How-To Geek

I'll hold my hands up and admit it: I listen to podcasts at 1.5x speed. To some people, this makes me a monster. However, I've not found any downsides to listening to podcasts at faster speeds, and there are plenty of upsides.

You wipe your TV screen and dust your keyboard and other electronics, but I’m willing to bet that it’s been a minute since you cleaned your speakers. No one would fault you for that—whether they’re tiny desktop speakers, inconspicuous bookshelves, or gorgeous tower speakers that blend seamlessly into your home’s decor, we tend to pay more attention to how they sound rather than how they look.

Birds are pretty easy to identify by sight alone, but things are much more challenging when you can only hear their calls. Good news! Cornell University has an app that can do just that, and it’s completely free to use.

Dropping out of a meeting, watching a stream buffer right at the climax, or seeing a download freeze is downright infuriating. If your Wi-Fi is smooth one moment and crawling the next, the issue could lie with your connection or your device. Here's how to put an end to those constant disconnects.

Picture this: an email chain with 50 replies, five different file versions floating around, and confusion as to whose turn it is to edit a file. This used to be my everyday Microsoft 365 environment, until I adopted these six habits that transformed chaos into flawless collaboration.

Streaming devices tend to have a longer shelf life than phones, but like everything, they get slow over time. You don’t have to banish your old Android TV, Chromecast with Google TV, or an Onn device to the tech graveyard just yet, though.

Video game adaptations have entered a new age in Hollywood, both in movie theaters and on the small screen. After many years of struggling to balance video game lore in this new medium, studios and streamers have released a string of hits that pleased both newcomers and longtime fans like myself. Most notably, Prime Video has delivered a faithful, fan-pleasing adaptation of a beloved sci-fi RPG franchise that is set to return to screens in December, promising to be one of the first major must-watch TV hits going into 2026.

Looking for a sports car that delivers serious thrills without breaking the bank? In 2025, one standout model proves you don’t need a six-figure budget to enjoy a true driving experience. With a perfect blend of sharp handling, responsive power, and aggressive styling, it brings the excitement enthusiasts crave into a surprisingly attainable package.

If you're running low on storage on your Mac, the obvious way to fix it is to delete a load of files. But if you need those files, you need another solution. Here are some tips for freeing up space in macOS.

3D printers can fabricate real-world items from digital files in your home, a feat that seemed unthinkable to many even a decade ago. With the industry gaining steam at a rapid rate, it’s worth taking a moment to consider the health implications that 3D printing may pose.

When treated like the desktop equivalent, the Microsoft Word mobile app can quickly become frustrating. However, once you embrace the small screen and understand the app's strengths, the experience becomes instantly more enjoyable. Here are my top tips for using the Word mobile app.

Being able to make Alexa say anything you want with Home Assistant has always been one of my favorite features. But I quickly tired of her default voice and decided to replace it with a far more soothing Irish voice through Home Assistant's cloud text-to-speech (TTS) service. Recently, I started to wonder if I could replace that voice with an even better one—my own.

With Windows 10 support at an end, and Window 11 still a bit of an AI-riddle mess, there has never been so much interest in trying out Linux as there is today. If you're looking for a Linux distro that will be easy to adjust to when coming from Windows, look no further than Kubuntu.

It's easy to look at the finished product of something and think that it was the result of careful, planned designs and processes. But, as anyone who has every designed something will tell you, the reality is far more chaotic. We don't always think about where some design elements and features in our software come from, but in the case of these four examples the "genius" came from an accident.

The Apple iPad is an exceptionally long-lived device. There's no reason to upgrade them frequently and in my personal experience these tablets don't show much battery wear over the years either.

Sometimes you need to use someone else's computer. Maybe you're at a library, maybe you're at a friend's house helping them troubleshoot a new device on their network. Whatever the situation, sitting down to a computer that feels completely alien is never great.

I have had a hot and cold relationship with smartwatches, but I recently took a chance on an LTE smartwatch for the first time—and I had no idea how big a difference this one change would make. With how freeing the experience has been, I feel like I'm living in the future.

If you're just beginning programming, you've likely encountered the name "Git"—but what is it? And why do you need it? Git is the most important tool I use, next to my text editor, operating system, and laptop. I'm using it right now. It tracks every change I make to my articles and code. While basic Git skills are easily attainable for beginners, it possesses many features which make it seem complex. In this article, I'll reveal why Git is crucial and why you should start using it today.

In an age where your smartphone can do almost anything, it might come as a surprise to learn that the “dumbphone” movement is gaining momentum. Instead of the latest iPhone or Android smartphones, some people are embracing the simplicity of handsets that do less.

A new compact sedan may seem like the safe, predictable choice, but the used market tells a different story. For the same money, shoppers can step into a far larger, more capable vehicle, one designed to haul families, luggage, and weekend gear without breaking a sweat. It’s a reminder that depreciation can work heavily in your favor if you know where to look.