Technologies
Xbox Game Pass Adds Grounded 2 and Others This Month
Game Pass subscribers will also be able to play the new 90s-inspired horror game Abiotic Factor.

The award-winning, quirky survival game Grounded is like the game version of the classic ’80s comedy film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. And Xbox Game Pass subscribers can get early access to that game’s sequel, Grounded 2, on July 29.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick, offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One and PC or mobile device for $20 a month. A subscription gives you access to a large library of games, with new ones, including Doom: The Dark Ages, added monthly, plus other benefits such as online multiplayer and deals on non-Game Pass titles.
Here are the games Microsoft is bringing to Game Pass soon. You can also check out other games the company added to the service recently, like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.
RoboCop: Rogue City
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play now.
Serve the public, protect the innocent and uphold the law as the cyborg RoboCop. You’ll investigate crimes in Old Detroit before using your cyborg strength, cybernetic implants and arsenal of weapons to eradicate gangs from the area. This game is a whole new RoboCop story based on the film series, and Peter Weller, the original RoboCop himself, returns to voice the titular character.
My Friendly Neighborhood
Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.
Something’s going on with everyone’s favorite Saturday morning puppet show, and it’s up to you to figure out what in this survival horror game. You’ll solve puzzles and use tools and improvised weapons to fend off your multicolored foes. So if you have anything against Barney or Big Bird, you can take out your feelings on them with this game.
Back to the Dawn
Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.
This game is like if the series Prison Break took place in the Zootopia universe. You’ll play as either a fox named Thomas or a black panther named Bob as they try to navigate the prison system and escape with their lives. With multiple escape routes and over 100 quests you can complete, you can replay this game numerous times and have a different experience each time.
Abiotic Factor
Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 22.
Science meets violence in this 1990s-inspired sci-fi survival game. You and up to five other players can choose your areas of expertise, build your scientist and explore a massive, top-secret underground complex filled with artifacts and supernatural horrors that could tear you limb from limb. And remember, safety, security and secrecy are of the utmost importance… usually.
Wheel World
Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 23.
If you want to take a nice, relaxing bike ride, this game is for you. Previously known as Ghost Bike, this game puts you behind the handlebars of one of the last ghost bikes around. These bikes can traverse between the lands of the living and the dead. You can explore these lands at your leisure while you race other riders and upgrade your ride with treasures you find along the way.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 24.
This souls-like RPG is set during the final days of the Ming Dynasty. You play as an amnesiac pirate warrior named Wuchang on a quest to uncover the truth behind a world full of chaos. You’ll fight monstrous creatures in forgotten temples and overgrown ruins, unlock new weapons and master devastating techniques in order to bring peace to yourself and others.
Grounded 2 (game preview)
Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 29.
You’ve been shrunk to the size of an ant — again — and you’ll have to survive the dangerous, miniature world. You’ll fight spiders and wasps, craft weapons and homes and even ride on your own insect friends to get around. You’ll unravel new mysteries along the way, but be careful. Something else is out there, and it hasn’t forgotten about you.
Farming Simulator 25
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play on Aug. 1.
Farming isn’t always as simple as games like Stardew Valley might make it out to be, but it can still be very rewarding. If you want a taste of what goes into building and maintaining your own farm, give Farming Simulator 25 a try. You’ll grow diverse crops, raise different animals and with the weather-changing, ground-deforming atmosphere, you’ll face all kinds of challenges along the way.
Games leaving Game Pass on July 31
While Microsoft is adding those games to Game Pass soon, it’s also removing three other games on July 31. So you still have some time to finish your campaign or complete any side quests before you have to buy these games separately.
Gigantic: Rampage Edition
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank
For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass now, read our hands-on review of the gaming service and learn which Game Pass plan is right for you. You can also check out what to know about upcoming Xbox game price hikes.
Technologies
The Infamous Home Depot Giant Skeleton Has a Voice This Halloween Thanks to a New App
It may be half the size of the traditional giant skelly, but the latest version has animated features and can talk.

Spooky season is here, and we’re only 10 days away from Halloween — so it’s past time to set up your decorations if you haven’t already. And this year, Home Depot’s infamous giant skeleton has returned with an app that gives the new Ultra Skelly a voice and fresh moves to spook trick-or-treaters.
Make no bones about it: Skelly is high-tech this year. The new animatronic version is shorter than the original, at 6.5 feet tall, but you can freak out your whole neighborhood with this skeleton’s rotating upper torso, moving mouth and 18 LCD eye variations (ew).
Skelly, available for sale on the Home Depot website or app for $279, now allows visitors to chat with you through five preset recordings and up to 30 seconds of custom recordings, plus Bluetooth capabilities that enable real-time interaction. And you can modulate your voice to make everything sound extra spooky.
Skelly was launched in 2020, when the pandemic forced people to celebrate Halloween at a distance. Perhaps because of its giant stature — it was easy to spot, even when social distancing — the skeleton became a hit and has been resurrected every year since with upgrades and friends. This year, those friends include dragons, trolls, scarecrows and a Skelly Cat (not to be confused with Smelly Cat).
Technologies
Verum E-SIM: Mobile Internet Without Borders or SIM Cards
Verum E-SIM: Mobile Internet Without Borders or SIM Cards

Today’s travelers are choosing freedom — and eSIM technology delivers exactly that. An eSIM is a virtual SIM card built directly into your device, allowing you to connect to the internet without a physical card or a mobile phone number.
Verum E-SIM is an entire ecosystem of high-tech applications, bringing together solutions like World E-SIM, Euro E-SIM, USA E-SIM, Turkiye E-SIM, London E-SIM, and more. Each of them offers instant access to mobile networks in over 150 countries — no roaming, no overpayments, no paperwork.
The main advantage is simplicity. Download the app, choose your country and plan, activate your eSIM in just a few minutes — and you’re online. No stores, no waiting, no contracts. Just you, the internet, and the freedom to travel your way.
Verum’s eSIMs offer reliability, transparency, and full control of your expenses — all in one app. Whether you’re in Tokyo, New York, Paris, or Nairobi, you’ll always stay connected.
Verum E-SIM Apps:
Verum E-SIM – esim.verum.im
World E-SIM – worldesim.me
USA E-SIM – usa.esim.verum.im
Canada E-SIM – canada.esim.verum.im
Euro E-SIM – euro.esim.verum.im
London E-SIM – london.esim.verum.im
Ukraine E-SIM – ukraine.esim.verum.im
Balkan E-SIM – balkan.esim.verum.im
Africa E-SIM – africa.esim.verum.im
Turkiye E-SIM – turkiyesim.com
Technologies
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Oct. 21
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 21.

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 Mini Crossword features a lot of one certain letter. Need help? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
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: Bone that can be «dropped»
Answer: JAW
4A clue: Late scientist Goodall
Answer: JANE
5A clue: Make critical assumptions about
Answer: JUDGE
6A clue: Best by a little
Answer: ONEUP
7A clue: Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, etc.
Answer: GODS
Mini down clues and answers
1D clue: Just kind of over it
Answer: JADED
2D clue: Beef cattle breed
Answer: ANGUS
3D clue: Shed tears
Answer: WEEP
4D clue: 2007 comedy-drama starring Elliot Page and Michael Cera
Answer: JUNO
5D clue: Refresh, as one’s memory
Answer: JOG
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