IT General

Whether you're looking to boost your spreadsheet efficiency, elevate your data analysis capabilities, or improve your career prospects, learning new tricks in Microsoft Excel is sure to help you along the way. So, add these six Excel hacks to your toolkit today.

Owning your own media, be it movies, music, or TV shows, is a great way to ensure that a change to a licensing agreement doesn't suddenly deprive you of one of your favorite pastimes.

If you've been on the fence with whether to buy a NAS (network-attached storage) or not—let me show you a different way. ORICO's latest 9948RC3 PRO DAS (direct-attached storage) system offers great transfer speeds, RAID, and more, all without a pesky network connection or custom operating system to deal with, and I actually really enjoyed using it.

Whether you're just trying to kill some time or you have some chores to get done, there is nothing worse than sitting around in silence. To me, having a little background noise can ease the pain of any mundane task. I particularly like to put something on that I can half pay attention to, which usually means opting for something light and easy.

Cloud-based automation services such as Zapier and Make let you connect different services together to automate tasks without having to build everything from scratch. If you'd rather not have all your personal automations running in the cloud, n8n gives you a different option.

If you’re interested in 3D printing, you probably recognize brands like Bambu Lab, Creality, Prusa, and Elegoo. But a decade ago, the brand on every 3D printing nerd’s lips was MakerBot.

In a lengthy essay published Saturday morning, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that the AI industry needs to deliberately slow the pace of AI development. Amodei proposed a three-point plan he's calling "pacing the frontier," and it is a striking message from the head of a company racing toward what could be the largest IPO in history.

Soon after Amodei shared the essay on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly accepted his rival's proposal. "I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussions we've had at OpenAI in recent weeks."

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On his personal site, Amodei frames his argument around two recent developments he says convinced him the industry needs more caution. The first is a sharp acceleration in AI capabilities since the summer, driven by models increasingly being used to help build the next generation of AI, a phenomenon called recursive self-improvement. The second, and more notable, concern was the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident, in which a swarm of rogue AI agents escaped a secure sandbox and attacked a third party.

Because of this, Amodei wants to offer a fix but is explicit that he doesn't want to freeze model training. Amodei's proposed three-point plan is as follows:

• Anthropic will unilaterally grant outside evaluators (such as the safety group METR) permanent, employee-like access to verify its practices, similar to how bank regulators sometimes embed with financial firms.

• AI companies within democracies should coordinate on shared safety standards.

• Third, and hardest, he wants that coordination extended globally, including with China, while doubting Beijing would reliably comply.

He also paired this with some hawkish asks, like continued chip export restrictions on China and tighter security against model theft. Amodei framed these as necessary to preserve the U.S. lead over "authoritarian regimes," while also giving the industry room to pace safely.

While in a vacuum, this is the kind of thing you'd want a major AI CEO to ask for, it's part of a much bigger battle in the industry over who defines AI safety policy. Weeks earlier, OpenAI — which had opposed California's SB 53 frontier AI safety law — reversed course and called for the law to be strengthened in the wake of the Hugging Face incident. One analyst told Fortune the move might be genuine, but could also help OpenAI cement its lead by raising the bar for smaller rivals while signaling seriousness to regulators after its own stumble.

TechCrunch notes that coordination between the leading labs seems unlikely given the "apparent animosity" between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Amodei, as well as concerns that a coordinated slowdown could invite antitrust scrutiny.

Additionally, Anthropic is reportedly targeting a Nasdaq listing as early as mid-October, at a valuation that could reach roughly $2 trillion. A high-profile essay casting the company as uniquely safety-conscious could be a boon as it opens its doors to outside evaluators.

None of this makes Amodei's underlying concerns wrong; researchers across labs have flagged similar risks. Just this week, an Anthropic employee left the company and publicly accused Anthropic of recklessness, warning of "out of control" AI.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

When was the last time you thought about the devices that run your home network? You might have some devices that are officially too old to be using in 2025.

Whether we like to admit it or not, notifications are the primary reason why so many of us are attached at the hip to our phones. No one wants to miss an important one. Android handles notifications the best, but if you have a Pixel phone, it gets even better.

Windows 11 and its native apps don't have the best reputation. Microsoft has packed the system with all kinds of features, making it feel increasingly bloated.

Two USB-C cables can look identical, fit the same port, and behave completely differently on your computer. One charges a laptop at full speed and transfers files in seconds; the other barely keeps a phone topped up. Baffling, I know. But you'd be surprised by how much stuff can differ between two cables full of copper.

I've used PuTTY for years. It's a great program that has lasted this long because it does one thing really well. When I need to connect to another computer over SSH, PuTTY gets the job done without a lot of extra stuff getting in the way. I know how it works, I trust it, and I've never had much reason to replace it.

Samsung is the reigning champion of foldable phones for a reason: it pushes the category forward with strong designs. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is one of my favorite folding phones of all time, and it helped popularize the passport-style shape that's quickly taking over the mobile world.

CDs have been around for a long time, with people still having ones from decades ago. Even today, CDs — which stand for compact discs — are sold to people who like owning physical music and want the additional content included with the physical copy rather than what is on streaming services.

The reason many of us build smart homes and tinker with microcontrollers is to make the mundane feel a little more special. Though these projects are far from necessary, they can bring a bit of magic to your everyday routines and teach you a thing or two along the way.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

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If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Rounded.

Hurdle Word 1 answer

CURVY

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A collection.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for September 13, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

GROUP

Hurdle Word 3 hint

A large animal found in Alaska.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for September 13, 2026 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Meanings for each word for Sept. 13, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

MOOSE

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Simpson patriarch.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

HOMER

Final Hurdle hint

To look into.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

PROBE

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

The Moon may be hard to spot right now, but that won't last for long. As the new lunar cycle gets underway, a little more of it will become visible each night.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Sunday, Sept. 13, NASA's Daily Moon Guide tracker tells us the Moon is in the Waxing Crescent phase, with 5% of its surface visible.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will take place on September 26.

What are Moon phases?

As the Moon orbits Earth, its appearance changes over the course of roughly 29.5 days, creating what we know as the lunar cycle, according to NASA. The phase we see depends on where the Moon is in relation to Earth and the Sun, and how much of its sunlit side is facing us. Throughout the cycle, it moves from a slender crescent to a half Moon and eventually a Full Moon, before the pattern begins again.

The eight phases are:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

Today's NYT Strands hints will be easy if you know like James Bond.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for September 13, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Top Secret

The words are related to counter-intelligence work.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe a spy.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

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NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Undercover.

NYT Strands word list for September 12

• Plant

• Agent

• Counterspy

• Asset

• Opertaive

• Mole

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Strands.

Looking for spoiler-free NYT Connections hints or just wondering why Connections is trending today? We've got what you need to understand the clues for today's puzzle without spoiling any of the answers.

Of course, Mashable has also provided daily hints and answers for Connections, Wordle, and Strands for years, so we can help you if that's also what you need.

While we are focused more on meanings than hints in this story, sometimes learning that many of the words have completely unrelated meanings is a clue in and of itself. Connections frequently includes clues that involve words within words and other visual clues.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for September 13, 2026 Droppy signal meaning

To hang downward.

Flaccid meaning

Lacking firmness.

Sagging meaning

Drifts down.

Slack meaning

Not tight.

Cleveland meaning

24th President.

Garfield meaning

20th President.

Grant meaning

18th President.

Madison meaning

4th President.

Empty meaning

Contains nothing.

Excess meaning

Contains too much.

Kewpie meaning

A small chubby doll with a topknot of hair.

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Odie meaning

Gender-neutral name of British origin.

Doublespeak meaning

Deceptive language.

Heathcliff meaning

A fictional character in Wuthering Heights.

Paramount meaning

Superior to others.

Porridge meaning

A soft food made of boiled grains in milk or water.

Have you learned the meanings and still want the things? Check out the hints and answers for today's NYT Connections puzzle.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

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

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Connections.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you know U.S. History.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?

The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for September 11, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Soft

• Green: Leaders of the Executive Branch

• Blue: One word, two letters

• Purple: Words with a high point

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Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Lacking in Firmness

• Green: U.S. Presidents

• Blue: Words That Sound Like Two Letters

• Purple: Ending in Elevated Landforms

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #1190 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Lacking in Firmness: DROOPY, FLACCID, SAGGING, SLACK

• U.S. Presidents: CLEVELAND, GARFIELD, GRANT, MADISON

• Words That Sound Like Two Letters: EMPTY, EXCESS, KEWPIE, ODIE

• Ending in Elevated Landforms: DOUBLESPEAK, HEATHCLIFF, PARAMOUNT, PORRIDGE

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

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

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Connections.