Technologies

Get Free Marvel Rivals Skins From Season 2.5’s Cerebro Database Event, Combat Chest and More

As Ultron invades the Hellfire Gala, it’s time to don some new combat gear. There are plenty of free skins in Marvel Rivals right now.

Marvel Rivals season 2.5 is moving the Hellfire Gala afterparty to space — our heroes are heading to the sentient planet Arakko to prevent Ultron’s planet-exterminating plans from coming to fruition.

Stopping a robot army is going to require a whole new wardrobe’s worth of battle gear. Luckily for you, there are many ways to unlock some free skins in the hit hero shooter right now — including a new seasonal event that unlocks a free Hawkeye skin.

The Cerebro Database Part 2 event is the debut seasonal event for Marvel Rivals season 2.5, and it’s a fairly standard challenge-based event. Different rewards include chrono tokens for the battle pass, units to spend on shop skins and other odds and ends, but the big ticket item is the Hawkeye Binary Arrow skin.

Outside of the latest event, there are still other ways to earn free skins right now. Whether you’re getting used to the new suite of team-up abilities or you’re getting in more playtime on the latest addition to the Strategist roster by beaming down enemies with Ultron, season 2.5 has introduced a slate of free skins that you can use to deck out your favorite characters.

Here’s what you should know about the Cerebro Database Part 2 event and the rest of the free skin lineup at the beginning of Marvel Rivals season 2.5.

Get the Hawkeye Binary Arrow skin free in the Cerebro Database Part 2 event

The Cerebro Database event is live now. It began with the launch of the season 2.5 patch on May 30 and ends on June 27.

While this event is fairly easy, the presentation might confuse some players. As with any Marvel Rivals event, you’ll need to complete challenges to earn rewards. In this event, though, each featured character (Iron Man, Black Widow, Magneto and Ultron) has nine unique challenges arranged in a 3×3 board.

You don’t need to complete all 36 challenges to receive all of the event rewards. Instead, you need to complete enough challenges to make three separate horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines on all four boards to finish the event. Basically, you’re playing tic-tac-toe to quickly make three lines on all of the boards to earn your rewards as efficiently as possible.

Like most Marvel Rivals events, several characters’ boards are time-gated, which means that the most enterprising players will only be able to unlock the Hawkeye Binary Arrow skin starting on June 11. Until then, you can earn Chrono Tokens, units, sprays and gallery pages.

Get the Mister Fantastic Future Foundation skin during the first ever Combat Chest event

A new type of experience-based battle pass also launched at the beginning of season 2.5. The Combat Chest is a smaller, half-season battle pass that rewards consistent playtime over challenge completion. The free track contains one costume, while the premium Combat Chest (which costs 690 Lattice, or roughly $7) has two additional costume rewards.

It contains 24 reward tiers and each reward tier requires 1,800 experience points to unlock. Players can earn a maximum of 7,200 experience points every day, so it’s theoretically possible to earn every Combat Chest reward in six days. The free Mister Fantastic Future Foundation skin is on tier 18 of the Combat Chest so it will take the most enterprising players four days to unlock the new addition to the body-bending hero’s wardrobe.

Premium skin rewards include Storm Ultimate Wind-Rider on tier 6 and Magneto Binary Sword on tier 24 of the Combat Chest. The first version of this shortened alternate battle pass will disappear July 11 at the end of season 2 but any players who purchase the premium version can continue unlocking any remaining tiers after that date.

How can I get free skins during Marvel Rivals season 2.5?

Players who link their Twitch account to their Marvel Rivals account right now can nab a free Emma Frost skin.

But if you only care about rewards you can earn in-game, a different Emma Frost skin and an Ultron skin are available by progressing through the competitive ladder and new Iron Fist and Magik looks are available free on the season 2 battle pass.

What Marvel Rivals skins are available free right now?

There are currently 11 free skins available. Here’s how you get them:

Hawkeye Binary Arrow: Complete the Cerebro Database Part 2 event challenges on all four characters by June 27 to unlock this skin.
Mister Fantastic Future Foundation: Complete 18 tiers of the current Combat Chest battle pass by July 11 to unlock this skin.
Emma Frost Will of Galacta: To claim this skin, you’ll need to link a Twitch account to your Marvel Rivals account and then watch four hours of livestreams from streamers participating in the drop campaign. If you’re unsure about which channels are partnered with Marvel Rivals, look for the mention of «Drops» in the stream title. This skin is only available until Friday, June 27.
Emma Frost Golden Diamond: Reach Gold rank or higher in competitive mode in season 2. You must play at least 10 competitive matches to be eligible to receive the skin.
Ultron Golden Ultron: Reach Gold rank or higher in competitive mode in season 2.5. You must play at least 10 competitive matches to be eligible to receive the skin.
Magik Retro X-Uniform: Reach page 3 in the season 2 battle pass by July 11.
Iron Fist Immortal Weapon of Agamotto: Reach page 9 in the season 2 battle pass by July 11.

Four of the currently available free skins are not time-gated although they are locked behind achievements or platform exclusivity. Here are the Marvel Rivals skins you can unlock at any time:

Spider-Man Scarlet Spider: This skin is available to PS Plus subscribers who play the game on the PS5. It can be found on the PSN Store under Marvel Rivals DLC.
Peni Parker Ven#m: Like the Scarlet Spider skin, this Ven#m skin is available for PS Plus subscribers and can be found in the PSN Store. This skin is also available in the Marvel Rivals in-game store, where it can be purchased with units.
Storm Ivory Breeze: Earn 200 Achievement Points in the Heroic Journey achievement section.
Star-Lord Jovial Star: Earn 400 Achievement Points in the Heroic Journey achievement section.

How can I get more free Marvel Rivals skins?

There are many ways to get skins in Marvel Rivals. Sometimes the developer issues special codes to unlock them while others require completing challenges. There are also some made available by watching streams on Twitch and many skins are «free» for progressing through the Marvel Rivals Battle Pass, which costs 990 Lattice, or approximately $10.

You can also earn skins through regularly playing the game, as a free skin is frequently awarded with the completion of seasonal events. Players who reach gold rank or higher in competition also receive a free skin as a reward for their performance. Live events like Cerebro Database include free skins as a completion reward.

What free skins used to be available in Marvel Rivals?

Twitch drops, battle passes and promo codes get cycled in and out of rotation, allowing Marvel Rivals players to earn different free skins from engaging with the game during different events. Here are all of the previously available free skins, what season they were introduced in and how they were obtainable.

Season 0 free skins

Iron Man Armor Model 42: This skin was unlocked through opening the Bundle Code main menu option and inputting the promo code nwarh4k3xqy. The skin rotated out of availability on March 5, 2025.
Scarlet Witch White Witch: This skin was an exclusive reward for Closed Alpha players, rewarded upon logging in for the first time in season 0.
Venom Cyan Clash: This skin was an exclusive reward for Closed Beta players, rewarded upon logging in for the first time in season 0.
Magneto Will of Galacta: This skin was unlocked as a Twitch drop during season 0. The skin rotated out of availability on Dec. 31, 2024.
Moon Knight Golden Moonlight: This skin was available as a competitive reward for any players who reached Gold or higher in Competitive mode in season 0.
Jeff the Shark Cuddly Fuzzlefin: This skin was a reward for the season 0 Winter Celebration event.
Hela Empress of the Cosmos: This skin was a free reward from the season 0 battle pass. The season 0 battle pass was briefly available for purchase again during season 2, temporarily reintroducing this skin to the game.

Season 1 free skins

Hela Will of Galacta: This skin was unlocked as a Twitch drop during season 1. The skin rotated out of availability on Jan. 25, 2025.
Adam Warlock Will of Galacta: This skin was unlocked as a Twitch drop during season 1. The skin rotated out of availability on April 4, 2025.
Winter Soldier Revolution: Available via a promo code sent to moviegoers who saw Captain America: Brave New World in participating Regal theaters during opening weekend. Also available to buy in the in-game shop.
Invisible Woman Blood Shield: This skin was available as a competitive reward for any players who reached Gold or higher in Competitive mode in season 1.
Human Torch Blood Blaze: This skin was available as a competitive reward for any players who reached Gold or higher in Competitive mode in season 1.5.
Thor Reborn From Ragnarok: This skin was a reward for the season 1 Midnight Features Part 1 event.
Groot Carved Traveler: This skin was a reward for the season 1 Midnight Features Part 2 event.
Black Widow Mrs. Barnes: This skin was a reward for the season 1 Galacta’s Cosmic Adventure event. It can be bought now in the in-game shop.
Peni Parker Blue Tarantula: This skin was a free reward from the season 1 battle pass.
Scarlet Witch Emporium Matron: This skin was a free reward from the season 1 battle pass.

Season 2 free skins

Namor Will of Galacta: This skin was unlocked as a Twitch drop during season 2. The skin rotated out of availability on April 30, 2025.
Mantis Flora Maiden: This skin was a reward for the season 2 Cerebro Database Part 1 event. It is now available for purchase in the in-game shop.
Wolverine Patch: This skin was a reward for the season 2 Hellfire Gala 2025: Moments event. It is now available for purchase in the in-game shop.
Scarlet Witch Chaos Gown: This skin was a reward for playing nine quickplay or competitive matches at the beginning of season 2. The skin rotated out of availability on April 25, 2025.
Thing The Unlimited: This skin was available as part of an exclusive promotion with the Marvel Unlimited comics reading app. Users who signed up for Marvel Unlimited before April 16, 2025, received a code for this Thing skin.

Technologies

Google Upgrades Maps Features With More Gemini and Faster Photo Uploads

Google Maps strengthens its crowdsourcing efforts for its 500 million contributors.

Google announced three new features for Maps on Tuesday that should streamline sharing your experiences. Despite being a strong maps application itself, Google relies on everyday users to contribute their reviews, photos and videos so others doing research can make more informed decisions about places they plan to visit. With the new updates to Google Maps, you can access your photos faster to contribute to information about places you’ve been. You can also choose to have Google’s AI model, Gemini, caption your photos and more quickly check the contributions you’ve made in the past.

New photo and video recommendations

It’s not hard to share photos or videos for a location on Google Maps, but the app will now offer photo and video suggestions from your saved images — if you give it permission to do so. The new feature will appear on the Contribute tab at the bottom of the maps app. When scrolling through the view, you’ll see photo and video recommendations or the option to upload other photos.

How the specific photo and video recommendations are determined isn’t clear, but the new feature will likely use a photo’s geolocation if that setting is enabled in your camera’s settings.

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

This feature is now available globally on Android and will expand to iOS in the coming months.

Gemini will auto-caption your photos

Google’s giving your photos some Gemini power by automatically analyzing and captioning them once you’ve selected them to share. This could be helpful in situations where you have selected several photos you don’t care to caption.

If you don’t like what Gemini comes up with, you can edit or remove the caption completely before publishing your photos to Maps.

Gemini captions are available in English on iOS and will expand to other languages globally and Android in the future.

New ways to view your contributions

You can now show off your prior contributions to Google’s Local Guide community program.

When you contribute, you gain points, and the more you contribute, the more you can level up as a Local Guide. All your points and badges are now prominently displayed on your profile. Google’s also adding gold profiles for high-level contributors, so you know you’re reading reviews from experienced users.

The new contributor updates are rolling out now on Android, iOS and desktop.

Technologies

This New Health-Tracking Pet Collar Is Like a Smartwatch for Dogs and Cats

Tractive announces two new smart collars armed with GPS tracking, AI-powered health monitoring and other tech tools.

Our pets can’t speak up and tell us how they’re feeling, or why and where they are hiding. Tractive, an Austria- and Seattle-based tech company that creates GPS tracking devices for pets, announced on Wednesday two new smart collars that, according to the press release, «will redefine pet care for millions of families.»

Is your pet stressed, breathing unusually or scratching too much? Much like the basic health-tracking features you can find on a smartwatch, the collars — the Cat 6 Mini ($79) and Dog 6 XL ($89) — are designed to track this behavior and communicate the issues to help maintain your dog or cat’s quality of life.

«Pets can’t tell us when something is wrong, but their bodies can,» Michael Hurnaus, CEO and founder of Tractive, said in a statement. «With cutting-edge sensors on every tracker, learnings from millions of pets and AI-powered insights, we’re turning one of the world’s largest pet data platforms into clear, simple information so pet parents can act sooner and care even better.»

When it comes to tracking collars, dogs have usually been the target pet audience for such devices. Tractive’s new Cat 6 Mini collar aims to provide the same service for your feline friend. You can use it to monitor your cat’s respiratory rate and resting heart rate and identify any health concerns early. It’s expected to ship on May 31.

The Dog 6 XL collar, an upgrade from the company’s previous dog wearable, is designed for dogs weighing over 55 pounds. It’s more durable for outdoor use and offers up to four weeks of battery life between charges. It comes equipped with a scratch-monitoring system that flags unusual scratching behavior caused by allergies, skin irritants and other stressors.

You can also use the app to access your pet’s travels and mark safe zones regarding walks, entries and exits. An AI-powered health hub displays your pet’s overall health stats and also acts as a GPS tracker in case your dog or cat goes missing.

How would a veterinarian interact with the data collected on the device?

A Tractive representative told CNET, «In our experience, veterinarians are most interested in baseline resting heart and respiratory rate, so it’s less about monitoring these vitals in real time during recovery from anesthesia/acute care and more about understanding if the baseline is changing day to day to identify the onset of new conditions or manage existing ones.»

Even though the collars use a SIM card and require a strong cellular connection to work properly, they can capture activity, sleep and health data while offline. However, without connectivity, the devices «ultimately will not provide any utility,» the representative confirmed.

You’ll need to download the accompanying app and select a separate subscription plan at an added cost. The one-year plan costs $120, the two-year plan costs $168, and the five-year plan costs $300.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 9 #767

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for April 9, No. 767.

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 could be tough, unless you’re an artist. Even then, some of the answers are difficult 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: In the paint.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Hand me a brush.

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:

COME, PATS, SPAT, SLOE, MEAN, LEAN, MANE, RATE, PEER, LATE, RATER

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:

FRESCO, PASTEL, ENAMEL, ACRYLIC, TEMPERA, WATERCOLOR

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is MEDIUM, the art term! To find it, start with the M that’s four letters down on the far-left vertical row, and travel straight across.