Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 393 for March 31.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle No. 1,381 for March 31.

GONE SILENT FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado Indiana University quietly removes profile of tenured professor and refuses to say why. Dan Goodin Mar 30, 2025 3:41 pm | 21 Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreA prominent computer scientist who has spent 20 years publishing academic papers on cryptography, privacy, and cybersecurity has gone incommunicado, had his professor profile, email account, and phone number removed by his employer Indiana University, and had his homes raided by the FBI. No one knows why.Xiaofeng Wang has a long list of prestigious titles. He was the associate dean for research at Indiana University's Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, a fellow at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a tenured professor at Indiana University at Bloomington. According to his employer, he has served as principal investigator on research projects totaling nearly $23 million over his 21 years there.He has also co-authored scores of academic papers on a diverse range of research fields, including cryptography, systems security, and data privacy, including the protection of human genomic data. I have personally spoken to him on three occasions for articles here, here, and here."None of this is in any way normal"In recent weeks, Wang's email account, phone number, and profile page at the Luddy School were quietly erased by his employer. Over the same time, Indiana University also removed a profile for his wife, Nianli Ma, who was listed as a Lead Systems Analyst and Programmer at the university's Library Technologies division.According to the Herald-Times in Bloomington, a small fleet of unmarked cars driven by government agents descended on the Bloomington home of Wang and Ma on Friday. They spent most of the day going in and out of the house and occasionally transferred boxes from their vehicles. TV station WTHR, meanwhile, reported that a second home owned by Wang and Ma and located in Carmel, Indiana, was also searched. The station said that both a resident and an attorney for the resident were on scene during at least part of the search.Attempts to locate Wang and Ma have so far been unsuccessful. An Indiana University spokesman didn't answer emailed questions asking if the couple was still employed by the university and why their profile pages, email addresses and phone numbers had been removed. The spokesman provided the contact information for a spokeswoman at the FBI's field office in Indianapolis. In an email, the spokeswoman wrote: "The FBI conducted court authorized law enforcement activity at homes in Bloomington and Carmel Friday. We have no further comment at this time."Searches of federal court dockets turned up no documents related to Wang, Ma, or any searches of their residences. The FBI spokeswoman didn't answer questions seeking which US district court issued the warrant and when, and whether either Wang or Ma is being detained by authorities. Justice Department representatives didn't return an email seeking the same information. An email sent to a personal email address belonging to Wang went unanswered at the time this post went live. Their resident status (e.g. US citizens or green card holders) is currently unknown.Fellow researchers took to social media over the weekend to register their concern over the series of events."None of this is in any way normal," Matthew Green, a professor specializing in cryptography at Johns Hopkins University, wrote on Mastodon. He continued: "Has anyone been in contact? I hear hes been missing for two weeks and his students cant reach him. How does this not get noticed for two weeks???"In the same thread, Matt Blaze, a McDevitt Professor of Computer Science and Law at Georgetown University said: "It's hard to imagine what reason there could be for the university to scrub its website as if he never worked there. And while there's a process for removing tenured faculty, it takes more than an afternoon to do it."Local news outlets reported the agents spent several hours moving boxes in an out of the residences. WTHR provided the following details about the raid on the Carmel home:Neighbors say the agents announced "FBI, come out!" over a megaphone.A woman came out of the house holding a phone. A video from a neighbor shows an agent taking that phone from her. She was then questioned in the driveway before agents began searching the home, collecting evidence and taking photos.A car was pulled out of the garage slightly to allow investigators to access the attic.The woman left the house before 13News arrived. She returned just after noon accompanied by a lawyer. The group of ten or so investigators left a few minutes later.The FBI would not say what they were looking for or who is under investigation. A bureau spokesperson issued a statement: I can confirm we conducted court-authorized activity at the address in Carmel today. We have no further comment at this time.Investigators were at the house for about four hours before leaving with several boxes of evidence. 13News rang the doorbell when the agents were gone. A lawyer representing the family who answered the door told us they're not sure yet what the investigation is about.This post will be updated if new details become available. Anyone with first-hand knowledge of events involving Wang, Ma, or the investigation into either is encouraged to contact me, preferably over Signal at DanArs.82. The email address is: dan.goodin@arstechnica.com. Dan GoodinSenior Security EditorDan GoodinSenior Security Editor Dan Goodin is Senior Security Editor at Ars Technica, where he oversees coverage of malware, computer espionage, botnets, hardware hacking, encryption, and passwords. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, cooking, and following the independent music scene. Dan is based in San Francisco. Follow him at here on Mastodon and here on Bluesky. Contact him on Signal at DanArs.82. 21 Comments

In BriefPosted:2:04 PM PDT March 30, 2025Image Credits:Matt Anderson Photography / Getty ImagesThis isnt The MatrixLast weekend, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, found himself at the center of a digital fiasco when he was unexpectedly added to a Signal group chat with 17 U.S. government officials who were discussing imminent airstrikes in Yemen. For some, the incident has raised questions about how phone numbers end up in contact lists and how messaging apps pull in users.National security adviser Mike Waltz on Wednesday stated that Goldbergs number was sucked in from another contact. On a Sunday talk show, Goldberg pushed back, saying, This isnt The Matrix. Phone numbers dont just get sucked into other phones. Goldberg added, My phone number was in his phone because my phone number is in his phone.Signals typically outspoken president Meredith Whittaker has not directly addressed the national security snafu, but earlier in the week, she took to X, writing that, Right now there are a lot of new eyes on Signal, and not all of them are familiar with secure messaging and its nuances. She went on to describe and defend the service, calling it the gold standard for private, secure communications.Topics

In BriefPosted:1:51 PM PDT March 30, 2025Image Credits:AppleApple reportedly revamping Health app to add an AI coachApple is developing a new version of its Health app that includes an AI coach that can advise users on how to get healthier, according to Bloombergs Mark Gurman.Gurman first reported that something like this was in the works back in 2023, but now he says development is moving ahead, with the new features potentially coming as soon as spring or summer of 2026, with the release of iOS 19.4.The AI coachs advice would be based on data from across users medical devices, and would reportedly include food tracking. The coach is currently being trained on data from staff physicians, with Apple looking to bring in additional doctors to record health-related videos.According to Gurman, this new service is tentatively called Health+.Topics

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Answers for today's NYT Mini Crossword are just ahead.New York TimesIn case you missed Sundays NYT Mini, you can find the answers here:Wondering what a patellas place might be? Not sure who one going down a literary rabbit hole may be? Dont worry, because Im here to help you with some hints and the answers for today's NYT Mini crossword.The NYT Mini is a quick and dirty version of the newspaper's larger and long-running crossword. Most days, there are between three and five clues in each direction on a five by five grid, but the puzzles are sometimes larger, especially on Saturdays.Unlike its larger sibling, the NYT Mini crossword is free to play on the NYT Games app. However, youll need an NYT Games subscription to access previous puzzles in the archives.To help you avoid getting stuck and having to reveal missing letters, here are the NYT Mini Crossword hints and answers for Monday, March 31.Spoilers lie ahead, so remember to scroll slowly:NYT Mini Crossword HintsNYT Mini Across Hints1 Across: A brand of canned, processed pork5 Across: A type of Middle Eastern dance that originated in Egypt6 Across: Anticipate7 Across: Sea creature thats a popular delicacy in the Bahamas.8 Across: Many of the guards in Skyrim said they used to be adventurers until they took an arrow hereNYT Mini Down Hints1 Down: Put a new button on a shirt2 Down: A form of transit Noah Kahan sings about avoiding in Stick Season3 Down: Like Sebold or Silverstone4 Down: Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage and the team spent many years busting these5 Down: Where you typically go when retreatingNYT Mini Crossword Clues And AnswersNYT Mini Across Answers1 Across: Call from an unknown number, often SPAM5 Across: Where a dog might like to be scratched BELLY6 Across: Look forward to AWAIT7 Across: Shell that can be played as a wind instrument CONCH8 Across: Patellas place KNEENYT Mini Down Answers1 Down: Affix, as a patch SEW ON2 Down: Maker of connections PLANE3 Down: One going down a literary rabbit hole? ALICE4 Down: "The Great Wall of China is visible from space," for one MYTH5 Down: Where a human might like to be scratched BACKCompleted NYT Mini crossword for Monday, March 31.New York TimesIt took me 1:04 to complete today's NYT Mini.The Across clues were no problem for me except for the last one, which I misread as paella." Oops.I didnt have much trouble with the Down clues either, save for 3 Down. Thats a slightly cryptic one, but it should have been pretty clear that the answer was ALICE.2 Down was quite a fun clue, since the constructor of todays Mini was Wyna Liu, the editor of another NYT game, Connections.See you tomorrow for more NYT Mini fun!Make sure to follow my blog for more coverage of the NYT Mini and other word games, as well as video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Want to chat about the Mini, Connections and other NYT games? Join my Discord community!

StrandsNew York TimesLooking for Saturdays Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:Strands continues to tread into hyper-specific interest territory, and this time around we have one of the longest spangrams that Ive ever seen in the puzzle.How To Play StrandsThe New York Times Strands puzzle is a play on the classic word search. Its in beta for now, which means itll only stick around if enough people play it every day.Theres a new game of Strands to play every day. The game will present you with a six by eight grid of letters. The aim is to find a group of words that have something in common, and youll get a clue as to what that theme is. When you find a theme word, it will remain highlighted in blue.Youll also need to find a special word called a spangram. This tells you what the words have in common. The spangram links two opposite sides of the board. While the theme words will not be a proper name, the spangram can be a proper name. When you find the spangram, it will remain highlighted in yellow.Every letter is used once in one of the theme words and spangram. You can connect letters vertically, horizontally and diagonally, and its possible to switch directions in the middle of a word. If youre playing on a touchscreen, double tap the last letter to submit your guess.Play Puzzles & Games on ForbesIf you find three valid words of at least four letters that are not part of the theme, youll unlock the Hint button. Clicking this will highlight the letters that make up one of the theme words.Be warned: Youll need to be on your toes. Sometimes youll need to fill the missing word(s) in a phrase. On other days, the game may revolve around synonyms or homophones. The difficulty will vary from day to day, and the puzzle creators will try to surprise you sometimes.What Is Todays Strands Hint?NYT hint is a bit of a riddle, but my advice in my hint is to do some word replacement.Thats an equine of a different shade!And my hint is:Translate that quoteWhat Are Todays Strands Answers?The very long spangram is below, and the answers are after that:HORSECOLORINGSAnd here is where you find that on the board:StrandsNYTThe answers are:DAPPLEBUCKSKINROANCHESTNUTPALOMINOStrandsNYTSo yes, this is horse colors, not breeds, but those have a variety of unique names you wont often hear anywhere else. They do not call horses black, dark brown, brown, light brown and grey, it turns out. There are special fancy horse color names, and now you have just learned a bunch of them.Follow me , and .Pick up my sci-fi novels the and

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsIts made of splatsMy experience with ScaniverseExploring Into the ScaniverseScaniverse expands the metaverseI live in a heavily forested area, so I dont have to travel far to enjoy an early spring walk through the woods. Im always seeking new ways to capture the essence of the experience. Photos are great and videos can record even more of a beautiful location, but its not quite the same as being there. I want to relive that moment, particularly when the weather makes going out more challenging.Fortunately, technology keeps opening up new opportunities, like turning a real location or tangible object into a 3D world or digital twin I can visit from home.My latest experiments let me scan a lush mossy patch beside a tree with an eye-catching arched root. With my Quest 3 or Quest 3S VR headset, anyone can find and walk around that spot again. Its almost like taking a piece of the forest inside. This is the kind of metaverse Id like to see more of.Recommended VideosThe best VR headsets open up new realities and sometimes make it easier to explore the real world in new ways. Scaniverse shared an image of a Gaussian splat represented as pixels. ScaniverseThe key to making a 3D scan that I can enter later is finding a Gaussian splat scanner with a viewer that works in VR. The Quest app is called Into the Scaniverse, and its free on the Meta app store.A Gaussian splat looks like its made of fuzzy dots. The Scaniverse mobile app can capture enough detail that those dots fuse together to render high-resolution images that look almost photorealistic.Its an early access app, but there are already more than 50,000 3D scenes recorded at locations around the world. Even if you dont capture any scans of your own, you can become a world traveler without leaving home with just the Meta Horizon app and a Quest 3 or Quest 3S.Im sure Into the Scaniverse will launch on other platforms. It would be incredible on Apples Vision Pro or the upcoming Android XR headsets.Into the Scaniverse lets me view the world from elf height and peek under tree roots. Digital TrendsIve used several 3D capture apps in the past and already knew that slow and steady movement provides the best results. I also remembered that circling an area of interest at various heights gives the app more spatial data.The Scaniverse mobile app shared similar tips, so my first scan took about five minutes, maybe a little longer. My subject was an elf sculpture my wife made for her TraceyTrulyArt Etsy shop. I started low, spiraling around the forest elf that leaned against a moss-covered tree root that formed a natural arch.After scrabbling around on the ground for a couple of minutes, I stood and slowly circled again. I moved back and went around a few more times. The app takes several minutes to upload and process the data, and I chose the optional enhance step, which added another minute.With a push on my Quest 3 thumbstick, I can switch to a higher angle and continue to walk through the scene. Digital TrendsIt was worth the effort, because the scan was almost perfect. Back home with my Quest 3, I could walk around, the space at my normal height, or push a thumbstick down to shrink to elf size and walk under the arch of the tree root.You can search for it in the Quest app. I named it Trenton Park Elf. You can also view it in a desktop or mobile browser, using a mouse or gestures to angle and drag the view. The VR experience is much more immersive.While I wouldnt go so far as to say it was better than reality, it allows me to relive that memory as it was or change my perspective for a unique experience thats only possible in VR. I could change my height in an instant and pass through physical objects, seeing them from the inside out.Scaniverse developer Niantic posted a video that demonstrates how it looks in the Quest. Of course, the video makes it look effortless, but theres a bit more work needed to get the best quality.Beyond my own scans, I browsed the 3D content others have uploaded publicly. Its also possible to save scans to my own private library.While there are thousands of locations represented as 3D worlds, the scale is never big enough to explore very far. Still, there are some very nice captures of artwork, architecture, parks, and nature. I enjoyed spending time exploring what was available.Since public scans are contributed by the user community, the quality varies. The quality suffers if you try to capture an environment instead of circling a subject.Its best to think of recording an area the size of a small room and accept that the background could be out of focus. Still objects work best, so people, plants, animals, and things that wave in the wind will have distortions or blur.The most important technique is to move slowly and circle the subject several times at varying heights, tilting your phone up and down to keep the point of interest in view. With enough angles and a steady hand, youll get great captures even if you cant get behind an object.While my Scaniverse of an art shelf only captured one side, I could move into the shelf and see more. Digital TrendsFor example, I recorded a shelf of figurines and ornaments with Scaniverse. The shelf is against a wall, but in VR, I can walk into the shelf and see the art from the side or even peer through the sculptures from behind.To save your own scans, you need Scaniverse for iOS or Android. Its free and has a quick tour that shows how to capture a Gaussian splat.3D captures are just one way that the metaverse is growing, and its not limited to Quest headsets. Android XR is coming this year, and Meta has partnered with other manufacturers to create new VR headsets that can run the Quests Horizon OS.Apple is expected to announce bigchanges to visionOS at the 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference. There are also rumors that Apple might launch a new Vision Pro model this fall.Editors Recommendations