How-To Geek

HBO Max doesn't let up when it comes to documentaries, and has had some serious standouts this year already, not least of which is Monsters of God, the ongoing saga of the illegal reptile trade that's 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

The debate between Unraid and TrueNAS feels as strong as the debate between Plex and Jellyfin. The thing is, while Plex and Jellyfin solve a very similar problem, Unraid and TrueNAS aren't solving the same problem at all. In fact, they're very different at the core, so make sure you pick the right NAS OS for your specific use case.

Open-source software usually gets recognized for the big, obvious wins, like replacing a cloud storage subscription or a password manager. What gets less attention are the smaller, oddly specific problems that software can fix just as well. Mostly because it doesn't occur to us that an app exists for it.

August has so far been a pretty solid month for Netflix in the U.S., and not necessarily because of any one massive hit—although I admit to getting reluctantly sucked in by more than a few episodes of Let's Marry Harry (I blame my wife), and now I'm obsessed with the new docuseries about Charles Manson.

Wi-Fi 7 is the latest and greatest Wi-Fi technology you can buy as I write this, but it's still an expensive upgrade. Particularly when you consider that Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 are perfectly serviceable in a world where Gigabit fiber has only recently become more common across the world.

Over the years, several Linux commands have been deprecated, either because they are no longer relevant, have security problems, or have ceased to be maintained. You might still be able to use these common commands, but you probably shouldn’t. Instead, try alternatives that are less prone to bugs and offer more features too.

There are weekends when I want something easy to watch without wasting time scrolling through Netflix. That's when I usually turn to movies that have already proven they are worth watching, especially older favorites that I haven't gotten around to revisiting.

Full-size SUVs are getting harder to justify as prices climb, but there are still compelling reasons to go big. If you need three rows of genuinely usable space, serious towing capability, and enough power to move a nearly 6,000-pound vehicle with ease, few SUVs can match the versatility of this American favorite. It also undercuts several of its closest rivals on price while offering an impressive amount of standard technology and comfort.

Have you noticed a tiny green dot lighting up in the upper-right corner of your Android phone from time to time? If you own a Pixel, you have probably noticed a blue dot as well. These dots don't appear randomly; they serve a useful purpose by notifying you the moment an app on your phone starts using your camera or microphone or accessing your location.

Unless you run a massive rack-mounted Xeon server, your networking gear probably doesn't draw a lot of power. I can't think of a situation where someone I know plugged their router into the wall and tripped a breaker or shorted out their home.

Buying a two-year-old hybrid crossover can be a smart way to get better value without taking on the uncertainty that can come with an older used vehicle. But if reliability is high on your list, one Japanese crossover stands out from the crowd.

When I worked at a university in the area of educational technology, I was a major advocate for open-source software. I took every chance I got to evangelize Linux and open-source apps to the student body. Part of it had to do with helping cash-strapped college students eat less instant ramen, but the other part was philosophical.

I believe that physical media will always have the best quality compared to streaming from an online service, and that’s why I collected so many Blu-ray and DVD discs. Eventually, though, I switched to watching my media on Plex instead, and I won’t go back.

I love using tech to solve real-life problems. After getting parking tickets for staying too long in a parking lot, I decided to see if I could solve this problem using just my phone and a cheap NFC tag. The solution works even better than I expected.

Being a student is hard. You have to manage and organize piles of notes and study materials, somehow keep it all in your head, and on top of that juggle classes, assignments, and chores that never seem to let up. And so, to help you out, here are three brilliant free and open-source apps that can take some of that pressure off your shoulders and make student life a little easier.

As a lifelong renter (I move around too much to justify buying a house), I am more than familiar with the many rules you have to abide by when you pay to live in someone else's home. The golden rule is that you aren't allowed to make any permanent changes without permission. That includes hammering in picture hooks or drilling holes.

Netflix has got it going on in the documentary space in August, with the chilling The Idaho Murders: College Nightmares still holding strong in the streamer's top 3 TV shows on the U.S. charts, which says a lot about where subscriber attention is pointed right now. But the month is just getting warmed up, with three more documentary titles landing in the last few days.

If you're looking for a new way to record your vlogs, tutorials, or other content types, the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Combo is the upgrade you need. The small, lightweight camera has a 1-inch sensor, built-in stabilization, and more, so you can get the shots you need without a heavy or complex setup (which is especially handy if you’re recording solo). The bundle even offers additional accessories like the DJI Mic 2 for better sound alongside the clear 4K image capture.

We've come a long way from that simple volume slider in Windows 3.1 and later Windows 95. Back then, there was no guarantee every PC would even have a soundcard in it, so sophisticated sound mixing and volume control were limited to the purview of professional audio workstations.

For weeks, Gemini sat on my phone doing very little. Then I turned on its extensions, and suddenly it stopped being a chatbot and started being the thing that actually runs my day. Now that you just got that "Google Assistant is being retired" email, you might as well take full advantage of its replacement, too.