Home Office Setup & Equipment

Apple has officially announced the date for its annual Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC), where it announces the latest and greatest software updates for many of its platforms, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. This year, the event kicks off on June 9th with the public keynote, followed by a developers conference that will run until June 13. This is shaping up to be a big event for Apple, with sweeping changes in the iPhone user experience, including redesigned icons, menus, and apps. And we might even see a hardware announcement (but likely not any new MacBooks, as we just got an M4 MacBook Air). Updates to all major Apple operating systemsAs this i…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you're in the market for a sleek wireless speaker, the Sonos Era 100 is currently $50 off during Amazon's Big Spring Sale. Normally priced at $249, the current discount brings the speaker down to just $199. This is as low a price as this speaker has ever been, according to price-tracking tools. The Sonos Era 100 is a smart speaker that can work as stereo with a pair or as rear speakers in a Sonos surround sound system. It is an updated version of the Sonos One smart speaker, offering better bass and other improvements. The speaker is a favorite a…

Creating and sticking to a cleaning schedule is difficult, but only because life is difficult. Finding time to clean can feel impossible sometimes, especially when you've had a stressful day at work, with your family, or just in general. But what if you could harness that negative energy and turn it into cleaning power? That's the idea behind TikTok's "angry cleaning" trend—also known as "rage cleaning"—and if you're as grumpy as I am, you mind find it helps you get your home a lot cleaner. What is TikTok's rage cleaning trend about?I see the terms "angry cleaning" and "rage cleaning" all over TikTok, but quickly realized they describe something I already do: When I'm an…

Backups are always a smart move. If your data is only stored in one location, it's not safe, as it only takes one device failure to lose all that information for good. While there are plenty of ways to back up your data, companies like Google make it easy with built-in cloud backups. Once you set it up, all of the photos and videos you take are synced to the cloud, so you never need to worry about losing everything if your phone goes belly-up. While cloud backups are convenient, they're far from the only option you have, as you could routinely save copies of your photos and videos to an external drive. If you move platforms—say, from Android to iPhone—and you'd prefer to…

Good news: Spring is around the corner. By the time the ground is warm enough to receive your flower, vegetable, and herb starts, it’s a race to see how much production you can get from these plants before the season is over. The bigger the plant you start with, the better. That’s why I give my plants a head start by growing seedlings inside. Here's everything I'm starting indoors this month, and a few seeds you can direct sow outside, too. (If you've never grown from seed indoors before, don't be intimidated. It's incredibly rewarding, saves money, and will give you the gardening high you need while the weather is still terrible.) Start long-germinating flowers todayIt…

If you have a smartphone running Android 12 that can't upgrade past that version, I have some bad news: Google is dropping support for your phone. RIP Android 12As spotted by Android Authority, Google is no longer seeding security updates for devices running Android 12 and Android 12L. The company omitted the Android version from its April 2025 Android Security Bulletin, which notes security vulnerabilities Google has identified and patched, and as well as which versions of Android receive those patches. The company highlights Android 13, 14, and 15 across a number of different vulnerabilities, but not Android 12. The outlet isn't basing this news off these omissions alo…

Considering how much work goes into buying a home, it’s surprising how many people view it as a temporary situation. The concept of the “property ladder”—buying a small, affordable “starter” house just to build equity and trade up to a larger home, and then doing it again until you’re living in some kind of mansion—makes people think of their homes as investments in their future instead of a place to live their lives. It’s true that buying a house can be a complex decision, and buyer’s remorse is a real situation that almost anyone can find themselves experiencing—and sometimes selling your home is the best decision you can make. But there are plenty of bad reasons to sel…

There's a lot of talk online these days about hiding Copilot in Windows and tools that can remove it entirely. There's a reason for that: Some people are annoyed with AI and would prefer not to deal with it. Despite this trend, Microsoft recently launched Copilot for Mac, for some reason. While Windows users are looking to remove Microsoft's AI tool from their machines, Mac users are invited to actively install it on theirs. So, in the interest of fairness, I am going to take the exact opposite approach to hiding Copilot in Windows: setting up Copilot on your Mac. The thing is, unless you really love Copilot, you probably shouldn't use this app. Copilot for Mac is about …

As Google prepares Android 16 for launch, users are discovering interesting new features in its various betas. The latest one, discovered by Android Authority, allows you to unlock your Google Pixel phone even when its screen is turned off. This is possible on Pixel phones that have an in-display fingerprint sensor and are running Android 16 beta 3. How to unlock your Pixel phone with the screen offHere's how the new feature works. First, get an eligible Pixel phone and then update it to Android 16 beta 3 (I'll go over how in a little bit). Next, go to Settings > Security & privacy > Device unlock > Face & Fingerprint Unlock > Fingerprint Unlock, and e…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Like it or not, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. “But the holiday is made up!” you cry. “All holidays are made up,” I reply. “You need to get your partner a gift." No matter how badly you want to stick it to the Hallmark industrial complex, and no matter how much your loved one assures you they “really don’t want gifts,” the fact of the matter is that we’ve all been conditioned to feel the need to meet a bare minimum for romantic gift-giving every Feb. 14. And no, you’re not going to successfully overcome a lifetime of Valentine’s propaganda by deciding to stiff your partner on the gift front. Hallmark will neve…

The pace of AI development doesn't seem to be slowing down, and we're seeing a flurry of updates for the big apps and models every week. One of the most recent of those updates makes it easier to integrate ChatGPT into Android: You can now set it as the default digital assistant on your phone or tablet. As spotted by Android Authority, you need to have the beta version of ChatGPT for Android installed for this to work at the moment, though the feature will no doubt roll out to everyone in due course. If you'd rather have ChatGPT answering your questions about life, the universe, and everything, this makes it easier to access. To access the beta for ChatGPT, you need to ha…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Kitchen appliances seem to gain more and more functionality each year, and with that, the lines can blur. Two appliances that might seem similar and equally capable (some look nearly identical) are the juicer and blender, but they’re actually quite different. Before you start shopping, consider the differences between these machines. It’s pretty likely that one will serve you better than the other. How does a juicer work?A juicer, as its name implies, is specifically and exclusively for producing juice from whatever you cram inside. Typically, that means fruits and vegetables. Some juicers are simple handheld machines with…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Presidents Day is not until Feb. 17, 2025, but as is often the case, retailers have started their sales well in advance. Best Buy has the best sale I've seen so far, with great deals on major appliances and tech products, including headphones, TVs, soundbars, washers, and more. Here are my favorite deals from the sale worth considering. Resolution: 4K, Size: 55 inches, Display: LED, Backlight: Edge Lit, Voice Assistant: Alex…

Like the Nintendo Switch before it, the Switch 2 supports both physical and digital games. It offers some flexibility no matter how players enjoy to collect their games, unlike other game companies that offer digital-only versions of their consoles. It's important to note, however, that just because you buy a physical Switch 2 game, that doesn't mean you've actually purchased the game itself. In fact, for some games, there are few differences between buying the game physically or digitally—and unless you really appreciate the box art and the cartridge itself, you shouldn't make your buying decision with the wrong idea in mind. Switch 2 Game-Key cardsOnce the Switch 2 do…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. In 2023, I decided to update my Apple Watch after consistently failing to wear my Series 4 for a number of years. I sold that one on Poshmark and began looking at newer models to find one with enough features to convince me to actually wear it. I opted to get a Series 8, although the Series 9 had just been released, as I was buying two: one for my mom and one for myself. As it turns out, that was a great decision. If you're searching for a new wearable or considering upgrading yours, you might also be wondering which of the older Apple Watch models is still useful today. My Series 8 is holding up beautifully three years af…

Airport security will probably always be somewhat of a hassle, but one friction point you can potentially minimize is utilizing a digital ID in place of a physical one—and if you're an Android user, your passport added to Google Wallet's ID pass is officially accepted by TSA. It's certainly convenient to not have to carry or keep track of your physical passport when you travel, and a digital passport in ID pass can get you through security screening if you don't have a REAL ID after the requirements take effect on May 7. That said, your digital passport doesn't completely replace your physical document, which you'll still need when traveling internationally and in situat…

As a teen, I was confused when I read a box of taco directions. I remember the step after cooking the ground beef was something like “drain off the water.” What water? It only took one time, and then I knew what water they were referring to. Cooking ground beef often results in gray, rubbery nubbins, and browning it is even harder because of that pool of liquid. Luckily, there’s an easy remedy for this problem: Cook faster, more tender ground beef with a sprinkle of baking soda. The best way to cook ground beefI have no issues making this claim: This is the best way to cook ground beef. Full stop. Baking soda is a household chemical most folks have readily available in th…

You might be used to AI chatbots answering your questions with a few sentences or even paragraphs, but how about multipage reports? With Deep Research, that's exactly what the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are doing, utilizing their large language models alongside web searches and reasoning capabilities to become research assistants of sorts. A Deep Research query takes time (anything between five minutes to 30 minutes, depending on what you ask), but comes back to you with a detailed report on any subject you can ask about, including complex things like niche market research or scientific mysteries. Even better, all three major Deep Research AI providers now h…

Apple is finally giving some love to the often ignored AirPods Max. Well, the $549 AirPods Max with USB-C anyway—sorry if you've got the older model with the Lightning connector. With the iOS 18.4 update that's coming in April, Apple is enabling lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio for the AirPods Max. In the words of Lifehacker Senior Tech Editor Jake Peterson, this upgrade finally makes the new AirPods Max worth buying. Oh, but you're probably going to need a new dongle too. Why another dongle in 2025?Lossless audio only works when connected to an Apple device using a USB-C cable. With the update, AirPods Max users will be able to enjoy more than 100 million songs…

When Google rolled out AI Overviews for Search last year, it didn't go over so well. The company's AI made some pretty massive mistakes with its results, many of which went viral. In response, Google pulled back the feature, reworked it, and slowly reintroduced it to the masses. You've probably noticed. This month, Google is continuing its work of adding AI to Search—whether you want it or not. First, it's rolling out a new version of AI Overviews that's powered by Gemini 2.0, the company's latest AI model. Google says this update will help with "harder questions," like coding, math, and multimodal (prompts using different types of media) requests. In addition, teens can…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. I've been testing portable projectors for a bunch of different use cases, but few, if any, have come close to the complete package offered by the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro. It's my favorite of the lot, and right now, you can get the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro portable projector for $379 )down from $449.99) and get your choice of the Creative Optical Filter (normally $49.99) or the XGIMI Carrying Case (normally $69.99). Alternately, you can spend a bit more and get the PowerBase Stand and projector combo for $424.99 (originally $499.99). Whichever you choose, you'll b…

Like the first few months of the year, April is a relatively quiet month for sky watching, but it does bring one of the oldest meteor showers and a micromoon. April 13: Pink MoonApril's full moon is known as the Pink Moon, so named for the color of ground phlox, a wildflower that blooms during the month—though the moon itself doesn't actually appear pink in the sky. The Pink Moon is also a micromoon, meaning it occurs at that furthest point from Earth. The opposite of a supermoon, it will look about 5% smaller in diameter than usual. April 21: Lyrid meteor shower peakThe main event in April is the Lyrid meteor shower. It starts mid-month (around April 17) and will peak …

Instagram has a new feature that curates custom Reels feeds for you and your friends. Blend, an invite-only option within individual or group chats, refreshes daily and suggests content based on participants' tastes. Spotify has a similar Blend feature that creates shared playlists—also updated daily—based on both listeners' tastes. Note that Instagram Blend, which is a mobile-only feature, is not yet available to all users, even if the icon appears in your chats. How to use Instagram BlendTo start a blend, you'll need to invite users via your individual or group chats. From Messages on the mobile app, open the one-on-one or group chat you want to create a blend with …

Obsidian is my favorite productivity tool. I use it for all of my writing, as a journaling app, and to replace multiple productivity tools. There's a big downside, though: no grammar checking tool. Grammarly is the best known grammar checking tool, but there's no way to add it to Obsidian. I also wouldn't enable it even if I could. Grammarly processes text on their own servers, which is a potential privacy issue and also generally inefficient. This is why I've come to love Harper, a free and open-source alternative that runs entirely on your device and can be added to Obsidian in a couple of clicks. Harper isn't just an Obsidian tool—there are also plugins for WordPress, …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. While I was poking around online shopping this week, I noticed a great deal: Amazon has the Dyson V8 Plus Cordless Vacuum marked down to $349.99, a 26% discount off its normal price of $469.99. A little over a quarter off doesn't usually move me, as far as sales go, but on something as expensive as a Dyson that's a solid deal. The spring and summer get dusty and allergen-y, so a strong vacuum is always a smart upgrade to make before the sneezy season hits. Dyson V8 Plus Cordless Vacuum (Silver/Nickel) …