Home Office Setup & Equipment

There are numerous ways that your internet activity is tracked as you navigate from website to website, many of which you can mitigate with your choice of browser (and browser settings), as well as the use of tools like VPNs. Google Chrome remains the absolute worst browser for privacy for many reasons, but that doesn't mean the browser is free of privacy progress. In fact, the upcoming version of Chrome will finally patch a 20-year-old bug that allowed users to be tracked and profiled through their previously visited links. A privacy fix is coming to Chrome 136The issue, which Google is addressing with Chrome 136, has to do with how a user's previously clicked links ar…

Part-time work is great for increased flexibility, but a significant bummer when it comes to benefits. Luckily, a new rule now opens the door for millions of part-time workers to start building their nest eggs earlier through employer-sponsored retirement plans. This rule—part of the Secure Act 2.0 passed in 2022—reduces the waiting period for part-time employees to join their company's 401(k) or 403(b) plans. Here's what you need to know to take advantage of this change and maximize your savings this year. How part-time workers can save more for retirementUnder the new rules, part-time workers can qualify for their employer's retirement plan after just two years of servi…

Apple Intelligence had a slow rollout, launching with a waitlist and only recently allowing access to AI images and its emoji generator. But following yesterday's release of iOS 18.3/iPadOS 18.3/MacOS 15.3, it seems Apple is finally ready to follow Microsoft and Google’s leads and start putting its AI features front-and-center. According to the update's release notes, Apple Intelligence has gone from an opt-in feature to an opt-out one. In other words, if you have an AI-compatible iPhone (meaning the iPhone 15 Pro and above) or iPad (meaning it has an A17 chip or above), Apple Intelligence will be toggled on by default as soon as you upgrade. As seen in a separate post he…

Like many AI chatbots, ChatGPT has offered image generation for some time now. You might be well acquainted with it, seeing as its latest image generation tools have recently gone viral. Putting both the ethics of AI art as well as its errors, quirks, and inconsistencies aside for a moment, you may have noticed some issues with ChatGPT's image generation, especially if you've been using a lot. Since each image is contained to the ChatGPT conversation in which it was generated, it's quite difficult to keep tabs on all your images, unless you're exporting and cataloging them somewhere else manually. OpenAI might not be able to solve the other issues with AI art yet, but it …

Most of my adolescent free time was spent in the kitchen making Thai food with my mom. She was firm in the practice of using up every last bit of an ingredient. If there was any leftover coconut milk, it went in the fridge and we used it for random stuff (coffee, cereal, rice) until it was done within a day or two. It never went in the freezer because it would become a disgusting, curdled mess upon defrosting. I’ve previously addressed what a person should do with a leftover half-can of coconut milk before it spoils, but it turns out I’ve been thinking about the conundrum all wrong. My entire life, I believed freezing it was not an option. But it is. Yes, you can (and yo…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. You'd think we get enough drama from news and social media—but honestly, we live for it. Netflix has stories of tortured romance; parental struggles; political victories; and all manner of triumphs and tragedies, whether entirely fictional or inspired by true events. Past Lives (2023) Greta Lee plays Nora, whose family emigrated from South Korea to the United States when she was a child. Years later, and then over the course of several years, she reunites with childhood friend Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), forcing an examination of her life as it is, and as it might have been. Certainly among the best of the last five years…

Quick Look is one of my favorite Mac features, so much so that I always use a third party app enable it on my Windows PCs as well. It allows you to preview files on your Mac without opening them. You can select any file in Finder and press the Spacebar key to preview it. This means I can press one button to quickly look at videos, listen to audio files, view images, or read documents. While this feature is great, I've always been annoyed that it doesn't work well with folders— until now. By default, Quick Look will tell you how many files are in a folder, but doesn't actually tell you which files are in it. Thankfully, a new free utlity named Folder Preview closes that ga…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I know I’m not the only person with exercise equipment an arm’s reach (or a short walk) from where they spend most of their day. And you can pop down to your home gym a couple times a day, is that better than doing a whole workout all at once? Or if not better, is it just as good? Sometimes it is! Let’s discuss the nuances. For purposes of argument, I’ll assume you’re trying to decide between two schedules: A traditional strength workout, where you warm up and then do four or five different exercises, with several sets of each. The whole thing might take you anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on wha…

Saving up to retire takes decades of planning (and sometimes sacrifice), not to mention a steady income that allows you to put that money aside. Not everyone makes it to the finish line; in 2024, close to 5% of people with 401(k) plans took a hardship withdrawal, pulling money from their future to solve immediate financial needs. If you’re not yet 59½ years old (and don’t qualify for one of the exceptions allowed by the IRS) this can be a costly decision, though, because in addition to paying taxes on the withdrawal (which is considered income), you’ll be slapped with a 10% penalty. But if you need to access your retirement funds a little early, there’s a way to do it wit…

On Wednesday, Apple officially revealed the iPhone 16e, the spiritual successor to the iPhone SE. While the second and third-generation SEs borrowed from the design language of the iPhone 8, this new iPhone looks just like an iPhone 14. There are a lot of perks that come with that decision, but in doing so, Apple has also done something pretty drastic: It has officially killed off the Home button. With the launch of the iPhone 16e, no iPhone, nor any iPad Apple currently sells, ships with a Home button. (The iPod touch was killed off a long time ago.) This is, definitively, the end of an era, and I come not to mourn the Home button, but to praise it. Let's take a look at …

When Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, there was a lot of focus on the price tag ($599 is cheap for a new iPhone, but not that cheap), the lack of MagSafe support, and Apple's decision to finally kill off the Home button. But there's an interesting discussion surrounding the 16e's processor: the A18. At first glance, it seems like the same chip as the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. The phones also have the A18, which makes it sound like the iPhone 16e offers the same performance as its more expensive sibling devices, for at least $200 less. The thing is, these aren't the same chips: The A18 in the iPhone 16e is "binned." What is a "binned" chip?"Binned" chips d…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I am always down to try a new social app (a face I have made so, so clear), especially when it involves sharing photos. And the trendy photo-sharing app of the the moment is Yope (available on iOS and Android). Launched in September 2024, it currently has 2.2 million monthly active users and 800,000 daily active users, many of whom are in the investor-coveted Gen Z demographic. I am not a part of Gen Z, but as of today, I am one of the millions of people who used the app this month. It's fun and all, but I'm not sure I'll make it into that 800,000+ cohort of daily users. Here's why, and what you need to know about Yope. S…

DeepSeek is having a moment: With the release of its impressive R1 model, the AI company overtook ChatGPT (and every other app) to become the number one free app on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. If you gave the app a try this week, however, be warned: Your chats may have been exposed. As reported by The Hacker News, DeepSeek left one of its online databases exposed. While the company has issued a fix, this database is a treasure trove of user information. It contains over one million lines of log streams, which includes chat history, secret keys (used to encrypt and decrypt data), backend information, and other important data. As of this article, DeepSeek…

February is cold, wet, windy and downright inhospitable to outdoor gardening—but you know you are mere weeks from the start of spring. The irises and crocuses are beginning to emerge. Like most gardeners, this fills me with both excitement and anxiety with a capital A—am I already behind? You’re not, because February is the time to catch up. So in this, the shortest of months, you have not one, but two jobs: Wrap up all the things you’ve not yet accomplished for winter, while preparing for spring. By the time we talk next month, we’ll be deep in seeding season. Get your fruit readyWe’re at the tail end of the work that’ll determine what kind of fruit harvest you’ll have.…

There’s something magical about having a pool you can just dip into any time you want. That’s why it’s estimated there are nearly 11 million pools in the U.S., most of them residential. But pools are expensive. Aside from the price of installing one, it can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 annually to own and maintain a pool, which is why it’s often advisable not to add a pool to your home if you’re thinking of selling it someday. If your house already has a pool, or you want those summertime pool parties more than you want your money, you can at least cut down on those pool maintenance costs with a few simple steps. Use a pool coverOne of the easiest ways to lower you…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is a tablet/laptop hybrid that came out last summer and quickly rose to become one of the best laptops for college students. It is sleek and has a long battery life, and its comfort and ease of use as a tablet make it great for hands-on learning. It starts at $799.99 (originally $999.99) for the most basic version (which is powerful enough for most people), $879.99 (originally $1,199.99) if you want to double the storage to 512GB, and $1,399.99 (originally $1,699.99) to max out the storage with 1TB. With either, you'll …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Movies can certainly have dialogue that sings, and some great movies don't lean on beautiful images, but for the most part, film is an inherently visual medium. Heck, before audiences heard Al Jolson's voice in 1927's The Jazz Singer, movies were largely silent entertainment. While silent movies are mostly a thing of the past, some filmmakers still recognize the power of spare use of dialogue. The animated film Flow, one of this year's Oscar nominees for Best Animated Picture, stars a cast of animals who are truly animal—they don't speak at all—and that's not the only recent example. Here are 12 modern movies with no (or …

With tax season officially underway, you'll need to know the standard deduction amount you can claim for 2024. After all, most taxpayers opt to take the standard deduction rather than itemizing deductions on their federal income tax return. The standard deduction amounts tend to increase slightly each year to adjust for inflation. So let's take a look at how much you can claim in 2025 for the 2024 tax year. What's this year's standard deduction? For tax returns filed in 2025 for the 2024 tax year, here are the standard deduction amounts: Single filers: $14,600 (up from $13,850 in tax year 2023) Married couples filing jointly: $29,200 (up from $27,700 in tax year 2023) Hea…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’ve been eyeing premium wireless earbuds but don’t want to shell out big bucks, this deal on the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 might catch your attention. Originally priced at $279.95, they’re now going for $99.99 on Woot—but only for eight days or until sold out. Plus, Prime members get free standard shipping, while others will have to pay $6 (just a heads up, this sale is only available in the U.S., and free shipping isn’t available for Alaska, Hawaii, or PO boxes). You also get a two-year Sennheiser manufacturer limited warranty, so t…

On Wednesday, Apple refreshed its budget iPhone line. However, this isn't the iPhone SE 4; it's the iPhone 16e. It's the first time in a while Apple has added a letter to its current iPhone series (like the iPhone 6S or iPhone 5c), which might have you wondering: Should I buy the iPhone 16, or the iPhone 16E? The TL;DR: The iPhone 16e is remarkably similar to the iPhone 16. For most people, this is likely the iPhone to buy, and comes with enough of what you're looking for in the iPhone/iOS experience—especially when you consider the money you save. However, in order to make this iPhone more affordable than its other devices, Apple did have to cut some corners. I doubt m…

Maintaining a home is expensive, with many financial advisors recommending you set aside around 2% of its purchase price for upkeep each year. That cost is well worth it, as it prevents small problems from becoming bigger ones, and keeps your home in good shape so you can actually enjoy living there. It’s reasonable to assume that if you’re doing at least the bare minimum home maintenance tasks, you can rest easier. But even if you repair stuff as needed and do all the recommended annual checks and upkeep, you might still be damaging your house in a myriad of ways. That’s because many things homeowners without thinking about it can actually damage a house over the long te…

Hallucinations have always been an issue for generative AI models: The same structure that enables them to be creative and produce text and images also makes them prone to making stuff up. And the hallucination problem isn't getting better as AI models progress—in fact, it's getting worse. In a new technical report from OpenAI (via The New York Times), the company details how its latest o3 and o4-mini models hallucinate 51 percent and 79 percent, respectively, on an AI benchmark known as SimpleQA. For the earlier o1 model, the SimpleQA hallucination rate stands at 44 percent. Those are surprisingly high figures, and heading in the wrong direction. These models are known a…

If you were looking for a respite from X, but Threads didn't work out for you, you might have ended up at Bluesky. Sure, Mastodon is great in theory, but it doesn't have nearly as many users talking in one place. And as a single app, Bluesky is simply easier to use. Bluesky also feels like an app that has learned (or is still learning) from the mistakes of its peers. It has superior built-in moderation and troll-fighting features, and is relatively easy to get started with. But if you're going to pick up a new social network, you're going to want to carry over your mute words with you—that is, the collection of terms you've made over the years that you just don't want to …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’ve been holding off on a video doorbell because it usually costs too much, now’s a good time to reconsider. The Ring Battery Doorbell, in satin nickel or Venetian bronze, is currently $59.99 (down from $99.99)—the lowest it’s ever been, according to price trackers. Ring Battery Doorbell $59.99 at Amazon …