How-To Geek

In the early 2000s, school computer labs were filled with kids stealthily playing games and watching videos on Newgrounds. But when Flash became obsolete, many of these nostalgic games were no longer playable—especially on phones. Thankfully, there’s an app for that.

I've been 3D printing for over half a decade and have never embedded a magnet mid-3D-print, so I figured it was time to take the plunge and do it. After my first test with a pre-made model, I even decided to create my own model, and it came out better than I expected.

I've somehow become the person everyone in my family and circle of friends calls when a PC starts acting up. A lot of the time, the problem is minor. Other times, Windows won't boot, a drive starts throwing errors, files disappear, or the computer becomes so unstable that it's hard to know where to start. Since everyone I help, including me, uses Windows, I've gotten into the habit of keeping a few free troubleshooting tools on USB drives, so I'm not starting from scratch every time something goes wrong.

Sports cars as we know them are changing. While the shift towards electrification has certainly slowed down in the last year or two, it still feels as if gasoline is on its way out. It is within this context that a coupe with a supercharged V-8 exists as a swansong for all petrolheads.

Remember when almost every Android phone came with a microSD slot and expandable memory was an expected feature? Those days are mostly long gone, especially on mid-range or high-end Samsung Galaxy phones. That said, you can still buy a Samsung phone with expandable storage in 2026, and here are a few of your options.

Maybe the invention of the remote control wasn't the best idea when it comes to our collective waistlines, but you can't beat the convenience of controlling your TV from the couch!

I love to read, but life always gets in the way. For a long time, I was reading far fewer books than I wanted. I realized that the issue wasn't always time; it was that there were things blocking me from reading as much as I'd like to. I figured out a few geeky ways to remove some of these barriers.

Modern cars are safer, quicker, and more technologically advanced than ever, but progress hasn't improved every part of the driving experience. In the rush to add bigger screens, more connectivity, and futuristic features, automakers have introduced plenty of trends that are more frustrating than useful.

Most note-taking tools that use AI are cloud products first and note-taking tools second. Your documents go up to a server; a company’s terms of service govern what happens to them, and if you click the wrong button, your content can end up in a human review queue for years. I used NotebookLM for a while and liked what it could do. Still, switching to an Obsidian setup with a local AI setup is more private and less complicated than I expected.

I've been doing DIY projects for well over half my life, and I have used a bunch of power tools over that course of time. However, my favorite tool that I use most often isn't one of my (seven) drills. It's a detail sander.

Linux Mint has earned its reputation by being one of the easiest Linux distros to recommend. If someone asks me which Linux distros they should install on their parents’ laptop, Linux Mint is usually on the top of the list. That simplicity comes with trade-offs, as Mint deliberately avoids some of Ubuntu’s newer technologies and often waits before adopting major platform changes. The developers have good reasons for those decisions. Their priority is stability and user choice rather than chasing the latest trends.

If you're at all up to speed (or even care) about what's hot and not at the top of the Paramount+ movie charts, you'll have noticed that Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender has been parked at No. 1. But hanging out right behind it is a pack of idiots in a Vegas hotel suite with a tiger in the bathroom. That's quite the double feature for American subscribers.

About 10 years ago, a software update for your vehicle, as if it were your smartphone, was rare enough to make the news. Tesla owners were often the only ones who were aware of it and talking about it. In 2018, Consumer Reports tested a new Model 3 and clocked its stopping distance from 60 miles per hour at 152 feet, seven feet longer than a Ford F-150. Tesla responded with a wireless update to the anti-lock braking software, a fix that allowed the Model 3 to stop in 133 feet without a physical repair.

If you're heading to college and shopping for a new laptop or PC, get the best hardware you can afford—but when it comes to software, don't think you're locked into Windows. Linux has evolved a lot over the years, and modern distros are just as intuitive to use as Windows. More importantly, Linux is generally more efficient than Windows, so you can get more performance out of the same hardware. And as someone who went through college using a Linux PC, I can tell you that Linux has an impressive collection of apps to help you get through your day-to-day student life.

The most-watched movie on Netflix in the U.S. right now is about a family that's locked inside their house—which is either a stroke of marketing genius or a commentary on how a lot of Americans have spent August (or maybe a hint to get outside while the weather lasts).

Ryobi is one of the most popular and recognizable names in power tools, especially with the DIY crowd, but the tools themselves are only half the story. Sometimes, it's the accessories we use with our tools that make all the difference. And for me, that's a cheap DeWALT accessory I use constantly with my Ryobi drill and impact driver.

The Windows Settings app has gone through extensive overhaul and modernization. While that's a big win in many cases, including the UI, there are still so many things missing from it that rely on the Control Panel. Even in 2026, as of writing this, we still use the Windows Control Panel for a lot of advanced tinkering.

Last week, the King of Pop topped the list of new movies to watch on streaming as Michael hit Starz. This week, music plays a big part in the list, but this time, it's centered around a pop star played by Anne Hathaway.

Sonos' two-year quest to rescue its app now includes a feature that some speaker owners have been missing for much longer. The company has finally returned lock screen music playback controls to the iPhone, albeit in a different way.

Online AI services are a great way to search through and parse long documents, but they come with some drawbacks. Your data is held by someone else, you use up tokens or require a subscription to get access, and you need internet access for it to work. By switching to a local-only approach, I can ensure that no sensitive documents can be leaked accidentally, and I don't have to worry about whether my private data is being used to train cloud models.