Home Office Setup & Equipment

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Amazon Big Deal Days ends tonight, Oct. 8, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it’s over. Follow our live blog to stay up to date on the best sales we find. Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox. New to Prime Day? We have a primer on everything you need to know. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change. Like many Americans, I bemoan the fact that online shopping hurts local businesses, which can't compete with the convenience of unsustaina…

The easy availability of powerful generative AI programs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and other image- and music-generation tools has given everyone the ability to instantly "create" any image, video, or song they can imagine. As the resulting flood of computer-made content washes up on shore, internet users and observers are calling it "slopcore." Also known as "AI slop," slopcore's aesthetic comes from people using AI as a collaborator instead of a tool, leaving the machines to make artistic choices. It's marked by the strangely off, the almost-real, and the uncanny vibe of machines imitating humanity. Slopcore often depicts deeply emotional subjects, but the lack of depth and…

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. Ever get a suspicious text from someone claiming to be your friend, but they appear to be texting from the right number? Well, in an era of number spoofing, which involves manipulating Caller ID to make yourself look like someone you're not, one can never be too careful. That's why Google is finally taking out of beta a Messages feature that helps you fight back. Called "Android System Key Verifier," the idea is simple, and has actually been available as a separate app before. Now, right from the Messages…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deep work is a concept most popularly defined by Cal Newport, who wrote the aptly titled Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. As he tells it, deep work is a state where you find the ability to focus completely on a demanding task without letting distraction get in your way. If you can get the hang of it, you’ll get more done in less time and ultimately end up feeling more fulfilled. On his website, Newport observes that it’s rare to see someone feel energized and happy after sending emails, but there’s a sense of fulfillment that comes from sustained focus on more meaningful tasks. How do you achiev…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. With Black Friday looming on the horizon and Walmart and Best Buy jumping on the early holiday sale bandwagon, it can be a little overwhelming to commit to where to spend your money. However, something that has stayed consistent over the many sales has been Amazon device prices during the early sales. One of those Amazon devices with a record-low price is the 43-inch Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED, currently $339.99 (originally $439.99), the lowest price it has been according to price-checking tools. …

Even in 2025, Google.com still knows how to have fun. If you tend to rely on your browser's address bar for Google Search, you might miss the company's latest "Doodle." But today, Oct. 30, if you head to the Google homepage, you'll find a Halloween-themed surprise: a fully playable PAC-MAN game, outfitted with spooky mazes and characters. The Halloween part makes sense, seeing as the holiday is tomorrow. But why PAC-MAN? As it happens, this year marks the game's 45th anniversary. For this Doodle, Google says it partnered with PAC-MAN's parent company, Bandi Namco Entertainment, to feature a celebratory PAC-MAN game on the homepage. If you're familiar with PAC-MAN, you…

Sora, OpenAI's short-form AI video generator, has been out for just about a month now, and already, it's helping to spread disinformation on social media. Accounts share Sora generations without any transparency, sometimes with the Sora watermark removed, and while shrewd observers see through the AI, many people scrolling by don't think twice and believe things happened that didn't. That could be as innocuous as Jake Paul putting on makeup, or as dangerous as a fake interview meant to manipulate viewers towards a political bias. It's getting scary out there. So far, for the free model, Sora has capped video generations at 30 per day. If you pay for the Pro model, you ge…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Everyone's talking about AI, but smart glasses are quietly breaking big in 2025. With Meta, Apple, and Google vying for dominance, and the hardware finally powerful enough to be practical instead of mere gimmicky, smart specs are transitioning from awkward face computers for tech-heads, into something potentially useful for everyone. If you’re thinking of jumping in, the sheer range of styles, features, and price points can be daunting, so I put together this guide to help you find your perfect pair. What smart glasses can do The term “smart glasses” is almost too broad to be useful. It's been applied to everything from A…

If you've joined a private Facebook group—counting on your membership and posts to be visible only to those approved to join—and receive a notification that said group is about to go public, you don't need to panic. While Meta is now allowing admins of previously private Facebook groups to change the status to public, it is also assuring users that past activity will remain private. Private Facebook groups can be made publicAccording to Meta's post announcing the update, the option to transition from private to public allows small groups to grow into larger communities that are more easily found, with content visible to anyone (even people who aren't on Facebook). Any ad…

I’ve been enjoying Shuffalo, a quick daily word game from the New Yorker that I can’t help but compare to the New York Times’s Wordle, which is so popular we publish hints for it every day. But it really feels like an improvement on a different New York Times game, Spelling Bee—quicker and with more useful hints. What is Shuffalo? Shuffalo lives on the New Yorker games page, with a different puzzle each day. For each day’s puzzle, you get a collection of letters that you have to form into a word. First you get four letters, and you need to use them all to make a four-letter word. Once you do that, a fifth letter is added, then a sixth, and so on up to eight. Get that fa…

Plex has been rolling out a new user interface for a while now, and to say it's been divisive among users would be an understatement. Users on Reddit regularly complain about the interface being confusing and slow; others wish the application would focus on personal media servers instead of things like movie rentals. Plezy is an alternative Plex client that solves these issues. The application, which is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, focuses entirely on personal media servers. Plez has a simple user interface, but the real advantage over the official Plex app is its speed. Everything about Plezy is faster than the official Plex app—it launches fast…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. This Lenovo ThinkCentre M90q Mini PC (2021) is on sale for $455.99 on StackSocial right now, offering business-grade performance in a compact form factor small enough to hide behind a monitor. Inside its 7-inch frame sits a 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor with six cores, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD. That’s enough muscle for multitasking, large spreadsheets, or running several browser tabs at once without slowdown. It’s not built for heavy graphics work or gaming, but for office productivity or remote setups, it’s more than capable of kee…

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. I fell in love with cold weather running while I was training for a spring marathon. It wasn’t a choice at first: Some weeks, the weather was bad for days on end, and if I stayed home I would fall behind in my training. Everybody else in my training group was braving the elements, so I did too—with no regrets. I got to run on quiet mornings while snow was softly falling. I signed up for a winter race that herded finishers into a heated barn for hot chocolate and soup. I set a personal record at a spring race, during which I pushed myself hard without breaking a sweat. I now find it sad when somebody tells me they’re afraid…

Google has officially launched its Gemini 3 Pro model, and for the first time, it's already making its way directly to the public, without making you wait months after the announcement to actually get your hands on it. On top of introducing a few new features, Google says the model has the typical increased accuracy, but also, that it finally cuts down on some of the excessive people-pleasing flattery that drives me nuts when using AI. The catch? Most features are paywalled, and one is still in the oven. For the more obvious improvements, Google says Gemini 3 Pro is at the top of LMArena with a score of 1501 points, while also demonstrating "PhD-level reasoning" on Humani…

I am a frequent user of Google's NotebookLM, an AI tool that functions similarly to ChatGPT and other LLMs, but only pulls from sources and materials the user inputs. I noticed a few days ago that it has a new feature: A research function divided into "fast research" and "deep research." After playing around with it a little, these new features seem to completely defeat the purpose of why I started using NotebookLM in the first place—with one big exception. What the new "fast research" and "deep research" options in NotebookLM doIn short, "fast research" and "deep research" make NotebookLM work a lot like other AI tools—they pull information in from the web on your beha…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Ever since Google introduced its Chromebook Plus program in 2023, which promises a certain amount of power and screen resolution for your device, it's been trying its best to get people to game on their Chromebooks. There are Chromebooks with OLED screens, high refresh rates, and even light-up keyboards, but no matter how many bells and whistles you slap on a Chromebook, it's still not going to have nearly as much raw processing power as a more traditional laptop. That's where cloud gaming comes in. This lets you stream games from the cloud, if you're willing to put up with a certain amount of video compression and input d…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Sonos Ace headphones are finally seeing their first major price drop for Black Friday, down to $279 from their usual $399 on Amazon. That’s a solid $120 off, and yes, the lowest price tracked so far, according to price trackers. Sonos Ace $279.00 at Amazon …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over. Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find. Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more. Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices an…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Rockstar fans might be all-in on waiting for GTA VI, but Grand Theft Auto is far from the only big title the company makes. One of Rockstar's most impactful games, Red Dead Redemption, turned 15 in May. All these years later, it's still very much worth your time—if critics and fans have anything to say about it. On Tuesday, Rockstar announced some big news for the first Red Dead: First, anyone who owns a copy of the game for PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, can now upgrade to the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or Nintendo Switch 2 versions for free. That includes upgrades like 60 fps, upgraded visuals, support for HDR, and 4K r…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. We’ve all experienced gift panic—that sinking feeling when you realize you need a present in an hour and you just don’t have one to give. Whether you spent all year chasing the “perfect” gift or simply procrastinated, your time is nearly up. But don’t panic. The clock may have run out, but your options haven’t. Before you resort to re-gifting something from the back of a closet, here’s how to pull off a last-minute gift that is effortless but feels elevated and worthy of the person you’re giving it to. Sometimes the gift is in the deliveryWith the right presentation, even the most last-minute gift can read as thoughtful. A…

The update screen is a normal occurrence on Windows machines, so of course hackers are now manipulating it to sneak malware onto devices. The scheme, a recent iteration of a ClickFix attack, is designed to trick you into executing a dangerous command under the guise of completing a "critical security update." But what you're actually doing is installing an infostealer that hands data over to bad actors. When a Windows update pop-up is actually a ClickFix attackClickFix is a social engineering ploy that uses tactics like fake error messages, CAPTCHA forms, and command prompts to deliver malware to your device. As PCMag reports, the Windows update scam is a pop-up that loo…

New products tend to add features, not take them away. That isn't always the case with Apple, however. The company has a long history of removing functions from one generation of devices to the next, whether that's removing the disc drive from its MacBooks back in 2012, or taking away the iPhone's Home button in 2017. Some of these changes are good, some are controversial, while others are undone altogether: MagSafe and HDMI both found their way back to MacBooks after all. It's not often I hear about Apple removing software features from one generation of product to the next, however. So, imagine my surprise when I saw a number of headlines this morning asserting that the…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Let's face it: Secret Santa exchanges can be a minefield of disappointing, forgettable gifts. It's tough to shop for someone when you know that gift is going to be opened in front of all your friends, family, or coworkers at some holiday party. Then there's the price limit to contend with—a good gift exchange should keep it under $20, but some creep closer to the $50 range. What's the best way to win at Secret Santa without breaking the bank, or bending the rules? The name of the game for any gift exchange is to get something I call "strategically eccentric." You need to find something quirky and unique, so that you have …

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…