How-To Geek

The first VBA macros I added to my Excel toolbar quickly became some of my most-used shortcuts. Since then, I've added five more that save me even more time by automating repetitive formatting, cleanup, and navigation tasks in every workbook I open.

Portable power stations come in all sizes, from those you can carry on a camping trip to suitcase-size ones that can power a home. But the next wave of home backup power is thinner, while being stylish enough to serve as decor—and there’s one brand that has me feeling particularly hyped.

If you think you have to go out and buy a brand-new system to run Plex on, you're sorely mistaken. Here are seven devices that you might have lying around the house that you can turn into a Plex server without spending a single cent.

TV streaming boxes haven’t changed much lately, but I recently placed one under my TV that has not only impressed me — it's impressed everyone I've shown it to. It also happens to lack any tracking and is powered by open source software. This may just be the upgrade your TV needs.

Linux runs everything from the world's most powerful supercomputers to most cellphones to low-power smart devices. However, the Linux community—never a group to not tinker—has been making Linux run on dozens of devices, from calculators to iPods to game consoles.

When Spotify launched, it was the thing of childhood dreams: every album, single, and music track ever released, playable at no additional cost beyond a small subscription fee. As someone who used to spend hundreds of dollars on a handful of albums each year, it was a revelation.

Your 3D printer can literally help you build a homelab, and that homelab can support your printer in return with some incredible self-hosted projects. Use these to free your printer from the cloud, archive models, and manage your filament—all for free.

It's never too early to start thinking about your next Galaxy phone. After trying out the Galaxy S26 Ultra this year and realizing it was a bit too big and heavy for me, I went back to an older, smaller model. But with rumors of an all-new Galaxy S27 Pro coming in 2027, I'm starting to get excited, and here's what I want to see.

I bought an MP3 player this year. Browsing eBay one night, I came across some new old stock Philips GoGear MP3 players for a ridiculously low price. I snagged one for $12 shipped. It arrived a few days later looking like it had just come off a store shelf. I opened it up and, within a few days, it changed the way I listen to music at home.

3D printing hasn’t just made it possible to fabricate items at home; it’s changed lives and industries with its unique approach to manufacturing. Though 3D printing has its drawbacks, some items wouldn’t exist (or would be much harder to make at greater cost) without it.

Paying for Claude feels fine until you start doing real work with it. The per-token costs through the API climb faster than most people expect, rate limits cut you off at the worst moments, and every prompt you write travels through infrastructure you don't control. You should take the time to learn how to replace that setup entirely with a local, self-hosted alternative. It runs on your own hardware, costs nothing per query, and keeps everything on your machine.

My Roku TV is old enough that I genuinely considered replacing it last year, mostly because every menu felt like it was wading through mud. Apps took a bit too long to open, and they buffered a lot. I assumed that was just the price of holding onto older hardware. It turns out most of that wasn't the hardware giving up; it was the software asking too much of it.

Google loves to brag about how smart Pixel phones are—usually in the same sentence as Gemini. However, some of my favorite features that are available on Pixel phones don’t require AI, yet they make my phone feel even smarter.

It's hard to miss the giants of coding because they show up everywhere in college courses, dominate job postings, and run huge, enterprise-level systems. However, there are more options than just the big names, and they deserve a lot of attention too.

Windows notifications can provide pertinent information, but in many cases, all they do is hinder your workflow. That's not surprising considering that, with the default settings, you're likely bombarded with superfluous alerts left and right, minute after minute. They not only invade your workspace visually, but also add a constant stream of sound alerts that can easily break your focus.

3D printers rely on a slicer to convert solid 3D models into a set of instructions that the printer can build, layer-by-layer. This is where you can customize various parameters that will decide the outcome of your print, but you can also make big changes to the print too.

I've been using my 2014 iMac 5K for more than a decade, and the 27-inch 5K screen is still a joy to use. Sadly, some of the apps I use on a daily basis will no longer work. Rather than buying a new Mac, I opted for a different solution that cost me nothing.

A good weekend of real documentary viewing relies on a nice mix of fascination, education, and exasperation. A little music is also welcome, too. Luckily, HBO Max has been in the documentary game long enough to have a deep library of films and series that tick all those boxes and more, and it's just there for the taking.

Netflix has been rolling out some pretty sweet shows and movies so far this summer. Harlan Coben's I Will Find You and the streamer's latest chilling docuseries, Worst Neighbor Ever, have both been squatting comfortably in the Netflix Top 10, and Hamnet is pulling on all the heartstrings. Not a bad problem to have.

My Google Pixel 10 Pro is an excellent phone with a ton of exclusive features, many of which I use every day. Pretty darn good cameras, slick performance, and a stunning design. But there's something that sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm talking about the Pixel Launcher.