IT General

The power tool market is crowded, with passionate owners who prefer a specific color of tool over others for performance or perceived value. We all have a tool brand we avoid or love to trash on, but did you know that only three companies own and make the majority of cordless power tools?

When you read about Linux, you probably see a lot of talk about commands to use in the terminal. The command line can seem intimidating if you aren't used to it, which is understandable. But what if we told you you don't have to worry about that?

Keep Notes is sneakily one of Google’s most useful apps. It’s awesome for making lists or simply jotting down a quick idea before it leaves your brain. If you use Keep, you probably know the basic features, but are you using it to its full potential?

DirectStorage can do wonders for your games. But you'd be surprised by how many people don't use it, or aren't aware it exists, despite being a staple Windows feature.

Does your thermostat or other temperature sensor feel out of whack? Do you find that certain parts of the house feel too hot or cold, even when you set the temperature to a comfortable number?

Super Bowl LX is just a few days away. Do you have a plan for how you're going to watch it without cable?

If you're reading this, we're guessing the answer is no. That's why we're here today. People who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or use an antenna don't have to worry about this, but cord cutters around the United States need answers. Let's find them.

SEE ALSO: Special 30th anniversary Pokémon ad to air during Super Bowl LX Super Bowl 2026 start time, livestream options

Whether you're watching for the intriguing on-field matchup between the Seahawks and Patriots, the Bad Bunny halftime show, or the Pokémon 30th anniversary commercial, cord-cutters need a way to see all that stuff.

The good news is that the game is airing on NBC this year, meaning all of the festivities will livestream on Peacock. The bad news is that Peacock no longer offers a free trial, and the cheapest service tier doesn't offer live sporting events. At minimum, you'll need to pay $10.99 for a month of the service. Or, you know, get a password from a friend.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET.

After the game is over, you can just cancel it and go on with your life, or you can use it to watch all of Yellowstone or whatever before the month is up. The world is your oyster.

There are some other slightly more complicated options, but none of them are free without caveats. Streaming cable alternatives like YouTube TV, Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, and any others should work as long as they carry your local NBC affiliate. Some of those, such as YouTube TV, do offer free trials for those who have never taken advantage of that before, but be warned: The monthly charge for these services is significantly higher than Peacock because they're meant to replace cable. If you forget to cancel after the game is over, you could be out nearly $100.

So yeah, in summary, biting the bullet and buying a month of Peacock is probably the simplest solution here if you want to host a Super Bowl party without paying for cable.

We all have a bunch of old cables that work just fine, so there's no apparent pressure to get rid of them or replace them right away. A good quality cable won't have any sort of physical failure during normal home use ever.

There was a time when saving a Word doc to your desktop was the best way to find it the next day. That time ended a decade ago. Today, saving an Office file to your desktop is the most dangerous habit in your workflow because it's a modern productivity dead-end.

Home Assistant gets most of the hype, and I’m happy to see an open-source project get so much love—but that doesn’t mean it’s your only local smart home option. If you find Home Assistant intimidating, unreliable, or requiring more maintenance than you care to put in, know that there are other smart home hubs available that give you cloud-free control of your smart home.

Oftentimes, I catch myself using data instead of Wi-Fi to stream Netflix or YouTube. It's almost never on purpose, and I end up burning my data plan for no reason. Since these apps don't give you a warning when you're streaming on data, I set up my own warning system using a simple automation.

You've probably heard of the Emacs text editor, but did you know it's often repurposed to replace full-blown desktop applications? It's not common knowledge, but Emacs has a very mature ecosystem and is multi-functional beyond its original purpose. From RSS readers to email clients, I have four Emacs use cases I prefer over traditional software.

Microsoft Publisher, the king of the church bake-sale flyer, is officially retiring in October 2026. If you're still using it for your layouts, you're on a collision course with a "file not found" error. Here's why this once-popular legacy app is disappearing, how to rescue your files, and the modern tools you can use instead.

Operating systems are complex and large pieces of software, and the same goes for Linux systems. Fortunately, there are still plenty of small Linux distros available. They're also quite useful things to keep on spare USB drives or virtual machines. Here's why.

Windows 11 comes loaded with a bunch of different apps and features that I neither want nor use. Normally, after a fresh install I spend quite a bit of time just getting rid of things. This application let me create my own Windows 11 ISO that cuts the bloat before I even install it.

Your Galaxy Watch can do far more than track steps and show notifications. It can be your productivity partner, complete wellness companion, and even an entertainment device. Here are over ten hand-picked apps (and games) to help you get the most out of your smartwatch.

When it first arrived on the scene, there really was nothing else like the Raspberry Pi single-board computer. Here was a full PC capable of running a desktop operating system that fit in the palm of your hand. It wasn't long before people discovered all sorts of other uses for these little computers, beside being disposable educational tools.

If you use your garage to park your car, charge your power tools, or store things you’d rather not keep in your house, you might be missing out on some useful smart home upgrades. Here are some accessories you can add to your garage, and the best ways to use them.

Your Linux command line is filled to the brim with commands you can use to learn about and use your device more effectively. Recently, I figured out a few handy uses for the lsusb command. Here's what I found.

Go Viking was designed to capture the most dangerous question in tabletop gaming: do you push your luck, or return home while you still can?

When the Artemis II spaceship carries four astronauts around the moon, it will also bring four miniature proxies of the crew made from their own cells. 

Alongside crew commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen will fly lab-grown tissue samples designed to mimic parts of the crew's bodies, particularly bone marrow, a key component of the immune system. The NASA experiment, called AVATAR — short for A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response — aims to show how living human cells respond to deep-space radiation and weightlessness.

Before launch, which could occur as early as March 6, doctors will draw blood from each crew member. Scientists will then grow cells from those samples and place them into chips about the size of a computer thumb drive. During the 10-day mission, the chips will soak up the same radiation and microgravity as their human counterparts. 

"This is a small experiment, but it could lead to really big impacts for healthcare, both for our astronauts, but also people here back on the earth," said Jacob Bleacher, NASA’s chief exploration scientist.

Artemis II marks NASA's first crewed mission beyond low-Earth orbit since Apollo — and the first to place biomedical research at the center of a lunar flight. The Orion spaceship, named Integrity by the crew, will travel beyond Earth's protective magnetic bubble, exposing the astronauts to radiation levels far higher than those aboard the International Space Station. That's an opportunity for scientists to begin writing the playbook for interplanetary travel, learning how to keep humans alive in the unforgiving wilds of space. 

SEE ALSO: NASA aims for March Artemis 2 launch after test ends early

Outside the ship, space is vast — incomprehensibly so. But inside the capsule, "space" is among the scarcest resources. Orion's habitable area is closer to a studio apartment than a space station, shaping everything from how astronauts move to how they store biological samples. NASA researchers have built that constraint into the studies themselves.

The Artemis II astronauts will wear NASA's version of a fitness tracker on their wrists for the Archer study during their 10-day flight. Credit: NASA / Helen Arase Vargas Immune Biomarkers study

One investigation, known as Immune Biomarkers, focuses on how deep space alters immune systems. Previous research has shown that spaceflight can weaken immune responses and awaken dormant viruses, such as shingles and cold sores. 

Because Orion lacks refrigeration, astronauts will collect their spit by licking treated paper like stamps and storing them in small booklets. Scientists will rehydrate the samples after the capsule returns to Earth.

"Saliva is basically a window into how our immune system is functioning," Bleacher said.  

Archer study

Another study, Artemis Research for Crew Health and Readiness (Archer), will examine how astronauts sleep, think, and get along in deep space. Crew members will wear wrist devices, similar to a Fitbit, to monitor their activity and rest. Researchers will pair that data with cognitive testing and behavioral assessments. 

The fitness trackers will also help NASA study how the foursome handle exercising in Orion's confined quarters, where increased breathing will raise carbon dioxide levels.

The Artemis II crew in orange flight suits, from left: Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen. Credit: NASA Spaceflight Standard Measures study

A third effort, Spaceflight Standard Measures, extends a health-monitoring program NASA began in low-Earth orbit in 2018. Astronauts will provide blood, urine, and saliva before and after the mission and complete tests of balance, strength, and endurance. 

Microgravity takes a toll on astronauts' bones and muscles, but NASA wants to know how quickly the crew can bounce back to physical labor. Shortly after splashdown off the California coast, the crew will don spacesuits and complete a simulated spacewalk and obstacle course to gauge their recovery.

After all, if NASA wants to send humans on a months-long journey to Mars, those astronauts won't have rehab to get them in shape once they arrive.

Radiation exposure study

Radiation remains one of the largest unknowns for long-duration space travel. Earth's magnetic field and the Van Allen radiation belt, a zone of charged particles around the planet's magnetosphere, help shield low‑orbiting spacecraft like the space station from much of the sun's outbursts and cosmic rays. But Artemis II will go beyond that, into a more hostile radiation environment. 

Artemis II astronauts will carry personal radiation sensors in their pockets, while detectors mounted throughout the cabin will track exposure levels. Additional monitors developed with the German Space Agency will measure high-energy particles believed to pose increased health risks.

AVATAR study

Radiation data will also inform one of the mission's most unusual experiments: the organ-on-a-chip devices containing the crew's living cells.

NASA will house the AVATAR tissue chips in a battery-powered box that regulates temperature and nutrient delivery throughout the flight. After the mission, scientists will analyze how gene activity changed within individual cells, comparing flight samples with copies on Earth. 

The work aims to reveal how deep-space radiation and weightlessness affect the development of blood cells. And it will also serve as a test case for whether these chips can predict health outcomes.

"This will be very important for building both our understanding of the stresses of just doing the very first Artemis II, but [also] later on, as we go and establish a sustained presence on the moon and then hopefully go to Mars," said Mark Clampin, deputy associate administrator for NASA science. "It's a way, maybe in the future, that we can actually build [personalized] health kits that help us ensure our astronauts are safe."