There’s no “winning” in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but if you’re looking to unlock the game’s many features as quickly as possible, it’s a good idea to complete certain objectives each day. Since we’ve played through the game’s early days, we’re happy to walk you through the steps that’ll ensure a quick arrival of certain franchise mainstays like the Museum, the Shop, and much more. Join us, won’t you?
WHAT TO DO ON DAY 1
You’ll start by picking your campsite location as well as the campsite locations of the other two villagers you’ve been handed. Pick carefully because you won’t be able to change these locations for a while (and even then, at some significant expense).
Once you’ve placed everyone’s tents, Tom Nook (the big raccoon in the sweater) will give you some simple objectives (collecting Tree Branches and Fruit). Finish that and head to the party. Feel free to take a nap after this, which is when the real game will start.
Once you wake up, you’ll be playing in real time (meaning it will be nighttime if it’s nighttime where you live). Make sure you speak to all of the villagers, as you may get some free furniture or a recipe for being a friendly neighbor.
Nook will give you the recipes for “flimsy” tools. You’ll want to make a Flimsy Fishing Rod and a Flimsy Bug Net.
Big Goal 1 – Donate 5 fish or bugs to Tom Nook for study
Use your fishing rod and net to collect the various bugs and fish you’ll see on your island. On your first day, you’ll only need five unique critters. After donating five, Nook will grant you an axe recipe and a watering can recipe. He’ll also call his buddy, Blathers the Owl, and tell him to come to the island to open a museum.
Decide where you want Blathers’ Museum to go. You’ll want to pick something central as you’ll be going there quite a bit.
If you’ve collected more than five creatures on your first day, make sure you save any unique finds in or around your tent. If you run out of space, you can plop items on the ground in front of your tent. Don’t worry: They’ll be safe. If you find two of the same creature, feel free to sell the duplicates.
Big Goal 2 – Pay off mortgage
Tom Nook will charge you 5,000 Nook Miles (or nearly 50,000 Bells) for the pleasure of moving to his island. You’ll want to pay off this debt on the first day. It shouldn’t be much work, as you’ll be raking in Nook Miles just by completing various objectives (collecting 10 bugs, selling Clumps of Grass, etc.). You’ll complete many of these objectives without even trying, but feel free to look through your Nook Phone to see if there are any tasks within reach.
Big Goal 3 – Increase your inventory space, and buy the Tool Ring
This is optional for Day 1, but if you plan on sinking a ton of time on launch day, you may find yourself with an abundance of Nook Miles. Head to Nook’s tent and use the ATM-looking machine to purchase the Pocket Organization Guide for 5,000 Nook Miles. This will add another row to your inventory, which will definitely come in handy.
Another optional but easy-to-recommend purchase: the Tool Ring for 800 Nook Miles. This allows you to switch between tools quickly by hitting Up on the D-pad.
Big Goal 4 – Harvest resources
Walk around your town and find four rocks. Pull out your axe and smack each of the rocks. You can hit each rock multiple times (up to eight if you’re very quick about it) and each will spit out resources like Stones, Clay, and Iron Nuggets. One of the four starting rocks will also spit out Bells.
Once you’ve hit all the rocks and collected the resources, you’ll want to harvest Wood. Use that same axe to hit each tree on your island three times and pick up the Softwood, Hardwood, and Wood they drop. If your axe breaks during this process, make a new one using the Wooden Sticks you get from shaking trees.
Important: Avoid crafting anything that requires Iron Nuggets. You’ll need 30 Iron Nuggets in the near future, and they are hard to come by in the early game.
Once you’ve completed all of the above steps, feel free to save your game and ready yourself for Day 2.
WHAT TO DO ON DAY 2
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
When you wake up, you’ll see that your tent has been upgraded to a house. Congrats! You’re well on your way. Head to Tom Nook, who will congratulate you and give you a new mortgage for 98,000 Bells for the next house upgrade. Time to get to work.
Big Goal 1 – Donate 15 fish/bugs to Blathers
If you played a lot on Day 1, you were probably able to find 15 different species of bugs and fish (not counting the five you donated to Tom Nook on the first day). If so, bring them over to Blathers the Owl. He’ll give you a recipe for the Flimsy Shovel and the Vaulting Pole, the latter of which you can use to cross over rivers in your town.
Once you’ve donated 15 species, you won’t be able to donate any more, so hold any new species you find after that (and sell any duplicates).
You should also have a letter from “Mom,” which includes three pieces of fruit that are not native to your town. Use your newly acquired shovel to dig three holes and plant the special fruit. Note that trees will only grow if there is one free space in every direction around it, so make sure the spots you pick are clear.
Speaking of the Flimsy Shovel, keep an eye out for cracked spots in the ground. Dig at these spots to find Fossil Pieces, which will eventually find a home with Blathers after his Museum opens.
Big Goal 2 – Collect resources again!
Repeat the resource collection process from Day 1, hitting all of the rocks and trees on your island. You can make the timing of the rock mining a little easier by digging two holes in a diagonal formation like this:
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
Stand in the corner of the two holes, and hit the rock with your shovel. The two holes will ensure that you don’t get pushed backward and miss the rock entirely (thus giving you fewer a at it).
Big Goal 3 – Bring resources for the Store
If you were thorough in your resource collecting, you should have at least 30 Softwood, 30 Hardwood, and 30 Wood. Head into Tom Nook’s tent and speak to Timmy, the little raccoon. He will mention that he’s interested in building his own store, but he’ll need resources to do it. Give him all 90 different pieces of Wood.
Unfortunately he’s also looking for 30 Iron Nuggets. It’s possible you are just shy of that number, even if you collected every resource you could on both the first and second days. That’s fine: Feel free to wait until Day 3 before turning the required resources in.
Big Goal 4 – Use the Nook Ticket
Tom Nook will grant you a free Nook Ticket, which will let you visit a randomly generated island filled with more resources to collect. If you’re just shy of your Iron Nuggets goal and you want to ensure the Store is built as quickly as possible, this is a good way to do it, but it’s also totally fine if you (like us) have to wait until Day 3 before you reach 30 Iron Nuggets.
Note: If the random island you visit happens to have a fruit that’s different from your native island fruit, be sure to bring as many as you can back home. Rather than sell them, you can plant them (just as you did with the fruits from Mom). Non-native fruits sell for 500 Bells each and are a good way to make decent money early on.
The Nook Island may also have an animal inhabitant who you can talk to and invite to live with you. It won’t happen immediately, but it’s a good idea to invite whomever you see early on to speed up the process of filling out your island.
Big Goal 5 – Buy improved recipes for your tools
The machine in Tom Nook’s store sells something called Pretty Good Tool Recipes for 3,000 Nook Miles. These are more durable versions of your existing tools, but they cost more resources to build (including the much-needed Iron Nuggets). Don’t bother with any of these tools until you’ve turned in the 30 Iron Nuggets for the store.
Note: You’ll have two new recipes for axes when you buy this recipe pack. You can build the Stone Axe without Iron Nuggets. It offers a nice durability upgrade from the Flimsy Axe, making it pretty worthwhile (but not mandatory). The other axe in the recipe pack looks like it’s made out of metal and requires Iron Nuggets to build. Be careful with this second axe, as it can chop trees down in two hits. If you’re just gathering wood from trees, just use the Stone Axe.
WHAT TO DO ON DAY 3
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
Good news: Blathers’ museum is being built! Bad news: You can’t actually donate anything while it’s under construction, so keep your new discoveries in your house for the time being. Don’t worry: The museum will open tomorrow.
Big Goal 1 – Finish the Store (if you haven’t yet)
If you managed to collect the required resources for the Store, it’ll be open today. If you’re still trying to collect 30 Iron Nuggets, you’ll undoubtedly hit that number after hitting all of your island’s rocks on Day 3. Make sure you deliver the requested haul to Nook’s tent, and the Store will be built on the next day.
And don’t forget: If you’re still hungry for resources, you can buy a Nook Ticket for 2,000 Nook Miles, granting you an island full of goodies.
Big Goal 2 – Harvest even more resources
Once you turn in your 30 Iron Nuggets, you can be a little more freewheeling with that resource, which means you can make a few of the higher-end tools you have in your recipe book. This will speed up the process of collecting resources. You can never have enough resources, and you’re going to need a boatload of them starting tomorrow.
WHAT TO DO ON DAY 4
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
This is going to be a big day. Blathers’ Museum is going to be fully open, which means you can take everything you’ve been saving over to him for donation. If you’ve already donated something, it’ll be grayed out, so it’s a good idea to fill your inventory with potential discoveries to see what he’ll take. Afterward, you can sell everything that’s grayed out.
Where do you sell it? Timmy and Tommy’s Store, of course! Nook’s Cranny will be your new shopping destination for new furniture. You can also sell off unneeded items and check the board in front of the store for an in demand item that sells for far more than normal.
Big Goal 1 – Build a Bridge
Talk to Tom Nook, who will mention that there are new people interested in moving to your island. But first he wants to make sure there’s enough space for them. He’ll give you a recipe for a Wooden Bridge, which will make traveling across a single river far easier. It’ll require a handful of Wood to create the components, but you’ve been harvesting every day, right? So you should be fine!
Think long and hard about the placement of your first bridge, though. While the first bridge is free, subsequent bridges will cost a lot of Bells, so make this one count. Put it somewhere that you think will get the most use based on your island layout.
Big Goal 2 – Select three housing plots
After you plop down your bridge, Nook will give you three housing plots. Unlike the plots you selected for your tents on Day 1, these plots are enormous because they include the house and a surrounding lawn.
We’d recommend placing them somewhat close to each other, for convenience sake, but in the long run their positioning won’t make a huge difference, so don’t stress about it.
Big Goal 3 – Build furniture for your plots
Each of the three plots requires six pieces of furniture — three inside and three outside. All of the furniture requested for the plots is DIY furniture, meaning you can craft it using common materials. You’ve been harvesting every day, right? If so, you should have plenty of resources to finish each of the plots today. If you don’t, you can always purchase a Nook Ticket for more Wood, Iron Nuggets, Stones, or Clay.
When you build the second plot, you’ll unlock the recipe for the Ladder, which you can use to climb the steep cliffs on your island. You’ll need to snag the flowers that are up there for one of the furniture requests, but while you’re up there, keep an eye out for fossils or bugs that you haven’t found yet.
Once you’ve finished all of the requests, speak to Tom Nook and let him know the job is done. You’ll have new villagers soon!
Big Goal 4 – Harvest more resources
You know what to do!
WHAT TO DO ON DAY 5
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
If you’ve been following this guide, Day 5 in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is going to be a bit slow. There are really only two major events to take note of.
Firstly, your Wooden Bridge will be completed. Unfortunately you won’t be able to build any more bridges for a little while, but at least that’ll make one river crossing easier for now. You can talk to Nook and attend the opening ceremony, but it’s optional.
Big Goal 1 – Meet your new neighbor
The other notable thing on Day 5: You’ll have a new inhabitant on your island! Walk over to their newly built house and have a chat. You won’t get much out of it, but it’s always a good idea to introduce yourself.
Big Goal 2 – Learn how to customize furniture
Tom Nook will teach you how to customize furniture and other DIY projects via a seminar in his tent. Take his class, and it’ll open a wide variety of visual customizations for your furniture and tools.
Big Goal 3 – Harvest more resources
By this point you’re likely drowning in Hardwood, Softwood, and Wood. If you feel like you’ve got plenty, feel free to skip the day hitting all the trees around your town, if only to save your sanity. That said, it’s always good to hit all of your rocks for Iron Nuggets, Stones, and more, as these resources can be a bit hard to come by. You may even score a Golden Nugget in the process. If you do, save it for later.
WHAT TO DO ON DAY 6
Another freebie day. You should have another new villager in town, but outside of talking to them there won’t be a lot of “must-dos.” Feel free to spend the day however you wish. Drowning in Nook Miles? Buy a ticket to a Nook Island, and maybe you’ll luck out with some fruit you don’t already have.
Or you can spend the day fishing and collecting bugs to build up your stash of Bells. It’s really up to you!
WHAT TO DO ON DAY 7
There’s something bighappening on your island today. Yes, Tom Nook’s boring ol’ tent is being transformed into a legit Resident Services building, with all sorts of new functionality added. Unfortunately, it’s going to take a couple days for the upgrade to happen.
Today it’s mostly business as usual, but tomorrow the tent (as well as the ABD machine) will be fully inaccessible. Don’t worry, the Nook Miles streak you get for accessing the ABD every day won’t be broken during this time.
The third and final housing plot should be filled today, so make sure you head over there and introduce yourself. I’m sure they’ll appreciate all the effort you put in to get them set up.
AFTER YOUR FIRST WEEK
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
The big event on the horizon (which should happen on Day 9 if you’ve been following this guide) is the opening of the new Resident Services building. Once that opens, you’ll unlock the ability to build bridges and ramps throughout your island for a hefty Bell charge.
After that, there are more events and buildings still to come, so be sure to keep checking back each day to see what the island has in store for you. Remember: Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a marathon, not a sprint, so even just 20 minutes per day should be plenty to get the basics done. Of course, if you want to go over that, we’re certainly not stopping you.
The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.
The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.
However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.
“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”
The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.
At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.
A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”
Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.
Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.
Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.
Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.
While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.
Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.
The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
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