Setting Up Your Home Office

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. When picking out a home security system, outdoor lighting is an often overlooked aspect that’s more important than you’d think. Floodlight cameras provide added peace of mind after dark by combining bright LED lighting with HD video surveillance, giving homeowners and renters better nighttime visibility and motion-activated recording—plus the lighting serves as an effective deterrent against intruders. The Blink Wired Floodlight Camera is one of the most popular no-frills options in this category, and it’s currently 55% off, bringing its price down …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Soundcore Boom 2 is down to $89.98 on Amazon, a solid drop from its usual $139.99 and, according to price trackers, the lowest it has been so far. It has an IPX7 rating and can float, so it is fine around pools or at the beach without needing constant attention. If it falls into the water, it will come back up on its own—your music will cut out while it is submerged, since Bluetooth cannot transmit through water—but in most situations, the bigger advantage is that the speaker itself survives without any issues. …

Earlier this month, 404 Media broke a fascinating, complex, and concerning story: The FBI had successfully retrieved incoming Signal messages from a defendant's iPhone, despite the fact that those messages were set to self-destruct within the famously secure chat app. Though it's easy to assume Signal would be to blame, it turns out the fault was with iOS—and Apple may have just fixed the problem. To recap: 404 Media spoke to someone who attended the trial in question, where the court learned that all iPhone notifications are stored in a database on the device. So even though the Signal messages were deleted, their notification data remained in this database, from where t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Bear is a phenomenon not only because exploring what goes on in the kitchen is fascinating, but because it's also one of the best shows on TV when it comes to portraying family drama, generational trauma, and the intense pressure of being the best at something. Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) is a tortured artist who might be one of the top chefs in the world, but his self-doubt is the engine that keeps the show racing along into uncertainty. Add in the precision and pressure of a high-end restaurant and brigade-style kitchen, and you have the perfect recipe for drama and humor. Plus, the opportunity to watch mouth…

iPhones and Macs work together seamlessly in all kinds of ways, whether you want to control your Apple phone from your Mac or use it as a webcam. Apple calls this suite of features Continuity, and it extends to iPads and Apple Watches too—so if you stay inside the Apple ecosystem you're guaranteed to get devices that play nicely together. Features like those offered by Apple Continuity aren't quite as easy for Google, Samsung, and Microsoft to implement, but everyone who isn't Apple is busy trying to improve the cross-device experience. Pixels and Chromebooks now offer several useful integrations, as do Samsung Galaxy phones and Galaxy Book laptops. Those Samsung features…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. There’s nothing quite like a reliable pair of over-ear noise-canceling headphones to block out distractions, but with options ranging from budget buys to $500+ premium models, finding the right pair can feel like a challenge. The Sony WH-CH720N, an entry-level over-ear option, hit the sweet spot, offering comfort, long-lasting battery life, and good automatic noise canceling (ANC)—and right now, they’re nearly half off. You can pick them up for $92.95 (down from $179.99) from Amazon. Sony WH-CH…

Windows users contend with a lot of updates. There's a new update every month on the stable channel, and every week on the Windows Insider channel. But not all updates are created equal. Some are mission-critical, with important security patches you won't want to miss. On the other hand, some can create issues themselves, introducing bugs or new features you don't want. Until now, there wasn't much you could do when an update showed up. You could try to delay, but you'd be forced to install it a week later, sometimes in the middle of important work. With the latest Insider update, however, Microsoft is trying to fix that. Now, the company is testing a roundabout way to de…

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The following content is brought to you by Lifehacker partners. If you buy a product featured here, we may earn an affiliate commission or other compensation. View the full article

Apple AirPods have always supported Bluetooth, so you can pair them with any phone, tablet, or computer you like—whether or not it's made by Apple—for basic audio listening. Until now, though, getting the full set of features on these earbuds, including head gestures and all the rest, required using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. That's now changed with the arrival of LibrePods, an app that actually launched a couple of years ago but that's now available on the Google Play Store. Previously, to get LibrePods to work, you had to jailbreak your Android device and sideload it. That's no longer necessary—you can just install it like any regular Android app. According to developer K…

This week, the gaming community was abuzz with frustration, anger, and confusion over a supposed change in Sony's digital game policy. Reportedly, Sony was rolling out a new system, where digital games would need to connect to the internet once every 30 days in order to function as expected. When some players dug through a digital game's information page, they indeed found a timer, in the form of a "remaining time" deadline, stating how much time they had left before needing to connect to the internet again. If the player missed the deadline, they might lose access to the game, until they connect their PlayStation to the internet again. This is a pretty serious policy sh…

Amazon Prime Day 2026 is sure to be the biggest online sale of the year, and it's coming a bit sooner than you may have expected. In a press release yesterday, quickly issued after the sale's timeframe was revealed in Amazon's own first-quarter earnings statement, the company confirmed this year's event will be held in June. This is the first time Amazon has moved its biggest sale of the year earlier since the height of the pandemic in 2021. Amazon doesn't usually announce its sales months beforehand, typically waiting until at most a month out to give shoppers a heads-up on when a shopping event will take place. But after this early news drop, it's likely the other major…

Earlier this month, Nikkei Asia reported that the ongoing memory crisis was not slowing down anytime soon. RAM supply is currently in extreme demand, as AI companies are scooping up the hardware to power their ever-growing data centers. Unfortunately, there are only so many memory manufacturers in the world, and only so many resources available to actually manufacture those chips. There are really only three key players—SK Hynix, Micron Technology, and Samsung—and while all are ramping up production as much as possible, it doesn't appear to be enough to meet demands for the immediate future. Samsung can't meet memory demand this yearNow, Samsung is officially confirming a…

If you're in the Google ecosystem or use Google Workspace at work, Google Chat is a popular choice for messaging and collaboration. The app replaced Hangouts in Gmail (RIP), originally launching for business before rolling out to everyone. Regardless of the context for using Google Chat, there are a handful of hacks to maximize its features. Add Chat to Gmail to keep everything in one tabIf you already have too many tabs open—and one of them is Gmail—you don't actually need another one for Google Chat. Instead, you can add Chat to your Gmail taskbar and toggle between your inbox and chat interface in the same tab (as long as they are under the same Google Account). Hit t…

Claude has always been focused on text and code, but a few days ago, it rolled out image-generation capabilities—ways to get graphics, mock-ups, slideshows and other similar materials created by AI. The suite of tools is called Claude Design. Then ChatGPT, already much more invested in AI image generation, rolled out a substantial update called Images 2.0. Promises were made of a "step change" in accuracy, consistency, and instruction following. So what can you now do with these AI tools that you couldn't before? And how do the capabilities compare? Claude Design is focused on business and enterpriseClaude Design is available for Claude subscribers, and is intended, in t…

The Reminders app on the iPhone is perhaps one of the most underrated apps that Apple makes. On the surface, it's a simple to-do list app: You can use Siri to add reminders, get notifications, and check them off. But hiding under the surface is a complex program, with features that help you get things done with the right context and at the right time. You can organize your list as a Kanban board, set blaring alarms for important reminders, manage tasks from the Calendar app, and generate your own smart lists. Here are 10 ways to make the most of your Reminders app: Use "When Messaging" to get a reminder when texting a specific contact …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. At $109.99, the Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) are selling at a clear discount from their usual $159.97 price at retailers like Best Buy. Shipping is free with Prime, while non-members pay an extra $6, and the deal is set to end in three days or when stock runs out. These are not Apple’s top-tier earbuds, but they cover the basics most people expect, especially if you already use an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Google Pixel Watch 4 has only been out a short time, and it’s already seeing a notable price drop—the 45mm LTE version in matte black is currently down to $389.99 (originally $499.99), the lowest the watch has dropped so far, while the smaller 41mm LTE model is also $389.99, down from its usual $449.99. In other words, you’re getting the larger 45mm version for the price of the 41mm. Google Pixel Watch 4 45mm, LTE, matte black …

When you post something on the internet, you cede a measure of control to anyone who might happen upon it. Photos, videos, text, audio recordings: all of this content can be downloaded or screenshot, and repurposed in whatever way another user wishes. That's the risk of posting online. The thing is, you might not assume the platform you're posting to would go out of its way to help other users repurpose your content—but that's exactly what TikTok is currently doing with its new AI "remixes" feature. What are TikTok's AI "remixes?"AI remixes are meant to be a kind of meme-creation tool. According to CNET, remixes allow TikTok users to create a custom image generated from…

I can't stand when a subscription tells me its "monthly" price, when, in actuality, the plan charges me annually. Sure, when you divide the yearly cost by 12, the price looks better, but if I'm paying all at once for the year, then it's really not that amount per month. It's all a way to get more customers in the digital door, and I'm sure it works—even if I'm not happy about it. Apple's new plan improves annual subscriptions While this pricing isn't going anywhere anytime soon, there is a positive change on the way—for most of the world, anyway. As highlighted by MacRumors, Apple is giving developers a new type of subscription plan to market to their users. In addition …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Apple TV's sci-fi series For All Mankind starts with a tantalizing alt-history premise: What if Soviet space pioneer Sergei Korolev hadn’t died prematurely in 1966, but instead helped bring his country’s space program into full bloom, extending the space race indefinitely? If America and the world had been forced to continue the space program, our past (and present) would look quite different—at least according to this show, which jumps across decades to imagine how that might have unfolded in an alternate past. (By the current fifth season, set in alt-2012, some humans are living off-planet in a Martian habitat.) For All…

Since the release of the original Avatar in 2009, James Cameron’s epic interstellar franchise has taken over popular culture with the brute force of an RDA battalion invading a distant moon. It has grown from a single movie into an omni-franchise—a $10 billion entertainment ecosphere that includes three feature films, two AAA video games, seven primary comic book series, a Disney theme park, and even a Cirque du Soleil show. Given the movies’ collective nine-hour runtime and a 150-year internal timeline, keeping track of the lore of Pandora can be a lot; Cameron’s world-building is famously obsessive, involving everything from a fully functional alien language to scientif…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Not everyone is looking for a five-star TV experience. Sometimes, a decent TV at the right price is good enough. That's exactly what the Hisense QLED E6QF Fire TV can offer, and right now, the 50-inch class is just $236.97 (originally $379.99), dropping to the lowest price it has ever been, according to price-tracking tools. Other bigger sizes are also discounted, including the 55-inch, which is $299.99 (originally $429.99). This is one of the best deals for budget TVs right now. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re looking for a gaming laptop with solid 3D performance, the 2025 Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI Gaming Laptop is one of your top options. Gamers love it because it combines high-end performance with an ultra-fast display refresh rate, and right now, the price isn't bad either: This Windows laptop is 25% off on Amazon, bringing it down to $1,639.99 (originally $2,199.99). 2025 Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI Gaming Laptop …

Despite many intermittent attempts throughout the years to learn another language, I currently speak only English. I understand some words and phrases in Spanish and Portuguese, but I can't have a conversation in either, and I'd like to change that. As it happens, Google Translate's newest feature might be able to help me a bit on my language learning journey—even if it is a bit brutally honest along the way. How Google Translate's new pronunciation tool worksAs reported by TechCrunch, Google Translate now offers pronunciation practice as part of its experience, a la Duolingo. Like Duoligno, Google Translate can listen to your attempt at speaking a specific word, phrase, …