SAVE $100: As of August 22, you can get an Apple Watch Ultra on sale for $699.99 at Amazon with an $80 discount at checkout. This is $100 less than its MSRP of $799 and the lowest price we’ve seen on Amazon.

Summer isn’t over yet. There are still plenty more weeks of sunny days to spend out and about hiking, camping, or whatever you like to do outdoors. Why not take an Apple Watch Ultra smartwatch along for the ride? You can get one right now at its most affordable price yet.

The rugged, supersized Apple Watch Ultra is on sale for $699, its lowest price we’ve ever seen at Amazon. This is the 49mm, GPS option that was made for outdoor enthusiasts, and you’ll save $80 automatically at checkout thanks to an on-page coupon. At $699, the Apple Watch Ultra is effectively $100 less than its MSRP of $799.

While this is still a bit of a budget-breaker for many, the Apple Watch Ultra is an excellent, premium smartwatch. It’s a massive upgrade over the vanilla Apple Watch series, with a huge, great-looking screen, water depth and temperature sensor, improved GPS, and a slew of other features. Perhaps most importantly for many users, it boasts 36 hours of battery life on a single charge. It also includes all the health tracking and phone notification options that come with every Apple Watch.

Whether you just want a massive watch face so you can see things a little easier or you plan on seeing the great outdoors on a regular basis, the Apple Watch Ultra won’t steer you wrong. And at this price, it’s best to go ahead and lock one in before the sale ends. It might be the cheapest you’re going to get one for some time.

While the first trailer for It Lives Inside already had us spooked, the latest trailer for Bishal Dutta’s horror flick (and the winner of SXSW‘s Midnighter Audience Award) has us absolutely terrified. 

From the producers of Get Out, It Lives Inside follows Sam (Megan Suri), a high school student struggling to fit in just like any teen out there. But things get complicated for Sam when her former best friend Tamira (Mohana Krishnan) informs her that a demonic spirit is haunting her. As the two realize that the demon’s latched onto them, Sam’s forced to confront the spirit which she learns is a Pishach — a malevolent demonic entity in Dharmic religions that prefers to feed on its victims slowly. 

It Lives Inside‘s latest trailer teases an ample amount of jump-scares, bone-chilling lore, and one too many bodies cracking inside and out. Consider us seated. 

How to watch: It Lives Inside releases in theaters on Sept. 22. 

It’s Tuesday, and with it comes a new Wordle puzzle to usher you into the weekend. We’re here for you, as we are every day, with some tips and tricks to help you figure out the solution.

If you just want to be told today’s answer, you can jump to the end of this article for August 22’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the Wordle answer for Aug 21.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that brings you the most joy. But if you like being strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately, it has since been taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.

Why are there two different Wordle answers some days?

Though usually Wordle will only accept one correct solution per day, occasionally it has rebelled against the norm and deem two different answers acceptable. This is due to changes the New York Times made to Wordle after it acquired the puzzle game.

The Times has since added its own updated word list, so this should happen even less frequently than before. To avoid any confusion, it’s a good idea to refresh your browser before getting stuck into a new puzzle.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

This Wordle solution is popular when combined with pumpkin.

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

No, there aren’t any double letters for you to stumble on today!

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter S.

What’s the answer to Wordle today?

Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to Wordle #794 is…

SPICE.

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Blackpink is coming to Roblox in style. Starting Aug. 25, the multi-national K-pop girl group will have their own Roblox experience, “Blackpink the Palace,” which will be updated with new content year-round.

Players will have the chance to explore a grand pastel palace home to interactive scenes from Blackpink’s iconic music videos. The “DDU-DU DDU-DU” room, for example, holds Jennie’s giant chess board and black tank and Lisa’s bank vault.

Below the palace are caverns where players can mine in-game currency from sparkling crystals. Their hammer? A replica of Blackpink’s light stick. The more crystals players smash, the more currency they gain to decorate and host Blackpink-themed parties for their friends (think pink and black balloons, chairs, tables, and more).

Players can explore life-sized versions of Blackpink’s most iconic music video scenes, like this one from “DDU-DU DDU-DU.”
Credit: YG PLUS

Players can also take selfies with in-game avatars of Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa and purchase the band’s signature “Pink Venom” outfits and emotes for their own avatars.

Fans can access the experience on Roblox at this link beginning Aug. 25. Fans who visit the experience within 24 hours of its opening will receive a special badge that can be displayed on their Roblox profiles.

Blackpink is the third K-pop group to open an interactive fanhub on Roblox. Earlier this year, boy group NCT 127 opened NCT 127 World and girl group Twice welcomed fans to Twice Square. The latter has had 60 million visits to date, according to Roblox, and proves that there is huge potential for virtual fan communities.

Blackpink Palace was built by Karta, the metaverse studio behind Twice Square, in collaboration with YG PLUS, a subsidiary of Blackpink’s label YG Entertainment.

If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you’ve come to the right place for hints. There aren’t just hints here, but the whole Quordle solution. Scroll to the bottom of this page, and there it is. But are you sure you need all four answers? Maybe you just need a strategy guide. Either way, scroll down, and you’ll get what you need.

What is Quordle?

Quordle is a five-letter word guessing game similar to Wordle, except each guess applies letters to four words at the same time. You get nine guesses instead of six to correctly guess all four words. It looks like playing four Wordle games at the same time, and that is essentially what it is. But it’s not nearly as intimidating as it sounds.

Is Quordle harder than Wordle?

Yes, though not diabolically so.

Where did Quordle come from?

Amid the Wordle boom of late 2021 and early 2022, when everyone was learning to love free, in-browser, once-a-day word guessing games, creator Freddie Meyer says he took inspiration from one of the first big Wordle variations, Dordle — the one where you essentially play two Wordles at once. He took things up a notch, and released Quordle on January 30. Meyer’s creation was covered in The Guardian six days later, and now, according to Meyer, it attracts millions of daily users. Today, Meyer earns modest revenue from Patreon, where dedicated Quordle fans can donate to keep their favorite puzzle game running. 

How is Quordle pronounced?

“Kwordle.” It should rhyme with “Wordle,” and definitely should not be pronounced exactly like “curdle.”

Is Quordle strategy different from Wordle?

Yes and no.

Your starting strategy should be the same as with Wordle. In fact, if you have a favorite Wordle opening word, there’s no reason to change that here. We suggest something rich in vowels, featuring common letters like C, R, and N. But you do you.

After your first guess, however, you’ll notice things getting out of control if you play Quordle exactly like Wordle.

What should I do in Quordle that I don’t do in Wordle?

Solving a Wordle puzzle can famously come down to a series of single letter-change variations. If you’ve narrowed it down to “-IGHT,” you could guess “MIGHT” “NIGHT” “LIGHT” and “SIGHT” and one of those will probably be the solution — though this is also a famous way to end up losing in Wordle, particularly if you play on “hard mode.” In Quordle, however, this sort of single-letter winnowing is a deadly trap, and it hints at the important strategic difference between Wordle and Quordle: In Quordle, you can’t afford to waste guesses unless you’re eliminating as many letters as possible at all times. 

Guessing a completely random word that you already know isn’t the solution, just to eliminate three or four possible letters you haven’t tried yet, is thought of as a desperate, latch-ditch move in Wordle. In Quordle, however, it’s a normal part of the player’s strategic toolset.

Is there a way to get the answer faster?

In my experience Quordle can be a slow game, sometimes dragging out longer than it would take to play Wordle four times. But a sort of blunt-force guessing approach can speed things up. The following strategy also works with Wordle if you only want the solution, and don’t care about having the fewest possible guesses:

Try starting with a series of words that puts all the vowels (including Y) on the board, along with some other common letters. We’ve had good luck with the three words: “NOTES,” “ACRID,” and “LUMPY.” YouTuber DougMansLand suggests four words: “CANOE,” “SKIRT,” “PLUMB,” and “FUDGY.”

Most of the alphabet is now eliminated, and you’ll only have the ability to make one or two wrong guesses if you use this strategy. But in most cases you’ll have all the information you need to guess the remaining words without any wrong guesses.

If strategy isn’t helping, and you’re still stumped, here are some hints:

Are there any double or triple letters in today’s Quordle words?

One word has a double letter.

Are any rare letters being used in today’s Quordle like Q or Z?

X.

What do today’s Quordle words start with?

C, A, C, and A.

What are the answers for today’s Quordle?

Are you sure you want to know?

There’s still time to turn back.

OK, you asked for it. The answers are:

1. COAST

2. AWOKE

3. CLOTH

4. ANNEX

Well, as far as advertisements go, this one is certainly unique.

Samsung’s “Try Galaxy” iPhone experience (I hesitate to call it an app because it’s just a Safari page you pin to your home screen) has been updated with new features meant to showcase the Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 foldables. In a blog post, Samsung made it seem like you can simulate the unique features from its two recent foldable phones using an iPhone.

In practice, it’s a little less interesting than that.

Once you get “Try Galaxy” working on your iPhone, it shows you a Samsung Galaxy UI where every button serves to advertise Samsung products to you. For instance, opening the “camera app” plays a bunch of videos showing you how photography works on Samsung’s foldables, rather than really letting you try anything out. That’s fine, but it’s not really a demo in any meaningful sense.

The one thing that does seem interesting was also out of my reach at the time of writing. You can connect two iPhones together to create a facsimile of a Z Fold 5, though it seems like all that does is show you video demonstrations of what using a foldable is like. Unfortunately, I didn’t have another iPhone on hand, so I got this bummer of an error message instead.

Aww, man.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

Ah, well. You can’t win ’em all. Still, if you have an iPhone (or two) and want to see what Samsung’s recent stuff is all about, go ahead and give “Try Galaxy” a shot.

Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has come with a lot of changes, but his rebranding of the platform to “X” may be the final nail in the coffin of the once-beloved tech titan.

Though Musk announced that Twitter would be renamed “X” on Jul. 23, it wasn’t until Jul. 31 that the change to “X” went live on Apple’s App Store. That change had an immediate effect on how many people download the app, according to an analysis from media strategist Eric Seufert.

Seufert looked at Twitter/ X’s ranking on the Apple App Store’s “Top Downloaded” chart from Jul. 27 to Aug. 15 and found that the app’s average ranking fell significantly after the rebranding, from 35 to 54.

Seufert’s analysis shows a decline in Twitter/X downloads post-name change.
Credit: Eric Seufert

“My hypothesis is that, while the terminally-online are entirely aware of Twitter’s rebrand to X, most consumers aren’t,” Seufert wrote in a post that accompanied his findings, “and their searches for ‘Twitter’ on platform stores surface ads and genuine search results that are in no way redolent of Twitter.”

It isn’t just Twitter’s new name that’s likely causing confusion, it’s its new look, too. A search for “Twitter” on the App Store on August 21 does offer up X as the first result, but the bold, black listing is practically unrecognizable as the new evolution of Twitter. There’s little reference to its bright, bird-y past in the listing’s visuals or descriptive text.

App Store search results for “Twitter” on Aug. 21.
Credit: App Store

The App Store listing for X as of Aug. 21 features dark product images that may confuse prospective users looking for Twitter’s bright blue branding.
Credit: App Store

Other analyses from Seufert show Twitter/ X’s “Top Downloaded” chart performance against that of other social media platforms between Aug. 1 and Aug 11. WhatsApp and TikTok remain healthy and show little change and new competitor Threads also makes a strong showing in the top 10, beating WhatsApp and TikTok for certain time periods while Twitter languishes.

Given Musk’s focus on revitalizing revenue, these numbers are troubling. You can’t grow a business, or your bottom line, without new users.

Tweet may have been deleted

This is kind of like when it’s time to choose a new Pope, except arguably more important.

The voice of a generation has stepped down, as Mario voice actor Charles Martinet will be “stepping back” from the role that made him famous, according to a statement posted by Nintendo of America. In the statement, Nintendo said Martinet will transition into a new role called “Mario Ambassador,” in which he will “continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario.”

Tweet may have been deleted

“It has been an honor working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him,” Nintendo’s statement read.

While Martinet was not the first person to voice Mario, he was easily the longest-lasting and most iconic. Prior to Martinet’s debut in 1994’s Mario Teaches Typing on CD-ROM (Nintendo’s statement erroneously claims he started with Super Mario 64), Mario had often been given a gruff Brooklyn voice in various TV shows and cartoons. Shout out to Captain Lou. Once Martinet took over, the high-pitched version of Mario with a thick Italian accent who says very little besides his own name became the canonical Mario.

Of course, that could change going forward. It’s not yet clear what Nintendo plans to do with Mario’s vocal identity, and we don’t know yet if Martinet laced up the plumber’s boots one final time for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Chris Pratt’s take on the character (which was mostly just Chris Pratt talking in his normal voice) made so much money that Nintendo might opt to replicate that in some form or another. Or, they could just find a Martinet sound-alike.

Whatever happens going forward, at least we got nearly 30 years with Martinet’s classic Mario voice, and at least it seems like he’s going out on his own terms.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the latest in several nationwide efforts to bring stronger internet access to rural communities and address the continued digital divide, with the government agency launching $667 million in funding through its ReConnect Program.

The infrastructure program, comprised of grants, loans, and a combination of the two, will serve 22 states and the Marshall Islands, focusing on areas that lack access to internet speeds of at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 20Mbps upload — the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) speed minimums are 25Mbps and 3Mbps, respectively. 

As reported by the Verge, the Scott County Telephone Cooperative in Virginia will receive one of the largest grants at $25 million, with a goal of connecting 17,000 people, 1,018 businesses, 37 farms, and 49 educational facilities. A nearly $25 million grant to Star Telephone Membership Corporation will serve Bladen, Columbus, and Sampson counties in North Carolina; in Oregon, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative also will receive nearly $25 million to benefit more than 2,200 people, 50 business, 205 farms, and one educational facility.

The program provides specific 100-percent-funded grant opportunities for Alaska Native corporations, tribal governments, colonias, regions known as “persistent poverty areas,” and socially vulnerable communities.

The USDA’s funding source is the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which originally allocated $65 billion to expanding affordable, high-speed broadband access to all Americans. According to the White House guidebook on the law: “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help ensure that every American has access to reliable high-speed internet through a historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment. The legislation will also help lower prices for internet service and help close the digital divide, so that more Americans can make full use of internet access.”

The deal provides funding streams for President Joe Biden’s Internet For All initiative, a nationwide effort to reach universal internet connectivity by 2030. “According to the latest OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] data,” the White House guidebook reads, “among 35 countries studied, the United States has the second highest broadband costs.”

In June, the Biden-Harris administration announced that $42 billion of the infrastructure deal would be divided among states for high-speed broadband projects, known as the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The projects and allocated funding were guided by a newly-released FCC coverage map used to identify low-access areas.

That same month, the administration unveiled a $1 billion allocation to its Middle Mile program. The funding seeks to expand internet access to underserved areas across 35 states and Puerto Rico using what’s known as the “middle miles” of broadband cable networks, or miles of historically missing connections that cut off many regions from market-based, high-speed internet.

The Internet For All initiative also provides funding and resources to address digital equity, including the 2021 Digital Equity Act — a $2.75 billion allocation to fund three grant opportunities for projects that promote digital equity and inclusion.

“The reality is, we have faced some challenging times in rural places, and this is a president who believes strongly in ensuring that investments are made in all parts of the country from the most-populated urban centers to the most remote rural places,” said USDA Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a press call on Friday, as reported by the Verge.

In addition to large-scale infrastructure projects to close the digital divide across the U.S., the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided support to individuals and households struggling to pay for consistent internet access. The FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program, initiated by the 2021 deal, received a $14.2 billion expansion to continue providing subsidized internet access to low-income homes and tribal communities.

Learn more about the ReConnect Program on the USDA website.

The Barbie movie soundtrack delivered banger after banger thanks to the likes of Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish, but the award for surprise showstopper goes to Ryan Gosling’s heartfelt ’80s power ballad “I’m Just Ken.”

The song — featuring a sick guitar solo courtesy of Guns N’ Roses’ Slash — plays over a beach battle between the Kens, which then fades into a Singin’ in the Rain-esque dream ballet. It’s a standout sequence in a film full of standouts — and what better way to celebrate it than by watching a behind-the-scenes video of how it all came together?

A new music video/featurette unveils footage of Gosling rehearsing his Kenergetic dance moves, as well as his fellow Kens Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, and Scott Evans recording backing vocals. But the greatest delight may well be watching Greta Gerwig direct the sequence, smiling and laughing along with her cast as she surveys the musical greatness she’s created. It’s the kind of movie magic you need to see to believe.

Barbie is now in theaters.