Technologies

MacOS Sonoma Brings Boosts to Gaming, Customizable Widgets and More

At WWDC 2023, Apple showed off its latest desktop software, which includes more customizable widgets.

At its WWDC 2023 keynote event Monday, Apple took the wraps off MacOS 14 Sonoma, the latest operating system for the company’s line of Mac desktops and MacBooks. MacOS 14 Sonoma comes with a number of new features, including new video screensavers and more customizable widgets. The new software will be available as a public beta in July with a full release slated for the fall.

Read back our Apple WWDC 2023 live blog to see all the news from the event as it happened.

More from WWDC 2023

Named after the Northern California winemaking region, MacOS Sonoma offers some key upgrades over MacOS 13 Ventura. Widgets are more customizable now. They can be placed anywhere on the desktop and resized, depending on how prominent you want them to look. They’re interactive, too, allowing you to pause music, reply to messages or access smart home controls right from your desktop. You can now also drag over any widgets you have on your iPhone and use them on your desktop.

Apple also introduced a new game mode that prioritizes CPU and GPU usage for whatever game you’re playing to increase frame rates. Gamers will also appreciate the lower latency for both Bluetooth audio with AirPods and inputs from Bluetooth game controllers.

Sonoma also brings a neat new video-conferencing feature that displays you as the presenter on top of your shared screen. It allows you to make your presentations a bit more immersive, almost as though you were in front of a white board in a meeting room giving the talk in person. It’s a small tweak, but I can see this being helpful for those of us still working via Zoom calls.

Other features include new video screensavers showing drone footage over various landscapes (much like we’ve seen on the Apple TV), updates to private browsing in Safari and a host of overall tweaks to messaging, interface and security.

The company showed off the new software alongside updates to iOS 17, a new 15-inch MacBook Air, an updated Mac Studio and a new performance-focused chip, the M2 Ultra. Apple’s top-end desktop, the Mac Pro, also got a big update that now includes the new M2 Ultra chip, rather than being based on Intel chips.

Watch this: Apple Debuts MacOS Sonoma

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Technologies

Facebook Brings Back Local Job Listings: How to Apply

One of Facebook’s most practical features from 2022 is being revived by Meta.

On the hunt for work? A Local Jobs search is being rolled out by Meta to make it easier for people in the US to discover and apply for nearby work directly on Facebook. The feature is inside Facebook Marketplace, Groups and Pages, Meta said last week, letting employers post openings and job seekers filter roles by distance, category or employment type.

You can apply or message employers directly through Facebook Messenger, while employers can publish job listings with just a few taps — similar to how you would post items for sale on Marketplace.

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Facebook offered a Jobs feature before discontinuing it in 2022, pushing business hiring toward its other platforms. Its return suggests Meta is attempting to expand Facebook’s usefulness beyond social networking and to position it once again as a hub for community-driven opportunities.

«We’ve always been about connecting with people, whether through shared interests or key life events,» the press release states. «Now, if you’re looking for entry-level, trade and service industry employment in your community, Facebook can help you connect with local people and small businesses who are hiring.»

How to get started with Local Jobs on Facebook

According to Meta, Local Jobs will appear as a dedicated section in Facebook Marketplace starting this week. If you’re 18 or older, you can:

Tap the Marketplace tab on the Facebook app or website.
Select Jobs to browse available positions nearby.
Use filters for job type, category and distance.
Tap Apply or message the employer directly via Messenger.

Businesses and page admins can post jobs by creating a new listing in Marketplace or from their Facebook Page. Listings can include job details, pay range, and scheduling information and will appear in local searches automatically.

The Local Jobs feature is rolling out across the US now, with Meta saying it plans to expand it in the months ahead.

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

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 is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers 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: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

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:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

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:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.