Home Office Setup & Equipment

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The JBL PartyBox 520 is the kind of speaker you buy when phone speakers and compact Bluetooth boxes stop cutting it. It’s currently $599.95 at Woot, a steep drop from its usual $879.95 price. Price trackers show the lowest it’s ever hit before was $699.95, so this is the best deal yet. Prime members get free standard shipping,and the deal runs for another three weeks or until it sells out. This is a tall, tower-style speaker that sits above the PartyBox Stage 320 in JBL’s PartyBox lineup. JBL P…

On Monday, Discord announced its plan to begin rolling out mandatory age verification globally. Starting in March, new and existing accounts will start moving over to a "teen-by-default" setting, which will lock certain chats and features away until the account's owner proves they're an adult. Here's what you'll lose, how to get it back, and for good measure, what your other options are. Discord will require age verification starting in MarchIn its announcement, Discord said the new age verification settings will start with a "phased global rollout" in March, so it may be some time until it hits you. However, once the changes make their way to your region, you'll lose acc…

Threat actors don't have to work that hard to obtain sophisticated malware to deploy against unsuspecting targets. A new spyware platform known as ZeroDayRAT is reportedly being sold on Telegram, complete with customer support and updates. According to mobile security company iVerify, this aggressive spyware grants full remote control over devices running Android 15 through 16 and iOS versions up to iOS 26. Once deployed, it allows everything from user profiling and location tracking to live surveillance and financial theft. What ZeroDayRAT can gather from your deviceThis spyware has wide-ranging capabilities that, according to iVerify, have traditionally been found on …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you're a PC gamer who's been looking into getting a Steam Deck to help you play your games on the go, then I've got some bad news for you: On Valve's official Steam Deck store page—the only place to buy new Steam Decks in the United States—every single model is sold out right now. That includes the discontinued LCD model, both versions of the Steam Deck OLED, and even refurbished options. The shortage was first spotted last night by deals hunter Wario64, who at the time noted that the Steam Deck was sold out in the U.S., but still available in other countries. Unfortunately, since then, both Tom's Hardware and Windows C…

Google Gemini can help you write text, generate images and video, and write code. Now, the AI bot can generate music too, taking on the likes of Suno when it comes to producing tunes from a simple text prompt. The update is courtesy of the new Lyria 3 audio generation model, which is built into Gemini as of today. Developed by Google DeepMind, Lyria has been accessible in other Google products (such as Vertex AI and YouTube Shorts) to a select number of users, but this is the first time Google is making the model widely available to anyone who wants to try it. There's a new Create music butto…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The 65-inch Samsung S95D TV is selling refurbished for $1,449.99 at Woot, compared to $2,247.95 on Amazon. The lowest tracked price for a new unit has been $1,997.99, so this undercuts that by a wide margin. As for its refurbished status, all it means is that it may show minor cosmetic wear, but it has been tested and cleared to work like new. 65-inch Samsung S95D TV …

Perhaps the best thing to happen to smartphones in the past five years was Apple's decision to start supporting RCS. Ever since, texting between iPhone and Android hasn't been a nightmare caused by SMS: Group chats function as they should, photos and videos can be sent in high quality, and you can even see when the other person is typing—though the messages are still green. While the experience is miles better than it used to be, it isn't perfect. There are still some key functions missing from RCS on iPhone. For instance, you can't unsend messages, reply to a thread, or edit iPhone messages. The latter can only happen on the Android side, while only iPhones can react wi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Samsung's Galaxy S26 lineup is here, and in most ways, it's an upgrade. There are new features like the privacy display, alongside more expected upgrades to the chipset, battery life (for the base model), and charging speed (for the Ultra). But one key part of the S26 ecosystem remains a downgrade from even the Galaxy S24's: Samsung removed Bluetooth from the Galaxy S25 Ultra's S Pen last year, and unfortunately, it's not back for the S26 Ultra. It's a hit to fans of the S Pen's former wireless control features, which debuted on the Galaxy Note 10 in 2019 and allowed the S Pen to do things like take a photo or switch betwe…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. A lot of us spend significant time and energy organizing our closets, home offices, and even our kitchen cabinets, but we toss our weekly groceries and daily leftovers into the fridge with little thought. Soon enough, we can't find the ranch dressing behind all the plastic containers filled with food that looks more like a science experiment. Even if you don’t let your fridge situation get quite that bad, a lack of organization in there will make it harder to keep it clean and find and grab what you need. If you want to get serious about organizing your fridge, you have to go beyond the standard drawers and shelves most mo…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you follow tech news, you're likely familiar with Apple's two big events each year: WWDC in June, where the company reveals new OS updates (like iOS 26), and its fall event, where it typically announces the latest round of iPhones. But while these are Apple's best known events, they're not the only ones. The company does mix things up, hosting mid-year keynotes every now and then to announce new products, especially when those products aren't the latest flagship iPhones. The March event is just the latest such example. Apple will be hosting this special event Wednesday, March 4, live from New York City. While we won'…

I tend to go out of my way to avoid using Meta AI, but today, I gave it a fair shake. That's because, as reported by Bloomberg, Meta's AI service is now testing a shopping assistant. The idea is to compete with similar services from AI platforms like ChatGPT or Gemini, where users tap into the power of generative AI to search the web for product recommendations. That's all fine and well in theory, but in execution, Meta AI's shopping assistant is a bit of a disaster—even if it is only in testing. Meta AI's shopping suggestions are uselessWhen I tried accessing Meta AI's web app logged out, I didn't see the shopping assistant. But once I signed into my Meta Account, a num…

If you have an Asus router on your home network, it may have been targeted by a sophisticated form of malware capable of adding devices to a botnet and using them for criminal activity. Researchers at Lumen's Black Lotus Labs identified this threat—dubbed KadNap—in August 2025 and estimate that more than 14,000 devices have been infected. How KadNap compromises home networksAs Ars Technica reports, KadNap exploits unpatched vulnerabilities in connected devices, most of which are Asus routers. Infected devices are added to a proxy network that can hide malicious traffic. In this case, they are carrying traffic for service called Doppelganger, which allows users to browse …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Nvidia might be courting controversy with its recent DLSS 5 tech, but the company’s GPUs are still pretty powerful devices for running your games. If you have an RTX card in your desktop or laptop, you might be able to get even better performance out of it than you’re already seeing. Here are some of my favorite hacks to optimize your Nvidia GPU. Enable DLSS to boost your frame rates (or disable to save on performance)Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (or DLSS) is actually a suite of features collectively aimed at improving the resolution and frame rate of your games. Some of this involves rendering lower-resolution f…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Samsung ViewFinity S50GC 34-inch Ultrawide Monitor is down to $199.99 on Amazon, a drop from $349.99 and the lowest price it has hit so far, according to online price tracking tools. That alone makes it worth a closer look if you’ve been thinking about an ultrawide. Samsung 34" ViewFinity S50GC Ultrawide QHD monitor (2023, black) …

Last month, Microsoft announced that it planned to remove "unnecessary" Copilot features in Windows 11. The news was a bit shocking to say the least: Microsoft has been one of the biggest proponents of generative AI, pushing the technology into as many corners of its apps and OS as possible—despite negative feedback from users. Now, it seems the company is paying attention, and is actually sticking to its word. As spotted by The Verge's Tom Warren, Microsoft has already started removing some "unnecessary" Copilot buttons from certain Windows apps. Warren notes that the latest Windows Insider version of the Notepad app is missing the Copilot button. In its place, Microsof…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Apple Maps may not be everyone's top choice for navigation—even those committed to the Apple ecosystem—but the app has come a long way since it's initial rocky rollout, and has plenty of features that make it worth using. Beyond the basics, you'll also want to consider some of its lesser-known settings to get the most out of Apple Maps on both mobile and desktop. Enable "Visited Places" to save locations (even if you didn't use Maps to get there) "Visited Places" is a new feature with iOS 26 that passively tracks your location and stores places you go—even if you don't use Maps to get there. If you want to keep tabs on yo…

The Opera you're using today is obviously a very different browser from the one it was decades ago. Perhaps the most significant change is that it's a Chromium-based browser, which means you can install Chrome extensions to fill any features you may be missing. That said, the browser still retains its core philosophy of shipping useful integrated features—even if those options aren't always obvious. From bypassing unskippable YouTube ads to using a built-in volume booster for every tab, here are the best Opera hacks you should know about: Use "Early Bird" to try experimental features before releaseIf you live on the bleeding edge of tech, you can use Opera's "Early Bird" …

In 2023, Apple introduced the Double Tap feature for Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2. This allows a user to perform common actions, like answering or starting a song, simply by quickly tapping their thumb and index finger together twice. It was an intuitive way to confirm when you wanted to do something on your watch without tapping a tiny touchscreen button, but what if you wanted to dismiss something? Now, with the release of watchOS 26, Wrist Flick is here to solve that problem. Also available on Apple Watch Series 9 (and higher) as well as Apple Watch Ultra 2 (and higher), Wrist Flick is kind of like Double Tap’s evil twin. If you get a notification you don’t like, o…

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. I usually focus on something a subset of the population gets wrong, so the rest of us can feel smart, but this week, I’m going bigger and broader, and describing something that you, me, and everyone we have ever met has been wrong about in the past, is currently wrong about, and will be wrong about in the future: mistaking correlation for causation. People have been repeating some variation of "correlation is not causation" since at least 1739, when David Hume articulated the concept in A Treatise on Human N…

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. The 10th-generation iPad is considered Apple’s entry-level budget tablet and was one of the best tablets on the market until the 11th-generation iPad was released. Right now, you can pick up the 256GB wifi version for the lowest price it has been since its release: $349.99, down from its listed $499 price. After looking at price-tracking tools, I can say this is the cheapest price the …

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 Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. For as basic a necessity as it is, feeding yourself is a lot of work. What's more, feeding a household is even worse. There's the planning, then the shopping, the unpacking, the cooking, the storing, and finally, the cleaning, all of which has to be done over and over again forever. We all know what it's like to be faced with this task and just decide to open up Uber Eats and pay a bunch of fees to have someone do (most of) it for us. Apps are the saving g…