How-To Geek

Are you still being rudely awoken by the grating screech of an alarm clock in the morning? Ditch the din and put this smart home gadgetry to good use to make waking up a gentler and more pleasant experience.

This weekend, I decided to embark on an international getaway with three shows on Amazon Prime Video, and you’re coming with me. We’re headed around the world with a witty comedy and a dark sci-fi mystery-thriller, then it’s game-on back in the States, psychologically speaking.

Now that we’re a week into 2026, it’s time to take a look at some more homelab projects to try out this weekend. Instead of complex and complicated projects, I’m focusing more on getting organized and setting myself up for a successful year from the start, so here are three projects to work on over the next few days.

I want to learn something when I watch a documentary or docuseries, but I don't want it to feel like I'm cramming for an exam. Entertaining while enlightening are two traits I look for in a doc, and I think this weekend's Prime Video picks hit that nail right on the head.

Microsoft is now rolling out Visual Studio Code version 1.108, also known as the December 2025 update. It some great terminal improvements, more Git features, new capabilities for AI agents, and other changes.

Smart home technology has made it possible to add features to your home that once cost thousands of dollars. You can now recreate many of those features for very little cost, or even for free if you already own the right smart home tech.

The typical reaction to many of Netflix's best documentaries and series that I've watched (and I watch a lot of them) is, "wait, what?!" That can be a good thing or a bad thing, but if you're in the mood for something shocking, illuminating, or just a train-wreck you can't turn away from, shake a stick, and you'll hit something with Netflix's selection of docs.

I've spent years watching people move data in Microsoft Excel by cutting, inserting blank rows, pasting, and then deleting the old empty space. Most people don't realize there's a right-click-drag menu that handles all of that in one motion.

Microsoft Word is rolling out a small quality-of-life update that fundamentally changes how you add hyperlinks to your documents. This update, which is already available in Word for the web, lets you instantly turn selected text into a link simply by pasting the URL directly over it.

Luxury SUVs are typically known for comfort, refinement, and capability, but not for efficiency. Many non-hybrid luxury crossovers prioritize power and prestige over fuel economy, making impressive mileage a bonus rather than an expectation. Yet in 2025, one non-hybrid luxury SUV quietly outpaces nearly all of its rivals in real-world efficiency, proving that premium driving doesn’t have to come with premium fuel bills.

We were supposed to be holidaying on the moon, driving hover cars, and passing our chores off to humanoid robot helpers by now. Though robotic helpers are closer than ever, the path forward is fraught with doubt, challenges, and serious privacy considerations.

Apple's history is replete with hyper-successful hardware ventures. From the Apple II to the M-series processors, the company has amassed a trove of triumphant products. However, there is also a small, exclusive group of Apple hardware products that bombed. Let's check them out.

The KDE team announced today a collection of maintenance updates for KDE Gear, its set of open source apps including the popular video editor Kdenlive and mobile multi-tool KDE Connect. Many other apps are also getting minor updates, improving the KDE experience overall.

VLC Media Player 3.0.23 'Vetinari' has been released, and despite the minor version number change, the latest update isn't just bug fixes. It has more improvements for the dark theme, which you might not have noticed from the last release.

Cron jobs are usually considered to be boring automation for backups, log rotation, and cleanup. I firmly believe that undersells what they are capable of, as with a little creativity, cron can easily become one of the most personal and surprisingly fun parts of your system. They are weird, practical, and just geeky enough to make your homelab and daily workflow feel alive instead of invisible.

Bose is open-sourcing the API documentation for its SoundTouch smart speakers. When a company decides to retire a product line, that's generally the end, but not in this case. This means the hardware won't become useless when cloud support officially ends on May 6, 2026.

CES is most often associated with new product announcements, but every now and then, you can find some fantastic CES specials on slightly older tech as companies make way for the new products. Sometimes, if you’re really lucky, you just might find discounts on brand-new tech.

USB ports come in many variants, but it's easy to assume that essentially, USB is USB. If it plugs in, it'll work equally well across every device. Unfortunately, that couldn't be further from the truth, and using your laptop as a way to quickly recharge your devices is a mistake in more ways than one. Here's why.

Luxury plug-in SUVs sound like the perfect compromise—quiet electric driving during the week, long-range comfort on road trips, and a premium badge in the driveway. The problem is that all that tech also means more parts that can go wrong once the warranty runs out.

Another year has arrived and that means there's no longer any need to stick to some seasonal-mandated viewing list. You will likely have your own methods for achieving this, be it in the form of seeing what these early months of 2026 has to offer theatrically or catching up on what you missed out on in 2025. For me, I like to use these cold winter months to indulge in some side-splittingly funny stand-up comedy.