I replaced my smart bulbs with "dumb" LEDs and a $15 motion sensor
Jasmine Mannan Mar 31, 2026, 10:01 AM EDT Jasmine is Software and PC Hardware Author at XDA with years of tech reporting experience ranging from AI chatbots right down to gaming…
Search
Top stories
Apple, Google, and Amazon are deliberately fracturing your smart home mesh
…Take control of your network routing logic, audit your hidden security partitions, anchor your essential hardware to an open-source local coordinator, and build an authentic universal mesh that prioritizes packet speed…
Your AM5 board has a hidden BIOS setting for even better DDR5 performance, and no, it's not EXPO
…That responsibility falls on the memory controller and how it chooses to map addresses across those banks. Related Stop believing these 6 PC hardware "rules" in 2026 Not every PC hardware tip…
A used Mac Mini could be great for your home lab, but take a look at regular mini PCs first
…Proxmox, TrueNAS, and other hypervisor and NAS platforms form the backbone of most home lab setups, and there's a good reason for that: complete control. macOS doesn't give you any…
I disabled these Windows 11 features with Group Policy, and my PC finally felt like mine
…Performance is solid, hardware compatibility is excellent, and the polish that came from years of updates makes it look and feel like a genuinely modern OS. But when I started using it…
You don't need to wait for SteamOS to have a great couch PC - here's what to use instead
…You can run into some situations where a mouse and keyboard are required, but with competent defaults, you can stow away those peripherals and safely grab a controller from boot. Setting the…
Your router's MAC address filter is security theater, and here's what actually protects your Wi-Fi
…After teaching university English and computer science for a few years, Jeff launched his writing career . He's written for Macworld , Tom's Hardware , groovyPost , The Mac Observer , and more before beginning…
I run two routers at home, and it's not for the reason you think
…may refuse to authenticate any hardware but their own. The cleanest workaround is to leave their unit in place and put a router you actually control behind it, which is what I…
Your 5-year-old router isn't just slow — it's an unpatched security loophole
…An MBA in Marketing and the owner of a PC building business, he writes on PC hardware, technology, and Windows. When not scouring the web for ideas, he can be found building…
Most "slow PC" advice you'll find online is 20 years out of date, and some of it is making things worse
…a reconcile loop, an OEM control panel polling hardware sensors, or even an RGB utility running a bunch of separate background services for a keyboard and a mouse. None of that shows…