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Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 262, for June 12.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for June 12.

Cities prepare for nationwide protests on Saturday.

(Image credit: Damian Dovarganes)

Two days after firing vaccine experts who help set the nation's immunization policies, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has picked eight successors for the CDC panel.

(Image credit: Alex Wong)

OneTaste billed itself as a sexual wellness business centered on "orgasmic meditation." Prosecutors said former leaders subjected victims to sexual and emotional abuse.

(Image credit: Jeenah Moon)

A new setting in iOS 26 can extend battery life without resorting to Low Power Mode.

The third major tournament of the year sees Bryson DeChambeau aiming to defend his title at Oakmont.

• Dual Thunderbolt 5 ports and OCuLink elevate this eGPU beyond typical external GPU standards
• Nvidia's Ada Lovelace cards shine in this unit
• Compact design and bold specs make FEVM FNGT5 Pro a tempting power upgrade for PCs

External GPUs have long served as a way to upgrade a laptop’s graphical capabilities, particularly for users whose machines lack discrete GPUs.

The FNGT5 Pro from Chinese manufacturer FEVM is the latest entrant in this niche category, bringing an ambitious mix of high-end GPU options and modern connectivity features.

The FNGT5 Pro supports three RTX 40-series laptop GPUs, specifically the RTX 4060, 4080, and 4090. This might raise eyebrows, but it appears to be a calculated decision to balance power and heat management within such a compact enclosure.

RTX eGPU aims high

Measuring 142 x 100 x 60 mm and with a total volume of 0.86 liters, the FNGT5 Pro is compact and travel-friendly, though not quite pocket-sized.

Despite its portability, the device features dual Thunderbolt 5 ports (100W upstream and 30W downstream), a high-speed USB-A port, and an OCuLink interface.

Offering both Thunderbolt 5 and OCuLink sets it apart from most rivals, which typically offer just one of the two.

Display connectivity is handled by HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

If you're part of the Apple ecosystem, however, don’t get too excited, you likely can’t use this eGPU with a MacBook Pro.

Apple has not supported external GPUs since its transition to Apple Silicon, and even earlier Intel-based Macs were only compatible with Thunderbolt 3 eGPUs using officially supported AMD GPUs.

Despite Thunderbolt 5 being theoretically backward-compatible and extremely fast, macOS lacks the driver-level support needed for Nvidia cards, especially those housed in non-certified enclosures.

So, while you could physically connect the FNGT5 Pro to a MacBook via Thunderbolt, it’s highly unlikely to function as intended.

As for pricing, the top-tier RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, with 16GB of memory and 9,728 CUDA cores, costs $1,374, steep, but in line with desktop equivalents.

The RTX 4080, featuring 7,424 CUDA cores and 12GB of memory, is priced at $1,040, while the entry-level RTX 4060, with 3,072 CUDA cores and 8GB of RAM, comes in at $555.

For users seeking the best laptop for video editing or for Photoshop, pairing a compatible system with a powerful eGPU like the FNGT5 Pro can help close the performance gap without committing to a full desktop setup.

Via TomsHardware

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With the federalized National Guard deployed against the state's wishes and the Marines on the way to L.A., there are growing concerns about the policing role of the military.

(Image credit: Jae C. Hong)

The White House's message on what's happening in Los Angeles is simple: this is what President Trump was elected to do.

It is true that polls have found people trust the Republican Party more to handle immigration. A CBS poll taken last week found that 54% approve of Trump's deportation policies.

Trump is making a big bet on how far Americans want him to go. He mobilized National Guard and active-duty troops that the mayor and governor say they don't need.

The administration says its immigration efforts are focused on criminals. But California Governor Gavin Newsom highlighted other people swept up in workplace raids.

"A U.S. citizen, nine months pregnant, was arrested; a 4-year-old girl, taken; families separated; friends, quite literally, disappearing."

Trump is doubling down in Los Angeles. We hear from a conservative immigration analyst who thinks it will work.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

(Image credit: Spencer Platt)

• InnoGrit N3X SSD delivers 50 DWPD endurance but costs more than typical enterprise drives
• Built for caching, inference, and workloads that punish ordinary SSDs
• Runs entirely in SLC mode, sacrificing capacity for serious performance gains

The InnoGrit N3X SSD introduces a high-endurance storage solution aimed at enterprise workloads with extreme write demands.

Unveiled at Computex 2025, and featuring Kioxia’s second-generation XL-Flash operating in SLC mode, the drive is engineered to deliver 50 drive writes per day (DWPD) over five years, far exceeding the endurance of typical enterprise SSDs.

This level of durability is impressive, but it also raises questions about the cost of the device and whether its performance will justify the expected premium.

SCM roots and a specialized architecture

At the heart of the N3X is storage class memory (SCM), a memory tier designed to bridge the performance gap between DRAM and traditional NAND flash.

When used in SLC mode, Kioxia’s XL-Flash functions as a type of SCM, promising ultra-low latency and high endurance.

Unlike standard NAND, which stores multiple bits per cell, operating XL-Flash in SLC mode prioritizes speed and reliability over capacity.

This design choice closely mirrors the original goals of Intel’s now-discontinued Optane memory, positioning the N3X as a potential successor in that specialized niche.

While SCM technologies like XL-Flash are not new, they remain relatively rare due to their high cost and specialized applications.

InnoGrit’s use of the IG5669 PCIe 5.0 controller, with NVMe 2.0 support, allows for impressive performance claims: up to 14 GB/s read and 12 GB/s write speeds, along with 3.5 million random read IOPS.

Latency is where the N3X particularly stands out - read latency under 13 microseconds and write latency as low as 4 microseconds.

If consistently achieved, these figures would place the N3X among the fastest SSDs in development.

The drive is marketed for workloads involving sustained writes, in-memory computing, and real-time inference, areas where traditional NAND SSDs often struggle with latency and wear.

However, the decision to operate entirely in SLC mode significantly reduces the available capacity per die, resulting in smaller drive sizes and a higher cost per gigabyte.

While the drive is offered in capacities ranging from 400GB to 3.2TB, these fall short of what is expected from today’s largest SSDs.

Although the N3X possesses many of the technical qualities of the best portable SSDs, it is not intended for mainstream use.

Its reliance on SCM architecture, while enabling exceptional performance, places it firmly in the domain of niche enterprise deployments.

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Deep Cover brings an injection of comedy to the genre of the moment, making it a top contender to stream this weekend.

The latest tariff announcement doesn't change much, but you should still expect prices to increase. Here's how to save if you're shopping for one.

I’ve been covering artificial intelligence, or at least topics that touch upon it, for most of my technology journalism career, and long before generative AI was something the public could just access with relative ease. But like it or lump it, AI is very much the buzz of the moment in and beyond the technology world. So it was surprising that at WWDC 2025, Apple kind of played down the subject.

Sure, Apple Intelligence was present and would appear to be more integrated into Cupertino’s various software platforms than it was previously. But many of these features appear to augment existing tools rather than create all-new ones; AI can figure out the regular routes you take in the iOS 26 Maps app, for example.

I’d also argue that Apple added smart features, such as Live Translation in the Messages and FaceTime apps, almost as a way to keep up with Google’s and Samsung’s AI efforts in their flagship smartphones, rather than lead the way or hone existing tech into something special.

Instead, Apple played up the redesign of iOS, macOS, and more with the use of its ‘Liquid Glass’ material design. And Apple Intelligence appeared to take a backseat; as my colleague Matt Bolton pointed out, Siri was properly absent from WWDC and indicative of failure for the virtual assistant.

Now I won’t argue against Mr Bolton, as he raises some good points, but I’m also low-key grateful AI didn’t dominate WWDC.

User experience first, AI smarts second

(Image credit: Apple)

I’ve always felt that Apple’s strength comes from its user experience. As locked down as some of Cupertino's software can be, and the walled garden approach to its ecosystem, once you’re in said garden, everything does work really rather well. From easy, secure payments and authentication, to quick file transfer between Apple devices and users, and much more.

As an aside, I’ve argued before that I want AI to be used for genuinely transformational things that benefit society, not generate images of a dog on the moon or write my emails for me. I reckon humanity is better off going through the challenges of learning how to better string sentences together or wait to frame the perfect camera shot, than let AI do everything for them, as that could take us down a dark path (check out Black Mirror on Netflix).

Bringing things back to Apple and WWDC, I feel that a redesign and the neat addition of useful features to iOS and macOS will resonate more with Apple device users than some smart AI tools that could feel a little bolted on to a core phone or laptop experience.

As a user of the iPhone 16 Pro Max and a MacBook Air M2, I have access to several Apple Intelligence tools. But aside from a bit of sporadic flirtation with them and the occasional nod of appreciation towards AI-generated summaries of voicemails, Apple Intelligence hasn’t come close to changing the way I use my iPhone.

I’ve said in the past that I find the recent iPhones to be boring but brilliant; they lack the do-anything vibe of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or the intriguing AI-lead experience of the Google Pixel 9 family, but simply serve as smartphones that get stuff done quickly and well.

I treat my iPhone as a tool rather than a gadget, which doesn't make it exciting but does make it one of the best phones I’ve used, as there’s precious little getting in my way or distracting me from doing what I need to do.

I think many other Apple users share the same mindset. There’s been a huge amount of people who’ve checked out our how to download the iOS 26 developer beta article, which to me shows there’s a big interest in the Liquid Glass redesign.

Furthermore, in an article I wrote about wanting Samsung to add more AI into its next-generation foldable phone to truly make them more effective, one commenter said they don't find AI on phones to be useful at all and wants options to turn off such tools.

(Image credit: Future)

So while tech luminaries wax lyrical about AI and some people use it to do a lot of things for them, I get the feeling others would just prefer to have tech that does indeed ‘just works’ with each improvement, incremental or otherwise, being about users, not technological expertise.

As such, I think Apple may have been smart to focus WWDC more on visual and slick functional changes to its core software than on putting AI in the limelight. After all, I still feel AI hasn’t become sufficiently foolproof and accurate to make it a must-have right now.

I think, as it stands, if you are after an AI phone, then the best Google Pixel phones are the ones to look at, given they are built from the hardware up to be all about AI. And Google’s phones have always been the devices to push more esoteric features, be that the radar sensors in the Pixel 4 phones or the AI focus of the past few generations of Pixels.

In contrast, I’ve always seen Apple as the brand that fully embraces emergent technology only when it has reached a point of maturity and consumer understanding.

Given the rocky launch of Apple Intelligence, AI still being for enthusiasts than everyone (albeit that could be changing rapidly), and how iOS and macOS are finely curated platforms, I think eschewing AI at this year’s WWDC will prove to have been the smart move for Apple, even if various tech commentators and analysts see it as being behind the curve. Now onwards to the iPhone 17…

Do you want more AI in iPhones? Let me know in the comments below.

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South Florida's Cuban-American community supports President Trump, but some members are uneasy with his immigration policies. "I'm not for deporting people without criminal records."

(Image credit: Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP)

Pakistan and India traded cross-border military strikes in May, a four day flare-up in a long running conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries. Among the significant developments in the brief conflict was the first time a Chinese made fighter plane saw combat. Our correspondent in Mumbai says that debut might have a long term impact.

The Trump administration plans to get rid of all limits on climate-warming pollution from the nation's fossil fuel power plants. Fossil fuel interests hailed the proposal, which likely faces legal challenges from environmental groups.

(Image credit: Joshua A. Bickel)

Voting officials say they've never seen a demand like the one the Justice Department sent to Colorado last month.

(Image credit: Jason Connolly)

The Switch 2 has reached the highest global sales of any Nintendo device in the same timeframe.

The indictment was announced by interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba. Rep. McIver says the proceedings against her are "a brazen attempt at political intimidation."

(Image credit: Angelina Katsanis)