Part of the fun of 3D printing is discovering just how many possibilities there are for different things to print. Obviously, they're fun for printing toys or decorations that you couldn't or wouldn't buy yourself, but they're also powerful problem-solving tools. Once you've solved a few problems with 3D printed parts, you start looking around for other minor inconveniences or quality-of-life upgrades that you could solve—and the breadth and depth of the 3D printing community means that you can almost always find someone else who has already thought up and posted a solution for you.

As a coda to our series about breaking into 3D printing for the first time, the 3D printer-pilled among the Ars staff is sharing a few of their favorite unexpected prints, from fun all-purpose gifts to containers and organizers to parts that will help you with your other, non-3D-printing-related hobbies. This is just a fraction of what's out there, but if you're still on the fence, maybe some of these will open your mind to the possibilities.

Coffee gear

Every morning, I make either a pour-over coffee or some form of espresso. For measuring my beans, I printed two dosing cups . The black one is matte black PLA with a fuzzy surface texture (an option in most slicers that adds random noise to the outside wall paths), and the white one is ABS that I sanded to a smooth surface. For sanding, I prefer ABS, as it’s easier to get something that has no real signs of layer lines. To tamp my espresso grounds, I printed a handle in black ABS and sanded it smooth to feel good in the hand. The rounded knob helps me get pressure more comfortably than the raw metal of the original tamper, and the radial fins fit perfectly into the dosing cup, keeping the tamp straight up and down so I don’t end up with a sloped surface.

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X is facing backlash over Grok spewing antisemitic outputs after Elon Musk announced his "politically incorrect" chatbot had been "significantly" "improved" last Friday to remove a supposed liberal bias.

Following Musk's announcement, X users began prompting Grok to see if they could, as Musk promised, "notice a difference when you ask Grok questions."

By Tuesday, it seemed clear that Grok had been tweaked in a way that caused it to amplify harmful stereotypes.

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A federal appeals court today struck down a "click-to-cancel" rule that would have required companies to make cancelling services as easy as signing up. The Federal Trade Commission rule was scheduled to take effect on July 14 but was vacated by the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

A three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the Biden-era FTC, then led by Chair Lina Khan, failed to follow the full rulemaking process required under US law. "While we certainly do not endorse the use of unfair and deceptive practices in negative option marketing, the procedural deficiencies of the Commission's rulemaking process are fatal here," the ruling said.

Indicating their sympathy with the FTC's motivations, judges wrote that many Americans "have found themselves unwittingly enrolled in recurring subscription plans, continuing to pay for unwanted products or services because they neglected to cancel their subscriptions." Last year, the FTC updated its 1973 Negative Option Rule by "adding provisions that bar sellers from misrepresenting material facts and require disclosure of material terms, express consumer consent, and a simple cancellation mechanism," the ruling said.

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After US health secretary and hardline anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 highly respected vaccine experts from the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) last month, he vetted their replacements not by medical and scientific expertise, but by their political leanings, according to a lawsuit filed by medical organizations Monday .

Under Kennedy, to qualify to be on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's nationally influential and historically apolitical ACIP, candidates had to be registered as a Republican or independent and could not have any history of publicly criticizing President Trump or Kennedy, the lawsuit claims.

Just two days after dismissing all 17 ACIP members—who had all gone through an extensive vetting process that lasted up to two years—Kennedy announced eight new members. One later dropped out during last-minute financial vetting the day before an ACIP meeting. Of the remaining seven, only one has the scientific and medical qualifications described under ACIP's charter .

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Lawyers representing MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell were fined $6,000 after using artificial intelligence in a brief that was riddled with misquotes and citations to fictional cases.

Attorney Christopher Kachouroff and the law firm of McSweeney Cynkar & Kachouroff were fined $3,000, jointly and severally. Attorney Jennifer DeMaster was separately ordered to pay $3,000. This "is the least severe sanction adequate to deter and punish defense counsel in this instance," US District Judge Nina Wang wrote in an order issued yesterday in the District of Colorado.

Kachouroff and DeMaster were defending Lindell against a defamation lawsuit filed by former Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer, whose complaint said Lindell and his companies "have been among the most prolific vectors of baseless conspiracy theories claiming election fraud in the 2020 election."

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With decades of online life behind us, many people are using years-old email addresses. Those inboxes are probably packed with subscriptions you've picked up over the years, and you probably don't need all of them. Gmail is going to make it easier to manage them with a new feature rolling out on mobile and web. Google's existing unsubscribe prompts are evolving into a one-stop shop for all your subscription management needs, a feature that has been in the works for a weirdly long time.

The pitch is simple: The aptly named " Manage subscriptions " feature will list all the emails to which you are currently subscribed—newsletters, promotions, updates for products you no longer use, and more. With a tap, you'll never see them again. This feature in Gmail will be accessible in the navigation drawer, a UI feature that is increasingly rare in Google's apps but is essential to managing inboxes and labels in Gmail. Down near the bottom, you'll soon see the new Manage subscriptions item.

The page will list all email subscriptions with an unsubscribe button. If you're not sure about letting a newsletter or deal alert remain, you can select the subscription to see all recent messages from that sender. As long as a sender supports Google's recommended one-click unsubscribe, all you have to do is tap the Unsubscribe button, and you'll be done. Some senders will redirect you to a website to unsubscribe, but Gmail has a "Block instead" option in those cases.

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One doesn't normally associate ballistics with botany, but most of us don't study "squirting" cucumbers—so called because they disperse their seeds by explosively propelling them out into the world. Scientists took a series of high-speed videos, both in the wild and in the lab, to learn more about the underlying biomechanics of this plant's method of seed dispersal. Graduate student Helen Gorges of Kiel University's Zoological Institute in Germany presented the findings at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Antwerp, Belgium.

Also known as the "noli me tangere," aka "touch me not," the squirting cucumber ( Ecballium elaterium ) is often considered a weed or invasive species, although in some regions it's viewed as ornamental. Fun fact: The fruit extract is a powerful laxative. If swallowed or inhaled through the nose, it can be poisonous, causing edemas and necrosis of the nasal mucosa, among other complications. That same fruit, once ripened, can squirt out a stream of mucus-like liquid containing seed pods at high speeds—an example of rapid plant movement .

As glucosides in the sap of the fruit's tissue cells build up, so does the internal pressure, eventually causing the fruit to detach from the stalk. At that point, the pericarp contracts, and both the fruit and the seeds are violently expelled through the resulting hole. The squirting action is further aided by structural changes in the fruit as it dehydrates and its cells coil, bend, or twist in response ( hygroscopic movement ).

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When is an AI system intelligent enough to be called artificial general intelligence (AGI)? According to one definition reportedly agreed upon by Microsoft and OpenAI, the answer lies in economics: When AI generates $100 billion in profits. This arbitrary profit-based benchmark for AGI perfectly captures the definitional chaos plaguing the AI industry.

In fact, it may be impossible to create a universal definition of AGI, but few people with money on the line will admit it.

Over this past year, several high-profile people in the tech industry have been heralding the seemingly imminent arrival of "AGI" (i.e., within the next two years). But there's a huge problem: Few people agree on exactly what AGI means. As Google DeepMind wrote in a paper on the topic: If you ask 100 AI experts to define AGI, you'll get "100 related but different definitions."

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Nissan's third-generation Leaf sounds like it will be quite the attractive electric vehicle. Smaller but more spacious than the car it will replace later this year, it should be more efficient and at last feature proper thermal management of the battery. But now it seems that Nissan will build fewer Leafs than it planned, thanks to Chinese restrictions on the export of certain rare-earth elements that are critically important for electronics and electric motors.

The export restrictions mean a lack of spare parts for the Leaf, according to Reuters , and that means Nissan is reducing the output of its factory in Japan that is building the new car. Fellow Japanese automaker Suzuki had to suspend production of one of its models earlier this year as a result of the Chinese ban.

China began restricting exports of rare earths in April in response to the global trade war started by President Trump. Currently, US automakers and manufacturers are allowed to apply for export licenses that are good for six months , no more.

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