Home Office Setup & Equipment

We may earn a commission from links on this page. More than 37 million Americans moved last year—and while that’s actually a historic low, one thing that hasn’t changed is the levels of hair-tearing stress the experience can inspire. Everything about moving, from packing to hiring movers to switching utilities, comes with a little spice of stress and anxiety. Even the most competent and careful planning can leave you with an ulcer and an incipient nervous breakdown as you try to pack your entire life into a truck and transport it to another location. There are lots of little ways to reduce that stress and make moving a little easier. These hacks can help anyone, no matter…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. In 2025, I tested a ton of exotic smart glasses, e-bikes, and other gear for Lifehacker, but the tech that upgraded and improved my day-to-day life the most is a more niche product. I'm a (very) amateur musician, and Yamaha's Seqtrak is my favorite thing this year. It's an "ideastation," a music production studio small enough to slip into a backpack. Look at how tiny this thing is: Credit: Stephen Johnson Yamaha SEQTRAK …

The Apple Watch is both a companion to the iPhone, as well as a very capable device in its own right. Out of the box, it offers notification mirroring, so you feel every alert on your iPhone on your wrist, as well as workout tracking, so you can keep up with your fitness goals. But this wearable can be so much more than that. In fact, it doesn't take much to make your Apple Watch more personal and efficient. If you own one, here are ten hacks you need to know about: Disable every notification you can Credit: Khamosh Pathak Get…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Soundcore Boom 2 is built for people who don’t want to baby their speakers. With an IPX7 rating and a floatable design, it’s something you can toss in the pool, hose off after a beach trip, or take out on a boat without much worry. And right now, the black model is $89.99, down from $139.99, its lowest price ever according to price trackers. Soundcore Boom 2 by Anker …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Pebble, the early smartwatch pioneer, has added a new model to its relaunched lineup, and it’s the thin, round model Pebble fans have been waiting for. What’s even more intriguing to me is the fact that the Pebble Round 2 doesn’t have a heart rate sensor, signaling that a smartwatch doesn’t have to be a fitness watch, too. The Pebble Round 2 starts shipping in May, and is available for pre-order now at $199. The new watch is meant to be a modern remake of 2015’s Pebble Time Round. Pebble fans loved the round watch, and every thread about new products on the Pebble subreddit has at least a few comments begging for a new ver…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. There are two universal truths about tools: They’re expensive, and they take up a lot of space. If you’re trying to maintain a home or perform some DIY work in a small space or on a small budget, stacking up all the tools you might need to get the job done can strain your wallet and simultaneously pose a storage challenge. The solution is actually pretty easy: Buy tools that combine more than one function into a single item. While having the specific tool you need for every job will always be your best choice, if you lack space and/or cash, combination tools like these give you all the capability you need without eating up…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The strength training mode in Garmin watches like the Forerunner 570 is a little confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's incredibly useful in the gym. Garmin handles rest timers better than any other wearable I've tried, and when combined with a third-party app called LiftTrack, you can even track your volume and PRs. I'll lead you through how I use this workout mode, and how it's helped me do more work in less time in the gym. How to find strength workouts in Garmin Connect Credit: Ga…

The first supermarket, the Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, opened its doors in 1916. It was the first time people could wander around a store and pick their items from a shelf instead of handing a list to a clerk who would gather everything for them—typically without any choice of brand or style. Grocery shopping remains a daily or weekly ritual for most people, and it can be a real chore—especially if you’re shopping for a large family. My own grocery lists aren’t all that long, but I still find myself juggling my phone and a scrap of paper as I walk around the store, checking for digital coupons and trying to do quick math. So when I read that one of the local grocery stores …

Figuring out how to structure your days so they're as productive as possible is a challenge, which is why there are so many different techniques for doing it, though they're all best suited to different kinds of people. And then sticking to a plan once you've made it? Even harder. This is where RPM can help. The Rapid Planning Method, or RPM, can help you streamline your daily planning process and get started working on your action steps sooner, making you more productive overall. Plus, since RPM is fairly straightforward, you're more likely to stick with it. What is the Rapid Planning Method (RPM)?This technique comes from famed motivational speaker Tony Robbins, who o…

Once again, there is a new feature available on Google's NotebookLM, the AI tool that functions like a personal assistant and only references material you provide for it. This one is a slide deck generator, which can be useful if you need to make a presentation in a hurry, but I've been using it a little differently to help myself retain new information. Generating a slide deck in NotebookLMFirst, you should know how to generate a deck. In case you're unfamiliar with NotebookLM, it's basically just like ChatGPT, but instead of pulling answers from the big, wide Internet, it only relies on PDFs, links, videos, and text you input as resources. This makes it the perfect too…

So many great productivity hacks come from the Japanese manufacturing industry. The 5S technique helps you keep your workspace clean so you can get more done, kaizen helps you improve the processes and workflow of your job, and kanban helps you schedule your tasks in the most efficient way. These are helpful even if you’re not working within the famed Toyota Production System; they’re adaptable to fit all kinds of work scenarios, which is similarly true for the 3 Ms that originated there, too. The 3 Ms are kinds of waste you should identify and eliminate to keep your work running smoothly. Once you learn how to identify and get rid of them, you can be even more productive…

If you don't yet have a REAL ID, you can continue to fly, but it's going to cost you. Beginning Feb. 1, 2026, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will start collecting a $45 fee from travelers using non-compliant forms of identification at airport security checkpoints. The agency previously proposed a fee of $18 to cover the administrative and IT costs of ID verification for those traveling without a REAL ID or passport but increased the total to $45 in an announcement released earlier this month. REAL ID requirementsThe 2005 REAL ID Act mandated the standardization of state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards. After multiple delays since 2008…

While CES doesn't technically kick off until Tuesday, the conference gets a bit of a soft launch with CES Unveiled. This event hosts a ton of companies, all proudly showing off their latest products and concepts in one giant room. While there's plenty to write home about, five products in particular this year caught my eye: Tombot Credit: Lifehacker Tombot's robotic puppy, "Jennie," isn't supposed to be a pet-replacement. Instead, Jennie is specifically designed to help people with Alzheimer's. The bot is a healthcare device, a…

The AI wars continue to heat up. Just weeks after OpenAI declared a "code red" in its race against Google, the latter released its latest lightweight model: Gemini 3 Flash. This particular Flash is the latest in Google's Gemini 3 family, which started with Gemini 3 Pro, and Gemini 3 Deep Think. But while this latest model is meant to be a lighter, less expensive variant of the existing Gemini 3 models, Gemini 3 Flash is actually quite powerful in its own right. In fact, it beats out both Gemini 3 Pro and OpenAI's GPT-5.2 models in some benchmarks. Lightweight models are typically meant for more basic queries, for lower-budget requests, or to be run on lower-powered hardwa…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. At just under $1,460 on Amazon right now (down from $1,999.99), the LG 45GX950A-B Ultragear OLED is still a major investment, but a serious one for anyone who cares about pixel density, immersion, and future-proof display tech. LG 45GX950A-B Ultragear OLED Monitor $1,459.93 at Amazon …

If you've engaged in any sort of doomscrolling over the past year, you've no doubt encountered some wild AI-generated content. While there are plenty of AI video generators out there producing this stuff, one of the most prevalent is OpenAI's Sora, which is particularly adept at generating realistic short-form videos mimicking the content you might find on TikTok or Instagram Reels. These videos can be so convincing at first glance, that people often don't realize what they're seeing is 100% fake. That can be harmless when it's videos of cats playing instruments at midnight, but dangerous when impersonating real people or properties. It's that last point that I thought w…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Amazon Echo Spot is one of four Alexa smart speakers you can get right now. It's between the older 5th-generation Echo Dot and the new Echo Dot Max. It's currently $44.99 (originally $79.99) after a 44% discount, the lowest price it has reached according to price tracking tools. Amazon Echo Spot (2024) $44.99 at Ama…

You (hopefully) know by now that you can't take everything AI tells you at face value. Large language models (LLMs) sometimes provide incorrect information, and threat actors are now using paid search ads on Google to spread conversations with ChatGPT and Grok that appear to provide tech support instructions but actually direct macOS users to install an infostealing malware on their devices. The campaign is a variation on the ClickFix attack, which often uses CAPTCHA prompts or fake error messages to trick targets into executing malicious commands. But in this case, the instructions are disguised as helpful troubleshooting guides on legitimate AI platforms. How attacker…

I really like my Pixel 9a, but there’s one glaring issue with my Pixel that stares at me every time I unlock my phone. And it’s the At a Glance widget on top the screen that Google just won’t let me remove. I like a clean lock screen, and eventually, I got so frustrated looking at this totally uncustomizable widget that shows the time and the weather that I gave up and switched to Niagara Launcher. And if you think that this is just my own pickiness, I can confidently say it’s not just me; Reddit is filled with people complaining about this. But seems like after 10 iterations of Pixels, Google is finally letting people get rid of this widget, clearing space for something,…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Though the film series petered out after only a couple of movies, Rick Riordan's middle-grade Camp Half-Blood have been revived as a mega-popular Disney+ streaming series. The breathing room offered by a series format seems to have been the key to unlocking their potential as an adaptation, allowing for a more fully realized exploration of this atypical (at least on our side of Mount Olympus) coming-of-age story. In its first season, the show found a good balance between fantasy action and teen drama while also having a ton of fun poking at the conventions of ancient myth. Season two is just out, and more is on the way, b…

LastPass has come under fire in recent years following a 2022 data breach that compromised user vaults. Despite the controversy, it remains a popular and user-friendly option for saving credentials. But you don't have to stick to LastPass' default setup: If LastPass is your password manager of choice, these are the best hacks to optimize your experience. Use vault identities to keep work and personal credentials separate If you have one LastPass account for both work and personal use, you can separate relevant items into sub-vaults. When you toggle between them, you'll see only the credentials relevant to that identity, and LastPass will suggest only those items for auto…

Rewarding yourself can backfire. If you tell yourself, “I’ll only listen to my favorite podcast while I’m at the gym,” it takes just one moment of weakness to realize you can cheat and listen to it any time you want. Instead, try this: Reward yourself with something that has no enjoyment value whatsoever. Like a checkmark on your calendar. I first heard this tip from writer Tim Clare’s podcast. If you want to stay motivated, he says, the reward has to be so crappy that you’re not actually working for the reward. He said that he puts a checkmark on his calendar every day he writes, and at the end of the week enough checkmarks earn a gold star. The same approach has worked…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. One of the often unspoken truths of being a tech reviewer is you get to test out, recommend—and sometimes even keep!—gadgets that you would never buy for yourself, because you can't justify what they cost. This is why I tend to spend large portions of my reviews talking about price: I love a cutting edge gadget as much as the next nerd, but I have two kids and I live in the most expensive city in America. As much as I admire the Boox Palma 2 Pro, my budget doesn't really have room for a niche $400 e-reader. That's why the Xteink X4 e-reader, a minimalist 4.3-inch e-reader, is my tech upgrade of 2025: Here's a device that h…

There are warning signs that your home network may have been compromised, such as unusual traffic patterns and slowdowns in system performance, but now there's a simple tool to help determine if your router or connected devices are being used to conduct malicious activity. IP Check, from threat monitoring firm GreyNoise, will alert you if your IP address has been observed scanning the internet as part of a botnet or residential proxy network. As GreyNoise outlines, residential IP compromise often isn't obvious to the user because you're still able to conduct business as usual, such as streaming, emailing, and web browsing. All the while, though, threat actors are routing…

For many students and workers, Windows is just the default way to use a computer. It's where all your apps work as intended, where all your Microsoft Office documents sync easily, and where you play all your games. But if you peel back its layers, Windows can be a lot more than that. Power users can take advantage of hidden features, and utilities from Microsoft and third-parties to not only speed up their workflow, but to improve productivity and fix some of the most annoying quality-of-life issues that plague Windows PCs. Control everything using the Command Palette …