How-To Geek

I switched to Android Auto, and after using it every day, I can see why I prefer it over Apple CarPlay. My husband is a die-hard CarPlay fan, but what I can do with Android Auto makes it hard for me to go back.

YouTube has always been one of my go-to platforms for entertainment, learning, and keeping up with my favorite interests, but its recommendation algorithm doesn't always get things right. While the homepage can help me discover new content, it often feels cluttered with videos I have little interest in. Even the existing topic-based feed tabs can be surprisingly limiting, making it difficult to find exactly what I'm looking for without scrolling through endless recommendations.

Fedora is known as the leading-edge Linux distro, offering an excellent balance between stability and access to the latest Linux features. Ubuntu, on the other hand, has traditionally offered a stable and reliable experience but has often lagged behind Fedora. It’s actually one of the main reasons I decided to ditch Ubuntu, even though it was my first Linux distro.

I've dedicated the better part of the last decade to covering graphics cards. New launches, new features, new capabilities. Disappointments and amazing developments. Ever-rising prices, worse in 2026 than we've ever seen them.

Most subscription apps are genuinely useful, but after a while the monthly fees add up to a number that's hard to ignore when you realize half of what you're paying for is syncing your own data back to you. Each app solves a real problem, and you have to keep paying for it every month. But you can get a lot of the same features in Obsidian for free.

I've been having some fun experimenting with Android Auto lately. Recently, I discovered I could set up buttons for specific tasks. I enjoyed the customization, so I decided to try something a bit more ambitious. So I tried building a custom Android Auto dashboard that changes based on where I'm driving. It did not go as planned.

Minecraft_’s blocky, pixelated aesthetic transfers surprisingly well to 3D printing. You don’t need to worry about making models look realistic or be concerned with curves if you’re a Minecraft_ fan who wants to bring Mojang’s intoxicating world to life.

Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo, opens up into a much bigger screen than any iPhone before it. That's the whole appeal. It also means the accessories you already own may not suit it as well as they did your last phone. A magnetic power bank shaped for a standard iPhone can sit awkwardly on a device with a different footprint, and anything chunky works against the slim profile that makes a foldable worth carrying in the first place.

I loved my first Walkman to the point where I used it until it fell apart, but my favorite music player was still my iPod. There was nothing quite like flipping through the albums in the Cover Flow view by spinning my thumb around the click wheel. When I found an old remote that had its own wheel-style input, I wondered if I could bring those days back.

The HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1) was the world's first commercially available Android smartphone, released back in October 2008 with a modest 1,150 mAh battery. If you used it moderately for calls, emails, and occasional web browsing, you were lucky enough to get through the day. Fast-forward to today: my daily Android phone packs a massive 5000 mAh battery, almost five times bigger than the HTC Dream, and has an efficient 3nm processor.

For me, a cheap or budget power tool is one that runs between $30 and $100. Sometimes, I'll manage to get a deep discount on a tool, but I usually go for the less pricey ones. Most of the time, I'll pick up a tool to use temporarily, until I can afford a better-quality one or my wife lets me splurge. But surprisingly enough, there are a few inexpensive tools I bought for a temporary solution to a problem but have found them to be so useful I've hung onto them rather than finding a replacement.

HBO Max is always producing quality content. I recently enjoyed Lanterns, the DC Universe show that played like a season of True Detective. The streamer also has some riveting documentaries, including A Killer Story, one of the best docs released in September.

I've been building PCs for over 20 years, so naturally, I get why people do it: it's fun, and you get a great computer at the end. But beyond the fun, is there any reason to spend the time and money anymore when a plug-and-play mini PC can absolutely replace your daily driver for almost anything but gaming?

AI agents have moved well beyond answering questions. They can now open folders, write code, and click through websites on your behalf. Here are three of the wildest things I’ve handed over to them, and what each one taught me about where this technology actually helps.

Community developers have ported Samsung Galaxy Watch apps and watch faces to other Wear OS watches, including the Pixel Watch. Here are some of the most useful ported apps.

The Netflix machine keeps on pumping out shows. One of the streamer's notable advantages over its competition is its ability to turn licensed shows into hits. Look at what happened with Suits, a show that soared to new popularity in 2023 on Netflix despite having concluded its run on the USA Network in 2019.

Once, putting Windows on the Internet without installing antivirus was practically inviting disaster.

If you're a true audiophile who does the majority of their listening from home, paying for wireless or Bluetooth features and noise cancellation may matter way less than ensuring you get the most out of your favorite music and albums. Sennheiser's HD 660S2s put the focus back on sound and comfort, with their wired and open-back design that's built for settling in and listening in its purest form. Generally a steep investment, but right now, you can score these legendary-sounding headphones on Woot with a $300 savings—while supplies still last.

Do you have a truck or garage full of Milwaukee tools that you've been using for years, or even decades? Milwaukee makes excellent tools loved by DIYers and professionals everywhere, but not all of them are perfect. Product recalls are rare for the brand, but a recall or safety notice is surprisingly easy to miss, even though they're pretty important.

Battery life on my Pixel Watch had slowly slipped from comfortable to disappointing, and I blamed the hardware. Three everyday apps were the real culprits. Once I understood how each one worked behind the scenes, though, the fixes were relatively straightforward.