Home Office Setup & Equipment

We may earn a commission from links on this page. In the world of exercise, variety abounds. You can lift light weights, or heavy weights, or no weights at all. If you don’t lift at all right now, it doesn’t matter much where you start. But that doesn’t mean that all of these options are equivalent. Light weights can build muscle, but they do not have the same benefit as heavier weights. It takes different workouts to get the most benefit out of light weights versus heavy weights. And heavy weights can do some things that light weights can't. I'm going to unpack all of that below, but right now the most important thing I want you to understand is that it's not correct wh…

With iOS 18, Apple introduced a feature that allowed you to set a charge limit on your iPhone. The goal was to extend the lifespan of the battery, by limiting how often you fully charge it up. Batteries age with each full charging cycle, so by preventing your battery from charging to 100% every time you keep it plugged in, you can slow down that aging process, which means your device will last longer in between charges. Now, that same feature is coming to your Mac. Apple is currently testing the feature as part of macOS 26.4, which means you'll soon be able to ask macOS to stop charging your laptop once the battery level hits a specific charge level. This feature is gre…

According to a New York Times report, Meta plans to add facial recognition technology to its Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses. The feature, called “Name Tag” within Meta, would allow users to identify people and get information about them through Meta's AI. The feature could be rolling out as early as this year. Adding the feature is not a done deal, however. According to an internal document cited by The Times, the company is weighing the “safety and privacy risks" of introducing facial recognition as well as discussing how to navigate the response to a no-doubt controversial feature. A document quoted by The Times suggests Meta is deliberately timing a potential rollo…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Samsung just announced its new earbuds during the Samsung Unpacked 2026 event earlier this week, and Amazon is already offering a pretty sweet deal to preorder them. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 are $179.99 and come with a $20 Amazon gift card, and the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro go for $249.99 and come with a $30 Amazon gift card. Both will be released on March 11, but you can pre-order them now. Considering these will be their flagship earbuds for some time, it's a great opportunity for any Samsung fan or anyone curious about Samsung's new earbuds to s…

My best friend messaged me on Facebook Messenger. It wasn’t urgent, so I swiped the notification away, making a mental note to reply later. Ten minutes later, Facebook sends another notification. “Reminder: [My friend] sent you a message.” This is clingy, even for Facebook. And it’s not the only app increasingly desperate for any crumb of attention. In just the last couple months, I’ve personally gotten dozens of what I can only call desperation notifications. Push alerts from apps that don’t really need anything, but would really like it if I gave them some attention anyway. These include, but are not nearly limited to, the following: The Disney+ app let me know that bec…

If you tried to access Claude for any of your AI needs Monday morning, you might have failed—or, rather, the chatbot may have failed to load. It's not you, your internet, or your device: Claude is down. Anthropic confirmed the outage on Monday, citing "elevated errors on Claude.ai, console, and claude code." As of this article, the company has posted four updates to Claude's status page: The first, at 11:49 UTC (6:49 a.m. ET), was simply to acknowledge an investigation into the issues; the next, at 12:06 UTC, was an update to confirm continued investigations, before sharing that Claude API was working as intended at 12:21 UTC. At that time, the company had identified the…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Samsung HW-C450 soundbar is one of the best ultra-thin soundbars on the market, and at less than two inches thick, it packs some serious power with six drivers and built-in amplification. A compact, minimalist option for small rooms (or just for those who don’t want a bulky, unsightly audio accessory ruining their media-viewing room), this highly rated 2.1-channel soundbar with a wireless subwoofer just dropped 29% on Amazon, bringing its price to $139.97 (originally $197.99). Samsung HW-C4…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra headphones have been easy to recommend since their late 2023 launch, but the price held them back. That changes with this open-box deal. Right now, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones in sandstone are down to $242.49 on Woot, compared to about $329 for a new pair on Amazon. Price trackers show earlier dips closer to $279, so this undercuts previous lows. The catch is the “open box” label—these units may have been returned, tested, or repackaged (but they’re cleared to work like new). Shipping is free for Prime members, w…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The next season of HBO salacious, schadenfreude-rich dramedy The White Lotus doesn't premiere until October, so you'll need to wait months yet to witness the antics of an all-new all-star cast (Helena Bonham Carter! Heather Graham! Rosie Perez! Sandra Bernhard!) as they travel to paradise and encounter murder, mystery, and the inevitable consequences of their own greed. In the meantime, here are 10 more shows about wealthy people getting their comeuppances (or not) in lush locales. The Perfect Couple (2024) Though the cast includes names like Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, and Dakota Fanning, the real star of The P…

Claude has always been focused on text and code, but a few days ago, it rolled out image-generation capabilities—ways to get graphics, mock-ups, slideshows and other similar materials created by AI. The suite of tools is called Claude Design. Then ChatGPT, already much more invested in AI image generation, rolled out a substantial update called Images 2.0. Promises were made of a "step change" in accuracy, consistency, and instruction following. So what can you now do with these AI tools that you couldn't before? And how do the capabilities compare? Claude Design is focused on business and enterpriseClaude Design is available for Claude subscribers, and is intended, in t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. With Google’s announcement of the screenless Fitbit Air, the company is also preparing for a big shift in how the app works and what device features it supports. That means we’re losing sleep animals and a bunch of other features that you may miss. Here’s what’s on the chopping block. Google Fitbit Air - Berry with Large Fog Active Band Bundle $99.99 at Amazon $134.98 Save $34.99 Get Deal …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The new Google Health app starts rolling out today, replacing the Fitbit app for data tracking on Fitbit and Pixel Watch devices. It’s what the Fitbit “Public Preview” previewed, and now, the finished app is live. The final app is definitely better than the preview, but still has its problems—here’s what I’ve noticed so far. (By the way, to get the Google Health app, you don't have to do anything—just wait, and the upgrade will come to you sometime over the next week or so.) Google Fitbit Air - Berry with Large Fog Active Band Bundle $99.99 at Amazon …

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. If you’re anything like me, you might have moving app icons on your iPhone Home Screen right now. It took me a few days to notice this, but now when I tilt my phone up, down, left, or right, my icons will actually shift in that direction, and the highlights the new Liquid Glass effect added around them will move as well. Technically, this isn’t a new feature. Apple calls it the “parallax effect,” and if you’ve ever played an old 16-bit sidescroller, you’ve probably seen it before. It’s when a background m…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. Garmin’s newest watch is an update to its Venu line. The Venu 3 was one of the brand’s best lifestyle watches, and the Venu X1, launched earlier this year, was a premium version. Now, there is a Venu 4, available on September 22—and it has a flashlight. Pricing and essential featuresThe Venu 4 comes in two sizes (41 and 45 millimeters), the same as the sizes of the Venu 3 and 3S respectively. It costs $100 more than the older version, with the Venu 4 coming i…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. Memory is a tricky thing. Scientists have figured out how many units of information you can store in your short-term memory (around seven, though there are great workarounds for remembering more than that), but if you really want to remember something, you have to go over it a bunch of times until it lodges deeper in your brain. There are quite a few ways to do that if you have some time to devote to the practice of repetition, but if you’re getting ready for a test at school or a presentation at work, …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. It's impressive how far TCL has been pushing the limits of QLED technology. The QM7K is its latest mid-tier QD-Mini LED smart TV and it offers great value for your money. Right now, the 65-inch QM7K is marked down 41%, bringing its price down to $877.99 (originally $1,499.99), the second lowest price it has ever been, according to price-tracking tools. The 85-inch QM6K, which is th…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. Walmart has jumped on the October Prime Day bandwagon in an attempt to sway you away from the biggest online sale of the fall. The main event is Amazon's two-day Prime Big Deal Days promotion, aka October Prime Day. This week, Walmart officially announced its own "Prime Day"-esque promotion, and there's some good news for those of you who balk at the idea of paying for a membership to …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. The fall shopping season is upon us, with major sales from multiple retailers, including Target's Circle Week. If you're here, you've likely had a hard time trying to get hold of someone with a conscience on the other line. It's not easy, but here is the best way I found to get a real customer service representative from Target on the phone. The best phone number for Target's customer service departmentIf you Google Target's customer service number, the first…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. It seems like iOS 26 just dropped, and yet, Apple is back at it with another update. As of Monday, iOS 26.1 is officially in beta testing, which means developers and public testers can try out Apple's next update early. "Point updates" like iOS 26.1 are never as feature-filled as the main releases, though 26.1 seems particularly small in scope. Apple seems to have done most of what it planned to do with iOS 26, saving just smaller changes for this upcoming update. Still, there are some interesting new addit…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. When you install a major update like iOS 26, you find yourself discovering things the more you use it. You might find a new way to boost your battery life, or stop those spam calls and texts for good. For me, however, one of my favorite discoveries was a small but excellent change to group chats—which doubles as a way to discover which of your contacts have also updated to iOS 26. Typing indicators join the group chat Once people update their iPhones to iOS 26, group chats start supporting typing indicators…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. Google doesn't have the best track record when it comes to user privacy, but every once in a while, they do something surprising. Back in April, the company began testing end-to-end encrypted email messaging for enterprise users. On Thursday, it officially rolled out the feature. If you have a Google Workspace through work, you should now be able to send emails protected by E2EE, even if you're sending the email outside of Gmail. That should make it possible to send emails that only you, the recipient, and t…

The easy availability of powerful generative AI programs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and other image- and music-generation tools has given everyone the ability to instantly "create" any image, video, or song they can imagine. As the resulting flood of computer-made content washes up on shore, internet users and observers are calling it "slopcore." Also known as "AI slop," slopcore's aesthetic comes from people using AI as a collaborator instead of a tool, leaving the machines to make artistic choices. It's marked by the strangely off, the almost-real, and the uncanny vibe of machines imitating humanity. Slopcore often depicts deeply emotional subjects, but the lack of depth and…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. On Friday, Oct. 3, Discord announced that a third-party service provider it uses for customer service efforts suffered a breach. It warned a "limited number of users" who had communications with certain Discord teams were affected, though the "unauthorized party" did not gain access to any Discord networks directly. In that initial announcement, Discord said a number of user data types might have been stolen. That included their names, usernames, email addresses, billing information, last four digits of cre…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. If you work in the corporate world, you've almost certainly heard of SMART goals, which are meant to help you work better with your team and be more productive. Similarly, you may have heard of them in the fitness space, as they're commonly used as part of personal training plans thanks to their specificity and rigidity. But the SMART system is helpful for all kinds of tasks—especially if you’re a student. Here are some tips for using SMART goals when you’re studying. What are SMART goals?SMART goals aren…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. For a while there, the “blurting” method of note revision was all over TikTok, making it somewhat of a studying trend. Whether or not it's still popular on social media is irrelevant; it's still a solid retention technique that can help you entrench information in your long-term memory. There are actually two ways to blurt when you’re studying, and both are helpful for retrieval practice and overall retention—but only if you’re doing them instead of scrolling, so read this, put your phone down, and get …