Technologies

Apple Arcade Games Coming Soon

Here’s what’s available on Apple Arcade this month.

Apple Arcade — a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick — features hundreds of games to play for just $5 a month. The service offers familiar and classic games, as well as exclusive titles. You can find these games in the App Store, but they have paywalls and ads that might hinder your gaming experience. With an Apple Arcade subscription, you can play each title without paywalls or ads at no extra charge.

Here are the new games you can play in January.

Episode XOXO

Developer: Pocket Gems
Release date: Jan. 6

Episode XOXO is the sequel to Episode: Choose Your Story. It’s an interactive storytelling game where players can choose to enjoy a story full of drama, romance and adventure. The game is launching with five new stories, and there are plans to add more stories in future updates.

Illustrated

Developer: Border Leap
Release date: Jan. 13

Illustrated is a puzzle game whose gameplay blends jigsaws and word play. Each puzzle starts with an illustration that shows a concept sketch with the hidden words of the artist’s story behind the illustration. As you place puzzle pieces in their correct spot, the illustration begins to color itself in and the words of the story are revealed.

Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!

Developer: GAME FREAK
Release date: Jan. 20

Game Freak, the creator of the Pokemon game series, isn’t horsing around with its next Apple Arcade game. Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! was originally released as Pocket Card Jockey on the 3DS. The game is a combination of solitaire and horse racing where players clear cards with sequential numbers from the game as fast as they can. The more cards you clear, the better your horse’s mood is. Your horse’s mood helps your trusty steed charge energy during races. Once your horse’s energy is charged and you’re in the homestretch, your horse will have to use that energy to sprint to victory. Special cards also litter the raceway, and they provide your horse boosts and benefits, like leveling up and learning new skills. Off the track, you can breed your horses to produce foals with their parent’s abilities to be used in future races.

Squiggle Drop

Developer: Noodlecake
Release date: Jan. 27

If you like puzzle games with a little bit of physics, you should try Squiggle Drop. In this game, players have to solve puzzles by drawing a single shape. As players solve more puzzles, they can earn rewards and unlock buildings and upgrades to build their own Squiggletown.

Apple Arcade games getting January updates

What did Apple Arcade release in December?

Technologies

This 3-in-1 Charger Is a Must-Have for Travelers, and It Just Hit a Record-Low of $95

Snag it for $45 off and charge your iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch at the same time.

If you’re a frequent traveler, then you know that outlets are a precious commodity in places like airports and coffee shops. So why waste one on a single device when you can charge up to three at once? Right now, you can grab this seriously sleek Ugreen Magflow three-in-one foldable charger for just $95 at Amazon. That’s a $45 discount and the all-time lowest price we’ve seen. Just don’t wait too long, as this deal could expire at any time.

At just 7.4 ounces, this compact charging station is designed to be taken on the go. But despite its size, it still supports 25-watt MagSafe charging for iPhones, as well as 5-watt wireless charging for AirPods and Apple Watches. The charging stand also tilts up to double as a stand, and it’s equipped with 16 magnets to keep your phone aligned and securely in place. Plus, it’s got built-in protections against overheating, overcharging, short-circuiting and more to prevent damage to your devices.

Why this deal matters

This folding Ugreen charger is great for juicing up your devices on the go, and it’s never been more affordable. Plus, Ugreen makes some of the best MagSafe chargers on the market right now, so don’t miss your chance to grab one at a record-low price.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Jan. 13, #1669

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Jan. 13, No. 1,669.

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, and it might make you hungry. 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 two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with G.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with O.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a spicy Cajun stew popular in New Orleans.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is GUMBO.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Jan. 12, No. 1,668 was TRIAL.

Recent Wordle answers

Jan. 8, No. 1,664: BLAST

Jan. 9, No. 1,665: EIGHT

Jan. 10, No. 1,666: MANIC

Jan. 11, No. 1,667: QUARK

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

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 13 #681

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Jan. 13, No. 681.

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

It took me a while to figure out the theme for today’s NYT Strands puzzle, but once I did, I thought it was a fun one. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: You need to chill

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Brrrr!

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

GONE, ABLE, TABLE, FOOD, TEEN, LEAF, GOOF, GOOD, SAFE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: