Home Office Setup & Equipment

Microsoft's next-gen Xbox isn't an Xbox. Or it isn't just an Xbox, anyway: While the rumored console will undoubtedly play Xbox games, "Project Helix," as it's codenamed, will reportedly also play PC titles. That's huge news for gamers who usually have to decide whether to buy a console for the convenience, or a PC for the potential. 'Xbox mode' lets you access games on your PC with a controllerBut while Project Helix is still a ways off (we won't see it until 2027, at least), Microsoft is already doubling down on merging its two major gaming platforms. As reported by PCMag, Microsoft is giving PC gamers access to the Xbox Full Screen Experience, and rebranding it "Xbox…

While ChatGPT may have kicked off the generative AI era we now live in, it is far from alone these days. There is steep competition from multiple companies in this space, including Google, Anthropic, and even Microsoft—which has a huge financial stake in OpenAI. To compete, it seems OpenAI is trying to make its paid subscription plans more attractive to users, as the company just cut the price of ChatGPT Pro in half. ChatGPT Pro now starts at $100As reported by TechCrunch, OpenAI's new pricing model now offers a Pro plan at $100 per month, down from $200 per month. That now gives users a choice between the following: a free plan, which comes with ads; a Go plan offering …

Google announced many new Android features and upgrades during The Android Show: I/O Edition. Among these are a handful of security and privacy tools Google hopes will protect users (and their data) from scams and theft. Android already has a suite of safeguards—in-call scam alerts, anti-theft settings, and a lockdown mode called Advanced Protection, to name a few—which the new features largely build on and strengthen. Here's what's new. Android will automatically end calls that spoof financial institutionsGoogle rolled out a feature last year to protect against bank impersonators who might attempt to steal your login credentials or convince you to transfer money. In-call…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. I used to buy cheap earbuds from random brands all the time, simply because I needed some earbuds that wouldn't give me a heart attack if (or when) I lost them. If that sounds like your earbud-buying strategy, there's a great deal on a pair of budget earbuds that actually have pretty decent specs: the Anker Soundcore P20i. Right now, these workhorse earbuds are on sale for $19.99 (originally $39.99), matching the lowest price they have reached according to price-checking tools. Soundcore by Anker P20i …

I never considered myself a walking girl. I never engaged in the "hot girl walk" trends on social media or went on "mental health walks" during the pandemic lockdown. In fact, I long thought walking—the milestone most of us reach as babies, the activity the majority of us do each day to accomplish all the other basic tasks of living—had a little too much PR hype, especially after learning that the much-ballyhooed "10,000 steps" we're supposed to take every day relied on an arbitrary, made-up figure for marketing pedometers. If I am going to do cardio, I reasoned, I'm going to do cardio: cycling, running, swimming, or playing sports with my friends. If I'm not sweating, wh…

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. Spotify is finally giving its free-tier customers a feature that’s been requested since the music streaming platform launched nearly 20 years ago: the ability to listen to any song they choose. That's right: The days of searching for a song, then hitting “skip” until it rolls around on a Spotify-generated playlist are over. Free-tier users can choose songs in three ways: through the search function, by clicking on any song from the Spotify interface, or by clicking on a link shared by other users. Free-tier …

Cleaning is one of those necessary chores that most of us don't have much enthusiasm for. It's often demanding and tedious work, and while you're taking care of it, you do so with the knowledge that you're going to have to do it all again next week. There's some good news, though, for the cleaning-averse: Modern day tech can handle a lot of these jobs on your behalf, as smart cleaning gadgets continue to get better and better. In recent years, they've become more reliable and more effective, and you've got a host of different models to choose from. This introduction to smart cleaning technology will bring you up to date on the products that are available, and what they ca…

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. On Wednesday, Google officially announced a number of smart home initiatives. Alongside new devices—including Nest cameras, doorbells, and a new Google Home Speaker—the company rolled out a redesigned Google Home app. As you might expect in 2025, Google's new smart home strategy is powered by the company's AI, Gemini, with a new branding to boot: Gemini for Home. The company is making a lot of claims for how its next-generation tech will improve your smart home. We'll need to wait for the reviewers to put G…

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. How do you do, fellow adult? This week's edition of the Out of Touch Adult’s Guide to Kid Culture features a new body slang term, a TikTok prank where AI puts a hobo into your living room, the possible beginning of the AI wars, and a viral video featuring students running a Nazi out of class. There's a lot to eat, so tuck your napkin in your shirt and chow down. What is a Venus tummy?A "Venus tummy" is a slang term for a woman's belly that is a little fat, but not too fat—a little pouch that can be shown off…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. This StackSocial bundle pairs Microsoft Office Professional 2021 with Windows 11 Pro on sale for just $44.97 right now (down from nearly $419). It’s the kind of deal that makes sense if you’re setting up a new PC or finally updating an old one. The Office license is for life—no subscription, no annual fees, and it covers all the essentials, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access, and the free version of Teams. Everything installs locally on one Windows PC, so there’s no hopping between browser tabs or worrying about r…

Walking is great exercise, but can be slow and a little boring, unless you're truly captivated by the wonders of the natural world—though that won't get you very far if your scenery is the walls around a treadmill, rather than a walking path. Whether you're walking outdoors or indoors, you can benefit from using guided walks to spice up your ambling. I love the walking video offered by Peloton, but I to access them, I pay $50 a month (though I get so much else as part of my subscription). But if you want a free option, there are some great ones on YouTube. They're similar to the free guided runs on the platform, but here, you just walk. (In general, if you want to find g…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. More than 45 million people in the United States rent their homes, and as purchasing a home continues to be out of reach for many, that number probably isn’t going down anytime soon. If you’re a renter, you know that renting often comes with some compromises in terms of control over your environment, space, and interior design. Being limited in what you can do because you don’t actually own the walls and floors can be a real challenge when it comes to making the space nice. But with a few clever ideas, you can make your rental more comfortable, more useful, and less expensive—and ensure that you get all of your security de…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. A lot of Bluetooth speakers try to impress you with apps, voice assistants, or complicated sound modes, but the Bose SoundLink Home takes the opposite approach. It is a simple, handsome speaker that focuses almost entirely on how it looks and sounds. At $179, down from $219—its lowest price yet according to price tracking tools—it becomes easier to appreciate that restraint. Bose SoundLink Home Speaker …

Manually or automatically wiping your browsing history is a well-established way of protecting your privacy and making sure the digital trail you leave behind you is as short as possible—but it's important to be aware of the limitations of the process, and to understand why deleting your browsing history isn't always as comprehensive an act as you might think. In short, the records of where you've been aren't only kept on your local computer or on your phone, they're found in various other places too. This is why fully wiping away your browsing history is more difficult than it initially appears. Modern browsers typically sync your browsing historyJust about every modern…

There are fewer and fewer hardware differences between iPhones and Androids as the years go on, but back in the day, that was far from the case. At one point, many major Android devices came with dedicated LEDs that would shine whenever you received a notification. It was a passive way to know whether you had something on your phone to attend to, without having to actually wake up the display and risk getting unnecessarily sucked into your device. iPhones have never had this specific feature, but Apple included a workaround for anyone interested in a similar experience. For years, you've been able to dive into Accessibility settings to turn your iPhone's LED flash into a…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. You don’t know how many times in the past few years I saw that mini thermal printers existed, considered getting one, and then decided, no, it’s too silly and I’ll never use it. Friends, I finally caved, and my only regret is not getting one earlier. I’ve only had this tiny gadget for about a month, but it’s gotten daily use in my house. With Christmas coming up, I use it to print gift tags and labels. I use custom stickers to make charts in my workout journal, and it’s even become the centerpiece of the Elf on the Shelf’s interaction with my daughter. (Yes, she still claims to believe, probably just for the entertainment …

No matter how dedicated you are to responding to and archiving all your emails, there will always be one thing preventing you from hitting true inbox zero: all of those mailing lists you're subscribed to. These horrors will visit you at all hours of the day, making it harder to spot the truly important messages in your inbox—and it gets worse once you've gotten fed up enough to disable push notifications and they start to really pile up. It’s time to banish these buggers. And, if you're using Gmail, there’s an easy way to do it. Use filters to manage mailing list emails in GmailYou can use a third-party add-on to go through your mailing lists and unsubscribe, saying good…

Because it’s Christmas time, I’ve been digging into myths and misconceptions we have about the holiday: Yuletide misinformation is rampant, and I’m setting the record straight. Last week I dug into who Santa Claus really is, with side quests about St. Nicholas bringing children back from the dead and the religious war between Santa and Kris Kringle. One thing I didn't talk about? His elves. Christmas elves feel like they’ve been around forever, and people have strangely consistent ideas of what they’re all about—they’re small, they wear green, they make toys out of some innate magical compulsion, they love shelves— but that variety of elf is a recent invention; “real” el…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Most outdoor speakers claim they can handle water. The Soundcore Boom 3i goes further: it's fully waterproof and dustproof with an IP68 rating, but it also resists saltwater, which is still rare at this size and price. That matters if your weekends involve beaches, boats, or the ocean rather than a backyard patio. Also, it floats, and more importantly, it does so facing upward, which keeps the drivers out of the water and the sound clear. That one detail makes a real difference when waves or movement would normally flip a speaker onto its side. The …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Withings launched their $600 Body Scan 2 smart scale at CES Unveiled last night—but they're positioning it as a "longevity station" rather than a smart scale. The device has a handle in addition to the footplate, which allows for extra sensors, and the new features include things like hypertension notifications that we've previously seen from smartwatches. (Hypertension notifications only just came to the Apple Watch a few months ago.) I got to see the Body Scan 2 at a CES event but haven't had a chance to use it for myself. According to Withings, the Body Scan 2 can measure "60+ biomarkers" that it says are relevant to t…

It's been nearly two years since Apple announced a more intelligent Siri, and yet, we're still waiting to get our hands on it. Aside from being able to answer a few questions about Apple products or shunt your questions off to ChatGPT for you, the voice assistant is essentially still the same it was before Apple Intelligence launched for other Apple features in iOS 18.1. Now, the iPhone maker seems to be throwing in the towel on developing an AI-enabled Siri entirely on its own, and is asking Google for help. I can't imagine Tim Cook is too happy about that, but on the flip side, that does mean an AI Siri might finally come out, and soon. In a statement to CNBC's Jim Cram…

If you just tried to open Instagram on your phone or computer, only to find that nothing would load, don't worry: It's not your wifi, nor is Verizon experiencing another outage. The fault instead lies with Meta, as Instagram is currently down. That's according to Downdetector, owned by Lifehacker parent company Ziff Davis, which shows over 2,000 user reports of issues with Instagram at the time of this writing. The issues seem to affect Instagram in all forms. While the mobile app was working last time I checked, I couldn't get it to load in Safari. That means you might not be able to check out posts, add new posts, or send and receive DMs—at least until Meta figures out…

I am a self-professed AI skeptic. I have yet to really find much of a need for all these AI-powered assistants, as well as many AI-powered features. The most useful applications in my view are subtle—the rest seem better suited for shareholders than actual people. And yet, the AI believers have a new tool they're very excited about, which is now all over my feeds: Clawdbot. Could this agentic AI assistant be the thing that makes me a believer as well? Spoiler alert: probably not. What is Clawdbot?If you're deep in the online AI community, you probably already know about Clawbot. For the rest of us, here's the gist: Clawdbot is a "personal AI assistant" designed to run l…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Robot vacuums can get expensive quickly, especially as you move into models with features such as self-emptying bins and hot-water mopping. But if you’re looking to dip your toe into this world without dropping major cash, the Roborock Q7 L5 robot vacuum and mop is a low-stakes entry-level option that checks many boxes, and right now it’s at a record-low 44% off at $139.99 (originally 249.99) on Amazon, according to price-trackers. Roborock Q7 L5 Robot Vacuum and Mop …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you're a PC gamer who's been looking into getting a Steam Deck to help you play your games on the go, then I've got some bad news for you: On Valve's official Steam Deck store page—the only place to buy new Steam Decks in the United States—every single model is sold out right now. That includes the discontinued LCD model, both versions of the Steam Deck OLED, and even refurbished options. The shortage was first spotted last night by deals hunter Wario64, who at the time noted that the Steam Deck was sold out in the U.S., but still available in other countries. Unfortunately, since then, both Tom's Hardware and Windows C…