Quordle today - hints and answers for Monday, May 1 (game #462)

It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints - now with added Daily Sequence answers! 

Yes, that's right: the makers of Quordle have a new game, which sees you complete four Wordle puzzles consecutively. The twist is that the letters you've already used on the first game are repeated on the second and so on. 

It's good fun, but also difficult - so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you'll probably need some for Quordle and the Daily Sequence too. 

I'm a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who's been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #462 and the answers to the Daily Sequence. 

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers. 

Quordle today (game #462) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too). 

Quordle today (game #462) - hint #2 - total vowels

What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?

• The total number of vowels across today's Quordle answers is 8.

Quordle today (game #462) - hint #3 - repeated letters

Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 0.

Quordle today (game #462) - hint #4 - total letters

How many different letters are used in Quordle today?

• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 12.

Quordle today (game #462) - hint #5 - uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #462) - hint #6 - starting letters (1)

Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #462) - hint #7 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• E

• A

• B

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #462) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #462, are…

• ETHIC
• ALIKE
• BIRTH
• SLAIN

Today's Quordle is pretty straightforward, but today's Quordle Daily Sequence may prove to be a bit tougher. 

Let's start with the standard version. All four words are pretty common, there are no repeated letters, no uncommon letters and nothing to make it too tough. All found all four with no drama and with two guesses remaining.

The Daily Sequence definitely required more thought; I get the impression the puzzle-setters are choosing potentially difficult words here. Each of today's quartet includes a repeated letter, while one of them, SALSA has two repeats. I found all four there, too, but I needed to work for it.   

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

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Daily Sequence today (game #462) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #462, are…

• SALSA
• WHOOP
• TRITE
• DENSE

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Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #461, Sunday 30 April: STOUT, GROUT, RALPH, RIGOR
• Quordle #460, Saturday 29 April: SCOUR, BLUSH, WHINE, ELIDE
• Quordle #459, Friday 28 April: TRITE, SLEEK, ALTAR, VOTER
• Quordle #458, Thursday 27 April: QUASI, PLUSH, CHUTE, SOAPY
• Quordle #457, Wednesday 26 April: PARKA, SPINY, BUSHY, CHAIR
• Quordle #456, Tuesday 25 April: CREST, SHRUB, CREDO, BELOW
• Quordle #455, Monday 24 April: DEUCE, BEAST, NOISY, YOUNG
• Quordle #454, Sunday 23 April: FALSE, LUSTY, EMPTY, FLESH
• Quordle #453, Saturday 22 April: LIMIT, IRONY, TERRA, ARBOR
• Quordle #452, Friday 21 April: WARTY, SEVER, KNAVE, PUBIC
• Quordle #451, Thursday 20 April: JELLY, PRONG, GLOBE, BLOOM
• Quordle #450, Wednesday 19 April: PURGE, OPINE, LILAC, CHEAP
• Quordle #449, Tuesday 18 April: MOLAR, PROBE, DRIER, BORNE
• Quordle #448, Monday 17 April: ASSAY, SLANT, NADIR, DENIM
• Quordle #447, Sunday 16 April: SLATE, BENCH, QUASH, FOGGY
• Quordle #446, Saturday 15 April: HAZEL, BERET, FALSE, COVEN
• Quordle #445, Friday 14 April: BROWN, PLAZA, DRUNK, DODGE
• Quordle #444, Thursday 13 April: DELVE, PIXEL, MINOR, CLOAK
• Quordle #443, Wednesday 12 April: INCUR, DRUNK, COVEN, THERE
• Quordle #442, Tuesday 11 April: CHIME, DRAIN, WHOSE, BOXER

Quordle FAQs: Everything you need to know

What is Quordle?

Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar. 

It's played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year. 

As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.

The website also includes a practice mode - which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! - and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements - specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.

Oh, and it's difficult. Really difficult.

What are the Quordle rules?

The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…

4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two. 

5. Answers are never plural.

6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance.

8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle's Hard mode.

9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.

10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.

What is a good Quordle strategy?

Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can't blindly throw letters at it and expect to win - you'll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That's the case in Wordle too, of course, but it's even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won't want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options - you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe - but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you're faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options - for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH - you'll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It's risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it's the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure - you simply don't have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Leaked Design Renders Hint at Larger, Revamped External Display

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 display specifications have been leaked online, alongside detailed renders of the upcoming handset. This foldable phone could feature an external screen that is considerably larger than its predecessor and slightly bigger than the Oppo Find N2 Flip.

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I found the cheapest 8K monitor but there’s just a tiny problem

Television sets make great monitors (but not vice versa), I know a thing or two about that, which is why the Samsung QN700B Neo, the cheapest 8K TV right now, is a great choice if you’re looking for the most affordable 8K monitor on the market. This 55-inch QLED TV is on sale at Best Buy for only $1299.99, a saving of $700 off its SRP.

For the money, the specs of the QN700B are spectacular: according to Hamish Hector, the AV expert TechRadar, with Samsung's impressive Neo QLED technology, you can expect bright images with fairly decent contrast in darker scenes. The contrast won't be quite as good as standard OLED TV - or one of Samsung's rumored QD-OLED screens - but there are still plenty of great reasons to opt for the QN700B..

It will not be a match for the best monitor for photo editing or the best monitor for video editing but if you’re looking for a business monitor or something that can display a LOT of information with a good (rather than perfect) image quality, then it should be on top of your list except for a small problem; it may be too big for you to handle.

You see, it is 30.5-inch high with a width of 48.2-inch (and just to confirm, its diagonal is only 54.6-inch rather than 55-inch, a rounding up trick used by many manufacturers). That TV takes a LOT of real estate on a desk so make sure that your desk has enough space and can support its weight (almost 54-pounds). Don’t expect any tilt or rotation options (unless you want to have it wall mounted via its VESA mount).

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The 8K advantage

8K means that the TV will have a resolution that's four times higher than 4K. Rather than being 3840 x 2160 pixels, it's twice as long horizontally and vertically (7680 x 4320) - resulting in four times as many pixels overall. The benefit of this more dense pixel count is that images will become even more sharp and clear than what we've seen before.

A 55-inch display 8K is the exact equivalent of four 4K 27.5-inch screens or 16 full HD panels with a 14-inch diagonal. This could be a game changer for your productivity (if your eyes can cope with the pixel density) as you’d no longer need to deal with monitor arms, thick bezel or compatibility with multiple monitors. One single pane to rule them all.

You also have four HDMI 2.1 ports, Bluetooth 5.2, a built-in microphone, three USB ports, an Ethernet port, Wi-Fi and an SPDIF connector. Audio is handled by four speakers offering 60W of power in total and Dolby Atmos support.

Samsung offers only one year warranty but we strongly recommend taking an extra protection plan via its Geeksquad plan, especially useful as technicians will come to you for any issues rather than having to bring the TV in store. The 5-year plan costs $299 and is the best value for money.

Remember that while you may not need something to match our best business PC to run 8K resolution if all you care about are productivity tools (think email services or spreadsheets), things will be different for creative services (Photoshop or Premiere Pro) and games.

If you’re looking for something speedier?

Solidigm is clearing out old Intel SSD with the 670p selling for $75.99, just a dollar more than its Silicon Power rival. It is much faster (3.5GBps/2.7GBps on read/write); however because it uses QLC, its endurance is lower at just 740TBW, almost 40% less than Silicon Power’s. Just bear in mind though that when it launched in February 2021, just over two years ago, it retailed for a staggering $330.

The 670p is one of the fastest PCIe 3.0 drives around so you have to move to PCIe 4.0 SSDs to get even faster models. The Fanxiang S660, currently available at Amazon for $79.19 with a 10% discount voucher, is the fastest cheap SSD we could find, thanks in part to its SLC cache. It claims to deliver read/write speeds of 4.8GBps/4.2GBps with a 5-year/1400 TBW warranty. We like the act that it comes with a bundled heatsink (great for PS5 SSD upgrades) but others will balk at the lack of reviews and brand pedigree from this Chinese company.

Want to buy something even faster? 

At just under $98 (down from $111.99 after a 10% discount coupon), the S770 (the faster sibling of the aforementioned S660) is the fastest SSD under $100. We haven’t found an independent review of the S770 (or indeed any Fanxiang SSD) but the numbers that this SSD brings to the table are ludicrously good - at least on paper: its 7.3GBps/6.8GBps read/write speeds with 1400 TBW make it almost as good as the Samsung 990 Pro. It comes with 2GB DRAM and uses 128-layer YMTC NAND and like the S660, has a heatsink. 

Can't buy from BestBuy?

Check out the best prices for the Samsung QN700B (55-inch) that we found in the country where you live.

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Planning on traveling or cooking? ChatGPT-powered Bing AI just got more useful for you

Microsoft just let us know how it has been making the popular Bing chatbot more helpful in some areas, and most recently there have been improvements to how the AI handles queries about traveling and recipes for cooking.

In a blog post summarizing improvements made over the past week, Microsoft noted that steps have been taken to give its ChatGPT-powered AI better answers on those two topics.

In both cases, the software giant further observes that it has “improved the accuracy of citations” and that with recipes, improved ‘grounding data’ from recipe content providers has been used, with citations directing you to the provider’s site rather than Bing.com (avoiding poaching traffic).

Expect more tweaking in these areas based on user feedback, Microsoft tells us.

Elsewhere, the amount of ‘end-of-conversation triggers’ have been reduced, meaning instances where the Bing AI just clams up and ends a chat session prematurely (telling you something like: “I’m sorry but I prefer not to continue this conversation”).

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Analysis: Bing bolstered, but what about Bard?

It’s good to see conversation-ending errors getting reduced, and this is something Microsoft has been regularly engaging in over time, so slowly but surely, the number of times you witness the Bing chatbot falling over and just closing a session should be fewer and fewer.

It’s also interesting to see Microsoft gradually honing the Bing AI in specific categories – recipes and traveling in this case as mentioned, but before now, we’ve seen further work on making the chatbot smarter with queries pertaining to your local area (like ‘where’s the nearest grocery store?’ for example). Not to mention improvements on the maths front, and with queries relating to the current (and breaking) news.

There’s a lot going on to push the Bing AI forward, it seems, and we’re not hearing nearly as much chatter about the progress of Google’s rival AI, Bard. That said, Bard is now starting to get meaningful updates – and full documentation of them – starting with various performance improvements and beefing up the variety of the chatbot’s responses. In short, this is important tinkering albeit at a basic level, and hopefully Google can build on that considerably from here.

There’s certainly no shortage of effort to drive forward with Bard from what we’ve heard via the rumor mill, with Google redeploying staff to focus on the AI (at the expense of Google Assistant, apparently).

Via MS Power User

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Google Pixel 7a design and colors leak out in unboxing images

We're probably only days away from the official unveiling of the Google Pixel 7a, and now unboxing images of the mid-range phone have leaked out online, showing off the design of the handset and two of the colors it's going to be available in.

The snaps have appeared courtesy of seasoned tipster SnoopyTech (via 9to5Google), and they reveal a shape, size and aesthetic that's pretty much as we expected. The familiar Pixel camera bump is visible on the back, for example.

We get a look at the dark gray version of the Pixel 7a, which will apparently be called Cobalt, and the pale blue edition that will be called Arctic Blue. This shade of blue is new for the Pixel series, and has appeared in previously leaked images too.

Pixel 7a pic.twitter.com/FBaw6qTGSqApril 28, 2023

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What's in the box?

The photos also show us the straightforward packaging that the Google Pixel 7a is going to come in. As with recent models like the Google Pixel 6a, don't expect there to be a power adapter in the box – you'll need to buy one separately.

That images like these are appearing now suggests a launch is close. All the signs are that Google is going to announce the phone at the Google IO 2023 event, which gets underway with a keynote presentation on May 10.

We will of course be covering the event live, and bringing you news of everything that Google announces. There should be lots more information about what's coming with Android 14, as well as quite possibly the Google Pixel Fold.

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Analysis: the Pixel 7a looks promising

There's no way you can really judge a phone before it's even come out of course, but everything we've heard so far about the Pixel 7a – from fairly reliable if unofficial sources – suggests that Google has produced another promising phone in the Pixel series.

The Google Pixel 7 and the Google Pixel 7 Pro impressed us with what they had to offer, on the whole, and so a mid-range version of these phones that makes some sensible trade-offs between performance and price should be an appealing proposition.

When it comes to upgrades over the Pixel 6a, the specs under the hood are going to be significantly better, and there's also a rumor that Face Unlock will be coming to the Pixel 7a – that would be a first for this mid-range series of handsets, and most welcome.

Only a few days ago we saw the Pixel 7a leak out in a rather attractive orange color, and we like the look of that as well. As always, the price point is going to be very important, so we hope that the phone goes on sale for a reasonable sum.

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Leaked Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 renders show off a familiar-looking design

While we wait patiently for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 to get its grand unveiling, some unofficial renders of the foldable have appeared online. These are third-party renders, based on information from a variety of sources that has leaked out so far.

The images are courtesy of the well-known leak-monger OnLeaks and Smartprix, and they show a phone that's very much like the Galaxy Z Fold 4 that was launched last year. It looks like there won't be any massive design changes this time around.

That's partly to be expected – there aren't that many ways you can design a foldable phone, really. One change is on the rear camera module, where the flash has moved to the side of the camera lenses rather than sitting underneath them.

Good morning #FutureSquad! Here comes your very first look at the #Samsung #GalaxyZFold5 (360° video + stunning 5K renders + dimensions)!On behalf of @Smartprix 👉🏻 https://t.co/CP8EVA9eQB pic.twitter.com/QAnWJtSOoBApril 29, 2023

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Dimension details

What will be different, apparently, are the dimensions of the device. The Z Fold 5 apparently measures 154.9 mm x 129.9 mm x 6.3 mm when unfolded, compared with 155.1 mm x 130.1 mm x 6.3 mm for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.

When folded up, the new phone is said to be a few millimeters thinner than its predecessor, thanks to the introduction of a waterdrop hinge that means both sides of the screen are going to be able to lie fully flat against each other.

It would seem that the biggest upgrade is going to be on the inside, with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 rumored to be powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. As per the most recent report, the Z Fold 5 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 could launch before the end of July.

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Analysis: design changes cost money

It always adds a little bit of extra interest to a phone launch when there are significant design changes to talk about – but as we mentioned earlier, it's hard to see too many ways to innovate when it comes to two slabs of glass and metal folding against each other.

What's more, design changes cost money. If the Z Fold 5 looks similar to the Z Fold 4, then Samsung may well already be able to use existing components and manufacturing lines to get the handset out to the masses.

When your profits have been declining as fast as Samsung's over recent months, saving money is important. Let's hope that some of the savings are passed on to consumers – the Z Fold 5 is rumored to cost the same as its predecessor (from $1,799 / £1,649 / AU$2,499).

It looks as though we might have to wait for next year for the design of this foldable to be significantly different: the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is reportedly going to come with a "major form factor change", but what exactly that looks like remains to be seen.

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Quordle today - hints and answers for Sunday, April 30 (game #461)

It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints - now with added Daily Sequence answers! 

Yes, that's right: the makers of Quordle have a new game, which sees you complete four Wordle puzzles consecutively. The twist is that the letters you've already used on the first game are repeated on the second and so on. 

It's good fun, but also difficult - so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you'll probably need some for Quordle and the Daily Sequence too. 

I'm a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who's been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #461 and the answers to the Daily Sequence. 

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers. 

Quordle today (game #461) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too). 

Quordle today (game #461) - hint #2 - total vowels

What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?

• The total number of vowels across today's Quordle answers is 7.

Quordle today (game #461) - hint #3 - repeated letters

Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #461) - hint #4 - total letters

How many different letters are used in Quordle today?

• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 11.

Quordle today (game #461) - hint #5 - uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #461) - hint #6 - starting letters (1)

Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #461) - hint #7 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• S

• G

• R

• R

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #461) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #461, are…

• STOUT
• GROUT
• RALPH
• RIGOR

Today's Quordle is a real mixed bag. Two of the answers, STOUT and GROUT, end in the same three letters, so once you found one, you'll have been in a good place to find the other. But on the flipside, STOUT has a repeated T, RIGOR has a repeated R and RALPH is not necessarily a word you'd expect to find in Quordle. 

Meanwhile, the Daily Sequence (see below) has four reasonably straightforward answers, although SHUCK might not be the most obvious word in the English language.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

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Daily Sequence today (game #461) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #461, are…

• SAVOR
• SHUCK
• RURAL
• CORAL

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Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #460, Saturday 29 April: SCOUR, BLUSH, WHINE, ELIDE
• Quordle #459, Friday 28 April: TRITE, SLEEK, ALTAR, VOTER
• Quordle #458, Thursday 27 April: QUASI, PLUSH, CHUTE, SOAPY
• Quordle #457, Wednesday 26 April: PARKA, SPINY, BUSHY, CHAIR
• Quordle #456, Tuesday 25 April: CREST, SHRUB, CREDO, BELOW
• Quordle #455, Monday 24 April: DEUCE, BEAST, NOISY, YOUNG
• Quordle #454, Sunday 23 April: FALSE, LUSTY, EMPTY, FLESH
• Quordle #453, Saturday 22 April: LIMIT, IRONY, TERRA, ARBOR
• Quordle #452, Friday 21 April: WARTY, SEVER, KNAVE, PUBIC
• Quordle #451, Thursday 20 April: JELLY, PRONG, GLOBE, BLOOM
• Quordle #450, Wednesday 19 April: PURGE, OPINE, LILAC, CHEAP
• Quordle #449, Tuesday 18 April: MOLAR, PROBE, DRIER, BORNE
• Quordle #448, Monday 17 April: ASSAY, SLANT, NADIR, DENIM
• Quordle #447, Sunday 16 April: SLATE, BENCH, QUASH, FOGGY
• Quordle #446, Saturday 15 April: HAZEL, BERET, FALSE, COVEN
• Quordle #445, Friday 14 April: BROWN, PLAZA, DRUNK, DODGE
• Quordle #444, Thursday 13 April: DELVE, PIXEL, MINOR, CLOAK
• Quordle #443, Wednesday 12 April: INCUR, DRUNK, COVEN, THERE
• Quordle #442, Tuesday 11 April: CHIME, DRAIN, WHOSE, BOXER
• Quordle #441, Monday 10 April: THUMB, CHESS, SYRUP, HOTEL

Quordle FAQs: Everything you need to know

What is Quordle?

Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar. 

It's played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year. 

As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.

The website also includes a practice mode - which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! - and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements - specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.

Oh, and it's difficult. Really difficult.

What are the Quordle rules?

The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…

4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two. 

5. Answers are never plural.

6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance.

8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle's Hard mode.

9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.

10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.

What is a good Quordle strategy?

Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can't blindly throw letters at it and expect to win - you'll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That's the case in Wordle too, of course, but it's even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won't want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options - you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe - but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you're faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options - for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH - you'll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It's risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it's the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure - you simply don't have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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This fake Android Minecraft app is just chock-full of adware

Millions of gamers have been tricked into downloading fake Minecraft Android apps that run ads in the background, earning serious profit for the developers. 

Cybersecurity researchers from McAfee recently discovered 38 games posing as Minecraft for the Android platform, running adverts in the background without user knowledge, or consent.

Of the 38 games, the most popular ones are Block Box Master Diamond (10 million downloads), Craft Sword Mini Fun (5 million), Block Box Skyland Sword (5 million), and Craft Monster Crazy Sword (5 million). 

Games play as advertised

Block Pro Forrest Diamond, Block Game Skyland Forrest, Block Rainbow Sword Dragon, Craft Rainbow Mini Builder, and Block Forrest Tree Crazy all have one million downloads each. They were all found on the Google Play Store, and not on third-party, or obscure repositories.

Aside from the smartphone heating up, or performing somewhat slower than what one might expect, there is no way for the user to actually know they’re being served ads, the researchers said. Yet, even these two symptoms might be written off as normal behavior when running a mobile game. To make matters even more difficult - the apps all perform as advertised - the users actually get to play the game.

Read more

> This Android malware is so dangerous, even Google is worried

> These malicious Android apps have been downloaded over a million times

> Check out the best firewalls around

Most victims were located either in the United States, or China, the researchers say. Brazil, Iran, the UK, and Germany, were also bigger victims. 

Minecraft is one of the most popular games in the world, today. It’s a sandbox game that allows players to gather resources and create their own environment. There are two modes in the game, a survival mode in which players are required to gather resources, build the world and survive against hostile mobs, and a creative mode in which players get all the resources they need to build whatever they imagine.

Minecraft is currently the best-selling video game of all time, with 238 million copies sold. According to ActivePlayer, it has more than 170 million monthly active players. 

• These are the best malware removal tools right now

Via: BleepingComputer

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Realme 11 Pro+ Display Specifications Confirmed Officially; Appears on Geekbench Listing Ahead of Launch

Realme 11 series smartphones, comprising Realme 11, Realme 11 Pro, and Realme 11 Pro+, are confirmed to launch on May 10 in China. While the smartphone's debut is still more than a week away, the company has revealed the display specifications of the Realme 11 Pro+ via a Weibo post. Additionally, the smartphone has also appeared on the Geekbench listing.

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Quordle today - hints and answers for Saturday, April 29 (game #460)

It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints - now with added Daily Sequence answers! 

Yes, that's right: the makers of Quordle have a new game, which sees you complete four Wordle puzzles consecutively. The twist is that the letters you've already used on the first game are repeated on the second and so on. 

It's good fun, but also difficult - so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you'll probably need some for Quordle and the Daily Sequence too. 

I'm a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who's been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #460 and the answers to the Daily Sequence. 

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers. 

Quordle today (game #460) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too). 

Quordle today (game #460) - hint #2 - total vowels

What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?

• The total number of vowels across today's Quordle answers is 8.

Quordle today (game #460) - hint #3 - repeated letters

Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #460) - hint #4 - total letters

How many different letters are used in Quordle today?

• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 13.

Quordle today (game #460) - hint #5 - uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #460) - hint #6 - starting letters (1)

Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #460) - hint #7 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• S

• B

• W

• E

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #460) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #460, are…

• SCOUR
• BLUSH
• WHINE
• ELIDE

Today's Quordle has one very difficult answer and three that aren't so bad. BLUSH, SCOUR and WHINE are all fairly straightforward: common words and mostly common letters, no real complications. But ELIDE… Well, that's not a common word. In fact, the very helpful website wordandphrase.com says it ranks as 31,774th most frequently used word in the English language. In contrast, WHINE comes in at 8,055th while both BLUSH and SCOUR are in the 9,000s. Oh, and for good measure it has a repeated E, too.

Fortunately, I found the Daily Sequence (see below) a lot easier. I played it once again as four distinct Wordle puzzles, rather than starting with three set words as I do in the standard Quordle, and completed it today in seven guesses, my best result yet.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

---

Daily Sequence today (game #460) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #460, are…

• ELBOW
• TOOTH
• ALLOY
• SCONE

---

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #459, Friday 28 April: TRITE, SLEEK, ALTAR, VOTER
• Quordle #458, Thursday 27 April: QUASI, PLUSH, CHUTE, SOAPY
• Quordle #457, Wednesday 26 April: PARKA, SPINY, BUSHY, CHAIR
• Quordle #456, Tuesday 25 April: CREST, SHRUB, CREDO, BELOW
• Quordle #455, Monday 24 April: DEUCE, BEAST, NOISY, YOUNG
• Quordle #454, Sunday 23 April: FALSE, LUSTY, EMPTY, FLESH
• Quordle #453, Saturday 22 April: LIMIT, IRONY, TERRA, ARBOR
• Quordle #452, Friday 21 April: WARTY, SEVER, KNAVE, PUBIC
• Quordle #451, Thursday 20 April: JELLY, PRONG, GLOBE, BLOOM
• Quordle #450, Wednesday 19 April: PURGE, OPINE, LILAC, CHEAP
• Quordle #449, Tuesday 18 April: MOLAR, PROBE, DRIER, BORNE
• Quordle #448, Monday 17 April: ASSAY, SLANT, NADIR, DENIM
• Quordle #447, Sunday 16 April: SLATE, BENCH, QUASH, FOGGY
• Quordle #446, Saturday 15 April: HAZEL, BERET, FALSE, COVEN
• Quordle #445, Friday 14 April: BROWN, PLAZA, DRUNK, DODGE
• Quordle #444, Thursday 13 April: DELVE, PIXEL, MINOR, CLOAK
• Quordle #443, Wednesday 12 April: INCUR, DRUNK, COVEN, THERE
• Quordle #442, Tuesday 11 April: CHIME, DRAIN, WHOSE, BOXER
• Quordle #441, Monday 10 April: THUMB, CHESS, SYRUP, HOTEL
• Quordle #440, Sunday 9 April: VERGE, CAMEL, PUTTY, GRASS

Quordle FAQs: Everything you need to know

What is Quordle?

Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar. 

It's played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year. 

As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.

The website also includes a practice mode - which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! - and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements - specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.

Oh, and it's difficult. Really difficult.

What are the Quordle rules?

The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…

4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two. 

5. Answers are never plural.

6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance.

8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle's Hard mode.

9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.

10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.

What is a good Quordle strategy?

Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can't blindly throw letters at it and expect to win - you'll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That's the case in Wordle too, of course, but it's even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won't want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options - you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe - but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you're faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options - for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH - you'll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It's risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it's the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure - you simply don't have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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Controversial hard drive vendor breaks new record with cheapest HDD yet

Amazon sells a 14TB MaxDigitalData enterprise hard disk drive for under $120. Not only does it come with a full five-year warranty but you can also grab a 3-year data recovery plan from Amazon for a mere $14.99 and get it serviced by Seagate’s Rescue Data data recovery service should something bad happen to it.

At less than $8.60 per TB (unformatted capacity), this is the cheapest hard disk drive per TB we’ve managed to source and that’s cheaper than any optical media. In comparison, Blu-ray, for example, is about $15 per TB, almost twice the price of MaxDigitalData’s offering, when purchased in 25GB bulk BD-R spindles.

Now there’s a few things to highlight; MaxDigitalData (MDD) is not what you’d call a household name. It is not one of the three recognized hard disk drive vendors which would include Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba. Instead, MDD - which is a white label brand owned by Goharddrive - sources stocks of what looks like new but EOL (end of line) hard disk drives.

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MDD, like the popular EOL HDD vendor Water Panther, sells both refurbished and non-refurbished models so make sure you select the right one. Confusingly, there is another 14TB model from MaxDigitalData, the MD14000GSA12872, that costs the same but has a lower warranty.

The MD14TGSA25672E is likely to be a rebadged SATA-based Western Digital DC HC530 with a 7200RPM rotational speed, 256MB cache and a whopping 550TB/year 24x7 workload rating, making it ideal for DVR, CCTV, surveillance etc. 

This particular model have been a favorite for cloud storage providers as well as hyperscalers (think Facebook, Google, Microsoft or Amazon) and its enterprise label means that it is geared towards very long term reliability.

Should you want a more recognized brand, then the Seagate Barracuda ST80000DM04 is the next cheapest model at just under $100 for 8TB (under $12.50 per TB). This is a slower hard disk drive (5400RPM) with 256MB cache and a big name to back it.

Don’t forget the backup

No storage device is 100% secure, which is why backing up your data makes so much more sense, especially when we’re talking of terabytes of data. A Network Attached Storage (NAS) device with RAID capabilities can help mitigate existing risks of data loss, especially when paired with a cloud backup solution like iDrive, Internxt or BackBlaze. 

Why is MDD controversial?

Search for MaxDigitalData online and Reddit is your first result. Not what you’d expected from a hard disk drive manufacturer whose products will store your data. That said, the fact that it doesn’t have a website may raise some alarm but there’s enough safeguards (refund policy, warranty) to reassure us that if something goes bad, there will be an escape route. 

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Smartphones of the future may have inflatable keyboards on OLED displays

Would it be possible to have a physical keyboard on a smartphone while keeping the touchscreen intact? The Future Interfaces Group (FIG) from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) seems to think so as the researchers recently demonstrated such a keyboard can exist via inflatable buttons on an OLED screen.

This type of technology is called Flat Panel Haptics and has been in the works at CMU for the past 15 years. The new breakthrough is that FIG has been able to develop a Flat Panel Haptics board five millimeters thick by developing an Embedded Electro-Osmotic Pump or EEOPs. According to the demo video, the EEOPs can manipulate a special pumping fluid by running an electrical current through it. The pumps sit between a reservoir of this fluid on the bottom and a flexible surface on top. Running electricity through the stack allows the pumps to inflate a rigid button on top up to five millimeters in height.

FIG published an accompanying paper explaining this tech in detail and revealing that the group used soft silicone as the top layer in the initial prototypes. While current AMOLED screens aren’t as flexible as that silicone, they're apparently flexible enough to accommodate transforming portions of the screen into a full-fledged QWERTY keyboard. The buttons “can reveal [themselves] when needed and sink back when [they’re] not.” FIG was also able to repurpose the EEOPs for other things like pumping an app icon in and out whenever you have pending notifications. Large buttons can be created, too, for the Snooze bar on alarms. They, too, can be animated or stay “inflated until pressed.” 

Real-world applications

An inflatable keyboard isn't just cool, it could have real-world applications. First, it can help blind people use the best phones better as the keyboard can provide a physical indicator for on-screen content alongside help from AI assistants like Siri (although Siri is falling behind). Plus, the tactile feedback may lead to more immersive mobile gaming as players can receive physical feedback through the buttons. Digital controls don't hold a candle to something physical, speaking from experience.

But will phone companies be interested in inflatable buttons? It's hard to say. All the way back in 2008, there was the BlackBerry Storm which had its touchscreen double as a physical button. This feature was widely panned in initial reviews as it made writing texts way more difficult than it needed to be. Since then, phone manufacturers have avoided like the plague physical buttons on touchscreens, but FIG’s Flat Panel Haptics could change that attitude. Devices would have a full keyboard instead of one big button.

There’s still plenty of work to do for FIG as you can imagine. In the paper, the researchers recognize several limitations like the shaky durability of these buttons and how much power it would take to run everything. Plus, it would make phones more bulky so perhaps tablets are a better fit. We'll just have to wait and see.

Speaking of tablets, check out TechRadar’s latest roundup of the best iPad deals for April 2023.  

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Samsung's art-inspired Frame TV opts for aesthetic upgrade over hardware boost

Samsung has quietly launched the 2023 version of its Frame QLED (Quantum Light Emitting Diode) Smart TV line with the company closely adhering to the idea of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. 

The Frame series is a bit of an oddball in the realm of smart TVs as it has exclusive access to Samsung’s Art Store, a subscription service where owners can purchase pieces of digital versions of famous artworks. These TVs double as decorative pieces and the 2023 rendition is no different. Each display can be customized by installing magnetic wooden bezels onto its frame, or, as is the case with this year’s Frame, a metallic one sporting a Sand Gold finish for that extra pizzazz.

Beyond the aesthetic changes, the 2023 Frame is nearly identical to the 2022 model. You still get a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels with a refresh rate of 60Hz. You still get all of the bells and whistles like HDR10 Plus, an Anti-Reflection matte screen to “reduce the effects of glare”, plus a motion sensor to “display [art] when you’re in the room”. And support for Quantum Dot technology for outputting vibrant colors is migrating over too. 

Availability

At the time of this writing, the 2023 Frame TV is seeing a limited release. In the United States, you can purchase just the 32-inch model for $599; shipping out on May 1. Bezels are currently available for pre-order in wood only for $99.99 in three different colors: white, teak (which is a light brown), and dark brown. The Sand Gold metal bezel won’t be out until June 2023, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer.

For those in the United Kingdom, they have way more options. Interested buyers there can buy from six different sizes ranging from 32 inches to 85 inches, except the 50-inch model. That one is unavailable at this time. Prices for the TVs start at £549. The metal bezels are indeed available in the UK except for the 32-inch Frame TV. If you want the metal option, you’ll need to purchase the 43-inch model or anything bigger. Prices for the decorative bezels start at £89. We should also mention the full range of Frame TVs is available in Germany but on Amazon instead. Prices start at €685.

We asked Samsung if it has plans to expand the number of Frame TV sizes in the United States. Will the US get the full range or be stuck with the 32-inch screen? And whether or not there are plans for an international release. This story will be updated if we hear back.

Check out TechRadar’s list of the best TVs for 2023. We cover a wide range from low-budget to top-tier 8K displays.  

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Google Pixel 7a Leaked Render Shows Off New Coral Shade, May Debut in Four Colour Options

Google Pixel 7a launch is expected to take place on May 10. Ahead of an official unveiling, a new render of the handset has surfaced online, suggesting a new colour option for the handset. Google is said to bring the new smartphone in four distinct shades.

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Ring's new Indoor Cam model adds small yet important change to flagship series

Smart home security brand Ring is updating its flagship Indoor Cam with a brand new, never-before-seen feature on its devices: a shutter.

Admittedly, that is a little hyperbolic on our part, but it’s true. The Indoor Cam 2nd Gen is the first of the company’s lineup to come with a physical shutter pre-attached. Before this, you either had to use the official app to turn a Ring camera off or purchase the Privacy Kit to install a shutter; however, that can only stop the video.

Closing the new Privacy Cover, as it’s officially called, on the improved model actually disables both audio and video recording. All you have to do is flick the cover shut. It is possible, according to the product listing, to remove the shutter for constant surveillance. The only other major difference with the new Indoor Cam is its “flexible, swivel mount” allowing it to be placed on a “wall or ceiling beam" for a bird’s eye view. 

Back in late March, the company placed the previously free Home Mode behind a paywall. The feature allowed people to disable in-house devices so they could walk around without setting off the whole house. With the Privacy Shutter, you could argue, Ring is attempting to walk back its decision a bit by adding an easier way to turn off Indoor Cams.

Availability

Apart from the shutter and mount, the second-generation camera is pretty much identical hardware-wise to Ring’s first generation Indoor Cam. It can record 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixel) HD video and comes with color night vision, motion capture, two-way talk, plus a built-in siren to scare off would-be thieves. Other reports claim the new model supports the newly released SOS for Cameras feature, which requires a Ring Protect Pro subscription to use. Basically, it adds a panic button to the Ring app for requesting emergency services at the smartphone’s location.

The Indoor Cam, 2nd Gen is currently available for pre-order at $59.99 in black and white on Ring’s website. Buying one will also net you a free month-long trial of the company’s Protect plan. Pre-orders ship out on May 24 to people living in the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) as well as Canada except for far-off rural areas. If you live on Baffin Island in Nunavut, you’re sadly out of luck. 

However, we did ask Ring if it has plans to expand the availability of the second-generation Indoor Cam to those missing regions plus whether or not the device actually supports SOS for Cameras. This story will be updated at a later time.

If you’re looking to beef up your home security, but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, check out TechRadar’s list of the best Ring video doorbell deals for April. 

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DocuSign turns to AI power for its latest identity check tool

Leading eSign firm DocuSign has launched a new identity verification (IDV) tool powered by AI for EU and UK markets. 

ID Verification for EU Qualified allows a person's identity to be verified remotely, without needing to use video conferencing software or in-person checks, all in a bid to speed up the process considerably

DocuSign claims that the new feature can be used in various documents across numerous industries, such as loan agreements in finance, policy documents and claim forms in Insurance, agreements and witnessing in housing, prescriptions and claims in Healthcare, and contracts in employment matters.

Streamlining verification

What's more, the firm also claims that it meets the "stringent identity verification requirements necessary to be considered a qualified electronic signature (QES), the most rigorous digital signature standard in the EU and UK."

The identity standards as set by the European Standards Organization (ESO) ETSI, as well as those of regional cyber security agencies such as ANSSI in France, are also complied with by the new solution.

read more

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Identity verification can also be completed on Mobile, with an interface designed to work well on such devices. As for the AI, DocuSign says that it uses "liveness detection and selfie comparison" to help combat fraud and acts of identity theft that make use of deep fakes and the like. 

Every signature also comes with a digital certificate, and the verification status is logged in the eSignature Certificate of Completion, which helps when it comes to audits.

“Europe continues to be a key priority for DocuSign, and the launch of IDV for EU Qualified as a homegrown European solution is yet another sign of our strong commitment to the region,” says Allan Thygesen, Chief Executive Officer, DocuSign.

"Trust, security and simplicity are the cornerstones of everything we do, and this latest IDV offering is a perfect example of how we bring these principles to life for our customers."

• DocuSign is also featured in our rundown of the best Best Adobe Sign alternatives

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Nakamichi’s Sonos-stomping Dragon Dolby Atmos soundbar is available for pre-order

Following its fire-breathing debut at CES 2023, Nakamichi’s new Dragon Dolby Atmos soundbar is now available for pre-order. The company is only making 500 units available at the outset, which is likely a good call given the Dragon’s steep $3,500 / £2,800  / AU$5,300 pre-order price.

Nakamichi is pitching the Dragon not so much as a soundbar but rather as a plug-and-play home surround sound system. And while it shares many of the same features found in the best Dolby Atmos soundbars such as upfiring drivers and a central, horizontally arrayed enclosure for the main speakers, this 11.4.6-channel system easily trounces the capabilities of many separate component-based home theater audio systems on specs alone.

Digging into those specs, the Dragon’s main soundbar unit features 14 speakers, four of them up-firing, in a 58-inch wide stainless steel casing. Total system power is specified at 3,000 watts and Nakamichi claims it can hit staggeringly loud 125 dB SPL peaks. There’s onboard support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X Pro processing and it also features aptX HD Bluetooth for music streaming and Dolby Vision and HDR10+ pass-through, along with VRR and ALLM, on its four HDMI 2.1 ports (one with eARC).

One feature that really makes the Dragon system stand out from the crowd is its “Omni-Motion Reference” rear speakers, which have both side- and rear-facing drivers to create a more immersive surround sound experience. These use a pair of 1.5-inch AMT tweeters – a design found in many high-end stereo speakers – along with 3.5-inch woofers and a 3-inch up-firing driver for Atmos height effects that can be rotated up to 180° to best accommodate the listening environment.

The Dragon system also features dual wireless subwoofers, both of which use two 8-inch drivers in a push-pull configuration that’s said to equal the output of four separate subs

Nakamichi’s release of the Dragon coincides with the audio brand’s 75th anniversary. To celebrate, buyers who pre-order the limited edition soundbar system will get a version with a gold plate on the front of the main unit, an etched logo on the remote control, and a behind-the-scenes digital storybook.

A cutaway visualization of the Dragon system's main soundbar unit (Image credit: Nakamichi)

Opinion: Soundbars can be ‘plug-and play surround sound systems’

Soundbars started out as a means to simply augment the audio performance of the best 4K TVs, many of which skimp on speakers out of necessity given their ultra-slim designs. But the soundbar category has since skyrocketed in popularity, with viewers opting for more sophisticated designs like the Sonos Arc and Bose Smart Soundbar 600 that can be paired with wireless subwoofers and surround speakers for a more immersive, home theater-style audio experience.

Just as important, the latest high-end soundbar designs come with up-firing speakers to deliver the height effects in Dolby Atmos soundtracks, something they do by bouncing the sound off your room’s ceiling. With six total up-firing speakers, Nakamichi’s Dragon system promises to not just provide a suggestion of height effects – something that more basic soundbars do – but deliver a full-bore Dolby Atmos audio experience that can rival what you get from a separate speaker system with one of the best A/V receivers.

Is the $3,500 limited edition Dragon system worth the money? I haven’t heard it, and most likely never will since the company is not making Dragons available for review. But I recently tested the JBL 1300X soundbar, a $1,699 / £1,299 / (around AU$2,570) similarly high-end 16-channel system with front and rear-channel up-firing speakers and a powerful subwoofer with a 12-inch driver. The 1300X was the first soundbar that I felt could serve as a satisfactory replacement for my A/V receiver and speakers, and I expect the Dragon would perform equally well if not better.

If you’ve got a large room and money to spare, Nakamichi’s new Dragon soundbar looks like the soundbar to beat for 2023. I’ve not heard of anything this ambitious in the works from any other speaker manufacturer, so the Dragon for now sits alone atop its pile of sonic gold. There are only 500 systems being made, so you’d better act quickly. But if you’re looking for a more modest and affordable soundbar option, check out our guide to the best soundbars.

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iPhones, AirPods Replaced With Replicas by E-Commerce Delivery Executive in Gurugram

A delivery executive of an e-commerce firm allegedly stole 10 iPhones by replacing them with dummy phones on the way to deliver them to the customer here, police said on Thursday. On March 27 delivery executive Lalit was handed over a customer's parcel, which contained 10 iPhones and an AirPods, at his address. However, instead of delivering the parcel, Lalit replace...

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Samsung's Quarterly Profits Down 95 Percent From Last Year; Company Blames Slow Consumer Spending, Chip Glut

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The XGIMI MoGo 2 Series continues to reshape the projector industry, showing how great a portable option can be

XGIMI has a whole host of projectors to cover the home theater spectrum, but its MoGo series has been the most affordable and portable from the brand. And now, with the MoGo 2 Series, upgrades have arrived that you can get your hands on now. The pair of projectors has just gone on sale, letting you get a home theater on-the-go upgrade from $400. 

The MoGo 2 and MoGo 2 Pro may change your understanding of what a portable projector can do. These compact units are small enough to throw into a bag or backpack, and they’ve got all the onboard hardware necessary for you to set up and watch content anywhere you want. You’ll find capable projection, powerful 8-watt speakers with Dolby Audio, a smart TV platform by way of AndroidTV 11.0, and — crucially — the ability to run off of an external power bank lets these projectors go anywhere with you.

(Image credit: XGIMI)

So, turn out the lights or wait until dark and head outside, then get ready to see what the MoGo 2 Series can do. The MoGo 2 Pro will let you tap into standard 2D and even 3D, a rarity for projectors in this price range and even from more expensive models.

XGIMI’s projectors offer Hollywood-grade cinematic visuals alongside that support for 3D movies and can project a 100-inch picture, making it easy to set up for movie night at home. These projectors offer brightness up to 400 ISO Lumens and support HDR10. Pair that with their use of the D65 color temperature standard and 90% coverage of the cinematic DCI-P3 color gamut, and the MoGo 2 Series projectors are ready to show you movies and TV closer to how the creators intended.

It’s up to you whether that cinematic picture is shining big on a projector screen, cast onto the back of a garage, or stretched across your ceiling is up to you. Wherever you choose to shine the MoGo 2 projector, XGIMI’s Intelligent Screen Adaption (ISA) tech is onboard to help make the picture fit with minimal fuss.

(Image credit: XGIMI)

ISA provides automatic keystone and focus adjustment, so your picture will be shaped right and in focus in seconds. If you’re projecting somewhere with objects in the way, ISA will also avoid those obstacles and shrink the image down to fit in the clear space available. The MoGo 2 Pro upgrades to ISA 2.0, which performs these tasks even faster and can detect when someone or a pet is in front of the projector and dim the projection to protect their eyes.

(Image credit: XGIMI)

With Android running on the MoGo 2 Series, you can install streaming apps right onto the projector and access content with just a Wi-Fi or hotspot connection. You can also load up content onto a USB drive. If you want to extend the time you can watch TV and movies away from a power outlet, you can bring as big a USB-C power bank as you want to use with these projectors.

That USB-C port also allows you to pipe in video. With an HDMI 2.0 port as well, you get support for an especially wide variety of video sources, like Blu-ray players, phones, or game consoles. 

With all the features and capabilities packed into these projectors, it's all the more impressive how low XGIMI keeps the prices, letting the company offer a strong value to shoppers. If you’re ready to see what the XGIMI MoGo 2 Series will do for your home (and away-from-home) entertainment, you can pick up the 720p MoGo 2 or 1080p MoGo 2 Pro here.

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