Technologies
Best 3D Printer Filament Deals: PLA, ABS, PETG and more
Keep your materials stocked up and ready to print with the best deals on PLA, ABS and more.
3D printing is a fantastic pastime. I’ve been doing it for nearly a decade now, and while there have been a lot of changes to the best 3D printers in terms of speed and quality, the basic materials you print with are the same. Most people are familiar with FDM printers — the type that use long strands of plastic to build layers on a print surface — and the material used to make models with them, called filament.
Filament comes in all different colors and chemical compositions — which our best 3D printing filament list explains in more detail — and ranges in price from less than $20 to hundreds of dollars, depending on what you need. Buying filament in bulk is often necessary, so it’s worth seeking out good deals. To save you some time, we’ve done the legwork for you and found as many filament deals as we can.
Matterhackers
Transitional filament, which mixes multiple colors, has been around for a while, but it normally changes a model’s color from the bottom to the top. Quantum is actually two colors fused across the width of the model, allowing it to change color from left to right. This results in a mesmerizing transition. I love using it for all sorts of different projects. From vases to giant articulated octopuses, it makes any model look breathtaking.
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Elegoo
If you want to create a huge project or print the same thing over and over, you need a lot of filament. Elegoo’s bulk discount makes each roll cost just $10, a fantastic bargain. It’s only black PLA, but it’s good enough if you’re postprocessing it anyway.
Ten rolls of filament for $100 is amazing and if you can afford the initial outlay you’ll save yourself a bunch of money.
Stronhero 3D
Unique transition filaments are one of my favorite things. This PETG goes from a deep blue to an almost watery clear blue and back again, giving it a look of ocean waves. It’s beautiful. It is PETG, so you’ll need to ensure your printer is dialed in, but it’s worth the extra print time.
Ataraxia Art
Flexible PLA is on the border of PLA and TPU, but it does print well on direct drive printers such as the Prusa Mk3s or the new Ankermake M5.
I used it to make an amazing 3D-printed Mandalorian helmet for my 4-year-old daughter, so she can enjoy it without fear of damaging it. Any time you can get this on a discount it is worth doing.
iSANMATE
This four-pack includes smaller rolls of filament, and it’s more of a tester set than a full roll. The glow-in-the-dark colors make it a great buy, but remember that although it will print using the PLA settings, it’s abrasive to soft brass nozzles. If you’re hoping to print a lot of this, you’ll need to buy a hardened nozzle or be ready to replace your brass nozzles constantly.
Sunlu
Sunlu has been making filament for a while now, and it offers excellent quality at a low price. If you’re working with ABS and you need to lay in a store of spools, Sunlu is a great option. You can buy this budget filament without worrying about its quality.
SainSmart
TPU is a lot of fun to 3D print with. It prints as a rubbery material, much like a phone case. This particular filament from SainSmart is even more interesting because it’s heat-sensitive. When it’s cool, the material is a deep orange color, but it changes into a bright yellow as it gets warmer.
TPU is great for applications that need to be tough, but require a lot of give in the material.
More on 3D printing
Technologies
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, April 18
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 18
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s the super-long one as always on Saturdays, and a few of the clues are tricky. But if you play all the other New York Times games, 13-Across will be easy. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword
Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.
Mini across clues and answers
1A clue: What people pay Extra for?
Answer: GUM
4A clue: Pre-meal prayer
Answer: GRACE
6A clue: Physicist Bohr
Answer: NIELS
7A clue: Line up a shot
Answer: AIM
8A clue: Photo ___ (P.R. events)
Answer: OPS
10A clue: «Zootopia,» but not «Zoolander»
Answer: PGMOVIE
12A clue: TV show with the initials «TV»
Answer: THEVIEW
13A clue: New York Times game with weaving, interconnected answers
Answer: STRANDS
Mini down clues and answers
1D clue: More bleak
Answer: GRIMMER
2D clue: Dubai’s country, for short
Answer: UAE
3D clue: Nickname of Seth and Evan’s friend in «Superbad»
Answer: MCLOVIN
4D clue: «See you in the mornin’!»
Answer: GNIGHT
5D clue: Fancy term for «noticed»
Answer: ESPIED
7D clue: Many N.Y.C. addresses: Abbr.
Answer: APTS
9D clue: Uses a needle and thread
Answer: SEWS
11D clue: Egg cells
Answer: OVA
Technologies
AI Trusted Less Than Social Media and Airlines, With Grok Placing Last, Survey Says
More Americans are concerned about the loss of personal interaction from AI than they are about potential job loss.
Google Gemini is the most trusted AI platform among its competition, but many people still have concerns about the technology, according to an American Customer Satisfaction Index poll released Thursday.
In ACSI’s results, AI scored an overall customer satisfaction score of 73 on a scale of 0 to 100, which the authors noted was slightly below social media (74), airlines and mortgage lenders, but in line with energy utilities.
Of the five platforms mentioned in the survey, Google Gemini led with 76, followed by Microsoft Copilot (74), Claude and ChatGPT (both 73), and Grok and Perplexity (both 71). Meanwhile, TikTok (77) and YouTube (78) both scored better than the AI platforms.
Gemini is one of the most prolific AI services, with access via smart speakers, TVs, phones and computers, while most ChatGPT users access the AI tool via the ChatGPT website or mobile app, and Grok via social media platform X.
The ACSI poll found that 43% of respondents said reduced human-to-human interaction is their main concern, followed by job loss for future generations (37%) and their own job risk (31%), based on interviews with 2,711 US adults.
Baby Boomers were the most skeptical generation in the poll, with 35% saying they are very concerned about AI’s effects, compared to just 6% who view it extremely favorably.
Disconnect between AI adoption and perception
While platforms such as ChatGPT have up to 1 billion weekly users, there is still a disconnect between AI’s adoption and public perception of it, which is driven by concerns over privacy, the spread of misinformation and the loss of jobs.
«Consumers spent the last decade learning to distrust how social media platforms handle their data, and AI’s privacy scores suggest they’re carrying that skepticism forward,» said Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at the ACSI.
21% reported an «extremely favorable» outlook toward AI, while an equal 21% said they are «very concerned about the consequences.»
These results were in line with another poll published by YouGov this week, which found that only 29% think the positive effects of AI outweigh the negative ones, while 36% think its net effects are negative.
It’s worth noting that more than half of the people interviewed (56%) had no recent experience with AI, but of the 44% who did, half of them use AI at least once a day, and the usage went up with people who earned over $100,000 a year.
Last month, an NBC poll suggested that AI was one of the least-liked things in America, but it was still more popular than the Democratic Party.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 18, #1042
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 18, No. 1,042.
Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features a fun purple category that’ll require you to spot certain beverage names. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Wow!
Green group hint: Plug it in.
Blue group hint: Cinderella team.
Purple group hint: Drink up.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Look at with awe.
Green group: Basic electricity terms.
Blue group: Unexpected winner.
Purple group: Starting with soda brands.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is look at with awe. The four answers are goggle, marvel, stare and wonder.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is basic electricity terms. The four answers are AC, DC, power and voltage.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is unexpected winner. The four answers are dark horse, long shot, sleeper and underdog.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is starting with soda brands. The four answers are crushworthy, Fantagraphics, frescade and pepsinogen.
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