Tech

US states are reportedly planning to sue to block Paramounts Warner Bros. takeover – Engadget

California’s attorney general Rob Bonta launched a probe into the deal shortly after it was announced.

Robert V Schwemmer/

Amid widespread opposition to Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros., multiple US states are reportedly working together to fight the merger. According to a report, California and New York are among states preparing a lawsuit to block the deal.

The deal has faced scrutiny since it was announced back in February, when Paramount officially beat out Netflix in its attempt to buy Warner Bros. following multiple bids. California Attorney General Rob Bonta in particular has voiced concerns about the potential consequences, saying in a statement at the time, “Further consolidation in markets that are central to American economic life does not serve our economy, consumers, or competition well. In fact, consolidation of markets has led to increased unaffordability, a loss of good-paying job opportunities, and fewer choices for consumers.” Bonta added that the deal “must receive a full and robust review,” and said the state is “committed to fighting market consolidation that we find unlawful.”

We don’t know yet what other states are involved in the lawsuit alongside California and New York. But according to ‘ source, the suit is expected to be filed within the coming weeks.

Tech

Today's NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for June 7, #826

Looking for the most recent Strands answer?Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYTStrandspuzzle rounds up a group of creatures that some people keep as pets. (Well, not all of them make great pets…) Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about therules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visitCNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is:Herpetology 101

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Reptile time.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

GOLF, COLD, LOBE, BELL, COME, MANE, REED, LORE, LAKE, FLAKE, BULL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

SNAKE, TURTLE, BULLFROG, CHAMELEON, CROCODILE

Today’s Strands spangram

The completed NYT Strands puzzle for June 7, 2026.

NYT/Screenshot by CNET

Today’s Strands spangram is COLDBLOODED. To find it, start with the C that is three letters to the right on the top row, and wind down, forming a 7.

Tech

Google will pay SpaceX $920 million a month to use xAIs data centers – Engadget

The company needs extra computing power for Gemini Enterprise.

Coldsnowstorm/

Google has just signed a $30 billion AI deal with SpaceX, which owns Elon Musk’s xAI. According to a SpaceX filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it will receive$920 million a month from Google in exchange for computing power from xAI’s data centers, starting inOctober this year untilJune 2029.

The agreement will give Google access to 110,000 NVIDIA GPUs, as well as CPUs and memory. SpaceX wrote that if it fails to deliver access to that number of GPUS bySeptember this year, Google could either terminate their deal immediately or accept the number of GPUs provided at a reduced payment rate after a one-month grace period.

Since Google has its own global network of data centers and continues to build more, you may be wondering why it has to pay SpaceX for more computing power. Well, a Google Cloud spokesperson told CNBC and The New York Times that this is but “a short-term, timely agreement” to ensure that the company has “bridge cacity to meeting the surging demand” for Gemini Enterprise, its AI subscription for large businesses.

Google isn’t its only competitor in the AI space that SpaceX is selling computing power to. The Musk-owned company also has a contract with Anthropic, giving the latter access to xAI’s Colossus 1 data center. According to the documents SpaceX filed for its Initial Public Offering, Anthropic will pay it $1.25 billion a month through May 2029. SpaceX is expected to go public on June 12 and to raise enough money to make it the biggest IPO in history.

Tech

EAs Star Wars Zero Company drops August 27 – Engadget

Its new gameplay trailer gives us a glimpse of Anakin Skywalker.

The developers behind Star Wars Zero Company has revealed the official gameplay trailer for the titleat Summer Game Fest 2026. They have also revealed that the game will be available on thePC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S starting on August 27.StarWars Zero Company was announced in 2022 as one of the games being co-developed by Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor.

Respawn developed the game with a new studio calledBit Reactor, with EA as the publisher. The studioincludes former Firaxis Games employees and was also founded byGreg Foertsch, the senior art director onXCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2. That’s why it wasn’t a huge surprise that Star Wars Zero Company showed similarities to XCOM in its announcement trailer in ril.

“Our team has poured everything we love about Star Wars into Zero Company,” said Foertsch. “We’ve worked hand-in-hand with Lucasfilm Games to create an authentic Star Wars story packed with unique new characters, robust character customization, a new ship, Separatist Droids, and much more, all rooted in the conflict of the Clone Wars.”

The game’s story is set in the “twilight of the Clone Wars” and revolves around former Republic officer Hawks. As Hawks, you’ll have to recruit allies across the galaxy and across species to put a team together and huntKundri Fathom,the leader of a Dark Side cult that poses a threat to the entire galaxy. The “Den” will be your base of operations, from which you’ll form teams and dispatch groups of your friends, called Operators, to different locations in the m. And because of the game’s setting, you’ll encounter Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi General at that point in time, who’s also on an important mission.

You can now preorderStar Wars Zero Company for $70 in Standard Edition for the PC, the PS5 andXbox Series X|S. A Deluxe edition that unlocks cosmetic packs, five painted weon themes and the Crystalline Astromech Cosmetic Pack, which includes an R3 droid is also available.

Tech

Resident Evil: Code Veronica Finally Gets a Remake

The remake of Resident Evil: Code Veronica opened Summer Game Fest, the annual showcase of upcoming games, which started on Friday. If it’s anything like the previously released remakes of the games, fans can expect some beautiful visuals along with new lore for the series.

The trailer for Resident Evil: Code Veronica Remake doesn’t offer many details about the game’s release timing other than that it will come out sometime in 2027. If the pattern of previous releases is an indicator, the remake could drop early in the year in February or March.

No gameplay was shown in the trailer. Instead, it focused on someone being guided by an older European woman to the ransacked room of an American. It’s not until the end of the trailer that it’s revealed that the person was Claire Redfield, the sister of Chris Redfield and the main character of Code Veronica.

First released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, Code Veronica is not considered a main entry in the franchise, but it’s also not a side story since what hpens in the game is considered canon in the Resident Evil lore.

The game follows Claire, who has been searching for her brother Chris since the destruction of Raccoon City. She infiltrated an Umbrella Corporation facility and was ctured, then sent out to a prison island in the Southern Ocean. She learns more about the origins of the Umbrella Corporation and a new virus, the T-Virus Veronica.

Halfway through the game, players switch from playing Claire to controlling Chris, who heard of his sister’s cture and made his way to the island not long after she was taken to another facility in Antarctica. Eventually, the two come together to take down the twin siblings, Alexia and Alfred, who are the grandchildren of Sir Edward Ashford, one of the founders of the Umbrella Corporation.

No platforms were announced in the trailer. Most likely, it will be available for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, although it could also be released for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Tech

Everything to Know About World Cup 2026: Teams, Hosts, Where and Who to Watch

We’ve been hearing about the 2026 FIFA World Cup for months, and it’s now upon us.

There are more teams and host stadiums than ever this year, and tickets to World Cup matches have been a hot topic since they were first released, with many fans priced out, and transportation to the US and to the stadiums themselves becoming a barrier to attending for some. That’s why you’ll find me watching every match from the comfort of my home (or maybe at a local park or bar for a watch party) when the tournament begins on June 11.

Matches will run daily until July 19, and this year, you’ll be able to watch them all on Fox and FS1. You can catch every single match in Spanish on Peacock, too.

Here’s a primer on everything else you might be wondering about this year’s World Cup, including which teams are playing, where matches will be held and who’s headlining the first-ever World Cup final halftime show.

When is the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

This year’s World Cup begins on June 11 with a match between co-host Mexico and South Africa, to be held in Mexico City.

There will be 48 teams playing in 104 matches over a little over a month. The championship final is scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 19, at New York New Jersey Stadium (aka MetLife Stadium), home to the NFL’s Jets and Giants, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The group stage runs until June 27, after which the knockout stage begins. The Round of 32 will run from June 28-July 3, the Round of 16 is July 4-7, the quarterfinals are July 9-11 and the semifinals are July 14 and 15.

Moondes/Jeffrey Hazelwood/CNET

Which teams are in the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

This year’s World Cup is the biggest ever in terms of the number of clubs participating in the tournament. In a FIFA first, 48 teams have qualified, and, in another first, there are three host nations: Mexico, the US and Canada. Argentina returns to the pitch as the most recent World Cup champions, having defeated France in 2022.

Canada (host country)
Mexico (host country)
USA (host country)
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Cabo Verde
Colombia
Congo DR
Côte d’Ivoire
Croatia
Curaçao
Czechia
Ecuador
Egypt
England
France
Germany
Ghana
Haiti
Iran
Iraq
Jan
Jordan
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Panama
Paraguay
Portugal
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
Senegal
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Tunisia
Türkiye
Uruguay
Uzbekistan

Many fans will be tuning in to see Cristiano Ronaldo in his sixth World Cup tournament, but he’s not the only player deemed a favorite this year.

Vitalii Vitleo/

Players to watch at the 2026 World Cup

The top-ranked teams heading into the 2026 World Cup (in order) are France, Spain, Argentina and England, so naturally some of the top players to watch will be playing for those countries.

At age 18, Lamine Yamal of Spain is one of the youngest players in this year’s series (he’ll actually celebrate his birthday midtournament). When he was 17, Yamal was the runner-up for the 2025 Ballon d’Or, the award recognizing the best international footballer of the year, losing to Ousmane Dembélé of France. Dembélé is headed into his third World Cup and is fresh off a UEFA Champions League win with his club, Paris Saint-Germain.

Lionel Messi, one of the most famous soccer players in the world, returns this year as ctain of the Argentina team (aka La Albiceleste), in what will likely be his final World Cup. Messi, 39, along with Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, are two of the oldest players in the tournament and among the most respected and renowned players of all time. Even if Messi doesn’t win a second consecutive title, his World Cup performances will likely be a highlight of the tournament.

Harry Kane, ctain of England, will also be one to watch. Kane is England’s all-time top goal scorer and indeed one of the top scorers in every league he has played in, with a staggering 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern Munich this season. However, a World Cup title has eluded Kane and England — they last won in 1966.

Fans will also have their eyes on Jan’s Kaishū Sano, whose performance as a midfielder in the Bundesliga has earned him praise, and Nico Paz, a midfielder on Argentina’s squad, known for his footwork and creative play. Paz, 21, is making history as the first player on the Argentina national team to play in the World Cup without ever having played for any of the nation’s football clubs.

Other names who could go big include Australia’s Nestory Irankunda and Ardon Jashari, a midfielder on Switzerland’s team who has made waves at AC Milan.

Who’s performing at the FIFA World Cup final halftime show?

While we don’t yet know which teams will play in this year’s World Cup final match, we do know there will be world-class entertainment at halftime.

With a roster that rivals some of the best Super Bowl halftime shows, the 2026 World Cup final show will be headlined by Madonna, Shakira and BTS. Having just one of these global artists would have been impressive, but all three will share the stage on Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium. If those names weren’t enough, the performance will be curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay and, yes, I’ve buried the lede:the Muppets will also pear.

Host cities at World Cup 2026

The US, Canada and Mexico are the host nations of this year’s tournament, and matches will be played in 16 cities across the three countries. The last time the US hosted the World Cup was in 1994; it was a simpler time back then, as that year, only 24 teams participated in matches across nine venues. Mexico has also previously hosted twice, in 1970 and 1986. This year, two venues are in Canada, three in Mexico and 11 in the US.

Estadio Monterrey (otherwise known as BBVA Stadium) is one of the stadiums in Mexico hosting World Cup matches this year.

NortePhoto/

One thing you’ll notice is that the venues have been temporarily renamed for the massive event, in line with FIFA’s branding guidelines. For example, Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium is referred to as Atlanta Stadium, while Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, is now Boston Stadium.

A statement on the FIFA websiteexplains: “All listed stadium cacities are preliminary at this stage and subject to change before the tournament. Stadium official names for the FIFA World Cup 2026 have been matched with Host City names and may differ from the common designation used locally.”

Toronto Stadium (BMO Field)
BC Place Vancouver
Estadio Guadalajara (Estadio Akron)
Estadio Monterrey (Estadio BBVA)
Mexico City Stadium (Estadio Azteca)
Atlanta Stadium (Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
Boston Stadium (Gillette Stadium)
Dallas Stadium (AT&T Stadium)
Houston Stadium (NRG Stadium)
Kansas City Stadium (Arrowhead Stadium)
Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium)
Miami Stadium (Hard Rock Stadium)
New York New Jersey Stadium (MetLife Stadium)
Philadelphia Stadium (Lincoln Financial Field)
San Francisco Bay Area Stadium (Levi’s Stadium)
Seattle Stadium (Lumen Field)

There are official World Cup songs, too

The first time I realized the World Cup had an official song was in 1998, when Ricky Martin’s Cup of Life (La Copa de la Vida) was released. The song was an international hit, and in the years since, the World Cup has expanded not just to include an official song but also an official playlist featuring songs from several music superstars.

This year’s anthem, Dai Dai, a collaboration between Shakira and Nigerian singer/producer Burna Boy, has already racked up more than 65 million views on YouTube in its first two weeks, and is one of several singles on the soundtrack. Also out now is Game Time by Future and Tyla, Lighter by Jelly Roll and Mexican singer Carín León and Goals, a collab between international stars Lisa, Anitta and Rema.

Here’s a rundown of all the songs on the 2026 World Cup soundtrack; you can listen to playlists on Spotifyand ple Music:

Dai Dai by Shakira and Burna Boy (Official Song)
Goals by Lisa, Anitta and Rema
Illuminate by Jessie Reyez and Elyanna
Echo by Daddy Yankee and Shenseea
Por Ella by Los Ángeles Azules and Belinda
Lighter by Jelly Roll and Carín León
Game Time by Future and TYLA

Where to watch World Cup 2026 matches

If you’re planning to watch all the action on TV at home, Fox will show every US Men’s National Team group match, plus every match from the round of 16 onward, including the championship final. You’ll be able to catch 34 additional matches on FS1. Fox and FS1 are available on services like DirecTV, YouTube TV and Fox One.

For fans looking to watch matches in Spanish, every game will air on either Telemundo or Universo and will stream on Peacock. Free streaming service Tubi will also be showing the opening match on June 11 and USA vs. Paraguay on June 12.