Home Office Setup & Equipment

We may earn a commission from links on this page. It’s become fashionable to hate on Valentine’s Day, and I get it—the commercialization; the unreasonable expectations; the bland commodification of a deeply human experience. But here's why I clarify that it's also OK to love love. It’s OK to look forward to Valentine’s Day, whether because you’ve found your own storybook romance (whatever it looks like), or because you enjoy watching other people navigate the many possible relationship complications. Here are 25 movies that celebrate love, ranging from dark to outright comedic, If the expectations of V-Day start to feel overwhelming, throwing on a movie might offer you…

No matter how much Google has tried over the past couple of years, it's never managed to make Android updates as seamless as iOS updates. On the iPhone, every compatible iPhone across the globe gets the same updates, at the same time. On Android, it's anyone's guess. Google releases the latest and greatest Android updates for Developers and its Pixel devices, and then Android smartphone manufactures get started with developing their own versions. For instance, because Samsung's version of Android 15 is different from what OnePlus is doing, that can sometimes mean key features don't show up on your phone until quite a ways down the line. To mitigate this to some extent, Go…

OpenAI is having a hell of a day. First, the company announced a $1 billion equity investment from Disney, alongside a licensing deal that will let Sora users generate videos with characters like Mickey Mouse, Luke Skywalker, and Simba. Shortly after, OpenAI revealed its latest large language model: GPT-5.2. OpenAI says that this new GPT model is particularly useful for "professional knowledge work." The company advertises how GPT-5.2 is better than previous models at making spreadsheets, putting together presentations, writing code, analyzing pictures, and working through multi-step projects. For this model, the company also gathered insights from tech companies: Sup…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When you watch a piece of media produced in a language you don't speak, you have a couple of options. You can, of course, turn on subtitles and follow along by reading. But in some cases, you can switch the audio track to whichever language you speak. This is called the "dub," and it usually requires voice artists to record the lines in this new language—in a way that matches the original tone of the show or movie. This requires time and money, something studios aren't always willing to part with. As such, not everything has a dub. But what if it could? On Wednesday, Amazon announced "AI-aided dubbing" for Prime Video…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. For me, third-party "Joy-Cons" were an absolute necessity for comfortable portable play on the original Switch. But because the Switch 2 upgraded its Joy-Cons to a more complicated magnetic connection, we haven't seen many third-party options come out for it yet. It hasn't been as much of an issue for me as on the original Switch, since I do think the Joy-Con 2 are more comfortable than the original Joy-Cons. But they're still not ideal, especially when compared to other portable gaming options like the Steam Deck. That's why controller company Abxylute's recent announcement is so interesting to me. The company announce…

If you want to become a faster runner, you’ll probably end up doing a lot of speedwork on a track. Or if you live in a hilly place, you might wish you had a nice flat track to run on. But how do you find one that’s open to the public? Turns out it’s easier than you might think. Many public high school tracks are available for the community to use. Call local schools Word of mouth is your best option for finding the best local tracks; guaranteed there are tons of people in your community who know which schools have an open track. You can ask runners, ask parents (they'll know the schools pretty well), or cut out the middleman and call the school. I run on a local school…

Max is joining the lineup of streaming platforms limiting users sharing a single subscription to those in the same household—unless you pay $7.99 per month for an "extra member" add-on. Adding an extra member to an existing streaming plan costs a little bit less than purchasing a new, separate subscription, though these users are limited to one profile and one supported device at a time. The best value for extra members typically comes with the most expensive plans. On Max, that's Premium, which costs $20.99 per month. How Max's "extra member" option stacks upMax subscribers on any plan (except Disney+/Hulu/Max bundles) can add one extra member at $7.99 per month if the…

This week's biggest event was the Super Bowl. While the game was a snore-fest reminiscent of the lopsided Super Bowl blowouts of the past, the halftime show was nothing like the performances of 1980s Super Bowl favorites "Up with People." If you compare the two performances (and you should), you'll see how far we have come as a society. Kendrick's jeans win the Super Bowl Super Bowl 2025 may have been more of beatdown than an exciting football game, but luckily Kendrick Lamar was around at halftime to provide some much needed drama. From "Uncle" Samuel L. Jackson providing a preemptive critique of the show from "mainstream" America, to Serena Williams crip walki…

Ever since Apple made it easy to change certain default apps on your iPhone, it's become quite convenient to switch away from the company's apps whenever there's a third-party option you prefer. With iOS 18.4, Apple made it possible to change your default translation app as well. First spotted by MacRumors, you can officially set Google Translate as the default app for translation, in case you prefer it over Apple Translate. Make Google Translate the default translation app on your iPhoneThere are a couple of ways to go about this, but I recommend the easiest method. If you never use it, just delete Apple's Translate app from your iPhone, and the device will automatically…

Companies like Apple have their own ecosystems, where it's easier to interact with other devices from the same company. For example, it's trivially easy to transfer photos from one iPhone to another, or to share a Wi-Fi password between iPhones with one tap. The same goes for a hotspot as well. You can start using your iPhone's internet connection on your iPad or Mac, without even lifting your iPhone. Android, unfortunately, mostly lacks this level of cross device integration. Samsung and Pixel devices do offer some exceptions, but usually only with other Samsung or Google devices, respectively. Now, though, a formerly Pixel-exclusive tethering feature named Instant Hotsp…

As anyone who has ever tried to design their home knows all too well, neutral always works. Beige, white, and various subtle shades of gray are the safe choices in any room—they may not be exciting, but they also won’t irritate you over time or cause your guests to whisper about your choices behind your back. That safety combined with a long-running trend toward minimalist and uncluttered spaces has led to the color “pop”—a blast of vibrant color as an accent to add a dash of drama to your otherwise bland spaces. But as concepts like “unexpected red” demonstrate, you aren’t confined to painting an accent wall or buying a big red sofa when you want that pop of color. While…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When I wrote my review of the Whoop 4.0, I kept it to the basics—how the strap looks, works, and charges, and what activities it can track. Today, I’m going to dive in to all the metrics Whoop reports, and give a reality check on what’s most useful and what isn’t worth paying attention to. I'll leave out the activity tracking features here, since I covered them in more depth in the review. (Bottom line: I love the way it tracks how hard your workouts are—strength workouts included—but it's not going to replace a true fitness watch for most people.) WHOOP 4.0 with 12 Month Subscrip…

One of the things a Dutch oven does best is sear and cook "low and slow." Sauces reduce, sugars caramelize, and meats brown with great success in these pots, but your food won’t be the only thing left with a brown crust. The creamy white interior of enameled Dutch ovens can get pretty gunky. Here are some ways to clean stubborn crud, and prevent more from building up. 1. Boiling is your best friend If you try to clean burnt sauce and stuck meat residue right off of the stove, you’ll likely ruin your sponge on the first pass. Don’t attempt to scratch it off with steel wool or your fingernails (you want to keep those). Your first line of attack is loosening any burnt-on …

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 today…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. A typical strength- or muscle-building workout happens in sets. You lift the weight a certain number of times (“reps”), then you put it down for a quick rest before going again. But how long should that rest be? The answer will depend on a few factors, including the purpose of the workout. And a lot of us aren't resting enough. Why rest times matterLet's talk about the point of rest times. If you can keep moving for an entire workout without ever stopping to rest, you're probably not doing very effective strength training. Cardio can be continuous; most forms of strength training require that you work so hard you must res…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The JBL Flip 6 is currently $89.95 on Woot (and will remain so for the next four days or until stocks last)—$40 off its usual $129.95 price tag, and if you're a Prime member, you also get free standard shipping (otherwise, it's $6). It’s available in black, white, teal, gray, and green, giving you a decent range of options to match your vibe. The design is classic JBL—cylindrical, durable, and built to be tossed into a bag without worry. Its passive radiators on both ends let you feel the bass in your hands (earning itself a place in PCMag's "Best…

Cheese and carbs have never been a tough sell, but if you’ve ever had a stretchy, springy bite of pão de queijo (a Brazilian cheese bread puff) then you know that this simple combination can soar to new heights. It’s the most utterly stretchy cheese puff you’ve ever known. If you haven’t had the pleasure of noshing on pão de queijo, then we should change that. Luckily, it only requires six ingredients and with the help of a blender or stand mixer, it’s nearly effortless. What is pão de queijo?While many South American countries have a version of a this cheesy bread, pão de queijo originated in Brazil. This delightful snack owes its stretchy, gummy center to tapioca flour…

When you use the internet on your laptop, tablet, or phone, your browser stores information about the sites you visit and how you engage with them to improve loading speed and personalize your browsing. Caching is one of these processes. Here's how it works and why you should consider clearing it regularly. What exactly is a browser cache? Your browser cache is a temporary storage area for elements of websites you visit, like images, fonts, and code. When you first visit a website, your browser downloads and stores that data locally to load the next time you navigate back to that site. When you come back, your browser first checks the cache for an existing page version…

I love a five-minute workout video. What I don’t love is when the clickbait YouTube title promises this video will “transform my body.” Can’t I work out for five minutes just for the sake of moving my body? Why is fitness culture always so “all-or-nothing?” Before I started running marathons, I was someone who simply worked a few squats into my day here and there. These brief bursts of movement—call it "exercise snacking" or "micro-movement"—are a great way to get into more consistent physical activity. Even if you don’t have bigger fitness goals, performing exercise “snacks” are valuable in their own right. Because when it comes to physical activity, something is always …

While many X-pats have flocked to alternatives like Bluesky and Threads, there are still plenty of users checking Elon Musk's infamous platform. If you're one of them, you might have noticed something odd today: X is down. Depending on when you see this article, X may be back up and running. But multiple times Monday morning, the platform was unreachable. According to Downdetector, most of the complaints funneled in at three peaks: The first came around 5:41 a.m., the second at 10:11 a.m., and the third around 11:11 a.m., which is when I initially noticed the issues. There are a large number of reports associated with event, as well. Scanning through the Downdetector gra…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Being both a lightweight and a lover of sparkling wine means I often end up with a leftover half-bottle of the stuff, or I choose not to open one at all. Neither of these options feels right to me. While I don’t mind pouring the occasional $11 flat prosecco down the drain, my partner and I just got engaged, and we've been gifted a few bottles of fancy champagne—stuff way to good to waste. The inevitable leftovers must be protected. After testing a few hacks to preserve sparkling wine’s fizz, I found one that works. The testing optionsA friend gave me a Le Creuset champagne stopper along with a bottle of bubbly around Chr…

There are a lot of music streaming services to choose from right now. Many of us subscribe to Spotify or Apple Music, but still others may use YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or Tidal. They all have their pros and cons, but if price is the most important factor for you, it's a good time to check out Apple's offering. Apple Music usually costs $10.99 for individual users, $16.99 for families, and $5.99 for students—pretty standard for music streaming pricing. Today, however, Apple announced an impressive deal for eligible new subscribers: Six months of Apple Music for $2.99. That's not three dollars per months, but three dollars total. Who's eligibleThat's a pretty great val…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Oura Advisor, an AI feature formerly tucked away in Oura’s beta testing program, is now rolling out to all Oura Ring customers. It takes the form of a chatbot that you can start a conversation with at any time from within the Oura app—plus the Advisor promises to “check in” with you daily, weekly, or three times a week, depending on what you request. But do you actually want it to do any of those things? What does the Oura Advisor do? Credit: Beth Skawrecki Honestly, this s…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Nintendo Switch Lite is already a solid pick for gamers who prefer a portable console, but this deal on Woot makes it even more tempting. For $164.99 (for the next two days or until it sells out)—down from its usual $199—you’re getting an open-box Singapore model that’s been fitted with an official Nintendo USA power adapter. That means functionally, it’s the same as the U.S. version, and it plays all U.S. and international Switch games without any issue. The only catch is that it's an open-box deal, so while it’s brand new, the box has been o…

Eating healthy is good for you, no matter who you are or what your goals. You don't have to be trying to lose weight to eat healthier, for one thing. But it can be tricky to know where to start, so here are your basic guidelines for healthy eating. Fruits, veggies, and protein are some of the easiest places to start, and they'll have the biggest impacts. There’s no perfect diet Before we start, an important ground rule: There isn’t one true perfect way to eat. No matter what your keto friend says, or your mom who has this diet plan you just have to try, or even those ranked lists of the "best" diets. When weight-loss diets have been tested against each other, they all wo…