How-To Geek

The old-school flashlight is legendary. It was heavy, dependable, and ate up those big, bulky D-cell batteries. I used to think the weight of a metal tube meant quality, and that the sputtering yellow glow from an incandescent bulb showed you were really ready for anything. In reality, these old flashlights that seem so dependable are outdated.

The Discord messaging application is getting a much-needed speed boost on desktop platforms. There are also new improvements to screenshots and game streams, a new way to share times, and much more.

Once, each new generation of graphics card promised to bring large performance gains, and if you wanted to play the latest and greatest AAA games at high resolutions, you needed to upgrade or be left behind. However, NVIDIA's continued improvements to DLSS have made upgrading less important than it used to be.

On Linux, pipes and redirection let you use the output from commands in powerful ways. Capture it in files, or use it as input with other commands. Here’s what you need to know.

Keeping a hard drive on a drawer is probably the most common approach to storing files over the long term. A lot of people don't do it properly, though, to the point I've actually discouraged this practice previously.

Welcome to the film and television capital of the country. Thanks to Hollywood, Los Angeles continues to be directly associated with the entertainment industry. Many of the major studios, including Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures, still have production lots either in Los Angeles or the surrounding cities.

It’s that time of year when Google releases a budget version of its most recent “flagship” phone. The Pixel 10 series launched last Fall, and now we’re getting our first official look at the Pixel 10a. Google is teasing us with some close-up shots, but not much else.

IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, PhpStorm, and other JetBrains IDEs are finally adopting Wayland. That means sharper text and better performance on most Linux systems, but there are still some bugs to be worked out.

3D printing model repositories are full of items designed to hold food and drink or be used in the kitchen to prepare food. But before you print any of these, you need to understand the risks involved in mixing 3D prints and food.

Gaming GPU prices had hit a sweet spot just a few months ago, but due to memory shortages and the ever-increasing thirst for AI compute, prices are going through the roof yet again. Looks like another GPU crisis is around the corner, and it's going to take a while before things return to normal.

Whether you're a professional or a DIYer, you likely have a preferred power tool brand and a stash of battery packs. Then, the deeper you go, you've probably upgraded to some of the latest and greatest, like the Milwaukee Fuel line. Another option you may be considering is a hydraulic impact driver, which is quickly becoming a fan-favorite tool.

If you grew up in the 90s with a beige Windows PC, there’s a good chance you spent hours staring at a very specific pair of speakers. The Harman/Kardon HK195 speakers were ubiquitous in the early internet era, and artist @gwakproductions has brought them back in a massive way—literally.

There are many helpful sensors for your smart home, from humidity sensors to door and window sensors. But there's one sensor in particular that sounds a little crazy, but can actually be incredibly useful.

Amazon is now rolling out its upgraded Alexa virtual assistant to everyone in the United States. A free chat interface is available, but for full functionality, you need an Amazon Prime membership or Alexa+ subscription.

OneNote is a well-designed note-taking application, but after trusting my data to Microsoft and Google for years, I've decided to try and reclaim some privacy. This is how I switched to a privacy-focused, self-hosted note-taking app.

Ready to ditch Windows and move to Linux? Has your research led you to Linux Mint and Zorin OS, leaving you unsure which one to choose? Well, here’s a quick overview of their core differences so you can pick the one that best suits your needs and workflow.

If you're using a Google TV device, you might notice from time to time that your shows and movies tend to buffer a lot. That's when the program stops and starts as it waits for more data.

Are you still hanging on to an old Samsung Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, or the big Galaxy S21 Ultra? If so, it's finally time to let go, move on, and replace it with something newer. In a move that shouldn't come as a surprise, Samsung has officially discontinued software support for these phones, and they won't receive new updates or security patches moving forward.

Browsers come packed with features that no one thinks twice about using, but one of the most important ones is the password manager. Access to your credit cards, bank accounts, and social media logins are all stored in one place. Rather than trusting them to my browser, I've opted to use BitWarden instead.

You don't need to settle for a network that only works some of the time. US Mobile offers multiple networks to keep you connected wherever you are.