How-To Geek

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.

One of the downsides of having a touch screen on your wrist is that it can be inadvertently touched. In certain situations, you really don't want that to happen. Thankfully, the Pixel Watch has a solution for this, but it's not weirdly labeled.

Not every 3D printing project needs to be practical. Sometimes you just want to burn through some filament in the interest of having fun. These projects might seem pointless and even verge on wasteful at times, but if they bring a bit of joy to your day, then they’ve done their job.

Countless Windows apps have come and gone over the years. As our computing needs changed, some were replaced by better alternatives, while others simply became obsolete as new technologies emerged. Here are some iconic Windows apps you probably used regularly but haven't thought about in years.

While having a dash cam is not strictly a necessity in today's modern world, having one can be super beneficial if you're on the road driving and have a close call, especially as they can be revealing when the recording would otherwise be different from what the other driver's story tells. A solid dash cam can help you with situations where it's a 'he said, she said, as they provide an extra set of eyes—that's why Garmin's Mini 3 remains a popular choice, as its compact size remains out of sight while it's always recording. If you want more peace of mind while traveling, you can grab it on Amazon right now (it's under $100).

Have you ever glanced at your Android phone’s status bar and spotted a little landline phone icon you didn’t recognize? It is easy to dismiss an unfamiliar symbol or assume something has changed with your phone, but these tiny indicators can actually tell you quite a bit about what your device is doing.

UniFi hardware earns loyalty from people who want control over their networks. Yet your gateway, switches, and access points may be talking to Ubiquiti’s servers more often than you’d expect. Here’s what gets sent, why, and how to rein it in.