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Contact sensors, often known as door or window sensors, use magnets to sense open or closed states. You can use this information and the changing of these states to do all sorts of neat things in your smart home.

The HTPC or Home Theater Personal Computer was an idea before its time. Something only well-heeled and tech-savvy tinkering media geeks could even achieve, and then, more often than not, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. Yet, we have the HTPC to thank for our myriad modern media options. So let's look back at the HTPC and give it the respect it deserves.

If you have a big house, or if you just have thick walls, a mesh network is a really good way to make your network reach every corner of your home. But you'd be surprised by how many people mess up the installation.

Smutty fan fiction is having a moment, and the writers at 30 Rock are clearly more than happy to indulge. This time, Saturday Night Live reimagines the upcoming Harry Potter TV series as Heated Rivalry — but make it Quidditch.

SEE ALSO: 'SNL' returns with another Trump Cold Open

In the sketch, dubbed Heated Wizardry, Harry (Finn Wolfhard) and Ron (Ben Marshall) tumble into a torrid Hogwarts romance, with the faux trailer going out of its way to clarify that everyone involved is very much 18+. "Hogwarts is basically college now," the narrator helpfully explains. Plot? Lore? World-building? Irrelevant. We’re here to watch two hot wizards kiss.

Is the writing particularly good? Probably not. But that’s beside the point. The sketch fully commits to the genre, delivering steamy glances, breathless longing, and a surprisingly faithful production design for what is, at its core, a shamelessly horny retelling of Harry Potter. If nothing else, it proves that nothing is immune to the gravitational pull of thirst.

There are major Linux distributions dropping releases and patches every week. That means it can be hard to tell which ones really matter. There's one in particular coming later this year though that will change the game for me.

Home Assistant is a Linux-based smart home operating system with a very low barrier to entry. In addition to being completely free, its minimum system specifications mean it works on most computers produced within the last 10 to 15 years (plus humble single-board computers).

OpenAI is now doing the thing everyone assumed it eventually would: bringing ads to ChatGPT.

After weeks of user frustration over what appeared to be ads slipping into conversations, OpenAI finally laid its cards on the table. In a blog post published on Friday, the company confirmed it plans to begin testing ads in ChatGPT for U.S. users on the free and Go tiers, while promising that paid tiers like Pro, Business, and Enterprise will remain ad-free.

SEE ALSO: Could OpenAI buy Pinterest? Here’s how that would impact users and non-users alike

OpenAI insists this isn’t a betrayal of trust, but a trade-off.

"As ChatGPT becomes more capable and widely used, we’re looking at ways to continue offering more intelligence to everyone," the company wrote, framing ads as a way to expand access without forcing users to pay. The company also stressed a hard line between answers and advertising, saying users need to trust that ChatGPT’s responses are "driven by what’s objectively useful, never by advertising," and that conversations will not be shared or sold to advertisers.

That reassurance comes after a messy few months. In December, ChatGPT users flooded social media with screenshots of chatbot responses that suggested apps, stores, or products entirely unrelated to their prompts.

OpenAI pushed back, saying those were just poorly timed "suggestions," but the distinction didn’t land. Even users paying $200 per month for ChatGPT Pro said the experience felt off.

Behind the scenes, though, advertising has clearly been on the roadmap. Reporting earlier this month revealed that OpenAI has been quietly testing ad concepts internally, experimenting with layouts and disclosures designed to create what employees described as "a new type of digital ads" that wouldn’t immediately drive users away

And CEO Sam Altman hasn’t exactly been subtle about warming to the idea. Back in June, he said he wasn’t "totally against" ads in ChatGPT, even calling Instagram ads "kinda cool" — a quote that aged about as well as anyone expected. At the time, Altman emphasized that ads would require extreme care to get right. Now, that theoretical future is becoming real.

OpenAI says ads will be clearly labeled, placed separately from responses, and initially shown only when there’s a "relevant sponsored product or service" tied to a conversation. Users will be able to dismiss ads or turn off personalization entirely, and ads won’t appear for accounts under 18 or near sensitive topics like health or politics

Whether that’s enough to keep ChatGPT from feeling like just another feed remains to be seen. But with operating costs reportedly in the billions and AI companies racing to prove sustainable business models, the era of the ad-free chatbot was probably always going to be temporary.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Ever since COSMIC was announced in summer 2024, it's been a recurring subject Linux discussions and headlines. I tracked it from its alpha, beta, and full release phases. After giving it a try myself, though, I didn't find it to fit my needs. Here's why.

TL;DR: Live stream Senegal vs. Morocco in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final for free on Channel 4. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

We couldn't have asked for more from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. We wanted exciting football, passionate stadiums, and big moments of drama. We got all of that and more from this special tournament.

There's only one game left to play, and it's the one that really matters. Morocco face Senegal in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final. The hosts were favorites going into the tournament, and so far, they've delivered on expectations. Morocco just need to make it past Senegal to lift the trophy in front of their own fans. To course, that's not going to be an easy task. Senegal are stacked with talented stars. It's going to be a tense, evenly-matched battle.

If you want to watch Senegal vs. Morocco in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Senegal vs. Morocco?

Senegal vs. Morocco in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final kicks off at 2 p.m. ET on Jan. 18. This fixture takes place at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.

How to watch Senegal vs. Morocco for free

Senegal vs. Morocco in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final is available to live stream for free on Channel 4.

Channel 4 is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock Channel 4 to stream AFCON for free from anywhere in the world.

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Live stream Senegal vs. Morocco for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

4. Visit Channel 4

5. Watch Senegal vs. Morocco for free from anywhere in the world

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The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of AFCON without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream Senegal vs. Morocco in the AFCON final before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for Channel 4?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on Channel 4, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including the UK

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $78.18 and includes an extra four months for free — 78% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Watch Senegal vs. Morocco in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final for free with ExpressVPN.

Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard took hosting duties on Saturday Night Live following the show’s hiatus, kicking things off with a sketch about generational clashing and their deeply incompatible definitions of "selling out."

SEE ALSO: 'SNL' returns with another Trump Cold Open

Wolfhard plays a teenager eager to hit the road with his indie band, much to the dismay of his father (James Austin Johnson). Not because Dad is anti-dreams or anti-music, but because he’s a pop star — and his son absolutely will not be slumming it through grunge shows at East Coast dive bars. As he puts it, "What could be more fulfilling than selling out arenas for the year and a half preceding 9/11?"

The sketch hinges on the wildly different ideas of artistic fulfillment between father and son, while also finding time to pile on chaos elsewhere. Dad’s boy band mates keep shamelessly hitting on Mom (Ashley Padilla), adding another layer of absurdity to the family dynamic. Those members include Curtis 5000 (Marcello Hernández), Cyber (Jeremy Culhane), and K-Dog (Andrew Dismukes), who is unmistakably just Kevin Richardson from the Backstreet Boys.

Despite early criticism and plenty of skepticism from enthusiasts, one American coupe has done what few expected: it won the North American Car of the Year award for 2026. In a field packed with fresh rivals and evolving tastes, this model’s blend of performance, style, and overall engineering impressed judges enough to top the competition, proving that even controversial designs can succeed when the execution is right.

Saturday Night Live returned from its winter break and rang in the new year with what’s quickly become a familiar tradition now that Donald Trump is president again: letting James Austin Johnson suit up as Trump and riff on the absurd — and often deeply troubling — actions coming out of the White House since the show last aired.

As the saying goes, reality is stranger than fiction, and after a brief hiatus, the writers clearly had a lot of ground to cover. This time, Johnson wasn’t alone. He was joined by a full cabinet of “curiosities” and “little freaks,” including JD Vance (played by Jeremy Culhane), Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernández), Kristi Noem (Ashley Padilla), and Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost).

The sketch bounced rapidly from topic to topic, skewering everything from the (probably illegal) abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to ICE’s presence in Minnesota. It also found time for digs at rumors about Vance wearing eyeliner and increasingly pointed jokes about Trump’s deteriorating mental health.

There are a million and one Markdown editors out there, and many of them are actually pretty great. Despite the available options, I'm now using VSCodium almost exclusively when I need to work with Markdown. This is why.

IKEA is known for its furniture, but it’s the little odds and ends that can easily justify a visit on their own. Phone accessories are no exception. Here are some of the best you can currently find at the store, and you may also be able to order them online if you don’t have an IKEA in your area.

The used-car market is packed with Volkswagen Arteons at surprisingly low prices, making it a tempting pick for anyone after a slick, tech-loaded luxury sedan that won’t break the bank.

Are you concerned about your digital footprint? Does it bother you that anyone listening can observe which websites you visit? Most people don't know what DNS is or how much information it leaks. I'll share with you what the problem is and how to fortify yourself against snoopers.

Not all Raspberry Pi projects require a display, like home servers and DNS sinkholes. But not all projects are alike, and sometimes your choice of display can greatly influence the end result.

Without Spotify Premium, I've been building out my collection of MP3s and lossless FLAC song files. I still miss the Spotify interface for when I'm working on my desktop, though. Fortunately, I found a replacement that works with my media server.

If you associate IKEA with affordable flat-pack furniture and kitchen utensils with unpronounceable names, you might have overlooked the fact that the company has been at the forefront of the smart home revolution for decades.

People often confuse Excel's LAMBDA and SCAN functions because they often appear together in formulas. However, they aren't the same: LAMBDA is the "brain" that defines the logic, and SCAN is the "vehicle" that carries it out. Here's how to tell them apart.