How-To Geek

Tell me if this sounds familiar. You have an older smart TV that's no longer compatible with your favorite streaming apps like Netflix, Prime Video, and others. It's actually fairly common because nothing lasts forever, and software updates eventually stop. That's especially true with electronics, and that's exactly why your Google TV has an expiration date.

Nothing beats unwinding with your favorite songs after a long day, and high-quality headphones like Sony's WH-CH720N can elevate the experience with their outstanding audio quality.

I've spent decades using Excel, so I'm wary of add-ins that promise to revolutionize my spreadsheets but demand my email address or charge for features Microsoft already provides through tools like Power Query. But a handful of free add-ins genuinely earn their spot on the ribbon. I'll start with a couple of handy Office add-ins I use regularly, then move on to the heavier hitters that do real work in my spreadsheets.

Android trackers and AirTags are great for keeping track of your luggage or your keys. You can use your phone to see the location of your tracker and even get precise directions to locate some trackers once you're in their general location. There are some clever ways to use Android trackers and AirTags that go beyond just keeping tabs on your bags.

You're not alone if you can't even reach the home screen on your brand-new Galaxy S26 Ultra. Samsung has confirmed that a bug is preventing some owners from getting past the setup process, rendering the Android flagship phone effectively useless.

Today I want to take a closer look at a set of tweaks and adjustments that can help you preserve battery life during emergency scenarios. Most battery-saving advice focuses on reasonable tasks that do have an impact, but this time we'll push it further.

NFC tags are really useful for triggering smart home automations. They're cheap to buy, they don't need batteries or to be connected to power, and you can stick them almost anywhere. I wondered if it would be possible to use my expired credit cards as NFC tags, and it turned out that they can be even more useful than the standard stickers.

Wi-Fi is one of the best inventions in history, but also one of the worst. I have spent so many hours of my life troubleshooting Wi-Fi dead zones or spotty performance that the only devices in my home that use Wi-Fi are those that absolutely need to.

Your flashy-yet-affordable headphones might just sound better. Bose has acquired Skullcandy, and there's a potentially huge impact on the audio world.

A subwoofer is essential to getting a complete audio experience. It's the only way to access those deep-down frequencies that you don't just hear with your ears but feel in your body. Regardless of your favorite genres of music or movies, expanding into the depths of the bass realm will elevate the whole thing.

Cursor made AI-assisted coding feel effortless, but its subscription and cloud dependence left me looking for something leaner. Cline, an open-source extension for VS Code, covered most of what I needed, including working fully offline with local models.

Building a smart home can be an expensive business. Some devices, such as cheap Zigbee sensors, can cost just a few bucks, but other devices can run to hundreds of dollars. The good news is that it's often possible to build your own smart home devices, and the total cost can sometimes work out far less than buying a ready-made product.

It's the weekend again, which means it's time to break out those Linux workstations and use them as computers were intended: solving problems and having fun. I've found a few more native Linux applications that range from practical to niche in usecase.

I'm going to be honest with you: I don't like Android's old three-button navigation bar. I moved on to gestures as soon as they were added, but I can't deny they're not perfect. Far from it, actually. Some things still work better with the good ol' buttons.

Add up the hours you spend in meetings each week, then add up the time you spend dealing with them afterwards. For many people in sales and consulting, those two numbers are uncomfortably close. You need to tidy notes, update the CRM, send a follow-up email while the conversation is still fresh, and get any deadlines on your calendar before they slip your mind.

Most Ryobi owners love their affordable, bright-green tools, and many of us have a huge collection of 18V ONE+ tools in our garages. Over 350 products fit the same battery, and that's pretty important. However, there are several products where you'll want more power, and that's where the Ryobi 40V platform comes to save the day.

Windows 11 sends a surprising amount of information about your PC to Microsoft every single day. If you dig through the Settings app, you'll find that there isn't even a single place where you can shut it all off—at best, it is a patchwork of toggles you can disable. In many cases, the telemetry, account requirements, and, increasingly, the AI features, aren't things you can uninstall or even disable. They're integral parts of the operating system.

Google is taking another crack at convincing consumers that it can make compelling laptops for the masses, and the name of this latest attempt is "Googlebook." Chromebooks have officially begun their long decline into obscurity, leaving Googlebooks to bridge the gaps between ChromeOS, Android, Linux, and all the AI features Google wants you to use. At the core of Googlebook OS is the full Google Play Store and its millions of apps, but my time with Android apps on the first-generation Lenovo Googlebook 15 has laid out an undeniable truth: Progressive Web Apps are still superior, and it's not a close fight.

You'd think that having a discrete GPU gives you all the freedom in the world. Enjoy every game you like at any given time, provided your graphics card can actually handle it (and for those that can't, there's always DLSS 5 in its entire AI-slop-esque glory).

Like many people, I've never been a fan of software subscriptions, especially for applications I only use occasionally. I also enjoy testing new software and finding free alternatives to paid applications. So when I recently wrote about ArtCraft’s ambitious collection of open-source alternatives to Adobe Creative Suite, it got me thinking. I downloaded the entire ArtCraft suite and spent quite a bit of time testing the different apps.