How-To Geek

Google is deeply integrated into Android. Most phone brands rely heavily on their services to power everything, especially apps and syncing. One of the key functions Google handles on your phone is backup, which can end up sending more of your data to your Google account than you realize.

I remember visiting a good buddy of mine in 2005 and leafing through a magazine about IT and computers that his brother regularly read. I would usually glance through the mostly boring software and hardware sections (they were boring to the teen me) and jump straight to the video game reviews, but I'd occasionally read a piece about some cool and futuristic new technology the 2000s were brimming with. This time, it was an article about WiMAX, touted as theWi-Fi killer and the future of wireless broadband.

Home Assistant is a great way to automate your smart home, but you don't need to be limited to where you live. There are plenty of projects that can make Home Assistant incredibly useful even when you or your family members are out.

Netflix may have just released its new slate of movies and TV shows coming to the streaming service in June, which includes a new, telling documentary about Michael Jackson, and the five-part The American Experiment retrospective on 250 years of independence. But for this last May weekend, don't close the door on the month completely; there are still a couple of good ones to binge.

A fresh reinstall of Windows is tempting. Accumulated junk gets wiped out, misconfigurations are undone, and that weird intermittent instability is fixed more often than not. However, the idea that a fresh Windows install is inherently faster and easier than troubleshooting isn't really true anymore. Today, modern Windows is far better at fixing itself than people give it credit for, and the diagnostic tools available are better than ever.

Jaguar’s going through a big reset right now, shifting toward an all-electric, more upmarket future that hasn’t exactly won everyone over. For some, that makes the brand’s older sports cars feel even more appealing, especially if there’s a bit of nostalgia for what Jaguar used to build.

E-Ink displays look like paper, are incredibly power-efficient, and can easily be used in DIY projects powered by cheap microcontrollers. Though they’re not necessarily the cheapest or most versatile display choice you can make, they are perfectly suited to a range of projects.

Linux Mint has a reputation as the best distro newcomers switching to Linux. The desktop layout feels familiar, the defaults aren't going to trip you up, and it comes bundled with almost everything you may want to get started. It removes a lot of the trouble you might encounter getting started.

When I turned my old laptop into a makeshift NAS earlier this year, the idea was simple: turn it into a Plex media server by plugging in a few USB drives loaded with movies and shows.

Some smart home devices are expensive and can only do a single job. Other devices can cost less than the price of a smart bulb, and yet you can use them in multiple different ways. One of the most useful smart home devices I own is a cheap smart button.

Sharing an Excel workbook usually means playing tech support later when a coworker accidentally deletes your formulas. But you don't have to just hope for the best. These straightforward security tweaks will lock down your layout and reduce the risk of accidental edits.

When you’ve got a 3D printer, it can be tempting to try and 3D print everything. Sometimes, the best solution is to buy instead of printing. A little restraint and forethought can save you from making a costly mistake.

Despite the total dumpster fire of ending The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Paramount+ managed to have a solid month of May on the streaming side of things. Dutton Ranch, the latest Yellowstone spinoff, debuted as the biggest original series launch in the platform's history with a reported 12.9 million viewers in the first week. Selfishly, the inclusion of Battlestar Galactica on the platform early in the month was the biggest coup, as far as I'm concerned, and I've been enjoying a rewatch immensely.

I've been using Windows long enough to remember when installing antivirus software felt like one of the first things you had to do on a new PC. You set up Windows, installed your browser, and then immediately went looking for something to protect the whole thing before you did anything even slightly risky online. It wasn't paranoia, either. For a long time, Windows had a reputation for being the platform malware loved most, and running without some kind of extra protection felt like asking for trouble.

Netflix has had a busy and fruitful May. Nemesis is getting comfy at the top of the Top 10, The Boroughs has grown-ups thanking the Duffer Brothers for helping to make a more age-appropriate Stranger Things, and Sally Field is quietly making everyone sob into their pillows with Remarkably Bright Creatures. BUT, there's still a little more the streaming service has to squeeze out of May.

Every time you reach for the mouse to navigate a file tree or click through a menu, you lose more than just a few seconds. You break the momentum of your work. It is a persistent, low-level drain on your focus that turns hours of coding into a series of interrupted fragments. The Command Palette is better than Windows search and the alternatives.

You won't have to wait much longer to buy Slate Auto's first EV. The Jeff Bezos-backed startup is telling customers via email that it will begin taking orders for the low-priced, modular truck on June 24th ahead of deliveries later in the year.

For All Mankind season 5 might be coming to a close, but the new spin-off show, Star City, is just getting started. Star City premieres with two episodes on Apple TV on May 29 at 12 a.m. PT/3 a.m. ET.

The Nissan Pathfinder has been hauling people and their stuff around since 1986, when it arrived as a compact pickup-based off-roader before eventually growing into the three-row SUV it is today.

Luxury used to be all about aspiration. People paid extra for nicer materials, smoother performance, quieter cabins, and the badge on the hood that signaled you’d “made it.”