How-To Geek

There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of 3D models out there to choose from. I decided to 3D print some of the top models on Thingiverse, one of the gold-standard model websites, to see what I thought of them. Here's how I rank the top models from Thingiverse.

Congratulations, you made it to the weekend! The Canadian rock band Loverboy knew what they were talking about when they sang, "Everybody's working for the weekend." So many people use the weekends for some rest and relaxation after a long work week. If you're spending some time on the couch, stream a show that you can finish before Monday rolls around.

You may have read the term "force-canceling subwoofers" in the specification sheets of some sort of device like a laptop or Bluetooth speaker, but what does that mean? Is this just another cool-sounding marketing term, or is this subwoofer design worth paying for?

What if you could replace your huge desktop PC with a mini PC that's a fraction of the size and costs a fraction of the price?

Netflix has had no shortage of big shows this year, but a few have clearly pulled ahead of the rest. From returning favorites to new mysteries that quickly found an audience, some titles have managed to turn strong debuts into millions of views within just a few months.

In a world of on-demand content, I have been longing for some nostalgia, so I decided to turn my Plex server into a TV station. Accessible on my local network, and even remotely, I can now "tune in" to a custom-curated TV station, commercials and all. Here's how I did it.

Many of us choose to believe that the things we put in our house will outlast us, and the same is true of smart home devices. The truth is that some of these devices have much shorter lifespans than we’re comfortable admitting.

Smart doorbells have evolved into high-tech security tools, but Wi-Fi and battery-powered models often bring headaches like weak signals and constant charging. Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) doorbells offer a more reliable, secure, and hassle-free alternative—perfect for anyone seeking a smarter upgrade.

Android 17 has been available for a couple of months, and it’s been rolled out to many of the most recent devices. This is sneakily one of the best updates Google has rolled out in recent years. Make sure you’re taking advantage of all the new features.

Most people have a drawer somewhere in their house filled with cables, adapters, and small gadgets they haven't touched in months. Don't let the spring cleaning mood take you from your PC and convince you to throw it all out during a cleanup. There are very few things that are actually too outdated to keep. Some of that gear isn't obsolete; it's just waiting for the moment you actually need it.

It's easy to think that big, unilateral, seemingly bone-headed (Apple would say "brave") decisions are only made by big closed-source OS vendors like Microsoft and Apple. If only!

Look, I'll be the first to blame my ISP whenever possible. (In my defense, I have ISP-inflicted trust issues, so I have a bit of an excuse there). But sometimes, the ISP should be allowed to say: "It's not me, it's you."

I'm one of those people who really cares about how datasets are laid out in Excel. That's partly because I'm a bit obsessive, but it's mainly because getting the structure right makes my life much easier down the line. I've lost count of how many times I've had to reshape an imported or received dataset, but Excel for Microsoft 365 gives me a surprisingly easy way to do it.

Most new cars these days have a built-in screen that works with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. This allows you to tuck your phone away somewhere safe, connected to this external screen. Either using a wireless method, or a plain old cable.

It is common to buy a Raspberry Pi, use it for a week, and then stick it in a drawer, only to forget about it. And while the Pi 5 is the latest and greatest in the series, that doesn't mean that older models are useless—far from it. They can be quite useful if you stick to the right tasks.

Energy costs are up, and the best way to lower your bill is to lower how much you use. There are multiple ways to go about that, and the right tech can help.

Even when you buy a product outright, you may still need to pay a subscription to access all of its features. These subscriptions can soon add up, but thankfully, there are alternatives. You can often avoid subscription fees with an inexpensive ESP32.

"Thriller" is the most overworked word in the movie business. It gets slapped on everything from courtroom dramas and shark movies to high-octane spy pictures to shark movies with tornadoes in them. All these thrills make it tricky when browsing streaming services, and Paramount+, with its cavernous pit of thrillers, is definitely not immune ... which I guess isn't a bad thing?

If you feel like your internet is playing up, what's the first thing you do? A lot of us reach for the same tool: a speed test. Those things catch more than just slow internet; they also note your latency, and if there's packet loss, you'll see it because the speed test will take ages to complete (or it won't complete at all). And as long as it shows a number within our expectations, we shrug and assume the Wi-Fi is just having a bad day.

I've been homelabbing for over five years at this point, and it's safe to say I've run hundreds of Docker containers over the years. However, there are five stand-out containers in my homelab that I've simply never had to repair.