Technologies

Amazon’s Satellite Service Rocket Launches on Monday: How to Watch

Project Kuiper is planning to launch Monday evening after its first rocket launch, earlier this month, was scrapped due to the weather.

Amazon is set to launch 27 low-Earth orbit satellites on Monday evening as part of Project Kuiper, which will provide satellite broadband services. The rocket launch is planned for April 28, between 7 and 9 p.m. ET (4 and 6 p.m. PT), barring weather or other factors affecting launch.

The launch mission, KA-01 or Kuiper Atlas 1, will be on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and will take place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

You’ll be able to watch the rocket launch live on the project’s mission page or on YouTube.

The tech and space giant was forced to abandon its original rocket launch date of April 9 after poor weather conditions. «Weather is observed and forecast NO GO for liftoff within the remaining launch window at Cape Canaveral,» United Launch Alliance said at the time. «The stubborn cumulus clouds and persistent winds make liftoff not possible within the available window.»

It’ll be a big step forward for the project, which Amazon announced in 2019 with promises of a $10 billion investment. Now, the company is poised to enter the race to provide satellite internet service, a space currently dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink, which has about 7,000 satellites. Amazon’s plans call for 3,200 satellites to be deployed over 80 launches. The company intends to provide internet service with this technology later this year.

More competition could improve satellite internet

The literal space race, which includes Starlink, Amazon and other companies such as Viasat, Hughesnet, Eutelsat and China’s SpaceSail, could mean more internet service availability in far-flung and rural areas with limited broadband options. Though Starlink is the leader in space, some of these other companies are continuing to launch satellites and working to deploy high-speed internet in more markets, such as Brazil. With more players in the market, that could mean faster and cheaper internet in more areas, although whether that actually bears out for consumers remains to be seen.

Mahdi Eslamimehr, executive vice president at Quandary Peak Research and adjunct professor at the Department of Computer Science at USC, said Amazon is well-positioned to compete with Starlink. «Amazon has made extensive launch agreements with major providers such as ULA, Arianespace, Blue Origin, and even SpaceX itself, positioning Kuiper as a major challenger due to its expansive infrastructure and significant resources.»

He said, «While Starlink currently enjoys clear market leadership, it faces increasing competition from well-capitalized and strategically agile competitors, specifically from China, suggesting the market will become considerably more competitive in the near future.»

So far, Eslamimehr said, Amazon’s satellite efforts have been promising and successful, at least in the prototype stages. The company has also been testing Amazon Web Services in space. «These developments collectively underscore Amazon’s robust entry into the satellite internet market and reflect positive early momentum in its overall space strategy.»

Beyond how it fares against Starlink and other companies, the Amazon satellite launches are significant in other ways. Eslamimehr said, «Project Kuiper isn’t just about competition; it’s positioned as a critical step toward closing the global digital divide, promising to deliver high-speed internet to underserved communities worldwide.»

Correction, April 4: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the USC professor and Quandary Peak Research executive vice president. His name is Mahdi Eslamimehr.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 26, #929

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 26 #929

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 full of fun pop-culture references. 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: Golden state cliches.

Green group hint: Funny films.

Blue group hint: Rock on.

Purple group hint: Not white.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: California-based character tropes.

Green group: Comedy subgenres.

Blue group: ’70s rock bands.

Purple group: Black ____.

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 California-based character tropes. The four answers are movie exec, surfer, tech bro and Valley Girl.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is comedy subgenres. The four answers are buddy, cringe, screwball and stoner.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is ’70s rock bands. The four answers are America, Chicago, Foreigner and Journey.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is black ____. The four answers are Forest, Friday, Panther and Widow.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 26 #663

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Dec. 26, No. 663.

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, but you might struggle at first to see a connection between the words. 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.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Please hold.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Cats love these more than they love expensive toys.

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:

BOXING, CHEAT, HEAT, SMOCK, MOCK, LATE, TEAM, MEAT, TEAMS, LOOT, TOLE, BALL, BALE, KALE, TALL

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:

GIFT, SHOE, TOOL, LUNCH, MATCH, PIZZA, BALLOT, TACKLE (All are words that can be placed in front of «box.»)

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is BOXINGDAY. To find it, start with the B that’s four letters down on the far-left row, and wind across and then down.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 25, #1650

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 25, No. 1,650.

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 has some tough-to-guess letters. 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

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with P.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with M.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a geometric figure.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is PRISM.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Dec. 24, No. 1649, was SPOOL.

Recent Wordle answers

Dec. 20, No. 1645: WHITE

Dec. 21, No. 1646: QUILT

Dec. 22, No. 1647: CONCH

Dec. 23, No. 1648: GLINT

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE