Technologies

‘Demon Slayer’ Season 3: How to Watch From Anywhere

It’s time for the Swordsmith Village arc.

After season 2 of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba wrapped in February last year, anime fans expected a wait to see where Tanjiro and crew would head next. Fortunately, viewers were treated to a theatrical event that launched in North America this past March and in Japan in February. The anime film, Demon Slayer: To the Swordsmith Village, took a unique approach by blending the last two episodes of season 2 and the first episode from the upcoming season 3 into a cinematic feature. Now what?

Demon Slayer season 3 is hitting the small screen. Tanjiro’s journey has him seeking the aid of Hotaru Haganezuka to fix his wrecked sword, but enemies are always on the prowl. While his blade is out of commission, new demons close in on him, his sister Nezuko and buddies Inosuke and Zenitsu and give them a run for their money. Prepare to meet two villainous Upper Moon demons: Hantengu and Gyokko.

Along with a new theme song for season 3 of the series, you’ll get to see Love and Mist Hashiras joining the fray with their own fantastic sword styles — and breathwork. Here’s how to watch Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc.

anime characters wielding swords — New characters will be introduced onscreen in Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc.

Ufotable/Koyoharu Gotouge

Release dates for Demon Slayer season 3

After closing out the Entertainment District Arc in the manga and TV series, this Swordsmith storyline in Demon Slayer picks up where the story left off, placing Tanjiro on a path to find a mysterious, ancient weapon while his sword is being repaired. The first episode will be released as a one-hour special on Fuji TV in Japan on April 9 at 11:15 p.m. JST.

Fans in the US and 200 other countries can stream the series on Crunchyroll beginning Sunday, April 9.

Crunchyroll will simulcast the first episode of Demon Slayer season 3 on Sunday, April 9, from 10:45-11:30 a.m. PT (1:45-2:30 p.m. ET) in the US with subtitles in English, Spanish, Castilian, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Arabic, Russian and Hindi. New episodes will be simulcast exclusively in North America, Central America, South America and Europe.

Demon Slayer season 3 is exclusive to Crunchyroll for now. It will not be coming to Hulu this weekend, a company representative confirmed to CNET via email. The rep did not reveal when or if it would become available.

If you’re looking to catch up and don’t want to subscribe to Crunchyroll, Hulu and Netflix have earlier seasons of the show.

Crunchyroll

Carries Demon Slayer Season 3

$8 at Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll is home to thousands of anime titles, including simulcasts, on-demand releases and originals. You can sign up for a free account to stream ad-supported content on the service. Just note that not all titles are available with the free version, and there is a wait for new releases. However, anime fans who want immediate access to new episodes should opt for Crunchyroll’s basic $8 ad-free subscription. There’s a free 14-day trial for new subscribers.

How to watch Demon Slayer season 3 from anywhere with a VPN

Perhaps you’re traveling abroad and want to stream Crunchyroll while away from home. With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the anime series from anywhere in the world. There are other good reasons to use a VPN for streaming, too.

A VPN is the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds by encrypting your traffic. Using a VPN is also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins. Streaming TV can be a bit smoother with a reliable, quality VPN that’s passed our tests and security standards.

You can use a VPN to stream content legally as long as VPNs are legal in your country and you have a valid subscription to the streaming service you’re using. The US and Canada are among the countries where VPNs are legal, but we advise against streaming or downloading content on illegal torrent sites. We recommend ExpressVPN, but you may opt for another provider from our best list such as Surfshark or NordVPN.

James Martin/CNET

ExpressVPN

Best VPN for streaming

See at ExpressVPN

If you’re looking for a secure and dependable VPN, our Editors’ Choice is ExpressVPN. It’s fast, works on multiple devices and provides stable streams. It’s normally $13 per month, but you can sign up for ExpressVPN and save 49% — the equivalent of $6.67 per month — if you get an annual subscription.

ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Read our review of ExpressVPN.

Follow the VPN provider’s instructions for installation, and choose a country where Demon Slayer season 3 will be streaming on Crunchyroll. Before you open the streaming app, make sure you are connected to your VPN using your selected region. If you want to stream the special episode on more than one device, it’s possible you’ll need to configure each one to ensure you are signed in. Go to settings and check your network connections to verify you’re logged in and connected to your VPN account. Now you’re ready to open Crunchyroll to stream.

If you run into issues with streaming, first make sure your VPN is up and running on its encrypted IP address. Double-check that you’ve followed installation instructions correctly and you’ve picked the right geographical area for viewing. If you still encounter connection problems, you may need to reboot your device. Close all apps and windows, restart your device and connect to your VPN first. Note that some streaming services have restrictions on VPN access.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for June 9, #463

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 463 for June 9.

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.

Todays NYT Strands puzzle features a bunch of mysterious words. Some are a bit 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: What you see isn’t what you get

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Hiding in plain sight

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:

CALL, CALLS, FALL, FALLS, SAME, SEAM, LAND, ROSE, COVE, CANE, CANES, FLUME, FLUMES, DIGS, MEAL, COLA, CARD, CASE

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:

MASK, CLOAK, COVER, FACADE, DISGUISE, CAMOUFLAGE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is FALSEFRONT. To find it, start with the F that’s two rows over from the far left and two letters down. Wind around into a question mark.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for June 9, #729

Here are some hints and the answers for Connections for June 9, No. 729.

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.

Do you play the NYT Spelling Bee? If you do, you should be able to ace the purple category in today’s NYT Connections puzzle. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now 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 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: Control-C.

Green group hint: Don’t wait till the last minute.

Blue group hint: Pals to plan a heist.

Purple group hint: Think another NYT online game.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Keyboard shortcut commands.

Green group: Secure in advance.

Blue group: Crime organization.

Purple group: Spellling Bee ranks minus a letter.

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 keyboard shortcut commands. The four answers are paste, print, quit and save.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is secure in advance. The four answers are book, order, request and reserve.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is crime organization. The four answers are crew, family, ring and syndicate.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Spelling Bee ranks minus a letter. The four answers are genus, goo, mazing and slid. (Genius, good, amazing and solid.)

Technologies

I Made Google Translate My Default on iPhone Before a Trip and It Saved Me More Than Once

Google Translate supports far more languages than Apple’s app, and it’s easy to make the switch.

If you’re traveling overseas this summer, the Google Translate app can come in handy to quickly translate a road sign or conversation. The latest Google Translate update allows you to pick the app as your default translation app for Apple iPhones and iPads running iOS and iPadOS 18.4 and later. Previously, you were limited to the built-in Apple option.

Google began leveraging AI to boost Google Translate’s offerings, adding 110 languages last year to increase its total support for 249 languages. Compare that to Apple Translate, which supports 19 languages. Neither Google nor Apple responded to a request for comment.

Both apps offer voice and text translation, including a camera feature that lets you instantly translate by pointing your camera at text. Both also allow you to use translation features without an internet connection, which can come in particularly handy when traveling to more remote locations.

After using both, I found that the Google Translate picked up speech a little quicker so I didn’t have to constantly repeat myself, and the audio pronunciations were a little easier to understand than on Apple Translate. I switched to Google Translate as the default on my iPhone, and here’s how you can, too.