Using Linux in 2025 is more viable than you may think. Although the operating system (OS) has powered much of the world's servers for decades, it remains a severely unpopular choice for desktop and laptop systems. This is largely down to game and app support on Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS, which have traditionally offered superior experiences to Linux. That's no longer the case, and many Linux distributions (distros) are more polished than commercial operating systems. If you're coming from Windows, here are a few things that will surprise you to learn about Linux.

The latest Mario Kart title has officially been revealed by Nintendo, and it is called Mario Kart World. Not only is the game bigger, but so is the number of racetracks, and the number of characters. One look at the trailer, and it is easy to get overwhelmed by the number of racers in the game. Everyone seems to be joining the party this time, from the classic Mario to a penguin. Are you prepared to get passed by a Pokey or lapped by a dolphin? Here are the most obscure characters I saw in the Mario Kart World trailer shown during the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct.

You know what hurts more than bad games? Canceled games. A broken release can be patched, and a lackluster sequel can sometimes be forgiven. However, when a promising title never makes it out of the door? That’s a wound that never heals. The gaming world has seen some great games, and some even greater ones that were never made in the first place.

I first became interested in laser engraving because it transforms simple materials into personalized pieces of art. I was eager to customize gifts, create unique décor, and possibly turn my new skill into a small business. However, I quickly discovered that certain aspects of the process were far more involved than I initially realized. By sharing these insights, I hope to save you from a few surprises and help you get the best possible experience with your machine.

Note-taking is a task that most of us perform regularly. Whether you're in a meeting, discussing deliverables with your colleague, or have a personal matter to attend to, most of us resort to our Notes app to pen all of them down. Owing to this, it becomes extremely important to pick the right note-taking tool based on one's specific needs. If you end up picking the wrong platform, you may be stuck for a long time, since you may have paid for it, or you wouldn't want to migrate all your data to an alternate app or tool. The fact that there are tons of note-taking apps out there makes things harder for the average user.

I swore off small form factor PCs for years. Worrying about high fan noise, blistering temperatures, and limited space for upgrades, I never paid much attention to SFF PCs and all the nuance that goes into them. But that changed a couple of years ago, and since building my SFF rig, I haven't looked back.

Elon Musk’s popularity with the American public is waning, according to the latest polling average from Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin. The billionaire CEO of multiple companies wears many hats, but the most visible one of late has been as the face of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an organization that has been tearing through the US government administrative state. Silver Bulletin’s average shows that 53.5 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of Musk, and only 39.6 percent of Americans see him favorably. His unpopularity is way up since the beginning of 2024 when only 38 percent of people disliked him, according to the site’s tracker. Silver writes that his process for tracking Musk’s ratings is similar to how he tracks President Trump’s, but with “slightly more conservative settings as Musk is polled less often than Trump.” According to Silver Bulletin, negative views of the billionaire have been especially trending upwards in the wake of his heavy support — in part by paying voters — for Trump’s second Presidential campaign and, not long after, the beginning of his work at DOGE. That work has seen widespread federal agency layoffs as DOGE’s operatives access, or attempt to gain access, to sensitive areas of the government, including IRS records, the US Treasury’s payments system, and the US Social Security Administration.However accurate Silver Bulletin’s average is, the site is not alone in noting Musk’s unpopularity. Outlets like Fox News, Politico, and Axios have all recently pointed to polls showing a growing distaste for the billionaire. That may have already had electoral consequences for Republicans in Wisconsin, where Musk’s attempt to bolster a conservative Supreme Court candidate this month — using the same voter-paying tactics he used during Trump’s campaign — appear to have backfired. More than half of voters in the state disapproved of his involvement, and about a third said it made them less likely to vote for the conservative justice, according to pollster information published by The Washington Post. In the end, Democrat-backed candidate Susan Crawford won by 10 points, preserving Wisconsin’s highest court’s 4-3 liberal majority.

I love diving into fresh creations and pushing the limits of what my 3D printer can do. Yet, I occasionally hit a mental block and struggle to come up with new designs. Over time, I realized that being open to different sources of inspiration keeps my ideas flowing. By exploring a variety of methods, I have found several reliable ways to jumpstart my next 3D printing adventure.

Crosswalk buttons in at least three California cities appear to have been hacked this weekend to give them the seemingly AI-generated voices of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In videos posted online, the apparent voice of Musk begs listeners to be his friend, or that of Zuckerberg brags about “undermining democracy” and “cooking our grandparents’ brains with AI slop.”A Palo Alto, California city spokesperson told Palo Alto Online that city employees “determined that 12 downtown intersections were impacted,” and have disabled the crosswalks’ voice features pending repairs. The signals otherwise work as they should, they told the outlet. The hack seemed to have taken place on Friday, the person said. The same thing is happening in Redwood City, where a deputy city manager told The San Francisco Chronicle that the city is investigating and attempting to resolve the issue there. Crosswalk buttons in Menlo Park are also reportedly affected. The voice features of these buttons are used to guide people with difficulty seeing, letting them know when to “wait” and when the walk sign on the other end of the street has turned on. It’s hard to tell how much, if at all, the simulated voices interfere with that, but they seem to be playing in addition to, rather than instead of the built-in safety notices, at least in some videos of the phenomenon.Here are some videos with the simulated voice of Musk, along with my transcriptions below each: @rosecampau Replying to @whitney 🍉 ♬ original sound – rose Hi, this is Elon Musk, and I’d like to personally welcome you to Palo Alto. You know, people keep saying, ‘cancer is bad,’ but have you ever tried being a cancer? It’s fucking awesome. @rosecampau our crosswalks just got vc funding apparently #paloalto #elonmusk #tesla #siliconvalley #walkablecities ♬ original sound – rose Hi, this is Elon Musk. Welcome to Palo Alto, the home of Tesla engineering. You know, they say money can’t buy happiness, and yeah, okay, I guess that’s true. God knows I’ve tried. But it can buy a Cybertruck, and that’s pretty sick, right? Right? Fuck, I’m so alone. @lifeashd Emerson st. and University ave. In Palo Alto, CA got hacked! The crosswalk button sound was changed from “wait” to a speech from ElonMusk elonmusknews ♬ original sound – HD Hi, I’m Elon. Can we be friends? Will you be my friend? I’ll give you a Cybertruck, I promise. Okay, look, you don’t know the level of depravity I would stoop to just for a crumb of approval.One had a guest spot from a soundalike of President Donald Trump, clearly making light of Musk’s close association with Trump: @chloeakiko newest feature in silicon valley #elonmusk ♬ original sound – Chloe Not Musk: You know, it’s funny, I used to think he was just this dumb sack of shit. But once you get to know him, he’s actually pretty sweet and tender and loving.Not Trump: Sweetie, come back to bed.One video published by Palo Alto Online featured this quote, spoken by a faked Zuckerberg’s voice: Hey, it’s Zuck here. I just want to tell you how very proud I am of everything we’ve been building together. From undermining democracy to cooking our grandparents’ brains with AI slop, to — to making the world less safe for trans people. Nobody does it better than us, and, uh, and I think that’s pretty neat. Zuck out!Otherwise, the other simulated Zuckerberg voice messages I found in videos online all had the same content:Somebody uploaded custom audio of AI generated Zuckerberg to a bunch of crosswalk buttons in Palo Alto and Redwood City and it's hilarious— NIC (@wah.gay) 2025-04-13T07:09:25.682ZHi, this is Mark Zuckerberg, but real ones call me ‘the Zuck.’ You know, it’s normal to feel uncomfortable or even violated as we forcefully insert AI into every, every facet of your conscious experience. And I just want to assure you, you don’t need to worry, because there’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop it. Anyway, see ya.

Raspberry Pis and Home Assistant are a match made in heaven. The former is great at sensing the world around it and collecting data, and the latter is amazing at taking in data, making decisions, and outputting information to better control a smart home. Put them together, and you have a tag team system that keeps an eye out for stimuli and decides what to do next with that information.

Smartphones, laptops, and other products that are exempt from Trump’s April 9th tariffs will be lumped in with duties on semiconductors in “a month or two,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl on This Week. Yesterday, the Trump administration released updated guidance that excluded smartphones, laptops, and more from Trump’s new tariffs, including the 125 percent additional levy on Chinese-produced goods last week. “This is not like a permanent sort of exemption,” Lutnick told Karl, saying that they will be subject later to “a special focus type of tariff” applied to the semiconductor industry, similar to automotive tariffs Trump has already issued. When asked if the new tariffs will include products like iPhones, many of which are built in China, Lutnick said that’s “correct” and that the goal is to “encourage them to reshore, to be built in America.” ”It’s not like you can open a factory tomorrow to build iPhones,” Karl said, before asking if these coming tariffs will mean higher prices for goods in the US. Lutnick responded: I don’t necessarily think so. I think the idea is that we can manufacture here in America. As I said, there’s a — I saw Panasonic, the battery company. Right? A Japanese company. They built an amazing factory in Kansas, which they’re opening now. They were putting it in the ground when Donald Trump was President, just finishing now.Lutnick may be referring to an EV plant Panasonic announced it had broken ground on in November 2022. Panasonic reportedly stands to gain billions in incentives for the plant under the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, which Trump has threatened to “rescind all unspent funds” from.

Cura is a free and popular 3D slicing software that is compatible with the majority of the FDM 3D printers. Beyond the default features of the software, you can explore additional advanced features by installing plugins to enhance your 3D printing workflow. These plugins are available on the Cura Marketplace, and you can search for and install them easily. There are many available, and each of them has a specific functionality. There are those for controlling the 3D printer remotely, fine-tuning first layer settings, analyzing, fixing broken and non-manifold models, and many others. Below are the five most useful ones you should be using.