How-To Geek

Some smart home projects are so impressive that you want to show them off to the world. Others may seem pretty dull, but can be incredibly useful. A project that tracks your groceries or measures your energy usage may not sound thrilling, but it can make a big difference in your day-to-day life.

If you've recently upgraded to a new monitor and noticed that the image is disappointingly dull, you're not alone. Your display is likely set to HDR by default, which can cause issues with regular content. Here's why and how to fix it.

Microsoft OneNote has had the advantage of being one of the first note-taking apps. It gives you a large space where notes, clippings, and drawings can exist together, and it seemed like a good place to keep things for someone who works with information. Being able to click and place text or images anywhere on a page gives you a lot of freedom. Having the freedom to place anything anywhere turns notes into a disorganized archive, which leaves essential information scattered. The solution is to go to a better open-source app (that is loved on Linux), which can make things a lot simpler.

I’ve been using Evernote since 2016, when I was a junior in high school. It’s been a reliable place to store notes, ideas, and journal entries. It handled most of what I needed, but it was never a perfect fit.

All ESP32 (and some ESP8266) devices can make use of at least one type of mesh network to communicate, peer-to-peer, without the need for a centralized “router.” Others can be used to interface with existing smart homes, communicate over long distances, or take advantage of low-latency data transfer in useful projects that are fun to make.

Fans of Ryobi and its bright 18V ONE+ power tools know that the company offers a little bit of everything, from drills to lawn mowers. And while most people own a drill or two, an impact, and other basics, there are several lesser-known Ryobi tools that, once you buy, you'll absolutely love.

I recently bought a new accessory for my Raspberry Pi on a whim, with no real idea of what to use it for. When I finally came up with an idea, I had no clue how to make it a reality. Using Claude, I was able to get it working incredibly quickly.

Are you ready for another lineup of fun Raspberry Pi projects to try this weekend? Today I’m showing you how to cut monthly subscriptions by self-hosting your own network video recorder, speech-to-text platform, and even how to organize your fridge like never before.

I made a mistake. I didn’t set up proper backups in my homelab, and it caused me to lose multiple virtual machines and Docker containers. I put off setting up a simple backup system because I had never needed it before, and didn’t think it was that important. Boy was I wrong.

If you're setting up a smart home, you might look online for tips and advice. Not every suggestion you find is worth following, however. Here are some common smart home tips that you'd be better off ignoring.

VS Code is a fantastic editor until you realize that some of the default settings aren't optimized for most of us coders. I've been tweaking VS Code settings to see how I could turn this favorite code editor of ours into a more refined version that causes less annoyance while coding. These changes take about 10 minutes to set up. But once you do, VS Code feels faster, calmer, and much easier to trust.

Paramount+ may have abruptly cancelled its newest Star Trek spinoff, Starfleet Academy, with little warning, but the streamer seems to be making up for it by locking down the rights to another major sci-fi space franchise that it has released in all its glory, starting May 1st. And if that wasn't enough, aside from the pending Warner Bros. merger closing, P+ has earmarked a reported $1.5 billion for new content this year, which is sure to make its formidable library even harder to sift through.

The "open-source is better" argument for everyday users is usually convincing on paper: free software, full control, no subscriptions. But I've spent long enough in both worlds to know that what looks simple in theory often behaves very differently in practice. There's a gap between how these tools are described and how they feel day to day, and that's why I still choose Microsoft 365.

For a long time, a Raspberry Pi was a common suggestion for people looking to set up their first Home Assistant server. While it wasn't perfect, it was good enough for many setups. Sadly, the Raspberry Pi is no longer the bargain that it once was.

We finally made it to May, and things are looking fresh and new and exciting—and I'm not even talking about the weather outside. It may be that awkward changeover period before Netflix's slate of hot new titles for the month make their way to the streaming service over the coming weeks, but for Netflix's U.S. subscribers, it still has some new blood left in it that have hit recently, and they're making fantastic weekend binges.

It's the ultimate AI delusion: the idea that a chatbot can untangle years of disorganized Excel data in seconds. In reality, messy data creates ambiguous prompts and unreliable output. Automation won't fix broken logic; it just helps you make mistakes faster.

For more than three decades, the Toyota Camry has been the default pick for young families. It’s earned that spot by being easy to live with, comfortable, and consistently predictable when it comes to running costs and ownership.

For HBO Max viewers, May 2026 isn’t just about new content—it’s about experiencing stories that span not just continents and cultures but also lived experiences, and it’s all in a single lineup. From a sweeping historical drama rooted in Japanese history to a contemporary sports journey with global stakes and intimate reflections on identity and community, HBO Max offers some stand-out titles this month, including films pairing literary romance, large-scale disasters, and smaller, more enigmatic originals.

German SUVs don’t exactly have a reputation for being trouble-free, and reliability usually isn’t the first thing people associate with them. European luxury models tend to be a bit of a trade-off: brilliant to drive, but complicated enough that things can get expensive when they go wrong.

Before you dismiss it too quickly, this isn’t the Nissan Murano you remember from a decade ago. Nissan has finally given it its first major update since 2016, so it’s worth keeping an open mind.