Setting Up Your Home Office

A mysterious bug is affecting numerous older Chromecast devices, as per a lengthy thread on Reddit—specifically, the second-generation Chromecast and the Chromecast Audio, which both launched in September 2015. If you've been affected, hold off on trying a factory reset of your device. The bug has started appearing over the last 24 hours, rendering affected devices pretty much unusable. One of the error messages reported reads as follows: "Untrusted device: [name] couldn’t be verified. This could be caused by outdated device firmware." Further investigation from users suggests that this is a server-side problem—so the issue is at Google's end. It looks as though there hav…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. One of my biggest pet peeves about the Oura ring platform is getting some temporary relief, thanks to Amazon’s spring sale. Chargers for the gen 4 ring (the newest model) are available for $35.40 today, so you can pick up a spare for close to half the usual price. Oura Ring 4 Charger $35.40 at Amazon …

Hulu's lineup of original content is lighter in April than in previous months but includes the sixth and final season of The Handmaid's Tale (April 8), the dystopian drama based originally on Margaret Atwood's novel but that has long since evolved into a world of its own. According to the Hulu synopsis, June (Elisabeth Moss), Luke, and Moira make up the resistance to bring down Gilead. A sequel series, The Testaments, also based on an Atwood novel of the same name, is in development for release after The Handmaid's Tale ends. Hulu has a new original reality competition show launching in April to take on Peacock's hit series The Traitors. On Got to Get Out (April…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Act fast if you want to pick up an Oura ring on a steep discount—some of them are available today for just $199 in Amazon's spring sale. I’m seeing this deal on gen 3 rings in the Heritage shape, and silver or black colors. Oura Ring Gen 3 $199.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. It's a good time to be shopping for TVs, with many options available right now. The TCL QM7 is a great budget TV currently on sale and its main competitor, Hisense's U7, is also down to its lowest price. If you want a better-quality TV, though, LG's 75-inch QNED80T is $896.99 (originally $1,399.99), is also at the lowest price it has ever been, according to price-tracking tools. Screen Size: 55 Inches, Brand: LG, Display Tec…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. A good kitchen appliance should last you years. And like any long-term relationship, you want to make sure it’s the right fit before you invest your time or money into it. Right now, with Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, you have an opportunity to start a relationship with a kitchen appliance you’ve been flirting with, and at prices that feel less risky. Here are some of my favorite discounts popping up this week. Vitamix Ascent X3 Blender, Professional-Grade, 3 Preset Blending Pr…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. This is a website about hacks, so you know I'm not going to advocate for a cleaning product unless it really gets the job done. Lifehacker has years' worth of archives explaining how, for the most part, common things like hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and vinegar get the major cleaning jobs taken care of, and all you need is a rag or a sponge to go with them. Still, there are some more specialized products that are worth having on hand. These are what I use to make cleaning easier and faster. Useful cleaning tools you might not haveFirst up, you need a little squeegee. In fact, I think you should have a few. The first …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. You can add Walmart to the list of retail behemoths hosting spring-time sales, joining the likes of Amazon, Target, and Best Buy, who each have similar sales around the same time. Here is everything you need to know about Walmart's upcoming Super Savings Week sale. When is Walmart's Super Savings Week?Walmart will run its spring sale for a full week from March 25 to March 31. Do you need to be a member to shop for Walmart's Super Savings Week?Walmart has a Walmart+ membership that goes $12.95 per month or $98 per year (you can always get a free 30-day trial), but Walmart hasn't yet said if its sale is exclusively for memb…

Gboard, the default keyboard on many Android phones, is finally getting a proper undo button. Up until now, you had to use a Japanese keyboard to access the undo button, but Google has finally addressed that gap. With Gboard 15 for Android, you'll be able to use the undo button that, thankfully, works with all languages. How to set up the undo and redo buttons in GboardFirst up, go to Google Play store and update Gboard to the latest version. After that, open any app where you can see the keyboard, such as Messages or Chrome. Fire up the keyboard and tap the four squares icon in the top-left corner of the keyboard. This will show you all the shortcuts that you can add to…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you need a sturdy watch to meet all your athletic and adventurous needs, good news: You can save big right now on the LTE Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. The watch is currently 39% off during Amazon's Big Spring Sale. Normally priced at $649.99, the current discount brings the smartwatch down to $396.94. This is as low a price as this watch ever gets, according to price-tracking tools. Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. You don’t usually associate Bose with “budget-friendly,” but Woot’s current offer on the Bose Smart Soundbar 550 comes pretty close. It’s down to $169.99 for the next 12 days—or until it sells out—and that’s a noticeable drop from the $229 sale price it’s going for on Amazon. Just keep in mind this is a certified refurbished unit, which means it might have minor cosmetic wear but has been tested and approved by Bose to work like new, and includes a one-year manufacturer's limited warranty. (Woot ships only within the 48 contiguous U.S. states, and u…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. We like to think that our home is also our fortress of privacy: Once you walk through your front door, you’re free from prying eyes (or lenses) and can relax. There are a ton of ways to ensure your privacy inside, starting with items like window films, shades, and curtains. And if you want to protect your outdoor space from neighbors peering over the fence, you have several easy options. Most of those options, however, assume your neighbors are on the same level as you. If the neighboring homes are located above yours, you’ll need to re-think your privacy plan. This is especially true if your neighbors have outdoor areas t…

You might be used to AI chatbots answering your questions with a few sentences or even paragraphs, but how about multipage reports? With Deep Research, that's exactly what the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are doing, utilizing their large language models alongside web searches and reasoning capabilities to become research assistants of sorts. A Deep Research query takes time (anything between five minutes to 30 minutes, depending on what you ask), but comes back to you with a detailed report on any subject you can ask about, including complex things like niche market research or scientific mysteries. Even better, all three major Deep Research AI providers now h…

Facebook wants to be your friend again, by showing you what your real friends are up to. In an attempt to save itself from the AI slop and clickbaity images that are all over its algorithmic feed, Facebook is now updating its mobile app's dedicated Friends tab to be a whole feed, showing you updates only from the real people that you actually care about. That's a pretty big change, since before, all the Friends tab did was show you friend requests and people you may know. According to Facebook, the new Friends tab is one of "several 'OG' Facebook experiences" that are set to be released throughout the year, so this is just the beginning. That said, while the new feature s…

If you've been dealing with Google Messages issues—particular with regards to sending photos and videos—you aren't alone. Messages users are complaining about images that are slow to load when sent via RCS. Media shows up blurry for minutes at a time before users can actually open them. Photos and videos are also arriving compressed, which is something to be expected on SMS, not RCS. Luckily for those affected, Google has taken notice. In a Tuesday post on the company's support website, a community manager acknowledged the "frustrating issues" with sending media in Google Messages, and shared some good news: The Google team has been "actively working on this," and has iss…

This week's biggest event was the Super Bowl. While the game was a snore-fest reminiscent of the lopsided Super Bowl blowouts of the past, the halftime show was nothing like the performances of 1980s Super Bowl favorites "Up with People." If you compare the two performances (and you should), you'll see how far we have come as a society. Kendrick's jeans win the Super Bowl Super Bowl 2025 may have been more of beatdown than an exciting football game, but luckily Kendrick Lamar was around at halftime to provide some much needed drama. From "Uncle" Samuel L. Jackson providing a preemptive critique of the show from "mainstream" America, to Serena Williams crip walki…

There's more than one way to use Windows now. As well as sitting down in front of a locally installed copy of Windows, running on a hard drive inside your desktop or laptop, you can also fire up the Microsoft Windows app—a one-stop central hub for managing connections to remote PCs and Windows in the cloud. The Windows app is available for Windows (as you would expect), as well as macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and (in preview form for now) Android. First rolled out in September 2024, the program brings with it support for multiple monitors and local USB peripherals, so you can carry on using your own webcam (for example) with your cloud copy of Windows. It's likely that significant…

Nintendo didn't make preordering the Switch 2 particularly easy—especially with its back and forth decisions in the face of tariffs. But even if you manage to get your hands on a Switch 2 for launch day, be careful, because Nintendo is ready to brick any Switch device you own should you break its rules—and I'm not talking about cheating at Mario Party. Rather, Nintendo is particularly concerned about Switch users who hack their systems, use emulators, or engage in piracy using Nintendo hardware. These players are the targets of the company's newfound bloodlust, and they're not messing around: steal our games, and lose the right to use your console. Stephen Totilo of Game…

The Steam Deck changed the game for PC players, opening up a world of portability that was usually reserved for Nintendo fans. Naturally, manufacturers tried to follow suit with Windows-based handhelds and the results are, shall we say, mixed. Now, Valve has released official instructions for installing its SteamOS on devices other than the Steam Deck. Let's dive into how to do it—and whether you should. I should note up front: This is going to be a nebulous area when it comes to official support from the company that made your handheld. At time of writing, the Lenovo Legion Go S is the only handheld with the "Powered by SteamOS" branding (besides the Steam Deck itself), …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Most of Beats by Dr. Dre's lineup of headphones and earbuds are on sale right now. The brand has been slow to release new products since the acquisition by Apple back in 2014, but the good news is that even its newest product (the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2) are included in the sale. At the moment, you can get the Beats Studio Pro, Beats Solo 4, Beats Studio Buds, Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, and the Beats Studio Buds+ for up to 51% off. Most of these options are at or matching their lowest prices ever, according to price-tracking tools. Beats Studio Pros a…

Google Maps' Timeline feature is a great way to look back on your past travels—if you have the data to look back on. Timeline users over the past couple of weeks have noticed that their data is missing, with no warning or explanation. Redditor srj737 posted on the r/GooglePixel subreddit earlier this month, reporting they lost over a decade of Timeline data, seemingly out of nowhere. Before, they could browse each location they visited with Google Maps over the past ten years; now, they had to start from scratch. What makes the situation especially confusing is the fact that Google had previously warned users they might lose Timeline data. The company announced late las…

Software updates are supposed to introduce new features while improving the stability of the operating system. Occasionally, however, additional bugs and glitches can slip through the cracks. That's the case with the latest Pixel update: While Google added a number of new features to Android and patched 43 security vulnerabilities, users who have installed it are complaining of strange glitches on their Pixel phones. March 2025 Pixel drop glitches: Brightness, vibrations, and moreFirst up, as spotted by 9to5Google, some Pixel users are experiencing brightness variations while using their phones—without touching the brightness settings themselves. The issue seems to be li…

The final (final) deadline for the Department of Homeland Security's REAL ID requirement is upon us, and unlike so many instances in the two decades since the new rules were passed, it doesn't appear that air travelers are getting another extension to obtain an identification that complies. The 2005 REAL ID Act aimed to standardize state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards by 2008, though the rollout was delayed until 2020, then 2023, then 2025. Starting May 7, anyone age 18 and over passing airport security or entering certain federal buildings with their license will need a REAL ID. Many states have issued REAL IDs in recent years upon license renewal or…

At the end of last month, The Google Pixel 4a got a software update that rendered the device nearly unusable for some people, for seemingly unknown reasons. The update included "battery management features" that left some people with phones that couldn't hold a charge for more than 30 minutes. Google explained the problems in a support document and offered a few solutions, but again, it didn't explain the root cause of the issue. But now, there appears to be one possible explanation for the problem—overheating batteries—as mentioned in a Pixel 4a recall issued in Australia, spotted first by Android Authority. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issue…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. What exactly makes a movie a “classic” varies wildly and with the viewer, as does the appropriate timescale. For some, a movie from a decade ago might be eligible (I call these movie fans “children”). For others, you have to go back much further. Today, I’m going to do the latter, taking a look at some of the great (or, at least, greatly entertaining) movies that were released no later than the tail end of the 1970s. (Even if I find it personally distressing to label movies younger than I am “classics.”) Quibbling over semantics aside, these offerings prove how deeply rewarding it is to dig through the back catalog of mo…