Technologies

Samsung’s New Galaxy Foldables Will Be Announced at July 9 Unpacked Event

Samsung’s been teasing Ultra-grade and slim foldable phones for the upcoming Galaxy Z series. The company may also unveil its next smartwatch.

Samsung is gearing up to debut its next slate of foldable Galaxy Z phones, which likely includes follow-ups to last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6. The company will host an Unpacked event in July, where it’ll show off its latest devices and Galaxy AI updates.

The event will take place in Brooklyn, New York, and will be live streamed on the Samsung Newsroom, at Samsung.com and on Samsung’s YouTube channel. Unpacked kicks off on Wednesday, July 9, at 7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET.

Samsung has been teasing its upcoming foldables for the last several weeks. In early June, a Samsung Newsroom post pointed to the company bringing «an Ultra-experience» to «a smaller and more portable form factor.» That apparently includes a «powerful camera» and «AI-powered tools.»

The following week, the company said in another blog post that its «newest Galaxy Z series is the thinnest, lightest and most advanced foldable yet.» It appears to be following in the footsteps of the slim and lightweight Galaxy S25 Edge, which was released in May.

Samsung seems to be especially focused on scaling the capabilities of its foldables’ cameras with the help of AI. It noted in a subsequent blog post, «The camera will only get smarter — helping users capture life’s moments more vividly and make everyday experiences more seamless, personal and impactful.»

An animated invite for July’s Unpacked event begins by showing the slim side profile of a device that then splits into two phones. One of these phones folds like a book, and on-screen text at the end reads «Ultra Unfolds.»

It’s possible Samsung could unveil the Galaxy Z Flip 7, Z Fold 7 and then the Z Fold Ultra. There are also murmurs of a more affordable Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE phone. Leaker Evan Blass shared renders of the rumored device, which appears similar to the Galaxy Z Flip 6, but the phone could swap out the Snapdragon chip for an Exynos processor. Meanwhile, renders of the flagship foldable Galaxy Z Flip 7 suggest Samsung could nix the physical camera notch and opt for an edge-to-edge cover display. But we’ll have to wait and see what the company has in store.

There have also been rumors about the Galaxy Watch 8 making its debut at Unpacked, though Samsung hasn’t yet been teasing its wearables like it has its foldable phones.

If you’re eager to get the upcoming Galaxy device, you can reserve it now and earn a $50 Samsung Credit at Samsung.com.

Technologies

Spotify Brings Wrapped Energy Year-Round With Friend-Sharing Stats

The music service introduced new ways for music nerds to share their listening habits with friends.

It can be a long wait for Spotify Wrapped, the end-of-year promotion that allows Spotify users to view and share their listening habits. Now, users can keep an eye on those stats daily, plus share their listening habits with friends.

You can view your Spotify usage statistics every 24 hours and share your updates via social media services, such as Instagram Notes or Spotify Messages. The new share icon gives you access to eight different services where you can post your stats.

Every week, you’ll get updates on your top artists and songs from the past month, and Spotify will recommend new playlists. The app also gives you a «special highlight» based on a specific artist or song.

To access your personal musical data, click on your profile in the top left corner of the app and scroll down to «listening stats.»

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The new features are somewhat similar to Spotify Wrapped, the service’s annual end-of-year review of users’ listening habits, which is designed to be shared. Every year, Spotify adds extra details to Wrapped, such as assigning users a listening personality or a city that supposedly reflects their music tastes. It’s been the most popular way for Spotify users to view and share their music listening in the past. A number of third-party services do the same thing, including Volt.fm.

Read more: Best Music Streaming Services

Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming service, offering 100 million tracks and serving more than 713 million users. In addition to its $12-per-month subscription service, Spotify also offers a free, ad-supported option.

Technologies

Wordle Gets Personal: You Can Now Make and Share Your Own Puzzles

If you’re a Wordle obsessive, you can now make your own inside joke puzzles to send to friends.

Wordle’s an immensely popular New York Times word game (we post the answers daily), but it’s not the most personal game in the world. Answers such as GUISE and PERIL are tricky, but generic. Now, Wordle fans who have ever dreamed of making their own puzzles can test their friends and family by creating their own Wordle creations up to seven letters in length.

No surprise, you have to be a New York Times Games or All Access Subscriber to use this feature. If you are, you’ll find the Create a Puzzle option available from the top menu above today’s Wordle. While you must be a subscriber to create your own personalized puzzle, you can share it with anyone — they only need the link, not a subscription, to complete your Wordle.

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Enter a word, and the site will tell you if it is available. Real Wordle limits you to five-letter words, but the puzzle-making feature lets you choose words between 4 and 7 letters.

The usual dictionary rules apply, and so curse words, some pet names, and obscure inside jokes are essentially out. If your cat is named TANGO, that’s there, but RINGO is not an option. You can drop a proposal with a single word like MARRY, but MARRYME will get rejected since that’s two separate words.

Word chosen, you can then fill out your name and add an optional hint, and the feature will generate your puzzle with a link you can send around. Unlike standard puzzles, your puzzle doesn’t appear to reset after a day, so whoever you send it to doesn’t need to rush to solve it.

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.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Nov. 8, #411

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 411 for Saturday, Nov. 8.

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.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tricky one. The theme of the purple category is also a word hidden among the answers, but of course, it doesn’t end up in the purple group. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for 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: Brawl.

Green group hint: The Steel City.

Blue group hint: They once played in Oakland.

Purple group hint: Not always made of cardboard.