How-To Geek

Sometimes, you can create an automation in Home Assistant, and it will work perfectly the first time. Sadly, this isn't always the case. If your automation isn't working as expected, you may be able to find the problem faster using traces.

It’s common knowledge that many apps use algorithms these days. However, years before “For You” timelines, Spotify subscribers were already complaining about the algorithm. Well, the music service is finally giving you the keys to its recommendation engine with Prompted Playlists.

While most desktop environments (DEs) evolve gradually, GNOME prefers dramatic revolutions. I tested all the major GNOME releases over the last weekend, and it was a journey through radical redesigns and shifting ideas about computing paradigms. Here's how it evolved over the last 27 years.

Google Photos is one of my most-used apps, but I have to admit I don’t love everything about it. When an app tries to do as much as Google Photos does, there’s bound to be things that annoy you. Thankfully, most of these things can be simply disabled.

I spend the better part of most days working on a computer. Writing, editing, managing files, jumping between apps, it all adds up fast. When your day lives inside Windows 11, even small bits of friction start to feel expensive. Every extra click, every manual resize, every time you retype the same thing slows you down more than you realize.

Most people know VLC as the orange-cone app that plays everything. But, did you know that VLC media player is a Swiss Army knife for media? Here is why.

You've built a perfect Excel table, but the moment you try to use its headers in a drop-down menu, everything breaks. Excel's Data Validation is notoriously picky with tables, but there's a clever workaround. So, stop hard-coding your menus and use this dynamic sync instead.

Automakers have been chasing speed and power for over 100 years. When developing a new sports car, these aspects are the benchmarks for success. Auto engineers try to achieve this feat by increasing power, reducing weight, and using just about every other trick in the book to improve a new model’s performance. Today, cars are reaching performance levels that are at the limits of what most humans can handle.

Whether you've had an old PC sitting in a closet collecting dust, or your old Windows 10 PC recently became a relic thanks to Windows 11's hardware requirements, one of the best ways you can put it to work is a Home Assistant server.

Your Apple TV is likely the last device you upgrade regularly. In recent years, updates have primarily focused on faster chips and a redesigned Siri Remote, which remains compatible with older models.

Notepad was overhauled with a modern interface and new features alongside Windows 11, and Microsoft has continued updating it. Now, the text editor is getting even more Markdown editing features and a few other changes.

German luxury compact SUVs are often associated with high price tags, but one particular model has quietly proven that premium doesn’t always mean pricey. This SUV delivers the refinement, comfort, and technology buyers expect from a German brand, yet it does so with a value proposition that surprises many shoppers who assume higher costs come with the badge. For those balancing luxury and sensible spending, it’s becoming one of the most attractive options in its segment.

We’ve all played mobile games that rely on tapping, swiping, and tilting, but what about plugging and unplugging your charging cable? As strange as it sounds, that’s exactly what a clever web developer created, and you can play it on your Android phone without downloading anything.

The graphics card market is a fickle beast. One year, it'll be teeming with options for every price range; the next, it'll be barren during a shortage. The ongoing RAM-pocalypse is definitely pushing us toward that latter state, but there are still GPUs left to buy—for now.

Google is stepping up its security game for educational institutions by adding automated ransomware detection directly into Google Drive. This gives administrators and users a better defense against data loss and the threat of ransom payments. It also provides a safety net if an attack has already happened.

There are many reasons why Samsung Galaxy XR is the first VR headset I’ve actually wanted, but the best thing about it is something that neither Samsung nor Google felt the need to highlight. This is the most open, unrestricted headset on the market today—a device I can truly make my own.

Home Assistant is free, open-source smart home software that allows you to connect and control a huge number of smart home devices, regardless of their brand or ecosystem. It's a technological marvel, but my favorite thing about Home Assistant has nothing to do with the tech at all.

Microsoft has confirmed that its latest Windows updates, released on January 13, 2026, are causing several applications to freeze when accessing files stored on cloud services like OneDrive and Dropbox. This is just one in a series of critical bugs discovered in the recent patch.

The greatest TV show of all time is a subject that's hotly debated. Several shows are regularly cited as being the best, but you're all wrong. The greatest TV show of all time is actually something else.

Raspberry Pi boards have supported USB gadget mode for years, allowing you to connect a Pi to a computer with one cable for power and SSH/desktop access. Now, there's a much easier way to try it out, and it's built into Raspberry Pi OS.