Technologies

T-Mobile’s Mike Sievert to Become Un-CEO: Srini Gopalan Takes Over Nov. 1

Gopalan’s takeover is part of a planned succession strategy, according to the company.

T-Mobile announced today that CEO Mike Sievert will step down effective Nov. 1 and be replaced by current Chief Operating Officer Srini Gopalan. Sievert will continue with the company as vice chairman and also serve on its board of directors.

The announcement comes as T-Mobile is soaring in the mobile marketplace. A CEO shift often indicates problems for a company, but in this case, all outward signs point to an orderly, planned succession. It should have little impact on T-Mobile customers, but time will tell. Gopalan faces a softening economy and government pressures on how T-Mobile and other carriers do business.

In an email sent to T-Mobile employees and obtained by CNET, Sievert addressed one of the top questions that has come up after his five-year tenure.

«So why now?» Sievert wrote. «When you take on the role of CEO, you aspire to eventually step away at a time when the results of your tenure — including current and recent performance — are extraordinary.»

The company was recently named by Ookla as the Best Mobile Network in the US, and reported record growth and earnings in its second quarter 2025 financial results, with over 130 million customers. On the business side, T-Mobile also recently announced that it will be the official telecommunications services provider for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.

(Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

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Gopalan was brought on as T-Mobile’s COO in March 2025 after serving as CEO of Deutsche Telekom’s Germany business. At that point, he had also been a member of the T-Mobile board for five years. In his email, Sievert referred to Gopalan as one of his closest advisers and confidants on the board, sharing responsibility for the company’s successes.

According to sources at T-Mobile, Sievert had Gopalan’s succession in mind when he recruited him for the COO job, a role in which he’s been active for just six months.

«I knew then, after working with Srini for many years, that he’d be the right person to lead T-Mobile into the future,» Sievert wrote, adding that making this type of transition in the middle of a successful period puts the company in a better position. «That’s something that a lot of organizations get wrong.»

Sievert took over the CEO position from John Legere in 2020, who had held it for eight years.

In an email to CNET, Jason Leigh, senior research manager of 5G and mobility research at IDC, put the timing into perspective, noting that some CEOs get long in the tooth or stay past their prime. «Sievert is giving Gopalan a nicely wrapped housewarming present rather than a chaotic problem that needs to be fixed,» Leigh wrote.

Sievert’s shift isn’t the first recent management shake-up at T-Mobile. Ulf Ewaldsson, president of technology, and Callie Field, president of the business group, will have both left the company by the end of September.

Leigh noted that while Ewaldsson and Field were replaced by tenured leaders (John Saw and Andre Almeida), it still amounts to a loss of institutional knowledge. «All those positives aside, it is worth keeping an eye on the outflow of talent,» Leigh wrote. «That’s a lot of leadership to ‘lose’ in a short period of time.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 14, #948

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Jan. 14 #948.

Looking for the most recent 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, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is kind of tough. The blue category, not the purple one today, expects you to find hidden words in four of the words given in the grid. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

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

Yellow group hint: That’s not going anywhere.

Green group hint: End user or customer.

Blue group hint: Ask a meteorologist.

Purple group hint: Not noisy.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Fixed.

Green group: Receiver of goods or services.

Blue group: Starting with weather conditions.

Purple group: Silent ____.

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

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is fixed. The four answers are fast, firm, secure and tight.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is receiver of goods or services. The four answers are account, client, consumer and user.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is starting with weather conditions. The four answers are frosty (frost), mistletoe (mist), rainmaker (rain) and snowman (snow).

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is silent ____. The four answers are auction, movie, partner and treatment.

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Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Jan. 14, #1670

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Jan. 14, No. 1,670.

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.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a tough one, with a letter that is rarely used and which I just never guess. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has three vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with A.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with D.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can mean to keep away from something or someone.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is AVOID.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Jan. 13, No. 1669 was GUMBO.

Recent Wordle answers

Jan. 9, No. 1665: EIGHT

Jan. 10, No. 1666: MANIC

Jan. 11, No. 1667: QUARK

Jan. 12, No. 1668: TRIAL

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Technologies

Apple Launches Creator Studio Package as $13 a Month Subscription

Mac users can still buy the apps individually, but subscribers get access to Final Cut Pro and other Studio tools.

Apple is bundling its pro filmmaking and audio tools including Final Cut Pro with its productivity apps Keynote, Pages and Numbers into a subscription software suite called Apple Creator Studio.

The package, which includes apps for Mac, iPad and iPhone, includes Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, MainStage and the whiteboard app Freeform. Creator Studio will be available starting Jan. 28 at a cost of $13 per month or $129 per year, or $3 per month or $30 per year for students and educators. Mac users will still have the option to purchase software like Final Cut Pro for a one-time free. The current price for Final Cut Pro in the Mac App Store is $300.

While apps such as Keynote and Pages are already free on Apple platforms, it appears that new versions of those apps will receive access to beta features that will roll out first to Creator Studio subscribers. The announcement by Apple alludes to «new AI features and premium content» in some of the apps it otherwise makes available to use for free.

What the Creator Studio bundle comes with

The star of the show in Creator Studio is Final Cut Pro, the video editing software that will now include Transcript Search on both Mac and iPad. There is also a new Beat Detection feature Apple says uses an AI model to analyze a music track and display a beat grid, making it easier to cut video to music rhythms. The software also will include a new Montage Maker on iPad for quick social video creation.

Motion, the 2D and 3D graphics tool, and Compressor also integrate with Final Cut Pro. Apple touted Motion’s Magnetic Mask feature for isolating objects or people without the need for a green screen.

Logic Pro has new features for musicians, including a Synth Player addition to AI Session Players. Chord ID, a new AI feature, can create chord progressions from audio or MIDI recordings. A new Sound Library will have hundreds of royalty-free clips, samples and loops.

A revamped MainStage app gives subscribers access to instrument, voice-professing and guitar rig tools. Pixelmator Pro arrives with new tools and filters, and there will be an iPad version in addition to the Mac tool.

Freeform in the Creator Studio package will add premium content, including curated photos, graphics and illustrations. It will also get new AI features that include image creation.