How-To Geek

So you’re thinking about a second 3D printer. You’re enjoying the hobby to the extent that you’re rubbing up against limitations that can only be solved with a hole in your wallet.

I held off jailbreaking my Kindle for a long time, as I was afraid of bricking a device I was still using. When Amazon dropped support for my Kindle 4, there was no longer anything holding me back, so I performed the jailbreak and installed KOReader. Now I wish I'd done it sooner; KOReader's PDF support is so much better.

Flat Ethernet cables give you a sleek, out-of-the-way option instead of those big, round cables that are just tough to conceal and many are great for gaming. Its thin, ribbon-like shape makes it great for tucking under carpets, along baseboards, or neatly behind your entertainment center. This helps you get that clean, professional look without needing a lot of in-wall wiring.

If you're having trouble landing IMAX tickets to The Odyssey, another Matt Damon movie now streaming on Prime Video. The sci-fi epic is the perfect weekend watch, especially for fans of the famous Boston native.

I love my Kindle. I've used it for 15 years, and it's served me well throughout that entire time. The problem isn't the hardware; it's the ecosystem that goes with it. That's why I won't ever buy another Kindle; I don't trust Amazon to give it the long life it deserves.

I'm frustrated with various companies because we live in a time when everything is licensed to us; we don't own it after making the purchase. Amazon has never been one of my favorite corporations. But, like many of you, I've bought things from them numerous times over the years. That includes quite a bit of my current music collection.

If you want to monitor your home network, router apps can often provide useful information. Some of these apps require paid subscriptions to access the most useful data. I built my own network monitoring dashboard in Home Assistant, and it cost me nothing.

Anyone building a homelab today has more choices than ever. A few years ago, Unraid was often the first recommendation for anyone who wanted to store files and run Plex. It made home servers approachable, especially for users who did not want to learn enterprise virtualization.

I like to think that my house is full of interesting things, but I’m very aware that the walls are a bit bare. One option is to use a 3D printer to brighten the place up since there are so many decor options available.

Free and open source software (FOSS) is the default choice when you're running Linux—it is a huge talking point and a very real part of Linux culture. However, while that is an ideal worth striving for, the reality is that some of the best tools available for a given job don't yet have FOSS alternatives.

Modern life sure is hectic. It seems like there's always something going on. We can all build bad habits along the way. Watches, trackers, and all the different productivity apps are fine; but I found something that worked even better for me: a few formulas on an Excel spreadsheet.

With new SUV prices continuing to climb, even mainstream family crossovers now carry price tags that were once reserved for luxury vehicles. That has made the used market increasingly attractive, especially for buyers who value comfort, refinement, and long-term reliability over having the latest technology.

Looking for a good movie to throw on this weekend (or into the week, for that matter)? HBO Max isn't just a den for dragons, it also hosts a giant library of great movies, from comedies and thrillers to high drama and documentaries, that it updates every month, with many coming on loan from other studios.

Spending around $30,000 on a sporty sedan usually leads buyers straight to the Honda Civic Si. It's quick, efficient, well-equipped, and backed by Honda's hard-earned reputation for reliability.

Since I've jailbroken my ancient Kindle 4, I've been amazed by what I've been able to do with it. I've turned it into an E-Ink smart home dashboard, used it as a Pocket replacement, and even made it into a slow-refresh secondary monitor. I'd seen that you could add an LLM to KOReader, but I wondered if this was taking things too far.

Any serious Linux user will have their list of favorite command-line apps that they immediately install on any new machine. I am no exception. It seems I'm finding more apps that I want to install. Here are some more of my go-to terminal apps.

As new car prices continue to rise, more owners are choosing to hold onto their current vehicles longer, as the average car in the U.S. is now nearly 13 years old. To keep your car running smoothly well into its teen years, routine maintenance is essential. Two of the simplest and most affordable maintenance items, the engine air filter and the cabin air filter, are often overlooked.

Make sure your passwords are secure with Proton Pass—and save up to 50% on the Pass Plus plan while you're at it.

For years, Pixel phone owners had to put up with a unified "Internet" Quick Settings tile that combined the Wi-Fi and mobile data toggles. If you wanted to toggle your Wi-Fi or mobile data radio, you couldn't simply tap the appropriate tile like you could for more than a decade. Nope, you had to tap it once to open the Internet panel and then tap again to disable or enable Wi-Fi or mobile data.

If you've ever wondered why one of the ports on the back of your TV appears to glow, that's the optical digital audio output via a TOSLINK port. It uses light to transmit data through a fiber-optic cable, which is why the port can appear to glow. While HDMI ARC and eARC have become the standard way to connect a TV to speakers, there are still a surprising number of things you can use your optical audio port for.