Technologies

Shipping delays could ruin your holidays

COVID, storms and a shortage of key materials have disrupted global supply chains.

The school year just started, Halloween is coming and Thanksgiving plans are still up in the air. We get it. Your hands are full.

Still, consider ordering your year-end gifts now if they’re an important part of your holidays. Gifts you buy online on Black Friday might not have enough time to arrive by Christmas a month later, let alone Hanukkah, which this year sees the first candle lit on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Any product you order online could take longer than usual for delivery. Global shortages of microprocessors, magnets and plastic have slowed production to a crawl. When products are available, shipping has choked due to a combination of heightened demand, COVID-related port shutdowns and storm-created chaos. Seventy-three cargo ships await unloading at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Saturday, a record. Tennis balls, couches and even pickles have been affected.

The takeaway: It’s impossible to know whether a specific laptop, sound system or pair of jeans will be in stock ahead of the holidays.

«If there’s something you need or want, the risk of not having it in time for the holidays is likely,» said Mark Stanton, general manager of supply chain solutions at PowerFleet. He advises people to shop ahead of the holiday shopping season, if possible.

Holiday shopping rushes are nothing new, and the sales season has increasingly started earlier in the year. Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving, now marks the generally accepted beginning of the shopping season. Sales online often start earlier.

Shopping for the holidays has driven roughly one fifth of annual retail sales in recent years, according to the National Retail Federation, which said US retail sales totaled more than $787 billion in November and December of 2020. Online spending accounted for more than 26% of that figure, the NRF said.

The shopping season is so well-anchored in our culture that it served as the backdrop of Jingle All The Way, a comedy featuring a panicked Arnold Schwarzenegger on the hunt for a toy his son wants. The movie debuted in 1996, the same year that Tickle Me Elmo, a toy based on the Sesame Street character, prompted fights among parents in Walmart aisles. Some desperate parents chased after delivery trucks to get their hands on the fuzzy, red monster toy, which bleats out electronic giggles.

A single toy hasn’t dominated holiday sales so fully in recent years. But an Elmo equivalent, if one emerges, will be harder to get than usual this time around. Additionally, it might be more expensive, because toy makers can recover the higher cost of shipping with full-price sales of high-demand toys near the holidays, according to e-commerce services company CommerceIQ. And the delays won’t be limited to toys. Anything computerized, magnetic or made of plastic — think electronics, appliances and home goods — could be hard to get.

Missing materials

Microchips power everything that runs software, including cars. The shortage in chips, triggered by a production lag early in the pandemic followed by surging demand, has meant manufacturers have struggled to produce enough computers, phones and tablets to fulfill orders, which soared during COVID lockdowns.

Since chips are in so many items, the shortage is weighing on products outside of home electronics. It’s been so bad that Ford had to temporarily shut down some manufacturing of its F-150, the best-selling vehicle in the US, as it looked for more chips.

Magnets, which are used in products ranging from toys to electronics, have also been in short supply. SDM Magnetics, a manufacturer, recently told customers that China has tightened regulation of the mining of rare earth minerals used in magnets. That’s prompted some middlemen to hold on to mineral supplies, leading to fewer and more expensive magnets for sale.

A chain of events sparked by early pandemic shutdowns has also created a shortage of one of modern society’s most common materials: plastic. That’s meant backlogs for cars and RVs, house siding and PVC piping, and disposable restaurant supplies such as plastic cups.

Bindiya Vakil, a supply chain expert, wrote in the Harvard Business Review that storms exacerbated the shortage by shutting down Texas and Louisiana oil producers that process the chemicals used in manufacturing plastic. The Gulf Coast storms started with Hurricane Laura in August 2020 and continued with an ice storm in early 2021.

Plastic makers still haven’t caught up to demand since those setbacks. That was among the issues that hobbled production and shipping of Rainbow High dolls, a toy that MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian recently told The Washington Post might not make it into the US in time for Christmas.

Finally, due to outbreaks of the delta variant, the apparel industry has been hit by factory closures in Vietnam, where increasing amounts of clothing are made. On Thursday, Nike said the effects of the shutdowns will ripple into the New Year, when it expects to see shortages of its products.

Port closures and shipping container shortages

Shortages of components and material aren’t the only reason the ideal gift for your loved one might not make it to a US warehouse in time for you to receive it by December. Goods from overseas are put into shipping containers before being sent abroad. Then they’re unloaded and sent to warehouses around the country. That isn’t happening quickly right now.

The shipping slowdown is caused by both a glut of products moving through the system and a shortage of containers and equipment. With an influx of products coming out of ports, logistics companies aren’t always able to hire enough people to drive trucks and unload containers at their warehouses around the country, said Stanton, the supply chain expert. That slows the flow of empty containers back to ports in China and Vietnam and makes them even harder to get.

COVID-19 and storms have waylaid the industry too. If one port gets shut down due to weather or an outbreak, later points in the delivery system get thrown out of whack. In July, a typhoon struck an area of coastal China that’s home to several ports, causing shutdowns of air, rail and sea shipping. In August, the Meidong Container Terminal shut down its operations at the Ningbo Zhoushan port in response to a single positive COVID test. The decision effectively closed the world’s third-busiest port.

The highly contagious delta variant could bring further port closures in the future. In any case, the combination of disruptions has caused the cost of shipping to skyrocket, making it even harder for companies to import goods.

The system has also been plagued by random setbacks, as in July when the cargo ship Ever Given lodged itself into the Suez Canal, bringing a major shipping thoroughfare to a halt for nearly a week. Factory shutdowns in Vietnam mean that Nike expects shortages of its products in the New Year.

«It really is this ripple effect that goes down the supply chain,» said Jen Blackhurst, a professor of business analytics at the University of Iowa.

Alternatives to buying early

If you don’t want to spend the next three months tracking packages online, think about opting out of buying items shipped from overseas. Sure, you may have scoffed at alternatives to whatever the hot gift was in the past, but this is the year to reconsider.

If you have the time and skill, you can make homemade gifts or hand out vouchers for babysitting or yard work, if that’s something the recipient will appreciate. Buying tickets to events, museum memberships or restaurant gift cards are also easy options — and let your loved ones enjoy an outing.

You can also think about locally made products. Many small businesses sell items made by local artisans online, either through a web ordering platform or with Instagram and Facebook pages announcing new products, says Rachel Smith, the president of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

«Those local businesses that have added or enhanced their e-commerce platforms have navigated the pandemic better» than those that didn’t, Smith said.

Dan Wallace-Brewster, a senior vice president of marketing at e-commerce services company Scalefast, says consumers are increasingly getting comfortable with buying secondhand goods online. Retailers and device makers often sell refurbished electronics on their websites, and the discounts they offer mean your budget can go a little further than it would on something new. Luxury brand resellers, such as the Real Real and the Vestiaire Collective, have also sprung up to offer big name brands at lower prices than retailers or manufacturers offer.

The products these companies sell are typically already in the US, meaning there’s little concern about the global supply chain. The quality of goods available on the sites along with growing consumer acceptance has reached «to the point where you might be willing to gift a secondhand product from the right market and not be ashamed of it,» Wallace-Brewster said.

If you’re still scrambling the night before your holiday gift exchange, there’s one more tried-and-true option: a gift certificate. It’s either that or tying a bow around a shipping confirmation for an ordered — but undelivered — gift.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Feb. 1, #1688

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Sunday, Feb. 1, No. 1,688.

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

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a tough one, with some unusual letters. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel and one sometimes vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with S.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with Y.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer means full of prickles.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is SPINY.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Jan. 31, No. 1,687, was ALLOT.

Recent Wordle answers

Jan. 27, No. 1,683: DUSKY

Jan. 28, No. 1,684: CRUEL

Jan. 29, No. 1,685: FLAKY

Jan. 30, No. 1,686: JUMBO

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 1 #700

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sunday, Feb. 1, No. 700.

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.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a bit of a challenge. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, and a couple are kind of long, 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: It’s a gift.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: For me, really?

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:

BONE, GONE, BONNET, NOTE, PRIDE, RING, TING, SENT, RENT, WARD, DRAW, SEEN, SEER, TORE, RANT, TRYING, DONATE, SIRE

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:

AWARD, BONUS, GRANT, PRESENT, DONATION, OFFERING

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is GENEROSITY. To find it, start with the G that’s three letters to the right on the top row, and wind down.

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Technologies

I Tested the New AirTag and Found That Apple More Than Doubled Its Range

Review: Apple’s «AirTag 2» gets better at its job. The familiar white and chrome disc is a little louder, higher-pitched and easier to find.

While nearly everyone I know has been freezing and shoveling snow, I spent the past few days under San Francisco’s sunny skies, hiding and finding Apple’s new AirTag. I’m happy to report that it succeeded at its main job: I was able to locate it every time. The second-generation Bluetooth tracker looks and acts identical to the original AirTag, which debuted in 2021, but internal upgrades make it even easier to find.

Over the past five years, the AirTag has become a popular way to track your luggage, keys, car, bike, pets (though you really shouldn’t clip one to Mr. Cupcakes) and nearly anything else you can attach the tiny white and silver disc to. The AirTag also sparked a conversation about privacy, specifically around Apple’s built-in safeguards that prevent it from being used to track someone unwillingly. Apple later expanded those features to protect both iPhone and Android phone owners.

Do we really need a new AirTag? No. But its new features are nice.

This isn’t your typical yearly tech upgrade, like a new phone with a faster processor. The first AirTag is already great. Yeah, it has shortcomings, like not having a hole for a key ring, which forces you to buy a holder to attach it to things. But its best feature is Apple’s Find My network, an encrypted, invisible service connecting over 1 billion devices, including iPhones, Macs and trackers. The AirTag is your key to the Find My kingdom.

In my time testing the second-gen AirTag, I discovered that the latest iteration is also great. It has shortcomings like that missing key ring hole, but the Find My network is still the star. Apple improved the tracker’s ability to be found. The chime is higher-pitched and louder.

When trying to locate it in the Find My app, Precision Finding picked up the new AirTag over twice as far away as it did the old AirTag. The AirTag 2, as we’ve nicknamed it, also supports Precision Finding on my Apple Watch, though setting it up isn’t straightforward.

The second-gen AirTag is on sale now: $29 for one and $99 for a four-pack. And just like the OG version, if you order online directly from Apple, you can get it engraved.

AirTag 1 vs. AirTag 2

When I first unboxed the second-gen AirTag, I was surprised to see that it had the same bulbous Mento design as the original. This allows the new AirTag to be used with the gazillion accessories people already have. But there are differences. The white shell’s resin is now made of 85% recycled plastic. I’m curious to see whether the white casing scuffs as easily as the original.

(That fine print etched on the back? That’s how you can identify a second-gen AirTag from an original: The new one has its text printed in ALL CAPS — except «AirTag,» because Apple presumably wants to keep the intercap.)

If you have the original AirTag, there’s no reason to get rid of it and buy the new version. I can see swapping out an existing AirTag with a second-gen one if you frequently use Precision Finding for important items like keys and everyday bags — and especially if you want to access that feature on your Apple Watch.

If you can choose between the second-gen AirTag and the first-gen model at a discount, I’d go with the discounted original for most items. The first AirTag model does nearly everything the new one can do.

The new AirTag can be found farther away

The new tracker has upgraded Bluetooth connectivity, making it more discoverable to nearby iPhones, which can piggyback its location information anonymously back to its owner. A second-generation Ultra Wideband chip gives the new AirTag a longer range for Precision Finding.

CNET’s Social Media Producer Faith Chihil and I made the trek to Salesforce Park, a green space atop a San Francisco bus station, to run an AirTag test. I gave Faith my old AirTag that I use for traveling, aptly named Patrick’s Luggage, and the new one, named New AirTag. I then walked a few hundred feet away and opened the Find My app on my iPhone 17 Pro Max. I looked for the New AirTag first. I hit the Find button and then got to walking. My iPhone started picking it up 110 feet away. The green «you’re going the right way» screen with an arrow appeared 85 feet away from the new AirTag.

I repeated the test with the Patrick’s Luggage AirTag, and my iPhone started picking it up 42 feet away, and the green screen appeared 37 feet away. In this simple test, the second-gen AirTag was findable at over twice the distance away as my first-gen Apple tracker.

I should note that there are a lot of factors that come into play when trying to find your AirTag. Our range testing was done around lunchtime, so there were a lot of people with iPhones walking by to pick up the tag’s initial location so that my phone could use the Find My network to zero in on it. Also, we were outdoors along a walking path, so we didn’t have walls, rugs or furniture to contend with for the Precision Finding.

The new AirTag supports Precision Finding on the Apple Watch

The second-gen Ultra Wideband chip on the new AirTag also supports Precision Finding for the first time on certain Apple Watch models running WatchOS 26.2.1 or later:

Apple Watch Series 9
Apple Watch Series 10
Apple Watch Series 11
Apple Watch Ultra 2
Apple Watch Ultra 3

But getting it set up isn’t straightforward.

To use Precision Finding on the iPhone, you go to the Items tab in the Find My app and select your AirTag. But when I went to the Find Items app on the watch, I could select the new AirTag, but there wasn’t a Precision Finding option.

A quick online search later, I found an Apple Support page that explained how the Apple Watch uses the Control Center to do it. I had to add a new Find Items button, called Find AirTag, to the Control Center and then tap it to put my watch into Precision Finding mode. Indoors, it found my AirTag from 65 feet away. It might go farther, but our office isn’t that big.

My Apple Watch doesn’t have cellular data, so when I was indoors on Wi-Fi, it worked fantastic. When I was outdoors, connected to my iPhone, it worked mostly fine, but at times it took longer to update my AirTag’s location.

The new AirTag is louder

If you’ve ever used the AirTag’s Play Sound feature through the iPhone’s Find My app, you know that Apple «I’m over here» chime. The new AirTag plays the same tune but is higher-pitched and louder, making it easier to find.

I tested the second-gen AirTag’s chime against the first one using an iPhone audio meter app (not the most scientific, but I wanted to visualize the difference). The original AirTag’s chime peaked at 67.3 dBA, while the new AirTag’s hit 77.5 dBA, more than twice as loud as the old model (remember, decibels are logarithmic).

The new AirTag final thoughts

When I set out to test the AirTag, I was concerned there wouldn’t be much to talk about. But after my time with it, I’ve discovered a lot to share. Namely, I’m a fan. I was already a fan of the first one, and that’s the key. Apple kept all the best aspects of the original AirTag while adding slight improvements. There was no dramatic redesign or price increase. It’s just the familiar white and chrome disc that is a little louder, higher-pitched and easier to find from quite a bit farther away.

I know some people hoped Apple would launch a credit card-style AirTag or one in different colors. It seems that Apple is more than happy to have other companies do that and participate in its Works with Apple Find My program. And I’m OK with that, too.