How-To Geek

ESP32s are so hot right now. More people than ever are discovering just how versatile these tiny boards can be, and their rock-bottom price point makes them perfect for use in fun DIY projects.

Affordable transportation is no longer limited to small gas-powered sedans. As electric vehicles become cheaper to buy and easier to live with, some are starting to deliver genuine long-term savings without the premium pricing that once defined the segment. One American EV stands out by proving that going electric can be one of the smartest financial decisions a budget-conscious buyer can make.

If your weekend plans involve doing something interesting with your Linux setup, I've done some of the legwork for you. Instead of spending three hours reading Reddit threads only to install something mediocre, here are three apps worth actually trying. One fixes cross-device file sync without touching the cloud, one makes Markdown readable in your terminal, and one turns speech into text locally without phoning home.

Most of the time when AI features are shoehorned into software and services these days, it gets in the way more than being of any real use.

In 2024, I made a concerted effort to cut every paid subscription I could. I moved what I could to free and open source alternatives, including replacing my Microsoft 365 workflow and rethinking how I handled cloud storage. I also cleaned up the obvious redundancies, things like overlapping streaming services and subscriptions I was barely using. On paper, it worked. My monthly spend dropped, and I proved to myself that you can get surprisingly far without paying for software.

We've all been there. A friend comes over, asks for the Wi-Fi password, and you hand it over without a second thought. Then your new gaming rig joins the same network as your old laptop, your partner's work PC, and that mystery device from three apartments ago that somehow still remembers your SSID.

The build plate is the platform on which all of your 3D prints are created. But, just like filament and nozzles, build plates don’t last forever, and they eventually need replacing.

Maybe it's because I come from the pre-smartphone era, but I hate phone cases. Smartphones are beautiful devices (at least the ones I buy are) that feel great in the hand and are lovely to look at, so why slap an ugly case on it? So it will sell for more when I'm done? So someone else can get the enjoyment I denied myself?

When I started creating my smart home, I decided I would avoid Wi-Fi wherever possible. Outside of my server, the only smart home devices that depend on it are my HVAC controller, garage door opener, and a single smart speaker (all through no choice of my own).

If you're like me, your Friday ritual goes something like this: couch, cold beverage, show. The problem is, Paramount+ has a library so huge that I'm usually done that first bevvie before I find something. If you're all caught up on P+'s new series like Marshals and The Madison, then I have a few suggestions for you.

Early on, when I had just started getting into homelabbing and self-hosting, my initial assumption was that once I configured a service properly, and got it up and running, it would just stay that way indefinitely. As I set up more and more services, my mini homelab grew to include a couple of servers and VPS instances. It started getting out of hand a bit. I started experiencing my first service outages. Apparently, a homelab requires maintenance.

There have been a lot of great new shows for Netflix U.S. subscribers that we've covered this month, including titles like Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, Big Mistakes, and more. There are also some great new seasons of existing hits, as well as loads of other gems you can get into if you're looking for something fresh for your watch list.

If you've ever been confused by Excel's three different ranking functions, you aren't alone. A rank is a rank, right? But they actually differ in how they handle ties and which versions of Excel they work in. Here is how to choose the right one for your next spreadsheet.

Many cars now have AI-powered voice assistants, but Mercedes knows their dependence on the cloud can make them unreliable. It just partnered with Liquid AI to bring more voice control on-device, ideally giving you faster interactions that do more to respect your privacy.

Spotify has announced an integration with Claude AI that will now allow users to ask for a playlist or podcast within a conversation thread. Users can now simply ask Claude in a conversation to create a playlist based on their prompt, and they can play music instantly within the thread. Spotify features within Claude are available to both Spotify free and premium accounts, but there’s a bonus feature for the paid subscription users.

OpenAI is tackling the challenges of agentic AI head-on with the release of its GPT-5.5 model. While AI is no stranger to handling computer tasks, the company claims its new large language model (LLM) is better when dealing with "messy, multi-part" work where you need to trust that it will not only finish, but produce trustworthy results.

Welcome back, Stranger Things. Netflix's flagship show returns this week, so putting it at the top of our rankings is a no-brainer. The characters you have come to know and love will be present. However, it's not your typical Stranger Things show—it's an animated spin-off, so you're about to see a new side of Hawkins.

Luxury means something different now than it did decades ago. Long before Mercedes made upscale SUVs a status symbol, Jeep got there first with the 1966 Super Wagoneer, adding air conditioning, plush trim, and V-8 power to a class that was mostly stripped-down workhorses.

Google Wallet is so convenient, but if you only ever use it with the default settings, you aren't getting the most out of the app. On my Pixel phone, I tweak a few usability and privacy settings, as well as create shortcuts to make it quicker to use, and they really make a difference.

Tesla has held an earnings call to discuss its first quarter 2026 results, and revealed more about its plans, including a change of heart on promises that millions of cars would only need software updates for zero-supervision Full-Self Driving.