apple is reportedly developing two new models of its Vision Pro headset: one that’s expected to be lighter and more affordable than the original, and another designed to tether with Macs. Bloomberg reported on Monday that despite sluggish demand, the company remains focused on creating versions of the Vision Pro with broader mainstream appeal.

The lower-cost Vision Pro will likely have a less powerful chip and scaled-back features, bringing the price down significantly from the original $3,500. It’s also expected to include an ultralow-latency system for streaming a Mac display, according to the report. And in line with previous reports, Apple is also still working on its own smart glasses equipped with cameras and microphones, similar to Meta’s Ray-Ban line.

Citing an anonymous Apple engineer, Bloomberg said CEO Tim Cook «cares about nothing else» more than delivering a true pair of AR glasses, calling it a «top priority.» But until the technology can be perfected in a way that’s comfortable and as wearable as traditional eyewear, Apple sees camera- and mic-enabled glasses as a stepping stone into the space.

This builds on earlier reports that Apple intends to channel some of the Vision Pro’s billion-dollar R&D investment in visual intelligence into future products, including smart glasses expected to launch in 2027.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In recent years, Apple has often focused on refining buzzy, existing technologies, from mixed-reality headsets to AI features. As it stands, Meta is better positioned to dominate the smart glasses category, particularly as it continues to enhance its hardware, software and growing ecosystem of services. But Cook, according to Bloomberg, is «hell-bent on creating an industry-leading product before Meta can.»

The report said the glasses would utilize Siri and Visual Intelligence as part of Apple’s broader Apple Intelligence AI platform. In keeping with Apple’s overall product strategy, privacy would remain a central focus.

Still, the company may face challenges in making the device as indispensable as its other products, particularly the iPhone – and at a price point that’s accessible enough to drive mass adoption.

Josh Wardle launched the simple yet enthralling puzzle game Wordle more than four years ago in 2021. Since then, the game has grown into one of the biggest word games in recent memory. Wardle initially created the game for his partner before releasing it to the public, and then The New York Times bought it in 2022. CNET’s Gael Cooper has loads of tips and tricks to tackle each Wordle puzzle, but if you’ve completed today’s game — or just love puzzle games — these alternatives are well worth your time.

Wordle asks players to figure out a five-letter word in six or fewer guesses (we have a two-step strategy to help you solve the puzzle every time). After each guess, the game shows gray blocks for the wrong letters, yellow blocks for the right letters in the wrong spot and green blocks for the right letters in the correct spot. It’s addictive, but after you solve the daily puzzle or use up all your guesses, you have to wait until the next day to play again.

You’ve likely already learned some tips, tricks and lessons from the popular word game, so why not apply your newly honed problem-solving skills to other puzzles, too? After all, Wordle isn’t the only game in town. Here are 10 other puzzle games like Wordle you’ll likely enjoy.

Connections

Another New York Times-owned puzzle, Connections is a tricky word game. «Players must select four groups of four words without making more than four mistakes,» the New York Times wrote on X, formerly Twitter. There are also four color-coded difficulty levels for each game; yellow is the easiest, then green, the blue and finally purple. The game is also similar to the BBC quiz show Only Connect, and the show’s host took to X to point out the connection. See what I did there?

You can play Connections on any web browser, but you need a New York Times subscription (which starts at $1 a week) to play.

Strands

Strands is another New York Times-owned puzzle, but this game resembles a word search more so than Wordle and Connections. This game presents a theme every day to help you find words in a grid. In Strands words can appear forwards, backward, top-to-bottom or any number of ways in a traditional word search, and words can also form in the shape of an «L» or have a zigzag in them. When you find a word, tap the first letter and drag your finger to the other letters. Every letter in the puzzle is used, so if you still have letters that aren’t connected to words, you aren’t finished yet.

You can play Strands on any web browser, but you need a New York Times subscription (again, $1 a week) to play.

Quartiles

Quartiles is a new word game Apple News Plus subscribers can access on their iPhone or iPad that’s running iOS 17.5 or later. In this word game, you’re given 20 tiles with letters on them, and you’re trying to put them together to form different words. The longest words are four-tiles long, and these are called Quartiles. The game can be tough, but finding just one of the Quartiles is as satisfying as remembering something that was just on the tip of your tongue.

You can play Quartiles on an iPhone or iPad, but you need an Apple News subscription (which starts at $13 a month) to play.

Multiple Wordle spinoffs: Dordle, Quordle, Octordle and Sedecordle

Are you up for a challenge? If you love Wordle and want puzzle games that take more brain power, you’ll want to check out either Dordle, Quordle, Octordle or Sedecordle. Each of these word games resembles Wordle, but they add more rows, columns and words to solve. Each game requires you to simultaneously solve a different number of words at once: Dordle has you solving two words, Quordle four at once, Octordle eight at once, and Sedecordle a whopping 16. Good luck.

You can play Dordle, Quordle, Octordle or Sedecordle on any web browser.

Lewdle

«Lewdle is a game about rude words,» this game’s content advisory reads. «If you’re likely to be offended by the use of profanity, vulgarity or obscenity, it likely isn’t for you.» Translation: It’s Wordle, but with bad words. The words range from mild — like poopy — to words that would make a sailor blush. Thankfully, despite this game’s content warning, slurs are not included. Like Wordle, gray, yellow and green blocks are used in the same way and there’s only one puzzle per day. So go forth and let the bad words flow!

You can play Lewdle on any web browser. You can also download this title from Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store.

Antiwordle

Tired of seeing those grey, yellow and green blocks plastered all over your social media feed? Give Antiwordle a try. While Wordle wants you to guess a word in as few tries as possible, Antiwordle wants you to avoid the word by guessing as many times as possible. When you guess, letters will turn gray, yellow or red. Gray means the letter isn’t in the word and can’t be used again, yellow means the letter is in the word and must be included in each subsequent guess and red means the letter is in the exact position within the word and is locked in place. If you can use every letter on the keyboard without getting the word correct, you win. Honestly, I’ve found this version of Wordle to be much harder than the original.

You can play Antiwordle on any web browser.

Absurdle

Absurdle bills itself as the «adversarial version» of Wordle. While Wordle nudges you in the right direction with each guess, Absurdle is trying to avoid giving you the correct answer. According to the game’s website, «With each guess, Absurdle reveals as little information as possible, changing the secret word if need be.» Absurdle doesn’t pick a word at the beginning of the game for the player to guess. Instead, it uses the player’s guesses to narrow its list of words down in an effort to make the game go as long as possible. The final word might not even include a yellow letter from one of your earlier guesses either. You can guess as many times as you want, which is helpful, and the best score you can get is four. Have fun!

You can play Absurdle on any web browser.

For more word game fun, check out CNET’s Wordle tips, the best Wordle jokes and everything you need to know about the word game. You can also cehck out what to know about Connections and Strands.

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

Well, today’s NYT Mini Crossword started out easy. 1-Across was simple. And then, the clues started to lose me. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Uneaten part of toast, often
Answer: CRUST

6A clue: Like stud muffins
Answer: HUNKY

7A clue: Prepare for use, as a marker
Answer: UNCAP

8A clue: Nick of «48 Hrs.»
Answer: NOLTE

9A clue: Strike zone’s lower boundary
Answer: KNEES

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Alternative to a chip, in the baking aisle
Answer: CHUNK

2D clue: Kind of sentence that keeps going and going, it should have been made into two sentences
Answer: RUNON

3D clue: Cousin’s dad
Answer: UNCLE

4D clue: Spin out on the ice, say
Answer: SKATE

5D clue: Uses a keyboard
Answer: TYPES

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.