Technologies

Galaxy S25 Ultra Makes Surprise Appearance Shooting the Snapdragon Summit 2025

During Qualcomm’s event showing off new processors, at least one camera offstage was just as interesting as the announcements being made in the spotlight.

Companies use big tech events to reveal their new products, but increasingly they’re also making a point of showing off how they’re doing it. At Wednesday’s Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit 2025, the livestreamed keynote included a prominent Shot on Snapdragon badge during some of the wider camera angles inside the Monarch Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Maui, Hawaii.

Recording an event like this with a smartphone isn’t new, but it’s still novel. The last several Apple keynotes, all pre-recorded and edited before being delivered, were captured entirely using the latest iPhone Pro models at that time; Apple created a short documentary about using the iPhone 16 Pro to shoot last year’s event. It’s a flex not only of a company using its own tools to make its content, but to show other video professionals how it can be done.

Qualcomm’s event looked to be a mix of cameras, since Shot on Snapdragon appeared only from some moving camera angles within the venue. CNET senior reporter David Lumb snapped a photo of a cameraman pushing in during the event using a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (which is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite) mounted in what looked to be a DJI Ronin 2 gimbal on a long boom arm. It’s not clear which other cameras were used for other angles. But it’s worth noting that a consumer phone camera was intermingled with no doubt more capable and professional cameras to capture live footage, share it globally and maintain the same color and image quality.

Not too long ago, shooting video with a smartphone would have been impractical, particularly in such a dark environment. But despite the relatively small sizes of the camera sensors, video quality has improved a lot over the years. If you want to put it up against the big dogs in Hollywood, it’s held its own, such as last year’s movie 28 Years Later, which was shot entirely on iPhones using an assortment of rigs, lens adapters and even a telescope grafted to the devices.

Shooting with the Galaxy S25 Ultra in this context was also important to Qualcomm because it announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, which supports the new Advanced Professional Video codec that enables a fully computational video pipeline and near lossless-quality footage. For events like this and for producers who need fast turnaround without extensive (and expensive) toning and color grading, a high-end smartphone that’s priced at a movie-friendly budget of just $1,300 could be just what’s needed.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 16, #889

Here are some hints — and the answers — for the NYT Connections puzzle for Nov. 16, #889.

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 a fun one. As a pop-culture junkie and game lover, I enjoyed the purple category. If you need help sorting the answers into groups, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now 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: Different strokes for different folks.

Green group hint: Ho-hum.

Blue group hint: Flags often qualify.

Purple group hint: Do not pass Go.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Technique.

Green group: Run-of-the-mill.

Blue group: Stripy things.

Purple group: Words on Monopoly squares.

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 technique. The four answers are approach, method, philosophy and school.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is run-of-the-mill. The four answers are banal, everday, humdrum and pedestrian.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is stripy things.The four answers are barcode, IBM logo, rugby shirt and zebra.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is words on Monopoly squares. The four answers are avenue, parking, railroad and tax.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 16 #623

Here are hints — and answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle for Nov. 16, No. 623.

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 is tough. It’s a weird theme, and 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: Around it goes.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: They’re often on a roll.

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:

CARE, SCARE, CRASS, SWAT, PELL, HELL, SCAR, HALT, STENT, HALTS, TENT, POLL, LOTS

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:

FOIL, SCARF, SHAWL, STOLE, FLATBREAD, CELLOPHANE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is THATSAWRAP. To find it, start with the T that’s three letters up from the bottom of the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.