How-To Geek

If you own an external SSD, you're already ahead of the curve when it comes to following the 3-2-1 rule for backups. But while using an external SSD is as easy as just plugging it in and drag-and-dropping some files, you might be hindering its performance by plugging it in at the front.

I've been tinkering with my smart home for well over a decade. My obsession began with trying to control my smart bulb with my voice. All these years later, I'm right back where I started.

Sometimes, we encounter real events that feel like fiction. Other times, we're faced with stories too insane to be true. How Hollywood captures these moments and brings real-life stories to the screen is what draws our attention, encouraging us to reflect, question, and feel different emotions.

It's that time of the year again for tool fans. I'm talking about "Ryobi Days," Home Depot's annual sale with big discounts, freebies, and other deals you don't want to miss. If you have DIY projects around the house that need attention, now is the perfect time to get new gear. Here's what you need to know.

You spend time setting up a smart home, and then someone walks into the room and flips a wall switch like a normal button. Suddenly, the device loses its power, and the ‘smart’ setup becomes useless until the switch is turned back on again. This exact problem is what Zunzunbee Slate Switch is trying to solve, and now, it has joined Home Assistant’s official certified device program.

Sony wants to not only challenge Apple's AirPods Max 2 in audio quality but in design as well. It just unveiled 1000X The Collexion, a luxury set of over-ear wireless headphones that promise a premium build as well as key audio upgrades over the WH-1000XM6.

Plex has decided to increase the price of its lifetime subscription to Plex Pass. Instead of a slight bump, however, it’s a massive increase that effectively triples its price. Currently, the Plex Pass is available for a lifetime subscription for $249.99, but not for long. Starting July 1, 2026, a Plex Pass lifetime subscription will cost users $749.99.

There's something hugely satisfying about giving an old laptop a second life, especially when that second life turns out to be more useful than its first. I had a dusty machine sitting in a drawer for years, too slow for daily work but too functional to throw out. So I wiped it, slimmed it down, and turned it into my dedicated PC repair laptop.

Cordless power tools are expensive, especially Milwaukee tools. Have you ever gone to grab a new Milwaukee tool, only to take one look at the price tag and instantly walk away? While Home Depot is a go-to store for many, there are other places to shop with better deals and lower prices while still getting a warranty.

I loved my Nokia Lumia 520. It's one of the best phones I've owned, and while I've been on Android for the past decade, the Windows Phone Metro UI still has a special place in my heart. Microsoft had some really clever ideas back then, with Metro still having the edge over the latest iteration of Android when it comes to home screen design and the ability to have all your important apps and widgets easily accessible on a single, scrolling screen.

One of the best quality-of-life and security upgrades you can make to your network doesn't require you to buy any new hardware or install any software—it relies on DNS filtering instead.

Microsoft has unveiled major Surface Laptop and Surface Pro updates that it says can outperform the M5 MacBook Air, but the highlight is a feature from the Android world: the Surface Laptop 8 has a privacy display similar to that of the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

If you've spent any time with Python, you've probably used it for data work, scripting, or maybe some automation—but image editing likely wasn't on your radar. It turns out Python can handle a surprising amount of what Photoshop does, and with way less code than you'd expect. This includes resizing or cropping, removing backgrounds, or even animating a still image into a GIF. Here are seven ways I use Python to edit and animate images. I'm also sharing the code snippets to help you get started.

Open-source software is literally crucial to the modern world. Without it, many technologies we take for granted couldn't interoperate, and the biggest machine ever built—the internet—simply wouldn't work.

Most people assume their work is safe as long as they save often enough, but saving manually only protects you when you actually remember to do it. RAM doesn't hold onto anything the moment power cuts out or an app crashes, and that gap between making a change and the system writing it to the drive is where work disappears. Windows has a hidden tool called File History that handles this automatically in the background, and most people have never touched it despite it being right there the whole time.

There's always some debate about what the best schedule is to run your robot vacuum (or vacuums). When will they be the most efficient and the least in your way?

VLAN sounds like an enterprise-grade, Cisco-certified, command-line-interface nightmare reserved for network engineers. We have been conditioned to believe that network segmentation is “advanced networking,” when in reality, it is the simplest way to secure your network.

For years, upgrading your home entertainment setup meant buying a bigger TV. Moving from 55 to 65 inches felt significant, and beyond 75 inches was considered high-end. Now, 85 and even 100-inch TVs are more accessible, but something hasn't really changed—the experience.

I liked Notion until my workspace became harder to manage than the tasks inside it. Moving my workflow into Excel gave me a faster, offline-friendly system built around simple tables, filters, and structured data. What surprised me most was how naturally Excel handled the parts of Notion I actually used every day.

Looking to upgrade your tool collection or shop this year? Ryobi has an excellent selection of power tools, and while we've already seen several new products arrive in 2026, more are on the way. The company has released over 75 new items in the last year, which is part of what makes the brand so successful. Here are a few new Ryobi tools I'm still looking forward to this spring and summer.