Home Office Setup & Equipment

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I look forward to the fall time change every year, because I have plans for that extra morning hour. Turning back the clock is a perfect opportunity to kick-start a morning routine, since you can get up an hour early without it feeling like you're getting up an hour early. It's a great way to lean into your winter arc. We are, unfortunately, still doing the whole Daylight Saving Time thing. But I will take advantage of that fact while I can, because the fall time change gifts us with an extra hour in the morning (even if it is cruelly ripped from our evening routines). I'm not a morning person by nature, but my day always …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Earlier this week, YouTube and Disney both warned YouTube TV subscribers that they might lose access to Disney-owned channels, including ESPN and FX, starting on Oct. 31. It's probably not the Halloween treat you were looking for, but now that the end of the month has come, that's exactly what's happened: Right now, more than 20 of Disney's channels have gone dark on YouTube TV. Why did Disney pull its Channels from YouTube TV?Not to be confused with YouTube Premium, YouTube TV is Google's Live TV service—kind of like cable without the cable box. As such, it needs to pay content providers like Disney fees to offer their ch…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Everyone's talking about AI, but smart glasses are quietly breaking big in 2025. With Meta, Apple, and Google vying for dominance, and the hardware finally powerful enough to be practical instead of mere gimmicky, smart specs are transitioning from awkward face computers for tech-heads, into something potentially useful for everyone. If you’re thinking of jumping in, the sheer range of styles, features, and price points can be daunting, so I put together this guide to help you find your perfect pair. What smart glasses can do The term “smart glasses” is almost too broad to be useful. It's been applied to everything from A…

If you're in the Apple ecosystem, AirPods Pro are just about the best earbuds you can buy. They sound great, work across your various Apple devices, and ship with features like Adaptive Transparency and a built-in heart rate sensor. They're even FDA-certified hearing aids. Not bad for $249. But all those perks don't mean Apple's AirPods Pro are perfect. In fact, you can ask any of the customers complaining of a static noise coming from their AirPods Pro 3, when nothing is actually playing at all. As reported by MacRumors, it appears this is affecting some AirPods Pro 3 users when using Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive Transparency, and Transparency modes, but only when…

Apple might be dead last in the AI race—at least when you consider competition from companies like OpenAI, Google, and Meta—but that doesn't mean the company isn't working on the tech. In fact, it seems most of the work Apple does on AI is behind the scenes: While Apple Intelligence is, well, there, the company's researchers are working on other ways to improve AI models for everyone, not just Apple users. The latest project? Improving AI image editors based on text prompts. In a paper published last week, researchers introduced Pico-Banana-400K, a dataset of 400,000 "text-guided" images selected to improve AI-based image editing. Apple believes its image dataset improve…

SMART goals are typically associated with work done by a team, but you can implement this productivity-boosting strategy for yourself in all kinds of ways on an individual level, too. Some people use them to study, for instance, and you can use them for personal projects at work, around the house, or whatever else. At their core, SMART goals are designed to help you stay on task and focused on your outcome. What are SMART goals?At their core, SMART goals are designed to help you stay on task and focused on your outcome. If you’re not familiar with SMART goals, let’s break down the acronym: Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound It was conceptualized by George …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you have a lot to do every day, it might be hard to figure out how to prioritize it all. You can try to decide what’s urgent and what isn’t, build a detailed schedule, and use tech to stay focused, but sometimes it’s hard to even know where to start. If you haven’t heard of it yet, you should consider getting familiar with Forster’s Commitment Inventory to sort it all out—especially if you’re a person who likes visual aids to conceptualize your day. What is the commitment inventory?The commitment inventory was thought up by British productivity expert Mark Forster, author of Get Everything Done: And Still Have Time to P…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re trying to set up a simple home security system without drilling holes or wiring a maze of cables, this Blink bundle is about as plug-and-play as it gets. Right now, the Blink Outdoor 4 (2-Cam System) + Blink Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) + Sync Module Core is down to $61.99 on Amazon—its lowest recorded price, according to online price-trackers. Normally $189.98, this three-piece setup is basically everything you’d need to secure a small home: two wireless cameras to cover your spaces, a smart video doorbell for the front, and a sync module tha…

Much to the chagrin of mundane numbers like 35 and 192, 6-7 has taken over American culture. I assume that young people love 6-7 so much because 67 is the 19th prime number and the atomic weight of holmium, which is essential to samarium-cobalt magnets, but I can't say for sure. I can say 6-7 is everywhere—on TikTok, in memes, and now in the dictionary. And that's only one of the many confusing trends I'm explaining this week. I'll also tell you about Soulja Boy selling smart glasses, the sunglasses on your waist trend, and "Beez in the Trap" (Be-Beez in the trap...) Dictionary.com names "6-7" word of the yearThe Gen-Alpha brainrot slang word 6-7 has been named 2025's W…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. When it comes to buying the best headphones at the best price, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra is at the top of the list for active noise-canceling (ANC), while also excelling in other important categories. Right now, the Bose QuietComfort Ultras are $329 (originally $429), matching the lowest price they've ever been, according to price-tracking tools. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Headphones with Spatial Audio, Over Ear Noise Cancelling Headp…

At my local Blink Fitness—which is now a PureGym—I recently worked in sets with another woman on the assisted pull-up machine. For me, the vibe was utter relief. No one was being rude about sharing equipment, it didn't feel remotely competitive, and there was a safety and solidarity in being the only two women in that quadrant of the gym at that moment. For a brief window, the gym felt like a space for both catharsis and camaraderie. Unfortunately, this moment only made me realize how rare this sort of shared gym culture has become. Truthfully, I don't know if gym culture was ever for me. The stereotype is it's all bros, right? I'm no Joey Swoll, self-described "CEO of g…

As Lifehacker’s smart glasses and virtual reality expert, I spend a lot of time flooding my eyes with bright light. Last night, I was testing a pair of soon-to-be released display style glasses that blast out 1,200 nits of light. That’s roughly car-headlight-bright, squeezed into a postage-stamp-sized image projected on glass about a half inch from my eyes. I thought to myself, “Wait, am I frying my eyeballs?” So I called up Dr. Sunir Garg, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and professor of ophthalmology at Wills Eye Hospital, and asked him point blank: What am I doing to my eyes with this stuff? “We think not much,” Garg replied. “If the light is …

Finally—two years after its release, and one year-long beta later—the PlayStation Plus handheld can finally officially play games without needing to connect to a PS5 console first. The portable machine is not strictly playing them all by itself, and you do need a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription to do it, but the latest system update brings the PlayStation Portal a lot closer to being a true PSP successor. The news came earlier today via the official PlayStation blog, where Sony announced that cloud streaming for the PS Portal will soon officially go live for everyone with a compatible subscription, a little less than a year after the company started testing it with …

Google's NotebookLM, by far my favorite AI tool, rolled out two new features this week. The app that can turn your notes into a podcast can now generate an educational video based on your study materials. It can also create a report or document from suggested, pre-made templates. How the new NotebookLM tools workIf you're unfamiliar, NotebookLM is a large language model akin to the better-known chatbot ChatGPT, but instead of pulling information from all over the internet (with all the risks of inaccuracy that creates), it relies only on material you input directly. You can upload PDFs, links, YouTube videos, plain text, and more, then ask the chatbot questions and it wi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. It's not Black Friday yet, but OLED TVs are already dropping to new record-low prices. Last week, the LG G5 OLED TV dropped to its lowest price, and now, Samsung's OLED S95F TV has followed suit. You can get the 65-inch for $2,297.99 (originally $2,997.99), the lowest price, according to price-tracking tools. The 55-, 77-, and 83-inch models also have good discounts right now. 55" Samsung OLED S95F 4…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re looking for a new QLED TV for everyday gaming and watching TV shows and movies, the 2025 Samsung 50” QN90F Neo QLED TV is a smart option, offering high-end picture performance for an LED TV. Right now, it’s $997.99 (originally $1,397.99) on Amazon, marking a 25% discount and its lowest price ever, according to price tracking tools. Samsung 50-Inch Class Neo QLED 4K QN90F Series …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Your house is supposed to be your refuge from the weather, a place where you can feel comfortable no matter how frigid it gets outside. But with rising utility costs, keeping your house warm can be more of a challenge than it used to be—and even if you’re proactive about defending against the cold, your home can still take a wintry beating. Now’s the time to take action. Home maintenance products designed to defend your home against freezing temperatures, blowing snow, and freezing damage will not only make your home more comfortable, but also hardened against winter damage. The basicsThere are a few simple purchases you…

Google's AI Mode has new agentic capabilities for booking event tickets and beauty and wellness appointments, so AI will do most of the work to find and curate the best options based on your inputs. Google first launched agentic capabilities for AI Mode in August: The initial feature could help locate restaurant reservations based on inputs like party size, location, cuisine, and preferred dates and times. For example, you can enter "find me a table for 8 people next Saturday for a birthday dinner ... thinking outdoor rustic garden vibes with live music" and AI Mode will return suggestions with links to book. While they won't actually finalize the reservation for you, Go…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. It's a good day for Apple shoppers looking for the latest Apple Watches. The Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple's latest and most premium smartwatch, dropped to its lowest price, and now, the Apple Watch SE 3, their most affordable smartwatch (and truly, the best one for most people), also dropped to its lowest price yet, according to price-tracking tools. Despite being released just this past September, you can get the GPS 40mm Apple Watch SE 3 for $199.99 (originally $249). The bigger 44mm case is $229.99 (originally $279), also with a $50 discount. …

The new version of Fitbit’s app (currently in “public preview” mode) has some improvements and some shortcomings. On the first day it was available, the built-in AI confused and frustrated me, but I figured I needed to give it a little time. Maybe it would learn more about me and give better responses. Maybe I would learn my way around its features. Maybe the team at Google would correct the worst of the problems. That last prediction came partly true. When I woke up the next morning, the AI finally admitted that the watch I was wearing, Google’s Pixel Watch 4, does actually exist. (The initial version of the app had claimed that the Pixel Watch 2, released in 2023, was …

One of the main reasons I've always insisted on having a keyboard with a full number pad—apart from being able to bash out numbers quickly—is that it lets me type out the Windows shortcut codes for an em dash (ALT+0151) and en dash (ALT+0150). They're punctuation marks I use a lot, and apparently AI bots do too. What you'll notice about those shortcut codes, if you've spent time with both Microsoft and Apple operating systems, is that they're longer and more awkward to type than the equivalents on macOS. On a Mac, you can type an em dash by holding down Shift+Option and pressing the hyphen ("-") button. For en dashes, it's even easier: Hold down Option, then press hyphen.…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you just need a tablet for streaming, browsing, and the occasional recipe lookup, the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) is tough to ignore at its current price. It’s down to $79.99 (from $179.99), and according to price trackers, this is the lowest it's ever been. The 32GB version costs $10 less, but spending that extra ten bucks is worth it if you plan to download movies or books for offline use. Whichever version you pick, you can expand the storage by up to 1TB with a microSD card (sold separately), so space won’t be an issue. Also, the battery life of…

I’ve been enjoying Shuffalo, a quick daily word game from the New Yorker that I can’t help but compare to the New York Times’s Wordle, which is so popular we publish hints for it every day. But it really feels like an improvement on a different New York Times game, Spelling Bee—quicker and with more useful hints. What is Shuffalo? Shuffalo lives on the New Yorker games page, with a different puzzle each day. For each day’s puzzle, you get a collection of letters that you have to form into a word. First you get four letters, and you need to use them all to make a four-letter word. Once you do that, a fifth letter is added, then a sixth, and so on up to eight. Get that fa…

Google isn't new to adding AI to its products, and that includes Google Maps. The company already has AI tools that let you ask Gemini for directions to your destination, or get more info about it, and today, it's rolling out new features to help turn the chatbot into a (to borrow a term from Microsoft) copilot. With Gemini in Google Maps, you'll be able to ask open-ended questions and even have the AI take action for you, based on its responses. The idea is to make the app easier to work with while driving, which, yes, means you can also wake the bot with a simple "Hey Google." Let's say you get peckish while driving. You'll be able to wake the bot with your voice, ask …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you have a Fitbit, or if you use the Fitbit app with a compatible device like a Pixel watch, you’ve probably seen “zone minutes” or "active zone minutes" pop up on your screen. So what exactly are active zone minutes, and how do they compare to the other ways we measure exercise, like steps? Zone minutes relate to the U.S. Physical Activity GuidelinesBefore we get into how zone minutes are measured, I think it will be most useful to look at why we’re counting up minutes at all. Fitbit’s purpose here is actually pretty neat: They’re trying to give you an automated way of telling whether you are keeping up with public h…