How-To Geek

Another week, another round of must-see movies on Amazon Prime Video. This week, yes, we’re going to laugh a little, but we’re also embarking on some wild, heartfelt, and harrowing adventures.

I do a lot of photography and videography, and those files can take up a lot of storage. I used to just store the footage and photos on my laptop’s internal storage, moving it to the NAS only when needed. Now, I just back up the footage to my NAS first and work from there, and that workflow is so much better. Here’s how I automatically back up my SD card to my NAS, and how you can too.

Tired of desktop environments (DEs) that keep “improving” things that already worked perfectly? Does your modern Linux desktop feel like it was designed for someone else’s workflow? Well, MATE preserves the old way of using a computer—and here’s why it’s the best DE for retro enthusiasts.

I recently turned my old Android phone into a media server with a simple setup. It allows me to broadcast any media files saved in my phone’s storage and make them accessible for streaming on any device with a browser.

Just when did USB ports become such a complete mess? They're easy to follow on the surface, with two relevant types to pay attention to. But if you look closer, they're all kinds of confusing.

Contact sensors, often known as door or window sensors, use magnets to sense open or closed states. You can use this information and the changing of these states to do all sorts of neat things in your smart home.

The HTPC or Home Theater Personal Computer was an idea before its time. Something only well-heeled and tech-savvy tinkering media geeks could even achieve, and then, more often than not, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. Yet, we have the HTPC to thank for our myriad modern media options. So let's look back at the HTPC and give it the respect it deserves.

If you have a big house, or if you just have thick walls, a mesh network is a really good way to make your network reach every corner of your home. But you'd be surprised by how many people mess up the installation.

There are major Linux distributions dropping releases and patches every week. That means it can be hard to tell which ones really matter. There's one in particular coming later this year though that will change the game for me.

Home Assistant is a Linux-based smart home operating system with a very low barrier to entry. In addition to being completely free, its minimum system specifications mean it works on most computers produced within the last 10 to 15 years (plus humble single-board computers).

Ever since COSMIC was announced in summer 2024, it's been a recurring subject Linux discussions and headlines. I tracked it from its alpha, beta, and full release phases. After giving it a try myself, though, I didn't find it to fit my needs. Here's why.

Despite early criticism and plenty of skepticism from enthusiasts, one American coupe has done what few expected: it won the North American Car of the Year award for 2026. In a field packed with fresh rivals and evolving tastes, this model’s blend of performance, style, and overall engineering impressed judges enough to top the competition, proving that even controversial designs can succeed when the execution is right.

There are a million and one Markdown editors out there, and many of them are actually pretty great. Despite the available options, I'm now using VSCodium almost exclusively when I need to work with Markdown. This is why.

IKEA is known for its furniture, but it’s the little odds and ends that can easily justify a visit on their own. Phone accessories are no exception. Here are some of the best you can currently find at the store, and you may also be able to order them online if you don’t have an IKEA in your area.

The used-car market is packed with Volkswagen Arteons at surprisingly low prices, making it a tempting pick for anyone after a slick, tech-loaded luxury sedan that won’t break the bank.

Are you concerned about your digital footprint? Does it bother you that anyone listening can observe which websites you visit? Most people don't know what DNS is or how much information it leaks. I'll share with you what the problem is and how to fortify yourself against snoopers.

Not all Raspberry Pi projects require a display, like home servers and DNS sinkholes. But not all projects are alike, and sometimes your choice of display can greatly influence the end result.

Without Spotify Premium, I've been building out my collection of MP3s and lossless FLAC song files. I still miss the Spotify interface for when I'm working on my desktop, though. Fortunately, I found a replacement that works with my media server.

If you associate IKEA with affordable flat-pack furniture and kitchen utensils with unpronounceable names, you might have overlooked the fact that the company has been at the forefront of the smart home revolution for decades.

People often confuse Excel's LAMBDA and SCAN functions because they often appear together in formulas. However, they aren't the same: LAMBDA is the "brain" that defines the logic, and SCAN is the "vehicle" that carries it out. Here's how to tell them apart.