Setting Up Your Home Office

Zelle, the digital payment platform that allows you to send money directly to friends and family, has shuttered its standalone app. But while the Zelle app is no longer, you can likely still send and receive money with Zelle through your bank or credit union—Zelle is already integrated into over 2,200 bank apps, and you can use this search tool to find out if yours is one of them. Otherwise, you'll have to send money using another tool. Here are four of the best Zelle alternatives for peer-to-peer payments. VenmoVenmo allows you to request money or pay other users and send up to $60,000 a week once you've verified your identity within the app. You can transfer funds in y…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Testing the Ikarao Shell S1 karaoke speaker during my review has been one of the highlights of my job as tech reviewer. Now that it's $100 off, reaching the price of $249.99 (originally $349.99) after the on-page coupon, it's at its lowest price ever, according to price-tracking tools. While you might've never heard of the brand before, I can attest that this speaker is quality, and now, it's a bargain for its price. Ikarao Shell S1 Smart Karaoke Speaker Bat…

Converting between currencies when you're traveling can make it difficult to know exactly how much you're spending when you're making a purchase—which, along with conversion fees, can lead to surprises when you see your card or bank statement. Uber now has a feature that'll show you the cost of your ride in your preferred or home currency—but you'll pay a conversion fee for the convenience, so you may not want to have this enabled. Regardless of which currency your Uber account is set to, the actual fare for your trip is the same. But if the price of your ride is shown and charged in your home currency rather than the local currency, Uber tacks on a 1.5% conversion fee. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Sonos Era 100 is an improved version of the Sonos One, with much more powerful bass and other upgrades that make it one of the best multi-room smart speakers you can buy. It's currently at its lowest price ever—$199 (originally $249) after a $50 discount—according to price-tracking tools. Most of the other Sonos speakers are also seeing their lowest prices right now. Sonos Era 100 Black - Wireless, Alexa Enabled Smart Speaker …

You've probably heard you can use your phone's personal dictionary to save time typing. It's one of our favorite time-saving tricks. However, there's an even easier way on Android to save whole blocks of text, and you've been using it without realizing it: your clipboard's history. This feature may vary depending on your model of phone, so we'll focus on Google's Gboard. By default, the keyboard will keep a history of what you copy, so you can paste multiple blocks of text without bouncing back and forth between apps. You can see this history by tapping the Clipboard icon on your keyboard (in some contexts, you may have to press the four-square apps button to pull it up).…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The descriptor “science fiction and fantasy” serves as an umbrella term for fantastical stories all the time, but if you look closer, the genres each contain multitudes. A sci-fi/fantasy movie might be an alien invasion blockbuster; a bloody sword-and-sorcery epic; or a quiet, reflective fable. What these movies all have in common is the imagination to think outside of the world we can see from the window. Here are 30 of the best you can stream on Netflix right now. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) I wasn't expecting much from this adaptation of a game with an impenetrable mythology, and which ha…

You can now use Siri with added ChatGPT on your iPhone, but Google is keen for you to use its Gemini AI bot instead: A few months ago, an official Gemini iPhone app was launched, and now we have some lock screen widgets to go with it. While you can't swap out the iPhone's default digital assistant entirely, as you can on Android, these six new lock screen widgets do give you easier access to Gemini on iOS, and are handy shortcuts if you prefer Google's AI. The widgets are available to you whether or not you're paying $20 a month for Gemini Advanced. To make use of these widgets, you first need Google Gemini for iOS installed. Launch the app after it's been downloaded, and…

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, in either champagne gold with a hazel band or polished silver with a charcoal band, is down to $109.99, $170 off its usual price of $279.99. Google Pixel Watch $109.99 at Walmart $279.99 Save $170.00 …

The Start menu is the gateway to everything on a Windows PC, from files to apps to settings, and it looks as though Microsoft is planning a substantial refresh for the menu's interface. Changes have been spotted in the early testing versions of the operating system by tipster @phantomofearth, and should eventually appear for everyone. As it stands today, the Start menu shows a search bar up at the top, then you've got two other sections: Your pinned apps, and your recommended links (usually to files you've recently opened or apps you've recently used). Both those sections can be expanded with a click to show more programs and files. …

Like many AI chatbots, ChatGPT has offered image generation for some time now. You might be well acquainted with it, seeing as its latest image generation tools have recently gone viral. Putting both the ethics of AI art as well as its errors, quirks, and inconsistencies aside for a moment, you may have noticed some issues with ChatGPT's image generation, especially if you've been using a lot. Since each image is contained to the ChatGPT conversation in which it was generated, it's quite difficult to keep tabs on all your images, unless you're exporting and cataloging them somewhere else manually. OpenAI might not be able to solve the other issues with AI art yet, but it …

Siri is struggling. It's struggling to respond to simple questions or create simple calendar events. And the end still isn't in sight, now that Apple has mostly delayed Apple Intelligence's "smarter Siri" until the end of the year. Meanwhile, Perplexity AI's new Voice Assistant is here now, trying to capitalize on Apple's mess. In addition to answering questions, the AI's new Voice Mode is able to create calendar events and reminders, play music, and more. It can hold conversations, and even perform some web-based tasks. These are things that Siri just can't do, at least not yet. How to use Perplexity Voice Assistant on iOSDownload and open the latest version of the Perpl…

By default, Google Photos now uses Gemini AI to search through your photo library. This is thanks to a new feature called Ask Photos that rolled out late last year. While this feature is great for locating specific photos, it's not as fast as the older search option, so it's not ideal for every search, especially more general ones. If you're tired of using Gemini's slower search in Google Photos for Android, there's a shortcut that helps you return to the classic search functionality. As spotted by 9to5Google, you can long-press the search button (which is labelled Ask and is located in the bottom-right corner) to use the classic, faster and AI-free search method instead.…

A recent outbreak of measles in West Texas has resulted in 159 cases of the disease in the state so far; 22 victims required hospitalization, and one has died. In response to the deadly outbreak, some Texas parents seem to be considering hosting "measles parties" instead of vaccinating their kids. Misinformation about measles can have deadly consequences, so here's a look at some ways people are getting measles wrong. Myth: Measles vaccines are potentially dangerousWhile a small percentage of people suffer side effects from the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, they are almost always mild. The most common is a fever that hits between 5% and 10% of those vaccinat…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Garmin unveiled a subscription tier for its app last week featuring an AI that promises to provide insights on your training. I liked the company’s policies around training and privacy, but hadn’t seen much of the actual AI output when I wrote about it. Now, I’ve spent a week with the feature, which Garmin says is still in beta. Here are my impressions. The AI insights are just one of the features that rolled out with the new $6.99/month Garmin Connect+ subscription. Some of the other add-ons look a lot more useful, like the Live Activities feature. I have a full rundown here on what you get if you pay for the upgrade. The…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Whenever a new friend comes over, one of the first things they say to me is that I am "so lucky" to have an exposed brick wall in my apartment. This is true, for the most part, because it's pretty and cozy and has that classic New York vibe. It's not entirely true that I'm lucky, though, because it's massive. It is about nine feet tall and 17 feet wide, which is a lot of brick to take care of. I don't know how (and I am too scared to try) to put nails in it, so beyond the one nail leftover from a previous tenant who was braver than I am, there's no way to hang any art, which leaves me with a ton of space to clean and deal…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you're not an Apple user, Garmin fitness watches are the no-brainer smartwatches to go for if you're looking for the most trusted brands (some Apple users might still want to consider some Garmins depending on their sport). The Garmin Forerunner 955 has been one of the best Garmin watches since its release and can track many activities. It's currently available for $349.95 (originally $499.99) for the rechargeable battery version and $399.99 (originally $599.99) for the solar version, both at the lowest prices they have ever been. …

Aside from the launch of the sky blue M4-powered MacBook Air, this week's flurry of Apple announcements saw the introduction of the most powerful Apple silicon desktop processor yet. Given Apple's numbering scheme for its own chipsets, you'd think that would be one with an M4 label attached, but it's actually the M3 Ultra, which will power the newest Mac Studio. Since Apple started releasing its own chipsets with the M designation, we've seen a variety of different labels attached. First came the standard processor, then the Pro, then the Max, and then the Ultra, with performance improving with each iteration. We're now up to the M4 Max and the M3 Ultra. When preordering …

Earlier this week, xAI released Grok 3, the company's most advanced AI yet, complete with a reasoning model and a DeepSearch feature. The company claims that it's the "world's smartest AI," and Elon himself says it's "outperforming anything that's been released" so far. But is it really the "maximally truth-seeking AI" Musk says it is? Well, to spoil it for you, no. Not yet. Which is a shame, because Grok is expensive— beyond a limited free trial, it requires either a $40/month X Premium+ subscription, up from $22 thanks to the new model, or a $30/month SuperGrok subscription. From both my testing as well as experiments from experts, I'm having trouble believing the "base…

Whenever I open Reddit these days, it feels like I'm just asking to see outrage bait. That means posts from AITA, posts from AIO (Am I Overreacting), and posts about political turmoil. As a writer, I need to check Reddit to keep a tab on interesting new app launches, common problems people face with technology (so that I can write about the solutions), and sometimes, to solve a niche problem that I face with my own tech. But if I accidentally open Reddit's default home page, my mental health starts tanking, and my thoughts become angrier, too. Yes, a lot of bad things are going on in the world right now, but I don't want to hear about them all the time. My brain needs a b…

Google has released its April 2025 Android Security Bulletin, which includes patches for 62 vulnerabilities affecting Android devices. Two of the fixes address critical zero-day flaws that may have been exploited in "limited, targeted" attacks, according to Google. Zero-days are security vulnerabilities that are exploited before the software developer can identify the flaw and issue a patch. The security update for April includes fixes for a range of issues, many of which elevation of privilege flaws, as well as vulnerabilities with Qualcomm, MediaTek, Arm, and Imagination Technologies components. Two serious exploitsOne of the zero-day exploits (labeled CVE-2024-53197)…

When it comes to Apple Intelligence, you probably either love it or hate it. Either you really enjoy things like Writing Tools and Genmoji, or you despise inaccurate and misleading notification summaries. There's little in-between. Luckily, you don't have to use Apple Intelligence—if your Apple device can even run it. While Apple turns on its AI features by default on compatible devices running iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS 15.3, you can easily turn off Apple Intelligence at any time. The larger issue, however, is that Apple doesn't seem to respect that choice. Sure, the company presumably wants all of its customers experiencing its AI features, but that shouldn't com…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Netflix has built a subscriber base more than 270 million strong on the backs of some great original TV series, and there’s a fair chance you’re watching (or have already binged) the biggies, from Stranger Things, to Bridgerton, to The Witcher, Ripley, and more. Even if you haven’t seen them, these shows are buzzy enough that you know their names—but there's more where they came from, including shows that are as good as (or better than) those flagship series. Here, in no particular order, are 40 of Netflix’s most entertaining, underrated originals—shows you maybe aren’t watching, but definitely should be. The Residence (20…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. A good video doorbell should do two things well: show you who’s at your door and make it easy to interact with them. The Arlo Video Doorbell 2K (2nd Gen) does both. Originally priced at $129.99, it's now $59.99, its lowest price ever, according to price trackers. Arlo Video Doorbell 2K $49.97 at Walmart …

Google is trying to add Gemini AI to all its products. We've even seen the Gemini button in Gmail (which you can disable if you wish). Now, the company is starting to get more specific with that email integration, using AI to automatically add events to your Google calendar if an email provides enough details for it. The feature is already rolling out, so Gemini Advanced subscribers and Google Workspace for Business users can expect to start seeing the new Add to Calendar button, powered by Gemini, when relevant. It'll be right next to the "Summarize this email" button, above the email's body. As an example, let's say you have an email discussing an upcoming meeting with …

I don't expect Meta to respect my data or my privacy, but the company continues to surprise me with how low they're willing to go in the name of data collection. The latest such story comes to us from a report titled "Disclosure: Covert Web-to-App Tracking via Localhost on Android." In short, Meta and Yandex (a Russian technology company) have been tracking potentially billions of Android users by abusing a security loophole in Android. That loophole allows the companies to access identifying browsing data from your web browser as long as you have their Android apps installed. How does this tracking work?As the report explains, Android allows any installed app with inter…