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Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle No. 1,358 for March 8.

Hints and answers for Connections for March 8, #636.

West Virginia residents have several great broadband options to choose from. The best option for your home will depend on your budget, speed needs and local availability. Here are our top picks.

A letter from two House Democrats presses Rubio for details about who approved an effort to try to use hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money on armored electric vehicles from Tesla.

(Image credit: David Zalubowski)

• Users have reported degraded print quality with third-party ink
• Firmware updates are blamed, but Brother denies all allegations
• HP previously admitted to updates that affected third-party ink performance

Printer maker Brother has denied locking in users to its own ink cartridges via so-called firmware updates.

The news came after electronics technician and right-to-repair activist Louis Rossmann accused the company of updating its printer firmware to either block non-OEM toner or degrade performance.

Further posts on the internet, including Reddit threads, have confirmed similar problems from other users, who noticed printing quality drop when using third-party toner.

Brother denies blocking third-party ink

Moreover, reverting to older firmware versions has proven either difficult or impossible, meaning printers that previously functioned as normal could now be considered ‘broken’.

The company stated (via Ars Technica): “We are aware of the recent false claims suggesting that a Brother firmware update may have restricted the use of third-party ink cartridges. Please be assured that Brother firmware updates do not block the use of third-party ink in our machines.”

Brother argued that variations in third-party toner quality could be responsible for print quality issues: “Brother printers do not intentionally degrade print quality based on whether a Brother Genuine or non-genuine ink/ toner cartridge is used. Brother cannot verify the quality of printing that will result when using a third-party compatible with a Brother printer.”

HP has faced lawsuits and legal settlements over similar issues, with CEO Enrique Lores justifying third-party ink blocking by citing enhanced security. Back in late 2023, CFO Marie Myers also noted that Instant Ink subscribers are 20% more profitable for the business.

“It is standard practice that we perform a Brother [G]enuine check when troubleshooting a Brother printer… We believe this check in the process may have led to a misunderstanding[,] but as we confirmed, the firmware update would not be responsible for the degradation of quality or removal of printer features,” Brother added.

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• Despite its footprint, the MT1’s bed is the same size as an electric Hummer’s
• Some variants will boast up to 500hp
• Silicon Valley start-up says first units will ship this year

The world isn’t kind to EV start-ups, with the likes of Canoo and Lordstown Motors succumbing to financial pressures, while even established names like Ford and Chevrolet have struggled to find a captive audience for their battery-powered pick-ups.

But there’s a new start-up on the scene and Telo, a Silicon Valley company cofounded by autonomous driving expert Jason Marks and ex-Tesla battery engineer Forrest North, hopes to make a name for itself with the mantra that bigger isn’t always better.

Dubbed an “Urban Adventure Vehicle”, the diminutive MT1 features the same footprint as a modern Mini Cooper SE, yet boasts Toyota Tacoma levels of practicality and load-lugging ability.

Inside, there’s enough room for five adults, yet the truck bed is larger than a Rivian R1T's and it’s all down to clever packaging. Without the need for an enormous combustion engine or bulky drivetrain, Telo has been able to maximize interior and load space.

That said, there should be a caveat on the bed length estimations, as Telo’s load space extends into the backseats, with a clever 'mid-gate' sliding into place when you want to transport passengers.

According to Telo, the small but mighty electric truck can transport 4ft-by-8ft sheets of plywood and up to 8ft surfboards with a split rear seat configuration. There’s also a retractable tonneau cover to protect kit and a Rivian-esque lockable storage tunnel under the bed.

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(Image credit: TELO)Image 2 of 3

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(Image credit: TELO)

Despite its small size, Telo claims it will offer the truck with either the option of a 300hp single motor set-up or a monster 500hp dual motor configuration that’s paired to an equally gargantuan 106kWh battery.

It seems overkill, but the company wants the MT1 to be able to haul 1,600 lbs (around 725kg) of kit and be able to tow 6,600lbs (almost 3,000kg), while still offering a range of around 350 miles, as well as the ability to charge from 20-80% in 20 minutes.

Prices start at $41,520 (around £32,000 / AU$66,000) for the Single Motor variant and increase to $49,019 (about £38,000 / AU$78,000) for the Dual Motor, All Wheel Drive model. A smaller, standard battery is included in that price, or customers can option a Long Range version for an additional $3,980.

It comes in eight different colors and can be specified with a handful of neat optional extras, such as a Solar Cab Roof, a hardshell canopy for the rear bed and solar panels for the tonneau cover.

However, Telo is taking $152 reservations right now, which is no guarantee this won’t just be another flash-in-the-pan electric truck start-up.

Showing Tesla how it's done

(Image credit: TELO)

With the backlash against Tesla’s founder and outspoken CEO in full swing, the Cybertruck appears to be taking the brunt of everyone's frustration, with reports of vandalism and even arson at Tesla showrooms as anti-DOGE protests break out across the US and Europe.

With its oddball angular styling, excessive footprint and blinding stainless steel body panels, Cybertruck seems to represent everything that certain pockets of the population can’t stand about Tesla and Musk right now.

Telo, on the other hand, has taken an altogether different approach. Rather than focus on making a bold, arguably egotistical statement, the team has started with practicality and its own slightly goofy looks have naturally followed.

Measuring a massive five feet (1,524mm) shorter than the Toyota Tacoma, it still manages to offer a similar amount of stowage space, without the road-hogging footprint.

Easy to park, simple to thread through busy cities and capable of rolling up its sleeves and getting its hands dirty, it’s everything the Cybertruck isn’t.

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• Apple has delayed the smarter, AI-infused Siri and says it will arrive "in the coming year."
• Since Apple Intelligence's debut, we've been waiting to try the smarter Siri with access to Apps
• "It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features"

We’ve all been waiting for Apple to drop the significant Siri upgrade that was supposed to arrive at some point within the iOS 18 lifecycle. It goes beyond Siri’s colorful glow all around the screen that’s been here since the iPhone 16 lineup launched in September of 2024 and was promised to make the virtual assistant smarter, more useful, and a far better conversationalist.

However, our hopes were greatly diminished with iOS 18.4 arriving as developer and public betas without a new Siri. This is especially true after so many reports and rumors hinted that Apple was planning to release the new Siri – at least the first taste of it – in the spring.

Now, though, Apple has confirmed to Daring Fireball that the significant Siri upgrade is delayed: “It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features, and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year.” Those features included Siri factoring in personal context and the ability to see, understand, and control various applications on your device.

(Image credit: Future)

Apple originally announced the upgraded Siri with Personal Context back at the main WWDC 2024 keynote (World Wide Developers Conference) on June 10 without an exact release date in writing, but that it would arrive in the coming months.

The statement to Daring Fireball in full from Apple reads: “Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we’ve made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We’ve also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year.”

Apple has rolled out numerous Apple Intelligence features, but even so, this major upgrade to Siri, which would have put it on the same playing field as OpenAI’s ChatGPT Voice Mode or Gemini Live, was a real headliner. Writing tools, notification summaries, and Clean Up in photos, among others, are all helpful, and so is Siri’s ability to provide tech support. Even so, the truly smarter Siri would have been the real meat and potatoes of Apple Intelligence.

It’s also a rare admission from Apple, but the strong communication and transparency with level-setting expectations for when these features will finally ship is appreciated. I imagine even more so for folks who have been waiting for it to drop – me being one of them – and have invested in devices that are capable of running Apple Intelligence. It’s on par with the cancellation of AirPower, the iPhone 4’s ‘Antennagate,’ and the retooling of Apple Maps.

Further, it’s worth giving this piece by TechRadar’s Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff a read with this statement from Apple providing additional context – Apple’s privacy first and a more cautious approach with AI and Apple Intelligence was doing it no favors, writing “Yes, I get that Apple is the most privacy-aware and secure consumer platform and ecosystem. A portion of their AI strategy revolves around Private Cloud Compute. But what is that locked-down vapor actually doing for us?”

It's worth a read now in light of the confirmed delay. At least Apple is still committed to rolling out this new Siri with personal context and app access. Further, it’s clear they’re committed to doing it right … even if that takes more time.

Safe to say that the stakes will be even higher at the 2025 World Wide Developers Conference and with iOS 19, both of which are likely three months away as the event is typically within the first two weeks of June.

This story is developing…

@techradar

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• Both the AMD Ryzen 9900X3D and 9950X3D are releasing on March 12, 2025
• The respective MSRPs for both CPUs are $599 and $699, similar to previous gen
• The former features a 120W TDP whereas the latter uses a 170W TDP instead

Several months after first being announced at CES 2025, AMD has now officially confirmed the price and release date for its Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors. They're billed as the "world's best processor for gaming and content creation".

Both the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors will be available starting March 12, 2025. The former carries an MSRP of $599, with the latter available for $699, being the two most expensive (and high-performance) chips from the company.

On the technical side of things, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is confirmed to feature 16 cores (32 threads) with a base clock speed of 4.3 GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.7 GHz. There's 144 MB of second-generation 3D V-cache stacked onboard with a 170W TDP.

In contrast, the secondary processor, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, features 12 cores (24 threads) with a base clock speed of 4.4 GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.5 GHz and 128MB of 3D V-cache pool available. Unlike the flagship model, this processor features the lower 120W TDP of the Ryzen 9 9900X (and cheaper Ryzen 7 9800X3D), which debuted back in August and November 2024.

As with all Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 9000 processors, the 9900X3D and 9950X3D are built on the AM5 platform, meaning you'll need a compatible motherboard. Similarly, these chips are built exclusively for DDR5 RAM and have PCIe 5.0 compatibility out of the box. If you're thinking of upgrading from an older AM4 platform, then you'll have to do more than just swap out the chips.

Regardless of which of the two new processors you choose from, you're going to want to invest in one of the best CPU coolers in 2025 to keep those core temperatures down whether you're gaming, rendering projects, or more. This is particularly true for the Ryzen 9950X3D with its 170W TDP, matching that of the non-3D variants, something we had not seen up until this point.

With a higher thermal design power comes increased heat along with the performance. We recommend a dedicated AIO with a large radiator attached (such as 240mm or 360mm) with a PC case with sufficient airflow and fans inside the computer case.

Leading CPU options, provided you've got the cash to spend

While both the AMD Ryzen 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors are expensive, the company has made the smart decision to keep the prices consistent with the previous generation versions (7900X3D and 7950X3D) from 2023. Whether the generational performance gains are strong enough to consider investing in is something that we'll only know after thorough testing, but those considering upgrading from AM4 should notice sweeping benefits.

How AMD's second-generation 3D V-cache works is by having a dedicated pool of L3 memory stacked onto the chip which acts as a short-term (but incredibly fast) resource for the processor to access immediate data, for higher gaming framerates and lower rendering times than what's seen from processors without a surplus of L3 cache / V-cache. By having frequently accessed data so close to the CPU cores, there's less of a delay between processes and higher performance as a result.

With that said, AMD chipsets with a higher TDP can (usually) outperform the lower TDP 3D options when it comes to productivity and synthetic performance. However, gamers and content creators will notice the edge in performance thanks to the 3D V-cache. It's a curious (but welcome) decision to see the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D with identical TDPs to their non-3D counterparts. We could, therefore, see improved performance across the board.

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• MikroTik's ROSE Data Server RDS2216 combines storage, networking, and containers
• It runs on the 16-core AWS Graviton 1 Arm CPU and has 16 ports
• Supports MinIO, Nextcloud, and encryption, with no subscriptions or paywalls

MicroTik, a Latvian company that specializes in networking hardware and software, has launched a new enterprise server, powered by ROSE (the company’s RouterOS Edition for storage and compute).

Described as a “high-performance, all-in-one storage, networking, and container platform for enterprise environments,” the MicroTik ROSE Data Server RDS2216 combines a U.2 NAS, advanced switch, lightweight 16-core 2GHz ARM CPU and 32GB of DDR4 RAM.

The striking green color server, which has 16 ports including two 100G QSFP28, four 25G SFP28, four 10G SFP+ and two 10G Ethernet ports, also has twenty U.2 NVMe storage slots. It supports a number of advanced storage features, such as NVMe-TCP block device export, encryption layers, and modular configurations, with no subscriptions or paywalls. It's container-ready, seamlessly running MinIO, Nextcloud, Shinobi, Frigate, and other OCI-compliant containers, with additional USB ports for potentially even greater adaptability.

AWS Graviton 1

The ARM chip powering the RDS is certainly one of the more interesting things about the server. The AL73400 is a 16-core ARMv8 SoC developed by Annapurna Labs, which happens to be a subsidiary of Amazon. The chip, also known as the AWS Graviton 1 processor, was originally introduced in 2018 to boost Amazon's cloud infrastructure.

Beyond that, the server has 32GB of RAM (which is a bit stingy) and 128MB of NAND storage. It also features IPsec hardware acceleration, ensuring encrypted connections without performance bottlenecks. MicroTik says the device is rated for 200,000 hours MTBF at 25°C and operates within a temperature range of -20°C to 50°C.

Suggested uses for the RDS2216 include self-hosted MinIO cloud storage, NextCloud enterprise cloud hosting, high-speed backups and database clusters, containerized infrastructure, branch office storage expansion, auto-encrypting storage, and private social media hosting.

Writing about the server, ServeTheHome says, “MicroTik and Ampere have had postings about working together previously. Hopefully that becomes the network side of this with RDIMM support and more. Assuming this sells for under $2000 it might make for a really neat option, but it is also one we want to try before recommending.”

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• Samsung, Meta and Apple are reportedly working on OLED VR headsets
• Meta's headset is tipped for 2026, while Apple's is set for 2027
• Samsung and Meta will use new OLED on Silicon displays

OLED, OLED, OLED – that’s the name of the game right now in the XR world, if a report on leaked hardware specs is to be believed. Samsung, Apple, and Meta are said to be working on OLED-display equipped headsets. And while Samsung's and Apple's plans are interesting, Meta’s OLED headset could be a winner for one big reason: cost.

Starting with Samsung – because its headset is the only one we officially know exists – the report via The Elec (a South Korean outlet, details translated and summarized by @Jukanlosreve) says the upcoming consumer version of Project Moohan headset (the Android XR wearable it developed with Google) will come with a 1.3-inch display boasting a pixel density of 3,800 PPI (pixels per inch).

Interestingly this OLEDoS display (OLED on Silicon, also known as Micro OLED tl;dr: they’re very tiny but high-density OLED panels built on silicon) would come from Sony, not Samsung Display, and it’s higher than the 3,386ppi display used by the Apple Vision Pro – suggesting that Samsung wants to cement Moohan as a high-end alternative the Apple headset. Hopefully it won’t be as pricey (I’m not holding my breath).

Speaking of Apple, it's said to be working on a Vision Pro that’s more consumer-friendly (read: cheaper). Instead of silicon, according to the above report Apple will rely on more traditional glass OLEDs with a 1,500ppi, with a release planned for 2027 – but I’m not holding my breath for this device to be affordable as being cheaper than a $3,500 headset could still be very expensive.

Meta's OLED headset plan

A cheaper Vision Pro isn't necessarily cheap (Image credit: Future)

Last up is Meta, which reportedly plans to use a 0.8 to 0.9-inch OLEDoS display in a headset set for 2026.

The smaller display size would apparently be a cost-cutting measure. OLED panels are typically made large and then cut to size, and Meta is apparently hoping that if it can reliably create a 1.42 OLEDoS unit (the same size as a Vision Pro) it can then cut that up into roughly four 0.8 to 0.9-inch panels, and cut its costs by a quarter. Given this small size, though, it may need to use two displays per headset (which would follow the two-display setup used in its Quest headsets), which would only halve the effective cost.

Regardless, OLEDoS displays, even at a quarter or half the cost, likely wouldn’t come cheap – which is why I’m expecting this 2026 headset would be the rumored Meta Quest Pro 2. It's supposedly been cancelled twice already, but the third time seems to be the charm, as Meta might have settled on a unique glasses-like shape (which I think sounds awesome, by the way), and some OLED screens would help cement it as an exciting proposition.

A 2026 window would also work for a Meta Quest 4 launch (based on the three-year gap between the Quest 2 and Quest 3 releases), although unless Meta can seriously bring costs down, OLED displays might be a bridge too far for its mid-range line, where they wouldn’t be for its high-end Quest Pro headsets.

As with all leaks and rumors we’ll have to take these details with a pinch of salt – especially in the case of Meta and Apple – as even if these are their current plans there’s plenty of time for things to change, and we won’t know what any of these brands has in store for us until they make an official announcement. Hopefully Samsung won’t leave us wondering for much longer, and perhaps Meta will tease something at Meta Connect 2025.

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