Setting Up Your Home Office

Bank impersonation is a popular scam tactic, and one I've written about a lot. Fraudsters prey on people's fear, confusion, and desire to protect their money, which may lead targets to hand over login credentials, make irreversible wire transfers, or provide other sensitive information without stopping to question their actions. Android users in the U.S. will soon have extra protection against scams targeting their financial apps, preventing threat actors impersonating bank representatives from accessing data on their devices. Google's in-call scam protection is designed to prevent users from sharing their screens with threat actors and help them avoid revealing their ba…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Based on the (really rather excellent) comic book series from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, Prime Video's satirical superhero romp The Boys picks up the genre deconstructionist torch passed by Alan Moore's Watchmen. The tone is less philosophical but even more cynical, suggesting that power doesn't just corrupt—it makes people absolute dicks. It's set in a world where people with superpowers work for a powerful multinational corporation, with plenty of money and a powerful PR machine behind them to clean up their messes and excesses, and keep them in the public's good graces. When the girlfriend of Hughie Campbell (Ja…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. We’ve reached the end of television. Since the invention of the technology in the 1920s, TV screens have gradually grown larger, pictures clearer, and sets cheaper, until now: For all intents and purposes, we’re at the end of the road. This "nothing special" 65-inch Samsung unit, is, for most people, as good as a TV ever needs to be. It displays an image more highly detailed than most viewers can perceive from a couch-length viewing distance, its screen is as big as the average American living room can handle, and it costs less than $500. For 100 years, manufacturers and consumers have been chasing screen size and image cl…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Apple released the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro with the powerful M5 chip this October, and ever since then, it has been steadily dropping in price—right now, it's down to $1,349 (originally $1,599) for the base model. This new price is $50 cheaper than it was during Black Friday, when Lifehacker's Senior Tech Editor Jake Peterson called it "a ridiculously good value." At the time of this writing, Amazon is sold out of the base model, but it's still available at Best Buy. Apple 2025 MacBook Pro L…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The holidays are hectic enough without adding “deep clean floors” to your already packed to-do and errands list, which is why buying a robot mop and vacuum is more appealing than ever. Right now, the Roborock Q7 M5+ Robot Vacuum/Mop is $219.99 (originally $359.99) on Amazon—a 39% discount that marks its lowest price to date, according to price-tracking tools. roborock Q7 M5+ Robot Vacuum and Mop …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re in the market for a small TV that also doubles as a tablet and home hub, the Amazon Echo Show 21 is an all-in-one smart display with built-in Fire TV, tons of widgets, and other genuinely useful features. A step up in size from the Amazon Echo Show 15, the Amazon Echo Show 21 is rarely on sale, but right now, it’s $50 off on Amazon, dropping to its lowest price ever of $349.99 (originally $399.99), and is a great option for Alexa-powered households. Amazon Echo Show 21 …

Like everybody else, at the end of every December, I start thinking hard about what I want the next year to be like for me. You can chalk it up to all the Capricorn placements in my birth chart if you want (and I do!) or blame the cultural obsession with a "new year, new me" approach, but I take my New Year's resolutions seriously and generally try to come up with realistic, actionable plans to improve myself and my life. It's easy to identify the things I want to change and even easy to figure out how, exactly, I should do that, but that doesn't mean it's easy to stick to the new plan. Real life gets in the way no matter what year it is, but the degree to which it does t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. As we head into 2026, many people are setting fitness goals and signing up for gym memberships. But if you have the space at home, it’s a lot more convenient to get your cardio in with an at-home treadmill and skip the crowds. While this is by no means the most advanced model on the market, the NordicTrack T Series 5 treadmill is an entry-level smart treadmill for walkers and runners, offering reliable performance and a smaller-than-average footprint. Right now, it’s 20% off at $479 (originally $599). …

There's something deeply satisfying about tracking your running progress in a spreadsheet you built yourself. No algorithm showing off other people's workouts, no concerns about what happens to your data if the company pivots or shuts down. Just you, your numbers, and a system designed exactly the way you want it. And when I wrote about this earlier this year, I received some truly heartwarming messages from runners who'd been thinking the same thing. So many of us runners are tired of relying on apps, and we're instead drawn to a simple, customizable spreadsheet. Why build your own spreadsheet?Sure, there's no shortage of fitness tracking apps out there. Strava, Garmin C…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. 2025 was a great year for handheld gaming, with the Nintendo Switch finally getting a sequel and older handhelds like the Nintendo DS getting unofficial successors from companies like AYN and Ayaneo. Steam Deck fans did take a bit of a hit towards the end of the year, when Valve announced it was discontinuing the $400 Steam Deck LCD, but for gamers on the other side of the price spectrum, Lenovo just announced the most powerful SteamOS handheld yet. It's technically not a new device, but instead, a reissue of a handheld from last year. Called the Lenovo Legion Go 2, it packs up to an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, up to 32GB o…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Laptop screen extenders help add more display area without costing as much as two separate monitors. They’re also tidier, more integrated, and more portable, making them ideal for remote workers or students who want a mobile workstation with as much visual real estate as possible. The KYY 15.6-inch laptop screen extender, with its triple-screen setup (one on either side of your laptop's display), is a solid choice for anyone looking to give their laptop some extra elbow room—and right now, it’s 35% off, bringing its price down to $227.99 (originally…

Listen up, Ford drivers: You're getting a new AI assistant this year. During a decidedly low-key CES keynote, the company announced Ford AI Assistant, a new AI-powered bot coming to Ford customers in the early half of 2026. While the company has plans to integrate the assistant into Ford vehicles directly, that isn't how you'll first experience this new AI. Instead, Ford is rolling out Ford AI Assistant to an upgraded version of its Ford app first, and plans on shipping cars with the assistant built-in sometime in 2027. In effect, Ford has added a proprietary version of ChatGPT or Gemini to its app. How Ford AI Assistant worksFord's idea here is to offer users a smart as…

Gaming controllers are just one of those things that I love to collect, but living in a small New York apartment, eventually enough is enough. At CES this year, I saw three new controllers that are all trying to be the last ones I'll ever need to buy (for specific systems, at least). It seems like modularity is in, and all three of these devices want to meet all of your needs. However, they're not settled on what the best approach is. GameSir x Hyperkin X5 AlteronThe GameSir x Hyperkin X5 Alteron is probably the cutest controller on this list, especially if you grew up playing GameCube or Nintendo 64. Essentially, it's a telescopic mobile controller that stretches to fit …

Garmin displays a real-time stress level from 0 to 100. Oura calculates "daytime stress" and resilience metrics. For Whoop, it’s the stress monitor; for Fitbit, a "stress management score." However it’s branded, some version of a “stress score” has become ubiquitous across smartwatches and wearables. This number is marketed as a window into our internal emotional state, turned into quantified proof of how our day is really going. The only issue: these numbers aren’t all that accurate. What your "stress score" actually tells youThe scores lighting up our wrists aren't measuring what most of us think they're measuring. When you check your smartwatch and see that your stress…

This week, OpenAI announced its new ChatGPT Health feature, which will let users upload their medical records and ask health related questions. However, I certainly won't be making use of it, it might not be the best idea for you to do it either, for both reliability and privacy reasons. The new ChatGPT Health feature will be a sandboxed tab inside the app that is isolated from your conversation history in other conversations with the chatbot. This tab also allows users to connect a variety of health-tracking apps like Apple Health, MyFitnessPal, and Peloton, as well as uploading medical records directly. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The 65-inch Samsung QN90F Neo QLED TV is currently $1,199.99 on Woot in "factory-reconditioned" condition. That undercuts a new unit, which sits around $1,600 on Amazon, and even slips below what some retailers ask for “like-new” stock. This deal runs for seven days or until it sells out. Shipping is free for Prime members, while everyone else pays a flat $6 fee. One thing to note before checkout: This item doesn’t ship to Alaska, Hawaii, or PO boxes, and you’ll need to provide a valid phone number and physical shipping address. The QN90F isn’t a mi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Sony might be better known for its headphones, but it also makes decent speakers. Its latest flagship portable speaker is the ULT Field 5, which launched along with the ULT Field t and ULT Tower 9 last spring, all made to be portable and rugged. This speaker falls between the ULT Field 3 and the ULT Field 7, giving a good middle ground of portability and power. Right now, you can get the biggest one of the lineup for $219 (originally $329.99), the lowest price it has been, according to price-tracking tools. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. A comfortable, good-looking pair of headphones with bass-forward sound and deep Apple integration doesn’t usually dip below the $100 mark, but this one just did. The Beats Studio Pro headphones in factory-reconditioned condition are down to $94.99 on Woot. Beats Studio Pro headphones $94.99 at Woot …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Bridgerton, Shonda Rhimes' candy-colored, ultra-stylized period piece has been a legitimate sensation for Netflix, adapting the Julia Quinn novel series that itself owes plenty to Jane Austen (as does just about any Regency romance). With a large, rotating ensemble—led, perhaps, by Nicola Coughlan's Penelope Bridgerton, who is ably assisted by Adjoa Andoh, Jonathan Bailey, Ruth Gemmell, Polly Walker, and Julie Andrews (as the voice of the mysterious Lady Whistledown)—the show revels in the tropes of the literature of the era while turning up the dial on sex, scandal, and drama. With four seasons and a spin-off, Bridgerton …

I've been in a particularly "back everything up for the sake of it" mood lately, and the latest target of my fixation is messages. It's been several generations of Android flagships since I archived anything, though, so now I'm scrambling to back up everything from 2019 and beyond. Android was supposed to fix the way it backs up data and messages as far back as Android 8.0 Oreo in 2017. Google recently refined the mechanism when it switched to Google One, its all-in-one subscription and cloud data offering. While data backup has improved, it's also a veritable "black box." It's hard to verify what's been saved and even harder to view the data. I'm taking backups back into…

When OpenAI first announced GPT-5.2 last month, it quietly disclosed a new safety feature it called "age prediction." Considering ChatGPT proper isn't exactly an "all ages" kind of tool, it makes sense that users under the age of 18 should have protections in place to shield them from harmful content. The company says that users who indicate they're under 18 already receive an altered experience to "reduce exposure to sensitive or potentially harmful content," but if the user doesn't voluntarily share how old they are with OpenAI, how does the company enforce these protections? Here's where age prediction comes in. How age prediction for ChatGPT worksOn Tuesday, OpenAI of…

Verizon had a massive outage last week, leaving roughly two million customers unable to use their phones off of wifi or SOS mode for nearly a day. As an apology for the inconvenience, the company promised to refund those affected a meager $20 to their accounts—so naturally, scammers quickly got a phishing scheme up and running targeting people eligible for the credit. As reported by Android Authority, the Jones County Sheriff's Office in Georgia has issued an alert about fake Verizon "credit" messages floating around. Verizon credit phishing scamAccording to the sheriff's office, scammers may contact you via text or email—claiming to be from Verizon—with information about…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. It took me a while to get comfortable with wearing earbuds. I grew up in the era of headphones, and never quite liked the idea of sticking something into my ears on the regular. If that sounds like you, Sony's got your back. Its newest earbuds, the Linkbuds Clip, are clip-ons. Sony's not the first brand to take this idea to market—Anker's Soundcore brand has a number of more affordable options. But for premium clip-on earbuds, it's pretty much this, the slightly more expensive Bose, and the slightly sportier Shokz. Compared to that competition, Sony's new model is looking like a solid choice. These earbuds fit snugly aroun…

A week after OpenAI admitted it will soon start testing ads in ChatGPT, Google has promised that it's not planning to inject ads into Gemini anytime soon. The statement was given to journalist Alex Heath during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said the company doesn't have "any plans" for ads in Gemini. While the statement was fairly brief, it also jibes with a similar quote Hassabis gave to Axios, where he said he was "a little bit surprised" that OpenAI was already introducing ads to ChatGPT. That surprise is understandable, especially because OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in 2024 that he considered ads a "last resort for …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I’ve never managed to get on board with any hydration trackers. I’ll log the foods I eat, the exercise I do, but drinks just happen. Did I have one glass of water or two with lunch? Hell if I know. Not to mention that your hydration depends on all the H2O you take in, not just the glasses of plain water. You can hydrate with soup, with Diet Coke, or with slices of watermelon. Most hydration apps forget this, but even if they don’t, that just makes logging even more complicated. That’s why I was intrigued by the P Water app for iPhone and Apple Watch. It tracks exactly what you’d expect from the name. I’ve been using it for…