IT General

Home Assistant is a smart home platform that operates on a PC in your home, not in the cloud—so if you don't already have spare hardware lying around, you're going to have to find some. But what if I told you there's one type of computer you can buy that will save you money upfront, provide you with excess performance, and keep energy costs low at the same time?

RuPaul's Drag Race fans are calling out the show over alleged use of AI-generated artwork.

SEE ALSO: Put Dr. Kelson from '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' on 'RuPaul's Drag Race'

The artwork appears in Season 18, episode 14, when host RuPaul Charles "paints" portraits of contestants Juicy Love Dion, Myki Meeks, Darlene Mitchell, and Nini Coco. Viewers were quick to point out that the portraits fell into the uncanny valley of AI slop, from the faint yellow filter on some images to some strange incongruities, like Juicy Love Dion's boa having three separate ends.

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On social media, fans and even former contestants like Season 16's Plasma expressed frustration over the show's possible use of AI. After all, RuPaul's Drag Race is a celebration of the art form of drag. Allegedly using AI feels like a betrayal of the very authenticity the series hopes to promote.

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This is not the first time RuPaul's Drag Race has come under fire for its use of AI. Last year, RuPaul's Drag Race released a short film on its YouTube channel titled "Jinkx & Plasma’s Gay Adventure!" The short featured AI-generated recreations of iconic RuPaul's Drag Race moments, resulting in major criticism from fans. It has since been made private on YouTube.

Mashable has reached out to RuPaul's Drag Race production company, World of Wonder, for further comment.

You've paid the premium subscription fee, invested in a beautiful 4K television, and your home network is humming along far beyond Netflix's minimum Mbps requirement for Ultra HD and 4K streaming. Despite checking every box, you still catch distracting digital squares in dark scenes, or subtle color gradients turn into harsh, discrete stripes.

Long-time Android users know that there is a hidden set of developer settings where you can customize aspects of your phone not intended for the wider public. Turns out the same is true about Android Auto—sort of. Just like with your Android phone, there is a hidden page with car-related options that aren’t intended for the general populace, but it's not as deep nor nearly as good.

The clipboard, used when copying and pasting, is one of the most useful features on any computer or smartphone. Most platforms also have an even more powerful companion feature that's easy to overlook, but is a complete game-changer once you start using it. It's the clipboard history.

If you’re like me, you’ve had a rejuvenation of your love of reading that spurred you to buy an eReader like a new or used Kindle. There are so many different versions of Kindle out there, but what do they all have in common? The amazing Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Windows is prone to errors and bugs, and you might be tempted to download third-party optimization apps to solve the problem. Sometimes they can be helpful, but as often as not, PowerShell has a command that'll get the job done more quickly.

Got an old Mac mini or looking to pick one up? Apple’s smallest computer isn’t just a pint-sized box of tricks, it’s a very capable streaming device and media player. For many, it’s a better buy than the Apple TV 4K.

Proxmox is one of the most popular distros among homelabbers and self-hosting enthusiasts because it allows you to convert almost any PC into a server in the amount of time it takes you to install the operating system.

On paper, the character of Rocky in Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary sounds like a nightmare: a dog-sized, five-legged rock spider with no face. Yet, in the 2026 film adaptation, he has become one of the most beloved characters in modern sci-fi. In this installment of How It Hits, writer Belen Edwards explores how the filmmakers used a combination of facial psychology, shared scientific culture, and old-school practical puppetry to create a genuine, "movie magic" connection between Ryan Gosling and his extraterrestrial co-star.

Project Hail Mary is now in theaters.

Recently, I’ve noticed the battery life on my Android phone is not as good as it used to be. So, I went digging around the battery settings to see what I could find. What I discovered was a few apps that have been sucking up battery despite rarely being opened.

Pirating TV shows and movies used to be a major problem that cost the industry huge amounts of money. Nothing seemed to be able to stop its rise until Netflix came along. Piracy declined sharply, but it's becoming increasingly popular again.

If you're a fan of Ryobi's bright neon-colored tools found at Home Depot, or even own several, you likely already know that the company makes a lot more than just tools for around the yard and house. The company has a bunch of obscure tools you'll love, along with outdoor items like coolers, camping lights, and so much more.

Animorphs, the sci-fi YA series with the greatest, most cursed book covers ever, is headed to Disney+.

As reported by Variety, the streamer is developing an Animorphs TV show. Bayan Wolcott (The Testaments, The Summer I Turned Pretty) is set to write and executive produce the series, and Oscar winner Ryan Coogler, Sev Ohanian, and Zinzi Coogler are executive producing through Proximity Media.

SEE ALSO: 'The Testaments' review: 'The Handmaid's Tale' sequel finds new power in its YA perspective

Based on the series co-written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, Animorphs follows a group of teenagers who stumble across a powerful alien technology. It allows them to morph into different animals, but it also thrusts them into a galactic war between the Andalites and the parasitic Yeerks. As the Yeerks begin a stealthy invasion of Earth, it's up to Animorphs Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, and Marco — along with Andalite ally Ax — to rebel and save the world.

There are 54 books in the primary Animorphs series, along with eight companion novels that enrich the world's lore. There is also already an Animorphs TV show, one that ran on Nickelodeon for 26 episodes between 1998 and 2000.

Obviously, 26 episodes is not enough to get through 62 books' worth of plot, so there's still so much more Animorphs glory to explore. And Disney+, you'd better listen to me when I say I need all of it. I need the grotesque animal transformations, I need them to look as messed-up as they do on the book covers, and I need the show to lean into the darkness of the books. That means including the many war crimes these teens commit — never forget the instant maple and ginger oatmeal! — as well as the psychological toll they take.

There are a lot of things Windows 11 has been criticized for, but some of the big problems are with seemingly basic features. Even years after they were implemented, these four Windows features are still giving me trouble.

Windows collects quite a bit more data about your browsing habits than you might expect, and between the operating system itself, optional programs and settings, and bad habits, there are dozens of different ways your browsing history can leak.

Do you remember how graphics cards used to be fun? And no, I don't just mean that they used to have mind-blowing specs and huge gen-on-gen performance gains. I mean when their designs were actually fun. And mildly horrifying, but that's another thing entirely.

Every smart home is a work in progress, though some aspects need a little more attention than others. The reality is that your smart home probably has a few problems that you can solve right now, and others that you can at least acknowledge and start to fix.

When enthusiasts talk about smartphone displays, there’s a long list of specs to obsess over. While resolution was and still remains the headline feature everyone cares about, there’s a different spec that makes the biggest difference day to day—yet it doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves. Of course, I’m talking about refresh rate.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, the Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move onto the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity for how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 4, 2026

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible – and common – for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for April 4, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for April 4 Pips

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-1. placed horizontally.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-2, placed horizontally; 6-4, placed horizontally.

Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 6-2, placed horizontally; 2-0, placed vertically.

Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 6-4, placed horizontally; 3-5, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 2-0, placed vertically; 3-5, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for April 4 Pips

Less Than (6): Everything in this space must be less than 6. The answer is 5-2, placed vertically.

Less Than (7): Everything in this space must be less than 7. The answer is 5-2, placed vertically; 6-4, placed vertically.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 5-5, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally; 3-0, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 1-0, placed vertically; 3-4, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically; 1-0, placed vertically.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for April 4 Pips

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-2, placed vertically.

Greater Than (9): Everything in this space must be greater than 9. The answer is 6-4, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically.

Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed vertically.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 2-2, placed vertically.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.

Less Than (4): Everything in this dark blue space must be less than 4. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.

Less Than (4): Everything in this red space must be less than 4. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically.

Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically.

Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-5, placed vertically.

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 0-5, placed vertically.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this orange space must be greater than 4. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this dark blue space must be greater than 4. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically; 0-3, placed vertically.

Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-6, placed vertically.

Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 3-4, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-2, placed vertically.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 5-2, placed vertically.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.