The ZX Spectrum is known for a lot of things, but it’s not really known for a rich and deep library of FPS titles. However, there is finally such a game for the platform, thanks to [Jakub Trznadel]—and it’s called World of Spells.

Like so many other games of this type, it was inspired by the 3D raycasting techniques made so popular by Wolfenstein 3D back in the day. For that reason, it has a very similar look in some regards, but a very different look in others—the latter mostly due to the characteristic palette available on the ZX Spectrum. A playable FPS is quite a feat to achieve on such limited hardware, but [Jakub] pulled it off well, with the engine able to reach up to 80 frames per second.

The game is available for download, and you can even order it on tape if you so desire. You might also like to check out the walkthrough on YouTube, where the game is played on an emulator. Don’t worry, though—the game works on real ZX Spectrum 48k hardware just fine.

The Speccy retains a diehard fanbase to this day. You can even build a brand new one thanks to a buoyant supply of aftermarket parts.

[thanks to losr for the tip!]

 

Wired published an article by California-based writer/programmer Sheon Han arguing that Ruby "is not a serious programming language." Han believes that the world of programming has "moved on", and "everything Ruby does, another language now does better, leaving it without a distinct niche. Ruby is easy on the eyes. Its syntax is simple, free of semicolons or brackets. More so even thanPython — a language known for its readability — Ruby reads almost like plain English... Ruby, you might've guessed, is dynamically typed. Python and JavaScript are too, but over the years, those communities have developed sophisticated tools to make them behave more responsibly. None of Ruby's current solutions are on par with those. It's far too conducive to what programmers call "footguns," features that make it all too easy to shoot yourself in the foot. Critically, Ruby's performance profile consistently ranks near the bottom (read: slowest) among major languages. You may remember Twitter's infamous "fail whale," the error screen with a whale lifted by birds that appeared whenever the service went down. You could say that Ruby was largely to blame. Twitter's collapse during the 2010 World Cup served as a wake-up call, and the company resolved to migrate its backend to Scala, a more robust language. The move paid off: By the 2014 World Cup, Twitter handled a record 32 million tweets during the final match without an outage. Its new Scala-based backend could process up to 100 times faster than Ruby. In the 2010s, a wave of companies replaced much of their Ruby infrastructure, and when legacy Ruby code remained, new services were written in higher-performance languages. You may wonderwhy people are still using Ruby in 2025. It survives because of its parasitic relationship with Ruby on Rails, the web framework that enabled Ruby's widespread adoption and continues to anchor its relevance.... Rails was the framework of choice for a new generation of startups. The main code bases of Airbnb, GitHub, Twitter, Shopify, and Stripe were built on it. He points out on Stack Overflow's annual developer survey, Ruby has slipped from a top-10 technology in 2013 to #18 this year — "behind evenAssembly" — calling Ruby "a kind of professional comfort object, sustained by the inertia of legacy code bases and the loyalty of those who first imprinted upon it." But the article drew some criticism on X.com. ("You should do your next piece about how Vim isn't a serious editor and continue building your career around nerd sniping developers.") Other reactions... "Maybe WIRED is just not a serious medium..." "FWIW — Ruby powered Shopify through another Black Friday / Cyber Monday — breaking last year's record." "Maybe you should have taken a look at TypeScript..." Wired's subheading argues that Ruby "survives on affection, not utility. Let's move on." Are they right? Share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments. Is Ruby still a 'serious' programming language?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Bloomberg:
India's digital transformation has exposed citizens to scams like “digital arrests”, where victims are coerced into transferring funds under false accusations  —  She races into her bedroom, shuts the door behind her, then falls to the checkered-tile floor.  The only place to hide is beneath the bed.

Julie Bort / TechCrunch:
Simular, which is building AI agents for Mac and Windows PCs, raised a $21.5M Series A led by Felicis; Simular has released its 1.0 version for macOS  —  Simular, a startup building AI agents for Mac OS and Windows, has raised a $21.5 million Series A led by Felicis, with existing seed investors NVentures …

Aayushi Pratap / Chemical & Engineering News:
Excelsior Sciences, which aims to use AI and robots for small-molecule drug discovery and development, raised a $70M Series A from Khosla Ventures and others  —  Excelsior Sciences cofounders say the company will make new molecules using robots and artificial intelligence

From Amazon to AMD, everything looks like an NVL72 now

Amazon last week revealed its Trainium3 UltraServer rack systems, and if your first thought was "boy that looks a lot like Nvidia's GB200 NVL72," your eyes aren't deceiving you. …

Rivian’s .46 update enables native Apple Wallet and Android digital keys with UWB, NFC dead-battery unlock, and sharable keys.

The post Rivian finally adds full Apple Wallet Digital Key support with new OTA update appeared first on Digital Trends.

Reuters:
South Korea says it has signed an MOU with Arm to strengthen its chip and AI sectors, including a program to train ~1,400 high-level chip design specialists  —  South Korea's industry ministry and SoftBank's (9984.T) chip unit, Arm Holdings, have signed an agreement to strengthen …

Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes:
PermitFlow, which develops AI-powered workflow software for construction permitting, raised a $54M Series B led by Accel, a source says at a ~$500M valuation  —  This week's edition of The Prompt newsletter covers Warner Music Group's settlement with Suno, why Decagon has a competitive streak …

Financial Times:
Chinese smartphone makers are promoting apps to help users switch from iOS in a race for market share, as Apple struggles to roll out AI features in China  —  Manufacturers tout apps that help users switch from iPhones  —  William Langley in Guangzhou and Gloria Li in Hong Kong

[joppedc] wrote in to let us know that the Formula 1® season is coming to an end, and that the final race should be bangin’. To get ready, he built this ultra-sleek logo light box last week that does more than just sit there looking good, although it does that pretty well. This light box reacts to live race events, flashing yellow for safety cars, red for red flags, and green for, well, green flags.

The excellent light box itself was modeled in Fusion 360, and the files are available on MakerWorld. The design is split into four parts — the main body, a backplate to mount the LEDs, the translucent front plate, and an enclosure for an ESP32.

Doing it this way allowed [joppedc] to not only print in manageable pieces, it also allowed him to use different materials. Getting the front panel to diffuse light correctly took some experimenting to find the right thickness. Eventually, [joppedc] landed on 0.4 mm (two layers) of matte white PLA.

There isn’t much in the way of brains behind this beauty, just an ESP32, a strip of WS2812B addressable LEDs, and a USB-C port for power. But it’s the software stack that ties everything together. The ESP32 has WLED, Home Assistant runs the show, and of course, there is the F1 sensor integration to get live race data.

If you’re looking for more of an F1 dashboard, then we’ve got you covered.

Winter is here, and you may already be tired of taking off your gloves every time you get a notification. Stores are full of those cheap "touchscreen compatible" gloves, but they're often not very good. I found a pair that actually works, and I’m never going back.

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.

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

Hurdle Word 1 hint

Connected to the hand and arm.

Hurdle Word 1 answer

WRIST

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A small boat.

Hurdle Word 2 Answer

CANOE

Hurdle Word 3 hint

A pole.

Hurdle Word 3 answer

STAKE

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Often written by students.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

ESSAY

Final Hurdle hint

Done to planes in the winner.

Hurdle Word 5 answer

DEICE

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 is shrinking in visibility each night as we inch closer towards the New Moon. In just a number of days we won't be seeing anything when we look up in the sky, but at least for now, keep reading to see what you'll be able to spot tonight.

What is today’s moon phase?

As of Sunday, Dec. 7, the moon phase is Waning Gibbous. This means 90% of the moon is lit up tonight, according to NASA's Daily Moon Observation.

It's day 17 of the lunar cycle and you don't need to be equipped with any visual aids to be able to see anything. In fact, with just you naked eye you will be able to see the Serenitatis and Tranquillitatis mares. If you do have a visual aid, binoculars will allow you to see the Gassendi Crater, Endymion Crater, and the Apennine Mountains. And a telescope will help you see the you can catch a glimpse of the Apollo 12 landing spot, Rupes Altai, and the Linne Crater.

When is the next full moon?

The next full moon will be on Jan. 3.

What are moon phases?

NASA explains that the lunar cycle (which is about 29.5 days long) is made up of the Moon’s phases, which describe how the Moon looks from Earth as it travels around us. We view the same side of the Moon at all times, but the sunlight hitting its surface shifts as it moves through its orbit. That changing illumination is what makes the Moon appear full, half-lit, or not visible at all. The cycle includes eight distinct phases:

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.

Jolla is "trying again with a new crowd-funded smartphone," reports Phoronix: Finnish company Jolla started out 14 years ago where Nokia left off with MeeGo and developed Sailfish OS as a new Linux smartphone platform. Jolla released their first smartphone in 2013 after crowdfunding but ultimately the Sailfish OS focus the past number of years now has been offering their software stack for use on other smartphone devices [including some Sony Xperia smartphones and OnePlus/Samsung/ Google/ Xiaomi devices]. This new Jolla Phone's pre-order voucher page says the phone will only produced if 2,000 units are ordered before January 4. (But in just a few days they've already received 1,721 pre-orders — all discounted to 499€ from a normal price between 599 and 699 €). Estimate delivery is the first half of 2026. "The new Jolla Phone is powered by a high-performing Mediatek 5G SoC," reports 9to5Linux, "and features 12GB RAM, 256GB storage that can be expanded to up to 2TB with a microSDXC card, a 6.36-inch FullHD AMOLED display with ~390ppi, 20:9 aspect ratio, and Gorilla Glass, and a user-replaceable 5,500mAh battery." The Linux phone also features 4G/5G support with dual nano-SIM and a global roaming modem configuration, Wi-Fi 6 wireless, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, 50MP Wide and 13MP Ultrawide main cameras, front front-facing wide-lens selfie camera, fingerprint reader on the power key, a user-changeable back cover, and an RGB indication LED. On top of that, the new Jolla Phone promises a user-configurable physical Privacy Switch that lets you turn off the microphone, Bluetooth, Android apps, or whatever you wish. The device will be available in three colors, including Snow White, Kaamos Black, and The Orange. All the specs of the new Jolla Phone were voted on by Sailfish OS community members over the past few months. Honouring the original Jolla Phone form factor and design, the new model ships with Sailfish OS (with support for Android apps), a Linux-based European alternative to dominating mobile operating systems that promises a minimum of 5 years of support, no tracking, no calling home, and no hidden analytics... The device will be manufactured and sold in Europe, but Jolla says that it will design the cellular band configuration to enable global travelling as much as possible, including e.g. roaming in the U.S. carrier networks. The initial sales markets are the EU, the UK, Switzerland, and Norway.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Lora Kelley / New York Times:
In recent months, several companies like Airtable, Handshake, and Opendoor have announced that they are “refounding”, as they scramble to add new AI features  —  In the age of artificial intelligence, some company leaders are framing new business lines as radical reboots.

USB PD is a fun protocol to explore, but it can be a bit complex to fully implement. It makes sense we’re seeing new stacks pop up all the time, and today’s stack is a cool one as far as code reusability goes. [Vitaly] over on Hackaday.io brings us pdsink – a C++ based PD stack with no platform dependencies, and fully-featured sink capabilities.

This stack can do SPR (5/9/15/20V) just like you’d expect, but it also does PPS without breaking a sweat – perfect for your Lithium Ion battery charging or any other current-limited shenanigans. What’s more, it can do EPR (28V and up) – for all your high-power needs. For reference, the SPR/PPS/EPR combination is all you could need from a PD stack intended for fully taking advantage of any USB-PD charger’s capabilities. The stack is currently tailored to the classic FUSB302, but [Vitaly] says it wouldn’t be hard to add support for a PD PHY chip of your choice.

It’s nice to have a choice in how you want your PD interactions to go – we’ve covered a few stacks before, and each of them has strong and weak sides. Now, if you have the CPU bandwidth, you could go seriously low-tech and talk PD with just a few resistors, transistors, and GPIOs! Need to debug a particular USB-C edge case? Don’t forget a logger.

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.

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.

Easy difficulty hints, answers for Dec. 7 Pips

Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 0-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically; 4-6, placed horizontally.

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 4-6, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 0-3, placed horizontally; 1-5, placed horizontally.

Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 1. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally; 1-5, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for Dec. 7 Pips

Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 0-3, placed horizontally.

Equal (3): Everything in this red space must be equal to 3. The answer is 0-3, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed vertically.

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

Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 6-2, placed vertically; 1-6, placed horizontally; 5-4, placed vertically.

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

Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally.

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

Hard difficulty hints, answers for Dec. 7 Pips

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

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 3-6, placed vertically.

Equal (2): Everything in this red space must be equal to 2. The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed vertically.

Greater Than (15): Everything in this space must be greater than 15. The answer is 3-6, placed vertically; 2-6, placed vertically; 6-0, placed vertically.

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

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 6-0, placed vertically; 2-0, placed vertically; 5-0, placed horizontally; 0-4, placed horizontally.

Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 1. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally; 1-2, placed horizontally.

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

Number (5): Everything in this light blue space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this dark blue space must add up to 4. The answer is 0-4, placed horizontally.

Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically; 2-2, placed vertically; 5-1, placed horizontally.

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

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easy if you know your baseball parks.

As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, 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 the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections: Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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

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.

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

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.

Here's a hint for today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Accident

• Green: Ballparks

• Blue: Legends in the snow

• Purple: Black and White

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Mistake

• Green: MLB Stadium Names

• Blue: Famous American Alpine Skiers

• Purple: Teams That Wear Black and White

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

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: Sports Edition #440 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Mistake - BLUNDER, ERROR, FLUB, HOWLER

• MLB Stadium Names - BUSCH, COORS, FENWAY, NATIONALS

• Famous American Alpine Skiers - MILLER, SHIFFRIN, STREET, VONN

• Teams That Wear Black and White - JUVENTUS, NETS, NEWCASTLE, WHITE SOX

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

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 yesterday's Connections.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you're a meateater.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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: To move quickly

• Green: Parts of an animal

• Blue: Heard in the shop

• Purple: Spanish terms

Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Move at breakneck speed

• Green: Organ meats

• Blue: Woodworking joint terms

• Purple: El ___

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

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 #910 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Move at breakneck speed: BARREL, BOLT, HURTLE, TEAR

• Organ meats: GIZZARD, HEART, TONGUE, TRIPE

• Woodworking joint terms: DADO, DOVETAIL, MITRE, MORTISE

• El ___: CAPITAN, DORADO, GRECO, PASO

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

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

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 yesterday's Connections.