How-To Geek

It's easy to get into a streaming slump, whether your favorite playlist is stuck on repeat or your Netflix home feed feels like it hasn't changed in ages. There are many reasons it can happen (and your recommendation system itself is a big one), but how do you beat it?

I have an alarming amount of PC storage at home. A lot of these drives are just old, retired HDDs and SATA SSDs that I can't be bothered to dispose of, but lately, I've been on a mission to find jobs for them all. I've been successful at that—I'll tell you more below.

Every homelab journey starts with a single step. There's a quick and easy project I first set up to run on a Raspberry Pi. It was so useful that it's become one of the key parts of my homelab.

Google TV (along with Android TV) is one of the most popular smart TV platforms, thanks to its wide availability from brands like TCL, Sony, Hisense, and others. It has a massive selection of streaming apps and services, Gemini built in, and more. But did you know there's a lot more you can do with that TV?

Your Android phone has a capacitive touchscreen that works by registering the electrical charge of your fingertips. In most situations, its default level of touch responsiveness is excellent, but if the phone has trouble registering input, you can increase its sensitivity in just a few taps.

Automakers usually slash prices to clear out discontinued cars, but not Tesla. Elon Musk's brand has raised prices by roughly $15,000 for remaining U.S. inventory of the outgoing Model S and Model X.

For lots of homeowners and people who like to do things themselves, the power drill an entry point into doing home improvement. It's typically the first power tool you buy, stored in a plastic case with a standard set of bits, and only taken out when you need to bore a hole or drive a screw.

Mint is an excellent distro for Linux newcomers, but at some point, all those beginner-friendly optimizations start to feel limiting. If that sounds like you, it’s probably time to stop trying to fix Mint or patch over its limitations with add-ons, and move to something more advanced. Here are three intermediate Linux distros built for users who’ve outgrown Linux Mint.

Quarterly sales reports rarely tell a single, straightforward story, and Subaru’s latest numbers are a perfect example. While the brand’s overall first-quarter performance reflects slowing momentum across much of the lineup, one model is moving sharply in the opposite direction. That contrast has turned Subaru’s Q1 results into a tale of one breakout success surrounded by widespread declines.

Warmer weather is finally here, and that means it's time to fertilize and frequently mow the lawn, weed whack, and more. Maintaining your lawn and garden doesn't have to be difficult, and with the right Milwaukee tools, you'll find it easier to keep your yard looking like a golf course.

Home Assistant is built around rules, but sometimes you need a little randomization in your life. You can use the Random integration or the Jinja random filter in templates in all sorts of useful ways.

Excel has evolved into a full-on programming environment in recent years, yet many spreadsheets still look like a cryptic mess of unreadable formulas. But by borrowing a trick from the world of coding, you can turn your confusing grid into a clear and logical workbook.

Windows 10 PCs may be on their way out, but that doesn't make them obsolete. Plenty of perfectly good PCs are still locked to Windows 10, and they can live on for years and years with some proper care.

Android has a reputation of being more customizable than the iPhone, but that’s become less true over the last few years. For example, iPhones now come with an extra button just for shortcuts—Android could do it so much better, though.

Open-source applications sometimes have a reputation for being slightly buggy or unpolished, and that is sometimes true. However, in many cases—including some of the most important types of apps you'll need—the free and open-source options are leagues ahead of the paid options. Here are four of my favorites.

Every season can bring expected—or unexpected—power outages due to drastic weather, whether from a storm, blizzard, or an accident near an electrical pole.

My wife has shown up back home with various surprises over the years. The last big one is a rescue dog who is sleeping on my feet as I write this. However, the most surprising thing she's ever shown up with is an honest-to-goodness LaserDisc player.

KDE is best known for the Plasma Desktop, but it actually produces a huge number of different applications, including some truly fantastic ones like Kate, Krita, and KDE Connect. Most of the applications are designed to be functional or educational, but some of my recent favorites are entirely different: they're KDE's Games.

Anthropic has introduced a new feature in Claude called Computer Use. When enabled, it allows Claude to take control of your computer, moving the mouse and using screenshots to decide where to click. I took it for a spin to see what it could do.

There are lots of computer monitors available, unless you own a Mac and want one perfectly scaled to Apple’s ideal retina resolution. In that case, there are only a couple of options, including the new BenQ MA270S 5K 27-inch monitor. The question is whether it’s better than Apple’s Studio display.