Home Office Setup & Equipment

We're in the final days of Microsoft's free software updates for Windows 10, and a lot of people with perfectly good computers still cannot upgrade to Windows 11. When Microsoft released the latest version of Windows, it put some stringent minimum system requirements in place, the toughest of which was TPM 2.0. This small "Trusted Platform Module" chip (whether virtual or physical) aids with encryption and other security related tasks, but plenty of people have PCs with older TPMs or good gaming machines that lack TPM entirely. Officially, Windows 11 is out of their reach. However, if that sounds like you, there's an easy way to bypass TPM checks and install Windows 11 on…

This week, there has been a lot of chatter in the weirder parts of the online world about the supposed discovery of a hidden complex of underground chambers beneath the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. It seems a team of researchers announced they'd used SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) to reveal a number of underground buildings beneath the Khafre Pyramid. This discovery could offer proof the ancient Egyptian civilization was far more advanced than is generally believed, and possessed technology that rivals our own. It could change everything we think we know about humanity itself! In other words, big if true. Spoiler: It's not true though. All signs point to the “discov…

This post is part of our Home Remedy Handbook, a tour of the landscape of home remedies from the iffy to the doctor-approved. Read more here. Thanks to a loophole in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, some of the “drugs” you can buy at pharmacies are actually nothing but magic water. I am, I promise, not exaggerating. I don’t mean supplements, which are legal because they are considered to be not drugs. And I don’t mean foods that make iffy or overblown health claims (nothing as boring as that). I mean that you can walk into a pharmacy and pay seven dollars of legal tender for a “natural” kids cold & cough remedy and walk away with a bottle of mostly wa…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Sonos brand is well known in the smart speaker and surround sound system space. And very much like Apple, people will pay a premium price for their minimalistic, premium quality, and discounts are often hard to come by. Of course, it's always better to get a deal, and that's exactly what you can do today: The Sonos Arc, which was Sono's flagship soundbar prior to the launch of the Sonos Arc Ultra, is $649, $250 off its usual $899 price. It's also a new low price for this model, according to price tracking tools. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you're looking for a new show to watch this week, I got your back. I've scoured the schedules of Netflix, Prime, Max, Hulu, and other streaming platforms to bring you the best and most notable shows streaming this week. The Traitors, season 3 From its top notch host Allan Cummings to its cast of hardcore reality show veterans, to its classy Scottish castle setting and stylish presentation, reality TV rarely rises to the heights of The Traitors. If you like conniving on a grand scale, and you didn't come here to make friends, check out The Traitors. Where to stream: Peacock SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night …

Anyone on the hunt for a new home knows how quick the turnaround can be on a listing. I’m currently looking to rent an apartment in New York City, and know well the pain of seeing a dream listing get posted in the morning and snagged by someone (presumably wealthier and faster than I) within a few hours. You might not be able to control the time of year you need to move, but you can control how you time your search for specific listings. If you want to optimize your house or apartment hunt, you need to know the best times to look for new listings. When to search new house and apartment listingsLet's do a little reverse-engineering here. In order to figure out the best t…

Thanks to some smart (and aggressive) marketing, Duolingo has cemented itself as one of the most popular language learning apps in the world. That said, it isn't without competition: There are plenty of alternatives to consider, and if you're peeved about Duolingo's plans to phase out its contract workers in favor of using AI, you might be looking into them. There's now a new competitor for Duo's crown, but it certainly isn't a replacement for the AI-averse. It's also far from an underdog, considering the service comes from none other than Google. Yesterday, the company announced a new AI-powered language learning experience it calls Little Language Lessons. It isn't an …

If you’ve tried to buy or sell a house, you probably worked with a licensed real estate professional—there are more than 3 million of them in the U.S., and their advice and assistance are often invaluable. Real estate agents know the properties in their area and can help you locate them (and weed out deceptive listings) and guide you through every step of the process. A good real estate agent who has your best interests at heart is worth their commission and then some. But not everyone who has a real estate license is a good agent—or an ethical one. Sometimes the red flags around an agent are big and obvious, but sometimes real estate pros engage in subtle little scams th…

Spotting one or two of the planets in our solar system is well worth a good skywatch, but seeing (almost) all of them in a line at once is a highlight for celestial observers this month. Here's how to view February's planet parade. What is a "planet parade?""Planet parade" isn't a technical astronomy term, but it is used to describe a phenomenon visible from Earth in which several planets—thanks to their position in orbit around the sun—appear to line up with each other. Colloquially, it is sometimes used interchangeably with "planetary alignment," though that phrase can have several meanings. While two or three planets aligning is fairly common, parades of four or five…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The first time I put on real lifting shoes, it was a revelation. My feet were so stable during squats, it was like they were glued to the ground. They were so comfortable I forgot to take them off for deadlifts, however—a rookie mistake, as the heels put you at a disadvantage for that lift. Here’s what you should know about the shoes you wear when you lift heavy. Why your shoes matterWhen you first head into the gym, you’ll wear whatever shoes you’ve got. If that means a pair of running shoes, it’s not the end of the world. But as soon as you can, you should upgrade. Running shoes, and other comfortable sneaker-like footw…

If there words or phrases you want to remove from you vocabulary, but can't seem to shake, there's a helpful trick I have learned over the years: Set up your computer and phone to automatically replace the word when you type it. I've written about Mac computers for a long time, which among other things means I mention the menu bar—that strip at the top of the screen with text menus and icons—multiple times a week while writing. For a long time, I combined those two words, writing "menubar," even though that is technically incorrect. A former editor of mine hated that I did this. Like, really hated it. He got so sick of it that he told me to go into my Mac's settings and s…

Studies have shown that napping improves both cognitive performance and physical brain health, so it’s no surprise that it also means a brief nap translates to a boost in productivity on the job. That explains why nearly half of workers in the U.S. sleep during work hours—and a third admit to literally sleeping on the job. Our employers, however, haven’t gotten the memo, and being caught sleeping on the job can put you in a tricky situation. If you’re stuck between nodding off in meetings or being fired when you’re discovered sprawled under your desk, you need a napping strategy at work. Here’s your guide to sawing some logs on the clock (without getting caught). Before w…

OpenAI is trying really hard to make ChatGPT Search into a viable product. It's available for free, to all users, without limits. And now, just like with Google Search, it can be used without logging into an account. But even with all it AI features, Google Search still focuses on giving you links to pages directly, while ChatGPT Search instead uses online sources to give you an answer, backed up by links. You can click the links in your answer's sources to open a website (and you really should check ChatGPT's homework, as it tends to hallucinate quite a bit), but the question remains: is ChatGPT Search worth making your default search engine, and is that even possible? …

Looking for a fast-moving car chase? Aerial acrobatics? How about a bit of fisticuffs, or a tiger straight up eating a dude? Look no further: Netflix has what you need. You can catch a high-minded thriller that uses action to underline plot, character, and message; or a hyper-stylish beat-em-up with cinematography and choreography that make art of violence; or you can just watch a lot of stuff blow up real good. No judgments! The only criteria is that the movie provides a fair share of fast-paced action thrills. Here are your best action options on Netflix right now. Carry-On (2024) Action thriller Carry-On starts off at the airport (naturally) and on Christmas …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Every person's definition of funny is a little different, which is why it’s cool that Netflix has an impressive variety of movies representing a broad genre. If you’re looking for something to make you laugh, you can choose a smart, critically-acclaimed classic or a brainless comedy that critics hated. High-minded satire or expertly timed farts: Many of the best comedies blend highbrow and lowbrow, but, at the end of the day, the best comedy is the one that makes you laugh the most. Barbie (2023) The movie that absolutely slayed the zeitgeist in 2023 is also, perhaps surprisingly, a ton of fun. Greta Gerwig's Matt…

There's something special about two people listening to the same music over earphones. It can be a movie, or a TV show, it doesn't matter. That scene in Begin Again, where Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley trade playlists with an old school headphone splitter, is etched into my memory. But the days of headphone jacks and audio splitters are behind us. Though not as romantic as tethering two people with a two-meter headphone cord, you can achieve the same results using AirPods, too, all without needing a specialized app. You can share music, movies, or anything you like to your friend or partner's AirPods, without fully pairing them to your iPhone. Share Audio using Control…

I happened to catch some of the Grammy Awards last night, and while pop, rap, and country definitely took center stage, it was the Best Rock Performance category that most caught my attention. The award went to The Beatles for their song "Now and Then," which is a confusing sentence in 2025. You might be aware The Beatles operated largely in the 1960s, not the 2020s, and seeing as only half the group is still alive, winning a Grammy for a new song might sound a bit strange. Nevertheless, the song is new—at least, as new as a Beatles song can be. The track dropped towards the end of 2023, and is built from a demo John Lennon recorded shortly before his death. In the '90s,…

Paint is the cheapest, easiest renovation you can do: it makes everything fresh and new, it covers defects, and it’s something almost anyone can do to a reasonable level of quality. If you just read that last part and started shaking your head because your paint projects always turn out terribly—patchy, or with visible sheen or brush strokes, or a final color that doesn’t seem to match what you chose in the store at all—the cause probably isn’t your work ethic, or an evil spirit inhabiting your house. The problem probably lies in your prep work. If all you’re doing before you start slapping paint on the walls is applying some painter’s tape and covering the furniture, the…

Duolingo is now phasing out contract workers as it switches to using artificial intelligence for some tasks, a move that's part of the company going "AI-first". "AI isn't just a productivity boost," said Duolingo co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn in a press release. "It helps us get closer to our mission." From what von Ahn says, it sounds as though AI will be used to scale up content, build out the Duolingo codebase, and power features such as video calls with AI avatars. If that reliance on AI leaves you a little cold—perhaps over concerns around ethics, energy use, copyright infringement, or accuracy—then one of the alternatives worth checking out is Mango Languages. You…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Two years ago, I discovered that clean smarties around the Internet were using their handheld steamers to clean their homes and I thought that was brilliant, so I started doing it right away, too. Professional steam cleaners are awesome because they heat up so much that they can even disinfect surfaces—and while I've never been totally convinced my little garment steamer from Amazon is quite as powerful as all that, I've still found a lot of ways to use it around the house. Here is the steamer I have, which retails for about $26 and comes with a brush you can stick on the front. I try to avoid using the brush when I'm cle…

In this week's trip into the cultural zeitgeist of people too young to rent cars, I explain why everyone is arguing over robot abuse, take a look at a niche TikTok subculture dedicated to sticks, and explain why you should never say "sigh name cuff" on video. All that, plus warnings of dangerous TikTok trends and a look at gleeking. Viral video of the week: Kai Cenat buys a $70,000 robot Massively popular YouTube and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat may have doomed humanity in this week's viral video. On a recent live stream, Cenat and his pals unbox and assemble a human-like robot that set Cenat back $70,000. The video begins as a hilarious demonstration of impressive …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Making homemade bread and pizza can be greatly improved with the use of a pizza stone. I’ve used one for years, and it’s the best way to get a well-browned bottom crust. I thought I had it all figured out, until the pizza steel arrived. If you’re getting serious about cooking (and reheating) pizza at home, one of these tools should be in your oven. What’s a baking (or pizza) stone?A pizza stone is a plank or circle of ceramic or cordierite (a type of thermal shock-resistant ceramic). They’re typically between a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch thick and can range in size from nine to 20 inches across. Compared to a…

Valve's Steam Deck has quickly become my go-to gaming handheld. I've clocked—oh god—500 hours just in Hades II on the Steam Deck. Yet I spent full weeks of my life using this device without diving into its most powerful feature: its customizable controls. Here's why you should be using them, even if you think you don't need to. At first, I avoided customizing my controls because I usually like to play the way the developer intended. That ended when I sprained my left wrist while in the middle of replaying Chrono Trigger. I wanted to keep playing, but I needed to rest my wrist. What could I do? That's correct: Obviously, I should remap the in-game controls so I could acces…

With Tax Day 2025 finally here, many of us are pressed for time to file our returns. You might be wondering, "Hey, what if I just... don't pay my taxes at all?" And you're not alone in this line of thinking. But even if you can't pay right now, you absolutely want to file before the deadline. Fortunately, the IRS offers taxpayers an easy way to get more time: by filing for an extension. Let's take a look at how to properly request an extension, what it means for your tax obligations, and important considerations to avoid penalties. What a tax extension actually gives youLet's start with a critical point: A tax extension grants you additional time to file your tax return,…

My Boox Palma is one of the most easily lovable pieces of tech I've ever used—an e-ink reader with a phone-like form factor that isn't locked down to one specific retailer's ecosystem. It has helped me read more and waste time on social media less, but as much as I appreciate it, it can also be weird and finicky. For example, why is it so tricky to use it to listen to audiobooks? Like most people, before I got the Palma, my phone was my main driver for audiobooks, music, and podcasts—it was always with me and the apps made it super convenient. But I'd find myself pausing my book every time a notification pinged in my headphones, so I decided to shift that "content" over …