How-To Geek

Don't pay full price for your new power tools when you can get them at huge markdowns at Home Depot. You'll find plenty of great deals, and the massive savings on the DeWalt 20V Max Cut-Off Tool are almost enough to cover the cost of the Cordless Impact Driver and Circular Saw combo.

Google is one of the biggest software companies out there, best known for Google Search, Android, and its internet ad business. But engineers at Google didn’t only create a bunch of products. They also created tools used to build some of those products in the form of full-fledged programming languages. The company has at least 10 programming languages under its belt, with the three below leading the pack in importance.

Amazon acquired Bee over a year ago to get into AI devices, and now it's showing the first results of that deal. Bee is releasing the Frontier wearable and Eclipse phone add-on that provide "personal AI," both of which unsurprisingly tie into Amazon's universe.

One of the worst feelings for me while driving is using maps or an app and seeing something missing that would have helped. Car infotainment setups run on firmware that's set at the factory and only gets refreshed occasionally, whether at a dealer, by USB, or through an over-the-air update. Android Auto works differently. It's basically a phone app that beams onto your car's display, and you don't get warned when changes come.

College can be the best years of your life, but also some of the most stressful. It’s hard enough to stay academically prepared while still making ends meet and enjoying a scholarly lifestyle that will change after graduation.

There's something mildly rewarding about downloading an app for one reason and discovering it's useful for several others. I initially installed PowerToys after reading about FancyZones, the tool that lets you create custom grid layouts for snapping and organizing app windows. But the more I explored, the more features I found myself using every day.

Many of us plug a Fire TV Stick into our TV, install the necessary streaming apps, and then never think about it again. If you use Home Assistant, your Fire TV Stick could become a useful part of your smart home.

Remember when everyone tried to tell you that gold-plated HDMI cables were the (forgive me) gold standard of home theater? Or gold-plated audio cables, that was also a thing. Well, I think that home networking has finally found its equivalent, and it comes in the form of Cat 8 Ethernet cables.

Microsoft is delivering on its promise to fix more of Windows 11's longstanding problems. The company is starting a large-scale rollout for a series of updates that both improve performance and rework key apps, including a new Photos app.

Scrolling through Netflix might take a long time when searching for a movie for the weekend. Seeing what everyone else has been watching can be a good place to start. And I love the underrated gems, but some of the platform’s most-watched movies this year are actually worth the hype.

The most important part of your computer, if you had to choose just one, would be the central processing unit (CPU). It's the primary hub (or "brain"), and it processes the instructions that come from programs, the operating system, or other components in your PC.

Automatically updating your Docker containers might sound like the peace of mind you've been wanting—it's anything but that. I tried auto-updating Docker containers in my homelab, and it ended in disaster one too many times. Here's what happened and how I run Docker in my homelab now.

There are lots of ways to get a 3D model to print on your 3D printer. You can model it yourself, or use a 3D scanner to turn real-world objects into data that can be converted into a printable format. Most people, however, will likely download a model someone else has created from 3D printing websites.

Taylor Sheridan is in the empire business. Over the last eight years, Sheridan has built a roster of television shows that few creators can match. From building the Yellowstone universe to establishing a signature aesthetic, Sheridan's shows are uniquely his. When fans see Sheridan's name attached to a project, they know what they're going to get.

Are you looking for an alternative to Docker that’s fully open source and doesn’t have any vendor-lock in? Well, there are four tools that you can use which are completely free of Docker’s influence.

I've used a plethora of gaming handhelds over the years, but my go-to for portable gaming has been the ASUS ROG Ally X for over two years now. Even when ASUS and Xbox announced a partnership and the Xbox Ally family was unveiled, I wasn't tempted to upgrade—why should I, when the Xbox Ally X features the same display, just marginally improved performance and endurance, and only a handful of improvements? Even the headlining full-screen Xbox experience swiftly came to other handhelds, including my trustworthy ROG Ally X.

I regularly try out new launchers to replace my Android home screen, and most are variations of how my phone already works — but I’ve recently stumbled across one that does things so differently, it’s had a noticeable impact on how I live my life.

It's fair to say that I am a lifelong Windows user. Pretty much everywhere I’ve worked has required me to use a Windows PC. More recently, I've begun to rely on Linux. At first, it was a way to extend the life of my old Windows 10 machines, but the more I used it, the more I realized there was very little keeping me on Windows. My favorite Linux distros are the ones that are closely modeled after Windows. While the underlying operating systems may work differently from Windows, they have a look and feel that works for me.

Shopping for networking gear is an ... interesting experience, to put it mildly. You can spend $10 on an Ethernet adapter and get wild returns on your investment, but you can also throw away a good chunk of change on gear that's essentially a waste of your time and resources.

Writing a new cover letter for every job application gets tedious, especially when you're repeating the same points about your skills and experience. AI tools may seem like an easy way out, but you can end up with a letter that doesn't sound like you. Instead, I turn to an underappreciated old-school tool: mail merge.