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Angry, upset, irate, duped — Wordle knock-offs leave fans of free game fuming – CBC News

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The wildly popular puzzle game Wordle has found itself in the middle of unexpected controversy this week as knock-off versions are trying to make a buck from the free game.

Developed barely two months ago by software developer Josh Wardle for his puzzle-loving wife, the basics of the game are quite simple: players must take guesses to correctly spell a five-letter word. In under six guesses, players use clues to decipher the word of the day, which is the same one for every player in the world that day.

Guess a correct letter in the correct place and the game turns the letter green. A correct letter in the wrong place is yellow, and any letters that aren’t in the word are greyed out. That’s it.

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This simple concept has exploded this month, from a few dozen of Wardle’s friends and family playing in November to almost three million people participating this week.

Wardle’s game is free to play and based in a web browser, a move that inadvertently opened the door to a number of imitators to launch app-based versions on Apple and Google devices, most of which try to get users to pay to play.

A free online-based word game called Wordle has taken the internet by storm this month. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)

One such version, by New York-based app developer Zach Shakked, has earned particular ire online, since he was so blatant about it, even tweeting what he was up to and gleefully reporting on the number of people downloading his game, which sold for $29.99 US.

While Shakked has gained the most recognition, he is far from the only one to try. Roughly a dozen apps have sprung up on the App store in recent weeks, most of which ape the look, feel and concept of Wordle, while conveniently adding a price tag. Most of them mysteriously started to disappear from Apple’s App Store starting on Tuesday, as the online outrage started to spread.

Users are upset

Apple confirmed to CBC News that the company removed a number of Wordle-like apps this week. As of Wednesday morning, only one game with the word “Wordle” in its title was still available to download, and that was an unrelated children’s game from 2017, where users have to spell as many words as they can out of a set of letters, within a set time period.

A look at the the App Store’s user agreement suggests why the others have been purged.

“Don’t simply copy the latest popular app … or make some minor changes to another app’s name or UI [user interface] and pass it off as your own,” the company advises. “In addition to risking an intellectual property infringement claim, it makes the App Store harder to navigate and just isn’t fair to your fellow developers.”

Adam Kertesz is one of many fans of the game, and he says he’s gotten his family hooked on it, too. (Kory Siegers/CBC)

Not surprisingly, Shakked has been besieged with criticism online. Julian Sanchez from Kitchener, Ont., says the stunt is emblematic of the problems of the tech sector as a whole.

“That drive to look at things that work already and try to find a way to insert themselves so that they can make money is the core of the tech industry,” Sanchez told CBC News. “It’s not really geared around solving large problems — it’s about trying to take a slice of the pie.”

Donal O’Beirne, who works with data visualizations for a living, says he is among the millions who have become obsessed with the game in recent weeks. (Kory Siegers/CBC)

Sanchez said there’s no need for the knock-offs. “People are loving [Wordle] and it works, but god forbid something be free and fun and no one make money off of it.”

‘It has that community feel’

To fans of the game, the original free version has been a great form of self-care in getting through the pandemic. Torontonian Adam Kertesz says he got hooked on the game the first time he played it, and has quickly turned his friends and family into dedicated players, too.

For Kertesz, one of the biggest selling points of the game is that it can only be played once a day, with a new word coming for all users at midnight every day. Most of the paid versions tinker with the concept by adding the option of playing multiple games a day, or playing versions with more than five letters.

That built-in feature is what gives the game “that community feel,” he said. “You feel like you’re part of a bigger thing.”

It’s also why Kertesz has no desire to download any of the app versions that would allow him to play the game more often. “It takes away from the pureness of it, the once-a-day event.”

Stacy Costa, a puzzle expert at the University of Toronto, says the game’s popularity makes sense because it is a simple joy for many people in the middle of a very complicated and lengthy pandemic. (Erin Collins/CBC)

Edmontonian Dónal O’Beirne, who runs a data visualization practice at ATB Financial, is another devotee.

“It’s a fantastic intellectual exercise,” he said. “It allows you to focus on word pattern analysis and word frequency analysis, letter frequency analysis and cryptography … I am a complete nerd about this. I have so much fun.”

Stacy Costa, an enigmatologist — or puzzle expert — at the University of Toronto, says the game’s popularity comes as no surprise.

“Those five or 10 minutes that you’re doing Wordle or any puzzle, you’re not thinking about everything else going on in the world,” she said.

“You’re … fixing some of that chaos.”

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The Ultimate Recap of Sea Otter 2024 – Pinkbike.com

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Vittoria Releases New Peyote & Mezcal XC Race Tires
Maxxis Team Spec Aspen ST Tire
New DT Swiss 240 DEG Hubs
Kali Protectives’ New Full Face Helmets
Industry Nine’s SOLiX M Hubs & Wheelsets
Michelin’s Aggressive New Wild Enduro Tires
Praxis’ New Flat Pedals, Stem, & Carbon Bottle Cage
Transmission Cage Upgrades from Kogel, Ceramicspeed, and Cascade Components
Randoms Round 1 – Sea Otter 2024
Madrone Cycles’ SRAM Eagle Repair Kits & Prototype Derailleur
Vorsprung’s New Telum Coil Shock
EXT’s Vaia Inverted DH Fork & Updated Coil Shocks
Randoms Round 2: New Tools, Goggles, Grips, Racks, & More – Sea Otter 2024
What’s New in Women’s MTB Apparel at Sea Otter 2024
Even More Randoms – Sea Otter 2024
Randoms Round 3: Dario’s Treasures
What’s New for the Kids at Sea Otter 2024
Deity Releases New Stems, Grips, & Pedals
Dario’s Final Sea Otter Randoms
Brian’s Randoms from Sea Otter 2024

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With roots dating back to 1991, the Sea Otter Classic is one of the biggest biking events and tradeshows each year and brings together all sides of the biking industry from athletes to brands, spectators and consumers. Taking place in April in the sunny hills of Monterey, California, that means this event really feels like the official start to the biking season in North America. Christina Chappetta covers why it’s much different to an indoor European biking tradeshow, a World Cup racing weekend or even Crankworx mountain bike festival, in that it encompasses nearly ALL of the biking disciplines, including road cycling, enduro, downhill, dual slalom, XC, trials riding and more.

In the past fortnight, we have seen large amount of new tech releases. However, Sea Otter 2024 represents some of the first opportunities for many riders to see these things in the flesh, as well as take a deeper dive into what the product aims to do.
Welcome to a video summary from Day 2 of the Sea Otter Classic.
There are so many giveaways, interesting new products and colourful characters at Sea Otter Classic that it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Ben Cathro takes a lap of the venue to find his favourites.



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Apple iPad Air 2024: Insider Makes Hasty U-Turn On New Feature – Forbes

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Well, that was quick. On May 18, a respected industry insider predicted a new display technology for the iPad Air that’s expected in the coming days—Apple just announced its latest special event.

The new 12.9-inch iPad Air, the report claimed, would have the same miniLED backlighting currently found on the larger iPad Pro, using the leftover inventory from the current Pro as that model switches to OLED. That was exciting news.

But now, Ross Young, the analyst who made the claim, has changed his mind. The new prediction, shared with paid subscribers only, is that the miniLED technology won’t be coming to the iPad Air, in either size.

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While it made sense that the inventory could be maximized in this way, it now “makes sense” that it won’t.

Young says that while he’d heard from supply chain sources that it would, he’d now had contact from “even more supply chain sources” that it won’t.

And the reason this change of heart now makes sense is that this miniLED technology is expensive, so it would be surprising if it made it to the iPad Air, which is more affordable than the Pro.

That’s not quite all the analyst shared. He also said that there are now reports of a new iPad coming later in the year. This is a 12.9-inch iPad, with miniLED backlighting and it could arrive between October and December this year.

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This is intriguing. What could it be? Assuming that the iPad Pro and iPad Air are released in May, it’s extremely unlikely either will be updated later in the year. And if the iPad Air isn’t pricey enough for miniLED to be included, what tablet could Apple be introducing that is the same size as the bigger Pro, with a pricey screen tech, which would sit between the Air and the Pro, it seems?

Young is highly reliable, but this seems slightly preposterous to me. The only other iPad in the range due a refresh is the regular iPad (at 12.9-inches, the iPad mini is clearly out of the picture) and that doesn’t seem likely either.

It seems to me that any regular iPad will almost certainly have the same screen size as now, 10.9 inches. The regular iPad only grew to this size screen in the current generation, and Apple almost never changes designs after one iteration.

Perhaps things will become clearer as the year goes on.

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Woman who left beaten dad on floor for 2 days was 'overwhelmed' with his care, judge told – CBC.ca

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A Calgary woman who abused her sick, 77-year-old father was “overwhelmed” at the task of caring for him, a judge heard Wednesday at a sentencing hearing. 

In January, Tara Picard, 52, pleaded guilty to charges of assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life after her father (whom CBC News is not naming) was found injured on a basement floor, where he’d been lying for two days. 

On Wednesday, prosecutor Donna Spaner and defence lawyer Shaun Leochko asked the judge to allow Picard to serve her sentence in the community under conditions as part of a conditional sentence order.

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Justice Indra Maharaj agreed to a two-year conditional sentence for Picard followed by a year of probation. 

“There is no doubt she became overwhelmed,” said Spaner in her submissions. “There is no question Ms. Picard has remorse.”

Leochko told the judge that caring for her father “was really more than [Picard] could handle.”

Maharaj heard that Picard is Indigenous and was the victim of abuse growing up. She lives in a sober dorm-style facility and is working with a mental health and addictions navigator, according to Leochko.

A ‘willingness to give back’

As part of the sentence, Picard must complete 300 hours of community service. 

Justice Maharaj commended Picard for “taking that on.”

“That shows me Ms. Picard sincerely does recognize what has happened here,” said the judge. 

“What I interpret from that is Ms. Picard’s willingness to give back to her community.”

During Picard’s plea, court heard that in November 2021, Picard and her father fought over his drinking. 

Nurses discover victim

The victim suffers from a number of medical issues, including diabetes, heart disease, dementia and alcoholism.

At the time, home-care registered nurses were assigned to help provide supplementary care.

Nurses found the victim wearing a soiled adult diaper and suffering from two black eyes with blood on his head. 

He told the nurses who discovered him that he’d been there for two days. 

Picard admitted she knew her father had fallen and she had “administered a number of physical blows.”

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