Technology

Most Linux distros you'll find are basically a pile of separate programs—a panel, a compositor, a window manager, and so on—all exchanging information and coordinating their behavior to create a cohesive experience.

By a show of hands, how many of you clean your power tools? I didn't think so. Those Ryobi tools in the garage are built to handle life's daily wear and tear, tackle DIY projects, and more, but when they get covered in dirt, sawdust, and other grime, a proper cleaning is more important than you think.

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.

Nintendo has officially kicked off its Customer Appreciation Sale, reportedly using $300 million in government tariff refunds to fund discounts that are now in effect not only on the Nintendo Store and Nintendo eShop but also at participating retailers both online and offline. 

There is one major caveat, though: there is not a single deal for a Nintendo Switch 2 game, and, aside from a few accessory deals, there are no Switch 2 hardware sales either. So if you were hoping to use this sale to gear up for the Ocarina of Time remake, you're out of luck, though you can still save $10 on a pre-order through the right retailers. 

Who is this sale for, then? If you've been eying a classic Nintendo game but couldn't justify paying full retail price, or if you want to re-live older-generation games on next-generation hardware, now is the perfect time to indulge in some nostalgia.

Here are our favorite deals from this sale across hardware, games, and merchandise:

Best Nintendo Appreciation hardware deals Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Switch Pro Controller $55.99 at Nintendo
$79.99 Save $24.00   Get Deal Why we like it

Don't get us wrong: We're big fans of the Nintendo Switch and its innovative Joy-Con controllers, but occasionally you yearn for simpler times, when a single controller held all the buttons and joysticks you needed. Nintendo must agree with us, because their own Pro Controller does a fantastic job recreating the experience of classic Nintendo and Nintendo 64 games, many of which you may be playing for the first time on your Switch console. And trust us: If you're experiencing Goldeneye death matches for the first time, you're going to want this controller in hand to stand a chance.  

More hardware deals

• Nintendo Joy-Con (double) - $62.99 $89.99 (save $27)

• Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Charging Stand - $24.49 $34.99 (save $10)

• Nintendo Joy-Con (single) - $31.49 $44.99 (save $13)

Best Nintendo Appreciation game deals Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass Bundle (Digital Download) $55.97 at Amazon
$79.98 Save $24.01   Get Deal Why we like it

What better way to prepare for the Ocarina of Time remake than to re-live (or maybe play for the first time!) Breath of the Wild, the clearest spiritual successor to the N64 classic. All the way back in 2017, it was the standout game at the annual Game Awards, winning Game of the Year, Best Direction, and Best Action/Adventure Game, while it was recently named the second-best Nintendo game of all time by IGN. And unlike a lot of nearly-decade-old games, Breath of the Wild still feels fresh all these years later.   

More game deals

• Luigi's Mansion 3 - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

• Mario Party: Superstars - $41.99 $59.99 (save $17)

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Digital Download)  $48.97 at Amazon
$69.99 Save $21.02   Get Deal Why we like it

In keeping with the Zelda theme, you owe it to yourself to play the sequel to Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom. The game is just three years old now, but with more than 22 million copies sold, it's also one of the handful of modern games that are a required experience for self-respecting gamers, casting a long shadow on game development ever since its release. If you haven't yet had the pleasure of returning to Hyrule or discovering eerie Depths below, take advantage of this discount while it lasts.  

More game deals

• Metroid Dread - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Bundle (Digital Download) $84.98 at Amazon
  Get Deal Why we like it

We'll just go ahead and say it: there simply isn't a better party game than Mario Kart, and that's basically been true since the original NES release all the way back in 1992. It's the madness of flying shells, an ever-rotating leaderboard, and an incredible variety of fun, unique race tracks that make these games endlessly replayable. Be warned, though: many friendships have ended over a Mario Kart race gone wrong. 

More game deals

• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Standard - $41.99 $59.99 (save $17)

• Kirby Fighters 2 - $13.99 $19.99 (save $6)

• Kirby: Star Allies - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Metroid Prime Remastered (Digital Download) $27.97 at Amazon
$39.99 Save $12.02   Get Deal Why we like it

Everyone is focused on Zelda these days, and rightfully so, but Nintendo has an exhaustive library of unique IPs that every game should experience at least once in their lives, and after the essential Mario and Zelda games, we would argue Metroid deserves top billing as well. Suit up as Samus Aran and explore the otherworldly Tallon IV planet with updated visuals and an unforgettable soundtrack. 

More game deals

• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 + Expansion - $62.97 $89.98 (save $27)

• Endless Ocean: Luminous Standard - $34.97 $49.99 (save $14)

• Donkey Kong Country Returns HD - $41.97 $59.99 (save $18)
  

Best Nintendo Appreciation merch deals Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo $76.99 at Nintendo
$109.99 Save $33   Get Deal Why we like it

Lots of merch leans more towards novelty than practicality, but this Alarmo clock does exactly the opposite, nodding to your favorite company with an essential item you'll use every day of your life. It isn't a half-thought-out, poor-quality clock, either. You can choose from among your favorite Nintendo characters to wake you up each morning, while a built-in motion sensor quiets the alarm sound when you're ready to get up. And when you finally get out of bed, you'll be rewarded with a unique character celebration animation.

More game deals

• Mario Kart Slouch Hat - $16.44 $24.99 (save $9)

• Amiibo Samus Figurine - $20.99 $29.95 (save $10)

• Amiibo Donkey Kong and Pauline Figurine - $20.99 $29.99 (save $10)

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."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

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.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily or sent straight to your device? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today.

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.