Technologies

Every New GTA 6 Character and Location Announced in Trailer 2

Leonida is a big state with lots of places to visit.

Publisher Rockstar Games broke a lot of gamers’ hearts last week when it said Grand Theft Auto 6 was being pushed to next year. As a bit of a consolation prize, the company dropped a new trailer and shared new details about the game.

The second trailer for GTA 6 went live Tuesday, and Rockstar published a treasure trove of info about the game. This includes the name of the mystery second protagonist from the game as well as some of the other characters players will interact with, and what different locales in the fictional Leonida will be available to visit.

All Grand Theft Auto 6 Characters

It wouldn’t be a GTA game without a large cast of characters.

Jason and Lucia

The two heroes of GTA 6. Jason Duval has been working for drug runners after doing some time in the Army. He met up with Lucia Caminos, who, as of the time of the trailer, is getting out of Leonida Penitentiary after spending some time due to some unknown crime that involved protecting her family. It’s unclear if the two characters will be playable throughout the game. More than likely, both characters will have their own missions, while others will have them both be playable at different points in a mission.

Cal Hamption

A friend of Jason’s who’s a conspiracy theorist. He’s extremely online and spends time snooping on law enforcement. As is the case with most friends in GTA games, expect to do a few missions for him at certain points in the game.

Boobie Ike

A Vice City legend, Boobie is a former street thug who is now a businessman with an empire spanning real estate, a strip club and a recording studio. He has a partnership with music mogul Dre’Quan for Only Raw Records, and they’re looking for a hit song.

Dre’Quan Priest

A street hustler trying to make it big in music. He used to book acts for Boobie’s strip club, but is looking to make a name for himself with his music act, Real Dimez.

Real Dimez

Bae-Luxe and Roxy are two girls who met in high school and do their share of making viral content for social media. They had a hit single five years ago with local rapper DWNPLY, and they’re trying to recreate that success.

Raul Bautista

Raul is a professional bank robber who takes a lot of risks. He could be the one to recruit Jason and Lucia for a big score that goes all wrong.

Brian Heder

Brian is the first person we see in the new trailer. He’s likely to be one of the first NPCs to use both Jason and Lucia to do some of his dirty work.

All Grand Theft Auto 6 Locations Confirmed in Leonida

With GTA 5 taking place in Los Santos and surrounding areas, it looks like Rockstar is going to go even bigger with GTA 6. The game’s setting is the state of Leonida, the fictional version of Florida. It will include some time in the big city as well as surrounding areas, including the coasts and swamplands.

Vice City

The heart of the game will likely be Vice City, a parody of Miami, once again a setting for a GTA game. Unlike GTA: Vice City, which was set in the 1980s, this version of the city will be very up-to-date. Expect to spend some time on the beach, in the clubs, in the Little Cuba neighborhood and at the VC Port.

Leonida Keys

A take on the Florida Keys, Leonida Keys is going to be the place to spend some time in the water, likely running away from the Coast Guard while riding a speeding motorboat.

Grassrivers

It wouldn’t be a proper game in a fictional Florida without some version of the Everglades. Grassrivers is swamp country, where gators sneak around, and the locals are just as dangerous.

Port Gellhorn

One of the smaller cities in Leonida is Port Gellhorn, a take on Key West. This is a rundown town where it’s easier to find painkillers than a good time.

Ambrosia

Aside from Rockstar’s description, it’s hard to really put a finger on Ambrosia’s real-life counterpart. Although the game labels Ambrosia the «heart of Leonida,» some GTA fans on the game’s subreddit suggest the city could be St. Augustine or Clewiston, both cities in Florida.

Mount Kalaga

Like Ambrosia, this is one that’s a bit hard to find the real-life counterpart. Its description says it has lush wooded areas for fishing, hunting and off-roading, while also being the home to hillbilly mystics and paranoid radicals.

GTA 6 is set for release on May 26, 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. The price has not been announced.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for July 5, #1477

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for July 5, No. 1,477.

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 pretty tough one. I grew up on a farm, so I know the word, but I didn’t put it together right away, even though the letters are common ones. 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

There is are two vowels in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter B.

Wordle hint No. 4: Down on the farm

Today’s Wordle answer describes a piece of farm equipment.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer refers to a machine for making paper, hay, or cotton into bales.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is BALER.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, July 4, No. 1476 was CURVE.

Recent Wordle answers

June 30, No. 1472: BLINK

July 1, No. 1473: MOLDY

July 2, No. 1474: INCUR

July 3, No. 1475: POPPY

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for July 5, #489

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 5, No. 489.

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.

The theme of today’s NYT Strands puzzle isn’t terribly tough, but at least one of the words is unusual and really, really long to unscramble. 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: Every second counts.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Does anybody really know what time it is?

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:

DIAL, SOLE, MOLE, MOLES, SHAKE, CHEEP, ROLE, HOME, LOCK, MEAT, TAME, TAMES, ROLES, ROON, TRON

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:

CLOCK, WATCH, SUNDIAL, HOURGLASS, CHRONOMETER

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is TIMEKEEPERS. To find it, look for the T that’s four letters down on the far left, and wind across.

Technologies

Microsoft Is Eliminating Passwords in August: Here’s What You Need to Do to Prepare

Microsoft Authenticator has already stopped autofilling passwords, but the biggest change comes next month.

In June, Microsoft Authenticator stopped letting users create new passwords. In July, it turned off the autofill password function. And in August, the login app will stop supporting passwords entirely, moving to more secure passkeys, such as a PIN, fingerprint or facial recognition.

Attila Tomaschek, CNET’s software senior writer and digital security expert, says that passkeys are a safer alternative to the risky password habits practiced by 49% of US adults, according to a recent survey by CNET.

«Passwords can be cracked, whereas passkeys need both the public and the locally stored private key to authenticate users, which can help mitigate risks like falling victim to phishing and brute-force or credential-stuffing attacks,» Tomaschek said.

Using the same password for several accounts or adding personal hints can be a convenient way to remember your login. But that puts you at a big risk for scammers, identity theft and fraud. Here’s more on Microsoft’s plan for eliminating passwords and how to make the switch to passkeys before August.

When will Microsoft Authenticator stop supporting passwords?

Microsoft Authenticator houses your passwords and lets you sign into all your Microsoft accounts using a PIN, facial recognition like Windows Hello, or other biometric data like a fingerprint. Authenticator can be used in other ways, such as verifying you’re logging in if you forgot your password, or using two-factor authentication as an extra layer of security for your accounts. In June, the company stopped letting users add passwords to Authenticator, but here’s a timeline of other changes you can expect from Microsoft.

July 2025: You won’t be able to use the autofill password function.
August 2025: You’ll no longer be able to use saved passwords.

If you still want to use passwords instead of passkeys, you can store them in Microsoft Edge. However, CNET experts recommend adopting passkeys during this transition. «Passkeys use public key cryptography to authenticate users, rather than relying on users themselves creating their own (often weak or reused) passwords to access their online accounts,» Tomaschek said.

Why are passkeys a better alternative to passwords?

So what exactly is a passkey? It’s a credential created by the Fast Identity Online Alliance that uses biometric data or a PIN to verify your identity and access your account. Think about using your fingerprint or Face ID to log into your account. That’s generally safer than using a password that is easy to guess or susceptible to a phishing attack.

Passkeys aren’t stored on servers like passwords. Instead, they’re stored only on your personal device. More conveniently, this takes the guesswork out of remembering your passwords and the need for a password manager.

How to set up a passkey in Microsoft Authenticator

Microsoft said in a May 1 blog post that it will automatically detect the best passkey to set up and make that your default sign-in option. «If you have a password and ‘one-time code’ set up on your account, we’ll prompt you to sign in with your one-time code instead of your password. After you’re signed in, you’ll be prompted to enroll a passkey. Then the next time you sign in, you’ll be prompted to sign in with your passkey,» according to the blog post.

To set up a new passkey, open your Authenticator app on your phone. Tap on your account and select «Set up a passkey.» You’ll be prompted to log in with your existing credentials. After you’re logged in, you can set up the passkey.