How-To Geek

Mesh Wi-Fi has its fair share of superpowers, but a bad setup can also create new bottlenecks. Mesh systems are supposed to be this magical fix for bad Wi-Fi, and they can be. You place a few nodes around the house, let them communicate, and suddenly the dead zones are gone.

You've probably heard someone online say Linux can replace Windows, and you've probably also heard someone else say that's completely wrong—and honestly, they're both right. Whether Linux makes sense for you has nothing to do with which OS is "better" and everything to do with what you actually use your computer for. If you've been on the fence about Linux, or just wondering what all the fuss is about, this breakdown will actually help answer that question.

When modern smartwatches first started appearing, I was all over them. I bought my first (and only) smartwatch about five years ago, as soon as they became affordable enough to feel mainstream. However, my tastes shifted more recently, prompting me to pick up a simple Seiko watch that I now wear every day.

I've been tinkering with development since the '90s, starting with HTML, JavaScript, PHP, and whatever else I could get running long enough to build something useful. I was never a full-time developer, but I knew enough to understand the basic logic of how things worked. The problem is that those skills atrophy when you're not using them every day. Syntax gets rusty. Tools change. The simple thing you wanted to build suddenly turns into setup issues, outdated tutorials, and a reminder that programming rewards repetition.

The command line can be a daunting place to hang out in, even if you're familiar with a few commands. However, almost every Linux command can tell you how to use it—if you know how to ask.

I'm not afraid to admit that I prefer binge-watching TV shows over the whole one-episode-a-week thing. The binge allows for a fuller, richer experience, regardless of whether the show contains multiple seasons or is a one-off miniseries. While I love the multi-season binge, I will say that diving into a miniseries sometimes proves more satisfying due to sharper writing and less filler.

Kaggle is an AI platform owned by Google where you can train and run AI models. It gives you a free cloud environment with free access to GPU and TPU hardware. Allow me to show you how you can use it to run open-source models.

You're probably using Docker wrong. Yes, even if you've used it for years, there's a good chance you're doing something on this list that you shouldn't be doing. So, here's four ways you're probably using Docker wrong, and what you should be doing instead.

A colleague posted in Slack about a wireless eReader page turner, which started a discussion about whether it would be possible to use an Apple Watch to do something similar. The results were even better than I'd imagined.

With the rising costs of hardware, you may find yourself having to hand onto an older machine. If you need a new computer, you may have to make do with a lower-spec device, particularly lower memory, since RAM is expensive. There's still a lot you can do with a low-end PC.

As much as I like Wear OS, I have to admit the platform has always had one weakness: watch faces. The Galaxy Watch and Pixel Watch have nice built-in options, but venture into the Play Store to look for more, and it’s not easy to find good ones. Allow me to make some suggestions.

Sometimes, you get an idea in your head, and it doesn’t work out as you expect. I thought NFC tags would be an easy, affordable way to set up some cool smart home automations around my house. Boy, was I wrong.

The way I read varies from day to day. Sometimes, I’m in the mood for a physical book. Other times, I love to listen to my audiobooks. But most of the time, I tend to lean towards my e-books. And that often involves my Kindle.

I'm mainly a Windows user, but I've always kept one foot in Linux. For years, that meant having at least one laptop set up to dual-boot Windows and Linux, just in case I needed a real Linux environment for a specific project, experiment, or troubleshooting job. I still use Linux that way in other places, too. Zorin OS and Linux Mint are great for keeping older Windows PCs useful long after Windows itself starts feeling too heavy for them.

We live in an attention economy, and that can make it difficult to concentrate. Writing is something that demands attention, but so too are the devices we choose to write on.

If you've got a messy Excel spreadsheet with invalid values, blank entries, duplicates, or other problems, you might think you have to spend hours cleaning it up. You can use Python to automate these steps instead. Here's how.

Want to start leveling up your terminal skills? The Linux command line has a wealth of flexible commands for file management. Learn how to use the most common ones for your everyday tasks.

New cars have become so expensive that the gap between mainstream and luxury models barely feels real anymore. A fully-loaded family sedan now comes packed with the kind of comfort, tech, and refinement that used to be reserved for premium badges only.

My Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 was unlike anything I had ever used before—a fully capable PC that fit in my pocket, unfolded into a tablet, and became a desktop when connected to a monitor. Unfortunately, Samsung has made a series of decisions that have increasingly put me off from using the phone and inspired me to seek out something else.

A few years ago, I bought a Beelink SEi8 mini PC, and it has turned out to be one of those pieces of hardware I appreciate more over time. It's not my main desktop, and I'm not pretending it's some tiny workstation that can chew through video edits or high-end gaming. Most of the time, it runs as a media PC and lightweight server for things like Plex and a handful of other apps. But that's exactly why I like it. It does the jobs I actually need it to do without taking up much space, making much noise, or feeling like another full-size computer I have to manage.