Antiwordle Turns Wordle Around, Rewards You for Guessing Wrong
Antiwordle Turns Wordle Around, Rewards You for Guessing Wrong
In a world where Wordle failures can get you right in the feelings, sometimes you need a guaranteed win. For me, that's Antiwordle, a don't-guess-the-five-letter-word game. It questions the very idea of what it means to lose.
Antiwordle sounds mind-boggling until you actually play it. It looks a lot like classic Wordle, the daily word-guessing game that's swept the internet. But the idea is to not guess the right word so you make as many attempts as possible while avoiding the correct answer.
There are rules in place that make the goal challenging. If you guess a letter that's not in the word, that letter is grayed out and unusable. A correct letter in the wrong location turns yellow and must be used in the next guess. A correct letter in the right spot turns red and must be used in that location in the next guess. Antiwordle is constantly herding you toward the right word. It's your job to resist.
You play against the game, and you also play against yourself, trying to top your number of guesses to set a new personal best. So far, my best score is eight guesses. A quick survey of Twitter chatter shows some people make it into double-digit guesses, which gives me something to aspire to.
What does it mean to lose Antiwordle? Perhaps you would accidentally guess the word of the day right off the bat. But is that really losing? That would be a matter of luck that has nothing to do with your level of vocabulary prowess.
In my book, the act of playing Antiwordle is a win. It exercises a part of my brain that's adjacent to, but different from, how I think about the straight-up Wordle games. There's a creative flair required to play it. I still love all the Wordle clones, but Antiwordle is an oasis that's earned its spot in my daily word-game schedule.
BTS taking a break: Band plans 'official extended period of rest'
BTS taking a break: Band plans 'official extended period of rest'
Hugely popular South Korean band BTS is taking a break. In a statement issued Sunday, the group's management team, Big Hit Music, said members are planning an "official extended period of rest" after an exhausting 2020 and 2021.
"This period of rest will provide the members of BTS, who have tirelessly committed themselves to their activities, a chance to get re-inspired and recharge with creative energy," the statement read. "It will also be the first time for them since their debut to spend the holiday season with their families."
But the statement gave fans something to look forward to.
"During their period of rest, BTS will be focusing on preparing for the concert and release of the new album that will mark the beginning of a 'new chapter,'" the statement read.
In September, the group spoke at the United Nations in New York, and also shared a new video of their song Permission to Dance, which was filmed at the UN. They were introduced there by South Korea's President Moon Jae In.
The group's second English-language single, Butter, ruled Billboard's songs of summer chart for 2021.
If you're a dictator, what you don't want is the world watching your every move -- but that's the attention Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko cast on himself Sunday.
Dubbed Europe's last dictator, Lukashenko earned Belarus a fresh round of local protests and international sanctions when he used military force to ground a RyanAir plane flying between Greece and Lithuania on Sunday. As the plane flew over Belarus' airspace, Lukashenko's government sent a MiG fighter jet to ground the flight full of civilian passengers.
And what for? To take down a journalist and his Telegram group.
Police boarded the plane and arrested Roman Protasevich, a 26-year-old journalist who runs Nexta, an anti-establishment news channel that operates mostly on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, where it has over 1.2 million subscribers in a country of about 9 million.
Online platforms are rattling restrictive regimes in Europe's east: In the aligned nations of Belarus and Russia, heroic activists like Protasevich and imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny use the twin powers of Telegram and YouTube to expose corruption and governmental malignancy.
That these dissidents are being targeted for elimination and imprisonment now, after years in the public eye, is a sign of how threatening their online presence has become to Lukashenko and Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.
"These guys have really figured out how to use the internet to counter these regimes in the last few years," William Partlett, a professor at Melbourne Law School who researches post-Soviet societies, told me on a recent phone call. Because state TV is so controlled, creative and defiant young people flocked to YouTube and Telegram, where they can create their own news channels.
While the Russian and especially Belarusian governments often target specific journalists or publications, Partlett says internet freedom has been strong in Belarus and Russia compared to a country like China.
But now that resistance movements are being so effectively built using internet platforms, that freedom might soon become more compromised.
A RyanAir flight headed for Lithuania was diverted to Belarus. Belarus claimed there was a bomb threat on board, and had a MiG jet escort the flight to Minsk airport.
NurPhoto/Getty
Hanging by a thread
Anyone living in Belarus under the age of 27 has only ever known one president. The country, also known as "White Russia," held its first free elections in 1994. They were won by Lukashenko, and he's been in power ever since.
For this reason, and for his autocratic ways, Lukashenko is known as Europe's last dictator.
Lukashenko "won" the last election held in the country, officially scoring 80% of the polls. The European Union rejects this result, and observers believe the election was actually won by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a school teacher and wife of a jailed opposition leader.
What followed were the biggest and most sustained protests the country has seen since independence, involving hundreds of thousands of people. Lukashenko met these democratic spasms with autocratic force: Over 30,000 protesters have been detained, reports The Economist, and over 4,000 say they've been tortured. Some have died.
Protests over last year's election were the biggest Belarus has seen since independence.
Getty
In this environment, Nexta, created by Protasevich six years go, flourished. Its YouTube channel, with over 600,000 subscribers, circulates news. Its Telegram group spreads videos of police brutality against demonstrators and serves as an organizing ground for future protests.
Several Belarusian journalists and internet channels have been targeted by the regime ever since, often with trumped-up charges of tax evasion or similar crimes. The case of Protasevich, who fled Belarus in 2019 and has since been branded a terrorist, shows that leaving the country isn't enough to keep dissidents safe.
Similar channels have frustrated Russia's government. Alexei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader, first gained traction a decade ago by blogging about Kremlin corruption. In recent years, his team set up a network of YouTube channels, spread across each region of the massive country, that countered state TV. His goal has been to unseat the Kremlin candidates in regional elections, encouraging liberal Russians to vote for whoever has the best chance to displace elected officials from Putin's United Russia party. Telegram groups are used to help organize rallies and demonstrations.
The strategy proved successful in 2018, when the United Russia party lost three gubernatorial seats.
Those in power have taken notice.
After years of suppressing Navalny -- barring him from elections, having him arrested and charging him as a foreign agent -- Putin in 2020 apparently decided to eliminate him. Navalny's underpants were reportedly smeared with a toxic agent as he traveled from Siberia to Moscow. It's indicative of a broader clampdown on freedoms, both on and offline, that's happening in the two nations. (Putin denies being behind the poisoning.)
"Navalny existed and made all these videos for years and years, but something is happening now. Now they have him in prison. They've forced down a jet to get Protasevich," Partlett explained. "They're starting to lose the internet narrative."
Despite his subsequent imprisonment, Navalny has shown that it's possible to rile regimes even from a jail cell. He regularly posts to Instagram through his lawyer, and shortly after his imprisonment his team posted a two-hour documentary on YouTube documenting a $1.5 billion mansion owned by Putin, intending to highlight the endemic graft of Russian politics. It's been viewed 116 million times.
Recent protests against Lukashenko in neighboring Poland. NEXTA's headquarters are in Warsaw.
Nur Photo/Getty
No firewall
What happens next?
Lukashenko has been met with almost universal admonishment from world leaders. The EU will ramp up sanctions, initially put in place after last year's fraudulent election, and Ukraine has banned energy imports.
"The outrageous and illegal behavior of the regime in Belarus will have consequences," warned EU President Ursula von der Leyen. "Those responsible for the RyanAir hijacking must be sanctioned."
The key outlier is Russia. "It's an independent state," said Leonid Kalashnikov, a senior member of Russia's State Duma parliament, according to state media. "If they see a threat to their security, then they must fight this threat."
As is so often the case, experts worry that the sanctions are likely to hurt Belarus' citizens more than its leader. A new rule, for instance, bars Belarus' state airliner from flying to any European airport, making it harder for citizens to escape the regime.
Just as worrying is what this means for the limited internet freedoms enjoyed in Belarus and Russia.
Russia has flirted with creating its own internet, separating itself from the world in the same vein as China, but little has come of that idea. It banned Telegram in 2018, but inadvertently blocked thousands of other websites before deciding to lift the ban, indicating that the gargantuan task of creating its own internet is out of reach.
So without the ability for widespread new-era censorship, Belarus' leader is resorting to age-old suppression tactics. The power of tools like YouTube and Telegram is evident in the desperation move of hijacking an international flight. In trying to block news on the internet, Lukashenko got attention from the world.
'Halloween Ends' Trailer is Meant to Get Us Excited, Apparently
'Halloween Ends' Trailer is Meant to Get Us Excited, Apparently
Masked murderer Michael Myers takes another stab at Jamie Lee Curtis in the trailer for Halloween Ends. More than 40 years after first facing each other in John Carpenter's classic slasher flick, the pair get to grips with each other in a teaser that suggests their next fight will be up close and personal -- although it doesn't tell us much about whether the film will actually offer anything new over the countless previous Halloween movies.
The new film jumps ahead four years after the events of 2021's Halloween Kills. Curtis once again plays slasher survivor Laurie Strode, who's writing her memoir to put the fear and trauma of the past behind her. Then a young man is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, and all hell breaks loose yet again. None of this is in the lackluster trailer, however, which relies on the familiar.
Halloween Ends is the third and apparently final film in the current iteration of the long-running Halloween franchise. It's in theaters Oct. 14.
Will Patton, Andi Matichak, Rohan Campbell and Kyle Richards also star, with James Jude Courtney as The Shape (also known as Michael Myers). David Gordon Green once again directs and co-writes with Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier and Danny McBride.
Twitter Earnings Mark User Growth as Musk Takeover Looms
Twitter Earnings Mark User Growth as Musk Takeover Looms
Twitter continued to work toward an ambitious goal by adding users in the first quarter, an improvement overshadowed by the $44 billion deal Elon Musk struck earlier this week to buy the influential social media company.
The social media site said Thursday that 229 million users, a 15.9% year-over-year increase, logged onto the site daily in the quarter that ended March 31.
The growth, noted in Twitter's earnings report, is eclipsed by Musk's plans to acquire the social network. The mercurial CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has said he wants to loosen content moderation at Twitter and has indicated that he isn't concerned with its business performance.
Twitter, which canceled the analyst call that customarily follows earnings releases, said little in its press release about the pending acquisition, except that it won't provide forward-looking guidance and that it has withdrawn its previous goals and outlook.
Earlier, Twitter had set goals of reaching 315 million daily users and increasing annual revenue to $7.5 billion by 2023.
In its earnings report Thursday, Twitter also said that for the past three years, it had been slightly overreporting its user numbers because of how it had counted multiple accounts tied to a single user as multiple users. In a chart comparing the older numbers with the corrected numbers, the biggest numerical discrepancy was 1.9 million users, or just under 1%, in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Musk, the world's richest person, has said he wants to acquire Twitter because he doesn't believe the company adheres to the principles of free speech, a term he has used often and loosely. On Tuesday, he tweeted, "By 'free speech', I simply mean that which matches the law."
Under the US Constitution's First Amendment, free speech refers to protection from government interference. It doesn't apply to companies such as Twitter.
At a public engagement earlier this month, Musk said he doesn't care about Twitter's economics, which could deteriorate if looser moderation standards attract hate speech and harassment that drive away advertisers.
In the first quarter, Twitter generated revenue of $1.2 billion, up 16% year over year. CNBC, citing data from market data provider Refinitiv, reported that quarterly revenue was below estimates of $1.23 billion. Twitter reported 61 cents earnings per share though that included its sale of mobile app platform MoPub.
Move Aside, Way Day: Amazon Offers Better Deals on These 5 Products Today
Move Aside, Way Day: Amazon Offers Better Deals on These 5 Products Today
As Wayfair's biggest sale of the year, Way Day, comes to a close, you're probably scouring the site to save the most money possible on discounted products. But what if we told you that not all of the discounts offered during Way Day are the best deals you can get online? While it may seem as if you can find the best prices on Wayfair for just about everything on its site, you can actually find certain products on sale at Amazon, for less.
We've sifted through several deals on Wayfair and compared them directly with Amazon's prices on the same items, looking for maximum savings. Even though prices will change, what we know right now is that the deals we found on these items discounted by Wayfair are even better on Amazon today.
And while you're here, if you're interested in the best deals we've found thus far on Way Day, check out our articles on the best Way Day deals and shop for five deals under $20.
Amazon
Cuisinart's 12-speed stand mixer includes a mixing bowl, whisk, mixing paddle and more to get ingredients mixed perfectly before you bake. Cuisinart is a brand we've reviewed many times before with a long-standing reputation, so this offer is appealing not only because of the $190 price (get this price by clipping the 5% Amazon coupon code) compared with Wayfair's $250 price, but because this mixer is well-made.
Amazon
This Cuisinart compact air fryer is small enough to fit on any counter and holds 2.5 pounds of food. For $100, or $15 less than Wayfair's price, you can air-fry your meals using adjustable time and temperature knobs, letting you whip up your favorite foods with less grease.
Amazon
There is no reason to vacuum the old-fashioned way if you can do it hands-free. This iRobot Roomba 694 vacuum cleaner from Amazon costs just $180, a savings of $60 compared with the same vacuum from Wayfair. If you pair this robot vacuum with an Amazon Echo Dot you can operate it with voice commands, or you can use the app instead. For up to 90 minutes, it can collect dirt and grime from carpet and hardwood floors.
Amazon
This is another deal that's only better than Wayfair by a few dollars, but for $5 cheaper, you can program this machine to brew your favorite coffee, with regular or bold strength. The GE coffee maker holds 1.5 liters (50 ounces) and even keeps your drink fresh for up to two hours.
Halloween is almost here, and spooky mysteries with a dash of suspense are a satisfying October staple. Apple Arcade -- Apple's $5 per month mobile gaming subscription -- has almost 220 games in its catalog, including plenty of spooky titles.
We picked out 20 games that are perfect for getting into the spooky season spirit. Here's what to play:
Bleak Sword
Developer: Devolver Digital
Bleak Sword on Apple Arcade.
Screenshot/Devolver
Bleak Sword is a dark retro fantasy action game full of evil creatures you must slay in order to break a legendary curse. Dodge, roll and parry against randomly generated enemies across nine chapters of swaps, forests and castles.
The Bradwell Conspiracy
Developer: Bossa Studios and A Brave Plan
Bossa Studios
The Bradwell Conspiracy is a narrative-driven first-person game where you have to uncover the truth behind the explosion that destroyed the Bradwell Electronics facility. At the start of the game, you wake up in the rubble with only a computerized voice in your "smart glasses" to guide you. The glasses guide eventually connects you to another person trapped inside the facility, and you must try to escape together.
Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls
Developer: Konami Digital Entertainment
Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls on Apple Arcade
Apple
Dracula is quintessentially Halloween. Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls is a side-scroller action game that features a number of characters from the original gothic fantasy series and its creators, Ayami Kojima and Michiru Yamane. The game is set after Dracula has been sealed away, and you can play as Alucard, Charlotte, Maria, Simon Belmont and more as you battle your way through Dracula's army.
Cozy Grove
Developer: Spry Fox
Cozy Grove on Apple Arcade.
Apple
Cozy Grove is like a haunted version of Animal Crossing , and it's adorable. In the game, you're a Spirit Scout tasked with bringing peace to the adorably haunted island of Cozy Grove. Explore the island, collect resources and craft items to survive, tend your fire -- Flamey -- and try to help the lost forest ghosts. The more you help, the more the island heals -- the environment becomes colorized and flowers grow.
Creaks
Developer: Amanita Design
Creaks on Apple Arcade.
Apple
Creaks is an intricate puzzle platformer game that seeks to solve the mystery of what exactly goes bump in the night. In the game, you're spending a quiet evening in your room when the light starts flickering and the ground trembles. The wallpaper pulls back to reveal a secret door, and someone, or something, is making noise in there. Grab your flashlight and explore a mysterious subterranean world of bird people. Lurking in the shadows are deadly, shape-shifting monsters. But don't worry -- when you shine a light on them, they transform into harmless furniture.
Don't Starve: Pocket Edition
Developer: Klei
Don't Starve: Pocket Edition on Apple Arcade
Screenshot by CNET
Don't Starve: Pocket Edition puts you in the role of Wilson, a scientist, transported to a mysterious, unexplored wilderness full of unidentified creatures, dangers and surprises. You must help Wilson fight off enemies, research, navigate the environment, craft resources, gather items, solve the mystery of the strange land and ultimately survive.
The Get Out Kids
Developer: Frosty Pop
The Get Out Kids on Apple Arcade.
Screenshot by CNET
The Get Out Kids mixes mystery with nostalgia, taking players back to 1984. Molly, Salim and Molly's dog Moses sneak out one night to catch a late showing of the Ghostblasters movie at the local drive-in. Along the way, they have to navigate creepy woods and sneak past the surly cemetery groundskeeper. When Moses goes missing suddenly and suspiciously, Molly and Salim begin an adventure to find out what happened to their canine friend. This narrative-driven game includes puzzles, hidden object searches and more.
Hitchhiker
Developer: Versus Evil and Mad About Pandas
Hitchhiker on Apple Arcade.
Hitchhiker/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
Hitchhiker is a mystery game where you play as a hitchhiker with no memory of your past or destination. By catching rides with five strangers across a landscape of rolling hills, you must try and figure out who you are as well as find a mysterious missing friend. Everyone has a story to tell, but not everything is what it seems. Search the vehicles for clues and choose your words carefully to bring hidden parts of your identity to light -- and prepare for the dangers ahead. The longer you're on the road, the more your grasp on reality loosens.
Inmost
Developer: Hidden Layer Games and Chucklefish Games
Inmost on Apple Arcade.
Hidden Layer Games
Inmost, a hidden-object platformer, immediately drops players into a creepy world inside a mysterious house. You'll play as multiple characters whose storylines are more connected than they might seem at first. Navigate a strange castle and dodge menacing shadows on your path to find answers.
Jenny LeClue
Developer: Joe Russ and Ben Tillet
Jenny LeClue on Apple Arcade.
Jenny LeClue/Twitter
Jenny LeClue envelops players in a mystery-adventure-thriller narrative, guided by choices you make. The game is set in the seemingly idyllic town of Arthurton, where you play as Jenny, a kid sleuth who is eager to prove her worth as a detective. When your mother is accused of murder, you set out to prove the truth. As you seek out answers, you quickly realize that nothing and no one in Arthurton are what they seem.
Layton's Mystery Journey
Developer: Level 5
Layton's Mystery Journey on Apple Arcade.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
Layton's Mystery Journey sets up a Sherlock Holmes meets Studio Ghibli environment to tell the story of Katrielle Layton -- a young detective out to unravel the mystery of her father's disappearance. Visit the crime scene, investigate with your magnifying glass, interview witnesses and suspects, collect clues and solve puzzles to crack the case. The puzzles in the game start off simple, and you can use coins to get clues if you get stuck. The more difficult a puzzle is, the higher its coin value. Earning coins also grants you access to end-game bonuses that help you solve your case.
Murder Mystery Machine
Developer: Blazing Griffin
Murder Mystery Machine on Apple Arcade.
Apple Arcade
In Murder Mystery Machine, you're a detective out to prove yourself when a murder case comes across your desk. Explore the crime scene, collect evidence, interview suspects and make deductions to solve the case. You can get hints from your partner if you get stuck, but he's a bit surly. The game releases mysteries in episodes, and the first one is about a murdered politician. Fans of detective procedurals like Law & Order might like this game.
Necrobarista
Developer: Route 59
Necrobarista on Apple Arcade.
Apple/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
Anime-style supernatural game Necrobarista tells the story of Maddy Xiao -- a barista and amateur necromancer -- is the new owner of the Terminal, a coffee shop that welcomes the dead to walk among the living for one night. Under the tutelage of coffee expert and necromancer Chay Wu, Maddy must navigate the Council of Death's rules, the ethics of life and death, and what it means to let go.
Neo Cab
Developer: Chance Agency
Neo Cab on Apple Arcade.
Apple/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
Neo Cab is a survival game for the digital age embroiled in a mystery. You play as Lina, the last human taxi driver in a world overcome by automation. When you move to Los Ojos to reconnect with your best friend, Savy, she vanishes. With no other options, you must keep taking passengers to earn money and get information about Savy's disappearance. This becomes increasingly difficult as you progress. Keep an eye on your Feelgrid bracelet to stay in tune with your emotions and ultimately remain human in this tech-noir game.
Neversong
Developer: Serenity Forge
Neversong on Apple Arcade.
Apple/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
Neversong is a side-scroller style puzzle game where you play as young Peet, who, upon waking from a coma, finds himself in a nightmare. With his girlfriend nowhere to be found, Peet must navigate the frightening halls of Blackfork Asylum and try to understand the sometimes-violent behavior of adults. The more he explores, the more the secrets of his past unfurl. Neversong has six levels to explore, including Red Wind Field and Blackfork Asylum, which are all packed with bosses to defeat. Armed with a baseball bat, his childhood friends and his pet bird, Peet will set out to learn the truth about his coma.
Nuts
Developer: Noodlecake
Nuts on Apple Arcade.
Apple
Nuts is a surveillance mystery game that's lightheartedly reminiscent of Firewatch. The squirrel population in Melmoth Forest is acting suspiciously and it's up to you, as a field researcher, to get to the bottom of it. Pack up your map, cameras, motion sensors, thermal imaging tech and GPS for the weirdest surveillance mission ever. Along the way, you'll be tasked with missions: Placing cameras, observing footage, tracking the squirrels' movements and more. The whole time, you're in communication with Professor Nina Scholz. With all that gear, plus your logic and wit, will you be able to uncover a bigger conspiracy?
The Room Two
Developer: Fireproof Games
The Room Two on Apple Arcade
Screenshot by CNET
The Room Two is a gorgeous 3D mystery puzzle game. You must follow a trail of letters left behind by a mysterious scientist with the initials A.S. The game is intricate and requires a tactile approach to solving in-depth, multistep puzzles.
Survival Z
Developer: Ember Entertainment
Survival Z on Apple Arcade.
Apple
Survival Z is a fun tower-defense-style strategy game that drops you into a world crippled by a zombie outbreak. You play as Megan, a loner mechanic who's savvy with a crossbow. When she meets Marcus, another survivor with intel on a diner potentially stocked with supplies, the pair head off on a journey, salvaging and upgrading equipment and battling waves of zombies along the way.
Tangle Tower
Developer: SFB Games
Tangle Tower on Apple Arcade.
Apple Arcade
In this clever, colorful game, Detective Grimoire and his sardonic partner Sally are on the hunt for the murderer of Freya Fellow in the mysterious Tangle Tower. The clues come pouring in long before you cross the first threshold to find out that the prime suspect is a painting. Investigate, explore, gather evidence, question suspects and solve puzzles to discover the truth.
World's End Club
Developer: IzanagiGames
World's End Club on Apple Arcade
Apple
World's End Club is perhaps the darkest game on Apple Arcade so far. In the game, a busload of ragtag students known as the Go-Getters Club are on a field trip when a mysterious meteor causes the bus to crash. The kids awaken in a creepy theme park under the sea called World's End Land, and try to regroup. Suddenly, a floating harlequin named Pielope appears, and commands them to play a Game of Fate. As the stakes get higher, friendships are put to the test. Pielope's psychotic game sends the Go-Getter's Club on a dangerous adventure.
