Setting Up Your Home Office

We may earn a commission from links on this page. For the past few months, I’ve had two salt shakers in my kitchen. One is Morton Salt Substitute, which is potassium-based, and I use it for the first few shakes of salt when I’m seasoning a dish. The other is regular table salt, which I use at the table. Now the World Health Organization is recommending that more of us try salt substitutes, and not just in the name of lowering sodium. Potassium is good for us, and it’s an easy way to get more in our diet. Morton Salt Substitute, 3.12 oz, 2 pk (Limited Edition) …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Growing up, I was obsessed with helping my mom cook. Though she would dabble in making Italian food or try out popular boxed ingredients of the time, most nights featured what she knew best—giant pots of Thai comfort fare and heaping mounds of jasmine rice. My childhood of ad hoc cooking lessons taught me two things: Jasmine rice goes with everything, and anything can taste good with the help of one of five bottled Asian sauces. I'll assume you have the rice covered, so let me tell you about these sauces. Fish sauce This sauce gives you the most flavor bang for your buck. The thin, reddish-brown liquid is made by fermenti…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Soon after Nvidia's new RTX 5080 and 5090 gaming GPUs went up for sale last week, they sold out pretty quickly—which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has tried to buy one of its graphics cards before. According to PC parts seller Newegg, the company’s stock sold out “within minutes,” and none of the big-name retailers I’ve checked today have cards available. While that might sound like a success on Nvidia’s part, consumers and reviewers alike are responding to the short supply with ire, accusing Nvidia of a “paper launch,” a term for when a company only releases enough units to say that a product released on schedule,…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. You can get thousands of free e-books over the course of 2025 if you know where—and when—to look. All year long, Amazon is offering free Kindle e-books to readers, with new opportunities popping up every month. In February, Prime members can get two free Kindle e-books from Amazon's First Reads program. What is Amazon's First Reads?Amazon First Reads is a program aimed at Prime members that offers early access to new e-books across many genres, as curated by First Reads editors (one of your many Prime Member benefits). Prime members can choose to do…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. From viral hacks to your grandmother, someone or something has, at some point, told you to clean with baking soda and vinegar. Even I have told you to clean with baking soda and vinegar. Yesterday, sadly, I learned that this approach isn't all it's cracked up to be. Let's discuss. Why you shouldn't mix baking soda and vinegar to cleanThe good news is that this mixture isn't toxic or dangerous in any way. You're not poisoning yourself over time if you mix vinegar and baking soda to get a bubbly paste to scrub onto your walls, countertops, or tile. The bad news is that it just doesn't do much. See, yesterday, I wrote about…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Prior to September 2024, any Apple user interested in active noise-canceling (ANC) AirPods would've had to shell out $250 for the AirPods Pro. With the release of the ANC AirPods 4, the tech is much more affordable—and you can currently grab these $179 earbuds for $148.99. (Apple also has a more budget-friendly version of the AirPods 4 without ANC; that model is currently for $99.99, down from $129. Both of these prices mark record lows, according to price-tracking tools. While the discounts aren't mind-blowing, the fact we're seeing any price reduc…

Windows 11's minimum system requirements have been controversial from the day Microsoft unveiled the new version of its desktop operating system. The controversy boils down to one single line item: TPM 2.0 support. TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module, which is a chip that protects against malware and ransomware attacks. If your PC doesn't have TPM version 2.0, then you can't officially upgrade to Windows 11, unless you used a bypass that Microsoft had published. It appears that Microsoft doesn't want you to use the bypass any longer. Neowin spotted an update to a Microsoft support page with wording about the bypass removed. You can even check the page on The Wayback M…

Spring cleaning time is around the corner and while you’re prepping your regular to-do list, there are a few things you might be overlooking—we all have blind spots, after all. Let’s go over a few of the places you are likely to forget about so you can add them into your routine. Once you familiarize yourself with these suggestions and tips, you can use this checklist I created in Google Sheets to help remind you about what you might have missed. You can make your own copy out of this doc and open it up every couple of months to check off each of the tasks as you work through them. Most overlooked spots in your bathroomYou already know to clean your toilet (and how not t…

Just like everything else, cars keep getting more expensive—new car prices have risen steadily in recent months, and will probably just keep getting pricier (the average new car now costs an eye-watering $49,740). That’s one reason why about half of all car buyers finance their purchase, and why we collectively owe an astounding $1.644 trillion in auto loan debt. But that’s also why about 38% of car buyers bought their vehicles with cash. Cash offers some advantages, especially if you’re looking to avoid interest and monthly payments that can mess with your budget. But if you decide to buy your next car without financing it in any way, there’s one thing you should absolut…

Are you tired of the annoying "AI overview" at the top of your search results? Turns out you can get rid of it by starting your search with the word "fuck." The trick spread thanks to a now-viral thread on Tumblr and it works wonders. I've been trying it out all morning: the AI disappears but the results are otherwise more-or-less the same. Is this the best way to stop seeing AI in search results? No. We've talked about how to disable Google's AI search results by changing the default search engine in your browser to only pull in web results, and that's better. But is this the funnest way to stop seeing AI in search results? Fuck yeah it is. And it's perfect if you someti…

On Tuesday, Apple announced Apple Invites, a new app for iPhones that creates custom event invitations "for any occasion." If that sounds a lot like popular party planning apps like Partiful, that's because, well, it is—only, this app integrates with the greater iOS experience, which is likely bad news for third-party competitors. This isn't a surprise to anyone follow Apple rumors closely. As reported by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple has been working on an invite system for iOS, internally referred to as "Confetti." It wasn't clear whether those plans would manifest as a standalone app, or rather as options built-into existing apps like Calendar and iMessage. Of course,…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Discourse crops up now and again about acceptable movie-watching etiquette: Is it OK to fast-forward through boring parts? Younger moviegoers even admit to watching slower movies at double speed—though it's certainly not just the youngest film-watchers: if we're gonna talk about attention spans, we have to talk about how we ain’t got ‘em anymore. I’m not saying I blame these folks. Modern tech takes advantage of our brains’ addictive tendencies by training us to use our phones like we’re on a ravenous hunt for serotonin. Meanwhile, blockbusters have gotten longer, but also faster and louder—there’s a big difference betwee…

There's a lot going on right now. And it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Especially when you're (maybe chronically) online. Most of your work life, and personal life, all happens online. And sometimes it's really easy to get carried away doomscrolling and forget that, sometimes, you need to touch some grass. Opera Air is a new browser, hoping, trying, to save you from all of that. Opera Air has built-in features that remind you to take a break every hour or so, and in that break time, suggests that you do some breath work, meditation, or some relaxation exercises. There's also a dedicated background music feature that plays customizable binaural beats to help incre…

Well, here we go again. With TikTok’s future in the United States still uncertain, parts of Congress are already moving toward banning DeepSeek, a Chinese ChatGPT competitor that quickly usurped ChatGPT on the App Store last week. A new bill introduced by Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri would “prohibit United States persons from advancing artificial intelligence capabilities within the People’s Republic of China.” In other words, it would effectively ban DeepSeek, despite not mentioning the AI chatbot by name. Under the bill, anyone convicted of “the import from or export to China of artificial intelligence technology” could be sentenced with up to 20 years in …

Screenshots are a core pillar of the smartphone experience. When you come across something you simply must share with friends, family, or followers, taking a screenshot is often the fastest way to do so. But if you recently bought a brand-new Android phone, and especially if you’re coming from an iPhone, you might have no idea how to take screenshots. Unlike iPhones, which are all made by Apple, Android phones come from many different manufacturers. You might be trying to figure out how to take a screenshot on your Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, OnePlus, Nokia, or Motorola. All are running Android, but each deals with Android in its own unique way. Luckily, screenshot sho…

The idea of eating a pile of onions seems absolutely absurd—until you caramelize them and make them into soup. Suddenly, and your entire family is talking about an onion dinner with great reverence. You might think it’s the cheesy raft of bread floating on top that wins hearts, but students of umami know to credit the sweet, hearty, caramelized flavor from a mountain of slowly cooked sliced onions. Caramelizing onions is an annoying business, which is why I’d like to present you with a version that doesn’t demand helicopter babysitting. If you’ve ever successfully caramelized onions before, you know it takes at least 45 minutes to do it properly. In order to get silky-s…

Do you have a missing 401(k)? It’s more common than you might think. One U.S. Labor Department study suggests that people will have worked a dozen jobs by their mid-40s, with most of those barely lasting a few years. While you have a few options for handling an old 401(k), some strategies are better than others. The wisest path forward is typically to consolidate your old 401(k) into another qualified retirement plan. But what if you can't locate your old 401(k)? Did you forget which company was managing your retirement account? A new federal database should make it easier to track down. Use this new government databaseThis new tool been years in the making, as a part of …

Apple Music and Spotify are the two most popular streaming services in the world; most of us already have our favorite. Fans get into endless debates about which service is better, and for many people, that boils down to two factors: pricing and recommendation algorithms. However, there are many other factors that settle the Apple Music vs. Spotify debate—you could be after better sound quality, sharing features, support for your preferred platforms, and many other things. But which service is superior? It depends on what you're looking for. Apple Music vs. Spotify: pricingIf you're on a really tight budget and just cannot afford to pay for a music streaming service, Spo…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Apple Watch Series 8 (GPS + Cellular, 45mm) is now $329.99 on Woot, down from its original price of $749—a $419 discount available for four days or until it sells out. This model comes in a silver stainless steel case with a white band that gives it a premium look and includes a one-year Apple limited warranty. Plus, Prime members get free standard shipping (while non-Prime users pay $6); note that shipping is not available to Alaska, Hawaii, PO boxes, or APO addresses. Apple Watch Series 8 (GPS + Cellular…

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,…

Paying more and getting less seems to be standard operating procedure these days. Certainly that’s what Microsoft 365 (the fancy new name for Microsoft Office) users are about to experience, as the service's included VPN is being dropped as of February 28. According to a support note on the Microsoft site, the company “routinely evaluate[s] the usage and effectiveness of our features” and has decided that the VPN is no longer a necessary part of Microsoft 365. As VPNs go, it was only OKIn truth, it’s not a major loss. Microsoft’s VPN came with a 50GB monthly data limit and didn’t allow you to trick your browser into thinking you were elsewhere in the world, making it arg…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Unsightly water stains will kill the vibes in even the most beautiful bathroom, to say nothing of what they do to the look of other parts of your home. From shower humidity to internal leaks and ventilation problems, these stains have all kinds of causes. But after you’ve identified what made the mark on your wall in the first place, you still need to remove it without making the problem worse. Water stains typically won't appear on tile; they need a more absorbent surface, which is why they show up on bare walls. Since your walls are probably painted, this presents a problem: How can you wash a wall without damaging it a…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Heading out to a dazzling restaurant for a lovely meal is certainly the traditional option for a memorable Valentine’s Day, but I've heard more complaints of plans gone awry rather than romantic stories. There are many stress points: reserving a table weeks in advance, unpredictable restaurant atmosphere, holiday price gouging, not to mention that you might get rushed out the door because the place is trying to turn over tables on a tight schedule. Luckily, eating out is hardly the only option for treating yourself (or your valentine) on February 14. Here are nine of my favorite alternatives to dining out at a restaurant …