Hasta La Gadget!

Nintendo has pulled back the curtain on the next batch of Booster Course Pass tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The fourth slate of added courses will arrive on March 9th — 24 hours before Mario Day (i.e. Mar10).

Along with remastered courses from other Mario Kart games, there’s another brand new track this time around. Yoshi’s Island takes inspiration from the SNES classic Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. It will be part of the Fruit Cup along with the windmill- and tulip-laden Tour Amsterdam Drift (from Mario Kart Tour), GBA Riverside Park (Mario Kart: Super Circuit) and Wii DK Summit (Mario Kart Wii). Coming to the Boomerang Cup are Mario Kart Tour tracks Tour Bangkok Rush and Tour Singapore Speedway, along with DS Mario Circuit (Mario Kart DS) and GCN Waluigi Stadium (Mario Kart: Double-Dash!).

Meanwhile, there are a bunch more playable characters coming to the game. Birdo is the first of them and will return to the series when Mario Kart 8 Deluxe gains the next wave of tracks.

There are two more bundles of eight courses on the way to the Booster Course Pass. You can buy the DLC outright for $25. It’s also available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service, which is $50 per year or $80 per year for the family plan. You’ll need to own Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to access the DLC, of course. If you’re one of the 20 people who don’t already have the game on Switch, you’ll be able to pick it up at a discount when it goes on sale at some retailers between March 5th and 11th.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-next-batch-of-mario-kart-8-deluxe-tracks-arrives-on-march-9th-171713387.html?src=rss

If you’ve been looking to pick up a new docking station for your computer or a multi-device charger for your mobile gear, a new Amazon sale has brought a few noteworthy accessories from Satechi and Plugable down to the lowest prices we’ve seen. 

Among the highlights, Satechi’s Dock 5 Charging Station is down to $48, which is a $12 discount and matches the device’s all-time low. We’ve recommended this charger in past gift guides; it includes two 20W USB-C ports, two 12W USB-A ports and an integrated 10W Qi charging pad, allowing it to charge five devices at once. While those speeds aren’t enough to charge various iPhones, iPads and Android devices at their maximum rates, this should still be an elegant solution for folks who often need to refill several devices at once on a given day. Just note that there are no charging cables in the box.

If you’re looking to add more ports to your laptop, meanwhile, a handful of docking stations are also on sale. Satechi’s Thunderbolt 4 Dock, for instance, is down to a new low of $200, which is a $100 discount. This gets you three Thunderbolt 4 ports that can supply data transfer speeds up to 40Gbps, 15W of charging and dual 4K video output for external monitors (at 60Hz total), plus three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a slower USB-A 2.0 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an SD card slot and a combo mic/headphone jack. It can supply a 96W charge to keep your laptop topped up, though there’s no HDMI or DisplayPort connectors. Something like CalDigit’s TS4 Dock is a more versatile option, but this still adds a fair amount of inputs at a lower cost.

For those who just want to hook up a bunch of USB-A peripherals, Plugable’s Dual Display Docking Station might work, as it adds five USB 3.0 ports alongside SD and microSD slots, multiple DisplayPort and HDMI connectors (albeit HDMI 1.4) for 4K/60Hz video and a 100W Power Delivery port. It’s down to $159, which is a $40 discount and ties the dock’s all-time low. Elsewhere, a similar 10-in-1 Plugable dock is about $30 off at $119, though that one can’t supply a charge to your laptop. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/satechi-and-plugable-accessories-are-up-to-42-percent-off-right-now-172559543.html?src=rss

“I think there is no greater cause to which I could have dedicated my efforts,” he reflected on his life.

Even 3D modelling software is using AI art generators. Stability AI has introduced a Stability for Blender tool that, as the name implies, brings Stable Diffusion’s image creation tech to the open-source 3D tool. You can create AI-based textures, effects and animations, whether using source material from your renders or nothing more than a text description. You may not need to be (or hire) a skilled 2D artist to put the finishing touches on a project.

Stability for Blender requires an API (programming interface) key and an internet connection, but it’s free to use. It doesn’t require any software dependencies or a dedicated GPU. This might help if you need to complete some texture or video work on a laptop that isn’t as robust as your main workstation.

The addition theoretically saves time and money, and might help streamline your work. It can also help you make truly custom content, Stability says. It’s safe to say this may be useful if you were already planning to use AI-generated art, as it could save you jumping between apps and services.

This isn’t likely to give Stable Diffusion a major advantage over rivals like OpenAI’s DALL-E. It also won’t create 3D objects from scratch. You’ll need a tool like POINT-E for that. However, it does hint at a way AI image generation can help creatives without as much risk of copyright issues. Stability for Blender can rely on your own content for source material — you shouldn’t have to worry about legal trouble.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/blender-can-now-use-ai-to-create-images-and-effects-from-text-descriptions-175001548.html?src=rss

After years of waiting, it looks like Lynk & Co is finally going to make its way into the U.S. market, though some big questions remain unanswered.