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Kodi is one of the oldest media centers, predating the rise of streaming services and self-hosted solutions like Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby. … [Read more...]

When you experience sluggish Wi-Fi in the back bedroom or a smart device constantly drops out, you might instantly assumeyour router is underpowered. Instead of analyzing your network environment, you fall for marketing hype and drop hundreds or sometimes even thousands of dollars on a high-end multi-node Wi-Fi mesh system. … [Read more...]

Since I've got dozens of services deployed across my workstations, I had to create a FOSS stack comprising applications whose sole task is to ensure my containers, virtual machines, and underlying hosts chug along without any issues. Authentik, for example, lends iDP functionality to all the web UIs in my arsenal that support SSO authentication, while Gotify acts as my primary alert server. ➪ … [Read more...]

I'm always surprised by how many useful Windows features stay out of sight. We often download another app when we need better control over our PC, assuming the built-in options are too basic. I've done the same thing more times than I can remember. But while looking for a better way to understand what was happening on my system, I came across a Windows utility called Resource Monitor that feels … [Read more...]

StarSkirmish pits AI-made StarCraft: Brood War bots against each other alongside human-made bots. Based on the latest leaderboard results, OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra and Claude Opus 5.5 are tied as the top-performing AI-created bots, but Stardust, a human-made bot, kept getting the edge over the AI creations. … [Read more...]

You know that little pause after you tap a smart plug, when you wonder whether it heard you? On my network, that pause came from a setting older than most of my gadgets: 802.11b support, left on in my fiber router's Wi-Fi mode. I'd already worked through the router settings most people never change and dropped my 2.4GHz channel width to 20MHz, so I didn't expect much. … [Read more...]

Google Maps and YouTube Music are probably the first two apps most people think of when they hear Android Auto, and for good reason. But after using Android Auto almost every day, I have realized that some of the most useful apps on my dashboard come from different categories. … [Read more...]

USB-C has become so ubiquitous on modern motherboards that I barely give the port a second thought anymore. It is just the convenient little connector I use for a few peripherals, an external drive, or whatever else happens to need a USB-C cable. However, some motherboard manufacturers make a much bigger deal about that seemingly ordinary port, and there's a pretty good reason why. ➪ Continue … [Read more...]

I've never had good luck getting television reception using a digital antenna. So I retired the bulky antenna that took up space and added to the cord clutter behind my TV. With a simple app and by adding movies, shows, and other media to channels, I created my own customized, live TV-style experience on Plex. … [Read more...]

The inexpensive price tags on ESP32 boards make them quite enticing to pick up when you're into building hobbyist projects. In fact, the base ESP32 board is often the most recommended option for newcomers, as it ships with decent specs, is easy to configure, and costs just a few bucks. Personally, that's the one I used when I was starting out, and I've since bought at least a dozen of them for … [Read more...]

Local AI has become much easier to explore, but most recommendations still point toward the same handful of popular tools. After experimenting with different projects, I realized plenty of smaller open-source optionsdeserve attention. They don't all try to do the same thing, and that's what makes exploring them interesting. Some can fill a specific gap in a local setup, while others introduce … [Read more...]

The smaller bedrooms upstairs have been my home's Wi-Fi black holes since I moved in. Video calls froze, my laptop dropped off the network, and my phone showed mostly full bars while refusing to load a single page. I did what everyone does and blamed the walls, then tried moving my second mesh node around, and even put a third into the cart just in case. … [Read more...]

I have tried plenty of free Microsoft Word alternatives over the years, but most of them eventually make me miss several features. Maybe the interface feels outdated, formatting breaks when I open a DOCX file, or a feature I rely on is locked behind a paid tier. … [Read more...]

Air versus liquid has been debated for decades within PC hardware circles. Both have merit, and can be incredibly effective if implemented properly with quality components, but one implementation of liquid cooling is particularly problematic. It completely tarnishes the good name of AIO coolers everywhere, and I can't believe people still use them. … [Read more...]

Tools that used to be great are now either abandoned or have a better alternative. Disk copying or cloning isn't a new thing. I've been cloning disks for quite a while, and Clonezilla is my unchanged preference. It's a simple tool that's miles better than copying a bunch of folders or complete drives to another one. You can also use it to create manual backups or move data to a different drive if … [Read more...]

Wireless Android Auto is one of those convenience features I love right until it starts acting up. On some drives, my phone connects within seconds and stays rock-solid. On others, it takes longer than usual, drops unexpectedly, or refuses to reconnect without some manual fiddling. … [Read more...]

With a modern Wi-Fi-based smart home, every single smart bulb, robotic vacuum, Wi-Fi plug, smart camera, and thermostat you buy dramatically spams your primary home network. Suddenly, your router's client table is flooded with dozens of chatty, low-bandwidth IoT devices. If you mix all of these IoT devices with high-throughput devices like your gaming PC or streaming 4K files from your NAS, this … [Read more...]

As someone who installed PowerToys for Command Palette and then ended up using its window management tools like FancyZones and Always On Top way more than I expected, I wish I had discovered File Locksmith sooner. So, you know how Windows doesn't let you delete, move, or rename a file when another program is using it? Sometimes Windows tells you which program has the file open, and that's an easy … [Read more...]

DLSS 5 has been impossible to escape lately. It's in my Instagram Reels, all over my YouTube homepage, and seemingly every other gaming creator has been feeding old games into it to see how close they can get to hyperrealism. None of those clips use the official DLSS 5, though. They use an unfinished DLSS 5 build that leaked with NBA 2K27's game files in late August, which the modders were quick … [Read more...]

One of the best parts of using agentic AI is that you can connect it to the tools you already use and have it do things for you. I already have Gmail and Google Drive connected to Claude Code, so it can reply to my emails and pull information from my files. I can also ask it to bring up messages that need a response or check upcoming events through my connected calendar. These are useful additions … [Read more...]