Home Office Setup & Equipment

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…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Smart lights were there at the beginning of the smart home tech revolution, and over the years, these clever bulbs and LED strips have gradually evolved to offer more by way of both features and form factors—so much so that you might not be aware of everything you can do with smart lights, even if you've been using them for years. If your own smart light setup is mostly limited to switching your bedside lamp off with a voice command, controlling them remotely from your phone, or perhaps changing up the colors or adding an automation or two, then you're not taking advantage of everything these lights can do for you. These a…

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+ is now $834.19 (down from $1,119.99—its lowest price ever, according to price trackers like Keepa. SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab S10+ $834.19 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $1,119.99 Save $285.80 …

Most of my adolescent free time was spent in the kitchen making Thai food with my mom. She was firm in the practice of using up every last bit of an ingredient. If there was any leftover coconut milk, it went in the fridge and we used it for random stuff (coffee, cereal, rice) until it was done within a day or two. It never went in the freezer because it would become a disgusting, curdled mess upon defrosting. I’ve previously addressed what a person should do with a leftover half-can of coconut milk before it spoils, but it turns out I’ve been thinking about the conundrum all wrong. My entire life, I believed freezing it was not an option. But it is. Yes, you can (and yo…

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. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Sonos brand is well known in the smart speaker and surround sound 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. But 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. …

Bluesky is very hot right now—just ask Mark Zuckerberg. Even though Bluesky has a fraction of the total Threads user count (30 million vs Threads's 320 million), Adam Mosseri, Head of Threads, is working hard at making Threads more like Bluesky. Bluesky's unique features include a non-algorithmic timeline and more sophisticated moderation tools, but one of the features that Bluesky users really like, and the one that Threads is adopting first, is the shareable custom feeds. Threads, too, has an option to create custom feeds. And now, you can share them with either a link or DM, or even by advertising them on your profile page. Creating a custom feed means freedom from Thr…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Bose is a recognized name in audio tech and has been making capable active noise-canceling (ANC) headphones since 2016, when the company launched the QuietComfort line of devices. Right now, you can pick up the Bose's QuietComfort headphones for $179, $170 off the original price of $349. This is the lowest price they've reached, according to price-tracking tools, making them a good bet if you're looking to get a high-performance pair of ANC headphones without spending a fortune. You can get them "unopened" (which is exactly what it sounds like) from…

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 …

Lately, I’ve noticed my grocery money isn’t going quite so far, especially with meat. I’ve needed to change things up a bit. Specifically, the chicken that I usually toss into my salads, pasta dishes, and soups, well, I’m swapping it out for slabs of fried cheese. Is it weird? Maybe. But I love an excuse to eat cheese, and it’s really working for my wallet. Let me start by saying that my household consumes a great deal of chicken. What can I say: It’s a wonderful bird. And when you’re buying multiple pounds of it, and if it’s the bougie air-chilled chicken that I like, you can see how this quickly ends up being unaffordable. While my problem may be the price of chicken,…

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 c…

There comes a point every winter when you have to rally together your arsenal of hot liquid meals. If you have enough recipes—all your hot soups, stews, stoups, and chunky sauces—they can get you through to spring. Much to the chagrin of my friends, I call this Hot Bean Season. One of my favorite meals that fits this category is my Dutch oven beans and sausage. It’s utterly simple, completely satisfying, and you need absolutely no fancy cooking skills to make it. The reason I come back to this meal again and again is because it uses the Screw It method of cooking—just dump everything in the pot. Well, the initial sausage searing is a must for flavor, but I consider that s…

YouTube's Android app is cluttered, slow, and full of ads. Even worse: It tracks every video you watch. NewPipe is a free and open source Android alternative interface for YouTube that's fully private and doesn't show ads. We've talked about ways to watch ad-free YouTube videos, and NewPipe is arguably the best one for Android users. Even better: NewPipe plays the audio from videos in the background, making it perfect for multitasking. You can listen to music, podcasts, or video essays on YouTube while doing chores, all without the need to keep the screen on. It also offers picture-in-picture mode, so you can watch videos while using another app, and downloads videos so y…

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…

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…

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'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 o…

Every part of life has its lingo, and the gym is no exception. We’ve collected a list of the lifting-related words that most often confuse beginners, so read on to learn what you might be missing. Equipment Barbells A barbell is the bar that you load the plates on, either empty (the “empty bar”) or loaded (for example, “a 225 pound barbell”). A standard Olympic-sized barbell is 20 kilograms, or in many American gyms, 45 pounds. (20 kilos is 44 pounds, so it doesn’t really matter which is which.) There are a variety of other barbells that exist, including Olympic women’s bars that weigh 15 kilos, EZ-curl bars with an ergonomic curve to them, and more. We have a guide t…

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 Oura's smart rings before, one of the best sleep and recovery trackers, but a new player entered the ring last summer: Samsung. It's the first time a big tech company has produced a smart ring, the Samsung Galaxy Ring. As the name implies, it's mostly geared to Samsung users, although any Android user can use it with some limitations. Right now, most sizes and colors of the Samsung Galaxy Ring are $279.99 (originally $399.99) after a $120 discount at checkout (some have the green checkmark under the listing price and other…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I am always down to try a new social app (a face I have made so, so clear), especially when it involves sharing photos. And the trendy photo-sharing app of the the moment is Yope (available on iOS and Android). Launched in September 2024, it currently has 2.2 million monthly active users and 800,000 daily active users, many of whom are in the investor-coveted Gen Z demographic. I am not a part of Gen Z, but as of today, I am one of the millions of people who used the app this month. It's fun and all, but I'm not sure I'll make it into that 800,000+ cohort of daily users. Here's why, and what you need to know about Yope.…

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 …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Before this review, I had never heard of Brane, but now, it's all I want to hear when I play my music. The Brane X is many things, but cheap isn't one of them. But for $499, you get a multi-use premium speaker that can handle itself underwater, has Alexa voice assistant, connects through wifi for better audio, has the best bass of any wifi speaker, and can be used as a soundbar and subwoofer combo. The Brane X is a great wifi speaker for someone who values bass, would like to take their speaker outdoors, and needs a soundbar and subwoofer combo for their home theater. However, it isn't perfect and at its price, it compet…

Google has been taking its crusade against adblockers to a whole new level lately, and users are speculating that unskippable multi-hour ads are its latest weapon. Over the past week, Redditors have been sharing screenshots showing that they’ve been served ads with runtimes as long as three hours, with no skip button in sight—and that's to watch videos that are much shorter than the ads themselves. Android Authority was the first to report on the phenomenon, linking to threads from users Lin1ex and Standard-Slip6572, who complained about the feature-length interruptions, complete with images of their screens with the ads in full view. The publication also pointed to comme…

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 acc…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’ve been holding off on a video doorbell because it usually costs too much, now’s a good time to reconsider. The Ring Battery Doorbell, in satin nickel or Venetian bronze, is currently $59.99 (down from $99.99)—the lowest it’s ever been, according to price trackers. Ring Battery Doorbell $59.99 at Amazon …