Technologies

Twitter Check Marks: A Handy Guide for The New Color Code

You may have noticed many changes on Twitter. To clear up the confusion over Twitter’s check marks, we have answers.

Twitter has been in a state of flux ever since Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk paid out $44 billion to take over the social media site in October last year. Big changes are still happening, including a new overhaul of Twitter’s longtime verification system that once awarded blue check marks to notable accounts — including celebrities, companies, brands and journalists.

Musk’s push to build subscription revenue led Twitter to replace its old verification system with a paid Twitter Blue service. The change makes it difficult to know the difference between a previously verified account and one that’s simply paying for the blue mark. So who can you trust on Twitter anymore? Understanding the different check mark colors and meanings can help guide you. Let’s sort it out.

Blue check mark

A blue check mark next to a username once conveyed a coveted «verified» status that meant the user was who they said they were. That’s how you’d know a tweet was coming from comedian Steve Martin and not someone pretending to be Steve Martin.

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Actor, comedian and musician Steve Martin has a blue check mark to indicate he has a legacy verified Twitter account or that he’s perhaps also subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET

The blue mark now comes with this message: «This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.»

Let’s tackle the first part of that. Twitter Blue subscribers pay $8 per month on the web or $11 on iOS and Android to get a check mark along with access to additional features like the ability to edit tweets within a 30-minute window and share longer tweets up to 4,000 characters. The higher in-app price offsets the app store commissions, so you can save money by subscribing directly through the Twitter site. Anyone who pays the fee and meets the eligibility requirements (including a confirmed phone number and active status) can have a Twitter Blue check mark.

Many well-known Twitter users spoke up against the new system, including basketball star LeBron James, who declared last week, «I ain’t paying.»

But James still has his blue check mark. Turns out Twitter decided not to take the legacy check marks away from most accounts, even if they don’t pay. To add to the turmoil of introducing the new system, Twitter removed the verified check mark from the main New York Times account as Musk referred to the news outlet as «propaganda» and «unreadable.»

Legacy verified users were once considered «active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest.» Now it isn’t necessarily easy to determine if an account is a legacy or a Twitter Blue subscriber. That confusion may detract from the value of the blue check mark that was once a badge of authenticity.

Twitter no longer has a media relations team that could help us sort through these issues.

Gold check mark

Coca-Cola features a gold check mark and square avatar on Twitter.

Screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET

Yes, it looks yellow, but Twitter calls the color «gold.» These marks are reserved for official business accounts that are signed up with the Twitter Verified Organizations program. Think of this as Twitter Blue on steroids for businesses and nonprofits.

Twitter Verified Organizations pay a $1,000-per-month subscription fee and are rewarded with a check mark, a square avatar, Twitter Blue features and the ability to add affiliate accounts, among other perks.

Gray check mark

The United Nations and other government and official organizations may sport a gray check mark on Twitter.

Screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET

It might look drab in comparison to the more colorful blue and gold marks, but the gray check mark is an important one to know. It primarily designates a government organization or official. US President Joe Biden’s account, for example, sports a gray check mark. The mark can also apply to multilateral organizations like the United Nations and the World Health Organization that encompass multiple countries.

At least gold and gray are easy to understand. Will the blue confusion continue or clear up? For Twitter users, this calls for extra scrutiny of where the information is coming from. Is that tweet from a previously verified account or some random Twitter Blue subscriber? As with most things on the internet, it pays to stay on your toes and check your sources.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Dec. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 24.

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.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I’m Irish-American, but yet 6-Down, which involves Ireland, stumped me at first. Read on for all the answers.. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

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 to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Wordle or Boggle
Answer: GAME

5A clue: Big Newton
Answer: ISAAC

7A clue: Specialized vocabulary
Answer: LINGO

8A clue: «See you in a bit!»
Answer: LATER

9A clue: Tone of many internet comments
Answer: SNARK

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Sharks use them to breathe
Answer: GILLS

2D clue: From Singapore or South Korea, say
Answer: ASIAN

3D clue: Large ocean ray
Answer: MANTA

4D clue: ___ beaver
Answer: EAGER

6D clue: Second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin
Answer: CORK

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Technologies

Quadrantids Is a Short but Sweet Meteor Shower Just After New Year’s. How to See It

This meteor shower has one of the most active peaks, but it doesn’t last for very long.

The Quadrantids has the potential to be one of the most active meteor showers of the year, and skygazers won’t have long to wait to see it. The annual shower is predicted to reach maximum intensity on Jan. 3. And with a display that can rival Perseids, Quadrantids could be worth braving the cold to see it.

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The show officially begins on Dec. 28 and lasts until Jan. 12, according to the American Meteor Society. Quadrantids is scheduled to peak on Jan. 2-3, when it may produce upwards of 125 meteors per hour. This matches Perseids and other larger meteor showers on a per-hour rate, but Quadrantids also has one of the shortest peaks at just 6 hours, so it rarely produces as many meteors overall as the other big ones.

The meteor shower comes to Earth courtesy of the 2003 EH1 asteroid, which is notable because most meteor showers are fed from comets, not asteroids. Per NASA, 2003 EH1 is a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun once every five and a half years. Science posits that 2003 EH1 was a comet in a past life, but too many trips around the sun stripped it of its ice, leaving only its rocky core. The Earth runs through EH1’s orbital debris every January, which results in the Quadrantids meteor shower.

How and where to see Quadrantids

Quadrantids is named for the constellation where its meteors appear to originate, a point known as the radiant. This presents another oddity, as the shower originates from the constellation Quadrans Muralis. This constellation ceased to be recognized as an official constellation in the 1920s and isn’t available on most publicly accessible sky maps.

For the modern skygazer, you’ll instead need to find the Bootes and Draco constellations, both of which contain stars that were once a part of the Quadrans Muralis. Draco will be easier to find after sunset on the evening of Jan. 2, and will be just above the horizon in the northern sky. Bootes orbits around Draco, but will remain under the horizon until just after 1 a.m. local time in the northeastern sky. From that point forward, both will sit in the northeastern part of the sky until sunrise. You’ll want to point your chair in that direction and stay there to see meteors.

As the American Meteor Society notes, Quadrantids has a short but active peak, lasting around 6 hours. The peak is expected to start around 4 p.m. ET and last well into the evening. NASA predicts the meteor shower to start one day later on Jan. 3-4, so if you don’t see any on the evening of Jan. 2, try again on Jan. 3.

To get the best results, the standard space viewing tips apply. You’ll want to get as far away from the city and suburbs as possible to reduce light pollution. Since it’ll be so cold outside, dress warmly and abstain from alcoholic beverages, as they can affect your body temperature. You won’t need any binoculars or telescopes, and the reduced field of view may actually impact your ability to see meteors.

The bad news is that either way, the Quadrantids meteor shower coincides almost perfectly with January’s Wolf Moon, which also happens to be a supermoon. This will introduce quite a lot of light pollution, which will likely drown out all but the brightest meteors. So, while it may have a peak of over 100 meteors per hour, both NASA and the AMS agree that the more realistic expectation is 10 or so bright meteors per hour.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 24, #1649

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 24, No. 1,649.

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 little tricky, with a double letter that could confuse players. 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.