Technologies

Motorola’s New Phone Is for People Who Really, Really Love Their Lenovo ThinkPad

The business-oriented ThinkPhone takes its design cues from Lenovo’s popular laptop line.

Lenovo’s popular ThinkPad laptop line is finally getting a mobile sidekick. The ThinkPhone by Motorola, announced at CES, will have a similar aesthetic to that of the ThinkPad computers, down to their signature red button. Motorola, which is owned by Lenovo, appears to have focused on three specific areas for the business-focused ThinkPhone: security, durability and productivity. Motorola has not said how much the device will cost.

Read more: Here are the must-see CES highlights, the wackiest products revealed and the most futuristic tech we’ve seen.

Among the ThinkPhone’s most interesting features is its customizable red key, which can be used to launch certain apps or features, such as the Walkie Talkie functionality in Microsoft Teams. It sounds similar to the programmable button on Samsung’s XCover6Pro, a phone that was also developed for enterprise and industrial uses.

It’s a work-oriented device, so the ThinkPhone unsurprisingly includes a variety of productivity features that make it easier to connect the phone to your PC. Many of these features are already available through Motorola’s existing Ready For software, which you can find on previously launched phones like the Motorola Edge 20 and Edge 20 Plus. These include the ability to use the ThinkPhone as your laptop’s webcam for video calls, automatic connectivity to your Windows laptop via Wi-Fi when it’s nearby, drag-and-drop file transfers between the ThinkPhone and your Windows computer and a unified clipboard. The difference, however, is that some of these features can be accessed with the ThinkPhone’s red key, making it stand out from Motorola’s other devices.

Motorola is also positioning the ThinkPhone as ideal for storing sensitive work-related information. The device has a separate processor called Moto KeySafe, which isolates PINs, passwords and other sensitive data. Lenovo and Motorola’s ThinkShield and Moto Threat Defense software can also be found on the device. The ThinkPhone also has tools that allow IT departments to manage aspects like lock screen settings and network alerts.

As for durability, the ThinkPhone is MIL STD 810H certified and is constructed from an aramid fiber that Motorola says is stronger than steel. It also has Gorilla Glass Victus and should be able to withstand drops from up to 1.25 meters. Like most modern phones, the ThinkPhone has IP68 water resistance.

Many of the ThinkPhone’s other specifications are similar to the ones found on standard flagship smartphones. The phone has a 6.6-inch display, Android 13 and runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor. There’s a 50-megapixel main camera and a 13-megapixel ultrawide camera along with a 32-megapixel selfie camera.

The announcement comes as there’s been more emphasis on cross-platform compatibility between smartphones and laptops throughout the industry. Apple’s MacOS Ventura update, for example, introduced the ability to use your iPhone as a Mac webcam and seamlessly move FaceTime calls between your iPhone and Mac computer. Google’s Phone Hub feature lets you do things like check your phone’s signal or battery status, sync notifications and access photos from the camera roll on your Chromebook.

Technologies

Tinder Users Must Start Logging In With Their Faces, Starting Nationwide

The social app now has new US requirements including face identification to help quell longstanding problems with catfishing and more.

US Tinder users will find a new feature when they open up the dating app starting Wednesday: A mandatory Face Check on their phones will be required before they can log into their profiles.

The Face Check step will begin with a new request to record a video of your face, a more casual version of setting up Apple’s Face ID login. Tinder will then run checks comparing your face data to your current profile pics and automatically create a small face badge for your profile. We already know how it works, because Tinder has already launched the feature in Canada and California before the full US rollout.

The technology, powered by FaceTec, will keep biometric data of the user’s face in encrypted form but discard the scanning video for privacy. Tinder will be able to use the face data to detect duplicate accounts, in an effort to cut down on fake profiles and identity theft.

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Tinder’s facial recognition rollout is also made to prevent catfishing, or people pretending to be someone else on Tinder to scam or blackmail them. But that also points to a deeper problem on the rise in dating apps — a growing number of bots, many controlled by AI, are designed to glean personal information or fool users into scammy subscriptions, among other problems.

Tinder’s working against these bots on several fronts, including this Face Check push as well as ID Check, which requires a government-issued ID and other types of photo verification.

The dating app also recently released a feature in June to enable double-dating with your friends, which Tinder reports is especially popular with Gen Z users. If you’re worried about the latest hazards on Tinder, we have guide to safety practices.

A representative for Tinder did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, Oct. 23

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 23.

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? Read on. 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: Like some weather, memories and I.P.A.s
Answer: HAZY

5A clue: Statement that’s self-evidently true
Answer: AXIOM

7A clue: Civic automaker
Answer: HONDA

8A clue: What fear leads to, as Yoda told a young Anakin
Answer: ANGER

9A clue: Foxlike
Answer: SLY

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Verbal «lol»
Answer: HAHA

2D clue: Brain signal transmitter
Answer: AXON

3D clue: Hits with a witty comeback
Answer: ZINGS

4D clue: Sing at the top of a mountain, maybe
Answer: YODEL

6D clue: Name of the famous «Queen of Scots»
Answer: MARY

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 23 #599

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 599.

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 might be Halloween-themed, as the answers are all rather dangerous. Some of them are a bit tough 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: Please don’t eat me!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Remember Mr. Yuk?

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:

POND, NOON, NODE, BALE, SOCK, LOVE, LOCK, MOCK, LEER, REEL, GLOVE, DAIS, LEAN, LEAD, REEL

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: