How-To Geek

It's easy to assume an old Chromecast has reached the end of its useful life once you've upgraded your TV or moved on to a newer streaming device. After all, if you no longer need it to stream movies and shows, what else could a tiny HDMI dongle possibly do? For many people, the answer is simply to toss it into a drawer and forget about it, or throw it away when they finally get around to cleaning out their old electronics.

If there's one Google app that has fundamentally transformed the way we deal with life and experiences, it has to be Google Maps. Since its launch in early 2005, the app has evolved, taking different shapes and features, which has made it one of the indispensable tools in my day-to-day life. The app has been constantly evolving, from offering improved Street View features to adding a generative AI layer—and so has my usage.

Google Maps has a long list of useful features for everyone, from drivers and cyclists to walkers and public transit users. The navigation app also has some underrated features that often fly under the radar, especially if you don't know what to look for.

The start of the month on Netflix means the streaming service has unveiled its list of news movies and shows. Ben Affleck's Animals and Chris Evans' Sacrifice are two of the new movies to watch this month. For TV, Florence Pugh headlines a famous literary adaptation, which is now streaming on Netflix. Plus, Josh Hartnett battles a mysterious underwater monster.

If you've heard people talking about Linux, they've probably said that it's complicated. The thing is, the right distribution changes that. After five years of actually using Linux in my rotation of operating systems, I keep recommending the same three options to friends and family who barely know what an OS is. Here is why they work.

3D printing is easier to access than ever, and part of that is because great printers are cheaper than ever. The best part of 3D printing is that it can actually enhance other hobbies in ways you might never expect, so here are three hobbies that 3D printing can make nearly free once you buy the printer itself.

It seems that 2026 is the year that PCs shrink, and I'm fully on board with that. The Lenovo Yoga Mini Gen 11 is a system I didn't expect though. With an overall size right around that of an MX Master mouse, and enough power to actually handle some decent gaming, this mini desktop might be my favorite mini PC of the year.

We use our devices throughout the day, and having a single cable to charge them all is inconvenient and time-consuming. Acer's 3-in-1 wireless charger is the perfect solution because you can top up your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods simultaneously without fiddling with cables or looking for ports.

October has barely started, and Paramount+ has already stuffed more than 100 new movies into its library for U.S. viewers. With Halloween creeping up, it's good to know that plenty of those titles are thrillers, perfect for those looking to add a little edge to their movie nights.

AI is currently a legitimate tool for programming and web design, but it has a huge problem—just like literally every other AI-generated thing out there, it has a tendency to produce slop, and there's no magic fix for it. Thankfully, these 3 plugins make it easier to iterate on your designs, which is really all that matters.

Have you ever wanted to test out hardware authentication for passwordless logins? I know I have, but I'm too cheap to spend $30 on a Yubikey. Instead, I decided to take a $6 ESP32 I already had in a drawer and see if I could replicate the YubiKey experience, and I'm surprised by how easy it was.

Have you ever felt like you’re not getting the most out of your Linux terminal? Well, you’re not alone. Over the years, I've found several Linux tools that have transformed my workflow and improved my command-line productivity. Let's take a look at my list of Linux power-ups.

Book-style foldable phones give people sticker shock, and understandably so — $2,000 is a lot of money. The thing is, I have never paid that much for any of the foldable phones I’ve owned, and truth be told, they’ve saved me far more than they've cost.

Milwaukee didn't become one of the most popular tool brands by accident—its M12 and M18 lines dominate jobsites and trades everywhere, and for good reason. There's no denying the appeal, but just because they're one of the best doesn't mean they're right for you.

Nearly every Linux user has used the grep command to search for text with regular expressions, a precise text-searching language. But the grep command is over 50 years old. Here are some modern replacements you might want to consider.

Most consumer routers are designed to be user-friendly, often at the expense of more powerful and interesting controls.

Excel's filter button is useful, but I've realized I was relying on it for the wrong job. When all I wanted was the highest or lowest number that matched a certain condition, filtering meant hiding rows, sorting data, and then resetting everything afterward. But two functions I recently stumbled across have given me a much cleaner way to get those answers.

Water may not be as much of a mortal enemy to an Android phone or iPhone as it used to be, but that doesn't mean they're great friends. Wet electronics should be dried as soon as possible, and there's a common household item that people always seem to choose for the job: rice. That's a bad idea.

We spend a lot of time talking about Kindle alternatives like Kobo, Xteink, and Boox. But there are some forgotten Kindle rivals that rarely make it into the conversation, including Sony, which might be the most unfairly unrecognized eReader pioneer of all time.

Dual-booting Windows and Linux can work well, but Windows rarely cooperates. Updates, security features, and default power settings can each disrupt a shared setup. Here are four ways Windows causes trouble for Linux installs, and what you can do about each one.