I replaced my smart bulbs with "dumb" LEDs and a $15 motion sensor
…Alternatively, you can buy $15 worth of standard light bulbs and then one $15 smart motion sensor. You're also playing the long game by doing this, too, as when a standard…
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The Legion Go 2 needs more than a Z2 Extreme to make me drop the Steam Deck
…A lifelong tech enthusiast who has built three gaming and productivity powerhouse PCs since 2018, his passion for technology keeps him closely following the semiconductor industry, from NVIDIA and AMD to ARM…
I cancelled expensive subscriptions by using these amazing free alternatives
…However, the popular email client is now available on Android, and the company has plans to launch a native app on the iOS platform, too. Speaking of the desktop platforms, Thunderbird has…
I turned my dusty Chromecast into a $250 smart home hub replacement
…Without a standard USB port, attaching Zigbee coordinators, Z-Wave sticks, or extra storage requires workarounds like USB OTG adapters with powered hubs. The Chromecast with Google TV's USB-C port…
Your old Android phone has a sensor suite that most IoT devices can only dream of
…A standard ESP32-based IoT sensor node requires soldering , a case, a power supply, and even lacks a screen, but your old phone has all of that, plus a high-resolution camera…
Valve's Steam Deck didn't just succeed, it quietly changed how PC games are made
…Power profiles are now becoming a standard menu option for so many games. Developers are giving us Steam Deck modes that cap the thermal design power and frame rate to squeeze four…
I tried replacing VS Code with Cursor, Antigravity, and Windsurf for a month and one clearly dominated
…Cursor Mature, powerhouse codebase handling I started my 30-day experiment with Cursor, which felt like the most natural place to start given its familiar VS Code foundation. For the longest time…
What Intel Firefly actually means for Windows laptops (and why it's not just another processor)
…planning to do the same, but this time focusing on making Windows-powered laptops cheaper, thinner, and more standardized. What is Intel Firefly? Apple silicon running Windows on laptops Apple changed the…
Curtain automation is fun, but the weird smart home projects are where things get really useful
…Thread uses the IEEE 802.15.4 radio standard at its physical layer. This is the same low-power radio spec that Zigbee uses, but Thread layers IPv6 networking on top to…
Your motherboard's tiny fan header can do way more than cool your CPU
…AIO liquid cooler pump heads are powered and controlled through fan headers, usually a dedicated pump header on the motherboard. Unlike standard fan headers, pump headers are often set to run at…