Wordle finds a new home at the New York Times

It's Wednesday, February 02, 2022.

Wordle, the once-a-day word game without ads, subscriptions or even a mobile app, has been purchased by The New York Times. If you haven’t played it, you have six chances to guess a five-letter word, with clues offered for correct letter guesses. In an interview with The Times earlier this month, creator Josh Wardle admitted the project was inspired in part by Spelling Bee, one of the paper's subscription games, which Wordle will likely appear alongside shortly.

The Times didn’t disclose the exact terms of the Wordle acquisition, though the press release says it paid "in the low seven figures." Play it while you can — or find a workaround like this, spotted by Vice.

—Mat Smith

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DICE delays 'Battlefield 2042' season one to fix 'Battlefield 2042'

The core game part.

Battlefield 2042 is rough. To address some of those shortcomings, DICE and EA have officially delayed the game's first season to early summer and will use the extra time to fix the core experience. The next BF2042 update will bring a revamped, easier-to-digest scoreboard, while better player profiles and long-awaited voice chat functionality are coming "as soon as possible."

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Google Messages begins displaying iMessage reactions as emoji

But only for beta users.

Google has started rolling out a feature for Messages that translates iMessaging Tapbacks as emoji, according to 9to5Google. The publication first discovered the experimental feature in a deep dive of the Google Messages beta app last year. It's unclear whether the feature will come out for the stable version that most of us use, but if you're using the beta app, you'll get the update that enables it soon enough.

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Peloton's $90 armband offers more comfortable heart rate tracking

It costs a little more though.

Peloton

Peloton is once again expanding its fitness equipment range with a new heart rate tracker. Its $90 Heart Rate Band straps to your arm, which could make it more comfortable and easier to use than a chest strap, which normally needs to be placed in a specific location and often needs moistened contacts to work properly. The Heart Rate Band works with Peloton's app and devices, including all Bike and Tread models as well as the Guide camera. The armband should work with other products that recognize common Bluetooth heart rate monitors, but there’s no ANT+ support — a standard in many gyms and fitness studios.

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Spotify's 'Science VS' podcast will only fact-check misinformation spread on Spotify

The creators said Spotify's support of Joe Rogan 'felt like a slap in the face.'

The host and editor of Science VS, a podcast owned by Spotify, are no longer making episodes of the show — save for those "intended to counteract misinformation being spread on Spotify." In a letter to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, Wendy Zukerman and Blythe Terrell said their policy would remain in place until "Spotify implements stronger methods to stop the spread of misinformation on the platform."

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Meta is winding down its low-cost Wi-Fi program for developing countries

Express Wi-Fi launched five years ago and is available in 30 countries.

Meta is ending its Express Wi-Fi program designed to provide low-cost internet in developing countries through partnerships with local communities, mobile operators and businesses. Designed to be inexpensive, starting at around 15 cents for 100MB or $5 for 20GB, Facebook partnered with satellite companies, ISPs and others in places like India, South Africa and the Philippines. 

Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported glitches in Meta's free internet services were creating unwanted charges for users in Pakistan. Meta also reportedly favored its own content on its free-data Discover service to the detriment of other sites. Meta said it plans to focus on other projects around internet access.

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