Latest News

Wireless carriers often tout their speedy nationwide 5G networks, but sometimes you’re somewhere without any cellular service. AT&T’s outage in February was widespread enough that the carrier advised its customers to make use of Wi-Fi calling as a backup — a feature that Verizon and T-Mobile also offer to their subscribers.

Despite the name, Wi-Fi calling also includes texting and video calls, effectively extending your mobile phone carrier services through the use of your home internet connection. In addition to the iPhone and Android smartphones, many basic flip phones also now include Wi-Fi calling support, making it a broadly accessible feature. Even SMS and MMS texts can be sent and received over Wi-Fi when this is set up.

Read more: The Perils of Having a Smartphone As Your Main Means of Connection

Wi-Fi calling also doesn’t even need to be a fallback just for an emergency. If your home internet connection is fast enough, your phone may default to using Wi-Fi for your phone service and swap to a cellular connection when your network is no longer in reach. This is particularly handy if you live or travel somewhere with spotty reception. On a recent vacation I took in California, the hotel that I stayed at in a mountainous area recommended that guests use their Wi-Fi network for their phones as most major carriers had very limited reception.

These Wi-Fi calling services provided by your carrier are in addition to any other chat or calling apps that may already be available on your phone. For instance when on Wi-Fi while using an iPhone, you can also make use of FaceTime calling and iMessage texting with other iPhone users. Over on Android, you can still use Google Meet calling and RCS texting from Google Messages while using Wi-Fi — the latter of which will also be supported by the iPhone sometime this year. And regardless of your preferred phone, any other calling apps you have installed like WhatsApp, Skype and similar will also work while connected to Wi-Fi.

Turn on Wi-Fi calling on iPhone

Wi-Fi calling can be turned on from within the iPhone’s Settings app, and the options you’ll see might vary slightly depending on the carrier you’re using your phone with.

To get Wi-Fi calling activated, from within the Settings app, select Cellular. In the event you have multiple SIM or eSIM cards set up, choose the line you want to enable Wi-Fi calling for. Then tap Wi-Fi Calling, and turn on Wi-Fi Calling on This iPhone. You’ll then be prompted to input your address for emergency services, which will be used in the event cellular service isn’t available when calling 911 but Wi-Fi is. According to Apple’s support document for Wi-Fi calling, your device’s location information may also be used for emergency calls to aid response efforts.

Your phone’s status bar will update to reflect that your calls and texts are routed through Wi-Fi. For instance, since my carrier is T-Mobile, my iPhone says T-Mobile Wi-Fi when connected to Wi-Fi calling.

You can also allow for other Apple devices to make Wi-Fi calls even when your iPhone isn’t nearby. From within that Wi-Fi Calling menu, turning on Add Wi-Fi Calling For Other Devices will bring up any other Mac computers or iPad tablets that are also able to place calls. You can then turn the feature on for each individual device. The Apple Watch is automatically enabled for Wi-Fi calling when this feature is turned on.

Turn on Wi-Fi calling on Android

The exact steps for turning on Wi-Fi calling from an Android phone will vary depending on your device, but broadly speaking you can also turn the feature on from the device’s settings app.

After opening Settings, tap Connections. This option might be labeled Network & Internet. If you see a Wi-Fi calling option, tap it. You might have to first tap Mobile Network before seeing it. You can also opt to use the Settings menu’s search box to find “Wi-Fi calling.”

If your device supports the feature, you’ll then be able to turn the Wi-Fi calling option on.

Turn on Wi-Fi calling on a basic phone

Basic phones that work on 4G networks often also include Wi-Fi calling, although steps will vary based on the phone you are using. However, broadly speaking you should be able to find the option from your phone’s settings menu. In the case of the Kazuna eTalk flip phone sold by Verizon, for instance, you’ll use the navigation pad to select Tools & Settings, then Call settings and Wi-Fi Calling to set up.

What about when you have to leave the house

In the event of a cellular outage, you may have to get creative in order to stay connected. Some internet service providers set up Wi-Fi hotspots across their coverage regions, which can be accessed by logging into a portal. For instance, on Long Island in New York, the Optimum internet service provider includes access to hotspots that cover a large portion of the region.

Alternatively, local libraries and coffee shops that provide Wi-Fi access to customers could be the next best way to stay connected for necessary calls while waiting out a cellular outage.

And while it’s still a new technology, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 line both support Emergency SOS via Satellite in the event assistance is needed while you have no access to cellular service. This is provided over a texting interface. While there aren’t yet any Android alternatives that include satellite connectivity, Samsung last year announced plans to develop satellite connectivity options for future phones.

Google’s lower-priced Pixel A series has brought high-end phone features to cheaper handsets for years, which is likely to continue in 2024. If the company keeps the same strategy as last year and the years before, we might see the Pixel 8A debut at Google I/O 2024 on May 14.

Given the Pixel A series typically inherits features from the latest flagship Pixel phone. That means some of AI tools from last year’s Pixel 8 series, like Best Take and Magic Editor, may arrive on the upcoming Pixel 8A. If that ends up being the case, it would be another effort by Google to bring new AI features to its cheaper phones, following its decision to expand Circle to Search to the Pixel 7A and Pixel 6 series.

Read more: AI Showdown: How Samsung’s Galaxy S24 AI Tools Compare to Google, Apple

Google’s phones typically focus more on advancing software than hardware, and the company has a habit of bringing newer features to older devices through software updates — as evidenced by Circle to Search’s expansion. With that in mind, there’s a good chance the Pixel 8A will continue to get new features trickling down from Pixel phones to come.

Bundle this with a potentially extended shelf life should the Pixel 8A inherit the Pixel 8’s seven years of Android and security updates, and Google’s next affordable handset could bring a lot to the cheap phone market.

Read more: Pixel 7A vs. Galaxy A54, Pixel 6A: Which Cheap Phone Should You Buy?

Here’s all the leaks and rumors we’ve heard about the Pixel 8A so far.

Pixel 8A colors, design and camera

Last year’s Pixel 7A felt like a bargain. It inherited many features from the Pixel 7 for $100 less. The upcoming Pixel 8A seems like it will follow in those footsteps, if rumors and leaks turn out to be true.

The Pixel 8A could inherit the Pixel 8’s Tensor G3 processor, the latest Google-designed chip that powers the phones’ AI capabilities, according to a March leak from Android Authority citing internal Google sources. The new phone may also get its premium sibling’s 120Hz refresh rate display, an upgrade from the Pixel 7A’s 90Hz screen, along with a brighter 1,400-nit display.

The same leak suggests the Pixel 8A will have the same camera array as the Pixel 7A: a 64-megapixel main camera, 13-megapixel ultrawide camera and 13-megapixel selfie camera. On paper, those sound better than the premium Pixel 8’s 50-megapixel main camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide and 10.5-megapixel selfie camera. But when CNET Senior Editor Lisa Eadicicco pitted the Pixel 7 (which has similar cameras as the Pixel 8) against its cheaper Pixel 7A counterpart in a camera test, she couldn’t find much difference in camera capability.

Moving on to colors, a recent April rumor from leaker TechDroider showed purported images of the Pixel 8A with a matte finish on the back in three hues: blue, porcelain (beige) and obsidian (black). By comparison, the Pixel 8 comes in obsidian, mint (green), hazel (a greenish gray, as my colleague Ian Sherr describes it) and rose (a peachy pink).

Pixel 8A price

The Pixel A phones have increased in price over the years, and the Pixel 8A may follow in that direction. The original Pixel 3A launched in 2019 for $400, while the Pixel 4a followed a year later with a price cut to $350. But the Pixel 5A and 6A jumped to $450, and the Pixel 7A costs $500.

A rumor by German site WinFuture cited by 9to5Google suggests that the Pixel 8A could raise the price further to $550. Given the Pixel 8 costs $700, the Pixel 8A would still be a bargain in comparison (depending on which features it inherited). Another rumor by PassionateGeekz cited by GSM Arena found listings by a Canadian retailer with the Pixel 8A’s price starting at 709 CAD (which today converts to around $518). But even if either are true, it would still be a gradual increase in price compared to older A-series Pixel phones.

All told, the Pixel 8A seems like it will be a slightly watered-down version of the Pixel 8. And that could be a good thing for Android fans looking for an affordable Pixel phone. We’ll likely know more once Google I/O takes place next month.

Editors’ note: CNET used an AI engine to help create several dozen stories, which are labeled accordingly. The note you’re reading is attached to articles that deal substantively with the topic of AI but are created entirely by our expert editors and writers. For more, see our AI policy.

Sure, Apple’s excellent M3 MacBook Air is now here, but that doesn’t mean that you should sleep on the older M2 MacBook Air especially when it’s available at a discounted price. It’s still one of the best laptops around and sports a super-fast chip with a thin and light design that makes it perfect for getting things done just about anywhere. Right now you can snag an M2 MacBook Air for just $849, a whole $150 cheaper than Apple currently sells it for, and $250 less than originally listed for. It’s also a match for the lowest we’ve seen it go at Amazon, and the discount applies to the whole range of gorgeous colors. Alternatively, B&H Photo is matching the $849 price (only on the silver model, though) while Best Buy will also save you the same $150.

One of the great things about the M2 MacBook Air is that it has a much larger 13.6-inch screen compared to the 13.3-inch screen of the previous M1 model, giving you more screen real estate to work with. It also runs a 2,560×1,664 resolution on a gorgeous liquid retina display which is perfect whether you want to watch movies or get creative work done. In fact, the M2 Chip inside is powerful enough for a lot of creatives to do their work, despite this machine’s portability.

Its smaller size is very much thanks to the fact that it doesn’t actually have any internal fans, meaning that Apple can make it as thin as the motherboard and battery inside. One downside to this machine is that it runs on 8GB of RAM rather than the 16GB you’re likely to see on similarly priced Windows laptops. It’s not the end of the world, especially given that it’s unified RAM that the M2 is smart about using, but it is something to consider. The 256GB of storage is also a bit on the smaller side, though you can use cloud storage or an external hard drive for more space if you need it.

If you just want the higher-end or a different Mac entirely, you could always check out these other great MacBook deals.

Today’s Wordle answer is a well-known word, but it doesn’t feature the most popular letters. We’ve ranked all the letters in the alphabet by popularity if you want to use this list to decide on your best start words.

Every day, we’ll post hints and then the answer for the current day’s Wordle, just in case you need it.

Today’s Wordle hints

Warning: If you keep reading, you’ll see the Wordle answer for Tuesday, April 30, puzzle #1046. That could be a devastating spoiler for some players. But if you just need the answer — maybe you’re on your last guess and just don’t want to see an 800-game streak go poof — keep reading.

Wordle hint No. 1: No repeats

There are no repeated letters in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There’s only one vowel in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: Starting letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter P.

Wordle hint No. 4: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer is often used to refer to a certain way that some animals move.

Wordle hint No. 5: Part of speech

Today’s Wordle answer is usually used as a verb, but it can be used as a noun.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Here comes the spoiler: Today’s Wordle answer is PROWL, as in the stealthy manner in which cats and other animals slink about. It’s also used in the phrase “on the prowl.”

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s answer, #1045, April 29, was CRAFT.

Past Wordle answers

April 25, No. 1041: INTRO

April 26, No. 1042: VAPID

April 27, No. 1043: GLEAM

April 28, No. 1044: PRUNE

Everyday Wordle tips

I’ve written a lot about Wordle — from covering its 1,000th word to my list of the best starter words to a helpful two-step strategy to news about controversial word changes. I’ve even rounded up what I learned playing the hit online word puzzle for a full year. So if you’re rethinking your need for the actual answer, you might try tips from one of those stories.

Still need a starter word? One person told me they just look around and choose a five-letter object that they’ve spotted to use as their starter word — such as COUCH or CHAIR. I tend to stick to starter words that have the most popular letters used in English words. I like TRAIN as a starter, though I have a friend who uses TRAIL. I’ve read that people use the financial term ROATE, but I like to use words I actually know.

What is Wordle?

If you read this far, you know how to play. You have six chances to guess a five-letter word, and the game gives you feedback as to whether the letters you’ve guessed are in the puzzle or not, and if they’re in the same spot where you guessed they are. The New York Times bought the game from creator Josh Wardle for seven figures in 2022. Wardle famously created the game for his partner, and let her narrow down the 12,000 five-letter words in the English language to just 2,500, creating the database of answers. It was convenient, too, that he has a name that plays off “word.”

A Times spokesperson told me it lists the very first Wordle as appearing on June 19, 2021, and the paper celebrated the game’s 1,000th word on March 15. Spoiler: That 1,000th word was ERUPT. As in, “Dad will erupt if the Wordle is so tough he loses his streak.”

There are other fun games in the Times Games stable. My latest addiction is Connections, which I think is trickier than Wordle. This is the game where you look at a grid of 16 words and try to put them into four groups of related words. Sometimes the relationships between the words are pretty out there — like the time when it was four words that all began with rock bands, such as “Rushmore” and “journeyman.” (Connections got a little sassy on April Fools’ Day with an all-emoji puzzle. Some gamers did NOT find that funny.)

Spelling Bee is a popular Times game too. And there’s a new game that’s still in beta, Strands, which I’m trying to master.

Need the answer for the April 30 New York Times Connections puzzle? To me, Wordle is more of a vocabulary test, but Connections is more of a brain tester. You’re given 16 words and asked to put them into four groups that are somehow connected. Sometimes they’re obvious, but the game editor knows how to trick you by using words that can fit in more than one group.

How to play Connections?

Playing is easy, winning is hard. Look at the 16 words and mentally assign them to related groups of four. Click on the four words you think go together. The groups are coded by color, though you don’t know what goes where until you see the answers. The yellow group is the easiest, then green, then blue, and purple is the toughest. Look at the words carefully, and think about related terms. Sometimes the connection has to do with just a part of the word. Once, four words were grouped because each started with the name of a rock band – including “Rushmore” and “Journeyman.”

Hint for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the toughest (and sometimes bizarre) purple group

Yellow group hint: Often served with fried foods.

Green group hint: Asking for information.

Blue group hint: Proof or evidence of something.

Purple group hint: Ranchers and storekeepers have this.

Answer for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Dipping sauces.

Green group: Interrogate.

Blue group: Transaction record.

Purple group: What “stock” might mean.

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is dipping sauces. The four words are aioli, barbecue, marinara and ranch.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is interrogate. The four words are examine, grill, probe and question.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is transaction record. The four words are bill, invoice, receipt and statement.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is what “stock” might mean. The four words are ancestry, broth, cattle and merchandise.

A great pair of noise-canceling headphones can enhance your trips, help you stay focused during work calls and let you enjoy your favorite audio content. If you’ve been looking for a pair of headphones, then this discount on the Anker Soundcore Space One headphones at Amazon might be for you. For a limited time, Amazon is selling these headphones for $79, which is 20% off the usual price of $99.

Anker’s Space One headphones are already a great value for over-ear headphones. They’re designed to be lightweight and include plush earcups so you can use them for hours on end without any strain. Anker also enhanced voice-canceling features on these headphones so you can listen to your favorite media in busy cafés, airports and other settings. Adaptive noise-canceling (ANC) adjusts to wherever you are, which means fluctuating external volume won’t be a problem. You can also turn off ANC whenever you’re in a park, street or other place that requires you to pay more attention to your surroundings. Need to use these headphones for a long trip or bus ride? These headphones have a battery life of up to 40 hours when using ANC, and up to 55 hours without ANC.

The 20% off discount applies to all colors of Anker Soundcore Space One headphones. If you’re looking for budget headphones that deliver big sound, here’s a list of headphones we’ve reviewed so you can look at your options.

A lot of us use Microsoft Office because it’s what we’ve always used. But the way it’s priced means signing up for a monthly subscription that will set you back $7 a month. If you’d rather just pay once and then forget about it, then you should make the most of today’s Office deal. You have until tomorrow, April 30, to get yourself a Microsoft Office 2019 license for just $30, on Windows or Mac, and enjoy access to the apps forever. That’s a huge discount from the usual $229 price tag or paying $7 a month in perpetuity for the latest version.

There are two versions of Office here. Mac users will get the Home and Business suite of apps, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams Classic and OneNote, while Windows users will get the Professional Plus version with additional apps like Publisher and Access. Just note that you won’t get Microsoft Teams on the Windows version.

This isn’t the latest version of Office, but compared to signing up for the Microsoft 365 subscription suite, which costs $7 a month or $70 a year for individuals, StackSocial’s offer is a great deal. There is a free online version of Microsoft Office out there that you can use, but it lacks several features, so this may be a better option. Apple users should note that Outlook is now available as a free app for the Mac.

Some important things to note: You’ll get a one-time use code for a single computer, which means you won’t be able to download these apps on multiple devices. And that means that if you upgrade to a new computer or your current one dies, you likely won’t be able to transfer the suite. These licenses also lack some of the added conveniences you’ll get with a 365 subscription, including OneDrive cloud storage and cloud-based AI features, including Microsoft Copilot. Additionally, these apps should work for as long as your computer does. Windows users will have support through Oct. 14, 2025. There is also a risk that Microsoft could terminate the license at any time, but we’ve been running other versions of Office from StackSocial since early 2022 and have yet to encounter a problem.

Now that you have some sweet new software, you might need a computer to go with it. Be sure to check out our regularly updated list of the best laptop deals to make sure you don’t overpay.

Wordle has become a part of my day. I’m a night owl, so I do the Wordle puzzle right before I go to bed at night. And to increase my chances, I use this list of the most popular letters in the English language. E and A are tops, whereas J and Q don’t show up in many words.

If you’re reading this, Wordle needs no explanation. The puzzle was invented by Josh Wardle (Wardle — Wordle, get it?) and bought for big bucks by The New York Times in 2022. The online game gives you six chances to guess a randomly selected five-letter word, and if you get correct letters, they show up in different colors, depending on if they’re in the right spot in the word. It’s addictive and fun.

I stuck to the same starter words for a long time, and they’d usually work for me. I was a longtime user of “ADIEU” to get in a ton of vowels, and I would often move on to “STORY,” to get the two other vowels (sometimes Y!) and some other major consonants going. And that strategy is still a solid one. I may go back to it if I feel I’m in a rut.

Hop on the ‘TRAIN’

But these days, I’m starting every Wordle round with “TRAIN,” and then moving on to “CLOSE.”

TRAIN is pretty self-explanatory if you’ve studied which letters are most commonly used in English words. All five of the letters in TRAIN are among the top seven letters used.

All I know is that nearly every time I use TRAIN as a starter word, I get a couple correct letters, often in the right spot. And it’s an easy-to-remember starter word for sure.

CLOSE as a second choice is interesting. It gets two more vowels out of the way, and C, L and S also turn up in the top 10 most-used letter list. Sometimes, though, I get zero correct letters out of CLOSE. But believe it or not, that helps me, too. Then I’m able to look at the keyboard showing me which letters I haven’t yet guessed, and choose a word that uses any correct letters plus any major consonants I haven’t yet guessed.

Correct letter, wrong spot

If you’ve got a correct letter, but don’t know which spot it should go in, you can have some fun with your third guess. If you know that you have an F but not where it goes, guess a word with a lot of Fs, like “FLUFF.” That way, you can at least determine if there’s an F in three of the five spots. Remember, too, that there may be more than one of the same letter used.

X marks the spot

Here’s one more oddball tip. If I have just a couple of letters in the right spot, I personally need to see how the word looks. So I type in the correct letters I have, plus Xs for each letter I have no clue about. If I know the word ends in “ON” from my guesses, I type in XXXON. Then I study the unguessed letters in the keyboard and mentally picture them where the Xs are. (I don’t enter these words as guesses, I just look at them for ideas, then backspace over them and delete.)

If I know there’s another letter, say an B, somewhere in the mix, I might try typing it in all the empty spots — BXXON, XBXON, XXBON — and see if I can picture what words work. Remember, the Xs don’t stand for X, they stand for “I don’t know this letter.”

If the Xs make it too confusing, you can also just write down the options using blanks. That might give you a better view of possibilities. I choose an X because I like to type it right into the Wordle grid, and X seems the most like a blank to me. Since these attempts aren’t really words, there’s no danger of me accidentally hitting enter and wasting a guess by mistake.

There you go. That’s my new Wordle process. It may not be the perfect strategy. But I almost always find myself in a good place after two rounds of guessing.

For more Wordle tips and tricks, here’s a roundup of excellent strategies. If you’re done with Wordle for the day, give Connections a try. It’s also a word game from the Times, but it taps into different parts of your brain. We have tips for that, too.

You’ll often hear that having a secure password is an essential part of staying protected online. But coming up with a solid option is difficult enough, and remembering it is even harder, especially when you have a multitude of unique passwords across many different accounts. While there has been some progress toward the industry’s promise of a no-password future, users still need a way to handle their dozens of login options. But as we approach World Password Day, many services are offering deals, and we’ve rounded up a few of the best ones to help you stay safe online.

A good password manager can help you in a number of ways, including protecting yourself against hacking and identity theft, keeping track of important documents like insurance cards and memberships, simplifying online shopping and allowing you to always have your password on hand when you need access. Check out the discounts currently available and keep checking back. We’ll update this page with any new offers that arise as we approach the big day on May 2, 2024. Whether you’re looking for a management system for yourself, you and your family or even your business, keeping track of your passwords is about to be as easy as 1234567.

Read more: The Best Password Managers and How to Use Them

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.