This $40 battery ring is more useful than every portable charger I’ve tested
I’ve owned many portable external battery banks. I typically look at how much power they hold, how fast they can charge other devices, and how big they are—but my latest battery came with a perk I didn’t know to look for. Can you use your phone while charging? There’s a difference between an active battery […]
Excel’s best cleanup trick is hidden behind Ctrl+G
Most people I know hit Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V in Excel hundreds of times a day, but have never pressed Ctrl+G. They’re missing out because the Go To dialog that opens is just the front door, and the real cleanup power lives behind a small button labeled Special. It can grab every blank cell, every formula, […]
Don’t buy a NAS for local AI, get this instead
A NAS is a great addition to any homelab setup. It can back up your photos and other files, run a Jellyfin or Plex server, and replace a few of your subscription services. It is tempting to think that they’d also be a good way to get into local AI. Unfortunately, their hardware really isn’t […]
I gave my smart home a personality (and a voice to match)
Popular proprietary voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant make it simple to control your smart home with your voice, but they lack personality. They’re more like Computer from Star Trek than J.A.R.V.I.S. from Iron Man or GLaDOS from Portal. Using two tools in Home Assistant, I gave my voice assistant a personality and a […]
macOS 27 to refine the Liquid Glass design approach, but nothing too dramatic
Whether you like it or not, it’s “clear” that Apple is not giving up on Liquid Glass. It is just trying to make it a little less… blindingly futuristic on Macs. Apple After the mixed reception to macOS Tahoe’s translucent interface, Apple is reportedly preparing a softer, cleaner version of the design language for macOS […]
7 BIOS checks that reveal whether a used laptop is actually a deal
The moment you pay for a used device, you may be inheriting some real problems. The BIOS is one of the places you want to investigate critically because it’s the part that a reseller can’t easily clean up. By running these checks, you’ll find out what the seller may be hiding, or what they don’t […]
4 things we know about Invincible season 5 on Prime Video
If you’re like me, you’re subscribed to many streaming websites, and one of those happens to be Amazon Prime. There are plenty of great shows on Amazon Prime, but one I love dearly and have had for many years is Invincible. Running for four seasons at this point, Invincible has continued to be one of […]
Liquid Glass Tweaks Are Reportedly Coming In The Next macOS
Sorry Liquid Glass critics, the upcoming macOS 27 won’t be getting rid of Apple’s latest design language. Instead, the MacBook maker is introducing a “slight redesign” to Liquid Glass with the next macOS, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. On top of user complaints about poor text readability and inconsistent looks between apps, Gurman explained that […]
3 things I automate with local AI that I’d never trust ChatGPT with
Cloud AI is powerful but not private. Local AI is private but less powerful. That trade-off is real, and trying to pick one over the other is the wrong framework. A better use of your time is to find tasks that require privacy, but not as much model intelligence, and then have local AI models […]
Your Milwaukee drill has a hidden app that most owners never download
My garage runs entirely on Ryobi ONE+ batteries, and for most of what I build and maintain, the platform covers the job. But every time Milwaukee ONE-KEY comes up in a tool forum, I feel it — a specific kind of tech envy. Milwaukee has been shipping Bluetooth-connected power tools since 2015, and the app […]