How-To Geek

Unless you're typing in IP addresses by hand, every single time you visit a website, you perform a DNS lookup first. By default, your network probably points to a public DNS server, like your ISP's server, Google's 8.8.8.8, or Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1. They're convenient and fast, but it also means that a third-party gets an unredacted view of the websites you visit.

It's possible to connect Home Assistant to AI services such as Claude. Depending on the connector you use, your AI chatbot can not only read information about your smart home but also write automations, build dashboards, turn things on and off, and more. I'd seen plenty of people rave about it, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Beach season comes early in Florida, and when I started taking inventory of our usual beach gear, I realized we were missing something we use all the time: a decent portable Bluetooth speaker. I could have just bought a new Bluetooth speaker and been done with it, but I wasn't in a rush. I figured I'd keep an eye out and see what turned up.

When Android was fresh and new, it was desperate for someone to take home screens seriously. That person was Federico Carnales, and his app was LauncherPro. It quickly became the darling child of the Android world, but it disappeared just as fast.

Smart bulbs were the first smart home devices I ever bought, and it didn't take long before they started causing complaints in my home. While smart bulbs can be very useful, allowing you to control your lights remotely or with automations, they have some glaring issues that can cause a lot of frustration. Thankfully, a cheap NFC tag was enough to solve the most annoying problems.

If you've ever been in a minor fender bender and wished you had footage to back you up, you'll understand why dashcams have gone from niche accessory to near-essential kit. The VIOFO A329S 3CH takes that logic further than most—it doesn't just cover the front, it covers the front, the cabin, and the rear simultaneously—all in 4K, 2K, and 2K.

Replacing a polished, multi-billion dollar service like Spotify or Apple Music with self-hosted software seems daunting, but it actually isn't.

Most homelabs begin with dashboards because dashboards help manage mess and make things look clear. Most people use things like Grafana panel, Portainer, a Proxmox summary tab, and an uptime monitor to make a bunch of services look like infrastructure until you realize that the system only helps when you are already looking at it. That is where Gotify started to make sense. A dashboard waits for me to check it, but a good alert tells me when something needs a look.

You might think that an all-SSD NAS is a waste of money—and you'd be right. However, I still find a use for one in my homelab. Here's how I use my all-SSD NAS when I have several other storage systems already in my homelab.

The most exciting part of building a smart home is adding new gadgets. Whether it's a cool new sensor, smart plug, camera, or light bulb, it's easy to keep expanding your setup over time—especially now that even inexpensive devices are Matter-compatible.

If your Linux system is running low on storage, you don't need to spend hours going through files and deleting what you don't need. There's an easier way to do it. Let me show you what I do when I need to declutter and clear up space.

Are you in the mood for a rom-com this weekend? Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein star in Office Romance, a new movie now streaming on Netflix.

Bluetooth is one of those convenient features we all use so much that we often take for granted. In recent years, Bluetooth quality, range, and reliability have greatly improved, but we still deal with frustrating disconnections at times. We've all been there, forgetting a device and trying to re-pair it, but there's one setting that should eliminate most of those problems.

Supports are a necessary but often frustrating part of 3D printing. These structures serve as a base for overhanging elements, so that your model doesn’t warp or sag in unexpected ways.

Building an Excel dashboard usually means spending an entire afternoon on layout design. So, I pitted ChatGPT against Gemini to see which tool automates the grunt work best—and only one came close to what I hoped for.

From swarms of lovebugs along the Gulf Coast to dust storms on the Southern Plains and pollen blanketing nearly the entire country, keeping your car clean this time of year is a real challenge. And that’s not even counting the daily barrage of rain, mud, and road grime.

Who’s up for a weekend full of thrilling, pulse-pounding entertainment on Amazon Prime Video? These types of shows thrive on tension, unexpected twists, and complex characters to pull audiences into worlds where danger lurks around every corner and nothing is ever quite what it seems, and that's where we're heading.

Buying an ESP32 development board can be a little confusing for a newcomer. These dev kits are available from a variety of different manufacturers at slightly different prices, and some even come embedded in other devices.

Hulu tends to fly under the radar next to its flashier rivals like Netflix and Prime Video (it also pumps out fewer titles each month), but tucked inside that Disney+ bundle is one of the best catalogs in streaming, including stunning FX shows like Alien: Earth and The Bear, a bottomless true-crime well, comedies, thrillers, and more.

Excel and other spreadsheets are ubiquituous in business because they let you create simple graphics. If you want to take your reports and presentations to the next level, you might want to consider learning Python to create powerful visualizations that will help you stand out from the crowd.