How-To Geek

The Arch User Repository promises nearly every Linux app in one place, and it has its advantages. But there's a reason why I stick to official repositories and Flatpak. Here is what improves when compiling software stops being routine.

Scammers might be using ever-more sophisticated tricks, but your phone will soon have a better chance at spotting those ploys. Google is rolling out a string of upgrades to Android scam detection that can thwart more advanced schemes.

If you've ever thought about building your own smart home devices, you may have been put off by learning how microcontrollers work or writing complicated code. I've built several smart home devices using ESP32 boards, and thanks to ESPHome, I haven't had to write a single line of code to get them working.

Fast internet is pretty much a basic necessity these days, and if you don't have it, it'll cause you grief every single day. Sometimes, the fix is getting a better plan, but you should always do the troubleshooting work first to make sure that's really what you need.

E-Ink displays are pretty magical. They require power to form an image on the screen, but once it's been formed, it doesn't need any additional power for that image to remain in place. I wanted to take advantage of this and turn my Kindle into a calendar that I barely need to charge.

Modern generative AI is like a force of nature, it seems. Sometimes it does things that are good for us, like solving a 50-year-old grand challenge in protein folding. Other times, it might be bad for us, such as the environmental issues around data centers, or how it can supercharge malware.

Stopping a 3D print midway in order to enclose an item—be it a weight, a magnet, or another printed object—is a neat trick. But you should never do this with glitter, sand, or similar loose items, or you’re risking a nasty surprise.

If you have a spare Raspberry Pi sitting around unused, it’s time to put it to work. While you can go all-out and build elaborate contraptions with Pis, here are five lightweight services that you can self-host on your spare (or aging) Pi without spending any extra cash on accessories.

Google wants you to buy a Googlebook, but these new laptops cost a premium, and after looking at these Android-powered devices, I see very little that hasn't been available for years. Depending on your expectations, the best Googlebook for you may already be the one in your pocket. Take this from someone writing these words on an Android desktop he's used on and off for years.

A decent toolbox for your garage or shop certainly won't come cheap, but that doesn't mean you have to spend thousands on one, either. At first, a little tool bag or some bins will suffice, but as you start to stock up on power tools, batteries, wrenches, screwdriver sets, sockets, bits, and more, you'll eventually want something bigger. Here are some affordable choices.

One of the greatest selling points of Google's new Android-powered, AI-focused Googlebook laptops is the tight integration with your Android smartphone. There are plenty of new ways to connect your laptop and smartphone, but the tried-and-true feature for sharing images, documents, and other files still reigns supreme. Here's what you need to know about using Quick Share on your Googlebook.

The MacBook Neo made a huge splash earlier this year, giving people the premium quality of a classic MacBook for just $599 (or $699 at the time of writing, thanks, RAM shortage). It filled a gap in the market for people who could benefit from the form factor of a laptop but didn't need the extra computing power, and it threw in some cool color options as an extra.

Subscription software keeps getting more expensive, and most of us end up paying for a massive suite of features we rarely touch. The good news is that for almost every major paid desktop app, there is usually an open-source counterpart that costs nothing and runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

When you're clearing out unwanted apps from your Windows PC, uninstalling one or two is easy enough. But if you have a dozen programs you no longer use, removing them one at a time can take a while, since Windows 11's Settings app doesn't let you select multiple apps and uninstall them together.

Smartwatches are, well, smart, but that doesn't mean other watches are dumb. For example, mechanical watches don't require batteries at all — they operate purely through a tightly wound spring. You can give your Galaxy Watch the same vibe in a few simple steps.

A smart home means different things to different people. Many of us want a home that takes care of itself quietly in the background, while others look at the concept as one that leverages technology to feel more like a helping hand.

It is easy to look at a small plastic drive on a desk and assume someone sat down, drew a blueprint, and built it out of thin air. Plenty of devices were genius inventions that one person could lay claim to, sometimes building off the foundation of others. However, hardware history rarely works like that, and combining parts from separate inventions usually turns into a brawl over who crossed the finish line first. The USB flash drive is no different.

SSDs are more than just flash memory chips soldered to a PCB. They’re still relatively simple designs, but they can’t function without a small chip next to the flash that manages how and where data is written, moved, and erased, along with a plethora of other responsibilities.

My kids bought mood rings in the summer that change color, supposedly to reflect your current mood. This gave me an idea for building a mood ring of my own for my office that would give me useful information at a glance.

Amazon and Google have largely had the smart home world to themselves, at least for those who aren't interested in a solution like Home Assistant. They've not only built a load of hardware, but they also created whole ecosystems with tens of thousands of supported devices between them. They're not without their flaws, but they generally offer a turnkey smart home experience.