Technologies

Instagram 2021 Playback: How to create your stories highlight

Here’s how to add or delete stories to your year in review on Instagram.

Instagram has added a new wrap-up feature for the end of the year, with the social media platform debuting 2021 Playback for some users on Thursday. The feature showcases what Instagram thinks are your best stories from the year, although you can add or delete other stories of your choice before publishing.

«To help you look back on your special moments this year, we created a playback from your 2021 stories,» the feature on Instagram says. «You can choose to add or remove stories before sharing.»

2021 Playback, which Instagram calls a «time capsule» of your best moments, will be available for the next few weeks.

How to create your Instagram 2021 Playback

1. Open up the Instagram app, and a View your 2021 Playback tile should appear at the top of your feed underneath stories.

2. Select the blue View Playback button and you’ll see the 10 stories chosen for you by Instagram.

3. Choose whether to add or remove certain stories before clicking Share. This will publish your 2021 highlights to your stories.

If the 2021 Playback option hasn’t appeared for you but you can see other people showcasing their own highlights, just click the 2021 sticker that appears in the corner of those stories. Instagram said the feature should be rolled out to all users by the end of the week.

The feature is similar to Snapchat’s year in review from the past several years, from which you can choose to send individual snaps to different people or publish to your story.

For more, check out eight tricks to take better photos for Instagram and TikTok and night mode tips for taking better photos in the dark.

Technologies

The FCC Just Approved Charter’s $34.5B Cox Purchase. Here’s What It Means for 37M Customers

Technologies

Spotify Expands Into Audiobook Rankings With Weekly Charts

The feature is available to both free users and Premium subscribers. Wuthering Heights is reaching the heights on both the US and UK charts.

If you’re a Spotify user, you may be familiar with features like the year-end summary Wrapped, as well as your daily usage stats. Now, the service has a new popularity chart tracking audiobooks.

Spotify’s audiobook charts are now available to free and Premium users within the service’s Audiobooks hub. While only Premium users receive 15 hours of audiobook listening per month, the company offers a larger selection of titles you can buy.

US charts and UK charts are both available now.

Read more: Best Music Streaming Services for 2026

Spotify says that the audiobook charts will help customers discover new and popular titles in real time.

«As we’ve proven with Music and Podcasts Charts, when content is easier to access, discover, and enjoy, the demand grows,» said Duncan Bruce, Spotify’s director of audiobook partnerships and licensing, in a statement on Friday.

Spotify launched audiobooks in 2022, and has since added features such as the AI catchup tool Recaps and PageMatch, which lets you swap more easily between a printed book and the audio version.

Spotify Premium currently costs $13 a month and includes more than 100 million songs, as well as audiobooks. Spotify Premium is currently CNET’s Editors’ Choice for best music streaming service.

The current US audiobooks chart lists Emily Brontë’s romantic classic Wuthering Heights as the top listen, followed by James Clear’s self-help book Atomic Habits and Freida McFadden’s psychological thriller The Housemaid. Audiobook popularity is also broken down by genre, with charts for romance, mystery and thriller books, self-help, science fiction and fantasy, biography and memoir, business and careers, teen and young adult, religion and spirituality, history, and parenting and relationships.

Powered by its blockbuster movie adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, Wuthering Heights also leads the overall chart for the UK.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 28, #523

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 523, for Saturday, Feb. 28.

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 tough one. Chicagoans and southerners, you might have an advantage, at least with the blue and purple categories. 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: Fore!

Green group hint: Take me out to the ballgame.

Blue group hint: Alma mater.

Purple group hint: Bear down.