Technologies

Take Up to $100 Off Beats Earbuds With These Deals

Beats earbuds are wildly popular and some of our favorite options out there — and now you can snag a pair for less.

Looking for ‘buds with exceptional sound quality? Need earbuds for working out? Beats makes some of the best wireless earbuds out there. The company is owned by Apple, however, and that means Beats products have the same drawback as all Apple offerings: They’re expensive, and it can be hard to find discounts. But right now Amazon has slashed prices on a variety of Beats earbuds, with discounts of up to 43%. There’s no clear-cut expiration date on these deals, but discounts on ‘buds this popular rarely last for long. We’d recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later if you’re hoping to grab a pair at this price.

See at Amazon

CNET reviewer David Carnoy compared the Beats Studio Buds to a stemless version of Apple’s popular AirPods, and they’re a great pick if you want a pair of earbuds for everyday use. They have active noise canceling and a transparency mode when you need to be aware of your surroundings, an IPX4 water-resistance rating and a battery life of up to 24 hours on a single charge. Right now, you can grab several colors on sale for $100, which is 33% off the usual price.

Or if you’re looking for some earbuds that are a little more advanced, you can grab a pair of Beats Fit Pros — our overall favorite pair of earbuds for working out in. They have the same IPX4 water- and sweat-resistance as the Studio Buds above, but also feature flexible wingtips that help them fit in your ears more securely so you can use them on runs or at the gym. They also support active noise canceling and spatial audio, and are equipped with the same H1 chip as the AirPods Pro for seamless connectivity with Apple devices. They list for $200, but right now you can a variety of colors are discounted to $160, including the recently-released yellow, blue and pink options.

And if you need earbuds that can handle even your most extreme adventures, you can save up to $100 on a pair of Powerbeats Pro, dropping the price down as low as $150. They’re one of our favorite pairs of earbuds with ear hooks, which will keep them in place even during intense activities like mountain biking or trail running where you’re getting jostled around quite a bit. They don’t have noise-canceling capabilities like the two pairs above, but they do boast spatial audio support, an auto play/pause feature that can detect when you remove an earbud and built-in voice-activated Siri assistance. They also have the same H1 chip as the Beats Fit Pros, and have a battery life of up to 24 hours with the charging case.

On the cheaper end, the Beats Flex earbuds are 43% off, down to their best price of the year at $40. These neckband-style earbuds pack in a ton of great AirPods-like features, plus some unique capabilities enabled by the neckband design like in-line controls and auto-pausing when the earbuds are removed. You’ll get up to 12 hours per charge with the Beats Flex, and the built-in USB-C port allows for fast charging that can get you 90 minutes of playback from just 10 minutes on the charger.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, June 28

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for June 28.

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? It’s Saturday, so it’s extra-long, and might take you a while. Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. 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: Detachable parts of a dress form
Answer: ARMS

5A clue: Catering container containing caffeine
Answer: TEARUN

8A clue: Climbing structure offered in pet stores
Answer: CATTREE

9A clue: Gets into town
Answer: ARRIVES

10A clue: Frédéric Chopin or Ray Charles, notably
Answer: PIANIST

11A clue: They don’t hold water
Answer: SIEVES

12A clue: ___-jerk reaction
Answer: KNEE

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: With some chance of failure
Answer: ATARISK

2D clue: Prepare for a new job, maybe
Answer: RETRAIN

3D clue: Midday Broadway showing
Answer: MATINEE

4D clue: Goal of a noted reality show set on an island
Answer: SURVIVE

6D clue: Witherspoon who portrayed June Carter in «Walk the Line»
Answer: REESE

7D clue: Lodgings for larks
Answer: NESTS

8D clue: Souvenir from a baseball game
Answer: CAP

Technologies

Facing Billions in DMA Fines, Apple Lets EU iPhone Users Install Apps Outside the App Store

A last-minute rule change lets European iPhone owners download apps from rival stores and developer websites, while introducing new fees that Apple hopes will satisfy regulators in Brussels.

In a scramble to sidestep penalties that could soar into the billions, and with Brussels regulators watching closely, Apple has agreed to let Europeans download iPhone apps from outside its own App Store.

With just hours left before an EU compliance deadline, the company said residents of the 27-nation bloc will soon be able to grab apps from rival marketplaces or straight off a developer’s website. The change rolls out later this year with iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6, and also lets users set a different browser engine and choose a third-party wallet at checkout.

For everyday EU iPhone owners, that means the download button could pop up in more places than just Apple’s storefront. After you select the new setting, iOS shows a one-time permission sheet confirming you’re leaving Apple’s marketplace. The app then passes a quick notarization scan meant to weed out malware. Apple notes that off-store downloads work only inside the EU, and disappear if you stay outside the bloc for more than 30 days.

Cost to developers

Developers do gain fresh distribution freedom, but there’s a price tag. A new two-tier Store Services fee asks for 5% of outside sales in exchange for basic services like app reviews and support in what’s called Tier 1, or 13% for the full bundle of perks, including automatic updates and App Store promotions in Tier 2.

Apple will take a 5% «Core Technology Commission» on any purchase made outside its own payment system. That new cut will phase out the current €0.50-per-download fee and become the sole charge across the EU when a unified pricing model arrives on Jan. 1, 2026.

Apple insists «more than 99%» of devs will pay the same or less under the revamped math.

Why now?

In April, the European Commission fined Apple €500 million ($585 million) for blocking developers from steering users to cheaper payment options, and warned that daily penalties of up to 5% of global revenue could follow if it failed to comply.

Throughout the back-and-forth, Apple has accused the commission of «moving the goalposts» on what counts as compliance, with a spokesperson saying the company has invested «hundreds of thousands of hours» to meet the EU’s evolving demands.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney blasted the 5% tier as a «malicious compliance scheme» that «makes a mockery of fair competition.»

If regulators decide Apple still hasn’t gone far enough, the iPhone maker could face steeper sanctions, or even be forced to separate its App Store business.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for June 27, #1469

Here are hints — and the answer — for today’s Wordle No. 1,469 for June 27. Some players need a new starter word now.

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 isn’t too tough, but somehow, it has a starting letter I never seem to guess. Some posters on Reddit say it was one of their starter words, so now they’re in the market for a new way to begin the game. 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 are two vowels in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with P.

Wordle hint No. 4: Placement

The two vowels are next to each other.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to something that is not decorated and is simple.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is PLAIN.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, June 26, No. 1468 was OFFER.

Recent Wordle answers

June 22, No. 1464: THRUM

June 23, No. 1465: ODDLY

June 24, No. 1466: ELITE

June 25, No. 1467: COMFY

Will Wordle run out of words?

When Wordle began, creator Josh Wardle used a list of five-letter words he’d shared with his partner, picking only the words they recognized. While that’s more than 2,000 words, more than half of them have already been used.

Wordle editor Tracy Bennett admitted that the game will eventually have to come to grips with the fact that the word list is not eternal.

«One possibility is that we could recycle old words at some point, like when we get close to the end,» Bennett told a Wordle player on TikTok.

She also said the editors might throw all the words back in and reuse them, or allow plurals, or past tense, something that’s not done now.