How-To Geek

So, for some inexplicable reason, cassette tape collecting is now also a thing alongside vinyl. This time there aren't even any arguments about analog sound quality, it just seems to be a vibe but, hey, you do you!

It's the first full week of August, and Netflix has released its lineup of new shows and movies arriving in the coming weeks. As for TV, the Pogues will say goodbye in the fifth and final season of Outer Banks on August 20. One of the more exciting movies on the slate is The Whisper Man, a crime thriller starring Robert De Niro that premieres on August 28.

For anyone who wants to de-Google their phone, or at least limit how much data Google can collect on them, Google Maps is often the hardest app to replace. It's so slick and powerful that it's difficult for its rivals to match it. But I took the plunge with Magic Earth, a privacy-centric navigation app, and haven't looked back.

In the usual GPU release cycle, we're long overdue for a refresh. Nvidia's not released any new graphics cards since the RTX 50-series finished rolling out. Normally, we'd have expected to see the Super refresh at CES 2026 with a launch soon after ... so, now nearly eight months ago.

The OBD II port might seem like a convenient place to power a dash cam, especially with adapters that promise an easy, tool-free installation. But while it can work in some cases, it's generally not the best option for long-term use.

The start of a new month means major streaming services, including Netflix and HBO Max, are adding new movies to their libraries. Speaking of streamers, Netflix will be the home of my top choice of the week—a supernatural sci-fi thriller about a family stuck inside their home.

Modern cars are packed with more technology than ever before, but that doesn't always translate into better long-term ownership. As vehicles become increasingly complex, finding one built to last has become more difficult.

If you watch lots of PC-based content on platforms like YouTube or Instagram, you might have noticed that for all the rainbow-RGB that the modern PC aesthetic subjects our eyeballs to, there also seems to be these brown-and-beige components popping up everywhere.

Everybody's raving about Claude Code right now, but if you've tried it and felt like the results weren't living up to the hype, it's probably not you—it's the tooling, or lack thereof. Out of the box, Claude Code is a capable generalist with a fairly minimal feature set. You tell it to do something, and it takes a reasonable but generic stab at it. It performs dramatically better when it has specific skills and instructions for the job at hand, and that's exactly what plugins provide. Now, I've tested more than 100 Claude Code plugins and here are five that every vibe coder must install.

If you’re craving a rush of pure adrenaline, we've got some selections that will deliver the kind of edge-of-your-seat intensity that refuses to let up. From dizzying, first-person chaos to globe-spanning, pulse-pounding survival stakes, you’ll find yourself thrown headfirst into high-risk, high-reward storytelling, with a bit of nostalgia and introspection included.

For programmers, shell scripts offer a perfect combination of power and simplicity. With a simple script, you can run any program, pipe its output to another program, carry out basic logic, and store results in files. Most common tasks that you might ever repeat can be automated with ease.

I can't say I'm a big fan of Amazon, but it's hard to deny that Kindle eReaders are pretty great. Despite my feelings about the company, I have a Kindle Paperwhite. However, I don't buy any ebooks from Amazon—that's the line I draw. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to do.

Most phone automation apps want you to build routines around fixed schedules or simple triggers. That works fine, but a phone should feel a lot smarter by this point. What actually makes a phone feel smart is when it reads the situation instead of just the clock. MacroDroid can do that and other things, and there are automations that can be built around conditions that actually reflect how your day moves.

I've been homelabbing for over five years now, and my homelab has taken many forms. In mid-2026, it's something entirely different than it was when I started in early 2021. Here's a tour of the hardware that makes my homelab possible, and why I use it.

For most of the last few decades, RAM and storage have been the cheap part of building a homelab. It was the CPU or GPU that really added cost. The opposite is true today, and I've totally revamped how I run my homelab. One of the most important changes has been to swap out Ubuntu for something much more efficient.

When Microsoft intervened after LG was accused of using monitors to install adware, that was a wake-up call. Windows 11 is finally getting better after years of complaints, but PC and component makers aren't. And it's not just junk software that creates problems — it's shoddy designs that make Windows look bad, and disjointed customer support that pushes users to the breaking point.

The enthusiasm for dinosaurs never seems to get old, which feels like an ironic thing to say considering the dinos were gone long before our ancestors decided to stand up and walk on only two legs.

Some Excel features are buried in menus and settings. Others are so simple that discovering them feels embarrassing. These seven tricks take seconds to learn but can make you wonder why nobody mentioned them sooner.

The Bambu Lab A1 has finally grown up in more ways than one. The Bambu Lab A2L offers several meaningful upgrades over its predecessor, only one of which is the significantly increased print volume. After spending several weeks with the A2L, I can confidently say this is one of the best budget large-format printers money can buy.

Maybe your home router died at an inconvenient time, you're in a hotel room that only has a single Ethernet jack and terrible Wi-Fi, or you're in a new place without internet.