Technologies

How to Join the Battlefield 6 Open Beta: Early Access Sign Up and Weekend Dates

The next Battlefield game is getting a public beta next weekend. Tune into your favorite streamer to get into it.

EA’s DICE studio has blown the lid off the multiplayer for its upcoming military shooter Battlefield 6, and players will soon get to join the fray themselves. A Battlefield 6 public beta is coming on two consecutive weekends starting Aug. 9 — and if you’re lucky enough to get in Early Access, to play starting Aug. 7 — and here’s how to join.

The Battlefield 6 open betas will be the first chances for players to get to experience the game’s multiplayer before its full release Oct. 10. The first open beta weekend will start at 1 a.m. PT Aug. 9 through Aug. 10 and the second will kick off at 1 a.m. PT Aug. 14 and run through Aug. 16. Fans can visit Battlefield’s website to get info for the open beta, which just requires linking your EA account to your platform account.

Note that publisher EA hasn’t provided a specific sign-up for the beta just yet but it will be open to all players. We’ll update this post if or when EA provides specific instructions for signing up but we do know the open beta can be pre-downloaded on respective platforms starting Aug. 4.

The beta will be playable on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

How to get Battlefield 6 open beta early access

There is one way to secure your spot in the open beta a couple days early on Aug. 7: Watch your favorite streamer playing Battlefield 6 today (July 31), as explained in an official post on X. You can watch on the official Battlefield Twitch or on a participating creator’s channel but you’ll have to do it fast as the event ends at 4:30 p.m. PT.

Here are the steps:

Sign into your Twitch account.
Make sure you have drops enabled and the Battlefield 6 Early Access Beta Key Drops selected from among the drops campaigns list.
Watch a single streamer participating in the Battlefield 6 Early Access Beta Key Drops for 60 minutes — if you’re having trouble finding one, search for «Battlefield 6» and look for streams that include «Beta Key Drops» or often just «Drops» in their titles.
Once earned, find your beta key access in your Drops Inventory.

Players who have participated in Battlefield Labs, studio DICE’s pre-release feedback program for the game, will be granted early access to play the beta starting Aug. 7.

Studio DICE didn’t detail which modes, weapons and other options will be playable in the open beta but it did confirm that «Closed Weapons» modes that restrict certain guns to certain classes will be available to try out. If the preview is anything to go by, players will be able to load up a handful of multiplayer modes, like Conquest, Squad Deathmatch and Breakthrough, on maps like Siege of Cairo, Empire State and Liberation Peak.

Battlefield 6 open beta dates

August 7-8: Early access, starting at 1 a.m. PT on Aug. 7
August 9-10: First open beta weekend available to all, starting at 1 a.m. PT on Aug. 9 and closing Aug. 11 at 1 a.m. PT.
August 14-16: Second open beta weekend available to all, starting at 1 a.m. PT on Aug. 14 and closing Aug. 17 at 1 a.m. PT.

PC specific notice for Battlefield 6 beta

A special note if you haven’t played a Battlefield game on PC recently: Studio DICE and EA recently started requiring players to set their computers to Secure Boot when playing Battlefield games to combat cheaters, and Battlefield 6 is no different. To even play the open beta, you’ll need to delve into your BIOS and switch your PC to Secure Boot — check EA’s guide for help.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 23 #599

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 599.

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 might be Halloween-themed, as the answers are all rather dangerous. Some of them are a bit tough 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: Please don’t eat me!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Remember Mr. Yuk?

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:

POND, NOON, NODE, BALE, SOCK, LOVE, LOCK, MOCK, LEER, REEL, GLOVE, DAIS, LEAN, LEAD, REEL

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:

AZALEA, HEMLOCK, FOXGLOVE, OLEANDER, BELLADONNA

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is POISONOUS. To find it, look for the P that is the first letter on the far left of the top row, and wind down and across.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Oct. 23, #395

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 395.

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 has one of those crazy purple categories, where you wonder if anyone saw the connection, or if people just put that grouping together because only those four words were left. 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: Fan noise.

Green group hint: Strategies for hoops.

Blue group hint: Minor league.

Purple group hint: Look for a connection to hoops.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Sounds from the crowd.

Green group: Basketball offenses.

Blue group: Triple-A baseball teams.

Purple group: Ends with a basketball stat.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is sounds from the crowd. The four answers are boo, cheer, clap and whistle.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball offenses. The four answers are motion, pick and roll, Princeton and triangle.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is triple-A baseball teams. The four answers are Aces, Jumbo Shrimp, Sounds and Storm Chasers.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends with a basketball stat. The four answers are afoul, bassist, counterpoint and sunblock.

Technologies

Amazon’s Delivery Drivers Will Soon Wear AI Smart Glasses to Work

The goal is to streamline the delivery process while keeping drivers safe.

Amazon announced on Wednesday that it is developing new AI-powered smart glasses to simplify the delivery experience for its drivers. CNET smart glasses expert Scott Stein mentioned this wearable rollout last month, and now the plan is in its final testing stages.

The goal is to simplify package delivery by reducing the need for drivers to look at their phones, the label on the package they’re delivering and their surroundings to find the correct address.

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

A heads-up display will activate as soon as the driver parks, pointing out potential hazards and tasks that must be completed. From there, drivers can locate and scan packages, follow turn-by-turn directions and snap a photograph to prove delivery completion without needing to take out their phone.

The company is testing the glasses in select North American markets.

Watch: See our Instagram post with a video showing the glasses

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

To fight battery drain, the glasses pair with a controller attached to the employee’s delivery vest, allowing them to replace depleted batteries and access operational controls. The glasses will support an employee’s eyeglass prescription. An emergency button will be within reach to ensure the driver’s safety.

Amazon is already planning future versions of the glasses, which will feature «real-time defect detection,» notifying the driver if a package was delivered to the incorrect address. They plan to add features to the glasses to detect if pets are in the yard and adjust to low light.