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Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation said it’s pausing planned cuts to its workforce while it waits for resolution in pending legal battles over the Trump administration’s efforts to significantly reduce the size of the federal government.

A spokesperson for the department said May 30 that it’s holding off on reduction-in-force and reorganization plans due to ongoing litigation and will revisit the matter once those issues are worked out. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told employees in a town hall earlier this month that he expected the layoffs to begin at the end of May.

Government agencies across the board were given a directive by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to cut the number of federal employees. Agencies were told to submit reorganization plans by mid-March.

A coalition of federal workers’ unions, nonprofit organizations and municipal governments have challenged the directive in court. On May 9, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted a temporary restraining order to halt the layoffs. On May 22 she extended the pause with a preliminary injunction.

Musk in a post to X earlier this week said he was stepping down from his official role with the government.

Thousands of DOT workers have separately accepted one of two buyouts, or deferred resignation offers, extended since Trump took office that would allow workers to voluntarily resign but continue getting paid through the end of September.

READ MORE: House to Debate Transportation Funding Request for Fiscal ’26

The buyouts have resulted in several notable departures, including the head of the Federal Aviation Administration’s commercial space office, as well as the agency’s top air traffic official.

Privately, some individuals who work for DOT have expressed concern over the possible impact departures of executive officials could have on ongoing projects and regulatory efforts, as well as the institutional knowledge they’re taking with them.

The FAA, in particular, is dealing with a number of high-profile issues, such as air traffic control challenges at a facility that guides planes in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport and the aftermath of a deadly midair collision earlier this year near Washington.

The FAA said in a statement that about 3% of its total 46,000-person workforce have retired or voluntarily resigned. However, it said safety critical personnel have been exempt from hiring freezes and the recent buyouts and that it’s expanding hiring for some of those positions, including air traffic controllers.

At the same time, the regulator can “bring in new talent at the FAA where we are refreshing an organization that is built for the future,” it said.

An AI-powered system could soon take responsibility for evaluating the potential harms and privacy risks of up to 90% of updates made to Meta apps like Instagram and WhatsApp, according to internal documents reportedly viewed by NPR.

NPR says a 2012 agreement between Facebook (now Meta) and the Federal Trade Commission requires the company to conduct privacy reviews of its products, evaluating the risks of any potential updates. Until now, those reviews have been largely conducted by human evaluators.

Under the new system, Meta reportedly said product teams will be asked to fill out a questionaire about their work, then will usually receive an “instant decision” with AI-identified risks, along with requirements that an update or feature must meet before it launches.

This AI-centric approach would allow Meta to update its products more quickly, but one former executive told NPR it also creates “higher risks,” as “negative externalities of product changes are less likely to be prevented before they start causing problems in the world.”

In a statement, Meta seemed to confirm that it’s changing its review system, but it insisted that only “low-risk decisions” will be automated,  while “human expertise” will still be used to examine “novel and complex issues.”

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. is leading a potential high-yield bond sale for electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive Inc., partly to refinance its upcoming debt, according to people familiar with the transaction.

The company aims to raise as much as $2 billion, in part to replace existing bonds that mature in 2026, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. JPMorgan is sounding out investors on the bond deal, with early pricing discussions around 10%, and a transaction could launch as soon as next week, said the people.

A JPMorgan representative declined to comment, while Rivian’s did not immediately respond to a request. The deal is still in the discussion phase and may not happen as planned, if at all, the people cautioned.

The U.S. junk-bond market has shrugged off a spike in jobless claims to rally for three straight sessions. A dip in all-in yields has revived appetite for new deals lately after transactions grounded to a near halt in April.

The potential debt deal for Rivian, meanwhile, comes after the company said full-year deliveries will decline more sharply than anticipated just a month earlier. That is due in part to risks that President Donald Trump’s trade war will weaken demand for electric vehicles. Rivian now expects to sell 40,000 to 46,000 battery-powered pickups, SUVs and delivery vans this year, the company said during its first-quarter results call.

Trump’s trade policies, including a 25% levy on imported vehicles and ancillary parts, have prompted automakers around the world to revise their earnings expectations. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said tariffs could increase the company’s costs by a few thousand dollars per vehicle.

Rivian builds all of its cars in the U.S., and said a majority of its components — excluding battery cells — come from the U.S. or comply with a free trade agreement spanning North America.

The company raised approximately $1.25 billion in bonds back in 2021.

Written by Jill R. Shah, Aaron Weinman and Rachel Graf

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• Security experts say traditional identity checks fail because they treat each verification as an isolated event
• Deepfake variations let fraudsters bypass biometric and liveness detection systems with ease
• Consortium validation shares data across organizations to detect subtle, repeated fraud attempts in real time

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In a digital world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, identity fraud is evolving in scale and sophistication.

Experts from AU10TIX have flagged a new threat tactic known as “Repeaters” which is reshaping the way fraudsters infiltrate digital systems.

Naming conventions allow us to keep track of successive generations of products and services, so is Apple bringing in an iOS 26 naming change to show us just how much it has leveled up? No, it’s not about a monumental scale-up in capabilities but the Apple OS name change is a way to identify the version by year. Apple’s renaming of the operating system has less to do with its capabilities advancing from iOS 18 to iOS 26, but will instead reflect the upcoming release.

The iOS versioning overhaul was uncovered by Bloombergwhich cited unnamed sources for the report on the change. The current iOS naming tradition will end not just for iOS, but also iPad OS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS, all of which currently feature different version numbers. The iOS version jump should help standardize a uniform number across these various platforms which will be beneficial as a reference point, but it could also create the illusion of progress and productivity instead of actually upgrading service to such a mammoth degree.

Apple OS Name Change Coming Next Year—All Set for iOS 26?

The iOS 26 naming change has been initiated to eliminate any confusion around its different platforms and the separate versions that are currently available for them. The iPhone currently functions on iOS 18, similar to the iPadOS 18, however, the MacBook is currently on macOS 15. The Apple Watch came out even later and is currently on version 12, and the most recent Apple Vision Pro is the newest product on the market, shipping with visionOS 2.

This alternating naming convention makes it difficult to identify which OS is available with the latest products, and confusion is never good for a brand. With the Apple OS name change, the company will be able to offer some consistency to its users. The iOS 26 naming change isn’t a one-time change and will set a new convention and identification strategy for the coming years.

Samsung already made a similar switch with its Galaxy smartphones, and we’re currently on the S25 series, so we know such a strategic move can be successful.

When Will We Learn More About the iOS Version Jump?

The iOS versioning overhaul will likely be announced at the upcoming WWDC 2025 event on June 9, where Apple traditionally provides its customers with insights into its internal ongoings. As Apple renames its operating systems, the company is also planning to bring in its biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 was released in 2013.

The combination of the Apple OS name change paired with the upgrades to its system could usher in a new era of success for the Cupertino company, which appears to be the goal. Now, with Apple skipping iOS 19, there could be some confusion while referring to previous versions now, considering not all fans will be aware of the change. Many might truly expect a big leap in quality and capability and then walk away disappointed when the OS doesn’t live up to expectations.

With the next iPhone 17 lineup right around the corner, there is a lot of conversation about the brand and what it has to offer. From a thin phone to a chunky phone and a HomePod control center with a display, there are a few different projects that Apple is cooking up to see which lands best. Who knows, the Apple OS name change could just be distracting enough to keep fans from asking too many questions about Apple Intelligence and the promised upgrades to Siri.

Subscribe to Technowize for more updates on all things technology.

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• Seagate quietly ships 40TB HAMR drives, setting the pace for the next storage next
• Mozaic HAMR tech crams 4TB per platter, promising massive boosts in storage efficiency
• Data center expansion will dictate how fast these record-breaking 40TB drives hit the mainstream

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At the recent Seagate’s Investor and Analyst Conference, the company revealed it has delivered limited units of its new 40TB hard drives based on its Mozaic HAMR platform.

These 40TB drives use Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) to achieve 4TB per platter across ten platters, marking a shift toward Seagate’s Mozaic 4+ platform.

Electronic Arts is at it again. EA just announced that its Black Panther game has been canceled and the title will never see the light of day. If that wasn’t enough, EA is also shutting down Cliffhanger Games Studio, the team that was leading the development of the game. The news has sent many fans into mourning, but EA’s decision to shut Black Panther is not unsurprising as we haven’t heard too much about the title since it was first announced in 2023.

Despite knowing very little about the game, fans were excited to return to the wonder-filled world of Black Panther and reminisce over the character from the comics and movies with this single-player game. Now, they will have to look elsewhere to indulge in this particular character. EA had teamed up with Marvel for a three-game partnership, and with Black Panther dropped and an unannounced third game in the works, we only have an Iron Man title confirmed on the cards.

EA’s Black Panther Canceled, Cliffhanger Games Studio Shutdown

The action-adventure, single-player game was first revealed in 2023 as a result of EA’s partnership with Marvel, and big things were expected from what was to be an open-world game. Cliffhanger Games studio was a new team that was thrown together to develop the game, and Kevin Stephens was put in charge. He was the studio head for Monolith Productions, the team that gave us the now-offline Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

This isn’t the first whiff of bad news to emerge from the gaming company this year. EA has abandoned other projects and laid off hundreds of workers already, doing everything in its power to cut down on its expenses. From the cancellation of Titanium and the firing of the Respawn team to the reorganization efforts at BioWare, most news coming out of EA has been heartbreaking to witness.

The company also mandated that its employees return to the office for more face-to-face work, but it does not appear that they’re being given too much time to actually work.

Why Was EA’s Black Panther Cancelled?

The exact details around this recent Black Panther game update remain hazy but we know that the primary reason has to do with EA’s desire to tighten up its investments. IGN was the first to report on the game cancellation and the Cliffhanger Games Studio shutdown after it gained access to an internal email shared with staff by EA Entertainment CEO Laura Miele.

The email explained that these major changes were being made to “sharpen [the company’s] focus and put creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.” It’s clear that EA is working to restore the business to its former glory after recent releases have fallen short of their sales target numbers. With Black Panther canceled, it seems there was little reason to keep the studio on with no project on the table.

Ever since the fate of EA’s Cliffhanger Games Studio was revealed, devs from the team have taken to social media to express gratitude towards their colleagues and revel in the honor of having worked on such a beautiful project together.

From the conversation, it is apparent that the team was extremely proud of what they had worked on so far, so it is very unfortunate that we will never get to witness the results. Morale is at an all-time low among the developers now left at EA, with a large number of them unsure whether their projects and teams will be the next to go.

It Seems Wakanda Is Not Forever for Some Folks

With the Cliffhanger Games Studio shut down and a Black Panther game no longer on the cards, we’ll have to look elsewhere for some more content about the warrior. If you’re looking for some good news, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra by Skydance New Media and publisher Plaion is expected to feature Black Panther alongside Captain America. The game is set for release in 2026, so if you want more Marvel video game content, keep your eyes peeled.

There’s also the Marvel Rivals game available right now. While it doesn’t feature Black Panther just yet, Ultron just made a debut in the game and it may not be long before more characters are added to the game. It’s not quite the single-player open-world content promised by EA’s now-canceled Black Panther game, but it’s a fun experience nonetheless.

EA will likely pick a third Marvel game to work on to keep up its end of the partnership with Marvel, but the details have not been revealed. For now, we’re hoping this marks the end to the EA job cuts and studio shutdowns, and that all the announced projects will come to fruition soon enough.

Subscribe to Technowize for more updates from the world of technology and gaming.

Did you know that we just witnessed the largest decline in U.S. imports in the entire history of our nation last month?  Unfortunately, things didn’t get any better this month.  In fact, during the final week of May imports at major ports on the west coast are down by almost a third compared to last year.  This is going to have a dramatic impact on our economy in the months ahead, and meanwhile a new crisis with China has just erupted.  The Chinese have been caught violating their 90 day trade agreement with the United States, and President Trump is extremely upset about this.  Of course the Chinese are extremely upset that President Trump is planning to increase arms sales to Taiwan.  Both sides deeply distrust one another at this stage, and if things continue to deteriorate our relations with China could soon resemble a gigantic dumpster fire.

According to the Census BureauU.S. imports fell by 68.4 billion dollars in April…

Indeed, last month, imports declined by a whopping $68.4 billion, according to advanced trade data released by the Census Bureau on Friday. This came after retailers stocked up on goods in March, aiming to get ahead of tariffs. But the stunning decline in imports could mean retailers have less of an inventory buffer, leaving them less able to avoid paying future tariffs — and that could lead to price increases for US consumers.

“I think there was an expectation that all of a sudden everything would start coming in again. I don’t think you’ve seen that huge rush to bring everything in again because I think folks are still being cautious on how this is going to proceed,” said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation.

A lot less stuff is coming into this country, and so there will be higher prices and thinner stock levels at U.S. retailers during the months ahead.

On a percentage basis, the decline in imports that we witnessed last month was the largest in the entire history of the United States…

BREAKING: US goods imports fall -19.8% in April as President Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” effectively halted trade with many countries.

This marks the largest drop in history for US goods imports.

Unfortunately, imports have not bounced back in May.

In fact, import levels at major ports on the west coast are down by close to a third compared to last year during the last week of May…

Even after Trump lowered tariffs on China from 145% to 30% earlier this month, America’s largest ports have yet to see a rebound. The Port of Los Angeles reported a 30% import decline during the final week of May compared to last year. The Northwest Seaport Alliance, which represents the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, says imports also dropped by 30% from the last week in April to the first week in May, and volume is significantly lower compared to last year.

It appears that import numbers could bounce back a bit in June, but not to previous levels.

But then the 90 day pause on reciprocal tariffs ends on July 9th, and the 90 day negotiating period with China ends on August 12th.

In other words, we could potentially be just a couple of months away from a complete and total nightmare at our ports.

Meanwhile, President Trump just posted a blistering message on his Truth Social account that accuses China of violating the agreement that we had made with them for this 90 day negotiating period…

Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, “civil unrest.” I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

China has been lying, cheating and stealing for decades.

In this case, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says that China has been extremely slow to implement their obligations and that this is “completely unacceptable and has to be addressed”…

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, in a CNBC interview Friday morning, echoed Trump’s allegation, saying “we’re very concerned with” China’s purported non-compliance with the temporary trade deal.

The “United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slow rolling their compliance,” said Greer.

He called that “completely unacceptable and has to be addressed.”

If we can’t trust the Chinese to do what they say they are going to do, how can we make any sort of an agreement with them?

Needless to say, the Chinese are very angry with us right now too.

After learning that President Trump was planning to increase arms sales to Taiwan, China issued a very stern warning…

China has warned the U.S. of its “first red line that cannot be crossed” after a report that President Donald Trump intends to increase arms sales to Taiwan.

The Trump administration will lift weapons sales to Taiwan to higher levels than during his first administration, Reuters reported, citing U.S. officials, to put more military pressure on Beijing and to help deter a Chinese invasion of the island.

It also came out this week that the U.S. military currently has about 500 troops in Taiwan.

The Chinese are very upset about this as well.

The Chinese do not like the Trump administration at all, and the Trump administration is clearly not fond of China.

At this point, it certainly isn’t going to take much to turn our relationship with China into a major dumpster fire.

For those that have been paying attention, you already know why that would be such an ominous sign.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important Newsand he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.