Technologies

Counter-Strike 2 Coming This Summer as Free CS:GO Upgrade

A limited test will begin rolling out to CS:GO players today.

Valve on Wednesday announced Counter-Strike 2, the evolution of one of the most storied first-person shooters. According to the game’s website, CS2 is a massive update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the crown jewel of the tactical shooter genre for decades. Maps were rebuilt from the ground up with new tools and features. The new game will be available on Windows as a free upgrade to CS:GO (which is already free-to-play) sometime this summer.

CS:GO, the fourth main series entry in the Counter-Strike franchise, was launched in 2012 by Valve (makers of the Steam Deck) and long dominated the tactical shooter genre, which rewards precision aim and coordinated tactics to achieve objectives like planting or defusing bombs. Its dominance was tested in 2020 when Riot Games released Valorant, which featured more contemporary graphics and agents with unique abilities like smokes and walls. The announcement of Counter-Strike 2 gives the series a modern upgrade and a chance to attract newer players who weren’t interested in a decade-old game.

The announcement boasts a variety of upgrades to the game experience. CS2 features dynamic, volumetric smokes that react to gunfire. The game has cleaner and brighter visuals including high-resolutions updates to CS:GO guns and finishes, and updated environmental effects. It also uses sub-tick updates for moving and shooting. That’s particularly important for the competitive aspect of the game, where players’ reflexes are continually tested, and the tiniest increments of time make a significant difference in the outcome of a game.

Want to get into the limited test? According to Valve’s FAQ, current CS:GO players are selected «based on a number of factors deemed important by the Counter-Strike 2 development team, including (but not limited to) recent playtime on Valve official servers, trust factor, and Steam account standing.» If you’re invited into the test, you’ll see a notification on CS:GO’s main menu. Players will be invited over time until the game launches. We’ll continue to report as more information becomes available and as the game gets closer to launch.

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 7, #972

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Feb. 7 #972

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 NYT Connections puzzle is super-tricky. You’ll need to know your symbols to match them up accordingly. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times 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 the 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: Roll those bones.

Green group hint: Math time.

Blue group hint: A comma is one.

Purple group hint: Not uppercase.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Pips on a die.

Green group: Symbols used in arithmetic.

Blue group: Punctuation marks.

Purple group: Lowercase letters.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

First, here’s that grid full of symbols again.

And here are the answers, sorted into groups.

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pips on a die. The four answers are five, four, three and two.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is symbols used in arithmetic. The four answers are divided by, equals, minus and plus.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is punctuation marks. The four answers are colon, ellipsis, period and quotation mark.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is lowercase letters. The four answers are I, L, T and X.

Technologies

Black Ops 7 Double XP Weekend and Free Trial Are Live Now

Whether you already own Black Ops 7 or you’re taking advantage of the free weekend, level up your account twice as fast during this double XP weekend.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 developer Treyarch is letting new players try the game for free this weekend with a new multiplayer free trial. Even if you haven’t bought Black Ops 7, you can try out the game’s Zombies and Multiplayer modes during this time. If you’re already knee-deep in the latest Call of Duty game, there’s still something to get excited over — a double XP weekend is running in tandem with the free weekend, letting you level up twice as fast as you cut down new and returning players.

The latest double XP weekend is live now, featuring a sole double account level XP boost this time around. This double XP weekend runs from Thursday, Feb. 5, to Monday, Feb. 9. Anyone playing Black Ops 7 during the event period has a universal double account XP earn rate applied to their account. If you log in now, you can hop into battle and reap the rewards of this double XP weekend right away.

Unlike other double XP weekends, this event doesn’t feature the Quad Feed boost. That means players won’t be able to benefit from all four customary double XP weekend boosts at the same time. Your double XP tokens will also be locked for the duration of the event.

Here’s everything you need to know about this double XP weekend. If you’re looking for something else to play, see our recommendations for the best game subscription services.

When does the double XP weekend start in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7?

This double XP weekend kicked off Thursday at 1 p.m. ET and is live now.

Not sure when the double XP weekend went live for you? Here’s when the event started in your time zone:

ET: Feb. 5 at 1 p.m.
CT: Feb. 5 at noon.
MT: Feb. 5 at 11 a.m.
PT: Feb. 5 at 10 a.m.

It’s always worth starting your game before your gaming session, if possible. As with every Black Ops 7 patch, the update will require you to download new content and restart the application.

When does the double XP weekend end in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7?

Some double XP «weekends» are much longer events, lasting five to seven days. The current double XP weekend isn’t nearly that long. This double XP weekend will end on Monday. Your double XP tokens will once again unlock after this time.

Here’s when the double XP weekend will end in your time zone:

ET: Feb. 9 at 1 p.m.
CT: Feb. 9 at noon.
MT: Feb. 9 at 11 a.m.
PT: Feb. 9 at 10 a.m.

Does Call of Duty Warzone have double XP this weekend?

Call of Duty Warzone has a double XP weekend running in tandem with Black Ops 7. That means Warzone players will also be able to benefit from this boost by leveling up their accounts, weapons and battle passes at twice the normal speed.

New players have a chance to level up the weapons they unlock from the new and improved Warzone Armory, and returning players can continue unlocking new attachments for the suite of Black Ops 7 weaponry added to Warzone.

Black Ops 7 double XP FAQ

Technologies

Trump Phone Looks Different, Costs More and Won’t Be Made in the US, Report Shows

The T1 looks different (again), and its specs and pricing have changed, according to a model handset shown in a video call to The Verge.

Trump Mobile executives have shown off a handset they say is a near-production model of the T1 phone to The Verge, according to a report Friday afternoon. Among other appearance changes, the smartphone appears to have a completely different camera array design than the one still shown on the T1 purchase page.

The Verge says it spoke with two Trump Mobile executives over a video call, where they held up the phone so it could be seen. The interview follows doubts about whether the phone will ever be released, after its second advertised launch date of the end of 2025 came and went without any status updates.

As of Feb. 6, the phone’s webpage still lists it as being released «later this year,» which is the same thing it said last year.

Trump Mobile launched in June last year with a $47.45-a-month mobile phone plan, and currently sells refurbished Apple and Samsung phones ranging from $369 to $629 while the wait for the T1 phone continues.

The Trump phone, initially announced to be made in the US, was supposed to launch in August 2025. But when it became clear that domestic large-scale smartphone manufacturing would not be possible, Trump Mobile dropped the «made in the US» claim.

Now, the site simply calls the phone «Proudly American» without specifying what that means for a device manufactured overseas.

The site is still accepting $100 deposits on the phone. The website claims it will have a 6.25-inch punch-hole AMOLED screen, a 50MP main rear camera with two 2MP lenses, a 16MP front-facing camera, a 5,000-mAh battery, a fingerprint sensor, face unlock and 256GB of expandable storage.

According to the model that The Verge saw on its video call this week, however, the screen looks a little larger and has a waterfall display with curved edges, as well as a vertical camera array. That one will reportedly run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7-series processor, feature 512GB of storage, and include a 50MP front-facing camera. According to the report, the T1 logo will also disappear before launch, though the phone will keep the American flag imagery.

It’ll also now cost more, according to the report. Those who have already put down a $100 deposit are locked into the $499 total price, but everyone else who wants this golden Trump phone will pay an unknown amount more. It will be under $1,000, the report says.

According to the executives speaking to The Verge, the phone has been delayed because the company decided to take its time and «skip our first initial entry-level phone that we were going to kind of introduce and be quick to the market.» They told The Verge it’s being made in a «favored nation» with «final assembly» in Florida. It’s unclear what qualifies another nation as «favored» to handle most of the assembly of the T1 phone.

There’s no word yet on the T1 phone’s launch date, but its sellers are reportedly eyeing a March release window.

You can read the full report on The Verge, including photos of the phone as it currently looks. Trump Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment.