Technologies

T-Mobile Offers Free Emergency 911 Satellite Texting for Anyone With a Compatible Phone

One of the most important features of T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service is that it allows 911 access for everyone, whether you’re on T-Mobile, AT&T or Verizon.

If you find yourself in trouble and without cellular service, you now have several ways to connect with emergency services thanks to companies including Apple, Google and T-Mobile. On Wednesday, T-Mobile announced that the emergency texting feature of its T-Satellite service is free, even if you’re not one of the carrier’s customers. But where T-Satellite stands out is its ease of connection and compatibility with phones that don’t include dedicated satellite hardware.

T-Satellite uses Starlink’s network of satellites to communicate directly with recent smartphone models. The new T-Mobile Text to 911 service is now live for customers of any carrier and whether or not you have an iPhone or Android phone.

Read more: Why I had to drive 120 miles out of town to test T-Satellite.

«We just think that with a technology like this, no customer should ever be in a situation where they are unconnected in an emergency,» said Mike Katz, president of marketing, strategy and products, in an interview with CNET back in June

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T-Mobile launched its T-Satellite service in July, which began as a way to text others and receive emergency assistance when outside cellular and Wi-Fi coverage. It then expanded the feature set to support data within apps, including in-app phone and video calls, such as in WhatsApp. Nearly any smartphone model released in the last four years can connect to the Starlink satellite network.

T-Satellite is included for subscribers of T-Mobile’s Experience Beyond and Go5G Next plans, and it can be added to other plans for $10 a month.

But the carrier hasn’t kept the technology to itself. At launch, it announced that AT&T and Verizon customers can also add T-Satellite for the same $10 monthly cost. It’s activated as a secondary eSIM on the phone.

T-Mobile Text to 911 uses the same framework. After signing up for the free service, enrollees set it up on their phone as a second active eSIM.

In the event help is needed off grid, when the phone is connected to the T-Satellite network, sending a text to the number 911 in your default messages app will direct it to emergency services.

According to T-Mobile, existing customers can add Text to 911 to their plans by going to Manage Data and Add-Ons in the T-Life app or their account. Customers of other providers can sign up at T-Mobile’s site. New business customers can call 866-380-7511.

Owners of iPhone 14 and later models and Pixel 9 and 10 models can currently connect to satellite services provided by Apple and Google for emergencies. The T-Mobile Text to 911 service provides a backup option for those who are out of cellular range. T-Mobile touts the T-Satellite service as a more compatible, easier-to-use option that does not require pointing at a moving satellite to maintain a connection. On compatible iPhone models, the system prioritizes a third-party satellite option like T-Satellite for connection, and offers its built-in service as backup.

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.