How-To Geek

The Android operating system comes with a Special App Access menu that includes a number of powerful permissions, most of which can grant apps installed on your phone a high level of access to the device.

Smart plugs are often dismissed as little more than a cheap way to remotely control lamps or switch on your coffee maker before you even get out of bed. But they're capable of much more than that, and one of their most useful applications is right there—in your homelab.

A Pi-hole is an incredibly powerful tool, but it’s also a window into every single digital interaction on your network. It sees every domain every device in your house asks for, timestamped and tied to a specific client IP.

While there is still only one Windows, Linux distros come and go. While some early distros have stood the test of time, others have fallen into computer history. I'll look back on some pioneering Linux distros you can't get anymore, at least in current versions.

The second-generation Echo Dot was the first smart speaker I ever owned, but it was ultimately a disappointment. There was nothing inherently wrong with the hardware; it was Amazon's proprietary software that was always the problem. It's possible to hack an old Echo Dot and escape Amazon's ecosystem altogether.

DeWALT makes excellent power tools, and most people have all the basics that are pretty large. Sometimes, all you need is a small and versatile tool to get the job done. Whether you're low on space or don't want to buy huge tools, here are some tiny DeWALT tools that'll deliver big results.

Linux users like to argue about which distros are best, especially on Reddit. This can be either generally or for a particular use case, such as on laptops. I wanted to look at some of the "worst" distros and see if they were really as bad as some Reddit users claimed.

Switching to Linux is easier than it used to be, but one of the issues that hasn't changed is software compatibility. Genuinely good open-source apps that should run anywhere don't run on Linux at all or just aren't good at it. Unfortunately, open source doesn't mean cross-platform. Some of these tools are so deeply tied to Windows internals that even their own developers haven't figured out how to move them.

Do you know how many requests your smart devices make on your network? I didn't until I tracked it for 24 hours. Out of over 30 devices, just six smart plugs and switches used nearly 1.5GB of data and made nearly half a million DNS requests—in one single day.

German luxury sedans offer plenty of allure, but they also demand a price that few people can actually afford. This is only made worse if you want a back seat that can actually comfortably fit an adult. At the top of the trim ladder of a Korean mid-size sedan, however, sits a model that delivers most of what you'd want from a German luxury sedan for a fraction of the price.

As a Home Assistant user, how do you ensure security? Most advice on the internet talks about the network. Make a VLAN. Enforce a firewall. But the official sources tell a different story. One about what happens once something malicious is already running inside the hub. That's a problem you'd rather want to solve using Qubes OS.

I recently upgraded my first-generation Centauri Carbon 3D printer with the Elegoo CANVAS multi-material upgrade kit. It's an excellent deal, and totally worth doing, but it has one major downside.

Popular AI tools such as Claude Code and Codex can write code from scratch. You don't always need to reinvent the wheel; you can also use these tools to change code that already exists. I've used AI coding assistants like Codex and ChatGPT on several occasions to fix open-source apps that don't do everything that I want.

Since it's near the end of summer, it feels right to watch some movies on Netflix U.S. The first movie takes place in the Amazon rainforest, where a group of people come face-to-face with an aggressive and gigantic snake.

The Linux world has no shortage of software. A new distribution drops every other week, and more and more developers are creating FOSS alternatives to popular proprietary apps. However, the same can’t be said about the Linux hardware space. Most of what we get are laptops that ship with Ubuntu preinstalled or iterative smartphones trying to replace Android—which, all things considered, is Linux.

Genesis unveiled its first full-size flagship SUV, the GV90, on Aug. 19 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. It's the production version of the Neolun concept the brand revealed in 2024. The forthcoming SUV comes in two variants, a standard GV90 and a Neolun version with doors that open and close on their own.

Over on Prime Video this week, a couple of interesting things are afoot. Season 4 of Alan Ritchson and his chiseled jaw are at the top of the TV chart with Reacher, and Masters of the Universe—which didn't come anywhere near recouping its $170 million budget in theaters—is enjoying the top spot on Prime's movie charts. Indeed, streaming is a great equalizer.

PivotTables are great for turning thousands of rows into useful summaries in Excel, but they're only as good as the data you give them. So before I build one, I take a few moments to prepare my source data using four simple functions.

When thinking of processors, what comes to your mind first? (Outside of a food processor, that is.)

Back in the early days of Android (circa the early 2010s), I decluttered my phones of redundant files with third-party storage-cleaning apps. At one point, I even used one of those infamous RAM cleaner apps, but I quickly realized the error of my ways and banished memory cleaners from my phone for good.