Technologies

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Is Here: Get the SteelBook Edition at Best Buy

With a premium metal case and unique cover art, the SteelBook Edition for PlayStation is a collector’s item that’s available exclusively at Best Buy.

The mission is clear: Stop scrolling, head to Best Buy and secure a new copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 before it’s too late.

While your real-life mission might be a little less apocalyptic than what’s going on in the world of the game, Black Ops 7 is arguably one of the hottest game releases of the year, and likely to be on every gamer’s list this holiday season. That is, if you can get your hands on it.

Over two decades after it first launched, Call of Duty has grown to become one of the gaming world’s most popular shooters, reportedly earning billions in revenue since it was introduced back in 2003. Following the release of Black Ops 6 last year, the wait is finally over: Gamers can pick up the SteelBook Edition (Playstation) of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 now at Best Buy, both online and in stores. The game officially launched on Nov. 14, and retails for $69.99 for the PS5 edition. Along with PS5, CoD fans can also snag a copy of Black Ops 7 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, and PC.

So where does the game pick up? Ten years into the future – and this time, a star-studded cast, including This Is Us actor Milo Ventimiglia, is coming along for the campaign. According to the game’s official description on the retailer’s site, the Black Ops 7 «world is on the brink of chaos, ravaged by violent conflict and psychological warfare. David Mason (Ventimiglia) leads an elite JSOC team on a covert mission to the sprawling Mediterranean city of Avalon. While there, they discover a sophisticated plot that won’t just plunge the world into chaos, it will pull them into their own haunting pasts.»

Even if you’ve never entered the CoD world or experienced the infamous Black Ops character, Raul Menendez, one look at the game’s trailer confirms Black Ops 7 is packed with next-level graphics, non-stop action, and an unrecognizable world that will be unlike anything else you play this year.

Here’s a little refresher:

No stranger to CoD, Ventimiglia plays David Mason in Black Ops 7, who’s the son of the franchise character Alex Mason. «I played earlier versions of Call of Duty – I played Modern Warfare, I’ve done some Black Ops,» Ventimiglia said in an interview of being part of the new game. «I got away from it a little bit only because life is busy, when you have a baby and when you have a lot of film and TV work to do. But I feel like this was a nice reintroduction to the world of gaming.»

For longtime Call of Duty fans, Black Ops 7 follows a familiar storyline, yet takes place decades into the future of the game. «One takes place in the 1990s, you know, early 1991, and the other takes place in 2035, and that really gave them very distinct identities from the start,» Treyarch associate creative director Miles Leslie previously said of Black Ops 6 and 7. «There are threads from Black Ops 6 that weave into Black Ops 7, and it allowed us that opportunity to take the learnings from and really the momentum from Black Ops 6, and carry that into Black Ops 7.»

The SteelBook Edition for PS5 features 16 six-versus-six maps, along with a few 20-versus-20 maps, according to Best Buy. While the game has plenty of fresh new maps and modes, there was still some unfinished business leftover from Black Ops 2, which was released in 2012.

«We left Black Ops 2 and there was actually way more story to tell,» Leslie said. «David Mason, he’s carrying scars, both internally and externally, and the characters around him have also been affected.»

Don’t wait to add Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 to your cart now at Best Buy before it sells out.

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.

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

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

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

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.