Home Office Setup & Equipment

While updating, upgrading, and reimagining your home can transform it into your dream home, the logistics involved can be daunting, even if you have a general contractor managing the project for you. One of the biggest challenges is setting your budget—unless you have an unlimited budget (lucky you!), determining what a home renovation will involve based on what you can afford is a key aspect of your plan. It’s also one of the most confusing. When budgeting reality bumps up against your dream home fantasy, figuring out what to remove from the project can be difficult because of the emotional aspects involved—everything can seem equally necessary when you’re imagining your…

Your iPhone is likely currently running iOS 26.3 (assuming you've been keeping up with the operating system updates), but there's another version currently in the works over at Apple HQ. Right now, beta testers have their hands on iOS 26.4, which is shaping up to be a much bigger update than the last. Among the changes, Apple is debuting end-to-end encryption for RCS chats, so texts with Android users will no longer be insecure, and the Reminders app is getting an "Urgent" section for any entries you've labeled as such. But perhaps no part of iOS is getting a larger update with 26.4 than Apple Music—both the app, and Apple's paid subscription service. Apple seems to hav…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Galaxy S26 series is official, even if they're not quite officially here yet. Samsung announced the new smartphones at today's Unpacked 2026, touting their upgraded chips (Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy), pro camera features, and new Galaxy AI capabilities. It might be a relatively quiet update, but an update's an update. If you're looking for the fastest Galaxy devices on the market, the choice just moved from the S25 to the S26. When is Samsung releasing the Galaxy S26?While the entire S26 lineup is currently available to preorder, they aren't yet available to purchase. Samsung is making users wait a bit—two w…

Spotify's adding a new way to sort playlists for paying subscribers. The feature is called Smart Reorder, and it allows you to automatically sort your songs by BPM (beats per minute) and key. This is great for those who want to gradually bump up the intensity of the songs they listen to. It's worth noting that this feature only works for playlists you've created or those you've mixed using the Spotify Mix feature, which lets you add or customize song transitions like a DJ would. Also, because Smart Reorder is an extension of Spotify Mix, you can't have one without the other. Spotify Mix hasn't yet been launched in all markets where the streaming service is present, inclu…

Google and Apple’s app stores both have a reputation for being pretty trustworthy these days. It’s easy to assume that if an app is in either the iPhone App Store or the Google Play Store, it’s safe to download. But a new Google crackdown this week reminds us that this isn’t so clear cut. Yesterday, a third-party security report revealed that Google had recently removed 224 malicious apps from the Android Play Store. Dubbed “SlopAds” apps by security company Human, which discovered the apps and wrote the report, these apps evaded Google’s usual security procedures and instead used a clever workaround to secretly install malware on users’ devices, even when downloaded str…

The ongoing feud between Disney and Google is heating up. It all started last week, when Disney pulled its channels from YouTube TV, Google's Live TV service, over fee disputes. Now, Disney seems to be pulling content from other Google services as well. As first noted by 9to5Google, Disney movies are starting to disappear from YouTube's pay-per-view offerings too, and even other platforms like Google TV. For instance, try typing "Avengers" into your YouTube search bar right now. Aside from trailers and videos uploaded from individual users, you're more likely to see a rental option pop up for that 1998 Sean Connery and Uma Thurman spy movie than Marvel's superheroes. Mean…

New Year's Eve is my favorite holiday. I love a designated time to look forward and to reflect back, ideally while getting tipsy with friends. The turn of a new year is also a time when I’m grateful for my habit of writing down every little thing—and I don’t just mean getting my thoughts and feelings down in a journal. I’m talking about tracking every book read, every mile run, and every beer crushed (approximately). So if you’re interested in documenting your life—and you should be!—I highly recommend using a wonderfully detailed spreadsheet. I’m not talking about bullet journaling (which can be cool, but which I find too artistically daunting). I simply create a Google…

It probably goes without saying at this point, but your conversations with AI chatbots aren't private—everything you type or upload to Gemini, ChatGPT, and other models might be read and used in a variety of ways. If you wouldn't send a document or repeat information to someone you don't know, you shouldn't include it in a chatbot prompt either. Researchers at Stanford reviewed the privacy policies of the six U.S. companies that developed the most popular AI chatbots, including Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT, and found that all of them use chat data by default for training purposes. Some retain said data indefinitely, and most merge it with other information collected fr…

Your flexible spending account (FSA) funds expire soon, and if you don't use them, you lose them. In fact, roughly half of FSA holders in recent years have ended up forfeiting funds to their employers, according to the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). First, make sure to double-check with your employer about your FSA's Dec. 31 deadline, along with any potential rollover or grace period. After that, it's time to scan your medicine cabinet, make a list of anything you need to stock up on, and click "add to cart." The FSA store is an obvious choice for making the most of your remaining funds, but you can also turn to your go-to retail giants. Amazon, Ta…

If you tried talking to ChatGPT this morning, you might have found it unresponsive—something unusual for the bot that always has something say. It's not your internet connection, and it isn't your OpenAI account: ChatGPT is down. According to Downdetector, owned by Lifehacker parent company Ziff Davis, users started reporting issues with ChatGPT at 11:56 a.m. ET. Those reports ballooned by 12:11 p.m., as the total number of incidents as of this article currently sits above 7,000. If you're an avid ChatGPT user, you might have also had issues with the bot yesterday: Downdetector shows over 25,000 reports of down time starting at 2:56 p.m. Tuesday and resolving around 4:11…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Samsung’s 27-inch Odyssey G5 (G51F) gaming monitor has dropped to $159.99 on Amazon, which is the lowest price it has reached so far, according to price trackers. That’s a noticeable discount from its usual $249.99 price, and it makes a lot more sense now for anyone ready to move on from a basic 1080p setup without jumping into the much higher cost of OLED displays. It’s a flat panel (unlike Samsung’s many curved gaming displays), with a matte coating that helps minimize glare in brighter rooms, and comes with a stand that supports height, tilt, a…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I just got back from CES 2026, and you can see my real-time reports on some of the best and weirdest things I saw in our CES 2026 live blog. I tried on six(!) different exoskeletons, perked up my ears whenever I heard about a new smart strap, and looked in vain for new models of familiar fitness tech like watches. Here are the biggest trends I noticed and some notes on what was conspicuously missing. I've included prices where possible; anything without a price is likely too far from market to have one yet. The number of non-Whoop smart bands just doubled …

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is often referred to as "the most powerful tech event in the world," bringing together tech companies from around the globe to unveil their latest innovations. The massive event is held across various locations, including the Las Vegas Convention Center, The Venetian, Mandalay Bay, and The Sphere, and is a staple event for both companies vying for recognition and media outlets that cover them. One day into "Unveiled," the media-only prelude to the trade show, I landed on what might be my mantra for my CES 2026 experience. "Cool, if true," Associate Tech Editor Michelle Ehrhardt had said about a new product booth, summarizing how I felt…

Some iOS users are getting an extra layer of privacy when it comes to how their location data is shared. Limit Precise Location is a new setting that prevents some Apple devices from broadcasting specific locations to cell carriers. Precise location sharing is useful, even essential, in some cases, such as when you're navigating with your maps app. But you may not want to constantly be sending your exact address to your phone provider, where it could be used for malicious purposes. If you enable Limit Precise Location, your iOS device will share your general area instead. Precise location sharing comes with privacy risksAs TechCrunch points out, precise location sharing…

The 2026 tax filing season—for 2025 returns—begins on Jan. 26, which means scammers are ramping up efforts to steal taxpayers' information and money. These are a few of the tax-related schemes to watch out for this year. 'Tax resolution' scamsThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is alerting consumers to a phone scam currently circulating in which callers claim to be from the “Tax Resolution Oversight Department," “Tax Mediation and Resolution Agency,” or some similar official-sounding (but fake) government organization. They will claim that you owe back taxes and say they will help you apply for an “IRS liability reduction program” (also fake). The scammers' aim here is t…

Microsoft has released its latest monthly Patch Tuesday update, this time offering fixes for 72 security vulnerabilities across its systems. Five of the malicious bugs addressed are zero-days that have been actively exploited, and two have been publicly disclosed. As Bleeping Computer reports, the May update addresses 17 elevation of privilege flaws, two security feature bypass flaws, 28 remote code execution flaws, 15 information disclosure flaws, seven denial of service flaws, and two spoofing flaws. In addition to the zero-day exploits, six of the remote code execution vulnerabilities are labeled "critical" along with one information disclosure flaw. If you're a Wind…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. A quick public service announcement: Mother’s Day is this Sunday. If this holiday snuck up on you again this year (I’m in the same boat), it’s not too late to grab a thoughtful gift. Here’s a list of gift ideas for the chef, baker, coffee connoisseur, and everyone in between. While you may not have time to get something engraved or monogrammed, these gifts still say “You deserve to do more of what you love.” The vendors listed below offer expedited shipping so your gift will arrive on time. Just make sure to check the two-day shipping option during checkout. …

With all this talk about spring cleaning, you could be forgiven if you focused on, well, just cleaning in the spring. But the real beauty of spring cleaning is that it can be a jumping-off point for a clean year. Yes, you can put in extra effort right now, restocking and upgrading your cleaning supplies and doing all those intense annual tasks, but if you don't keep up with your tidying all year round, you'll be stuck doing another exhausting round next spring. Use this as a starting point for a big year of your cleanest home ever. First, commit to a cleaning schedule While you're undertaking spring cleaning this year, keep track of what tasks you enjoy (or just hate le…

If you tried hopping on TikTok Sunday, you might have noticed something odd: the app wasn't working. Outages happen, of course, as anyone who has Verizon can attest. But in the moment, theories were flying left and right. TikTok had just officially moved into U.S. control, leading some to speculate that the outage had something to do with this change in ownership. As one user put it, "TikTok being down days after the people they were forced to sell to take it over does not feel like a coincidence." As it happens, it does appear that the changing of the guard was responsible for the outage—just not in the way that some conspiracy theories might suggest. TikTok finally re…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Today, Whoop furthered its quest to become a comprehensive, one-stop health platform. Since last fall, Whoop members have had access to the Advanced Labs blood testing service—now, the performance wearable company is rolling out "Specialized Panels," a new line of targeted blood tests that let users drill down into even more insights about their body. Whoop Peak 12-Month Membership, 5.0 Fitness Wearable $239.00 …

If you're of a certain age, you might remember mixtapes: cassettes made up of a series of tracks you or a friend think work well together, or otherwise enjoy. (They took some work to put together, too.) Digital music sort of killed mixtapes, but, in their place, came playlists. You could easily put together a collection of your favorite songs, and either burn them to a CD, or, as streaming took over, let the playlist itself grow as large as you wanted. Anyone can make a playlist, but there's an art to it. Someone with a keen ear for music can build a playlist you can let play for hours. Maybe you have a friend who's good at making playlists, or maybe you're that friend …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The next generation of Meta's Display smart glasses might come with a smart watch. According to a report from The Information, Meta's watch, codenamed Malibu 2, could feature fitness tracking features and AI, but its real purpose is to replace the Display's neural band and act as controller for the smart glasses. If the reports are accurate, Meta Display smart glasses with a smart watch could be available in 2026. There aren't any other details on the smart watch, so we don't know the price or what features it may have—but I'd be surprised if this rumor doesn't pan out eventually. Meta has discussed the idea of a smart w…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Christmas movies have been a tradition for decades, but the days when our choices were limited to George Bailey contemplating jumping off of a bridge and Ralphie washing his mouth out with Lifebuoy soap are well past us. Holiday movies are an industry in and of themselves, with dozens of new seasonal offerings released each year, starting as soon as the leaves start to turn colors. Most of them are cozy cookie-cutter offerings—relaxing, if largely disposable. But among the seasonal glut, new classics do occasionally emerge. Here are 30 more recent holiday classics, from silly comedies, to cozy dramas, to gruesome horror…

It's been four days since Disney's channels disappeared from YouTube TV, and some subscribers are receiving a surprise hidden away in their account settings: Over on Reddit, there are reports that some users are able to claim $10 credits on their next six monthly bills, though it's not entirely clear if this is intended as a make-good for the streamer's Disney troubles. The credit doesn't seem to be showing up for everyone, but has been redeemed by YouTube TV subscribers at Tom's Guide. Google has yet to make any announcements about the credit, and that based on a post to the YouTube X account, it appears to be entirely separate from the $20 credit the company previously …