Technologies

I’m Giving This Handy Bluetooth Dongle to Every Traveler on My List This Year. Here’s Why

Looking for a gift for the globe-trotter in your life? The AirFly Pro has been a game changer for me on flights.

Like everyone else, I find air travel during the holidays to be incredibly stressful. From long security lines to unpredictable weather and flight delays, it’s a lot. One perk of flying? Watching new-release movies. That makes all the chaos a little more bearable. However, in-flight entertainment on most airlines usually requires a wired set of earbuds. (And the ones the airline hands out are so bad they may as well not even be connected.)

I’d far prefer to use my wireless, noise-canceling AirPods Pro, but they connect only via Bluetooth. That’s where the AirFly Pro from Twelve South comes in.

The AirFly is a simple Bluetooth dongle that allows me to connect my wireless earbuds directly to the airplane’s entertainment system, eliminating the need for adapters or wired workarounds.

It’s become a must-pack item in my travel bag. Since I started using it, I’ve stopped dreading in-flight audio and finally get to enjoy movies on the plane. If you know someone who flies often, this little gadget could completely change how they travel.

The AirFly Pro lets me enjoy in-flight entertainment

The AirFly Pro is a minimally designed dongle that allows me to connect to the 3.5mm headphone jack in my airplane seat, enabling me to listen to in-flight entertainment on my noise-canceling earbuds.

All I have to do is pair the AirFly with the Bluetooth headphones I’m using, such as my AirPods Pro, plug the AirFly into the display in front of me, and I’m all set. I don’t even need to use my phone to connect the two devices.

There are several versions of the AirFly: the AirFly SE, which is currently on sale for $29 on Amazon and connects to just one set of headphones, the AirFly Pro, which costs $55, the Pro 2 ($50) and the Pro 2 Deluxe ($60), which comes with an international headphone adapter and a suede travel case.

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I use the AirFly Pro, which has been a game changer for me on flights. I’ve never had to worry about battery life since the AirFly Pro lasts for over 25 hours and can be fully charged in just three hours. I can also pair two separate pairs of headphones to a single AirFly Pro, in case I’m with someone else on a flight and want to watch the same movie or show.

And if that’s not enough, the AirFly Pro also doubles as an audio transmitter, allowing me to turn any speaker with a headphone jack, such as my old car stereo, into a Bluetooth speaker.

Why the AirFly Pro makes a great gift

If you know someone who’s a jet setter or someone who’s planning a big trip this year, the AirFly Pro is one of those can’t-go-wrong gifts. Besides my Anker MagSafe battery pack, the AirFly Pro has become my most treasured travel accessory when I fly, which is why it’s become one of my favorite travel gifts to give people. It’s small and practical — I know they’ll appreciate it when they’re mid-flight. It’s the perfect trifecta for travelers.

For more travel gifts, here are our favorite tech essentials to travel with and our favorite travel pillows.

Impulse Buys Under $25 That Make Unexpectedly Great Gifts

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Dec. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 24.

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? I’m Irish-American, but yet 6-Down, which involves Ireland, stumped me at first. 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: Wordle or Boggle
Answer: GAME

5A clue: Big Newton
Answer: ISAAC

7A clue: Specialized vocabulary
Answer: LINGO

8A clue: «See you in a bit!»
Answer: LATER

9A clue: Tone of many internet comments
Answer: SNARK

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Sharks use them to breathe
Answer: GILLS

2D clue: From Singapore or South Korea, say
Answer: ASIAN

3D clue: Large ocean ray
Answer: MANTA

4D clue: ___ beaver
Answer: EAGER

6D clue: Second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin
Answer: CORK

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Technologies

Quadrantids Is a Short but Sweet Meteor Shower Just After New Year’s. How to See It

This meteor shower has one of the most active peaks, but it doesn’t last for very long.

The Quadrantids has the potential to be one of the most active meteor showers of the year, and skygazers won’t have long to wait to see it. The annual shower is predicted to reach maximum intensity on Jan. 3. And with a display that can rival Perseids, Quadrantids could be worth braving the cold to see it.

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The show officially begins on Dec. 28 and lasts until Jan. 12, according to the American Meteor Society. Quadrantids is scheduled to peak on Jan. 2-3, when it may produce upwards of 125 meteors per hour. This matches Perseids and other larger meteor showers on a per-hour rate, but Quadrantids also has one of the shortest peaks at just 6 hours, so it rarely produces as many meteors overall as the other big ones.

The meteor shower comes to Earth courtesy of the 2003 EH1 asteroid, which is notable because most meteor showers are fed from comets, not asteroids. Per NASA, 2003 EH1 is a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun once every five and a half years. Science posits that 2003 EH1 was a comet in a past life, but too many trips around the sun stripped it of its ice, leaving only its rocky core. The Earth runs through EH1’s orbital debris every January, which results in the Quadrantids meteor shower.

How and where to see Quadrantids

Quadrantids is named for the constellation where its meteors appear to originate, a point known as the radiant. This presents another oddity, as the shower originates from the constellation Quadrans Muralis. This constellation ceased to be recognized as an official constellation in the 1920s and isn’t available on most publicly accessible sky maps.

For the modern skygazer, you’ll instead need to find the Bootes and Draco constellations, both of which contain stars that were once a part of the Quadrans Muralis. Draco will be easier to find after sunset on the evening of Jan. 2, and will be just above the horizon in the northern sky. Bootes orbits around Draco, but will remain under the horizon until just after 1 a.m. local time in the northeastern sky. From that point forward, both will sit in the northeastern part of the sky until sunrise. You’ll want to point your chair in that direction and stay there to see meteors.

As the American Meteor Society notes, Quadrantids has a short but active peak, lasting around 6 hours. The peak is expected to start around 4 p.m. ET and last well into the evening. NASA predicts the meteor shower to start one day later on Jan. 3-4, so if you don’t see any on the evening of Jan. 2, try again on Jan. 3.

To get the best results, the standard space viewing tips apply. You’ll want to get as far away from the city and suburbs as possible to reduce light pollution. Since it’ll be so cold outside, dress warmly and abstain from alcoholic beverages, as they can affect your body temperature. You won’t need any binoculars or telescopes, and the reduced field of view may actually impact your ability to see meteors.

The bad news is that either way, the Quadrantids meteor shower coincides almost perfectly with January’s Wolf Moon, which also happens to be a supermoon. This will introduce quite a lot of light pollution, which will likely drown out all but the brightest meteors. So, while it may have a peak of over 100 meteors per hour, both NASA and the AMS agree that the more realistic expectation is 10 or so bright meteors per hour.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 24, #1649

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 24, No. 1,649.

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 little tricky, with a double letter that could confuse players. 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.