How-To Geek

A smart home needs solid foundations, and that means reliable wireless pathways that ensure your lights, sensors, and remotes can communicate effectively. If you’re suffering from dropouts and spotty performance, there’s a cheap trick you can use to get a bit more range out of your Thread, Zigbee, or Z-Wave networks.

Toyota has long been synonymous with resale value, but one of its newest models breaks sharply from that reputation. Despite wearing one of the most trusted badges in the industry, this vehicle sheds more than 80% of its original price within just five years, an eye-opening contrast to the brand’s usual strong performers. For shoppers who assume every Toyota is a safe financial bet, this outlier proves that name recognition isn’t everything.

I've always loved to read. My house is so full of books that I'm struggling to find places to put them all. I've listened to audiobooks in the past, but I always found myself returning to physical books. I finally decided to give audiobooks another try, but the experience still left me cold.

pandas is the premier library for data analysis in Python. Here are some advanced things I like to do with pandas DataFrames to take my analysis to the next level.

As the days get shorter and the temperature drops, we can quickly fall into the trap of the winter blues. Luckily, technology offers simple tools to help boost our mood and motivation. Here are the ways I use tech to stay energized and positive throughout the winter months.

Every recent Windows update feels like a lateral move in terms of new features added (unless you count Copilot, which I won’t). However, behind the scenes, Microsoft developers have built some super useful new features for Windows 10 and 11, but you have to install them manually. It’s a set of utilities called PowerToys, and the best part is they’re free and open source. Let me show you how you can use these tools to add features that Windows should have by default.

Did your smart home devices suddenly stop responding? There’s a good chance that the cloud is to blame. But, what do you do when that happens?

Do you ever wish you could easily let everyone who uses your Jellyfin server know what shows and movies you just added? I did, and I found out it's pretty simple to set up an automated email newsletter thanks to a third-party Jellyfin plugin.

I was 18 for most of 2005, and I have fond memories not only about that time in my life but also the technology that came to define it. So is this pure nostalgia, or is there something desirable about a simpler time?

Have you ever seen those GIFs that animate the command line and wondered how they look so good? Or seen a tiny GIF and wondered how they're so small? It's not as difficult as you may think, and I address both with two easy-to-use commands.

By now, it's common knowledge that if you have a device—whether a fridge or a smart TV—it's collecting information about you and sending them back home. It's not controversial anymore.

It might not feel like it,but digital photography is still relatively new. Yet once the digital shutterbug bit, everyone was taking photos all the time. The thing is, those digital photos from the early 2000s are at risk of disappearing forever—here's why.

America’s smallest SUVs don’t usually steal the spotlight, but one model is quietly dominating the segment, even outperforming some of the most established Japanese nameplates. Its surge in sales isn’t a fluke; it’s the result of smart packaging, strong value, and features that resonate with buyers who want more for less.

Retro gaming and collecting retro games is all the rage right now, but there are some among us for whom there's never been a break between "retro" and modern gaming. Their retro collections come from simply never getting rid of old games, but keeping them.

There's always some tension between those who don't care about keeping a personal collection of media and those who want to control and maintain certain titles to access and watch whenever they want, without third-party dependence.

When it comes to display technology, the two most important and prolific technologies are LCD and OLED. E-Ink is a completely different approach to creating images on a screen, but no one thinks of it in the same breath as LCD or OLED.

In theory, an always-on display can help a smartwatch look and feel more like a traditional watch. Personally, I’ve always felt smartwatches look better when that screen turns off. I don’t get the hype. To my eyes, an always-on display is a battery life hit for almost no benefit.

Streaming started out as an affordable alternative to cable or other traditional paid broadcast services, but over the years, fragmentation, inflation, and perhaps even a touch of greed has made streaming no less expensive than what it supposedly replaced.

Have you been thinking about biting the bullet and learning Bash scripting? Or perhaps you're like me, and you're always looking for ways to improve. I have three tips that will improve every Bash script you write.

Are you having troubles streaming movies and TV shows remotely with Plex? There are a few things to check to make sure your media server is set up correctly.