How-To Geek
I finally found an SUV where both trims are worth it: why the Toyota Crown Signia matters
Although the shooting-brake silhouette might draw you in at first, the real story of the Crown Signia is the somewhat unexpected level of refinement and standard features Toyota has packed into the vehicle. Since its debut in late 2023, the Crown Signia has served as a textbook example of understated luxury, complete with a wagon-style profile that avoids traditional SUV or wagon classifications.
3 awesome Paramount+ movies new to watch this week (May 4 - 10)
Paramount+'s May slate of new movies are here, providing U.S. subscribers with some solid choices for weekday movie nights this week and beyond—that is, if you're not going to be preoccupied with Taylor Sheridan's newest Yellowstone spinoff, Dutton Ranch, coming May 15.
3 blockbuster Netflix movies to watch this week (May 4 - 10)
In addition to the Charlize Theron thriller Apex and the new comedy Roommates that have been holding steady on the Netflix Top 10 in the U.S. recently, the new slate of movies added to Netflix's library for the month of May has started to trickle in, and there's a great selection, spanning all kinds of genres.
Samsung Galaxy phones are still great, but their best apps haven't improved in years
I used a Samsung Galaxy phone for the past two years, and as much as I loved its hardware, it was the software that I liked most. Samsung apps felt a step above that of most other Android phones—but I'm not so sure how long that will last.
Tesla sells China's Model 3 in Canada for an absurdly low price—what does it mean for EVs?
Tesla is taking advantage of a change in Canada's policy on Chinese electric cars to sell the Model 3 at a considerably lower price in the country, and it might have an effect on the EV market as a whole, including for U.S. buyers.
Matter support arrives in Homebridge 2.0, opening Apple Home to more devices
Homebridge is a popular open-source toolkit, and it was designed to add support for devices that do not function on Apple HomeKit. It basically allows you to connect such devices to Apple Home. There’s support for thousands of smart home devices so far, and if that wasn’t cool enough, there’s now support for Matter added too.
3 exciting Netflix thrillers to watch this week (May 4-10)
Another week has passed, and Apex is still the top thriller on Netflix and the No. 1 movie in the streamer's current top 10. Audiences are loving the cat-and-mouse battle between Charlize Theron's rock climber and Taron Egerton's serial killer. It will be interesting to see what movie inevitably knocks it down to second place.
The 4 hidden costs eating away at your hybrid SUV's fuel savings
If you are looking for a new vehicle for your family, hybrid SUVs are becoming increasingly popular for good reason. They offer many benefits of electrification, like enhanced power and impressive fuel efficiency, without requiring you to fully embrace the electric vehicle lifestyle or its potential drawbacks. However, before you get swept up in the hybrid hype, it’s important to consider the hidden costs that may come with owning a hybrid SUV.
5 cathartic Prime Video movies to watch this week (May 4 - May 10)
In a world that so often encourages the suppression of emotions and the continuation of rapidly moving forward, cathartic movies remind us of the power of sitting with our own feelings. Sometimes, the most meaningful stories are the ones that break us open then gently piece us back together with hope and resilience, and that’s the focus of this week’s recommendations.
Your funny Wi-Fi name is secretly ruining your home network
Who doesn't like a creative Wi-Fi network name? You'll always run into someone with a network called "FBI_VAN" or a snarky message to the people in the apartment upstairs. But as much fun as it can be to make up silly Wi-Fi SSIDs (Service Set Identifiers), there are actually a few good reasons why you want to avoid it.
I turned a USB drive into a Linux app Swiss Army knife
If you're like me, you have multiple devices running different Linux distributions, and are frequently installing new instances too. They all need software, and I've found sometimes it's easier to just have some ready to go, conveniently stored on a USB stick.
5 new movies to watch this week across Netflix, Hulu, and more (May 4-10)
The first weekend in May marks the start of the summer movie season in Hollywood. Over the next few months, studios will be releasing a slew of movies that could be financial juggernauts. In other words, the blockbusters are hitting theaters—The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Toy Story 5, and more.
3 things you can do with the HDMI port on your NAS
That HDMI port on the back of your NAS has probably been sitting unused since the day you set it up. Most NAS owners ignore it—not because it’s useless, but because it’s rarely explained. Here are three things you can do with your NAS’s HDMI port, ranging from simple convenience to genuinely useful.
I visited Hyundai's $12.6 Billion Metaplant and now I understand why Tesla should be worried
I was recently invited to Hyundai’s inaugural Metaplant Experience media program in Savannah, Georgia. The cuisine was outstanding, the accommodations were luxurious, and the weather couldn’t have been better. Yet, all of that was eclipsed by Hyundai’s breathtaking, nearly 3,000-acre state-of-the-art U.S. smart factory, part of a $12.6 billion investment in Georgia.
I thought you needed advanced math to build machine learning models, but I was wrong
A lot of people, at least in the pre-"vibe coding era," lament that they can't program because they're "not math people." I wasn't either. Here's how I got started building machine learning models in Python anyway.
Samsung's best phone feature isn't the camera, and it's one Apple still hasn't copied
For years, Samsung and Apple have borrowed features from each other, often with each new generation of devices or software. However, not every feature makes the jump. One feature Samsung was first to offer has yet to arrive on the iPhone. With phone screens getting larger, it’s surprising Apple hasn’t adopted it sooner.
Stop opening ports on your router to access your home server (do this instead)
When you're connected to the same Wi-Fi network, it's pretty simple to SSH into any device connected to the same network. But outside that same network, you cannot do that because your ISP doesn't assign a unique public IP to your home network. You might have heard that you need to set up "port forwarding" to get into your home servers when you're out. But it doesn't have to be so complicated. Here's an easy and safe way to SSH into your home network when you're away.
One of the best local AI computers is so popular it's been discontinued
A strong value in local AI computing just left the market. Apple has quietly discontinued the base Mac mini with an M4 chip, effectively raising the price of its entry-level desktop from $599 to $799.
This free tool organizes your documents like Immich organizes photos (and it's perfect for going paperless)
Most of the documentation I deal with now is digital, which means it can be copied and searched at will. Unfortunately, plenty of important things do require paper documentation—a major inconvenience compared to digital.
I used a local LLM to give my smart bulb a personality (and it's starting to give me the creeps)
AI can do a lot of impressive things, and connecting an LLM to your smart home can make it much smarter. It can also make it pretty dumb, too, if you decide that you're going to use it to give a smart bulb a personality.


