Home Office Setup & Equipment

My fellow Lifehacker writer Beth Skwarecki is a weightlifter. I'm a marathon runner. Together, we make one reasonably competent Hyrox athlete—and in four weeks, we're going to find out if that's enough. Beth and I are competing together in a Hyrox doubles race on May 29, in something of a joint experiment in just how little training you can get away with before showing up to one of these things. Hopefully, we can each bring our respective strengths to the floor, cover for each other's weaknesses, and survive. Hopefully. What is Hyrox, anyway? If you haven't encountered Hyrox yet, here's the short version: It's currently the trendiest fitness-race-sport-competition-lifes…

1Password is one of our favorite password managers, especially for users who are new to password management tools. It has a handful of unique features and hidden hacks that keep your data safe and secure while also making it accessible when you need to log into an account, make an online payment, or view a sensitive document. Here's how to get the most out of your 1Password subscription. Enable Travel Mode to hide your more sensitive data at border crossings Travel Mode is one of 1Password's most unique features, and it's especially useful for anyone concerned about keeping their data private when crossing international borders. When Travel Mode is enabled, password va…

Google announced a lot of updates at I/O 2026. The company's first modern smart glasses (dubbed "Intelligent Eyewear) are coming later this year, as is Google's Universal Cart shopping assistant. There's even a brand-new AI model, Omni, that can create any output from any input, which should do wonders for our AI-generated misinformation problem. But not everything Google announced on Tuesday is available now (or for free, for that matter). Most of the new Workspace features, for example, require some type of subscription, as do many of the AI enhancements coming down the pike. If you want to test out Omni today, you can, but you need to pay for one of Google's AI subscr…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you want to level up your home security, the Arlo Essential 2K Outdoor Camera is now 50% off. For $49.99, this indoor and outdoor camera features high-definition footage, thanks to its 2K video resolution, allowing you to get a clear view of license plates, faces, and more. It also provides peace of mind with nighttime surveillance, featuring an integrated spotlight for color night vision that operates in low-light conditions. Arlo Essential 2K Outdoor Camera …

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 …

If you used the internet at all on Monday, you probably noticed a lot of things weren't working all that well. Sites and services around the world experienced interruptions, including the likes of Facebook, McDonald's, and even Fortnite. You might have heard by now that the issues were caused by an AWS outage. If you don't know what AWS is, however, that explanation might not be all that clear. "Amazon Web Services" runs the internet AWS is an Amazon subsidiary, short for Amazon Web Services. The company offers over 200 cloud-based products to customers, including applications for all of the following: Accessing AWS services Analytics Application integration Blockchain…

Walk through any park these days and you might spot them: people sporting bulky weighted vests, adding 10, 20, even 30 pounds to their morning stroll. Scroll through social media and you'll find countless influencers touting weighted vests as the secret to building unbreakable bones and sculpted muscles. Many videos have gained hundreds of thousands of views with claims that weighted vests will "transform your body"—a claim that, to be fair, is par for the course in any fitness trend. "Weighted vest walks" are popular enough to be parodied, and even if I find those videos a little mean-spirited, they do point to an important question: Does this trendy fitness accessory a…

Red light therapy devices are everywhere—from lamps, to full-body mats, to those glowing face masks flooding my social media feed. I usually see red light therapy advertised for "younger-looking skin," but I'm not interested in these devices as a means to slow down aging—I'm interested in them as a recovery-obsessed athlete with very sore muscles. These gadgets promise to boost athletic performance, speed muscle recovery, and reduce inflammation, all by bathing your body in specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light. But do these trendy tools live up to the hype, especially for muscle recovery? What red light therapy advocates claimRed light therapy devices typic…

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…

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 …

Hanukkah (or "Chanukah," if you prefer; it’s a transliteration, so there is no “correct” spelling) is an annual eight-day Jewish religious festival that usually takes place in late November or early December. In 2025, Hanukkah begins on the evening of Sunday, December 14, and continues through Monday December 22. Why does Hanukkah fall on different dates each year?While Hanukkah falls on different dates every year on the Gregorian calendar you’re probably familiar with, it begins on the same day every year on the Hebrew calendar: 25th of Kislev. The Hebrew calendar is based on the moon, and Hanukkah falls on the 25th day after the new moon that marks the beginning of the …

The pace of AI technology is so rapid, it's tough to keep up with everything. At Google I/O back in May, Google rolled out an AI-powered shopping feature that let you virtually try on clothes you find online. All you needed to do was upload a full-length photo of yourself, and Google's AI would be to dress you up in whatever article of clothing you liked. I still can't decide whether the feature sounds useful, creepy, or a little bit of both. Google's virtual try on feature only needs a selfie to workWhat I can say, however, is that the feature is getting a little creepier. On Thursday, Google announced an update to its virtual try on feature, that takes advantage of th…

When you're wading through all the emails, Slack messages, and other notifications you get on an average day, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. When that happens, you can might yourself getting distracted and missing important messages—at least, that's what happens to me, unless I have some kind of plan in place. There are a few different approaches you can consider to prevent this, but the "OHIO" technique is the one to try if you need extra help being decisive—though it's important to note that while it can ease your decision paralysis, it does have a few limitations worth considering. What is the OHIO method of time management? OHIO is an acronym for “Only Handle It Onc…

Thanks to my gig teaching spin classes, I have a front-row seat to a reliable annual phenomenon: My classes are packed for the first few weeks of the year as people make New Year's resolutions—but by mid-February, I'm back to teaching normal-sized groups of people who are grateful the "January joiners" have cleared out. I'm always sad to see the new faces go, though, because I do think it's possible to set a New Year's resolution and stick to it, even if it's not the norm. There are plenty of self-betterment goals you can set as a new year approaches, both in and out of the gym, but no matter what you endeavor to do, it's important to have an implementation strategy tha…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Pebble, the early smartwatch pioneer, has added a new model to its relaunched lineup, and it’s the thin, round model Pebble fans have been waiting for. What’s even more intriguing to me is the fact that the Pebble Round 2 doesn’t have a heart rate sensor, signaling that a smartwatch doesn’t have to be a fitness watch, too. The Pebble Round 2 starts shipping in May, and is available for pre-order now at $199. The new watch is meant to be a modern remake of 2015’s Pebble Time Round. Pebble fans loved the round watch, and every thread about new products on the Pebble subreddit has at least a few comments begging for a new v…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. There's something extra satisfying about starting a new year with an upgrade that actually makes a difference in your daily routine. After years of relying on my traditional percussive massage guns, I've made the switch to the Rally Orbital Massager. And one by one, my friends have started following in my footsteps to make the same move. Hey, there's something validating about watching people you trust independently come to the same conclusion. Why I love the Rally Orbital MassagerDon't get me wrong—my Theragun still serves me well. It's been a reliable companion after workouts, helping ease tension and speed up recovery.…

Your phone is a one-stop shop for a lot of your personal information, from day-to-day activities logged in your calendar and email to financial data accessed via banking apps. If you let someone else use your device—whether you're showing a friend a collection of photos or allowing a stranger to make an emergency call—there's a lot you don't want them to be able to see. If you're an iPhone user, there are several features you can enable to prevent others from snooping around your device. Use Guided AccessIf you don't want someone using your device to see anything else on it, you can turn on Guided Access, which limits them to a single app (such as Phone or Photos). This…

Plenty of people have been asking for a MacBook with a touchscreen display, and now that is possible with the Intricuit Magic Screen, according to an announcement at CES 2026. It's a snap-on accessory that attaches to your MacBook's display, and uses one of the USB-C ports on the laptop for power. Once connected, you can touch the Magic Screen and your input will be registered on the Mac. The good news is that this product ships with a stylus, which will make it a lot easier to interact with different Mac apps. When you tap something on your iPhone or iPad, the UI takes into account the fact that your fingers are a lot thicker than a mouse pointer. On the Mac, the default…

Forming a habit is a powerful tool. You work the new thing into your daily routine, and soon enough, it becomes automatic. That's the dream, anyway—in reality, you have to work at it. But how long does it take to fully form a habit? Despite what you may have heard, it’s not necessarily just 21 days. The number of days it takes to form a new habit depends on the habit, on you, and on what strategies you’re using to build and maintain that habit. Scientific estimates have ranged from as little as 21 days, to eight months or more. Let’s look at why that range is so big, and what you can do to build habits faster. The myth of the 21 day habit The idea that a habit takes 21 …

This week, young people are looking at the recent past through rose-colored glasses, living their best lives by filming harmless classroom pranks, and, hopefully, protecting their futures by not swallowing too many chia seeds or roasting themselves with heating pads. What does 2016 nostalgia mean? A few weeks ago, I posted about the online trend of millennial optimism which was focused on the years around 2010, but things have gone further: Young people are nostalgic specifically for 2016. This probably sounds bizarre to you. 2016 saw the deaths of Muhammad Ali, David Bowie, and Prince, and levels of political and social upheaval many of us had never experienced, leading…

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 ru…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. You've probably heard of the upstart tech brand Nothing, but if you haven't, here's a TLDR: The U.K.-based company aims to make products like cellphones and headphones that incorporate innovative features and designs, but come in at a lower price point than tech giants like Apple and Samsung. Last summer, the company released its newest smartwatch, the CMF Watch 3 Pro, which incorporates AI features powered by ChatGPT, and you can currently pick it up at a major discount. Originally $99, you can get the CMF Watch 3 Pro for $44.99 at Woot—a 65% disco…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. In late 2025, Amazon released the Amazon Echo Show 11, designed to replace the 3rd Generation Echo Show 10. The upgraded home hub/smart speaker features a larger, sharper display; a separate static screen, Alexa+ capabilities, and other updates, and right now, it's at its lowest price since launch. On Amazon (where else?) you can get the Amazon Echo Show 11 for $179.99, down $40 from the usual price, and its lowest price ever, according to price trackers. Amazon Echo Show 11 …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. There's nothing sweeter than listening to your favorite album or watching your favorite movie with pristine audio. And if you're a true audiophile, few brands approach the quality Sonos can offer. Right now, Sonos is offering major discounts in the lead-up to Amazon's Big Spring Sale, and the Sonos Beam G2 + Sub Mini combo in particular stands out; it's currently $749, a 25% drop from the $998 list price and the lowest price it yet reached, according to price tracking tools. …