Technologies

Nothing Phone 2 Is Coming to the US With a Big Boost

Carl Pei teases his tech startup’s US debut, promising a phone packing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 chip.

Nothing to see here — just the news that the second phone from UK-based tech startup Nothing is coming soon. The Nothing Phone 2 will be an even more high-end product than its predecessor and will pack the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen. And yes, it will be available in the US.

Unlike almost every other Android phone-maker you can name, Nothing doesn’t have an official presence this year at Mobile World Congress. But the world’s biggest phone show, which kicked off on Monday in Barcelona, featured a surprise announcement from Nothing.

The company piggybacked on the stand of its chipset partner Qualcomm to make a late-in-the-day statement on Tuesday about its much anticipated new handset. The day prior, Nothing founder Carl Pei tweeted that «having a stand at MWC doesn’t fit our vibe.»

The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset is Qualcomm’s flagship mobile processor this year, with improved AI features for photography, more reliable 5G connectivity and even ray tracing to create more true-to-life reflections and shadows in games. The chip is likely to feature in many high-end Android phones this year; a modified version powers the Samsung Galaxy S23, which was launched earlier this month. Its inclusion lends the Nothing Phone 2 some flagship credibility.

Pei brought years of experience working at OnePlus with him when he founded the tech brand Nothing in 2020. His aim was to inject some of the fun and excitement back into the tech world. A major part of the company’s strategy has been to develop a distinctive design language that combines transparent elements with built-in lights, which give the Nothing Phone 1 and the Nothing Ear 1, released in 2022 and 2021 respectively, a look that sets them apart from pretty much all other tech on the market right now.

In his review of the Phone 1, CNET’s Andrew Lanxon said he found it just as exciting to spend time with as he’d hoped. He loved the flashy, unique design and found it a solid performer at an affordable price. One of the downsides of the phone was simply that it wasn’t available in the US at release. The international model is now available for $299 in the US as part of a beta program, but with limited carrier support.

That won’t be the case for the Phone 2, which will be sold in the US, UK and Europe when it launches at a yet-to-be-confirmed date later this year. Prices are also TBC, but for context the Nothing Phone 1 priced at £399 in the UK.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for June 9, #463

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 463 for June 9.

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

Todays NYT Strands puzzle features a bunch of mysterious words. Some are a bit difficult to unscramble so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: What you see isn’t what you get

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Hiding in plain sight

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

CALL, CALLS, FALL, FALLS, SAME, SEAM, LAND, ROSE, COVE, CANE, CANES, FLUME, FLUMES, DIGS, MEAL, COLA, CARD, CASE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

MASK, CLOAK, COVER, FACADE, DISGUISE, CAMOUFLAGE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is FALSEFRONT. To find it, start with the F that’s two rows over from the far left and two letters down. Wind around into a question mark.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for June 9, #729

Here are some hints and the answers for Connections for June 9, No. 729.

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.

Do you play the NYT Spelling Bee? If you do, you should be able to ace the purple category in today’s NYT Connections puzzle. 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: Control-C.

Green group hint: Don’t wait till the last minute.

Blue group hint: Pals to plan a heist.

Purple group hint: Think another NYT online game.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Keyboard shortcut commands.

Green group: Secure in advance.

Blue group: Crime organization.

Purple group: Spellling Bee ranks minus a letter.

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 keyboard shortcut commands. The four answers are paste, print, quit and save.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is secure in advance. The four answers are book, order, request and reserve.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is crime organization. The four answers are crew, family, ring and syndicate.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Spelling Bee ranks minus a letter. The four answers are genus, goo, mazing and slid. (Genius, good, amazing and solid.)

Technologies

I Made Google Translate My Default on iPhone Before a Trip and It Saved Me More Than Once

Google Translate supports far more languages than Apple’s app, and it’s easy to make the switch.

If you’re traveling overseas this summer, the Google Translate app can come in handy to quickly translate a road sign or conversation. The latest Google Translate update allows you to pick the app as your default translation app for Apple iPhones and iPads running iOS and iPadOS 18.4 and later. Previously, you were limited to the built-in Apple option.

Google began leveraging AI to boost Google Translate’s offerings, adding 110 languages last year to increase its total support for 249 languages. Compare that to Apple Translate, which supports 19 languages. Neither Google nor Apple responded to a request for comment.

Both apps offer voice and text translation, including a camera feature that lets you instantly translate by pointing your camera at text. Both also allow you to use translation features without an internet connection, which can come in particularly handy when traveling to more remote locations.

After using both, I found that the Google Translate picked up speech a little quicker so I didn’t have to constantly repeat myself, and the audio pronunciations were a little easier to understand than on Apple Translate. I switched to Google Translate as the default on my iPhone, and here’s how you can, too.