How-To Geek

Whenever I'm at the computer, I seem to have Spotify going in the background. With data on Spotify songs available, I wanted to see if any traits the hit songs had in common. I used Spotify to see if I could build a model of a hit song.

Before every weekend rolls around, I like to refresh my Netflix watch list with limited series and miniseries that I can typically wrap up within a day or two. And if you're like me, you know how exciting these shows can be for a perfect binge-watching session.

Unreliable Wi-Fi is the most frustrating and common issue we deal with. It's a real struggle when you have to deal with buffering screens, dropped video calls, issues with your smart home, and slow download speeds that usually make even new devices seem old. For years, the default advice for solving this problem has been to replace your old router. Performance does not depend on purchase price. If you master a few cheap software tweaks and small physical adjustments, you can get back significant speed and stability without spending money.

PowerShell is a Windows utility you can use to fix a surprisingly large number of common Windows 11 issues. It's often faster than digging through Windows 11 menus and in many cases, you can simply copy, paste, and execute commands without any further intervention on your side.

It's 2026, and Android still doesn't have some basic features like cutting off internet access for certain apps. Now there are third-party apps that make this sort of firewall possible on Android. However, they come with one big trade-off: they need to run constantly in the background as a VPN tunnel.

If you sideload books onto your Kindle, you'll know that things don't always go smoothly. Files sometimes don't even convert properly, the formatting can be completely unpredictable, and your library becomes messy very quickly. That's why I convert my eBooks in Calibre before putting them on my Kindle. It fixes almost all the problems.

So you've heard about Qubes OS, and you're scared to try it. Well, you should be. Qubes OS is not something you can fumble through; there's an upfront research cost, and just because you have a powerful computer, it doesn't mean it'll work. I explain the entire hardware landscape in simple terms.

If you have a few ESP32’s lying around and nothing to do with them, let me show you some fun projects you can finish in under an hour. From full-on air quality monitors to simple sensor projects, here are five things you can do with your ESP32s today.

Is your Netflix watch list looking a little dry? Netflix is set to release new titles in May as the heat picks up, which will ensure your summer watch list is packed with new, fresh films, shows, documentaries, and live events.

Running a Plex server starts out as a tidy experiment and then quietly turns into infrastructure. At first, it is a few movies in a folder, maybe a TV show or two that you swear you will organize later. Then one evening you open the library and realize half the metadata is wrong, some files refuse to match, and someone has just messaged you asking if you can “add that one show with the guy” (this description is somehow expected to be sufficient). That is the moment Plex stops being a media server and starts behaving like a system that needs tooling around it.

If you've already made the switch from VLOOKUP to XLOOKUP in Excel, you've taken the first step toward better formulas. But most people still only use it as a drop-in replacement—they're missing one of its most powerful capabilities.

Your 3D printer can turn photos and other images into physical objects using a variety of techniques. This includes—but is not limited to—lithophanes, a 19th-century technique that traditionally relied on porcelain but has since been updated for the modern age.

Nissan's plans to shift away from EVs in the U.S. will have consequences for its manufacturing in the country. The Japanese automaker has confirmed that it's dropping plans to make electric cars at its Canton, Mississippi plant.

The QX60 was Infiniti’s first three-row crossover, although when it was launched in 2012, it was called the JX35. Its current name, QX60, dates back to the 2014 model year and Infiniti’s then-updated naming structure for its vehicles. Since that time, the QX60 has become one of Infiniti’s best-selling models, appealing to families who need utility but want a more refined and premium cabin.

May 2026 on Paramount+ is shaping up to be stacked around big franchise expansions, fan-favorite returns, season and series finales, and a steady mix of reality, drama, and library additions. It’s also delivering a number of comfort-watch hits alongside a few headline premieres.

Sideloading is a hot topic in the mobile sphere, and Google recently made a huge change for how it works on Android. I think it’s a fantastic change, and I wish Google would have added the 24 hour delay for sideloading unverified apps years ago, but I’m glad they’ve finally done it.

Unlike its rival Apple, Samsung products run on various operating systems, such as Android, ChromeOS, Windows, and Tizen. While this is great if you prefer flexibility, it also means that users rarely get a consistent and cohesive experience across their devices. But this could be changing with a new product that's reportedly in the works.

A cozy, long weekend is here, which means it's the perfect time to dive into our watch lists for the day and night. Netflix has many new releases to explore as May rolls in, but if you're looking for something a bit more classic, nostalgic, or acclaimed, we have you covered.

The turn of the millennium was a good time to be into tech. Devices we use every day, like digital cameras, portable media players, and early handheld computers, were becoming mainstream, yet they all ran into a bottleneck with storage costs. Floppy disks held too little data, and the new solid-state flash memory was expensive, costing hundreds of dollars for only a few megabytes. This gap let established companies try to innovate, and one firm tried to use its history with removable media to launch a tiny, affordable format meant to act as the first reusable, digital roll of film. This was clever engineering that ultimately could not save a product line already collapsing under the weight of its tarnished brand history, and then market pressures finished the job.

When it comes to content, there's little I love more than a good, gritty crime drama. From their dark, cynical, often realistic portrayals of criminal underworlds, violence, and justice systems to their heavily flawed, obsessed, anti-hero protagonists and intense, gritty tones, it all sucks us in, and it’s why we can’t look away. These types of criminal shows have carved out a powerful space in television by refusing to glamorize the worlds they depict and being willing to confront uncomfortable truths.