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Monday, 3 July 2023

Quordle today - hints and answers for Tuesday July 4 (game #526)

It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off.

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I'm still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it's good fun, but also difficult.

What's more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keeping it fresh in the form of a new variant called the Daily Sequence, which sees you complete four puzzles consecutively, rather than concurrently.

But Quordle is tough, so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you'll probably need some for this game 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 #526 and the answers to the main game and 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 #526) - 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 #526) - 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 #526) - 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 #526) - 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 #525) - hint #5 - uncommon letters

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

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #526) - 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+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 #526) - hint #7 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• G

• S

• G

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

Quordle today (game #526) - the answers

Quordle answers for game 526 on a yellow background — (Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #526, are…

GUMMY
SQUAT
SUSHI
GAUDY

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

Daily Sequence today (game #526) - the answers

Quordle Daily Sequence answers for game 526 on a yellow background — (Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #526, are…

PARKA
CLOWN
CATTY
PRONE

Quordle answers: The past 20

Quordle #525, Monday 3 July: DRUID, ENACT, APART, HEFTY
Quordle #524, Sunday 2 July: AMISS, SHOWY, LURCH, SAUCY
Quordle #523, Saturday 1 July: KNEAD, DALLY, AMAZE, IDEAL
Quordle #522, Friday 30 June: WOMAN, BAGEL, SUPER, ARISE
Quordle #521, Thursday 29 June: ISSUE, MOUNT, OVOID, SANER
Quordle #520, Wednesday 28 June: CEDAR, RUMBA, WIDOW, TITHE
Quordle #519, Tuesday 27 June: STRAW, APPLY, MAGMA, CLUED
Quordle #518, Monday 26 June: SCARE, RIGHT, IRATE, ORBIT
Quordle #517, Sunday 25 June: GAUNT, SLANG, ROUSE, UNITE
Quordle #516, Saturday 24 June: BILGE, LEAPT, GLOAT, PLEAT
Quordle #515, Friday 23 June: FIELD, BRINE, BEGUN, PITCH
Quordle #514, Thursday 22 June: AMAZE, BINGO, MUMMY, WEIRD
Quordle #513, Wednesday 21 June: BRIDE, TILDE, LOWER, REVEL
Quordle #512, Tuesday 20 June: DUVET, BLAST, FILMY, CEASE
Quordle #511, Monday 19 June: HORDE, LOSER, GUSTO, PRONE
Quordle #510, Sunday 18 June: SHORN, FRIAR, THREE, UNTIE
Quordle #509, Saturday 17 June: JUROR, BUSED, SAPPY, VYING
Quordle #508, Friday 16 June: PASTA, RABID, UNFIT, CURLY
Quordle #507, Thursday 15 June: COBRA, CORNY, MINCE, CHILI
Quordle #506, Wednesday 14 June: LIBEL, SAVVY, VAULT, TROLL

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 nifty new feature gives Google Calendar a badly-needed upgrade

The Google Calendar app for Android has plenty of features to offer and solid integration with other Google Workspace apps. And while planning events through Calendar is easy enough, it’s finally getting a much-needed upgrade.

Google Calendar is adding a share button to events, meaning that event organizers can invite a large number of people at once without having to add each contact’s email address individually. It was first introduced back in March 2023, albeit in an incomplete state, but now we can see how it looks thanks to Twitter user AssembleDebug and reported on by Android Police.

I have shared earlier about Google preparing to add event link sharing directly from Google Calendar app, it was not functional before. Now it works and here is a video showing it in action.#Google #Android pic.twitter.com/c4DDkP6cwYJuly 1, 2023

Once you create an event, there will be a Share button under the name and date and when you tap it you can choose from several apps to share the event with platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, or Discord. Those invited can then choose from Yes, No, and Maybe, with the event link being forwarded to their email IDs.

While we don’t have an official release date for this new feature, it should be coming soon since, judging from the video, it already seems to be in a complete state.

Google Calendar continues to innovate

Google Calendar is easily one of the best calendar apps on the market. Just in 2023 alone, it’s gotten plenty of great features that truly enhanced the user experience.

For instance, Google Workspace finally let users without paid accounts create paid booking pages, as well as take appointments or meetings and share their availability through Gmail. Calendar also added a UI update for new location suggestions through Google Maps, which gives you a series of suggestions “based on your recent locations” to make it faster to schedule an appointment.

And, in a surprise move, Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook improved their interoperability. This means that Outlook users who also have a Google Calendar with the same email address are now able to receive Google Calendar invitations and RSVPs directly in Outlook without having to be in the Google ecosystem. It’s a Google-wide feature too, so both businesses and individuals can take advantage of it.

I look forward to seeing what kind of quality-of-life updates the Google Calendar app will add in the future – I’m sure the tech giant will think of more. Especially since it’s been dreaming up tons of interesting AI features and tools for Google Workspaces.

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Meta teases Twitter alternative and we're ready to pull these Threads

Meta’s Twitter alternative has been building up hype since earlier this year, when app researcher Allesandro Paluzzi took to Twitter to share images of Threads (at the time called ‘Barcelona’) and said the app was being pitched as ‘Instagram for your thoughts’.

Now, the upcoming app has been briefly spotted on the Google Play Store and it seems like we could be very close to an actual launch. While the listing was removed almost immediately, it was a full download page that offered some insight into what Threads will look like.

Paluzzi turned up here again, flagging the temporary Play Store appearance and dropping a few screenshots on Twitter that showed off a little bit of the app, like the login screen (featuring a ‘log in with Instagram’ option) and the design of the app’s main timeline feed.

It looks like users will be able to go through their existing follower list on Instagram and choose who they want to follow on Threads, so your new feed won’t get immediately cluttered if you decide to import your Insta account.

Here's the store listing screenshots 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/kBK9OSRhNFJuly 1, 2023

Unsurprisingly, Threads looks a lot like Twitter. We’ve got the familiar like, comment, retweet (re-thread?), and share buttons at the bottom of each post, and even Instagram's blue checkmarks are still around.

Threads has been in development for a while; the project was initially codenamed ‘P92’ and temporarily used the name ‘Barcelona’. Meta then confirmed in April that it was “exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates”, and while that wasn’t a direct dig at Twitter, Meta clearly had a platform in mind when developing the app.

The Play Store leak does give us hope that we’ll be seeing Threads turn up a lot sooner than we think, and following the tweet limitations experienced over the weekend it’s probably about time to jump ship and head to a new platform.

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Meta's new Facebook parental controls show social media still doesn't like responsibility

Social media platforms have been facing criticism for their influence on young minds for at least a decade, and now Meta, Instagram’s and Facebook’s parent company, is implementing new features to actively address such concerns, such as the impact on teens’ mental health, across its platforms. These features include new parental supervision tools and privacy features.

Many adults would probably agree that this sounds like a generally good direction to direct efforts in, but the proposed new tools have raised questions. The main concern is that many of the new features require the choice to opt-in from the child, and that this will perhaps hamper the features’ effectiveness.

Instagram will now send a notice to the child after they’ve blocked someone on the platform and encourage them to involve their parent to supervise their account. You may be confused (I know I was) as to what the rationale behind this is, but Meta explains that it’s at this moment that kids and teens are open to seeking parental guidance.

Leaving it to the parents

Now, personally, I can see a lot of kids and teens simply choosing to not opt in (I know I wouldn’t have), but what happens if a child does opt in? Well, then the parents gain some control over their account, allowing them to impose a time limit, see and track who their teen/child follows or is followed by, and monitor how much time their kid spends on Instagram. However, the parents will not be privy to message content, which will remain private and encrypted.

While some parents may not like the thought that some parts of their child’s account remains off limits to them, this may be an effort to make compromises and discussions easier between parents and their children about online safety in a transparent way - a child gets to use social media, their parent(s) gets to see an outline of their usage, and the child is aware that parent has this information. This is also what Meta itself is insinuating, claiming it seeks solutions “that balance teen safety and autonomy.”

However, this is likely not the last of such efforts by Meta, as these new features join already-implemented parental supervision tools and resources. Currently, Meta has not disclosed how many under-18 users have opted into these features, so we don’t know the exact scale of engagement with them.

Also, these features are only available in the United States, Canada, and the UK, though Meta has said that it will be rolling them out to more regions in the coming months (you can check out our pick of the best parental control software in the meantime).

While we don’t have opt-in figures yet, criticism has persisted despite this announcement. Experts say this is a useful tool for families who are already communicative and on top of their children’s social media time. However, this isn’t the reality for many families (I can attest to that, my parents had no idea what I did online).

One such commonly-raised issue is that technically kids under thirteen aren’t allowed on social media, but that's easily circumnavigated by just lying about your age when you sign up. Another is that social media platforms, in tandem with technology overall, are evolving so rapidly that the average adult may not have time to fully understand each new development, especially if they have children, and how these developments may be impacting the psychological development of their child.

These critics say that such problems of a more fundamental nature are being left unaddressed and left to parents to figure out. A lot of these features also require the children themselves to turn on, perhaps expecting a level of knowledge and self-control that you don’t see from adults.

It seems to me, the psychological problems caused and exacerbated by social media affect many demographics and age groups, with children being one of the most affected.

Social media companies still have plenty of incentive to keep us on their platforms for as long as possible, and this desire to keep us engaged appears to conflict with their responsibilities to safeguard their users – especially vulnerable ones. It seems if users really want to make sure they – and their loved ones – remain safe online, then the responsibility once again falls on the user.

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Twitter crisis explained: what are rate limits and when will they end?

The saga of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition has been long, arduous, and frankly a bit wild: from scrapping legacy blue checkmarks to raising the character limit to 10,000, the eccentric billionaire has been shaking things up at the social media platform, and it’s not always gone well.

The latest development could be the final nail in the coffin for Twitter, however, as Musk announced on Saturday, July 1, that users would be limited to viewing a set number of posts. Verified users will be allowed to see 6,000 tweets per day, while unverified users get just 600. New accounts that aren’t verified will get to view just 300 posts per day.

To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits:- Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts/day- Unverified accounts to 600 posts/day- New unverified accounts to 300/dayJuly 1, 2023

Since Musk delivered this news in a tweet (as is tradition, at this point), it’s fairly unclear as to what actually constitutes a ‘view’ or a ‘post’ - interestingly, Musk didn’t use the word ‘tweet’ at all in his announcement.

Replies appear to count towards the limit, but ads might not; and as for what ‘viewing’ a post means, as far as we can tell you could scroll past it at lightspeed and Twitter will still consider it viewed. Hit your limit, and you’ll get either empty space or a message that reads ‘rate limit exceeded’.

Musk was quick to raise the limits to 10,000 for verified and 1,000 for unverified users, but the new rules are enough to severely hobble the user experience for anyone not willing to shell out (from) $8 / £9.60 / AU$13 a month for a Twitter Blue subscription. Users are already reporting hitting their limit after a relatively short amount of time spent scrolling through their timelines, and these limits appear to be having a much larger impact than the previous tweet limits applied earlier this year.

Why is this happening?

Although Musk claims that the new limits are to deal with “extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation” (whatever that means), it’s possible that there’s a more direct cause behind the scenes – one that could be entirely the Tesla CEO’s fault.

After taking over as CEO, Musk fired a large portion of Twitter's workforce and notably also stopped paying for a number of services used by the social media giant, including (amusingly) rent on some of its physical offices. A critical bill that went unpaid for too long was owed to Google for the use of its cloud hosting services, as reported last month by Insider.

Twitter relies on Google’s platform for a great deal, and some are claiming that the relationship breakdown between Musk and Google is the cause for Twitter’s current instability – although this hasn’t been officially confirmed, and it looks like Twitter did actually pay at least some of its debt after new CEO Linda Yaccarino took over.

"This is hilarious. It appears that Twitter is DDOSing itself."https://t.co/BM1QKwaW8Z pic.twitter.com/sBPauhS71mJuly 1, 2023

Another potential explanation, as noted by web developer and Twitter user Sheldon Chang, is that Twitter is essentially DDOSing itself. Chang noted early on Saturday that the Twitter home feed wasn’t loading properly, but that Twitter was still firing off non-stop requests for data that never arrived, resulting in constant instability.

Chang speculated that this was due to Musk’s most recent change: forcing users to log in before they could view any content on Twitter. This is an unpopular but not uncommon move for a social media platform; Instagram, for example, typically won’t let you view more than one linked post in your phone browser before asking you to open the app. Chang described the situation as "the most epic of self-owns".

When will it be fixed?

An error message from Twitter reading 'Rate limit exceeded, please wait a few moments then try again'. — Thousands of users were met with this error message over the weekend, with no official in-app communication from Twitter regarding the issue - Musk wants you to read his tweets. (Image credit: Twitter)

The short answer here is that we have no idea. Since Musk massively reduced the size of Twitter’s software engineering team, it’s entirely unclear when exactly Twitter will be able to resolve the issue, so these rate limits could remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Limiting the number of posts users can view for a longer period could have serious implications for Twitter’s revenue. The social media site’s primary source of income is from advertisers, and those ads need to be seen for Twitter to actually make money. Limiting access to a platform you’re trying to sell ad space on is a bizarre move, even for Musk.

Sadly, this fresh debacle is just another problem for the new CEO to slog through. There’s always another fire to put out, whether it’s potential fines from regulatory bodies or screwing over third-party API developers – the latter of which was a move aped by Reddit, resulting in the recent Reddit blackout. Why anyone would want to mimic Musk’s comedy routine is, quite frankly, beyond me.

Where do we go from here?

Confidence in Twitter is at an all-time low, and it’s not entirely due to the things Musk has actually done – sometimes, just the promise of some terrible new addition is enough to spook people.

During his short stint as CEO, Musk built something of a reputation for planning but not actually implementing new features, like disabling TweetDeck for non-paying users or the rumored call functionality that could have made the app unusable for women and minorities.

The Bluesky Social app shown on the app store. — Bluesky Social is a possible competitor to Twitter, designed (somewhat amusingly) by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (Image credit: Getty Images)

As for what we should be doing next, well… I’d like to say leave, but we’ve yet to see a real alternative arrive. Meta has a rival app in the works but it’s not available yet, and decentralized social network Mastodon has largely failed to capture the hearts and minds of Twitter refugees.

Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky app is a potential contender, but the platform is currently invite-only; naturally, people are already begging for invites on other social media sites. What happens next is anyone’s guess. There’s every chance that Yaccarino could turn things around at Twitter, but I personally won’t hold my breath – not as long as Musk still has one hand on the wheel, anyway.

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Sunday, 2 July 2023

Quordle today - hints and answers for Monday July 3 (game #525)

It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off.

But Quordle is tough, so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you'll probably need some for this game 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 #525 and the answers to the main game and 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 #525) - 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 #525) - 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 #525) - 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 #525) - 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 #525) - 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 #525) - 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 #525) - hint #7 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• D

• E

• A

• H

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

Quordle today (game #525) - the answers

Quordle answers for game 525 on a yellow background — (Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #525, are…

DRUID
ENACT
APART
HEFTY

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