IT General

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you have poor eyesight.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for November 15, 2025 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for November 15, 2025 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: We can see right through them

The words are related to sight.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words are things that help with sight.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Eye to Eye.

NYT Strands word list for November 15

• Glasses

• Lenses

• Goggles

• Eye to Eye

• Binoculars

• Spectacles

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Strands.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you have a firm grip.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for November 14, 2025 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for November 15, 2025 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Held on tightly.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter C.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

CLUNG

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for November 15, 2025

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Wordle.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

A crank.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

LEVER

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A pigeon.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for November 15, 2025 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

SQUAB

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Tan.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for November 15 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for November 15, 2025 Hurdle Word 3 answer

BEIGE

Hurdle Word 4 hint

To smash.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for November 15 Hurdle Word 4 answer

CRUSH

Final Hurdle hint

A body movement.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

SHRUG

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

It seems like there is an IDE or other specialized programming tool for every language out there. Some of them have become extremely bloated, which is fine if you're running a beefy PC that supports it and have need of the features.

The sentiment that physical media are dead is pretty common these days, and for some formats like VHS, that's probably true. However, both vinyl and even tape cassettes have undergone a revival among old and new enthusiasts. So never say never.

TL;DR: Use code STOCKS20 at checkout to save 20% on the usual deal price of this AI stock-picking app. Typically $68.99, you can get a lifetime subscription for $55.19 for a limited time (reg. $486).

Opens in a new window Credit: Sterling Stock Picker Sterling Stock Picker: Lifetime Subscription $55.19
$486 Save $430.81   Get Deal

With wild stock market swings constantly in the news, I found myself wondering ‘Can I make money, too?’ I’ve always been curious how people actually make money in the stock market, but I never knew where to start (especially without blowing my paychecks).

Then, after hearing someone on TikTok brag about making a four-figure profit, I decided I was missing out on building my savings. They said they use Sterling Stock Picker to research new investments, ask questions, and keep track of their portfolio.

Learning the stock market ropes

My biggest concern wasn’t that the market wouldn’t eventually recover, but that I would choose ‘bad’ stocks due to my lack of experience. Sterling Stock Picker helped me feel calm with the 5-minute questionnaire covering my wants and ability to handle risk.

Then, I started researching stocks with help from AI. I also learned about something called exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which are like groups of stocks. I didn’t know what these were at first, so I consulted the AI assistant, Finley AI, and it told me that it’s like putting a stake into a huge nest of companies at once rather than individually.

Once I selected a few ETFs to invest in, I opened a free brokerage account (sadly, you can’t directly invest through Sterling Stock Picker). I purchased my shares and put the information into Sterling Stock Picker so I could view my portfolio with fun graphs and charts and get alerts when prices change — which may help me determine when to sell.

How it’s going (so far)

Well, it’s only been a few days since I’ve made my investments and, if you’ve been keeping up with the news, things have been up and down. One day, my $1,000 portfolio was up $100, and the next, it was down $20. 

As a total beginner, I won’t offer any formal advice to you other than to do your research and be well-informed, and Sterling Stock Picker is a great tool to do just that.

Use code STOCKS20 at checkout to get a Sterling Stock Picker lifetime subscription for $55.19 for a limited time (reg. $486).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

This week, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers received scam texts after their state's official text messaging system was breached by hackers, according to a report from NBC News.

New York’s Office of Information Technology Services told NBC News that "around 188,000 people get text messages from the state and that around 160,000 received the scam text."

Scam texts are on the rise. By now, you've probably been inundated by them. Text messages from scammers claiming they need your information for a package delivery. Or maybe there's a mystery charge on your bank account. We've also reported on DMV scam texts, inflation refund scam texts, wrong number messages, and the list goes on.

However, this latest scam text campaign shows just how much the issue is escalating.

This week, a mobile text messaging service called Mobile Commons, with customers such as the New York state government, the charity Catholic Relief Services, and progressive organizing group Fight for a Union, was hacked. And once Mobile Commons' systems were breached, the hackers weaponized the service to send scam texts to people who had signed up for text message updates from those organizations.

“On the evening of Monday, November 10th, an unauthorized third party gained illegal access to our platform through what we believe was a spear phishing attack or similar social engineering method," Mobile Commons said in a statement to NBC News. "The intruder’s access was active for a four-hour period ending at 12:10 AM on November 11th before being detected and removed. During this time, multiple attempts were made to send spam messages through our system. A limited number of these messages reached subscribers before our security protocols identified and shut down the malicious activity.”

According to NBC News, the scam texts that were sent urged users to call a toll-free number in reference to a declined bank transaction involving a large sum of money. Of course, the transactions did not exist. The hacker's aim is to convince its targets to call the number, assuming it's a legitimate text from their banking institution, and then likely convince the user to complete a real transaction to fix the issue. In reality, that legitimate transaction would not go to the bank or nonexistent vendor, but to the scammers. 

Mobile Commons told NBC News that user information was not accessed in the breach. However, the company declined to mention how many subscribers received the scam texts. 

It's also unclear how many people fell for the scam and suffered financial damages as a result.

Mashable would like to remind readers that the safest course of action is to never interact with a phone number or link claiming to be from a financial institution. Readers should instead contact the bank or credit company directly via their official phone number to check on the legitimacy of any such text message.

Turns out everyone kind of thinks there's an AI bubble.

According to a report from CNBC, top tech executives are worried about an AI bubble messing up their business.

Like other infamous bubbles — the dot-com bubble, the cryptocurrency bubble, and the housing bubble of the 2000s — an AI bubble could cause massive disruption to the wider economy. A bubble occurs when the price of something rises above its actual value, typically because investors become overly excited. And investors have been very excited about AI.

A recent report from Stanford University estimated that AI investment reached $109.1 billion in the U.S. in 2024. That's 12 times higher than China's investment and 24 times higher than the UK's investment.

CNBC reported that Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Morgan Stanley’s Ted Pick, investor Michael Burry, and Picsart CEO Hovhannes Avoyan are all worried about a potential AI bubble. In fact, even some AI leaders are getting nervous.

"I think the evaluations are pretty exaggerated here and there, and I think there is signs of a bubble on the horizon," Jarek Kutylowski, CEO of German AI firm DeepL, told CNBC.

This isn't the first time we've heard about a potential AI bubble. In August, OpenAI's Sam Altman talked about his own AI bubble fears to a small group of reporters, including The Verge's Alex Heath, over dinner in San Francisco.

"When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth," Altman told the reporters. "If you look at most of the bubbles in history, like the tech bubble, there was a real thing. Tech was really important. The internet was a really big deal. People got overexcited. Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes. Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes."

The weekend is here, and that means it’s time for another round of Raspberry Pi projects! This weekend, I’m focusing on a mixture of fun and productivity, with projects ranging from receipt printers to running Windows 11.

It seems that, all of a sudden, all of our gadgets have found some way to include "AI" features of some kind. I've even seen "AI" screen protectors, whatever that may be.

From Apple's Mac Mini to Valve's Steam Machine—and everything in between—mini PCs are everywhere and only getting more popular. Not everyone needs a laptop, but at the same time they don't need a big, noisy, lumbering desktop PC anymore. So the rise of the mighty mini makes sense.

For decades, Europe has defined the gold standard in sports car performance, with legendary names from Germany, Italy, and Britain setting the pace. But one American contender has rewritten that narrative, delivering blistering speed, precision handling, and head-turning design at a price that undercuts its European rivals by tens of thousands.

SAVE $11: As of Nov. 14, you can grab a single Apple AirTag for only $18 at Amazon ahead of Black Friday. That's 38% off its list price of $29 and the best price on record.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirTag $18 at Amazon
$29 Save $11   Get Deal

In a year where everything has gotten more expensive, I honestly didn't have high hopes for Black Friday. But in the weeks leading up to the official shopping event, I've been pleasantly surprised by some of the early deals. Apple gadgets in particular have really been shining bright in the deals department. For instance, this single Apple AirTag discount is the best we've ever seen.

We see excellent deals on the four-pack of AirTags pretty regularly. But single Apple AirTag deals are harder to come by. As of Nov. 14, however, Amazon has the single Apple AirTag on sale for only $18. That's 38% cheaper than the list price of $29 and the lowest price on record.

It doesn't get much better than AirTags for keeping track of your belongings if you're an iPhone user. Just slip one into your purse, luggage, backpack, instrument, or anything else you don't want to lose, and you'll be able to see precisely where you are in proximity to it. AirTags utilize Apple's Find My network, so as long as there's an Apple device nearby with it turned on, you'll be able to spot your missing stuff.

You can set up your AirTag in literal seconds with your iPhone or iPad, attach it to a specific item you want to keep track of, and then essentially forget about it until you need help locating that item. Each tracker has a built-in speaker that will help you find your things. They don't work great with Android devices, but for Apple users, these are hands down your best option for a Bluetooth tracker. And at $18, the price has never been better.

You can bring your group chat shenanigans to ChatGPT now.

Well, some of you can.

OpenAI announced in a company blog post that it's testing out group chats in ChatGPT. You can get as many as 20 people together to collaborate on projects and get ChatGPT's input. If you're trying to plan a dinner party, camping trip, or group-anything, you can now do that with the help of an AI companion. These chats will live separately from your regular ChatGPT conversations, and OpenAI promises that your private chats will not be shared with anyone in the group chats.

SEE ALSO: 5 strategies to avoid ChatGPT dependency How to try OpenAI's new ChatGPT Group Chat

You're probably wondering how to try this yourself. Well, we have bad news for anyone in the United States: It doesn't seem like you can, yet. This is a small-scale pilot program for users in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan. Readers in the West will simply have to wait a while, it seems.

OpenAI's blog post states: "Group chats are starting to roll out on mobile and web for logged-in ChatGPT users on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan. This pilot is a small first step toward shared experiences in ChatGPT, and we expect to learn from early user feedback to inform how we expand to more regions and ChatGPT plans."

If you are able to try out this feature, OpenAI provided some instructions. You can tap the people icon in the upper-right corner of any chat you're viewing, and get a link you can share with others. Doing so will create a new, separate chat just for the group. Everyone in the chat will have to set up a quick user profile so everyone else knows who they are, and all group chats will be kept in their own special part of the sidebar.

We'll keep an eye on this pilot and tell you if and when it's available in the U.S.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

There's something deeply wrong about spending $150 on an Apple trackpad when I don’t own a Mac and use a Windows PC. I know this. My wallet knows this. But I can see it unlocking some productivity gains, which is why I’m really considering buying it against my better judgment.

Fiction is great, but when real life delivers stories and subjects as compelling, inspiring, and entertaining as even the most wildly imaginative yarns, sometimes a documentary is the best way to tell it.

You can't believe everything you hear.

This week, I saw dozens of headlines and viral social posts about an AI country song that reached the top of the Billboard country charts. If a song created with generative AI had truly reached No. 1 in the country music world, that would indeed be huge, paradigm-shifting news.

I'm talking about "Walk My Walk" by Breaking Rust, the name of an AI-generated "musician." Meanwhile, as social media users breathlessly shared news about the AI country song topping the chart, a human being by the name of Morgan Wallen has been the actual artist at the top of the Billboard country chart. (I reached out to Billboard for comment, and I'll update this post if I receive a response.)

So, what's going on? Technically, "Walk My Walk" has nabbed the top spot on a chart. Specifically, the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales Chart. However, as any music listener can tell you, there aren't many people buying digital copies of singles anymore. Over on Spotify's Country Top 50 chart, Breaking Rust is nowhere to be found — even after all the news coverage this past week.

As is often the case, social media doesn't quite have the story right on this one. On YouTube, the song has a measly 38,944 views, as of this writing.

As someone who grew up in the South and listened to a lot of country pop against his will, I can tell you that a lot of such ditties sound exactly the same. Pop country loves its tropes and has been parodied to death, and "Walk My Walk" hits a lot of the usual cliches. The lyrics include poetry like "Got mud on my jeans" and, ironically, "I was born this way." Even the title of the song and name of the "musician" are painfully generic.

Indeed, it's hard to think of a more hackneyed country song title than "Walk My Walk," and what does Breaking Rust actually mean? It's exactly the kind of country-sounding but soulless name you'd expect from generative AI.

On first listen, there's not much to distinguish this song from any other country or Bluegrass pop hit, at least to my ears. But that's not praise for generative AI so much as it's criticism of the genre. And, of course, if "Walk My Walk" sounds like a real country song, that's because it was surely made by an AI audio model trained on countless real country songs, without the permission or consent of the artists. A lot of artists consider generative AI to be outright theft and plagiarism, at an industrial scale.

According to The Tennessean, Breaking Rust songs are credited to Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, an unknown creator with no online presence.

Whether you like it or not, AI creators aren't going away. I've written about the bizarre phenomenon of AI "actors" before, and you can expect more AI-generated songs, movies, books, and slop to appear in your feeds from now on, and possibly forever.

This article reflects the opinion of the writer.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Thunderbird 145.0 has officially landed, and it comes with native support for Microsoft Exchange. This is a massive update for anyone who uses Thunderbird daily but has struggled to connect to their work email without resorting to clunky third-party add-ons or bridges.

The Steam Machine has just been announced, and PC gamers are already going crazy over it. If you can’t wait to get your hands on one, or if you like the concept of a tiny living room PC but have some reservations, you should build your own Steam Machine.

Bitcoin has fallen below $100,000 for the first time in months.

As of publishing time on Friday, Bitcoin has been hovering around the $94,000 to $97,000 price range. That price point is the lowest Bitcoin has seen since early May and a big drop from the more than $126,000 all-time high that Bitcoin reached just early last month.

What's going on here?

It's important to note that cryptocurrency is extremely volatile and can experience unexplained ebbs and flows based on a number of factors. A major factor likely driving this latest Bitcoin drop is general sentiment about the economy. 

The stock market is also down right now, and historically the cryptocurrency markets follow Wall Street. In addition, some analysts are citing the expectation that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in December. As a result, institutional buying has trailed off in recent weeks.

Crypto whale selloffs are often a significant factor when the crypto market suddenly goes down. This time, however, a lot of holders are reportedly selling off Bitcoin, not just the whales.

According to new data from cryptocurrency analytics company CryptoQuant, long-term Bitcoin holders have sold around 815,000 BTC over the past 30 days, the highest activity since early 2024.

Bitcoin has been riding high since President Donald Trump's election in 2024. The crypto lobby came together to back his campaign, and it paid off. The Trump administration has rolled back crypto regulations, appointed cryptocurrency industry-approved officials, and ended investigations into crypto-related crime. For example, just last month, Trump pardoned the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, who was sentenced to prison for money laundering.

However, a relatively small number of people actually partake in cryptocurrency trading. In turn, this means that the actions of long-term holders and crypto whales can really sway the market, and this fact — combined with that lackluster market sentiment — is likely what we're seeing now.