đđ» Adulting How-To Geek: I tried using Excel to track my life for a weekâand saw patterns Iâd been missing They provided a blank copy of the workbook template: Dropbox: Life-tracker.xlsx I have a local copy too, just in case that Dropbox link gets removed: HtG-Life_Tracker.xlsx Art of Manliness: 18 Urban and Wilderness Survival Hacks That Would Make MacGyver Proud This just looked like something fun to save. Framework Collar Connector, Blanket Chair, Condom Canteen, 2-Liter Rain Collector, Match Feather Stick, Jumper Cable + Pencil = Fire, 9-Volt Razor Hack, Mylar Emergency Survival Blanket Lens, The Fire Pick, Gum Wrapper Fire, Ramen Noodle Stove, Paracord Fishing Fly, Spoon Broadhead, Slingshot Whisker Biscuit, Bra Cup Debris Mask, Makeshift Butterfly Bandage, A Not-So-StrAWEful Tick Puller, Bullet Casing Whistle. How-To Geek: These 5 tools are all you need to handle your carâs maintenance yourself Basic socket set Battery maintainer Portable air compressor New torque wrench Floor jack / jack stands Make Use Of: 5 pool mistakes I made my first season, and what they cost me âI balanced the water once and assumed it would hold: I got everything dialed in at startup and walked away satisfied. That was the mistake. A salt cell makes chlorine by splitting salt in the water, and one byproduct of that process is rising pH. Mine climbed on its own while I wasnât looking. The waterline tile started wearing a chalky scale ring, the water got a little cloudy, and the chlorine the cell produced couldnât keep up, even though the unit was running plenty.â âI treated the salt cell as set-and-forget: A salt cell has no moving parts and nothing obvious to wear out, so I assumed it was the one piece of equipment Iâd never have to touch. It scales up the same way the tile does. Calcium builds on the metal plates inside, and as that coating thickens, the cell makes less chlorine for the same amount of run time. By midsummer the pool was losing the chlorine fight during the hottest stretch of July, and I couldnât figure out why the numbers kept sliding.â âI never paid attention to the filter pressure: My test kit said the water was balanced, yet it had some haze to it for weeks. The filter simply wasnât moving enough water to clear it. Once someone pointed at the gauge and explained that a rise of about 8 to 10 psi over the clean baseline means itâs time to backwash, the haze solved itself. Iâd been chasing a clarity problem with chemicals when the fix was a two-minute backwash and the habit of glancing at a dial.â âI left the cover to fend for itself over winterâ âCutting corners closing the pool: I thought Iâd closed it correctly. I lowered the water, added the winter chemicals, and pulled the cover over the top. What I almost skipped was clearing the plumbing lines, and I nearly left the salt cell installed instead of pulling it for storage. Northern Indiana winters donât forgive trapped water. It freezes, expands, and goes looking for the weakest point in the system. Thankfully, I caught my mistake before freezing temps arrived.â Sofia Kodar: The truth about being a manager âYouâll bring work home with you more often than not.â âYouâre not âpart of the teamâ anymore.â âYou need to be careful with every word.â âYouâll probably feel very lonely.â âYou will carry knowledge you cannot share.â âYou need to network and understand the business.â âYou will often feel a lack of progress.â âYou will miss being an engineer.â âYou will not get the training you need.â âYou need to learn about feedback, fast.â âYou will make mistakes and you wonât be liked by everyone.â âYou need to be the adult in the room.â âYou need to learn how to sell.â âYou must learn how to manage up.â âYou will feel powerless and frustrated.â âYou will get a view of the whole picture.â âBeing a manager can be fun and fulfilling.â đ€ Android Make Use Of: I replaced 5 Play Store apps with open-source versions and the ads completely vanished NewPipe: âThe lightweight YouTube experience for Androidâ AntennaPod: âThe Open Podcast Player. AntennaPod is a podcast player that is completely open. The app is open-source and you can subscribe to any RSS feed. AntennaPod is built by volunteers without commercial interest, so it respects your privacy while giving you full control.â Organic Maps: âOrganic Maps is a privacy-focused offline maps & GPS app for hiking, cycling, biking, and driving. Absolutely free. No ads. No tracking. Developed with love by the open-source community and the same people, who created MapsWithMe/Maps.Me app. Powered by OpenStreetMap data. Organic Maps is one of the few applications nowadays that supports 100% of features without an active Internet connection. Install Organic Maps, download maps, throw away your SIM card, and go for a weeklong trip on a single battery charge without any byte sent to the network.â Aegis Authenticator: âAegis Authenticator is a free, secure and open source app for Android to manage your 2-step verification tokens for your online services.â Thunderbird: âFree Your Inbox. Meet Thunderbird, the email and productivity app that maximizes your freedoms.â Android Police: I resurrected a dead Android tablet with this unique third-party launcher Niagara Launcher: Make Use Of: I switched from Niagara to a launcher that costs nothing, requires no account, and looks great Android Authority: This new launcher makes your Android phone look like a Nintendo DS Retro Dodo: How-To Geek: I finally turned my old Android phone into a home security camera, and it works better than a $150 Wyze system Google Play: AlfredCamera Home Security app Android Police: I finally audited my monthly cash flow with this Android app and cut hidden streaming fees Cashew: âCashew is built to make budgeting feel easy: log spending quickly, then see it show up in your totals and budgets. This quick start guide stays intentionally surface-level. If you want the deeper options, check the full guides below this section.â - App Store for iPhone: Cashew-Expense Bidget Tracker - Google Play: CashewâExpense Budget Tracker - Web App - GitHub: jameskokoska / Cashew: âđž An app created to help users manage a budget and purchasesâ ITâS FOSS: Banking Apps, No Google, and a Locked Bootloader: How iodĂ© Makes Privacy Android Work for Everyone âBrian: iodĂ© is a project that is interested in making sure that thereâs a privacy-based Android distribution that is also very easy to use. Very easy for normal users to feel they can use it conveniently.â âWe also feature a tool which is a tracker blocker, so both your apps and your browser when youâre browsing the internet have a sort of firewall that allows you to know exactly which connections your device is making, which connections the apps are making, the browser is making when youâre visiting websites, and it prevents ads and trackers from following you around the internet.â iodĂ©: âiodĂ©OS is an android operating system freed from Google trackers*. A significant part of data breaches comes upstream of apps. iodĂ©OS is powered by âLineageOSâ, an open source OS that expands functionalities and the lifespan of mobile devices of more than 20 different manufacturers thanks to a community of contributors across the world. The Trust interface will help you understand the security of your device and warn incoming threats.â LineageOS: âA free and open-source operating system for various devices, based on the Android mobile platform.â GitHub: rama-io / mako: âMinimal, privacy-first Android launcher designed for focus, speed, and simplicity.â Web Site: Rama: âSmall, focused Android apps built for speed and simplicity. No bloat, no tracking, no nonsense, just software that works.â đ„ïžđ Apple Techlore: Permission Not Required: The Open Source iOS App that Makes the Invisible Visible (Loupe Review) GitHub: mysk-research / loupe: âA privacy-focused iOS app that raises awareness about what native apps can seeâ App Store for iPhone: OOTT - Network Scanner GitHub: rzuasti / oott: âEasy to setup and use network device discovery and alert systemâ Since i continue to have issues with NetAlertX &WatchYourLAN doesnât give as much detail or have an interface that i love⊠Iâve started to look into OOTT. The price for the app is a little steep, but iâm going to keep an eye on the project & if it continues to grow, i will probably purchase in the future to support the dev. Paradigm Shift Blog: Introducing usbliter8: âAn A12/A13 SecureROM exploitâ GitHub: prdgmshift / usbliter8: âAn A12/A13 SecureROM exploitâ âThe board we use is Waveshare RP2350 USB-A with Lightning to USB-A cable and R13 resistor optionally removed.â Apple Insider: A12 & A13 Apple devices face an unpatchable SecureROM vulnerability: List of vulnerable devices: iPads: 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation), 11-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation), 12.9-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation), 12.9-inch iPad Pro (4th generation), iPad (9th generation), iPad (8th generation), iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad mini (5th generation) Watches: Apple Watch SE (1st generation), Apple Watch Series 4, Apple Watch Series 5 iPhones: iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max đ€ Artificial Intelligence \ Large Language Models How-To Geek: I built a bedside AI assistant that reads me the news without touching the cloud âI decided to create the automation that powers my morning briefing in the self-hosted n8n automation software. Thereâs an RSS Read node in n8n that can pull the latest items from an RSS feed if you provide the relevant URL. I used three of these nodes to pull all the latest stories from the RSS feeds.â Local Ollama is used with the headlines so it doesnât need a third party. Liam Wilkinson: I Gave an AI a Civilization to Run. It Built a Nuke. This looked interesting so i saved it to read later. How-To Geek: 4 reasons my small local AI model gets more use than Claude or Gemini âClaude, Gemini, and ChatGPT come with API costsâ âA local LLM keeps things privateâ This is the biggest reason why i want to get my Local AI running properly. âNot every AI request is time-sensitiveâ: As above, it donât need answers instantly or anything. More just give it a prompt, & can come back in a bit to get what i need. Or if itâs just automatically processing things in the background. âWith a local LLM, Iâm in controlâ I think this is pretty close to point 2, but still accurate. 9to5 Mac: Apple Notes adds a power user feature in iOS 27 thatâs rare in other apps: âApple Notes lets you link to specific sections of your note in iOS 27â GitHub: inkeep / open-knowledge: âBeautiful, AI-native markdown editor and LLM Wikiâ Web Site: OpenKnowledge: âBeautiful, AI-native markdown editor. A rich text editor and knowledge base for you and your agents.â Ronâs Tech Hub: 019 - âRaspberry Pi AI HAT+ 2â & âCamera Module 3â I still want to use my AI HAT with LLM vs. images, but at least this would be using it in some way⊠đ Current Events đ„đș Entertainment đź Games Hack A Day: Nintendo DS Port Of Super Mario 64 Released With Multiplayer Support GitHub: TobiasFriedly / sm64-nds: âA Modification of the DSi port from Hydr8gon: https://github.com/Hydr8gon/sm64 Making it work on all NDS Models. Also added Multiplayer.â App Store for iPhone: Loupe: What Apps Can See Make Use Of: I installed these Steam Deck plugins and realized Valve left out the obvious ones GitHub: /steamdeckhomebrew / decky-loader: âA plugin loader for the Steam Deck.â Web Site: Decky Loader: âDozens of plugins to choose from. Unlock your Steam Deckâs potential.â CSS Loader HLTB: GitHub: hulkrelax / hltb-for-deck: âA plugin to show you game lengths according to How Long To Beatâ PowerTools: ngram: NG-SD-Plugins / PowerTools: âSteam Deck power tweaks for power userâ ProtonDB Badges: Iâm not sure if thereâs a replacement, but this is what i came across when searching for this plugin: GitHub: OMGDuke / protondb-decky: " This repository was archived by the owner on Jun 4, 2025. It is now read-only. " / âProtonDB Badges is a plugin for Decky Loader to display tappable ProtonDB badges on your game pagesâ PlayTime: As above, this is what i found when searching, but it is no longer maintained: ma3a / SDH-PlayTime: âThis project is being archived due to time constraints that have prevented me from maintaining it, despite my strong interest and enthusiasm for its development. There are several features and enhancements that I had hoped to implement, but unfortunately, I am unable to continue working on them at this time. I encourage anyone interested in the project to explore the existing codebase and contribute if they wish. Thank you for your understanding and support.â MoonDeck: GitHub: FrogTheFrog / moondeck: âA plugin that makes it easier to manage your gamestream sessions from the SteamDeck.â âïž Health đĄ Home (Homelab \ Self-Hosted) Make Use Of: Pocket is gone but the free replacement I found does things Pocket never could This is what Iâm currently using for a âread-it-laterâ service. GitHub: karakeep-app / karakeep: âA self-hostable bookmark-everything app (links, notes and images) with AI-based automatic tagging and full text searchâ Web Site: Karakeep: " The Bookmark Everything App. Quickly save links, notes, and images and Karakeep will automatically tag them for you using AI for faster retrieval. Built for the data hoarders out there!" How-To Geek: I replaced these 3 subscriptions with a Raspberry Pi and never looked back: This might be something else i posted last week, but couldnât remember. So itâs back again. Joplin: âJoplin is an open source note-taking app. Capture your thoughts and securely access them from any device.â Been running this for a few years with joplin-server for syncing & have been very happy. I keep my âbuild notesâ & documentation to have as a reference. Maybe one day Iâll see how to integrate it with local AI so i can ask my notes âquestionsâ to get answers, instead of just searching against it for reference. Navidrome: âYour Personal Streaming Serviceâ I set this up 2 weeks ago or so, & trying to use it more. I do usually stick with Apple Music, but i at least wanted the option. Not that i use them that often, but itâs running alonside Plex & Jellyfin. Vaultwarden: âUnofficial Bitwarden compatible server written in Rust, formerly known as bitwarden_rsâ Another service Iâve been using for years & have been very happy with. How-To Geek: 3 free, open-source apps to stop big tech from spying on you this weekend (Jun 19-21) []Home Assistant](https://www.home-assistant.io/): âOpen source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts.â Immich: âSelf-hosted photo & video management solution. Easily back up, organize, and manage your photos on your own server. Immich helps you browse, search and organize your photos and videos with ease, without sacrificing your privacy.â Bitwarden: âBitwarden secures every password, passkey, and secret that your people, AI agents, and machines rely on. Experience the open source, end-to-end encrypted platform that scales with you.â How-To Feek: 3 Home Assistant projects to do more with your tech this weekend (June 19-21) âTurn an old iPad into a Home Assistant displayâ: I was hoping this was going to be more of like a software thing than hardware, but still worth noting for the future. âControl your TV through the serial portâ: âThereâs a new integration in Home Assistant called LG TV via Serial. As the name suggests, this allows you to control some LG TVs and commercial displays through the RS-232 serial port. You can connect your TV to Home Assistant using a cable, an ESP32-based serial proxy, or a USB-to-serial adapter.â âCreate wallpaper for your dashboard that reflects the weatherâ: âHome Assistant has a built-in image generation feature that you can use to generate images using cloud-based or local AI models. You can use this to generate images from within Home Assistant automations, based on the prompts that you provide.â How-To Geek: Home Assistantâs hidden AI image generator is way more useful than it sounds How-To Geek: 3 impressive ESP32 projects to make this weekend (Jun 19 - 21) ESP32 push-to-talk walkie-talkies: GitHub: [TechTalkies]((https://github.com/TechTalkies/) / [YouTube]((https://github.com/TechTalkies/YouTube/) 106_ESP32_Walkie HEARD group safety mesh for hikers GitHub: luciobaiocchi / heard: âOffline group-safety mesh for hikers: ESP32 + GPS + LoRa, with a firmware-in-the-loop simulator and 3D replay viewerâ (Hiking Emergency Assistance and Rescue Device (HEARD)) A simulated aquarium on a Cheap Yellow Display: âThe term Cheap Yellow Display, or CYD as it is often known, is used to describe a range of ESP32-embedded LCD touchscreens. Itâs basically a microcontroller and display in one, saving you the hassle of having to source the two parts separately and wire them together.â GitHub: Lagerpun / esp32-cyd-aquarium: âA self-running little pixel aquarium for the CYD / Cheap Yellow Display (ESP32-2432S028R)â GitHub: livegrid / OpenMatrix: âControl HUB75 RGB Matrices with just an ESP32 Resourcesâ How-To Geek: 5 ESP32 mesh network projects to try this weekend (May 1 - 3) The $5 Thread border router for Home Assistant: Home Assistant Community: Make your own Thread Border Router for just $5 How-To Geek: 6 new IKEA Matter over Thread smart home gadgets that are worth the money Matter over Thread air quality sensor GitHub: olavt / matter-air-quality-esp32: âThis article shows how to build a Matter Air Quality sensor with an ESP32-C6-DEVKITC-1-N8 Dev Kit board and a Sensirion SEN66 air quality sensor. The Sensirion SEN66 sensor connects to the ESP32 using I2C and supports measuring Particulate Matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10), Relative Humidity, Temperature, Volatile Organic Compound, NOx (nitrogen oxides) and CO2.â How-To Feek: 5 ESP32-powered 3D printing projects to try this weekend (Mar 27 - 29) Project Aura professional air quality monitor ESPTimeCast LED matrix clock Lumon Industries Bluetooth speaker Papaya Pathfinder lunar rover ESP32 Game and Watch The Zigbee macropad GitHub: StaRky33 / ZigbeeMacropad: âThis is a custom made Zigbee Macropad made with CherryMX switches and an ESP32C6 (nanoESP32-C6-N8)â /r/ESP32: I built the V2 of a DIY Zigbee Macropad (remote) with ESP32-C6 ESP32 Meshtastic node Adrelien: Meshtastic DIY - How To Build Your Own Meshtastic Node ESP32 & Lora Radio ESP-NOW remote control car Instructables: Build a DIY 10-Channel ESP32 RC Controller With ESP-NOW (Low Latency Wireless) How-To Geek: 3 more Docker containers I canât work without Linkwarden: âLinkwarden helps you collect, read, annotate, and fully preserve what matters, all in one place.â I feel like i have used this before, but not sure why i didnât stick with it. Right now iâm running Karakeep & have been very happy with that. This might be something i try when Iâm a bit bored. Stirling-PDF: GitHub: Stirling-Tools / Stirling-PDF: â#1 PDF Application on GitHub that lets you edit PDFs on any device anywhereâ Uptime Kuma: âUptime Kuma is an open-source, free and easy-to-use self-hosted monitoring tool. Uptime Kuma is compatible with multiple platforms including Linux, Windows 10 (x64) and Windows Server.â How-To Geek: I finally added my PS5 and Xbox to Home Assistant (it was totally worth it) Itâs been a little while since iâve used my PS5 so i may not even take too long to look at this, but good to know thereâs an option if i want it. Make Use Of: A $5 board turned my dumb lamp into a smart one This might be a little beyond what i would want to do for any smart lamps, but i figure itâs worth a save for the future. How-To Geek: I canât look at old hardware the same way since I started self-hosting everything The writer mentions starting with a broken laptop (missing the screen), an old PC tower, & an Android TV device. Iâve definitely looked at some of my older hardware over the years to see if i could repurpose it for any self-hosting needs. How-To Geek: These are the 7 most useful resources every Home Assistant user should know about The official Home Assistant documentation: Home Assistant: Documentation The Home Assistant Community forum: Home Assistant Community The Blueprints Exchange: Home Assistant: Blueprints Exchange The r/homeassistant subreddit: /r/HomeAssistant The Home Assistant Community Store: HACS: âThe Home Assistant Community Store (HACS) is a custom integration that provides a UI to manage custom elements in Home Assistant.â The Awesome Home Assistant list: Awesome Home Assistant ESPHome: âTurn your ESP32, ESP8266, BK72xx, RP2040, and other supported boards into powerful smart home devices with simple YAML configuration.â How-To Geek: This Home Assistant integration does things the developers never intended (and itâs genius) Spook: Installing Spook in Home Assistant How-To Geek: 7 smart home automations that work better with NFC tags than motion sensors or schedules Logging things that donât happen on a schedule Triggering things that motion sensors canât cover reliably Avoiding false triggers from pets or other movement Automations that need to run when youâre sitting still Confirming that you did something Automations that need to know who triggered them Limiting automations to specific devices How-To Geek: This free Home Assistant upgrade made my smart home feel futuristic: âSettings > Devices & Services and then search for either OpenAI for ChatGPT, or Google Geminiâ Make Use Of: I run three self-hosted apps on a $35 Raspberry Pi and they never skip a beat [Pi-hole(https://pi-hole.net/): âNetwork-wide Ad Blockingâ Vaultwarden: GitHub: dani-garcia / vaultwarden: âUnofficial Bitwarden compatible server written in Rust, formerly known as bitwarden_rsâ [Uptime Kuma(https://uptimekuma.org/): âUptime Kuma is an open-source, free and easy-to-use self-hosted monitoring tool. Uptime Kuma is compatible with multiple platforms including Linux, Windows 10 (x64) and Windows Server.â ITâS FOSS: PINE64âs Smart Speaker is a Home Assistant Powered Alternative to Amazon Echo PINE64: PineVoice Smart Speaker: Community price: USD$49.99 How-To Geek: 3 Home Assistant hardware projects to try this weekend (June 26-28) âMake your wall-mounted dashboard detachableâ âBuild a home intercom system using ESPHomeâ âAutomate your standing deskâ How-To Geek: [3 homelab tools that finally simplified my self-hosting setup (June 19 - 21)]((https://www.howtogeek.com/homelab-tools-simplified-my-self-hosting-setup-june-19-21/) Homebox: âA simple home inventory management softwareâ Authelia or Tinyauth Authelia: âAuthelia is an open-source authentication and authorization server and portal fulfilling the identity and access management (IAM) role of information security in providing multi-factor authentication and single sign-on (SSO) for your applications via a web portal. Authelia is an OpenID Connect 1.0 Provider which is OpenID Certifiedâą allowing comprehensive integrations, and acts as a companion for common reverse proxies.â Tinyauth: âTinyauth is a tiny OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication and authorization server for your self-hosted applications.â Caddy: âBy default, Caddy automatically obtains and renews TLS certificates for all your sites.â GitHub: yakushstanislav / UltraViolet: âSelf-hosted network discovery & search â your own Shodan, on your hardware.â Since Iâm trying to find a replacement for NetAlertX & WatchYourLAN, i can try this alongside OOTT. How-To Geek: I moved these 4 services off my home server to the cloud, and Iâll never move them back Password Manager Notes Search Engine VPN The only thing from above that iâm not running is a search engine, but i have thought about looking into some of them. I purposely run these things locally because I donât want ...