The lightweight Linux distro Sparky 7.7 rolls out with kernel 6.1 LTS, updated Debian-based packages, and improved desktop environments.
Monthly Archives: April 2025
The Power of Linux Shell Environment Variables
In this guide, we’ll take a dive into environment variables in the Linux shell. By the end, you’ll not only know how to view and set these variables, but also how to persist them, use them in scripts, and troubleshoot issues effectively.
8 Best Free and Open Source Terminal-Based Flashcard Tools
Flashcards are one of the best tools for memorizing information. This is partly because of their versatility. They can help teach multiplication skills, learn a foreign language, recall facts, historical dates, in fact anything that can be learned in an intuitive way.
Proxmox VE 8.4 Released With Virtiofs Support, Improved UI And More
Proxmox Virtual Environment 8.4 has been released with numerous new features and enhancements. This latest Proxmox VE 8.4 version is based on Debian 12.10.
Linux 6.15 Lands Patches To Further Clean Up Its Spectre RSB Mitigations
Merged today was this week’s batch of x86 fixes ahead of the Linux 6.15-rc2 release on Sunday. Notable with these x86 fixes are landing several patches to fix and clean-up the Spectre Return Stack Buffer “RSB” mitigation handling as well as introducing a new document to clarify the overall state and current mitigations…
Inside C++23: Unlocking the Language’s Latest Features and Enhancements
The latest C++ iteration delivers powerful updates and improved multithreading to boost productivity, safety, and performance while preserving C++’s core strengths.
You’ll have to wait until April 24 to know if Motorola was brave enough to make a wooden Razr
Motorola is gearing up to announce new phones on April 24, based on a short teaser video the company shared on X. The video shows what looks like two types of phone — presumably a member of the 2025 Razr family and a Moto Edge — sliding and unfolding into place to spell “AI.”
There’s little else to go on from the video other than the April 24, 2025 date and a glimpse of some new finish options for Motorola’s phones, including a wood option. Last year’s Razr and Razr+ came in a variety of bright, poppy colors with faux suede and leather backs. Historically, Motorola has also prided itself on offering unique customizations options, starting all the way back with the Moto X in 2013, which was also available with a wooden finish. It’s possible that wood-paneled options ends up exclusive to the Moto Edge, but it would certainly make the Razr and Razr+ standout from other foldables if they got it, too.
Big reveals. Iconicdesigns. Coming 4/24 �. #MakeItIconic #GatewayToIconic pic.twitter.com/PhfPg4o71h
— motorola (@Moto) April 10, 2025
Beyond that, the improvements Motorola could reasonably make to the Razr are more expected. It’s made the front cover screen bigger before, and it could again on the 2025 Razr. The 2025 Razr+ couldn’t get a bigger front display without Motorola changing the dimensions of the phone itself, but that’s possible, too. If Motorola wanted to really offer a Razr worth upgrading to, it would also improve the phone’s camera, fixing things like color reproduction and photo processing.
We should have a better idea of what Motorola has planned when it makes its April 24 announcement, until then, smart money is on the company cramming in a few more AI-powered features.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/youll-have-to-wait-until-april-24-to-know-if-motorola-was-brave-enough-to-make-a-wooden-razr-211723767.html?src=rss
Devs Behind Controversial Sexual Assault Game Defend It, But Say They’re Pulling It From Steam Anyway
The studio behind No Mercy, a recently released 3D visual novel featuring non-consensual sex and incest, has announced that it plans to remove the game entirely from Steam after the game attracted controversy online. Valve pulled the game from the United Kingdom version of Steam after a government official slammed…
Sony’s first PS5 exclusive of 2025 is… The Last of Us
Naughty Dog is back with yet another way for players to buy The Last of Us. The team announced a new bundle called The Last of Us Complete, which has the latest editions of both award-winning games for the PlayStation 5. This Complete edition runs $100 for the digital bundle, which is available now. A physical collector’s edition can be pre-ordered now for $110, with availability expected on July 10.
The original 2013 game was remastered for the PS4 just a year after its release, then received a complete remake and rebrand as The Last of Us Part I in 2022 for the PS5. Naughty Dog also moved pretty quick on the remaster of the 2020 sequel, pushing out the The Last of Us Part II Remastered early last year. The Part II project was a $10 upgrade that included new content as well as new bells and whistles for the graphics, but the Part I remake displeased some fans with its $70 asking price.
The announcement of this new game bundle was timed to align nicely with the debut of the TV adaptation’s second season, which premieres on April 13 and has already been confirmed for a third season. Between this new bundle being dubbed Complete and a recent interview with creator Neil Druckman, this does seem to squash any hopes fans might have had for the game to have a third installment. At least that means Complete really should be the last time you need to buy the titles. (At least, the last time until the PlayStation 6 arrives…)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sonys-first-ps5-exclusive-of-2025-is-the-last-of-us-210329305.html?src=rss
You Can Bring Back One-Tap ‘Do Not Disturb’ to Your Google Pixel
Software updates are great when they make features better, but that doesn’t always happen. Case in point: a recent Google Pixel update that’s brought in a flurry of complaints. One of the least popular changes altered how Pixels handle the Do Not Disturb feature. Previously, you could swipe down from the top of your Pixel’s screen and press the Do Not Disturb button in quick settings to toggle it on or off. The March 2025 update changed that, forcing you to make multiple taps to activate or deactivate Do Not Disturb on your Google Pixel smartphone.
Plenty of Google Pixel users took to Reddit to complain about this change. Fortunately, there are easy ways to fix this behavior.
Restore one-tap Do Not Disturb to your Google Pixel smartphone
The easiest way to bring back the old Do No Disturb button is by downloading an app. Simple DND lets you do exactly what the old button used to. Once you install the app and give it the required permissions, simply tap the Add Tile button to send a quick Do Not Disturb toggle back to your Pixel’s quick settings pane.
Once the tile is there, you can rearrange it as you see fit. Just swipe down from the top of your Pixel’s screen and select the pencil icon to edit and reorder your quick settings tiles. You can use this to move the new Do Not Disturb button to your preferred location. This app was developed by someone who faced the exact same problem after the update, and doesn’t do anything other than restoring the old Do Not Disturb button.
The other alternative is to add a Do Not Disturb button to the lock screen and access it from there. This will require you to give up one of the two shortcuts on your lock screen and replace it with Do Not Disturb. You can change this by going to your Pixel phone’s Settings app and navigating to Display > Lock screen > Shortcuts. Now select one of the shortcuts and pick Do Not Disturb to add it there.
In the meantime, if you want Google to bring back the old, one-tap button, you can send your feedback to the company. On your Pixel, go to Settings > Tips & support > Send feedback. Be sure to describe the problem in detail so that the person reading it can understand the issue and pass it on to the relevant team accordingly.
Fedora 42 Will Be Released Next Tuesday
Well here is a pleasant surprise, especially for those that recall the days long ago where Fedora Linux releases tend to be notoriously delayed… Fedora 42 is cleared for releasing next week Tuesday, 15 April, in meeting its “early target” release date…
[$] Atomic writes for ext4
Building on the discussion in the two previous sessions on untorn (or
atomic) writes, for buffered I/O and for XFS using direct I/O, Ojaswin Mujoo
remotely led a
session on support for the feature on ext4. That took place in the combined storage and
filesystem track at the
2025 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory Management, and BPF Summit. Part of
the support for the feature is already in the upstream kernel, with more
coming. But
there are still some challenges that Mujoo wanted to discuss.
Google’s New AI Tools Turn Your Docs Into Podcasts, Analyze Sheets Data And More

Google introduced many new AI features to Google’s Workspace at its recent annual conference, Google Cloud Next. These features include an automation tool, a Google Docs to audio converter, a writing tool, a data analysis tool, and more.
If you ever struggle with repetitive, time-consuming tasks, Google says it has designed a new automation
ChatGPT Will Soon Remember Everything You’ve Ever Told It
Be careful what you share with ChatGPT these days: It’ll remember everything you say.
That’s because OpenAI is rolling out a new update to ChatGPT’s memory that allows the bot to access the contents of all of your previous chats. The idea is that by pulling from your past conversations, ChatGPT will be able to offer more relevant results to your questions, queries, and overall discussions. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, announced the changes on X, touting the usefulness of AI systems that know everything about you:
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
ChatGPT’s memory feature is a little over a year old at this point, but its function has been much more limited than the update OpenAI is rolling out today. ChatGPT could remember preferences or requests of yours—perhaps you have a favorite formatting style for summaries, or a nickname you want the bot to call you—and carry those memories along from chat to chat. However, it wasn’t perfect, and couldn’t naturally pull from past conversations, as a feature like “memory” might imply.
Previously, the bot stored those data points in a bank of “saved memories.” You could access this memory bank at any time and see what the bot had stored based on your conversations. It’s a bit weird to see these entries when you didn’t specifically ask ChatGPT to remember something for you—as if you found out a new friend was jotting down “useful facts” about you from past conversations. It’s weird.
As this feature is rolling out now, it isn’t clear yet how it will affect these saved memories. In all likelihood, they’ll disappear, as there’s no need for a bank of specific memories when ChatGPT can simply pull from everything you’ve ever said to the bot.
I don’t personally use ChatGPT all that much outside testing new features to cover here, so I can’t say whether I find this feature particularly useful or not. I can imagine how it might be helpful to be able to reference something you told the bot in a past conversation, especially without needing to establish the bot actually remembers that fact first, but I also don’t love the idea of a chatbot “remembering” everything I’ve ever told it. Maybe that’s because I’m not sold on the idea of generative AI as a personal assistant, or maybe it’s because I’m sick of tech companies scooping so much of my data. We’ll just have to see how useful this expanded memory turns out to be as users get their hands on it.
This feature will roll out first to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, but there’s no word at this time as to when free users can expect to try it out. Users in the U.K., EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland will need to wait to use the feature as well, as local laws force extra reviews before it can launch. (Maybe all countries should force AI companies through extra reviews before shipping features.)
How to disable ChatGPT’s memory
If you, like me, have reservations about your chatbot accessing every word of your past conversations, there is a way to disable this memory feature.
I don’t have the new feature yet, so it’s possible this might change slightly. But at the moment, you can head to Settings > Personalization > Memory, then disable the toggle next to Reference saved memories.
If you want to keep the memory feature on, but don’t want ChatGPT to remember one chat in particular, you can launch a “temporary chat” to make sure the conversation is quarantined. (Just know OpenAI may still hold onto the transcript for up to 30 days.)
Data Centres Will Use Twice as Much Energy By 2030
The electricity consumption of data centres is projected to more than double by 2030, according to a report from the International Energy Agency published today. The primary culprit? AI. Nature: The report covers the current energy footprint for data centres and forecasts their future needs, which could help governments, companies, and local communities to plan infrastructure and AI deployment. IEA’s models project that data centres will use 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2030, roughly equivalent to the current annual electricity consumption of Japan. By comparison, data centres consumed 415 TWh in 2024, roughly 1.5% of the world’s total electricity consumption.
The projections largely focus on data centres, which also run computing tasks other than AI. Although the agency estimated the proportion of servers in data centres devoted to AI. They found that servers for AI accounted for 24% of server electricity demand and 15% of total data centre energy demand in 2024.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Radeon RX 9060 XT Spotted With A Key Spec Ahead Of RTX 5060 Ti Showdown

We were roundly impressed when AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 series managed credible competition against NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 50 series—especially when compared dollar-for-dollar, where the unicorn-priced $549 RX 9070 XT nips at the mythical $999 RTX 5080’s heels. Can AMD do it again with the Radeon RX 9060 series? We’ll find that out when the new
Malcolm: 6 usability improvements in GCC 15
Over on the Red Hat Developer site, David Malcolm has an article
about improvements in GCC 15, specifically focusing on the diagnostic
information that the compiler emits. This includes ASCII art with a “⚠️”
warning emoji to display the execution path when it detects a problem (like
an infinite loop in one of his examples), better C++ template errors,
machine-readable diagnostics using Static
Analysis Results Interchange Format (SARIF), better messages regarding
C23 compatibility since that is the default C version for GCC 15, and more.
Since the changes are focused on messages, there is the inevitable color
scheme update as well:
GCC will use color when emitting its text messages on stderr at a suitably modern terminal, using a few colors that seem to work well in a number of different terminal themes—but the exact rules for choosing which color to use for each aspect of the output have been rather arbitrary.
For GCC 15, I’ve gone through C and C++’s errors, looking for places where two different things in the source are being contrasted, such as type mismatches. These diagnostics now use color to visually highlight and distinguish the differences.
Linux Candy: Meme is a fun tool to create memes
Meme is a command line utility for creating image macro style memes. It’s free and open source software.
OnePlus releases Watch 3 with inflated $500 price tag, won’t say why
After modest success with its first two smartwatches, OnePlus was poised to release a third-generation smartwatch early this year. Unfortunately, the company had to delay the Watch 3 from February to April, and now the previously announced $330 price tag is nowhere to be seen. Instead, the OnePlus Watch 3 has launched at an eye-watering $500 in the US, and you can probably guess why.
The OnePlus Watch 3 was all set for release a few months ago, but early reviewers spotted an embarrassing typo on the device. Like most smartwatches, OnePlus printed the watch’s key specs on the bottom of the housing. Part of that text was supposed to read “Made in China,” but instead, it said “Meda in China.” Oops.
OnePlus delayed the launch so it could correct the mistake on retail units. However, the US-China trade relationship has deteriorated dramatically in the intervening weeks. Since the watch is meda made in China, it is subject to tariffs—the amount of Trump’s China tariffs is changing on an almost daily basis, but it’s currently 145 percent.
Here’s What ‘Core Sleep’ Really Means, According to Your Apple Watch
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Let’s talk about one of the most confusing terms you’ll see on your fitness tracker—specifically your Apple Watch. Next to REM sleep, which you’ve probably heard of, and “deep” sleep, which feels self explanatory, there’s “core” sleep. And if you Google what core sleep means, you’ll get a definition that is entirely opposite from how Apple uses the term. So let’s break it down.
On an Apple Watch, “core sleep” is another name for light sleep, which scientists also call stages N1-N2. It is not a type of deep sleep, and has no relation to REM. But in the scientific literature, “core sleep” is not a sleep stage at all. It can refer to a portion of the night that includes both deep and light sleep stages. There are a few other definitions, which I’ll go into below. But first, since you’re probably here because you saw that term in Apple Health, let’s talk about how Apple uses it.
“Core sleep” in the Apple Watch is the same as light sleep
Let me give you a straightforward explanation of what you’re seeing when you look at your Apple sleep data.
Your Apple Watch tries to guess, mainly through your movements, when you’re in each stage of sleep. (To truly know your sleep stages would require a sleep study with more sophisticated equipment, like an electroencephalogram. The watch is just doing its best with the data it has.)
Apple says its watch can tell the difference between four different states:
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Awake
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Light (“core”) sleep
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Deep sleep
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REM sleep
These categories roughly correspond to the sleep stages that neuroscientists can observe with polysomnography, which involves hooking you up to an electroencephalogram, or EEG. (That’s the thing where they attach wires to your head). Scientists recognize three stages of non-REM sleep, with the third being described as deep sleep. That means stages 1 and 2, which are sometimes called “light” sleep, are being labeled as “core” sleep by your wearable.
In other words: Apple’s definition of “core sleep” is identical to scientists’ definition of “light sleep.” It is otherwise known as N2 sleep. (More on that in a minute.)
So why didn’t Apple use the same wording as everyone else? The company says in a document on its sleep stage algorithm that it was worried people would misunderstand the term “light sleep” if it called it that.
The label Core was chosen to avoid possible unintended implications of the term light, because the N2 stage is predominant (often making up more than 50 percent of a night’s sleep), normal, and an important aspect of sleep physiology, containing sleep spindles and K-complexes.
In other words, Apple thought we might assume that “light” sleep is less important than “deep” sleep, so it chose a new, important-sounding name to use in place of “light.”
A chart on the same page lays it out: non-REM stages 1 and 2 fall under the Apple category of “core” sleep, while stage 3 is “deep” sleep. That’s how Apple defined it in testing: If an EEG said a person was in stage 2 when the watch said they were in “core,” that was counted as a success for the algorithm.
What are the known sleep stages, and where does core sleep fit in?
Let’s back up to consider what was known about sleep stages before Apple started renaming them. The current scientific understanding, which is based on brain wave patterns that can be read with an EEG, includes these stages:
Non-REM stage 1 (N1)
N1 only lasts a few minutes. You’re breathing normally. Your body is beginning to relax, and your brain waves start to look different than they do when you’re awake. This would be considered part of your “light” sleep. The Apple Watch considers this to be part of your core sleep stage.
Non-REM stage 2 (N2)
Also usually considered “light” sleep, N2 makes up about half of your sleep time. This stage includes spikes of brain activity called sleep spindles, and distinctive brainwave patterns called K complexes. (These are what the Apple document mentioned above.) This stage of sleep is thought to be when we consolidate our memories. Fun fact: if you grind your teeth in your sleep, it will mostly be in this stage. This stage makes up most of what Apple reports as your core sleep.
Non-REM stage 3 (N3)
N3 is often called “deep” sleep, and this stage accounts for about a quarter of your night. It has the slowest brain waves, so it’s sometimes called “slow wave sleep.” It’s hard to wake someone up from this stage, and if you succeed, they’ll be groggy for a little while afterward. This is the stage where the most body repair tends to happen, including muscle recovery, bone growth in children, and immune system strengthening. As we age, we spend less time in N3 and more time in N2.
(There was an older classification that split off the deepest sleep into its own stage, calling it non-REM stage 4, but currently that deepest portion is just considered part of stage 3.)
REM sleep
REM sleep is so named because this is where we have Rapid Eye Movement. Your body is temporarily paralyzed, except for the eyes and your breathing muscles. This is the stage best known for dreaming (although dreams can occur in other stages as well).
The brain waves of a person in REM sleep look very similar to those of a person who is awake, which is why some sleep-tracking apps show blocks of REM as occurring near the top of the graph, near wakefulness. We don’t usually enter REM sleep until we’ve been through the other stages, and we cycle through these stages all night. Usually REM sleep is fairly short during the beginning of the night, and gets longer with each cycle.
How much core sleep do I need?
Using Apple’s definition, in which core sleep is the same as light sleep, it’s normal for almost half of your sleep to be core sleep. Sleep scientists give an approximate breakdown (although the exact numbers may vary from person to person, and your needs aren’t always the same every night):
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N1 (very light sleep): About 5% of the total (just a few minutes)
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N2 (light or “core” sleep): About 45%, so just under four hours if you normally sleep for eight hours
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N3 (deep sleep): About 25%, so about two hours if you normally sleep for eight hours
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REM: About 25%, so also about two hours.
How to get more core sleep
If your Apple watch says you’re getting less core sleep than what I mentioned above, you might wonder how you can get more core (or light) sleep. Before you take any action, though, you should know that wearables aren’t very good at knowing exactly what stage of sleep you are in. They’re usually (but not always!) pretty good at telling when you are asleep versus awake, so they can be useful for knowing whether you slept six hours or eight. But I wouldn’t make any changes to my routine based on the specific sleep stage numbers. The algorithm can easily miscategorize some of your light sleep as deep sleep, or vice versa.
That said, the best way to get more core sleep is to get more and better sleep in general. Start with this basic sleep hygiene checklist. Among the most important items:
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Give yourself a bedtime routine with at least 30 minutes of wind-down time where you try to do something relaxing.
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Have a consistent wake-up time.
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Don’t look at screens right before bed.
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Keep your bedroom dark and cool.
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Don’t have alcohol or caffeine in the evenings.
Improving your sleep overall will improve all your sleep stages, whether your Apple Watch can tell them apart or not.
Other ways people use the term “core sleep”
I really wish Apple had chosen another term, because the phrase “core sleep” has been used in other ways. It either doesn’t refer to a sleep stage at all, or if it is associated with sleep stages, it’s used to refer to deep sleep stages.
In the 1980s, sleep scientist James Horne proposed that your first few sleep cycles (taking up maybe the first five hours of the night) constitute the “core” sleep we all need to function. The rest of the night is “optional” sleep, which ideally we’d still get every night, but it’s not a big deal to miss out from time to time. He described this idea in a 1988 book called Why We Sleep (no relation to the 2017 book by another author) but you can see his earlier paper on the topic here. He uses the terms “obligatory” and “facultative” sleep in that paper, and switched to the core/optional terminology later.
You’ll also find people using the phrase “core sleep” to refer to everything but light sleep. For example, this paper on how sleep changes as we age compares their findings in terms of sleep stages with Horne’s definition of core sleep. In doing so, they describe core sleep as mainly consisting of deep sleep stages N3-N4 (in other words, N3 as described above).
From there, somehow the internet has gotten the idea that N3 and REM are considered “core” sleep. I don’t know how that happened, and I don’t see it when I search the scientific literature. I have seen it on “what is core sleep?” junk articles on the websites of companies selling weighted blankets and melatonin gummies.
For one final, contradictory definition, the phrase “core sleep” is also used by people who are into polyphasic sleep. This is the idea that you can replace a full night’s sleep with several naps during the day, something that biohacker types keep trying to make happen, even though it never pans out. They use the term pretty straightforwardly: If you have a nighttime nap that is longer than your other naps, that’s your “core sleep.” Honestly, that’s a fair use of the word. I’ll allow it.
So, to wrap up: Core sleep, if you’re a napper, is the longest block of sleep you get during a day. Core sleep, to scientists who study sleep deprivation, is a hypothesis about which part of a night’s sleep is the most important. But if you’re just here because you were wondering what Apple Health or your Apple Watch’s sleep app means by “core sleep,” it means stages N1-N2, or light sleep.