Technologies

The Meta Quest Pro Is Getting a Limited $400 Price Drop

The one-week sale, or two weeks in the UK, kicks in today.

It’s been less than three months since the Meta Quest Pro first went on sale, and it’s already getting a $400 discount.

The new price, $1,100, isn’t permanent: It’s only for one week in the US, and two weeks in the UK (where the price is dropping to 1,300). But it’s a notable reduction for a headset that was widely criticized for its high price when it debuted last fall.

The Meta Quest Pro is a step-up design from the two-year-old Quest 2 headset, but the Quest 2 only costs $400, while the Pro, even at its on-sale price, costs nearly three times as much.

The Pro has some advantages over the Quest 2: It has a higher-res display, fits more easily over wider glasses, has redesigned controllers that can track movement with their own built-in cameras, adds color passthrough cameras and improved mixed reality, and has eye and face tracking. But its bulkier design and sometimes shorter battery life mean it isn’t always a clear improvement for everyone, it runs VR apps basically the same as the Quest 2, and its built-in processor isn’t really much different.

See at Meta

The Quest Pro promotion is available on Meta’s store and at third-party stores, and it’s a limited-time promotion for now. But it may be a sign that Meta’s already considering more price cuts for its hardware as competition screeches around the corner.

Sony’s PlayStation VR2 arrives in late February, and so does HTC’s Vive XR Elite, another standalone pro-level VR headset with a lower $1,099 price. Apple’s rumored VR headset is expected in 2023, and could be announced anytime this year. Meta’s own Quest 3 is expected later in the year, and could include several Quest Pro features at a much lower price.

It’s going to be a busy year for VR hardware. While the Quest Pro is getting a significant price drop for now, you probably want to wait it out and see what else happens, or stick with the Quest 2 you may already have.

Technologies

This Transformable Electric Truck Could Become the Cheapest EV in the US

Merging retro touches with a high-tech electric platform, the Slate Truck offers a customizable, budget-friendly alternative to traditional EVs.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #686

Hints and answers for Connections for April 27, #686.

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.

Today’s Connections puzzle might make you hungry — especially if you spot the four words in the blue category. 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: Do the math.

Green group hint: Tresses.

Blue group hint: Munchies.

Purple group hint: Think Stockholm.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Calculator buttons.

Green group: Amounts of hair.

Blue group: Salty snack unit.

Purple group: Swedish ____.

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 calculator buttons. The four answers are equals, minus, percent and times.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is amounts of hair. The four answers are lock, shock, thatch and tuft.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is salty snack unit. The four answers are Combo, Goldfish, Ruffle and Taki.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Swedish ____. The four answers are Chef, Fish, massage and meatball.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #420

Here are hints — and answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 420 for April 27.

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.

Sleep used to be so simple, but now it can be complex, as we try to add in extra things to help us get that good night’s rest. Today’s NYT Strands puzzle highlights sleep assistance, and a few of the words are tricky. 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: Sleep tight

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Zzzzz…

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:

BEDS, MINE, TAKE, TAKES, TAKER, STAKE, LATS, EARL, PLUG, PLUGS, ROUT, MIKE, DATE

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’ve got 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: