Setting Up Your Home Office

I've been getting relentless Instagram ads for AI-powered home gyms lately. You've probably seen them, too—sleek wall-mounted screens with impossibly toned instructors, testimonials promising "the future of fitness," and before-and-after transformations that make it all look effortless. The smart home gym equipment market is booming. According to Business Wire, the industry was valued at $3.2 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $4 billion by 2030. The numbers show plenty of people are investing in fitness technology that offers personalized, convenient, and effective home workouts. Fitness is yet another way to feed the AI beast, transforming boring old equipment in…

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. …

Need some help writing your emails? Through the wonders of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), you can now get messages composed on your behalf in Gmail, in Apple Mail, in Outlook, and in many other email clients. Most of the time, the AI option pops up straight away, ready to give you however much assistance you need. The pitch is that you can offload the drudgery of dealing with email to AI, and move on to other tasks that may be more interesting and important. Anecdotally, I've spoken to quite a few people who now use AI chatbots in this way. But it's not something I'm ready to embrace, and I don't think I ever will. These are my reasons, which may or may not resonate…

I am a frequent user of Google's NotebookLM, an AI tool that functions similarly to ChatGPT and other LLMs, but only pulls from sources and materials the user inputs. I noticed a few days ago that it has a new feature: A research function divided into "fast research" and "deep research." After playing around with it a little, these new features seem to completely defeat the purpose of why I started using NotebookLM in the first place—with one big exception. What the new "fast research" and "deep research" options in NotebookLM doIn short, "fast research" and "deep research" make NotebookLM work a lot like other AI tools—they pull information in from the web on your beha…

Microsoft has announced that it's pulling the old Microsoft Remote Desktop tool that you could get in the Microsoft Store. The company is advising users to move over to the shiny new Windows App instead, which takes care of a lot of the same functions—including connecting to PCs remotely, and accessing Windows 365 computers in the cloud. The Windows App provides several improvements over Microsoft Remote Desktop, Microsoft says, such as multi-monitor support, dynamic display resolutions, customizable home screens, and a more unified interface. It's designed so you can access the same Windows machines remotely across multiple devices. If you're a user of Microsoft Remote D…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you've been considering getting one of Peloton's new Bikes, Treads, or Rows, this might be the time—as long as you know someone who is already an All-Access Member. Until Nov. 11, referral codes from existing members get you more money off your hardware purchases. The discount detailsLast month, Peloton rolled out upgraded versions of its fleet, including the Bike, Bike+, Tread+, Tread+, and Row. The new devices are known as the Cross Training series and, as such, are named the Cross Training Bike, Crosstraining Tread+, etc. If you want to know …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Running seems like a cheap sport—you just need shoes!—until you actually go shoe shopping. The right footwear can make or break your experience. They can also break your budget; even the most basic models are well over $100 new. (That being said, keep in mind that the most expensive shoe isn't necessarily the best for you.) Of course, you can search for deals at any time—there's usually something being discounted no matter when you look. But if you want a specific shoe on sale, it's worth watching the schedule of new releases. And the ultimate hack: New shoe models tend to be introduced in the spring, making right now an e…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. RAM, also known as random-access memory (or just memory for short), is an important part of most electronics these days. It essentially allows programs to keep key information at the ready so they don't have to dig through your storage (like your hard drive or solid state drive) to find it. RAM is in laptops, phones, tablets, gaming consoles, and even cars, and all apps rely on it at least a little bit. Essentially, if your device has a computer in it, it probably comes with RAM equipped, or it'll want you to install some before it'll boot up. But that dependency has become a big problem recently. While RAM has historical…

This post-Thanksgiving weekend, a growing number of Americans have pledged that they won't be camping outside stores or refreshing their browsers for deals. Instead, they're participating in coordinated boycotts that aim to turn one of the biggest shopping events of the year into a statement about economic power, inequality, and corporate influence in American life. What are the Black Friday boycotts?Two major boycott campaigns are underway during the 2025 holiday shopping season. The first, called "Mass Blackout," is a coalition effort involving grassroots groups including Blackout the System, The People's Sick Day, American Opposition, the Money Out of Politics Movement…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Have you ever switched gyms and tried to do your usual workout, only to find that the machines are a lot harder—or maybe a lot easier? Before you start questioning your strength or your training, you need to know something: you can’t trust the numbers on the weight stack, and you shouldn’t expect them to match from gym to gym or even machine to machine. What do the numbers on the weight stacks mean? When you’re looking at a cable machine, or any type of strength training machine with a stack of rectangular weights, there is probably a little sticker on each plate with a number. Sometimes those numbers are in pounds, and …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When you track a strength training workout on a fitness watch, that watch will happily tell you what heart rate zones you were in during the workout. In fact, they'll do that for any workout, whether it makes sense or not. So you might be tempted to interpret this data in terms of the benefits of zone 2 training. If my heart rate is in zone 2 when I’m lifting weights, that means I just did an hour of zone 2 training, right? Unfortunately, no. Heart rate zones only apply to cardioZones are meaningless for strength training, but to understand why, we have to go back to the reason zones were invented in the first place: to gi…

You can pinpoint the exact minute of the high-water mark for tech-based enthusiasm: January 9, 2007, 9:41 AM PST, the moment Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world. Cell phones weren’t new—neither were cellphones with touch screens—but this one was different: so high-tech it seemed like it couldn’t be real, but so perfectly designed, it felt inevitable. And people were hyped. Not just tech nerds: normal people. The crowd at the 2007 Macworld Conference & Expo broke into rapturous applause when Jobs showed off the iPhone’s multi-touch—an ovation for a software feature!—because it seemed like Jobs was touching a better future. The iPhone, people said,…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over. Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find. Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more. Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change. Sales season is here, and if you…

After five long years, Apple TV has made it to Android phones and tablets, bringing a polished and Apple-like interface to every Android device out there. You can finally binge-watch Severance on your Samsung smartphone (as you very much should), and if you're like me, you might actually prefer it there than on iPhone. The Apple TV app for Android, it turns out, is a stripped down version of the TV app from iPhone and iPad, not including content from partner streaming services or the ability to buy or rent movies. But it's this stripped down approach that actually makes the Android app better than the iPhone counterpart, at least in my opinion. In the language of Dieter R…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. As a new parent, it’s unfortunately pretty normal to be paranoid about whether your baby is breathing when you put them down for a nap. Gadgets promise peace of mind—like heart rate or movement sensors that attach to your baby or their crib. But the FDA is warning against most of them. As the FDA writes in a safety communication to parents and pediatricians, no devices are approved to prevent or reduce the chances of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUID). If a device says it will do this, the FDA advises avoiding that product entirely. When it comes to devices that just claim …

When Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, there was a lot of focus on the price tag ($599 is cheap for a new iPhone, but not that cheap), the lack of MagSafe support, and Apple's decision to finally kill off the Home button. But there's an interesting discussion surrounding the 16e's processor: the A18. At first glance, it seems like the same chip as the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. The phones also have the A18, which makes it sound like the iPhone 16e offers the same performance as its more expensive sibling devices, for at least $200 less. The thing is, these aren't the same chips: The A18 in the iPhone 16e is "binned." What is a "binned" chip?"Binned" chips d…

If you're a gamer born in the '80s or '90s, you might have some strong nostalgia for the Nintendo GameCube. It's not just your childhood memories fueling those opinions: It's a great console, with classic library to boot: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker; Mario Kart: Double Dash; and Super Smash Bros. Melee, just to name a few. It might be tempting, then, to pick up a new GameCube controller, specifically designed for Nintendo Switch 2, and all the GameCube games Nintendo plans to make available through a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. If you're lucky enough to snag the new console at launch, you'll be able to play Wind Waker, Soulcalibur II, and F-Zero GX, with …

It sucks finding brown leaf-tips on your little plant babies: You know it’s your fault, but you’re not sure what you’ve done wrong, and it’s not like your plant can tell you. It will take some botanical detective work to get to the root of the matter and find out why your plant looks like it has seen better days, but once you do, it’s often an easy-to-solve problem. Here are some potential problems (and their solutions). You're watering it too much (or too little)Brown leaf-tips can indicate you aren't watering your plant enough, or you're watering it too much, or you're not watering it at the right time. Study up, and get to know your plant’s needs. There’s no one-size-…

Is the treadmill harder or easier than running outdoors? Survey runners, and you’ll get plenty of different opinions on which feels harder or easier, but the basic physics of running are the same on both. (I promise.) So why do people who are used to treadmills find that they’re slower when they run outdoors? I’m going to run through the factors that are at play here, and talk about how to adapt if you want to be able to enjoy both. If you find treadmill running harder, you probably already know the reason: it’s boring. You have nothing to distract you from your own effort and the glowing numbers telling you how little progress you’ve made. This is a problem that we can …

Scroll through TikTok or Instagram, and you'll find influencers swearing by unconventional treatments, posting dramatic before-and-after photos and glowing testimonials about their rejuvenated skin. And the skincare "It Girl" of the moment? It's salmon sperm. Yeah. As we kick off the new year—prime time for beauty resolutions!—a growing number of people are seeking out "salmon sperm facials." Before your imagination paints an extra fishy picture (pun intended), understand that people aren't really smearing straight-up salmon sperm on their face. The secret ingredient is something called PDRN, or polydeoxyribonucleotide, a compound extracted from salmon DNA. So, what exact…

If you were under the assumption that Siri was soon going to be supercharged with AI, you wouldn't be alone. In fact, Apple has advertised as much since last WWDC, showing off its ChatGPT-like assistant in commercials and promotional materials. It's been nearly a year since WWDC 2024, and that new Siri is still not here. The thing is, it likely won't be for a long time. How long is anyone's guess (I've been tracking the delays here), but one thing seems for certain: Apple is not showing off AI Siri at next month's WWDC 2025. Apple's AI program is a mess In Mark Gurman's latest piece for Bloomberg, he describes a chaotic situation regrading Apple's AI department. The pie…

Walk through any park these days and you might spot them: people sporting bulky weighted vests, adding 10, 20, even 30 pounds to their morning stroll. Scroll through social media and you'll find countless influencers touting weighted vests as the secret to building unbreakable bones and sculpted muscles. Many videos have gained hundreds of thousands of views with claims that weighted vests will "transform your body"—a claim that, to be fair, is par for the course in any fitness trend. "Weighted vest walks" are popular enough to be parodied, and even if I find those videos a little mean-spirited, they do point to an important question: Does this trendy fitness accessory ac…

Chromecast as a brand has been going through it. Second-gen Chromecast and Chromecast Audio have been plagued with a strange glitch that essentially leaves these devices unusable. Users are not happy. Google, for their part, has advised not to factory reset the devices as a workaround, saying that the company is working on an official fix. In the meantime, Google rolled out an unrelated update for Chromecast with Google TV. The company no longer sells this device, but even still, issued a long-awaited Android 14 update for Chromecast with Google TV. The release notes say, with this update, “The Google TV Streamer Voice Remote supports Find My Remote and Customizable Butt…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Back when I biked everywhere, I would wear my regular sneakers and slip my feet into the toe cages I’d attached to the pedals of my bike. But when I got into the habit of riding a spin bike regularly, I grudgingly switched to "real" cycling shoes—the kind with the cleat on the bottom of the shoe that clicks into a special socket on the pedal. I’ve written before about how I struggled those first few spin classes, trying to get the hang of using the rental shoes. It wasn't until I got a spin bike to use at home that I realized, after a few rides, I really needed those shoes. Why do cyclists use shoes with cleats?Serious cy…

You know that putting money aside is a good idea, but putting it all in the same place can make your budgeting more complicated than it needs to be. It sounds counterintuitive, but when all your savings sit in one account, it's difficult to track progress toward different goals. You might see a healthy balance, but you can't easily see how much is truly available for discretionary spending versus what's socked away for long-term goals. Rather than keeping all your money in one place, here's how you can make the most of your money by separating your savings into goals-based accounts. Think of multiple savings accounts as foldersLike the old-school cash-stuffing where you…