I wanted a private, low-cost way to store footage from my smart home cameras without paying for cloud subscriptions or trusting a third-party service. What I ended up building is a simple local backup server using a Raspberry Pi and inexpensive microSD storage — enough for short retention...
Read more...
Reviews
I get asked this a lot on Wcetesting Co: can a refurbished iPhone 12 still...
Wearables
When I’m hunting for true gym-ready earbuds that won’t kill your gaming...
How-to
I’m going to show you how I get Pixel 8a–level night and astrophotography...
How-to
I’ve moved Sonos setups between accounts more times than I care to admit...
I’m going to show you how I get Pixel 8a–level night and astrophotography results from a budget Android phone by shooting RAW and manually stacking frames. I do this on phones that don’t have Google’s sophisticated multi-frame pipeline, and...
I’ve moved Sonos setups between accounts more times than I care to admit while testing multi-room audio workflows — and every time the same questions come up: how do I keep my playlists, my multi-room groupings, and that sweet crossfade setting...
I’ve spent the last few weeks shooting low-light scenes and star fields with both the Pixel 8a and the Pixel 8 so I could answer the question I get asked a lot: can the cheaper Pixel 8a match the Pixel 8 for night and astrophotography? Short...
I test headphones and wearables for a living, and one question I keep getting from readers is: “Which true wireless earbuds under £100 can actually survive sweaty gym sessions and still keep calls sounding good?” It’s an important question...
I run my home automation from a Raspberry Pi that acts as my smart home hub (Home Assistant). One of the most annoying problems I’ve solved by now is keeping that hub and my Wi‑Fi router running during brief power outages so automations keep...
If you want a smart home camera setup that reliably records clear faces at night — without paying for a cloud subscription or hauling a bulky NVR into your living room — I’ve built and tested practical, compact options that do exactly that....
I’ve been experimenting with Chromebooks as lightweight, secure editing stations for a while, and I want to share a workflow that lets you build a secure, offline media workstation capable of handling 4K editing and battery-friendly exports. The...
I recently spent an afternoon putting a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S24 through a full hardware checklist before deciding whether to buy it. If you’re considering a refurbished flagship—especially one as sought-after as the S24—you want to be...
I spend a lot of time testing GPS performance on running devices because distance and pace are only useful if the location data behind them is reliable. Recently I ran a series of real-world checks using a Google Pixel phone and a Garmin running...
I carried a Pixel Fold in my backpack for a week and, as someone who lives for the moment a gadget becomes genuinely useful rather than just clever, I put it through my usual field tests: meeting notes, sketching quick diagrams, and editing a...