Quick Links Tough times are upon us, yet streaming prices keep going up. There’s never been a better time to build a Plex media server and stream your personal library of shows and movies. Thankfully, these Prime Day deals make the price of entry slightly less painful. The Best NAS, Mini PC and NVIDIA Shield Deals Technically speaking,anycomputercan be aPlexmedia server. The old laptop that’s hidden in your closet could get the job done....

Summary For some time, Dolby Vision HDR has been available for native titles on Disney+, but not on their Blu-ray 4K discs. For those who care about physical media, it’s been a tough time dealing with lesser-quality movies, but thankfully, Disney has announced that this will change soon. Disney Is Rolling out 4K Blu-Rays Mastered for Dolby Vision I’m not sure why it took so long, but Disney seems to have finally realized that their 4K Blu-rays could benefit fromDolby Visionmasters....

Summary A thermostat is an integral part of a home, which is why so many good smart thermostats have been around for a while. TheEcobee Smart Thermostat Essentialis another addition to that list with a basic set of features at a reasonable price; just don’t expect anything exciting from it. Ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential provides built-in energy savings and easy temperature control on its sleek touchscreen and convenient app....

I’m obsessed withThe Walking Dead. I’ve read the comics, played the games, and watched all the shows. That means many hundreds of hours of my life have been spent inThe Walking Deaduniverse, which is why I feel qualified to rank the TV shows from worst to best. For the uninitiated, you may be surprised to know just how manyWalking Deadspin-off shows there are. I think they all have redeeming qualities, but some are certainly better than others....

Microsoft has announced the introduction of OneNote’s Draw and Hold gesture to the Excel and PowerPoint Windows desktop apps. The tool tidies up roughly drawn shapes, turning them into straight, neat versions and saving you from having to find the shape in the programs' bulky drop-down menus. Draw and Hold was first added to the Microsoft OneNote Windows desktopapp in 2023, given its usefulness for people who wanted to add shapes to their note-taking while keeping them neat and tidy....

Electrification is transforming more than just the powertrain—it’s reshaping all kinds of vehicle components. Automakers are moving beyond hybrids and EVs, electrifying systems like water pumps, power steering, and even engine oil pumps to boost efficiency. That last one—the oil pump—is at the center of a new issue for the 2025HyundaiPalisade. A defect in the electric oil pump could potentially lead to overheating and, in rare cases, fire. It’s not a widespread problem, but it’s serious enough for Hyundai toissue a recall....

For years, cellphones sported infrared emitters and receivers, and with the dawn of smartphones they were replaced with IR “blasters” that could operate anything with an IR remote control receiver. Then suddenly this feature almost completely disappeared. It’s tragic, and here’s why. The Mystery of Why IR Blasters Left Us Unlike headphone jacks, which haveseveral argumentsas to why they needed to go, it’s not entirely clear to me why IR blasters in smartphones had to make an exit....

Summary GitHub is an online platform for developers to collaborate on code and publish their software. Lots of it is 100% free, and some of it is absolutely top-tier. However, because it’s made for developers, it’s not exactly user-friendly. Here’s how to find your way around. How to Find (Reputable!) Free Software Searching for “free” apps on the internet can be perilous. Malware creators are just itching for you to click on a search result that leads to their malicious site (and they’re pretty good at making them look attractive), and then tricking you into downloading a virus or trojan....

Summary Apple has finally broken its password management system out of the Settings menu and into a dedicated app, and not a second too soon. Here is how and why you should take advantage of Apple Passwords on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. What Is the Passwords App? The Passwords app provides easy access to all your account passwords, passkeys, and verification codes in a single place. You can create new passwords and manage, edit, and update existing passwords....

Staring at the screen for half an hour and only managing to write a single line used to be frustrating. After years of writing, I’ve found some ways to push past this invisible barrier when writing in Microsoft Word. Here are a few tips to overcome writer’s block when the words don’t come easy. 1Custom Templates Help Me Navigate Across Sections Staring at a blank screen is often where writer’s block begins....

Quick Links Summary By giving ChatGPT enough context and information, you can help it know things beyond what’s in its data set for the duration of a given chat. ChatGPTis limited by the age of its data set, so it won’t give you answers or perform tasks that rely on newer information than that. However, you can manually update what it knows, at least for your current chat. ChatGPT’s Default Knowledge Limits ChatGPT is a language model that has been developed based on the GPT-3....

Quick Links Your phone is likely packed with apps—some you use daily, others collecting digital dust. All that clutter eats up precious storage. That’s where app archiving comes in: a simple, hassle-free way to free up space without deleting anything permanently. What is App Archiving? Think of app archiving as temporarily packing away an app you don’t use often, like stashing a winter coat in the closet. When you archive an app, Android removes its installation files to free up space but keeps your personal data safe....

Quick Links Summary Developers have a special set of needs from their operating system, such as performance and access to a wide range of development tools. Knowing that, can we pick a ‘best’ Linux distribution for programmers? Is Linux Good for Software Development? At one time, it was common to hear Linux described as an operating system for developers. It wasn’t recommended for the casual or non-technical user. You had to be at least partially code-savvy to even use Linux....