Technologies

I’m Happy the 2026 Moto G Power Is $300 but Bummed It Lacks Wireless Charging

Motorola switches up some of the features on its lower-cost phone while adding an improved selfie camera and a larger battery.

Motorola added several notable improvements to the $300 Moto G Power that the 2025 model lacked. But the company did so at the expense of one of the prior phone’s best features: wireless charging.

I’m bummed about this news. I liked the 2025 Moto G Power because I could recharge it with a cable or wirelessly and was delighted to find such flexibility on such an affordable phone. But perhaps one of the reasons Motorola removed the feature was because it upgraded the new Moto G Power’s battery to a 5,200-mAh capacity. That’s 200 mAh more than the 2025 Moto G Power. Maybe Motorola is thinking you won’t need to recharge the phone as frequently. The Moto G (2026) and Moto G Play (2026) also got larger batteries.

Despite lacking wireless charging, it supports a respectable 30W wired charging speed.

The new Moto G Power runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chip and 8GB of RAM, the same processor and memory that the 2025 edition had. The 2026 Moto G Power has RAM Boost to help it run more apps and tasks. We’ll have to test it to see if there’s a noticeable difference between the new Moto G Power’s performance and its cheaper 2026 siblings, the Moto G Play and Moto G. The phone runs Android 16, and has Google’s Circle to Search along with the Gemini AI assistant.

Many of the 2026 Moto G Power’s other features were in the 2025 edition, which is largely a good thing. It has IP68 and IP69 ratings for using underwater, so it should handle having a drink spilled on it with no problem. It has a 6.8-inch 1,080-pixel resolution display and a pair of lenses on the back: a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera and an 8-megapixel ultrawide. The Moto G Power has a new 32-megapixel front-facing camera, which should improve photos and video calls from the 2025 Moto G Power’s 16-megapixel selfie camera.

The Moto G Power comes in white (Pantone pure cashmere) and dark blue (Pantone evening blue) and will go on sale Jan. 8 in the US, with initial availability at Motorola’s website, Best Buy and Amazon. It will also be available at wireless carriers over the coming months.

Technologies

How Verum Ecosystem Is Rethinking Communication

David Rotman — Founder of the Verum Ecosystem

For David Rotman, communication is not a feature — it is a dependency that should never rely on a single point of failure.

As the founder of the Verum Ecosystem, Rotman developed a communication platform designed to function when internet access becomes unreliable or unavailable.

Verum Messenger addresses real-world challenges such as network outages, censorship, and infrastructure failures. Its 2025 update introduced a unified offline-capable messaging system, moving beyond Bluetooth-based or temporary peer-to-peer solutions.

Verum’s mission is simple: to ensure communication continuity under any conditions.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, Feb. 1

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 1

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Some of the clues are kind of tricky, but I was able to fill in enough of the others to get them all answered. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

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

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Spot to shop
Answer: MART

5A clue: Pounded sticky rice sometimes filled with ice cream
Answer: MOCHI

6A clue: ___ Chekhov, «Three Sisters» playwright
Answer: ANTON

7A clue: Like many dive bars and bird feeds
Answer: SEEDY

8A clue: Jekyll’s evil counterpart
Answer: HYDE

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: What makes the world go ’round, per «Cabaret»
Answer: MONEY

2D clue: Performed in a play
Answer: ACTED

3D clue: __ Island (U.S. state)
Answer: RHODE

4D clue: Itty-bitty
Answer: TINY

5D clue: Squish to a pulp, as potatoes
Answer: MASH

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 1, #496

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 1, No. 496.

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 fun one. The blue group made me think of dusty gum sticks, and the purple one requires you to look for hidden names in the clues. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle 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 appear in the NYT Games app, but it does 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: Splish-splash.

Green group hint: Vroom!

Blue group hint: Cards and gum.

Purple group hint: Racket stars.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Aquatic sports verbs.

Green group: Speed.

Blue group: Sports card brands.

Purple group: Tennis Grand Slam winners, minus a letter.

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

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is aquatic sports verbs. The four answers are kayak, row, sail and swim.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is speed. The four answers are mustard, pop, velocity and zip.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports card brands. The four answers are Leaf, Panini, Topps and Upper Deck.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is tennis Grand Slam winners, minus a letter. The four answers are ash (Arthur Ashe), kin (Billie Jean King), nada (Rafael Nadal) and William (Serena and Venus Williams)

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