The launch of Gemini was once seen as a death knell for Google Assistant. Now, somewhat confusingly, Google Assistant is gaining new smart home capabilities “with help from Gemini.” It seems that the aging Assistant will coexist with Google’s darling LLM. Google never explicitly stated that Gemini would replace Assistant. But the writing was on the wall. Or, at least, it appeared to be there. Google Assistant has been in slow decline for years,losing key functionalityand progressively withering into a crappier version of what it once was....

Summary A big part of online security is something called password hygiene. Let’s go over what it is, how to maintain it, and exactly how it will keep you safe online. What is Password Hygiene? Password hygiene is a set of rules that make sure you are using passwords the right way. This includes usingstrong passwordsthat can’t easily be cracked, but also involves picking the right storage medium, enabling two-factor authentication, as well as a few other tactics....

World of Warcraftis still a massively popular, massively multiplayer game. Even though it’s not on Steam, you can still play it on your Steam Deck and there’s even a handy mod to adapt the game for a controller layout. Having never playedWoWbefore and being genuinely curious how well the Steam Deck handles third-party launchers, I decided it was time to see what all the fuss is about. I’m only two decades late, after all....

Summary The Action Button on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro models can only perform one action by default. However, you’re able to assign it to run a custom shortcut that will automatically change what the Action Button does depending on the orientation of your iPhone. Using the “If” Action in Shortcuts One of the most useful features of the Action Button is that it can be used torun a shortcut....

Web browsers store website history to speed up navigation and loading, and you can delete all of that history fairly easily, but you can also target site-specific history if you know the right steps to take. Why Delete History? One of the most common reasons forclearing any browser’s historyis when you’re using a public or otherwise shared computer. Clearing out the history when you’ve finished both protects your privacy, and prevents other users from potentially locating and logging into sites you’ve visited....

Quick Links Summary Downloading a whole website is useful if you want your own copy of the text, images, and other content on it, just in case the author deletes it or the website shuts down. However, web browsers don’t include this functionality out-of-the box. Here’s how to download a whole site using the wget tool. Before You Start Before you start, ensure you have enough disk space to save the site you want to download....

Quick Links Few things are more distracting than a screen that keeps flickering in the middle of something important—whether you’re watching a video or just texting. Regardless of if it’s an occasional flicker or a more persistent issue, this problem can stem from hardware and software causes. Here’s how to fix it. Why Is My Phone Screen Flickering? Screen flickering can be caused by a host of reasons, including software glitches and hardware problems....

Quick Links If you’re bored or not happy with the recommendations that Netflix has been serving up, and you think they no longer represent what content you’re trying to discover, there are a few things you can do to liven things up and find something new and exciting to watch. The recommendations you get on your Netflix account are based on a lot of things, such as your viewing activity, the devices used, time of day you watch, and even the tastes of similar users....

Quick Links Summary you may often move a game to another monitor in Windows by choosing a different monitor in that game’s graphical settings. You can also press Windows+Shift+Left arrow or Windows+Shift+Right arrow to move applications between displays. Additionally, you can disable a display with the built-in Projection options on Windows. If you havetwo monitorsor an external monitor with a laptop, some video games may start on the wrong screen. Not a big deal, right?...

Quick Links Ever heard of Hello World? This sample code is a programmer’s rite of passage, but what does it mean and why do we use it? Discover the program’s history and see how it reveals various language features. What Is Hello World? Whether you’re new to programming, or you’re learning your seventh language, a simple sample program helps. Running any program at all is a big step, so it’s wise to start with a tried-and-tested example....

The Ghostty terminal has created some noise in the Linux community. As a Linux user who loves exploring new tools, I just had to give it a shot. It had some cool features I wanted to explore. But is it worth replacing your terminal? Let’s find out. What is Ghostty? Ghosttyis a modernterminal emulatorcreated as a passion project by Mitchell Hashimoto. It’s designed to be fast, feature-rich, and fully native to both Linux and macOS....

Summary Perplexity has completely changed the game for everyday research which is a dream come true for a DIY’er like me. It saves you time answering your son’s question about the Roman Empire, mapping out the fuses in your old car, or even tackling a big backyard garden! Perplexity: An AI Expert in Your Pocket Perplexityis a conversational AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT that validates its answers with curated internet search results....

Summary There is no shortage of email clients to choose from, but I wanted one that was seamless to use across different devices and platforms. So, I tried many email clients to find the one that met my practical needs and was appealing to use. Here’s what I found. I Wanted a Cross-Platform Email Client to Keep My Devices in Sync I monitor seven email accounts. It can be cumbersome to set up a new device if I have to manually log into each account one at a time....