Tech

Mouse: P.I. For Hire Review: A Competent Shooter Oozing With Cartoon Charm

Like any foolishly hopeful gamer, I sat in the darkness of my home, booting up a game I prayed would shine bright enough to live up to its promise. A black-and-white shooter set in a city full of mice? A classic cartoon animation style? A gumshoe noir plot? The idiosyncrasies stacked like Jenga blocks, and one faulty element could send the whole tower tumbling. But isn’t that always the way in Gamer Town, where promising pitches are a dime a dozen, and few successfully pull off their daring dreams.. Mouse: P.I. For Hire, the long-awaited indie first-person shooter spawned from a post on X, is finally coming out on Thursday after years of trailers and teasers, and at a modest $30 price to boot. Though its creators from Polish studio Fumi Games insist that the game’s look is more broadly inspired by the 1930s “rubber hose” style of animation popularized by Betty Boop and Fleischer cartoons, it’s not hard to see visual similarities with Steamboat Willie, the black-and-white character that preceded Mickey Mouse. A lot of Mouse: P.I. For Hire’s appeal lies in the vintage cartoony style contrasting with violent gunfire — and after playing half a dozen hours of the game, that does make up a lot of its charm.. But it’s a pleasure to discover all the visual style overlays a fairly involved narrative riddled with classic noir elements. Players control Jack Pepper, a war hero turned hard-boiled detective whose pursuit of a missing persons case leads him from the bright lights of Mouseburg’s fine society to its seedy back alleys and dangerous criminal underbelly, uncovering a vast conspiracy in the process.. Mouse: P.I. For Hire is packed to the gills with noir staples like a gumshoe protagonist, a femme fatale love interest, political corruption, social inequality, dirty cops and a bulletin board where our detective fills in the case clue by clue. Despite the cartoon animation and rubber hose violence, the noir is played straight; it’s clear that this is a love letter to the genre of detective fiction made famous by American fiction writers.. In conversation with Fumi Games lead producer Maciej Krzemień last June at Summer Game Fest, the team working on the game took inspiration from stories by famed noir writer Raymond Chandler, and the narrative leads did plenty of historical research to get the period right.. “Obviously, we are not Americans ourselves. We wanted to get a good grasp on this entire style of detective noir stories, but with some light-hearted elements to it,” Krzemień told me.. A good chunk of the success of Pepper’s character belongs to his voice actor, Troy Baker, who delivers one-liners and exposition in gravelly tones that fit a hard-boiled detective narrating the case throughout the game. The rest of the voice cast is suitably pleasant — Florian Clare as journalist Wanda Fuller, Frank Todaro as politician and Pepper’s war buddy Cornelius Stilton, among others — giving a range of period-appropriate performances ranging from Mid-Atl

Tech

iPhone Straining Your Eyes? This Feature Could Help

According to my iPhone, I spend about 3 hours a day looking at it. I’m sure I hold my iPhone close to my face at times, especially at night, and that might be why my eyes hurt sometimes. Luckily, there’s a hidden iPhone feature called Screen Distance that could help all of us take better care of our eyes.. CNET. The feature warns you when you’re holding your iPhone or iPad too close to your face, sort of like having a parent tell you to sit farther back from the television or computer screen. Although having a screen near your face might not harm your eyes, it could stress and irritate them, according to health care organization Cedars-Sinai. But this iPhone feature aims to help reduce eyestrain. According to Apple, it could even lower the risk of myopia, or nearsightedness.. Here’s how to turn Screen Distance on and give your eyes a break.. Turn on Screen Distance. 1. Open Settings.. 2. Tap Screen Time.. 3. Tap Screen Distance.. These screens appear the first time you access Screen Distance. Apple/CNET. Then you’ll see two screens that explain what Screen Distance is and how it works. Tap Continue on both screens, and Screen Distance automatically turns on after these screens. Both screens appear only the first time you go into Screen Distance.. When you hold your iPhone too close to your face for too long, Screen Distance blocks your screen. Apple/CNET. Now, after holding your iPhone too close to your face for a few minutes, your screen gets blocked by a message reading, “iPhone May Be Too Close.”. Your screen remains blocked until you hold your iPhone farther away. Then, your screen shows a checkmark, and you have to tap Continue to remove the block.. Read more: How to Beat Eyestrain, According to Optometrists. Turning off Screen Distance. Screen Distance is a useful iOS feature that may reduce eyestrain and even decrease the risk of nearsightedness. However, if you find the warnings more annoying than helpful, here’s how to turn Screen Distance off.. 1. Open Settings.. 2. Tap Screen Time.. 3. Tap Screen Distance.. 4. Tap the toggle next to Screen Distance.. Now you can go back to holding your iPhone as close to your face as you want without interruption from your phone — or your parents.. For more iOS news, here’s what to know about iOS 26.4 and iOS 26.3. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet for other tips and tricks.. Watch this: iPhone in Space: The Many Apple Products That Left Earth

Tech

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 15, #569

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.. Today’s Connections: Sports Edition includes some fun categories. There’s a certain Olympic sport that pops up in the purple category, and if you just watched the Winter Games, you may do well. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.. Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.. Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta. Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups. Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.. Yellow group hint: Baseball abbreviations.. Green group hint: Not lions.. Blue group hint: Hollywood hoops.. Purple group hint: Winter Olympics sport.. Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups. Yellow group: MLB teams, on scoreboards.. Green group: Tigers.. Blue group: Members of the Los Angeles Lakers.. Purple group: Curling terms.. Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words. What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?. The completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 15, 2026. NYT/Screenshot by CNET. The yellow words in today’s Connections. The theme is MLB teams, on scoreboards. The four answers are CIN, MIL, PIT and STL.. The green words in today’s Connections. The theme is tigers. The four answers are Clemson, Detroit, LSU and Memphis.. The blue words in today’s Connections. The theme is members of the Los Angeles Lakers. The four answers are Doncic, James, Smart and Vanderbilt.. The purple words in today’s Connections. The theme is curling terms. The four answers are bonspiel, end, house and stone.. Toughest Connections: Sports Edition categories. The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle can be tough, but it really depends on which sports you know the most about. My husband aces anything having to do with Formula 1, my best friend is a hockey buff, and I can answer any question about Minnesota teams.. That said, it’s hard to pick the toughest Connections categories, but here are some I found exceptionally mind-blowing.. #1: Serie A Clubs. Answers: Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Roma.. #2: WNBA MVPs. Answers: Catchings, Delle Donne, Fowles and Stewart.. #3: Premier League team nicknames. Answers: Bees, Cherries, Foxes and Hammers.. #4: Homophones of NBA player names. Answers: Barns, Connect, Heart and Hero.

Tech

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 15, #1039

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.. I found today’s NYT Connections puzzle a bit tough. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.. The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.. Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time. Hints 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 tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.. Yellow group hint: Pomp and circumstance.. Green group hint: What a bore.. Blue group hint: Too easy.. Purple group hint: Checkmate!. Answers for today’s Connections groups. Yellow group: Graduation gear.. Green group: Tedious undertaking.. Blue group: Oversimplistic.. Purple group: Shapes of chess pieces.. Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words. What are today’s Connections answers?. The completed NYT Connections puzzle for April 15, 2026. NYT/Screenshot by CNET. The yellow words in today’s Connections. The theme is graduation gear. The four answers are cap, diploma, gown and tassel.. The green words in today’s Connections. The theme is tedious undertaking. The four answers are chore, grind, hassle and trial.. The blue words in today’s Connections. The theme is oversimplistic. The four answers are facile, clip, shallow and trite.. The purple words in today’s Connections. The theme is shapes of chess pieces. The four answers are castle, crown, horse and miter.. Toughest Connections puzzles. We’ve made a note of some of the toughest Connections puzzles so far. Maybe they’ll help you see patterns in future puzzles.. #5: Included “things you can set,” such as mood, record, table and volleyball.. #4: Included “one in a dozen,” such as egg, juror, month and rose.. #3: Included “streets on screen,” such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.. #2: Included “power ___” such as nap, plant, Ranger and trip.. #1: Included “things that can run,” such as candidate, faucet, mascara and nose.

Tech

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 15 #773

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 NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.. I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.. Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far. Hint for today’s Strands puzzle. Today’s Strands theme is: Gift of the month.. If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: September is sapphire.. 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:. POST, POET, POETS, TONED, NAPE, STONE, STONED, TONE. 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:. OPAL, TOPAZ, TURQUOISE, DIAMOND, GARNET, PERIDOT. Today’s Strands spangram. The completed NYT Strands puzzle for April 15, 2026. NYT/Screenshot by CNET. Today’s Strands spangram is BIRTHSTONE. To find it, start with the B that’s four letters down on the far-left row, and wind over and down.. Toughest Strands puzzles. Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest.. #1: Dated slang. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.. #2: Thar she blows! I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.. #3: Off the hook. Again, it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.

Tech

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 15, #1761

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.. Today’s Wordle puzzle could be a tough one to guess, with some rather unusual consonants. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.. Read more: New Study Reveals Wordle’s Top 10 Toughest Words of 2025. Today’s Wordle hints. Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.. Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats. Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.. Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels. Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.. Wordle hint No. 3: First letter. Today’s Wordle answer begins with B.. Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter. Today’s Wordle answer ends with N.. Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning. Today’s Wordle answer is the past participle of the verb that means to start something.. TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER. Today’s Wordle answer is BEGUN.. Yesterday’s Wordle answer. Yesterday’s Wordle answer, April 14, No. 1760, was CYCLE.. Recent Wordle answers. April 10, No. 1756: CAROM. April 11, No. 1757: PRUDE. April 12, No. 1758: ALLEY. April 13, No. 1759: ELFIN. What’s the best Wordle starting word?. Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.. Some solid starter words to try:. ADIEU. TRAIN. CLOSE. STARE. NOISE