The ban on selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 with the blood oxygen feature has officially gone into effect today after a legal dispute with Masimo, a medical tech company. This means that starting today, any Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 bought directly from Apple in the U.S. will come without a working blood oxygen monitoring feature. Odds are the blood oxygen monitor is not a deal breaker—however, there are ways around the ban if you’re after an Apple Watch that has one. (For now, anyway.)

Buy Apple Watches from third-party sellers to get blood oxygen monitoring

For now, here’s where you can still get the Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 with the blood oxygen monitoring feature.

Apple Watch Series 9:

• Amazon

• Walmart

• Best Buy

• Target

Apple Watch Ultra 2:

• Amazon

• Walmart

• Best Buy

• Target

You can still find Apple watches with the blood oxygen monitoring feature abroad since the ban is only for the U.S.

Refurbished Apple watches are a safer bet

If you want to have a better chance of getting the blood oxygen monitoring feature, shopping for refurbished Apple watches is a safer bet. Places like Back Market and Woot are reputable places to shop for refurbished items. Of course, you can also find them on big-name sellers like Amazon and Walmart.

It’s all an assumption

Since the ban only affects Apple stores in the U.S., third-party sellers are still carrying the Apple watches with the blood oxygen monitoring feature (at least for now). The Apple watches have remained on sale through Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, and Target, among other stores. Best Buy and Amazon even dropped the price of the Series 9 to its lowest price so far this week.

As senior technology editor Jake Peterson pointed out, the order from the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) blocks imports and sales (even to third-party resellers) of the wearables going forward, meaning once stores like Best Buy and Amazon sell out, they’re gone until this legal situation is sorted out. Because the ban went into effect today, it’s a safe assumption that the stock in stores isn’t affected yet. The more time that goes on, the higher the chance that you might pick one up from a third-party seller.

There is no foolproof way to tell if the Apple watch in your online cart has had its blood oxygen monitoring feature disabled or not, but there is a way to be on the safer side—read the description. Presumably, third-party sellers have to change the description to abide by advertising and marketing laws set by the Federal Trade Commission.

There is bound to be confusion knowing which Apple Watches are affected and which aren’t going forward. Once you get one of these Apple watches, you should have the feature for the lifespan of the device—but this is uncharted territory.

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for January 18, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is medium difficulty; I got it in four. Beware, there are spoilers below for January 18, Wordle #943! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

All five are common letters today!

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

It’s a luxurious scarf, or a thing a robber did.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

Nope, five different letters today.

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There are two vowels today.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with S.

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with E.

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is STOLE.

How I solved today’s Wordle

After ARISE and TOUCH, I knew that the word must be STO_E. Only problem was, I didn’t know if the missing letter would be N, V, L, or K. I guessed NAVEL, got a yellow L, and the rest was history.

Wordle 943 4/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: 

• Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

• Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

• Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

There are a lot of great Bluetooth speakers, but not all of them are great for an outdoor speaker setup, which has to be tough enough to survive the elements and usually isn’t designed with the same portability in mind. While some Bluetooth speakers do make perfectly fine outdoor speakers, the quest for the best setup for your next pool party, barbeque, or camping trip might take you in a different direction.

The following speakers are all able to withstand rain, and some are even built to stay outdoors year-round, and all have enough battery life to last most of the day. Here are my picks for great outdoor speakers, depending on what matters to you.

Best outdoor speaker with voice control

The Sonos 2 differ from most outdoor speakers in that they can be controlled with your voice, via either Alexa or the Sonos Voice Assistant when you’re connected to Bluetooth. This speaker can also connect to your phone via wifi. The Sonos 2 offers an impressive 24-hour battery life, which makes the imposing design a bit more palatable. Another welcome feature: “Auto Trueplay”, which automatically optimizes the audio output to your environment, whether indoors or out.

• Sonos Move 2 ($449)

The best outdoor speaker for a large gathering

If you’re having a backyard gathering with friends or family and need a powerful speaker to power the party, the JBL Boombox 3 can hold its own. It’s one of the best-sounding boombox-style outdoor speakers you can find, and its PP67 waterproof rating means it can survive a pool party. One downside: This thing is hefty, weighing in at nearly 15 pounds, so it probably isn’t a good choice if you plan to be moving it around a lot. Also, keep in mind that in order to maximize its audio output, you will need to plug it into an AC outlet.

• JBL Boombox 3 ($499.95)

The best outdoor speaker for an event

If you’re hosting an event and need to string multiple speakers together, you’ll need something with more power. I’ve been hosting Street FC soccer games at my local park for three months using the Soundboks 4, and I’ve gotten more compliments and queries about my setup than the goals I’ve seen scored. The Soundboks 4 works great as a one-speaker setup, with powerful 126db sound that will turn heads, but it can also be wirelessly linked to five more of its kind. It has a 40-hour battery, and highly customizable EQ in its accompanying app. I’ve even used it to host karaoke parties, thanks to its input settings that allow you to plug in microphones and instruments.

• Soundboks 4 ($999)

The best stationary outdoor speakers

If you’re looking to set up your speakers outdoors and forget about them, consider the OSD Audio AP650. This pair of speakers is a great value for their price and audio quality. Their full sound can easily fill 1,500 square feet of outdoor space without dropping the beat., and they are fully sealed to protect them from intrusion by water, dust, and bugs.

• OSD Audio AP650 ($194.99)

The best budget outdoor speakers

For those on a budget, consider the Dual Electronics LU53PW. This pair of speakers is a little lacking in bass and can sound a bit rough at full volume, but they’ll give you the best bang for your buck, costing for less than half what you’ll pay for the OSD Audio AP650. They are likewise sealed to prevent water, dust, or bugs from getting in. If you’re especially frugal, wait for a sale—you can often pick them up at a discount.

• Dual Electronics LU53PW ($79.99)

NeuroNation Brain Training offers personalized and fun brain exercises, and it’s on sale for $39.99 right now (reg. $84). When you launch the app, you’ll be led through a brief assessment to gauge your strengths and weaknesses, and then NeuroNation will generate a personalized set of brain games and other fun mental exercises ranging from practicing quick math, to solving riddles, to memory games and logic tests. Of course, nothing can magically give your brain a boost overnight, but brain teaser games are fun even if they don’t radically improve your analytical thinking. It’s available on iOS and Android, has a 4.6 out of 5-star rating on TrustPilot, and comes with a community of over 20 million members enjoying the games.

You can get a one-year subscription to NeuroNation on sale for $39.99 right now (reg. $84), though prices can change at any time.

Samsung announced many interesting products and features at its latest Galaxy Unpacked event (including the Galaxy S24 series) but one of the more impressive developments isn’t actually unique to the Galaxy brand itself. The feature, Circle to Search, was developed in partnership with Google, which means it’ll live on Google phones, too.

What is Circle to Search?

In a nutshell, Circle to Search is a new way to search for anything without switching apps. To activate the feature, long press on the home button or navigation bar (if you have gesture navigation enabled). Then, when you see something on your screen that you want to look up, draw a circle around it with your finger, and your phone will return search results. For example, you could use Circle to Search to find an article of clothing you might have seen in a YouTube video, or get more info about a dish in a recipe you’re browsing online.

You don’t have to just circle the item you’re looking to search, either: You can also highlight it, scribble over it, or tap on it. As part of Google’s AI upgrades to search, you can search with text and pictures you’ve circled at the same time using multi-search. Google says that the Circle to Search gesture works on images, text, and videos. Basically, you’re able to find anything and everything using this feature.

These results appear inside the app you’re currently using, so you don’t need to interrupt what you’re doing to search. When you’re done, you can simply swipe the results away to get back to your previous task.

When does Circle to Search launch?

Circle to Search is set to launch globally on Jan. 31 for select premium Android smartphones like the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro and the newly announced Galaxy S24 series. The feature will be coming to more Android devices at a later date.

The Google Pixel 8 came out in the late fall of 2023, sporting some impressive features, a powerful camera, and generally setting a new bar for what to expect from a mid-range phone. Right now, you can get the unlocked 128GB Google Pixel 8 for $549 (originally $699) on Amazon or Best Buy for the same price it was on Black Friday. The unlocked 256GB version also has the same $150 discount, bringing it down to $609 (originally $759) on Best Buy and Amazon.

Products to consider:

• 128GB Google Pixel 8 for $549 on Amazon or Best Buy

• 256GB Google Pixel 8 for $609 on Amazon or Best Buy

The Pixel 8 has a ton of cool features, like AI-enabled photo editing, audio editing, live translation, and more. Some of my favorite features include the “Audio Magic Eraser,” which gets rid of distracting sounds in videos; and the “Best Take” feature, which lets you pick the best face from a series of photos. (No more ruined pictures because one person blinked.) And if you happen to be caught in the rain, its IP68 rating will give you water and dust resistance. You’ll also get the newest Google-made chip, the Google Tensor G3, and seven years of guaranteed software support, meaning you’ll be getting updates until 2030.

Speaking of software updates, one of my favorite perks of getting a Pixel phone is the new feature drops that occur every few months. (The latest one happened in December.) Google also does a great job updating its security with new updates every so often.

What’s perhaps the biggest downside of this deal is passing up the Pixel 8 Pro, which is a better phone, albeit a more expensive one. (We summarized the differences between the two phones previously, if you’re unfamiliar.) If you can live without the better camera and the extra fancy features, the Pixel 8 is still a great choice at its current price.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the selection of 20 undergraduate and graduate students as the 2024 winners of the USDA Future Leaders in Agriculture program. The selected students hail from land-grant universities and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSI).