Here’s how you can save Wordle offline and play for years to come

While Wordle has been bought by the New York Times for an undisclosed amount, a method has been discovered to play the game offline for years to come, while still being able to share your daily results as normal.

Since the debut of Wordle in November 2021, which was meant by Josh Wardle to be used as a way of keeping in touch with his partner, it’s grown into over 300,000 users playing a day. Sharing your score to Twitter has been a big part of this, with it being unlikely to log on to the social website and not see a tweet with green and white dots.

But some users have been anxious as to how their winning streak would continue, once the buyout by the New York Times is complete. In the past, some games have moved behind a paywall, requiring you to sign up. But while Wardle mentioned in a tweet that saving your streaks is in progress, users have already found alternate ways if the dreaded scenario comes true.

However, with countless copycats having appeared on the App Store, but still appearing on the Google Play Store, there’s a risk that we could see an influx of these once the sale is done.

A time capsule of January 2022

Across the years there have been other games that have taken off, similar to Wordle. Eventually, they either slowly faded away or were bought by another company.

Flappy Bird was one such game in 2013 before the developer took it down from both the Apple App Store and Google Play Stores. There was also Temple Run back in 2011, where there would be leaderboards between my friends and family as to how far we could run.

But Wordle has a userbase that wants to keep the daily routine of solving a word, then sharing it with friends and family. Users have discovered that saving the page in a web browser, will also store the words that are to come for many years.

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Launching this on Safari on my MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) loaded up Wordle with no issues. I switched off the Wi-Fi, just in case it was trying to reach the site, but sure enough, the latest word was ready to be solved.

The only downside is that my streak is reset – but it’s a small price to pay for the changes that may be coming to Wordle soon.

Playing Wordle offline on a MacBook Pro

(Image credit: TechRadar)

I’m expecting a dedicated app to appear on most platforms – from the App Store to the Nintendo Switch in time. The New York Times will want to make the game available on more platforms than just the web. But as long as you can share those green and yellow marbles on social media, users may have no issue with this.

For the time being, Wordle is still the same as it was in December, but if you want to move to your PC or Mac to get ahead of the curve for the changes that may happen to the game in the coming months, it wouldn’t be a bad move.

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Amazon’s Plan to Track Worker Keystrokes: A Sign of Controls to Come?

Data theft, insider threats and imposters accessing sensitive customer data have apparently gotten so bad inside Amazon, the company is considering rolling out keyboard-stroke monitoring for its customer-service reps. A confidential memo from inside Amazon explained that customer service credential abuse and data theft was on the rise, according to Motherboard which reviewed the document. […]
Threatpost

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Samsung S10 and S10 Plus deals come with a free smartwatch…but not for long

If you've been casually eyeing up one of Samsung's two top tier Galaxy S series devices – the S10 and S10 Plus – now looks like the perfect time to invest. And when we say now…we mean the next two days.

While that might seem like a pretty quick turnaround on something you're going to own for the next two years, there is good reasoning behind it. Until January 29, Samsung is throwing in a free Galaxy Watch Active with select Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus plans.

That's a pretty great freebie alongside your phone, especially considering we gave it a 4 star review when we tested it. And the equally great news is that prices on both the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus are looking pretty great right now.

We've picked out a selection of the top Samsung Galaxy S10 deals and its plus sized brother and listed them below. Or if you find that none of the tariffs quite agree with you, consult our guide to the best mobile phone deals to see what else is out there.

  • Don't see anything you like? Check out the competition with our iPhone deals guide

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Samsung Galaxy S10 deals + free Galaxy Watch:

Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus deals + free Galaxy Watch:

How to claim your free Samsung Galaxy Watch Active:

All you have to do is purchase a Samsung Galaxy S10 or S10 Plus deal before January 29. After that, go to this link and claim your new free watch. It can take up to 45 days for your Samsung Galaxy Watch Active to arrive so don't worry too much if you don't see it straight away.

What other retailers are offering the watch?

Affordable Mobiles
Amazon.co.uk
Argos
Buymobiles.net
Carphone Warehouse
Currys PC World
e2save.co.uk
EE Mobile
ID Mobile
John Lewis
Mobile Phones Direct
Mobiles.co.uk
Samsung
Three
Very
Vodafone

What is the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus like?

Samsung Galaxy S10:

The S10 is an excellent smartphone. Fitting perfectly between Samsung's affordable S10e and its mammoth S10 Plus and Note 10 devices, this phone is the ideal middle ground. You're getting a high-quality screen, in-screen fingerprint scanner and a powerful battery/processor combo.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S10 review here

Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus:

Samsung's greatest 2019 handset, the S10 Plus is about as good as phones come right now – it's gone straight to the top of our best smartphone chart. The S10 Plus has a beautiful infinity-O display, in-screen fingerprint scanner, strong battery life and a powerful processor. But obviously with all of these features comes a big price, which is where these affordable offers come into play. 

Read our review on the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus

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Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus will come free with Galaxy S20 Plus – if you preorder

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus will reportedly come free when you preorder one of the brand's more expensive S20 smartphones, which are due to be unveiled on February 11 at Samsung's Unpacked 2020.

A promotional image posted by renowned tipster Evan Blass shows off the new true wireless earbuds alongside the Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra, while text at the top of the image reads: "Preorder now and get Galaxy Buds+ for free."

It doesn't look as though preorders for the regular Galaxy S20 will qualify for this offer – although, it's important to note that Samsung hasn't yet verified whether the promotional image is authentic, and we probably won't find out for sure until February 11.

samsung galaxy s20

Lots of leaks

Based on the leaked image, it appears that the new Galaxy Buds Plus will sport a very similar design to their predecessors, with slick pearlescent housings and adjustable silicone eartips.

There's been a number of leaks in the run up to Samsung's new true wireless earbud's launch date, including a purported lack of noise cancellation.

According to a report by SamMobile, the second-gen true wireless earbuds won't be as big an upgrade as we were hoping for, eschewing the AirPods Pro-style noise-cancelling tech we were expecting. Prolific tech leaker @UniverseIce made the same claims in early January, too.

It's possible that Samsung is planning to release a more premium version of the Galaxy Buds Plus in the future, which come with noise cancellation – this would allow the brand to offer two models at different price points, like Apple does with the original AirPods and AirPods Pro.

The new Galaxy Buds Plus will also reportedly boast a much longer battery life than their predecessors, at 12 hours from a single charge. 

An FCC filing for the new buds revealed that they'll use 300mAh batteries, while the charging case will use 600mAk batteries; the original Galaxy Buds used 150mAh and 300mAh batteries respectively.

Of course, we'll need to wait until February 11 to find out exactly what the new true wireless earbuds will offer, but at this rate, there won't be many surprises at Samsung Unpacked 2020. 

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Motorola’s upcoming flagship phone may come with its own stylus

Rumors of a flagship Motorola phone are gathering pace – and a newly leaked picture potentially showing off the handset suggests that the flagship is going to come with its own integrated stylus.

That's as per a tweet from well-known tipster Evan Blass, who has also previously suggested Motorola Edge Plus as a possible name for whatever is in the pipeline.

There's certainly room for a flagship phone at the top of the Motorola range. The Lenovo-owned brand has focused on budget models in recent years, including handsets like the Motorola One Zoom.

This new upcoming phone could change all that – details are thin on the ground at the moment, but we have been hearing talk of a premium Motorola phone for several months now.

Motorola Edge Plus

The only tidbit of information that's leaked out so far, besides the image you see above, is that the phone is going to be available on Verizon in the US. That leaves a lot of gaps still to be filled in.

For the time being Motorola is concentrating on getting its revamped Motorola Razr handset out of the door, with preorders set to be shipped in the first week of February. The folding clamshell certainly has high-end looks, but not high-end specs.

The Moto Z2 Force launched in 2017 is the most recent Motorola phone that could claim to have flagship-level specs, but since then the Moto lines haven't been going head-to-head with the top iPhones, Galaxy phones, and Pixels.

That could soon change – and a stylus is one way of getting a premium phone to stand out. Aside from the Galaxy Note line, very few phones offer a built-in stylus, so it would be another selling point for whatever Motorola is planning next.

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