Home Office Setup & Equipment

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…

Selling a house is one of the largest transactions most of us will ever make. Considering how much you’ve invested in the place in terms of both money and sweat equity, it’s natural to want to get as much profit from the sale as possible. One strategy to maximize profits that most real estate professionals will recommend is staging: temporarily dressing, furnishing, and arranging the home to make it as appealing as possible. Staging works—it’s been shown to speed up the time to sale and to increase the sale price of a house. But it’s not magic—there’s a specific psychology to staging a house that you have to keep in mind, especially if you’re choosing to do it yourself in…

I’m sure you’ve seen the studies that come out from time to time showing that diet sodas are arguably kinda-sorta bad for you. (Their evidence is never very strong.) But did you see the new study that found diet soda was better than water for people with type 2 diabetes? Not only is it a real study, it was well-designed and we should be paying attention to it, according to an epidemiologist I talked to who was not involved in the study. That epidemiologist is Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz of the University of Wollongong, who wrote about it here. When I asked him if it was a good or a bad thing that this study had mostly escaped notice by news media, he said “this is far more ro…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. It's been nearly five years since Apple released the first—and only—AirTag, but that's not necessarily a surprise: These trackers aren't really the kind of product you expect to update every year or two. Unlike an iPhone, which gets new processors, cameras, and other hardware features every year, AirTags just ... track your stuff. The only thing that needs replacing annually are their batteries; otherwise, they do exactly what you expect them to. That said, Apple has made changes over the years. In response to initial criticism, the company made it much more difficult for someone to slip one of these AirTags in your bag o…

Walking is an easy way to get some exercise in your day, and it delivers mental health benefits as well. I’m one of the many people who added daily walks to my routine during the pandemic, and they improved my life so much I don’t intend to stop. But does walking do enough for your body that you can count it as cardio exercise? The answer is complicated. Walking counts as cardio in some respects: it can burn calories, it gets your heart rate up, and it counts toward the exercise we should all be getting every week. But on the other hand, it’s not going to increase your cardio fitness in the same way as a run or an intense aerobics class would. If you want to improve your…

To avoid a court proceeding, Google has agreed to a $135 million class-action settlement over its data collection practices with Android. News of the settlement was first reported by Reuters. Upon approval by a judge, the settlement could see Android users in the U.S. getting up to $100 each, provided they qualify. The settlement was filed in San Jose, California on Tuesday evening, and focused on claims that Google collected unnecessary cellular data from customers even when Google apps were closed, location-sharing was disabled, and screens were locked. The lawsuit alleges that Google collected the data with the intent of "conversion," a legal term that in this case wou…

Last November, Google announced that it had managed to make Apple's AirDrop compatible with Quick Share on its Pixel 10 phones, allowing them to easily share photos and files with iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The feature was intuitive, and to quote my colleague Jake Peterson, it's worked so seamlessly that it was almost like Quick Share and AirDrop "were built this way from the beginning." But for other Android users, it continued to be business as usual, leading to awkward texts and emails to share files across iOS and Android. Now, though, Google confirmed it's working to bring AirDrop to other Android phones, too, including phones it doesn't make. At an event attended by …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. LG has some of the best OLED TVs on the market, from entry-level models that suit a lower budget to ultra-premium, high-tech options. If you want OLED-quality performance from a reliable brand without breaking the bank, the LG B5 is an intuitive smart TV with the brand’s signature vivid color, contrast-rich visuals, and strong gaming features. Right now, this 77-inch LG B5 OLED TV is $1,500 off at Best Buy in a Presidents Day Deal, bringing its original $2,999.99 price tag down to $1,499.99. LG…

While Android has automated, built-in backups for plenty of data, including photos, apps, and settings, local files have been excluded. In order to ensure you don't lose PDFs, documents, and other files stored on your device, you have to manually upload or copy them to the cloud or another location. But that's changing, at least in part: the February Google Play Services update comes with a new feature that will copy and upload your Downloads folder to Google Drive. This is a meaningful update to Android's backup system, but it has some limitations. Here's what to know before enabling it. How Android will back up your files after the updateAs Android Authority describes…

While I generally consider Chrome to be a mature, feature complete browser, it's great to see that Google is still making meaningful additions to it. With its latest update, Google Chrome for desktop now has three new productivity features: Split View, PDF annotations, and the ability to save downloads directly to Google Drive. These features are targeted at both regular and enterprise users, the company says, so you don't need to worry about Workspace exclusivity. Let's take a look at each new feature and how you can best use it. Split View lets you boost your productivity …

Back in January, I wrote about Meta's plans to test subscription services for some of its platforms. The idea is to keep the current experience of each app the same (that is, free of charge), while adding new features users can access for a monthly fee. It's not a bad compromise—if you hate the idea of paying for Instagram or WhatsApp, you can keep using the apps as you always have. If you like the new features, you can pay for them. Heck, maybe Meta will make enough money from subscriptions to end its data collection business! (Hey, a guy can dream.) Now, it seems that Meta is moving forward with WhatsApp's premium subscription. According to WABetaInfo, the company is …

If you have an Asus router on your home network, it may have been targeted by a sophisticated form of malware capable of adding devices to a botnet and using them for criminal activity. Researchers at Lumen's Black Lotus Labs identified this threat—dubbed KadNap—in August 2025 and estimate that more than 14,000 devices have been infected. How KadNap compromises home networksAs Ars Technica reports, KadNap exploits unpatched vulnerabilities in connected devices, most of which are Asus routers. Infected devices are added to a proxy network that can hide malicious traffic. In this case, they are carrying traffic for service called Doppelganger, which allows users to browse …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are no longer the newest model in the company’s lineup, but they remain one of the easiest recommendations if you want strong noise canceling without paying flagship prices. Right now, a refurbished pair is $209.99 on Amazon, compared with $278 for a new set (and the $399.99 launch price in 2022). These are sold as Amazon Certified Refurbished units, meaning they’ve been tested and certified by the manufacturer to work like new. They also come with the original accessories and a 90-day limited hardware warranty. …

They say the best camera is the one you have with you. But if everyone has at least a pretty good camera in their phone, why would Gen Z (and really, everyone) be drawn to retro photography? Despite the downsides of bulky, standalone film cameras, the aesthetics and tangibility of old school photography still has a lot to offer. When we talk about “retro” photography, there’s a lot we could mean, but there’s a distinct revival trend around 80s- and 90s-style camera gear and aesthetics we want to focus on. Think Polaroid cameras and standalone point-and-shoots. And if you’re not already drawn in by the appeal of tangible photos and nostalgic vibes, allow me to make the cas…

OpenAI is trying its best to turn ChatGPT into an app platform, so you can access apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Canva, and Apple Music right inside the AI chatbot interface—and now Tubi has arrived as the first video streaming app to be available in ChatGPT. You can't load up actual movies and TV shows from the ChatGPT prompt box, but you can search for titles that you might enjoy, and see what's available in the Tubi library. The idea is that you're never stuck for what to watch next: Tell ChatGPT and Tubi what you're looking for, and you'll get personalized results back. As a keen watcher of films and shows, I was eager to put it to the test as soon as it became availab…

For the past several years, multiview has been one of YouTube TV's best features, especially for sports fans like myself. Multiview allows you to watch up to four livestreams at once and toggle between them (and their audio) when something exciting happens. At its initial launch for March Madness in 2023, multiview was restricted to certain preselected channel combinations, but YouTube confirmed in January of this year that a fully customizable multiview was on the way. It's now available to some subscribers—myself included. Trying out YouTube TV's multiview With customizable multiview, you can select up to four channels across content categories, so you're not limited t…

DuckDuckGo has been my default search engine for years. Its big selling point is that it doesn't track you nearly as much as Google does, but there's more to DuckDuckGo than that privacy claim. You can use DuckDuckGo to anonymously try AI chatbots (including ChatGPT and Claude), filter out AI-generated images from results, and shorten URLs without leaving the site. If you're using DuckDuckGo, try these 10 hacks to make the most of the search engine. Turn off AI features to simplify your search experienceDuckDuckGo recently added a bunch of AI features, but, luckily, you can turn off most. To disable AI-related features in DuckDuckGo, go to the search engine's settings pag…

We’re living through a full-fledged skinny epidemic. Even if seeing celebrities get thinner and thinner doesn’t mean anything to you, notice how marketing for various weight loss products is getting increasingly ubiquitous. When I look around, the onslaught doesn’t stop with all the ads for GLP-1s. What has really caught my eye recently is how I—a fitness writer who happens to be pretty thin—keep receiving targeted ads for different types of “AI body scans.” These services take a few different forms (which I dive into below), but what they all try to sell is the same idea: Apparently, I don’t know enough about my body. It turns out I need to know my body fat percentage, m…

In a post on Instagram, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the dates of the next Meta Connect event: September 23 and 24 at the company's Menlo Park campus. It will, of course, be streamed online as well. Zuckerberg also shared a (likely clue-filled) playlist labeled "Connect 2026," a list of what to expect, and a photo that seems to tease smart glasses that will be revealed at the event: Credit: Mark Zuckerberg/Instagram The note Zuck shared promises "demos, special guests, AI updates and better wifi," along with a fifth item…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Asus ROG Strix XG34WCDG packs a 34-inch QD-OLED panel with a 3440x1440 resolution, 175Hz refresh rate, and a near-instant 0.03ms response time into a monitor that can comfortably handle both high-end gaming and creative workloads. It also comes factory-calibrated, so color accuracy is already dialed in out of the box instead of requiring extra tweaking. Normally priced at $999, it’s currently down to $699—the lowest price it’s ever hit, according to price-tracking tools. ASUS ROG Strix 34” Ultrawide Gaming Monitor (XG34WCDG) …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Here we go again. After hiking the price of Xbox consoles earlier this year, Microsoft just announced it is already raising prices again—the second price hike in four months. Now, even Microsoft's cheapest console, the Xbox Series S, will cost at least $400. As someone who got an Xbox Series S for $150 a few years back, that stings. (Granted, I got a really good deal. Still.) Microsoft is blaming "changes in the macroeconomic environment" for the new prices, so read into that what you will. How much more expensive will the Xbox be?Here is what Microsoft's consoles will cost after the new pricing takes effect: Xbox Series …

If you're out of cell service in an emergency, the ability to contact 911 can be lifesaving. Now many users with older phones are getting access to emergency texting to 911 via T-Mobile's Starlink-powered T-Satellite network for free. On Wednesday, T-Mobile announced that it would open up its Text to 911 feature—which allows users to text emergency services through their phone's native messaging app when outside of coverage areas—to everyone, including AT&T and Verizon customers, at no cost. It's worth noting that many iPhone and Pixel users already have access to emergency SOS via satellite regardless of carrier, as these features are built into newer devices. Appl…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ in Platinum Silver is currently priced at $749.99, down from its regular $999.99, and price trackers confirm this is the tablet’s lowest price to date. That discount alone makes a premium device more approachable, especially one that PCMag didn’t hesitate to call “excellent” in their review. They also named it their Editor’s Choice and their pick for the best Android tablet of 2024, which sets a certain expectation. The S10+ meets most of it. Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ …

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. It's Cyber Monday, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before the sales are 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…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. It's begin to feel like successful streaming shows are increasingly the exception, rather than the rule, and Slow Horses is something else again: a successful show with a more-than-consistent schedule. With five seasons since 2022, rather than the increasingly common "every few years or when we get to it" scheduling of other streaming shows, it's rather lovely to actually be able to remember the events of the previous series when the new one starts. If this all sounds like damning with faint praise, it's also a smart, brilliantly entertaining show, with Gary Oldman as the slovenly, flatulent, once-brilliant spy Jackson Lam…