How-To Geek

Whether you're commuting to work or heading on a cross-country road trip, your car's infotainment system is vital. For years, I settled for the average Android Auto experience that's often laggy, cluttered, and tethered to a USB cable, but not anymore. I recently made several changes and now have the ultimate Android Auto setup, and here's how.

Paying for multiple apps when I don't even use them to the fullest seemed like a waste. Each one served different purposes but had one common goal: managing and organizing my files. Individually, each app made sense. Together, they felt like overkill.

Sensors are some of the most useful devices you can add to your smart home. If you want true automation rather than simply control, sensors can give you the signals you need. Smart home sensors can be relatively expensive, but you can make your own using an ESP32 board for just a few dollars.

With the age of streaming, audiences have greater access to television from across the globe. From simultaneous global releases of the latest hits to classics and lesser-known gems, streaming viewers can access the latest hits at the touch of their fingertips. However, even with this greater availability, it hasn't stopped studios from reimagining existing series from a new cultural perspective.

I think Pixel devices have attractive hardware, but personally, it’s the software that turns me off. Google has gone all-in on Gemini and AI, introducing it in an ever-growing number of ways. Fortunately, that turning off can go both ways. If you also think “No, thanks” every time Gemini rears its head, here are various ways you can take back your phone.—

It doesn't feel that long ago that one of the first things I did with a new WIndows installation was get some antivirus software on there. At first, I used free software like Avast, but eventually I ponied up for paid software, especially after my computer was connected to the internet and I had more to worry about than an infected USB drive.

Turn your MacBook into your all-in-one workstation—and save while you're doing so.

Not only is the Raspberry Pi a cheap and good purchase, but it can even help you save even more money in the long run if you use it correctly. Here are some ways your Raspberry Pi can be helpful in keeping money in your bank account.

It’s one of those "out of sight, out of mind" maintenance items on our cars. Most of us don't think about our brakes until they start squeaking or the pedal feels a bit mushy or strange under our foot. We change our oil religiously and rotate our tires when it's time, but brake fluid is often the most neglected fluid in the entire vehicle.

For years, Pi-hole occupied a comfortable place in the self-hosting stack. It was the thing I recommended to friends who wanted "network-wide ad blocking" without understanding DNS. It ran on a Raspberry Pi, required minimal maintenance, and gave me that quiet satisfaction of watching ad domains get blackholed at the network edge.

When you’re consumed by a hobby, it’s normal to want to spend some money on it. But what if you’re spending your money on the wrong thing? And what if you bought something else that both kickstarts a new hobby and augments your existing pastimes?

Repurposing a 1TB or 2TB SSD is easy enough. There's always something you can do with those, from game drives to external drives for backups. But when it comes to things like 250GB HDDs or 120GB SATA drives, it might seem like we're not as spoiled for choice.

Live-action video game adaptations seem to be populating on streaming services these days, and I couldn’t be happier about it. After years of teasing that my favorite game might be adapted into a live-action series, it’s finally happening. In 2022, Sony confirmed the development of a God of War TV show and, in January, cast its lead.

My homelabbing journey started off like many of you, with just one server. I finally moved to using multiple servers about a year ago and I can say that my homelab has never been more stable than it is now, and I couldn’t be more happy with the setup.

Equipping a vehicle as advanced as the Tesla Cybertruck with functional accessories doesn’t always mean spending thousands of dollars. While Tesla’s engineering is world-class, you can make a few strategic upgrades to the Cybertruck for about $200 on Amazon. These accessories will enhance the experience of driving a Cybertruck, whether you are on a Tuesday morning grocery run, a hot Friday night date, or a long weekend off-grid excursion.

The Raspberry Pi Pico, and its newer sibling, the Pico 2, isn't designed to be a tiny mini PC like most of the Raspberry Pi family. Instead, it is designed for hardware projects and embedded applications. This is how to get started with one.

Are you looking for ways to cut your reliance on the cloud, bring the services you use in-house, and bolster your online safety? If so, then you absolutely should replace cloud-hosted services with self-hosted alternatives. Here's 12 privacy-focused self-hosted apps and the services they replace.

There are so many streaming services out there that have taken over the world with their movies and TV shows. Netflix has some great shows (even if their recommendations are broken), HBO Max has released some awesome films, and several other platforms have joined the party and created their own projects.

Home Assistant is a smart home platform that operates on a PC in your home, not in the cloud—so if you don't already have spare hardware lying around, you're going to have to find some. But what if I told you there's one type of computer you can buy that will save you money upfront, provide you with excess performance, and keep energy costs low at the same time?

You've paid the premium subscription fee, invested in a beautiful 4K television, and your home network is humming along far beyond Netflix's minimum Mbps requirement for Ultra HD and 4K streaming. Despite checking every box, you still catch distracting digital squares in dark scenes, or subtle color gradients turn into harsh, discrete stripes.