How-To Geek

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.

It might shock you to learn that I have burned over 100 optical discs in the past year, but that's just a fraction of how many discs I burned at the peak of physical media storage.

You’re a Spotify Premium subscriber who’s just toggled on the new lossless playback option to hear your favorite tracks in richer detail. Maybe you notice the difference; maybe you don’t. But one thing you do notice is that since going lossless, your phone’s free storage seems to be shrinking.

Buying your first 3D printer is a big decision. You’re about to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a hobby that you’ve yet to fully commit to, and you’ll probably doubt your decision right down to the moment you click “Pay.”

Got an old Chromecast sitting in a drawer unused? It doesn't matter if you no longer need it for streaming, there are plenty of other ways to make use of it. So connect it to your TV, update the software, and try one of these ideas to repurpose your old Chromecast.

There is so much I love about Home Assistant, but I still have to fall back to Samsung SmartThings more often than I'd like. As sad as it makes me, I’m running into enough issues that I can’t yet commit to Home Assistant being my one and only smart home platform.

Microsoft's taking a different tack with its next-generation of Xbox hardware, and it seems this might be putting it on a collision course with Valve and its Steam platform.

You've probably used top and htop for many years, and while they've served us well, it's 2025—modern software has moved on to more functional and visually appealing designs. Both top and htop feel outdated and could use a modern refresh, which is exactly what btop++ brings.

For too many years, I merely accepted YouTube's flaws—a feed plagued by Shorts, annoying automation, and a bloated UI. Now, thanks to one simple browser extension, I finally have the personalized video platform I always wanted.

There’s a lot you can do to design a resilient smart home, from choosing an open ecosystem like Home Assistant to avoiding devices that depend on the cloud to work. But sometimes, things just don’t go to plan.

This was another busy week for tech news, with Valve revealing its new Steam Machine console and Steam Frame headset, Mozilla overhauling Firefox, a new update for Visual Studio Code, and much more. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

If you're a fan of Ryobi's brightly colored tools found at Home Depot, or even own several, you've likely seen a few "Hybrid" tools from the brand. Ryobi tools are incredibly popular, fairly affordable, and constantly on sale. However, did you know that the brand also offers hybrid tools that you can continue using even when the battery runs out?

The git program supports so many sub-commands that it’s almost impossible to keep on top of them all. Most of them are quite low-level and carry out simple tasks like committing code changes or switching branch. But some of the most obscure offering surprising functionality that does way beyond the norm.

Lincoln is a classic American brand that somehow always feels current. Its current lineup leans heavily on SUVs, and the latest Navigator has reminded everyone why Lincoln still dominates the full-size segment.