Home Office Setup & Equipment

I hit 250 days on my Duolingo streak this week. That's more than eight months of consecutive daily Spanish lessons. My virtual owl loves me! There's just one problem: I'm not actually any better at speaking Spanish than I was in March. I'm just better at playing Duolingo. Somewhere along the way, keeping the streak alive became more important than learning the language. That same rewiring happens with all my health-related apps. It doesn't take long before I'm more focused on getting a hit of dopamine from building my streak than I am with the hard work of hitting my fitness goals. I've written before about how chasing the concept of "wellness" stopped serving my well-be…

It’s likely you’ve heard of the Pareto principle (maybe even while reading my tips on how to be more productive at work or study more effectively). But do you really know what the Pareto principle is? To be honest, I only just started to get a grip on it fairly recently, because it's a lot easier to read about than put into practice. Also known as the 80/20 rule or the law of the vital few, it can be little confusing at first, but understanding and implementing it can truly transformative, helping you to better manage your time and get more done with less effort. Who doesn't want that? What is the Pareto principle?Basically, the Pareto principle states that 80% of your …

Like everybody else, at the end of every December, I start thinking hard about what I want the next year to be like for me. You can chalk it up to all the Capricorn placements in my birth chart if you want (and I do!) or blame the cultural obsession with a "new year, new me" approach, but I take my New Year's resolutions seriously and generally try to come up with realistic, actionable plans to improve myself and my life. It's easy to identify the things I want to change and even easy to figure out how, exactly, I should do that, but that doesn't mean it's easy to stick to the new plan. Real life gets in the way no matter what year it is, but the degree to which it does t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Smart glasses have promised convenience for years, but few have felt practical enough to wear daily. The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses (Gen 1) come closer by keeping things familiar. They look like classic Wayfarers, not a tech experiment, which lowers the barrier right away. Right now, they’re also easier to justify on price. The matte black version with polarized lenses is 25% off at $246.75, down from $329, which is the lowest price so far, according to price trackers. A glossy black version with clear lenses costs less at $224.25 if you don’t need …

If you've been following smart pet tech closely over the last couple years, you might know Pawport. I saw the company's smart pet door at the last two CES's, and was my first introduction to this specific product category. At the time, Pawport hadn't yet launched; now they have. But there's one key difference between the pet door Pawport showed off at CES 2025, and the one that eventually launched late last year. Pawport's smart pet doorIn a lot of ways, Pawport's official pet door is the product I saw last year: Pawport is made of aluminum, and is reportedly bulletproof. (The company has a model riddled with bullet holes on display). This smart door is designed to fit ov…

Not to be outdone by the likes of Samsung and TLC, Amazon is joining the picture frame TV space. At CES 2026, the company announced a new line of unobtrusive smart TVs, complete with a new brand name and a redesigned FireTV OS, which will also show up on other FireTV devices. Meet the Ember Artline TV series Credit: Amazon Amazon is calling its new line of art TVs "Ember Artline." They will ship in two sizes, 55 inches and 65 inches, with pricing starting at $899 for the base model—some $200 cheaper than the list price of Samsu…

There's something deeply satisfying about tracking your running progress in a spreadsheet you built yourself. No algorithm showing off other people's workouts, no concerns about what happens to your data if the company pivots or shuts down. Just you, your numbers, and a system designed exactly the way you want it. And when I wrote about this earlier this year, I received some truly heartwarming messages from runners who'd been thinking the same thing. So many of us runners are tired of relying on apps, and we're instead drawn to a simple, customizable spreadsheet. Why build your own spreadsheet?Sure, there's no shortage of fitness tracking apps out there. Strava, Garmin C…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Last year, one of my New Year's resolutions was to overhaul my apartment and turn it into a cleaner, more comfortable, more organized, and more efficient space. Knowing that a messy space can negatively impact your productivity and overall mental health, I reasoned that this would actually serve the purpose of making me a more efficient, peaceful person, so I took it seriously. One major issue was quickly apparent: My kitchen is tiny, which meant it was disorganized and more or less useless when it came to its primary function, which is to facilitate my cooking. It took some creativity (and money), but I figured out what t…

At CES 2026, Swedish furniture giant Ikea showed off its new Kallsup Bluetooth speaker, which will cost just $10 in the U.S. Normally, I'd be skeptical of any speaker this cheap, but the Kallsup grabbed my attention for a few reasons—chief among them that Ikea says you can chain up to 100 of them together to create the multi-speaker setup of your dreams. That aside, the hardware seems pretty basic: The speaker has a USB-C port at the back, and two buttons up top (play/pause, and pair). Chaining together Bluetooth speakers is nothing new, but this is the first time I'm seeing the ability to pair as many as 100 of them. The only reason this use case is even remotely plausib…

Wheelchairs are available at airports, hotels, resorts, theme parks, and on cruises, but standard wheelchairs require ongoing effort and can struggle through difficult terrain. Standard wheelchairs are simply less capable than electric ones. WheelMove wants to change that. WheelMove is a portable wheelchair attachment that turns any standard wheelchair into an electric one, allowing people to travel more easily wherever they are. It debuted at CES 2026, marking a significant leap in accessibility for wheelchair users who travel. When I found WheelMove at CES "Unveiled," I thought back to a recent family trip just two weeks ago, where two of my older family members often…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Nothing, an upstart tech brand from the U.K. that makes products like phones, smartwatches, and headphones, has quickly become one of my favorites lately. Its products offer unique features and designs, and the prices are competitive. Right now, Nothing's latest budget over-ear headphones, which were released in October, the CMF Headphone Pros, are just $79 (originally $99), the product's lowest price ever, according to price-tracking tools. This is a great option for anyone looking to get budget over-the-ear headphones that punch above their weight…

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 QN90F Neo QLED TV is currently $1,199.99 on Woot in "factory-reconditioned" condition. That undercuts a new unit, which sits around $1,600 on Amazon, and even slips below what some retailers ask for “like-new” stock. This deal runs for seven days or until it sells out. Shipping is free for Prime members, while everyone else pays a flat $6 fee. One thing to note before checkout: This item doesn’t ship to Alaska, Hawaii, or PO boxes, and you’ll need to provide a valid phone number and physical shipping address. The QN90F isn’t a mi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The ANC headphones from Sony and Bose are great, but they look like gadgets, not music gear. Luckily, Marshall is offering these Monitor III ANC earbuds, which offer a cool retro look. And right now, they're available for the lowest price ever, at $279.99 (down from $379.99), beating the heavyweights from Sony and Bose on price. Marshall Monitor III Headphones …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Apple's flagship products rarely get substantial discounts—but if you wait for the right moment, you can grab a great deal. If you've been eyeing Apple's top-of-the-line smartwatch, that moment is now: The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has dropped to $549.99 on Amazon, saving you $250 off the retail price. This matches the lowest price it has yet reached, according to price tracking tools. Apple Watch Ultra 2 …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Every self-respecting DIYer eventually buys a tool box—a sturdy place to store, organize, and protect your valuable tools. A quality metal tool box instantly ups your home maintenance and repair game—suddenly, you no longer have to spend twenty minutes rooting around for that pair of pliers or that box of random screws, because everything is in its place. And that place can often roll around and follow you to wherever you need to work. Tool boxes are terrific, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be improved and augmented. Whether your tool box is a small, efficient unit or a behemoth with deep drawers and pull-out trays, you …

Stock Android added the concept of App Pairs back in Android 15. You choose two apps to use in split screen mode, add a shortcut to the paired apps to the home screen, and it's now trivially easy to trigger split screen multitasking (instead of having to perform multiple tap and drag gestures). It sounds neat, but I never really used it, because on my small Pixel 9a, using apps in 50:50 split-screen mode is hardly user-friendly. There's just not enough room on the screen for each app to take up half of it and still be usable. But that changed with Android 16, thanks to a small update to how split screen works. In Android 16, the split screen ratios for app pairs are much …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. After Verizon's unexpected nationwide outage Wednesday, the carrier came out yesterday to try to save face, saying it was offering a $20 credit to all accounts in the myVerizon app. Now, its low-cost offshoot carrier, Visible, is also trying to make its own amends. As spotted by 9to5Google, Visible is texting its customers with the following message, promising a $5 credit on their next bill as an apology for the outage: Yesterday we let you down and for that we are sorry. We are giving you a $5 credit towards your next month of service that can be redeemed after Jan 16 when paying with a credit card online. This credit isn…

When Netflix isn't spending its time trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, it seems the company is actually adding new features to its subscription service. Netflix is always adding new shows and movies, which is what most users are looking for in the platform, but that's not all you can expect from your account. In fact, Netflix is now rolling out an interactive experience for its live competition shows, allowing subscribers to cast votes in real-time. Live voting comes to Star SearchNetflix announced the change in a press release on Tuesday, and also revealed the first show to officially run with real-time voting: Star Search. Netflix is bringing back the American …

My number one hack to consistently exercise is my ability to lose myself in the moment. When the music fades, your doubts quiet, and you're simply there—fully immersed in the rhythm of your workout—is what psychologists call a "flow state." And it's not reserved for marathon runners, or professional dancers, musical geniuses or chess masters, or what have you. Whether you're lifting weights in your garage, following a YouTube yoga video, or taking a morning jog, tapping into flow can transform your workout from a chore into something genuinely energizing. What is a flow state?Flow state, a concept popularized by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, describes a mental sta…

A week after OpenAI admitted it will soon start testing ads in ChatGPT, Google has promised that it's not planning to inject ads into Gemini anytime soon. The statement was given to journalist Alex Heath during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said the company doesn't have "any plans" for ads in Gemini. While the statement was fairly brief, it also jibes with a similar quote Hassabis gave to Axios, where he said he was "a little bit surprised" that OpenAI was already introducing ads to ChatGPT. That surprise is understandable, especially because OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in 2024 that he considered ads a "last resort for …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I’ve never managed to get on board with any hydration trackers. I’ll log the foods I eat, the exercise I do, but drinks just happen. Did I have one glass of water or two with lunch? Hell if I know. Not to mention that your hydration depends on all the H2O you take in, not just the glasses of plain water. You can hydrate with soup, with Diet Coke, or with slices of watermelon. Most hydration apps forget this, but even if they don’t, that just makes logging even more complicated. That’s why I was intrigued by the P Water app for iPhone and Apple Watch. It tracks exactly what you’d expect from the name. I’ve been using it for…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch Ultra in the summer of 2024, and then refreshed it last August with double the storage and new color options. As we all know, older versions get big discounts, and if the extra storage and colors aren't a big deal to you, you could be in a great position to get a flagship Samsung smartwatch at a big discount. The 2024 Bespoke Edition 47mm LTE Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is selling for $389.95, originally $649.99 at launch. This is the lowest price it has reached, according to price-checking tools. The Galaxy Watch U…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Sony ULT Field 3 is part of Sony’s newer ULT lineup from 2025, alongside the larger ULT Field 5 and the ULT Tower 9. This is the smallest and most portable of the three, clearly aimed at people who want something tough, loud, and easy to carry. Right now, Woot is selling a refurbished unit for $99.99, with free shipping for Prime members and a $6 fee for everyone else. As a “Grade A” refurbed unit, it’s been inspected, tested, and guaranteed to work like new, with cosmetic wear that isn’t noticeable from arm’s length. It also comes with a one-ye…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When nature dumps a load of snow onto your driveway, it’s a free workout in disguise—but maybe not one you’re really in shape to tackle. If you’re always sore (or, worse, injured) after the first big storm of the season, read these tips on how to make shoveling easier on your body. Recognize what you’re asking your body to doLook, just because shoveling is a common chore doesn’t mean it’s one that everyone’s body is automatically ready for. Be honest about whether you’re trained for this. You wouldn’t ask “how can I run a marathon without my legs being sore the next day?” if you haven’t done any running at all in the past …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Soundcore Boom 3i is clearly built with water-first trips in mind. It has an IP68 rating, so it’s fully resistant to dust and water, and it’s also designed to handle saltwater, which in itself is pretty rare even for outdoor speakers. That’s the kind of detail that matters if your idea of “outside” means beaches, boats, or time near the ocean. It also floats, and it does so with the speakers facing upward, which keeps the sound usable instead of muffled when it’s bobbing around. In practice, that makes it less annoying to live with than other fl…