Home Office Setup & Equipment

My subscription fatigue is real, but at the end of the day, I do recognize that companies need to make money. If one of them manages to put together a compelling package of features for a reasonable price, I can decide whether or not I find that value worth the money. That's fine. What isn't fine is offering a feature for free for years, and then suddenly deciding to lock it behind a paywall. It seems YouTube didn't get that memo. Starting on Saturday, outlets like 9to5Google began reporting that YouTube Music had started to remove the ability to vie lyrics for free users. If you want a full lyrics experience, you'll need to subscribe to either YouTube Music Premium, or …

So many great productivity hacks come from the Japanese manufacturing industry. The 5S technique helps you keep your workspace clean so you can get more done, kaizen helps you improve the processes and workflow of your job, and kanban helps you schedule your tasks in the most efficient way. These are helpful even if you’re not working within the famed Toyota Production System; they’re adaptable to fit all kinds of work scenarios, which is similarly true for the 3 Ms that originated there, too. The 3 Ms are kinds of waste you should identify and eliminate to keep your work running smoothly. Once you learn how to identify and get rid of them, you can be even more productive…

If you and your friends have iPhones, you might use AirDrop to send pictures and files. If you all have Androids, you might use Quick Share. But if you have a mix of both platforms, suddenly file sharing isn't so easy. You could email the pictures, but, shoot, there's a data limit. You could text them, but if your friend isn't on RCS, videos are going to look horrible. You could use a cross-platform chat app, but good luck agreeing on which one to use. If only AirDrop was available on Android, and Quick Share on iOS. In a Thursday announcement on The Keyword, Google made history: Quick Share now works with AirDrop—starting with the Pixel 10, anyway. If you or a friend has…

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 compact speaker that won’t flake out on sound or durability, this refurbished Sony SRS-XB100 wireless Bluetooth speaker is worth a closer look. It's on sale right now for $34.99 at StackSocial (down from its original $59.99 price), and this Grade “A” refurbished unit arrives in like-new condition and ships free across the contiguous U.S. It’s not brand-new—those are going for around $48 on Amazon—but this version comes with barely noticeable wear, if any, and still delivers the same sound and features you'd expect. Physically…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. For all the talk about Stranger Things taking nearly a decade to produce just five seasons of television, consider The Night Manager: It took this British spy thriller 10 years just to get to season two. Luckily, audiences seem to have been willing to wait, as they show performed decently in the streaming ratings when it dropped on Prime Video earlier this year. There's a reason viewers were anxious for more, even after such a long wait: Based on a John le Carré novel and starring Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, the series finds the manager of a luxury Cairo hotel running afoul of an Egyptian crime boss with ties to Dicki…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I'm a shut-in, which makes me the perfect candidate for a smart security system. I want to know exactly what's going on outside at all times of day, even while I'm still tucked tightly in bed. You don't have to be a serial introvert to benefit from a few cameras and connected devices in your home. If you're frequently away, you may also want to keep a record of packages and people who have passed through while you're out. Smart security systems are not just about catching a neighborhood cat in the act. They help keep a watchful eye when you can't, and they can be automated to trigger other devices as needed—such as a moti…

Google is bringing back its free year of Google AI Pro for U.S. college students, after releasing its new Gemini 3 Pro AI model today. Because so many of the new model's biggest features are hidden behind paywalls, it's not a bad deal, even if it's not the first time Google's done this. The deal follows similar promotions from April and August, although the most recent one ended in October. That this offer is coming so soon after the last one means Google might plan to keep rolling out these trials on a regular basis. How to claim your free year of Google AI Pro as a U.S. college studentTo get your free year of Google AI Pro, first head over to gemini.google/students and …

Tuesday morning was a stark reminder of how fragile the global internet really is. Websites from X to ChatGPT went offline as Cloudflare, the company they rely on for web infrastructure services, experienced a massive outage. A huge number of sites and services across the world contract Cloudflare for cybersecurity protections, as well as to route traffic through servers local to each user, all in the name of performance and reliability. Ironic, of course, given today's events. When the public experiences such a massive internet outage, speculation runs awry. What caused this? Was it a simple bug on Cloudflare's part, or something malicious? Are bad actors attacking Cloud…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Ankle weights seem to have tunneled through a wormhole from the 1980s to the present moment, appearing in countless TikToks and Instagram posts. Do they really help tone your legs? Are they worth buying at all? The promises are overrated, but in some cases ankle weights do actually work. Here’s what you need to know. Where ankle weights work bestAnkle weights’ best use is to add a little bit of resistance to exercises where you are moving your legs against gravity. For example, side-lying leg raises become substantially more work for your muscles with even a pound or two of weight on the ankle that you’re raising in the a…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. Yesterday, at its 2025 Meta Connect conference, Meta finally unveiled its first Ray-Ban smart glasses that actually have a screen inside them. I have yet to try them for myself, but according to my colleagues over at CNET, seeing is believing. If you want to book a demo to try out the new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, you're in luck: They're popping up in select stores across the country, and you can already schedule your visit. In fact, you'll need to if …

If you get a letter from a company called 700Credit, don't ignore it. Your information may have been compromised in a massive breach affecting more than 5.8 million consumers, and you should take the necessary steps to protect your data. 700Credit supplies credit and identity verification services to more than 21,000 vehicle, RV, powersport, and marine dealerships in the U.S., so if you've purchased a vehicle and applied for dealer financing—or even been pre-screened or pre-qualified to do so—your information could have been affected. What happened with 700Credit?According to the company's filing with the Maine Attorney General, 700Credit's systems were hacked between O…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The big shopping outlets are gearing up for another Black Friday sale season, and we’ll be on top of all those deals. In particular, I’ll be looking out for deals on fitness gear including fitness trackers and smartwatches, so let me give you a preview of what I’m expecting—and hoping—to see. My predictions here are based on what sales we’ve seen from these models in the past, and what last year’s Black Friday looked like with respect to the then-current models. This year, most of the companies on my list have introduced new watches, but are also still selling their older models. Here are the prices I’ll be looking for t…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. Last year, I wrote that we should all be scared of Sora, OpenAI's AI video generator. Sora's initial rollout promised hyper-realistic videos that, while exciting to some, terrified me. While AI fans see a future of AI-generated movies and shows, I see a future where no one can tell what's real or fake. To me, the only destination for this technology is mass disinformation. In the year and a half since, these AI-generated videos haven't only become more realistic; they've also become more accessible, as compa…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Since its release 2023, the Boox Palma e-reader—and its successor, the Palma 2—has sown confusion. It's the same size and shape as a cell phone and it has an e-ink screen, but it isn't an e-ink phone, because it doesn't have a SIM card slot or eSIM. Well, today Boox's parent company, the Chinese device-maker Onyx International, announced the new Palma 2 Pro, and things aren't getting any less opaque. As I wrote about last month when the new device was first rumored, the Palma 2 Pro does have a SIM card slot, but it still isn't really a phone—while it can handle mobile data (meaning browsing the internet, streaming video, r…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’ve ever owned a pair of Beats, you probably already know what to expect—flashy design, Apple-friendly features, and a sound signature that leans toward the bass-heavy side. The Beats Studio Pro continues that legacy, but right now, it’s doing it at a much better price. These headphones, which launched in 2023 at a steep $349.99, are currently going for $169.95—a 51% discount and the second-lowest price tracked so far. That makes a real difference, especially if you’re part of the Apple ecosystem. Beats…

After years of integrating (read: shoving) Copilot into as many Windows apps as possible, Microsoft seems to have made a shocking discovery: users don't want Copilot crammed into as many Windows apps as possible. On Friday, Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft's President of Windows & Devices, published a post on the official Windows Blog, walking readers through changes the company was making to Windows in response to user feedback. While Davuluri stopped short of saying the words "all this AI was a mistake," he did say, "What came through [from user feedback] was the voice of people who care deeply about Windows and want it to be better." So, now, we have a bunch of changes th…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Call me immature, but I’m about a thousand times more likely to participate in activities that are good for me when they can be gamified. Even the simple pleasures of watching a number go up or earning a digital milestone badge can motivate me to get to the gym, track my meals, or form a new habit. Gamification can be used for focusing and studying, too, and a wide variety of apps exist to serve this purpose. Here are some of the best. Gamification apps for focusingFocusing is notoriously difficult, especially in this hyper-connected era in which many of us can’t go five minutes without getting a text or eat a meal withou…

If you're a Verizon customer who's noticed your phone shifting into SOS mode throughout the day, there's now an official explanation: As confirmed by Verizon itself, the carrier has been facing a nationwide outage throughout the afternoon. "We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers," Verizon said to Lifehacker sister site Mashable. "Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience." The company also posted an acknowledgement over on X, while on popular service interruption tracking website Downdetector (whi…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. You might not think of Netflix as a gaming company, but games are most certainly a part of their business. While the vast majority of us Netflix subscribers simply stream TV shows and movies on the app, the company also offers access to games, free of charge as part of a Netflix plan. These aren't all throwaway titles, either: Netflix has licensed some notable names here, including Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Oxenfree, and Heads Up! But while Netflix's games have largely been mobile-only for the past few …

This week's tour of the world of young people careens around like an out-of-control bullet train. Everyone's talking about a pop star with a body in his trunk, a dental trend powered by TikTok, astrology-based beauty tutorials, and a football stat hound's ultimate rabbit hole. It’s a lot to take in. Who is D4vd and why was there a body in his trunk? Everyone under a certain age is talking about the singer D4vd, and it's not because he has a new album out. On September 8, Los Angeles police discovered a body in the trunk of an abandoned Tesla registered to David Anthony Burke, the birth name of the 20-year-old musician. The body was later identified as the remains…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. Of all the study tips out there, from those that enhance reading comprehension to those that improve retention, the one I use the most is association, which has its own entry in the APA Dictionary of Psychology: It's "a connection or relationship between two items (e.g., ideas, events, feelings) with the result that experiencing the first item activates a representation of the second. Associations are fundamental to learning theory and behaviorism." Essentially, it's any connection you can form between tw…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Amazon's Memorial Day sale is in full swing, and you can find more than just the usual appliances and tools on sale. There are discounts on many tech products for audiophiles as well, from Beats headphones, to the Sonos Arc Soundbar, and the beloved Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, which have dropped in price after the release of the WH-1000XM6. If you're looking for bargains on budget headphones and earbuds, I've rounded up the best ones that you can find under $100, whether you're looking for earbuds, bone conduction headsets, or open-ear, in-ear, or …

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. It's official: As of Tuesday, Oct. 14, Microsoft no longer supports Windows 10. That said, if you powered on your Windows 10 PC this morning, only to read headlines suggesting the end of Windows 10, you might be a bit confused. Your computer still works, after all. So what's really going on here? What Windows 10 end of life really meansAs it might now be evident, Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 doesn't mean the company has shut down the OS for good. Any devices still running Windows 10 will continue …

Planning is a key part of staying productive, but it has to be done right. To succeed, you need to understand why previous attempts at planning didn’t pan out. Conducting a personal after-action review is one way to assess your work and determine how to be more efficient, but to truly understand what went wrong and prepare for the future, you need to dig deep. Try the “Five Whys” technique to get to the bottom of things. What is the “Five Whys” technique?You should know, first of all, that this is yet another productivity protocol that springs from Japan’s famed factory system, like the 5S and 3M techniques. With this one, once you identify a problem, you’re going to ask…