Technologies

Apple Reportedly Changing Software Naming System: iOS 26, Not iOS 19, Is Next

The company reportedly hopes to bring consistency and clarity to a confusing naming system.

Apple may be on the verge of a big change in the way the company names its software updates — and it’s an approach that may seem familiar to anyone who’s familiar with Windows 95 or a ’57 Chevy. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Apple is rebranding its operating systems by using the last two digits of the upcoming year. So the current iOS 18 will be replaced by iOS 26, not iOS 19, when it arrives in the fall of 2025.

A representative for Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bloomberg cites unidentified sources who say that the additional updates will take the names iPadOS 26, MacOS 26, WatchOS 26, TVOS 26 and VisionOS 26. According to the sources, the hope is to bring consistency to Apple’s branding and remove confusion. Bloomberg notes that current operating systems, including iOS 18, WatchOS 12, MacOS 15 and VisionOS 2, use different numbers since they didn’t debut at the same time.

The company is expected to announce the name change and more cohesive user interfaces across devices at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9.

It’s noteworthy that the Bloomberg story made no mention of renaming iPhones. The current iPhone model is iPhone 16, which came out in February. The iPhone 17 lineup is expected to be announced in September, but there’s no word on it being renamed to iPhone 26 rather than iPhone 17.

The new numbering system would reflect the last two digits of the upcoming year, 2026, rather than the current year of 2025, similar to new automobiles. Samsung and Microsoft have both used year-based naming systems.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, May 29

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 29.

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.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword has a bit of a foreign language focus. But with a little thinking, you can probably guess at the answers, even if languages aren’t your thing. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? 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 at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Language heard in Bangkok
Answer: THAI

5A clue: Major brand of athletic shoes
Answer: ASICS

6A clue: Language family that includes Swahili
Answer: BANTU

7A clue: Language from which we get «pajama» and «khaki»
Answer: URDU

8A clue: Small amount of Manhattan?
Answer: SIP

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Old Russian rulers
Answer: TSARS

2D clue: Language that’s third in number of worldwide speakers, after English and Mandarin
Answer: HINDI

3D clue: Misbehave
Answer: ACTUP

4D clue: Sch. not far from Des Moines
Answer: ISU

5D clue: __ Dhabi
Answer: ABU

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Federal Court Blocks Trump’s Tariffs, Finding the President Overstepped His Authority

The US Court of International Trade rules that Congress has sole authority to regulate trade with other countries.

A federal court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs from going into effect, ruling that the emergency-powers law invoked by the administration doesn’t give the president authority to impose duties on goods from nearly every US trading partner.

The three-judge panel at the New York-based US Court of International Trade concluded that Congress has exclusive authority to regulate commerce with other countries and that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 — the crux of Trump’s argument to impose the tariffs — doesn’t give the president «unbounded» authority to impose the duties.

«An unlimited delegation of tariff authority would constitute an improper abdication of legislative power to another branch of government,» the court wrote in its opinion. «Regardless of whether the court views the president’s actions through the nondelegation doctrine, through the major questions doctrine, or simply with separation of powers in mind, any interpretation of IEEPA that delegates unlimited tariff authority is unconstitutional.»

«The challenged Tariff Orders will be vacated and their operation permanently enjoined,» the panel ruled.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that trade deficits amount to a national emergency «that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base — facts that the court did not dispute.» He added that «the administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.»

Trump has repeatedly said the tariffs would bring back manufacturing jobs to the US and help reduce the federal budget deficit. But since Trump announced his «Liberation Day» tariffs in April, global financial markets were left upended and many business leaders sounded alarms about the economic damage they would cause.

Since then, the president has repeatedly delayed the enforcement of certain rates, most recently kicking a 50% duty against the European Union to July at the earliest, leaving a lot of uncertainty in the present moment.

Wednesday’s ruling was handed down by a panel comprised of Timothy Reif, a Trump appointee; Jane Restani, who was named to the bench by President Ronald Reagan; and Gary Katzman, an appointee of President Barack Obama.

The ruling came in response to a pair of lawsuits, one filed by the Liberty Justice Center, a nonpartisan organization representing five small US businesses that said they were harmed by the president’s tariffs, and another filed by a group of 12 states, led by Oregon.

«This ruling reaffirms that our laws matter, and that trade decisions can’t be made on the president’s whim,» Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for May 29, #248

Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 248, for May 29.

Looking for the most recent regular 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 and Strands puzzles.

Connections: Sports Edition might be tough today. You’ll see a bunch of single and double letters. See if you can figure out how they’re related. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Play ball!

Green group hint: Championship.

Blue group hint: Sunny California city.

Purple group hint: Watch over or protect.