Home Office Setup & Equipment

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you have a workshop in your house or enjoy doing DIY projects, you probably know that tools were already expensive way before tariffs entered the picture. Anyone who works with tools on a regular basis is generally happy to pay a bit more for something that doesn’t fall apart after a few uses, so defaulting to a major brand that’s still in the low- to mid-budget range like Black and Decker (Stanley Black and Decker also owns the Craftsman and DeWalt brands) always made sense. As predicted, the company just announced higher prices in response to the tariff situation, which means buying tools from Stanley Black and Decker…

The beloved read-it-later app Pocket is shutting down, and Mozilla is giving current users until Oct. 8 to download saved items from their lists, archives, favorites, notes, and highlights. As of today, Pocket is no longer available in app stores or as a browser add-on, and all sign-ups and renewals have been disabled. The app will shut down for good on July 8, and transition to export-only mode. Users will have until Oct. 8 to export their saves, after which all accounts and data will be deleted. How to export your saved items from PocketTo initiate an export from Pocket, go to https://getpocket.com/export. You'll first want to ensure your account is connected to a va…

What are you doing this weekend? Don't know? Now you do: You're going to organize and declutter your home with the "out in the open" method. This technique is helpful whether you have a cluttered space, live in a relatively tidy home, or even are hyper-organized. Here's what you need to do. What is the "out in the open" method?This decluttering and organizing technique, like a lot of others, comes from tidy-home gurus The Minimalists. Essentially, you pull everything out of the space you're trying to organize, whether it's your closet, a cupboard, or a junk drawer. Truly, pull it all out and pile it up. The Minimalists say this approach is the opposite of one of their ot…

On Wednesday, April 2, Nintendo will finally host its first Direct entirely dedicated to Nintendo Switch 2. While we all know what the console looks like by now, there are still plenty of questions left for Nintendo to answer (and I'm expecting answers.) Here's what I'm looking out for, and where you can watch the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct. The truth is, we really don't know what Nintendo is going to share during Wednesday's Direct. What we know for sure is this: The presentation itself is going to run about 60 minutes. That's a long time for a Nintendo Direct. The company's last presentation on March 27, for example, was just under 37 minutes, which means Nintendo must ha…

After the battery woes surrounding the Pixel 4a and the promise of an eventual reduction in battery capacity for the Pixel 9a, Google is now proactively tackling any future battery issues that Pixel 7a owners may face. In a support document, the company said it has now determined that some Pixel 7a devices may experience battery swelling, and is offering a free battery replacement to everyone impacted by this issue. Here's everything you need to know about the problem and how to get a free battery replacement for your Pixel 7a. Identifying the signs of a failing batteryOne major limitation of lithium-ion batteries is degradation. Over time, these batteries experience redu…

Smashing Pumpkins' legendary frontman Bill Corgan and confrontational comedian Bill Burr look alike—both have shaved heads, stubbly beards, blue eyes, and similar facial structures. They look so much alike they could be brothers; so much alike that a lot of people think they are brothers. While it's possible, these people are probably wrong. Why people think Bill Corgan and Bill Burr are brothersThe rumor started with Corgan's appearance on Howie Mandel's podcast back in January. On the show, Corgan recounts the following conversation that he said happened a decade prior: My stepmother said to me, "Do you know who Bill Burr is?" Now at that point, I had never heard of Bil…

Many of us want the right to repair our own devices, and at least with Apple products, things have been moving in the right direction on that front. Three years ago, Apple launched its self-service repair program, which finally gave people access to the tools and repair manuals needed to fix their broken Apple products for themselves. The program launched with support for iPhone repairs, and it later added some Macs, the Beats Pill speaker, and the Apple Studio Display to its roster as well. Now, Apple is expanding its self-service repair program to include some iPad models. Which iPads can I repair?Unfortunately, not all iPads are in the self-repair program at the moment…

Want to turn a video file into an MP3? Or any video into an MP4? If you have PowerToys installed on Windows, you don't need a third-party application—a quick copy-and-paste will do the job. We've talked about Powertoys, the longstanding Windows utility that offers all kinds of customizations to the operating system. One of the many tweaks added is the Advanced Paste feature, which can convert copied text into other formats. This is triggered by using the keyboard shortcut Windows-Shift-V to paste, instead of the usual Ctrl-V. A pop-up window asks which format you'd like to paste your text as—Markdown, HTML, and JSON are all offered. You can optionally set this up to use A…

Google search has steadily been getting worse, but most of its free alternatives just aren't as good at surfacing the things I'm looking for. Since Google makes money through advertising, its primary incentive is to boost revenue by showing you better ads. Of late, this has resulted in a noticeable decline in the quality of my search results. That brought me to the idea of using a paid search engine instead of Google. Enter Kagi. What is Kagi?Kagi is a paid search engine developed by the people behind the Orion browser. It lets you make 100 searches for free, but after that, you can pay between $5/month and $25/month for different tiers of its service. Thanks to search gi…

Producing video content is a particular challenge for generative AI models, which have no real concept of space or physics, and are essentially dreaming up clips frame by frame. It can lead to obvious errors and inconsistencies, as we wrote about in December with OpenAI's Sora, after it served up a video with a disappearing taxi. It's these specific problems that AI video company Runway says it's made some progress in fixing with its new Gen-4 models. The new models offer "a new generation of consistent and controllable media" according to Runway, with characters, objects, and scenes now much more likely to look the same over an entire project. If you've experime…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Hulu doesn't always get the recognition of competitors like Netflix and Max, but the streamer has an unfailingly reliable and rotating selection of theatrical films, as well as some impressive original releases. These are some of the best, buzziest, and/or most fun movies currently streaming on the service, across a variety of genres. Anora (2024) Writer/director Sean Baker (Tangerine, Red Rocket) has a long run of impressive film credits to his name, but comedy-drama Anora was the film that put his name firmly on the map, winning him a Best Director Oscar and the film a Best Picture prize. Mikey Madison (who also …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re tired of subscription fees stacking up, this Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac deal at StackSocial might be worth a look. It’s a one-time purchase (of $79.95, 63% off its usual $220) that works with macOS Ventura (version 13) or later, and once activated, you’re set for the long haul with access to the full suite—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote (covering all the essentials for work or personal use)—without worrying about monthly or annual renewals. The deal is set for a limited time and ends March 30. You can …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. This post is part of Find Your Fit Tech, Lifehacker's fitness wearables buying guide. I'm asking the tough questions about whether wearables can really improve your health, how to find the right one for you, and how to make the most of the data wearables can offer. A fitness tracker’s job isn’t done when you finish your workout, or even when you take your last steps of the day. There are devices that excel at tracking how long and how well you slept, and devices that attempt to tell you when you’re well-recovered and ready for your next challenge. Here are my picks for the best of this category. What to look for in a slee…

It's been clear for some time that the Gemini AI app would be replacing Google Assistant, once it had learned all the necessary tricks and been granted all the required hooks into other apps. Now, Google is in the process of actively dismantling the features available in Google Assistant ahead of its retirement. As per Google's official support document (as spotted by 9to5Google), seven more Google Assistant features have recently been pulled across Android devices and Nest smart speakers and displays. These deactivated features add to a bunch of other capabilities that were taken away last year. On smart displays, you can no longer use your voice and Google Assistant to …

Android is getting a new security feature that makes it harder for someone to break into your device if it has been lost, stolen, or seized. With the latest Google Play services update, Android phones and tablets will automatically restart (and require a passcode to decrypt) if they remain locked for three consecutive days. How Android auto-restart worksAndroid and iOS devices already revert to a Before First Unlock (BFU) state when restarted, requiring a user to enter their passcode or PIN before certain features—such as notifications and biometrics—are enabled. Data is encrypted and inaccessible in a BFU state until the correct passcode is entered to shift the device t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Ever since Apple released the latest Apple Watch Series 10 earlier in September, it has been steadily dropping in price; it's currently sitting at $299 (originally $399) after a $100 drop, the lowest price yet, according to price-tracking tools. This price is for the 42mm case, 130 to 180mm size bands, in black, denim, and rose-gold case colors. The bigger 46mm case is down to $329 (originally $429), also the lowest price yet after a $100 discount. …

Sometimes, the best way to solve a problem is sitting right in front of you. If your problem is that you need a webcam, you can try using your Android phone for the job instead of buying a dedicated device. This is especially useful if you have a spare Android phone lying around and you need it for video calls on your PC or Mac. You can also use your primary Android phone as a webcam, but its utility will be limited since you'll have to keep unplugging it, remembering to put it into do not disturb, or turning on airplane mode to ensure that your video call isn't interrupted. Here are all the ways you can use your Android phone as a webcam. Use the webcam mode on your Andr…

When Apple's AirTags first launched, I thought that the devices would prove to be useless once the novelty wore off, but after using them for about a year, my assumption has proved to be wrong. AirTags have quite a few useful hidden features that make the product worth checking out even if you're someone who doesn't lose things often. Here are the best hidden features of your Apple AirTags. Rename your AirTagsIt sounds obvious, but you really should rename your AirTags to make it easy to identify each item they're attached to. Instead of having them named "Pranay's AirTags #1," you can change it to something like "Pranay's Blue Backpack." To do this, go to the Find My app…

In recent years, TikTok has become a prime target for scammers and cyber attackers spreading various forms of malware, and the latest shady campaign promotes instructional videos that trick users into downloading infostealers to their devices via ClickFix attacks. The scheme, identified by Trend Micro and reported by Bleeping Computer, instructs users to execute commands to activate Windows and Microsoft Office or premium features in CapCut and Spotify. One video is captioned "Boost Your Spotify Experience Instantly — Here's How!" and has nearly half a million views. These videos seem to be AI generated and, while the software they discuss is legitimate, the activation …

There's more than one way to use Windows now. As well as sitting down in front of a locally installed copy of Windows, running on a hard drive inside your desktop or laptop, you can also fire up the Microsoft Windows app—a one-stop central hub for managing connections to remote PCs and Windows in the cloud. The Windows app is available for Windows (as you would expect), as well as macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and (in preview form for now) Android. First rolled out in September 2024, the program brings with it support for multiple monitors and local USB peripherals, so you can carry on using your own webcam (for example) with your cloud copy of Windows. It's likely that significant…

On Thursday, Google rolled out a number of previously-paywalled Gemini features to free users. You can now use Gemini custom chatbots, which the company calls "Gems"; Deep Research, which runs AI models that "think" through each step of a problem; and upload files to Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking, whether you pay for Google's AI services or not. But that's not all: The company also introduced new experimental feature for Gemini—Gemini with personalization. This feature, which runs on Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking model, connects Gemini to your Google apps and services, with the goal of offering you a more personal AI assistant. The idea is, by connecting your Google Acc…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Garmin Forerunner 255 is on sale right now for $229.99, its lowest price ever. That’s about half the price of the Forerunner 265 ($449.99), which is the current generation (and my personal favorite running watch). The two watches have nearly identical features—I’ll explain the differences below—making the 255 an incredible bargain. Garmin Forerunner 255 GPS Running Smartwatch (Gray) …

Sometimes the trickiest part of cleaning is knowing where to start—and, once you've started, where to go from there. A handy checklist can help you move through the task systematically and easily. That's where these room-by-room checklists can help. Below, you'll find links to advice on how to complete many of the tasks you'll be facing. I've also turned the cleaning checklists into a downloadable spreadsheet you can print out, so you can mark off each chore as you go. Your kitchen spring cleaning checklist Before you start cleaning, take a minute to make sure you have everything you need. Nothing saps your mojo quite like having to leave the house to buy supplies, so ma…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. As someone who has fully bought into the Apple ecosystem, my earbuds of choice are, obviously, AirPods. But it's not just because I'm a fanboy (although I definitely am one): AirPods, particularly the AirPods Pro 2, are fantastic earbuds for so many reasons. And while they're usually a bit pricey, Amazon currently has them on sale for a very reasonable $170, down from $249.99, during its Big Spring Sal AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) …