Home Office Setup & Equipment

If you're trying to access X on Friday afternoon (Eastern Time), you might be hitting a roadblock. That's what happened to me: I went to refresh my feed one last time before stepping away for the weekend, but noticed that nothing was loading. In fact, the site acted as if I had a brand-new account, and invited me to explore users to follow. But whenever I clicked anything, I'd just get errors. I thought it might have just been on my end, because when I checked Downdetector, the site said: "User reports show no current problems with X (Twitter)." Indeed, the chart was flat, minus a small spike earlier today. But the comments were full of users talking about the site not w…

AI is a divisive technology. Some of us can't stand it, and avoid it at all costs. Others are AI-curious, and dabble with certain apps or features; still others still embrace it with enthusiasm, and use the tech for as many purposes as possible. Still, though I'm aware of this AI spectrum, I'm struggling to understand who exactly would want to connect their Starbucks account to ChatGPT—so, naturally, I connected mine. Starbucks rolled out this collaboration on April 15 as a "natural, personal, and fun" way to discover new drinks to order. As someone who only ever orders a plain coffee with cream, or maybe an iced espresso, perhaps this would finally be my opportunity to b…

If you haven't thought recently about which Android apps have access to your device's location, camera, microphone, or other features, now is a good time to do a privacy audit and ensure these permissions are up to date. There's another permission type that allows apps access to system-wide resources, so while you're at it, you should check these too. Android's various types of app permissionsAndroid devices have a dedicated privacy dashboard through which you can choose how apps access private data, like your camera, microphone, call logs, location, files, calendar, and contact list (to name a few). If you go to Settings > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Per…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Almost everybody who sticks to their workout routine has found a type of fitness they love. That may mean Crossfit classes multiple times a week, going for a run every morning, or hiring a personal trainer to walk them through a customized workout. Everything comes with a cost, though. So let’s talk about what you’ll be spending in a variety of scenarios, from the cost of each type of gym, to the upgrades you’ll probably go for, to the comparative cost of at-home alternatives. The cost of joining a no-frills gymWhat it takes to get started: The main cost here is the membership itself. Budget chain gyms like Crunch and Plan…

When you service a niche market like e-reader enthusiasts—the kind of folks who can name five different e-ink devices that aren't the Amazon Kindle—you'd do well to pay attention to what your customers are saying, and respond accordingly. That's what Chinese tech firm Bigme had to do this week: The announcement of its latest smartphone was so poorly received, the company has now issued an apology. If you've somehow missed the tempest in this particular teapot, a few weeks ago Bigme teased the new device, calling it the "world's first" dual-screen color e-ink and LCD smartphone. It seems most Bigme fans imagined a device exactly like the one you're probably picturing: A ph…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Compared to traditional speaker setups, soundbars are an affordable alternative to upgrading your television’s sound without adding clutter to your space. Some, like the Sonos Beam Gen 1 soundbar, also come with built-in voice assistants—and right now, a new Sonos Beam is 46% off on Woot, taking it to $269 (down from $499). According to price tracking tools, this is $30 under its lowest previous price. Sonos Beam (Gen 1) Soundbar …

Since early Thursday morning, Bluesky has been experiencing intermittent downtime. It's not unusual for a platform to go through outages, of course. If you check in with Downdetector every now and then, you'll see how often users of websites big and small report issues with the service. In most cases, some bug or small issue has gummed up the works behind the scenes, and it doesn't take long for the platform's engineers locate the problem and issue a fix: downtime over. But that doesn't seem to be the case with Bluesky—at least, not this time. Bluesky was hit with a DDoS attackOn Thursday at 7:47 p.m., Bluesky posted an update on its official Bluesky page. The post says …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Although many wireless outdoor security cams come with a hefty price tag, there are a select few from reliable brands that are affordable enough to buy in multiples for full-home coverage while still taking advantage of popular features, and when you opt for a refurbished one from Amazon, that value is boosted even further. This refurbished Arlo Essential 2K Cam (2nd Gen) is a great example, and right now it’s 64% off at a record low of $24.99 (originally $69.99) on Amazon. Renewed Arlo Essenti…

Gemini has long been able to connect to other Google apps, but earlier this year those integrations were made tighter and more seamless with a feature called Personal Intelligence. Now, Personal Intelligence is expanding into Google Photos and picking up AI image creation capabilities, courtesy of the Nano Banana 2 model. The idea is that you don't have to manually select a picture in Google Photos and tell the AI to do something with it. Instead you just type a prompt such as "create a cartoon showing my family enjoying our favorite activities," and Gemini will do the rest—mining your Google Photos library for the relevant information and people. Another example prompt G…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. In many ways, Yellowstone is the Platonic ideal of a Taylor Sheridan joint, combining a neo-western vibe with an incredibly detailed sense of place, a nonpolitical exploration of the tension between individual rights and the collective forces of society, and some really banger lines delivered by Kevin Costner as badass patriarch John Dutton. It’s no wonder the show was a huge hit that keeps spawning prequels and spinoffs. If you can’t get enough Yellowstone, we’ve already offered up suggestions for other TV series you could be streaming. If you need more Big Sky-esque drama, the good news is there are plenty of books, movi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Anker Solix C1000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station with a 400W solar panel is down to $829.98 (from $1,116.99) on Amazon—its lowest price, according to price trackers. Anker has been building out its Solix line as a more serious push into home backup, and the C1000 Gen 2 sits in that space where it is still portable but capable enough to handle essential appliances. It weighs just under 30 pounds, so it isn't something you’ll carry all day, but it is manageable to move from room to room or load into a car. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The two-cam kit of EufyCam S3 Pro with HomeBase 3 is now down to $399.98 from $549.99, and price trackers show this is the lowest it has reached so far. It is still a premium setup, but this drop makes it easier to consider if you were already planning to invest in a long-term system. You get two 4K outdoor cameras and the HomeBase 3 hub, which handles local storage and system controls. That means no required monthly fees, since your footage stays on the device locally instead of being pushed to the cloud. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Today, Whoop furthered its quest to become a comprehensive, one-stop health platform. Since last fall, Whoop members have had access to the Advanced Labs blood testing service—now, the performance wearable company is rolling out "Specialized Panels," a new line of targeted blood tests that let users drill down into even more insights about their body. Whoop Peak 12-Month Membership, 5.0 Fitness Wearable $239.00 …

DuckDuckGo's whole shtick is privacy, so it isn't surprising that the company makes its own VPN—so long as you pay for it. Now, there are a lot of VPNs out there, and the best ones do typically require a fee, but it would seen on the surface that DuckDuckGo's offerings were as solid a choice as any other similar service. Of course, there's always the question of privacy and security anytime you use a service like this: How well is this VPN really working? Is the company behind it secretly accessing my browsing data as I use the app? DuckDuckGo seems to be confident in this area: The company hired independent cybersecurity firm Securitum to conduct an audit of its "no-l…

My most anticipated iOS 27 feature is not a new feature at all: If the rumors are true, Apple will use its next major iPhone update as an opportunity to squash bugs and improve stability across iOS. The company has already started work on this front ahead of iOS 27—with iOS 26.4, Apple fixed some key issues with the iPhone's keyboard, which users have complained about since the company initially rolled out iOS 26., and launched new settings to tone down the look of Liquid Glass in response to negative feedback from some users. But while I hope that iOS 27 is mostly a stability update, I know it won't be totally absent any new features. In fact, the rumors suggest Apple wi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Xteink X4 is a wallet-sized e-reader from China that has attracted a cult following of tinkerers online for its no-frills charm and crisp 4.3-inch display. When I reviewed it last year, I had a few minor complaints, but "too big" definitely wasn't one of them—not surprising, given I was already an adherent of the phone-sized Boox Palma 2. But now that I have tested out the Xteink X3, the X4's even tinier brother, I can't help but wonder if there exists an e-reader so small I won't prefer it. …

If you've ever started a new workout routine with the best intentions only to find yourself skipping sessions by week two, you're not alone. I'm the type to get trapped in the same cycle of burnout, where I go hard for a couple of weeks, feel exhausted, feel guilty, and repeat. For me, what finally broke that cycle wasn't a new gym membership or a fancy fitness app, but a simple scheduling hack: the "3-3-3 rule." I'd seen this rule applied it to general productivity, and all the same principles can apply to your fitness habits, too. Here's how you can use the 3-3-3 rules to structure your workouts and create a habit that sticks. What is the 3-3-3 rule?The 3-3-3 "rule" (o…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. As HBO's Industry begins, the recent grads working at prestigious investment bank Pierpoint & Co. are given their marching orders: There are a lot of them and only a few full-time job openings, so they'll need to prove themselves if they hope to stick around. They respond to this challenge by doing whatever it takes—whatever it takes. Renewed for a fifth and final season, Industry has been the streaming era's most cogent take on the world of finance bros (of any gender), and modern white collar workers in a more upscale Glengarry Glen Ross mode. While you wait for this story of disaster capitalism to return, dive into…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. “Be able to do a pull-up” is a common fitness goal, and if you work hard—with negative pull-ups, inverted rows, and more—someday you’ll get there. Go ahead, take a minute to celebrate. But don’t drop the workouts that you were doing pre-pull-up. It’s tempting to change up your training, because for weeks or months (maybe years!) you were doing the things that you do when you can’t do a pull-up. You may have been doing negative pull-ups, where you start at the top of the movement and slowly lower yourself down. You may have been doing inverted rows, where you pull yourself toward a low bar or rings. You may have been doing …

I have a bit of an issue with short-form content. It's so easy to lose hours scrolling through Instagram Reels at night that I deleted the app, and I only use the Instagram website on my laptop (a categorically worse Instagram experience). The problem is, I just moved my addiction to YouTube Shorts. Because you're greeted with a grid of Shorts as soon as you launch the YouTube app, it's too easy to just keep scrolling through Shorts for hours. It looks like I'm not the only one with this problem: Back in October, YouTube added an option to limit your Shorts watch time. Then, in January, it rolled out an option to disable Shorts in YouTube search. But while these changes a…

When you buy a Samsung Galaxy phone, you're not just getting the standard, stock Android experience as far as software goes: You're also getting One UI, Samsung's own take on Android, complete with its own visual look, AI features, and other tweaks. One UI means you get access to settings on a Galaxy handset that aren't available on other Android phones—you can apply customizations and controls you won't find on a handset from Nothing or Google. Whether you're thinking of buying a Galaxy phone and want to know what the benefits are, or you already own a Samsung handset and want to make sure you're exploring everything it has to offer, here are some of my favorite settings…

If you've had trouble accessing Bluesky this morning, you're not alone. The social media platform has been experiencing intermittent interruptions to service on Thursday. That's obvious from a glance at Downdetector, which shows thousands of user reports of issues with Bluesky starting at about 1:51 a.m. ET, and really kicking off at 2:21 a.m. ET. (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Lifehacker parent company Ziff Davis.) While my Bluesky feed does seem to be working at this time, there are still issues causing downtime for users and parts of the platform, including loading notifications. As of this article, Bluesky's status page reads "We are investigating an incident w…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Anker’s Nebula P1i Portable Projector is down to $295 on Amazon from its usual $369, and according to price trackers, that’s the lowest it has gone so far. That makes it one of the more affordable ways to get a full HD projector with built-in streaming. The P1i is designed around convenience—it runs Google TV out of the box, so you can jump straight into apps like Netflix without plugging in a streaming stick. Setup is also simple: Anker’s Smart Instant Setup handles autofocus, keystone correction, and screen alignment, so you can place it down and …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Levoit LV-H133 air purifier has dropped to $76.99 on Woot, down from its original $249.99 and still significantly lower than the $199.99 it’s currently going for on Amazon. According to price trackers, this marks the lowest price it has reached so far. This deal is set to run for two days or until stock runs out, whichever comes first, with free shipping for Prime members and a $6 fee for everyone else. Levoit LV-H133 Air Purifier 3-stag…

If you're a frequent Gemini user, and you happen to have a Mac, good news: Google just launched a dedicated Gemini app for macOS. It's a long time coming, seeing as Google's rivals, like OpenAI and Anthropic, have had dedicated Mac apps for ChatGPT and Claude for some time. Gemini's Mac app appears to come with many of the same benefits as other desktop AI apps. For most queries, the experience is about the same as it is on the web app: You ask Gemini a question or make a request, and it responds appropriately. But there are two keys advantages to breaking out of the web app. Summon Gemini with a keyboard shortcutFirst, Gemini can be called up at any time using a keyboa…