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Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Villain’s counterpart
Answer: HERO

5A clue: California governor Newsom
Answer: GAVIN

6A clue: Home to Prada (and pasta)
Answer: ITALY

7A clue: Shipping company with a purple-and-orange logo
Answer: FEDEX

8A clue: Three-pointer, in basketball lingo
Answer: TREY

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Hard person to please
Answer: HATER

2D clue: Get around
Answer: EVADE

3D clue: «Inside Out» girl
Answer: RILEY

4D clue: Deep black gemstone
Answer: ONYX

5D clue: «Today is a ___. That’s why it’s called the present» (cliché)
Answer: GIFT

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that hosts Wikipedia, wants AI companies to stop scraping its data to train AI models and to begin paying to use its Application Programming Interface instead, the foundation said in a blog post on Monday.

Wikimedia says AI companies need high-quality human-curated information to keep their models working. Wikipedia’s extensive volunteer network of editors ensures that its information remains well-sourced, and its content is available in over 300 languages. 

At the same time, running Wikipedia is a costly endeavor. It’s currently the seventh-most visited website in the world, according to Semrush. It cost $179 million to run Wikipedia for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, according to a Wikimedia Foundation audit. Wikimedia keeps Wikipedia afloat primarily through donations and doesn’t run advertising.

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But AI is changing people’s research habits. Instead of researching subjects on Wikipedia, people are turning to AI to answer their questions. Although Wikipedia is free to use, if people circumvent it by using ChatGPT, they won’t see donation requests at the top of the Wikipedia home page, and the site could lose money.

Wikimedia is asking AI companies to pay to use its Enterprise API, which will allow them «to use Wikipedia content at scale and sustainably without severely taxing Wikipedia’s servers, while also enabling them to support our nonprofit mission.»

Representatives for Google, OpenAI, Meta, Perplexity, Anthropic, Microsoft, DeepSeek and xAI didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment, and a representative for Wikimedia also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Google did agree to a deal with Wikimedia in 2022 to commercially access Wikipedia content.

Wikimedia’s request comes as online content creators are pushing back against AI companies using online data without permission or payment. Online publishers, such as Penske, the New York Times and News Corp, are suing AI companies for copyright infringement. Other companies, such as the Associated Press and Reuters, have signed licensing deals with AI firms. 

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) 

During the AI boom, Big Tech stocks have soared to stratospheric heights. Nvidia briefly became the world’s first $5 trillion company late last month, with Microsoft and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, breaking the $4 trillion barrier earlier this year. 

Slowly but steadily, Apple has been tucking satellite-powered features into its iPhones. Get ready for that to blossom into a whole set of new capabilities.

According to a Bloomberg report, Apple is working to expand the capabilities of iPhones, as well as some Apple Watches, when operating over satellite links. That includes Maps features that work when you’re off the grid, ways for third-party apps to access satellite connectivity, more messaging features such as transmitting images in addition to texts, and, potentially, ways to use satellite connections without a direct line of sight to the sky.

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Over the last few years, Apple has introduced features that utilize satellite technology, including emergency SOS, roadside assistance, and texting while offline.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Apple’s satellite ambitions could eventually compete more directly with services from major wireless carriers including AT&T and Verizon, according to Bloomberg. That could give Apple more control over security and design, making it less reliant on those telecom partners.

How will Apple pull this off?

To enable these ambitious plans, Apple will need to build out its infrastructure, or at least partner with companies that are undertaking similar buildouts.

The company has already made plans for a $1.5 billion investment in Globalstar to help fund a new satellite constellation and could enlist SpaceX’s Starlink to beef up its services over satellite.

In the short term, Apple is likely to roll out new consumer-friendly features as it expands its satellite capabilities.

«The next generation could let hikers, travelers, and remote workers download map data, share images, and even receive live weather updates without cellular coverage,» said Mahdi Eslamimehr, executive vice president at Quandary Peak Research.

For now, Apple hasn’t charged for the satellite features it has already rolled out, but that could change with the introduction of new capabilities. 

«Basic satellite features are expected to remain free, while advanced capabilities, such as high-bandwidth image sharing or third-party integrations, may be available through paid subscriptions or bundled carrier plans,» Eslaminehr said.

If Apple can provide more wireless access through satellites, combined with cell towers as backups, that could prove valuable during natural disasters or network outages, he said.

What will carriers do?

Wireless carriers aren’t expected to simply wait for Apple to catch up to the services they provide. They’re working on their own satellite-enabled services, either by building their own or partnerships with satellite companies.

Apple could wind up being one of several players offering hybrid connectivity in the future. 

«For users outside the Apple ecosystem, this competition should accelerate industrywide adoption of hybrid cellular-satellite services, improving reliability, expanding rural coverage and potentially lowering prices,» Eslaminehr.