How-To Geek

There are certain movies that people consider to be Christmas classics that are wheeled out every year for nostalgic enjoyment. Chances are, Elf and Home Alone make that list for you. I'm not here to tell you those are bad movies by any means—certainly the adventures of Buddy and Kevin have their place. However, I am here to tell you to give another movie a try this festive season. One that is simultaneously funnier and darker and does a much better job at capturing the Christmas spirit.

Ryobi makes hundreds of 18V tools in various options, but when you need a little more power or longevity, you'll want to reach for one of its bigger 40V tools. Sometimes it's hard to know what the right tool is for any given job, but if it's a bigger task, there's a good chance you'll benefit from going with a Ryobi 40V over smaller models. Here are a few of my favorites.

This was another busy week in tech, with a major update for Visual Studio Code rolling out, Amazon changing its DRM for Kindle books, changes to Plex servers, and much more. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

The idea of smart assistants has been around for a long time. They've been a staple of sci-fi since the 60s, with things like HAL in 2001 or the voice-controlled computer of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek. And although it has taken longer to become a reality, Apple was imagining real-life smart assistants as far back as 1987.

Every week is a busy week in the Android ecosystem—so let's just skip to the good stuff. I've hand-picked five articles published in the past week that I think you should read. Once you're done with that, there's a list of news headlines you may be interested in. Let's go!

Inline-six engines were once a defining part of American automotive culture, known for their smooth power delivery and effortless torque. But in 2025, they’ve become nearly extinct. As automakers shift toward downsized turbo-fours, V-6s, and electrification to meet efficiency regulations, the classic straight-six has all but disappeared from mainstream lineups. What’s left is a tiny group of vehicles keeping this legendary layout alive, and most shoppers don’t realize how rare it’s become.

This was a quieter week in the Linux ecosystem, but there's still some exciting news, especially if you're a fan of Pop!_OS and the COSMIC desktop. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

Bluetooth on Windows can be surprisingly temperamental. Your headphones might start crackling, file transfers can freeze or fail, and sometimes devices just won’t pair at all. Each issue can stem from a different cause, but most have easy fixes. So, let’s look at the most common Bluetooth bugs.

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are some of the best features in newer cars, but if you've ever wanted to upgrade from a wired system to a wireless one, the options were somewhat limited—until now. Don't waste your money on a no-name adapter from Amazon, and buy this one instead.

Let’s be honest, sending Christmas cards is not a fun holiday task. It’s time-consuming and can even be pretty expensive. Using AI to generate a Christmas card “from scratch” is tempting, but it’s a sure-fire way to end up in my trash bin.

Google is rolling out a major update to its Gemini audio models, bringing powerful live speech-to-speech translation capabilities to the Google Translate app. This upgrade uses the improved Gemini 2.5 Flash Native Audio model, which is designed to handle complex voice interactions.

There was once a time when you could avoid buying a smart TV, but that’s no longer true. While convenient and packed with streaming apps, smart TVs are also filled with ads and tracking technology that monitors how you use your device, what you watch, and more.

Spend a few minutes with the Genesis G80, and you start thinking about it differently. Suddenly, you’re not comparing it to other midsize sedans—you’re sizing it up against the luxury heavyweights with crazy MSRPs and dealer markups that make your eyes water.

Surge protectors can help protect your electronics from large spikes in voltage caused by weather events, other appliances, and problems with the power grid. While it’s never a bad idea to use a surge protector with your PC, you can ensure better protection by spending a bit more.

Kali Linux, a popular Linux distribution for cybersecurity research and penetration testing, just revealed the Kali Linux 2025.4 release. This new build has updates to GNOME, KDE, and Xfce desktop environments, improvements for virtual machines, and much more.

If you use Safari on your iPhone like a lot of people do, you may be missing out on some super useful features. Safari is highly customizable, from navigation to display, and with a few tweaks, you can have an even better browsing experience.

Watching TV doesn't have to be mindless escapism or low-brow entertainment—you could actually learn something cool and interesting about cool and interesting people! Prime Video might not have the same grip on the streaming documentary genre that Netflix does, but never count it out.

Does your PC run smoothly one moment and suddenly become unresponsive the next? It’s incredibly frustrating—and even worse, there's rarely a single clear cause. The slowdown could stem from software glitches, faulty drivers, overheating, or a mix of several factors. Here are the fixes you can try.

Anime can feel a little intimidating if you're not a diehard fan or if you don't immerse yourself in it every day. Netflix makes it pretty easy to get your feet wet (or dive right in) with the stunning genre, though, and buried among its seemingly endless rows of titles are some incredible stories.

When real life goes off the rails, the stories beat any scripted show or movie on Netflix. And a good documentary or series doesn't just talk at you, it drags you into the room (interrogation or otherwise) with the people at the center of the story, whether it's a true crime caper or behind the scenes with the stars and creators of our favorite movies.