Home Office Setup & Equipment

This is no time to be making inferior scrambled eggs—each shell must be cracked with a purpose and cooked to perfection. While you’ve probably scrambled a good few eggs in your time, it’s important to know that there are multiple ways to set up your scramble, and each way delivers a different result. Find out if you’ve actually been scrambling up the perfect egg, or if you need to switch your method. Heat and added ingredientsThere are plenty of ingredients that can alter the texture of your eggs, so I wanted to keep the components consistent to zoom in on which texture results from each scrambling tool (whisk, fork, immersion blender, and jar shaking). The addition of …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. What exactly makes a movie a “classic” varies wildly and with the viewer, as does the appropriate timescale. For some, a movie from a decade ago might be eligible (I call these movie fans “children”). For others, you have to go back much further. Today, I’m going to do the latter, taking a look at some of the great (or, at least, greatly entertaining) movies that were released no later than the tail end of the 1970s. (Even if I find it personally distressing to label movies younger than I am “classics.”) Quibbling over semantics aside, these offerings prove how deeply rewarding it is to dig through the back catalog of mo…

Software updates are great when they make features better, but that doesn't always happen. Case in point: a recent Google Pixel update that's brought in a flurry of complaints. One of the least popular changes altered how Pixels handle the Do Not Disturb feature. Previously, you could swipe down from the top of your Pixel's screen and press the Do Not Disturb button in quick settings to toggle it on or off. The March 2025 update changed that, forcing you to make multiple taps to activate or deactivate Do Not Disturb on your Google Pixel smartphone. Plenty of Google Pixel users took to Reddit to complain about this change. Fortunately, there are easy ways to fix this behav…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Right before the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, I noticed a trend in robot vacuums. The suction power these robots were reporting were astronomical. Where Pa (suction power is measured in pascals) in 2024 was considered “high” at 8,000 or 10,000, the Ecovacs x8 is 18,000, the Dreame x50 is 20,000, and the Roborock Saros 10 is 22,000. In calls with the marketing reps and engineers of these machines I would routinely ask, “Is there a limit to how much suction is realistically useful?” And on more than one occasion, engineers revealed that the reason Pa levels had gone sky high was primarily because internal stud…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The M3 lineup of MacBook Air laptops is already seeing big discounts before the release of the new M4 MacBook Air laptops tomorrow. You can get the 13-inch MacBook Air laptop with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage for $794.99 (originally $1,099) after an additional $54.01 on-page coupon on Amazon. This is the lowest price this MacBook has been since its release, according to price-tracking tools. M3 MacBook Air 13-inch Laptop (2024) …

Never learned to play chess and don't know where to start? Duolingo, the gamified education app most famous for its language learning lessons, is adding chess lessons to the iPhone application later this month. You can learn how each piece moves before eventually moving on to tactics, all in the familiar Duolingo user interface. A "limited number of learners" on iOS will get the chess feature on Tuesday, April 22; it will roll out to other English-speaking iPhone users "in weeks following." Other operating systems, along with versions for non-English speakers, are "planned in the months ahead," according to Duolingo. This isn't the first offering outside of language learn…

App notifications need careful balancing across Android, iOS, Windows, and of course macOS. Too many of them and you're in a state of constant distraction; too few of them, and you risk missing out on something important that one of your programs is trying to tell you. macOS has you covered when it comes to finding the right balance for you, providing a full suite of controls for managing interruptions and staying up to date with your notifications. It doesn't take long to set up these notification options, and then once they're configured, you can use Focus modes for specific scenarios (like working or watching movies). Note that some individual apps come with their own …

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…

May the Fourth is upon us, and Disney+ of course has a lineup of Star Wars premieres to celebrate. First is Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, a Lucasfilm Animation sequel to 2022's Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi and 2024's Star Wars: Tales of the Empire. The new mini-series tells the stories of bounty hunter and former assassin Asajj Ventress and outlaw Cad Bane. Disney+ will also have two P.O.V. experiences from Disneyland: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Aside from Star Wars, May will bring Tucci in Italy (May 19), a new National Geographic miniseries combining travel and food with actor Stanley Tucci in, well, Italy. Lastly, Di…

While I’ve known about the aquafaba (chickpea brining liquid) hack for a while, I’ve always thought of it more for folks with food allergies. Why would I, a happy egg eater, ever need to use it to replace eggs? Well, here we are. Egg prices don’t seem to be coming down anytime soon, and if you’re as reliant on the ovum as I am, you may be looking for ways to cut costs. While I’ll still be splurging on the real thing for perfect, jar-scrambled eggs, I’ll be using aquafaba for these other egg-related recipes. Chickpea liquid gets its magical binding properties from the starches that leach out of the bean and into the brine. When cooked, the water evaporates and you’re left …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Tomorrow Apple will be releasing new MacBooks and iPads, which is why you're seeing discounts on the older MacBooks and iPads. There are two iPads being released tomorrow, the M3 iPad Air, which you can pre-order right now for $559 (originally $599) for the 11-inch version, or the the 11th-generation iPad for $329 (originally $349) for the 11-inch version, or $749 (originally $799) for the bigger 13-inch version. Impressive by Apple's standards considering they haven't even released yet. However, this could be because the older versions might be a b…

Spotify's AI DJ is like if ChatGPT decided to switch careers. The DJ curates a playlist of music based on Premium subscribers' previous play history, including new and old songs in the mix. Of course, the headline feature is the DJ's voice, as the AI bot announces which songs are up next, as well as some information about each. Whether you love or hate AI, it's a pretty harmless feature, and seems fun for those who pay for Spotify. While DJ feels interactive, it really isn't. Aside from skipping songs, it's mostly a passive feature. That's now changing: In a blog post on Tuesday, Spotify announced that you will now be able to make requests to the DJ with your voice. If yo…

OpenAI has significantly leveled up the image generating capabilities of ChatGPT, adding the update as part of the GPT-4o model introduced last May. The new and improved AI generator is rolling out now for all ChatGPT users, across paid plans and the free tier (though free users are more restricted in how much they can use it). It's been possible to generate images through the ChatGPT interface for a while now, though behind the scenes the work was farmed out to the DALL-E 3 image model. Now, everything will be handled by GPT-4o, for a more consistent and native experience. There are lots of improvements here, which cover some of the areas that AI image creator tools have…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is on now, a mini version of Prime Day that has inspired competing sales at Target and Walmart. Plenty of fitness trackers and smartwatches are among the discounted items. Here are my picks for the best deals, including watches from Apple, Garmin, Fitbit, and Samsung. Apple WatchesThe Apple Watch SE, the most budget version of this smartwatch, is available starting at $169 today. (As with all Apple Watches, the price goes up if you want a larger size or if you buy the version with cellular connectivity.) That’s 32% off the o…

It can be useful, while studying any topic, to get an overview of when major events happened relative to each other. History textbooks commonly use a timeline for this—a chronological chart that shows when various events happened. WikiTimeline is a free website that uses a large language model to turn any Wikipedia article into a visual timeline you can use to see major events in a sequence. Wikipedia's open nature means there's all kinds of third party tools that use the articles in interesting ways. There's WikiTok, a sort of TikTok for Wikipedia, which allows you to scroll through articles to learn topics at random. WikiTimeline is another tool like that, putting the f…

Fraudsters are increasingly using recognizable and trusted domains to perpetuate phishing schemes that trick people into handing over their personal and financial information. In recent months, bad actors have exploited settings for both Google and PayPal to lull targets into a false sense of security, making these attacks harder to spot. Another way scammers are trying to look legitimate while evading detection is through Google Forms that request sensitive data. How scammers use Google Forms to steal your personal dataPhishing via Google Forms is not new. As a recent report from ESET Security points out, Google Forms are free, easy to create and implement, and trusted…

After the Nintendo Switch, the Steam Deck might be the most impressive gaming handheld of the last decade. It brings Steam games—most of which were initially designed to run on Windows PCs—to a remarkably designed portable device. The only problem? Battery life can be rough on some games. If you're struggling to stay charged, here are some tips to help you out. When it comes to your Steam Deck's battery life, you're going to notice a lot of variability, even from one game to another. AAA games that rely on high-end GPUs will typically guzzle power. On laptops or desktops, that's usually not as much of a concern, but on the Steam Deck—when those games run at all—they can b…

There was once a time when LG was among the major smartphone manufacturers. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case for a while now: LG gave up on the phone business in April 2021, reducing the choices Android customers have—especially in the United States. It was a shame, since LG made some cool phones back in the day. The V20, for example, included a thin secondary display along the top of the device, while the LG Wing sported a full-size second display that swiveled out—a design that is still unique in the smartphone market (if not particularly practical). The company produced a number of smartphones in its time—some good, some great, some forgettable—but over the las…

May's sky watching calendar includes planetary viewing, prime stargazing, and a meteor shower peak, so you have plenty of reasons to head outside and look up this month. Here's what's coming to the night sky. May 3: Mars and MoonThe first quarter moon this month will appear right next to Mars on the evening of May 3. Look toward the western sky in the first half of the night. You may also be able to see the Beehive Cluster (Messier 44), a cluster of 1,000 stars that's around 600 light years away, lit up by the glow of the Red Planet. May 5: Eta Aquarid peakThe Eta Aquarid meteor shower has been active since mid-April, but it will peak on the night of May 5–6. This event…

More Android users will be able to use their phones to verify their identities instead of their drivers licenses or passports, as Google Wallet is expanding its digital ID features to more U.S. states and the UK. In an April 29 blog post, Google announced that residents in Arkansas, Montana, Puerto Rico, and West Virginia will soon be able to add their government-issued IDs—drivers licenses and state identification cards—to Google Wallet. This feature has already rolled out for those who live in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, and New Mexico. ID pass, Google Wallet's digital passport feature, will also be expanded to UK residents. What you can do with …

Saturday, March 8, was International Women's Day. March is a whole women's month, even if Google erased it from its calendar. So I'm taking a look at young women—and not in a creepy way. I want to know: what's up with young women? What are they about? What are their dreams? How are they feeling deep in their hearts? So I'm checking out Reddit's woman-centric corners, listening to Doechii and "Call her Daddy," and consulting some "coochie doctors." The state of young women in two subredditsTo try to get some insight on young women between the ages of 18 and 25 or so, I took a look at some Reddit communities ostensibly made for, by, and about women. I started at Reddit's…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Garmin is now offering a $6.99/month subscription called Connect+ that provides “premium features,” including AI, on top of what you already get for free with the Garmin Connect app. So far, nothing is being paywalled, but it feels like the end of an era. Garmin watches were some of the last few wearables where you pay for a device and then all of its features are free to use forever. (The hardware has impressively long lifespans, too.) I signed up for Connect+ to see what’s inside, so let’s take a look. Subscription detailsThe new Connect+ subscription costs $6.99/month or $69.99/year. It only adds features on top of wha…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Every year around this time, I prepare to move my living room lemon tree outside for the season. In the fall, when temperatures drop below 40 degrees overnight, Daisy (yes, she has a name) gets rolled into my living room, where she winters under a grow light, and then as soon as the overnight temperatures stabilize in spring, back out she goes to live on the patio. Since I live in the Pacific Northwest, this is the only way to keep a lemon tree; they simply aren’t built to withstand a real winter outside. But, even if you are unwilling or unable to host your trees inside your home or greenhouse over the winter, you may st…

Letterboxd is the social media app of choice for many movie fans out there—and for good reason. The service has long been a platform for rating movies, sharing and viewing recommendations, and organizing your watch lists. Now, however, the company is gearing up for a new business model: on-demand video streaming. Letterboxd announced the news at the Cannes film festival on Tuesday. While the company's reveal is lacking many details, we do have some idea of what to expect. The new streaming service will be called the Letterboxd Video Store, and will host "shelves" of select titles. These movies are curated by Letterboxd, and are quite specific. According to the company, …

A good main-course meat can be made great with a complementary finishing sauce. This might look like a drizzle of an espagnole sauce, a buttery pan sauce, an easy board sauce, or maybe a bright vinaigrette, but lately I’ve been branching out. My latest meat sauce obsession is sizzling oil sauces. They’re delicious, fragrant, and—best of all—nearly impossible to screw up. I first started using this Chinese technique after making recipes from The Woks of Life, a delightful and approachable cookbook that you should check out (read my review here). This flash-fried sauce pops up regularly in the book as a dressing or a dipping sauce for meats and vegetables, and it’s a suref…