How-To Geek

Don't you just love a mini PC? Smaller than a laptop, way smaller than a desktop, and with specs that often sit somewhere in between. I love the idea of having a whole computer that fits inside my purse, but I have to admit that my mini PCs spent most of their lives collecting dust on a shelf. What a waste.

With all due respect to the Chevrolet Corvette, no vehicle is more deeply woven into the American identity than the Ford pickup truck. The F-Series has been the best-selling truck in the country for nearly half a century, and the best-selling vehicle of any kind for 44 years straight.

If you’re like me and you’re a reader, you like all kinds of different formats of books. With so many movie and TV adaptations coming from books, I’ve been reading physical copies, loving my e-reader, and, what’s even better, listening to audiobooks. This, of course, has led me to Libby and to Audible.

A NAS is one of the devices you expect to be available 24/7, working around the clock to allow seamless file transfer and retrieval. The thing is, running non-stop means that even small differences in power consumption can add up on your electricity bill. The savings won’t be huge, but you can still shave more than a few bucks off your monthly costs by avoiding the following NAS mistakes.

Grammarly Pro feels way too expensive in a world where affordable LLMs like ChatGPT exist and can handle grammar just fine. The only reason you'd still pay for it is the experience—inline editing that shows you exactly what's wrong without rewriting your voice. Well, here's a prompt that makes ChatGPT behave like Grammarly Pro, offering inline edits for seamless proofreading.

A nice Hi-Fi system used to be the center of a home's audio experience, but today a flood of Bluetooth speakers, wireless headphones, soundbars, and even more audio gadgets make it seem like the Hi-Fi's days are done.

Disney+ is embracing the Dark Side, as Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is about to emerge on the service. Before The Mandalorianbrought Star Wars into live-action television, the franchise was thriving in animated form, thanks to the initial success of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Among the many new twists that the series introduced, one of the most notable developments was the return of Darth Maul after his apparent death in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Not that long ago, I received a text message from the Illinois Tollway Authority stating I had an unpaid toll. At first, I thought it might be possible, since I do travel through Chicago on occasion to see family elsewhere in the Midwest and have an E-ZPass on my windshield.

If you've ever accidentally entered the wrong command in Command Prompt or PowerShell you aren't alone—everyone does it eventually. Fortunately, one of Linux's best safeguards is now available for the Windows Terminal.

Over the past decade, AMD has fallen into NVIDIA’s shadow, especially as DLSS and NVIDIA’s push into AI and machine learning reshaped what gamers expect from a GPU.

If you like using open-source apps on your Android phone, you likely visit GitHub on a regular basis, since it's the largest open-source app repository out there. But GitHub, in its default form, is anything but the best way to discover new apps and update the ones you already have on your phone, even if you have a GitHub account.

If you’re anything like me, then you’ve probably put off certain projects in your homelab because they feel too difficult up front. Recently, I found that the homelab projects I was putting off weren’t actually as difficult as I thought when I did them, and that completely changed how I viewed projects in my homelab and in other areas of my life.

The Raspberry Pi lineup consists of a range of great devices, and the most powerful units can even be used to self-host a number of services. However, there are some things I'll never use them for. These are the projects I stay away from.

Think back to the 1990s. I imagine some of you—myself included—were in school. You're in a classroom when, suddenly, the teacher rolls in a television and pops in a VHS tape. It was one of the best feelings a student could have. Nowadays, a teacher would pull up a video on YouTube to play on the computer.

I had an old mini laptop lying around that had been gathering dust for years. It's too old to run modern operating systems and its screen doesn't work. It doesn't even have a storage drive inside. It sounds like it belongs in the bin, but it's not useless. I turned it into a tiny home server, and it now runs a handful of Docker containers. It consumes very little power (no screen) and it has perfect uptime because of its built-in battery backup.

Although the number of Linux Desktops has fluctuated over time, the fact that several are available is an important Linux tradition. It follows the principle that programs should be modular and composable; you should be able to swap out your desktop for an alternative, easily and seamlessly.

Your 3D printer setup is only as good as the tools you have. I’ve been 3D printing for years at this point, and I’ve found that there are a few essential tools that most 3D printer owners forget to buy because I wish someone had pointed these out earlier to me on my 3D printing journey.

Tech products can be expensive, so when you see what appears to be a great deal, it can be hard to resist. The trouble is that when a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Linux is a great operating system, but I just can't use it as my main desktop. I've tried in the past, and there are a few things that hold me back from switching over. I would if I could, but I just simply can't.

Whether you're commuting to work or heading on a cross-country road trip, your car's infotainment system is vital. For years, I settled for the average Android Auto experience that's often laggy, cluttered, and tethered to a USB cable, but not anymore. I recently made several changes and now have the ultimate Android Auto setup, and here's how.