Setting Up Your Home Office

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Oura announced last week that its long-awaited charging case is finally shipping. I got one to try out, and can confirm that it works well and is arguably better designed than those of its competitors. That said, is it really worth $99? The charging case works with the Oura Ring 4, not the older models like the gen 3. I’ve previously reviewed the Oura Ring 4, and it’s probably the best smart ring out there right now. You pay a premium for it, though—not only are Oura’s prices higher than many of its competitors ($349 to $499), Oura also requires a $5.99/month subscription to access nearly all of its features. The standar…

We all know how annoying unwanted notifications are, especially when you're trying to focus. But turning notifications off entirely for a given app potentially means missing important messages. That's where the free Android app DoNotNotify comes in—with it you can set up custom filters for notifications. Maybe you're in a group chat that is, for the most part, useful, but includes one person who talks too much. With this application, you could filter that person out, meaning you'd only get notifications when anyone else sends a message. You could also use this to filter news notifications about particular subjects or public figures you'd rather not see pop-ups about. You…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Budget TVs have improved dramatically over the years, and the Hisense U6 Series is a great example of what you can get today for a "budget" price. This is a QLED Mini LED TV, so while it's not at the quality that OLED TVs can offer, it makes up for it with a much lower price. Right now, the 65-inch Hisense Class U6 Series TV is $529.96 (originally $847.99), the lowest price it has been, according to price-checking tools. 65" Hisense U6 Series 4K Mini-LED QLED Smart TV (2025 Model) …

Hey, would you mind doing me a favor real quick? If you're on an iPhone, can you double check that you've got RCS chat enabled for me? Thanks, I appreciate it. See, as an Android user, I don't get to use all the fun iMessage features, but RCS lets us share some of them. The only problem is, iPhones seem to sometimes disable RCS for some chats after an update. Or for no reason at all. RCS has been around for a while, but since it needs to be supported on both the carrier and device level, it's taken some time to reach ubiquity. Understandably, you might have seen some chat conversations between iOS and Android users that still default to the older SMS-style texting, and ju…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. A rugged mini speaker is an essential you’ll get use out of all year, from house parties to camping trips. In the warmer months, you can take it to the beach or BBQs, and in the winter, it’s durable enough to handle snowy adventures and warm up with your favorite playlist during a hot shower. The Bose SoundLink Micro 2nd Gen Bluetooth Speaker is a tiny yet powerful option that fits the bill for all of the above, and right now it’s 23% off at its lowest price ever: $99 (originally $129). Bose So…

If you have a Family Account through Google, you might assume you can control what your child can see or do on their device. You can, but, as it happens, only up to a certain point. When your kid turns 13, Google will send them an email, letting them know they can choose to disable your supervision over their account. You get an email too, but they don't need your permission to lock you out of their device. Once they decide they're ready for a relatively complete Google Account experience, it's their choice to make. Despite being Google's official policy, this situation was not common knowledge. Following a relatively viral LinkedIn post about the subject, parents were p…

Are you tired of every application you open offering to install an update before you can use it? Do you wish you could take care of all those updates at once? Updatest is an application made for exactly this. I've talked about Homebrew for Mac, which is a command line tool for installing and updating Mac software. Updatest scans all the software on your computer and updates it using Homebrew, even if you didn't initially install it that way. But there's more. Many applications use an open source tool called Sparkle to offer updates, and Updatest can find and update all of them. The application can also identify applications downloaded from GitHub that have newer releases,…

Microsoft has released its "Patch Tuesday" update for January, and you should ensure your computer receives these security fixes as soon as possible. This update addresses 114 vulnerabilities in total, including three zero-days (bugs that have been actively exploited or publicly disclosed before an official fix is available from the developer). As reported by BleepingComputer, security flaws were found across the following categories: 57 elevation-of-privilege vulnerabilities, three security feature bypass vulnerabilities, 22 remote code-execution vulnerabilities, 22 information disclosure vulnerabilities, two denial of service vulnerabilities, and five spoofing vulnerab…

Customers of automated investment platform Betterment are being targeted with a cryptocurrency rewards scam following a data breach that allowed threat actors to obtain some user data and send fake emails promising huge returns on Bitcoin and Ethereum deposits. According to a Jan. 12 security update posted on Betterment's website (and sent to users via email), hackers gained unauthorized access on Jan. 9 to a third-party platform used for marketing and operations. Following the breach, they sent fraudulent messages to some customers with offers to triple crypto investments. Betterment crypto rewards scamThe scam emails were sent to Betterment users on Jan. 9, soon after…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The expected release of glasses from huge players like Apple and Google has industry analysts predicting sales of smart glasses will rise from six million units in 2025 to 20 million in 2026. In other words, this year is looking like an inflection point, where tech-enabled spectacles make the transformation from tech wear for early adopters to everyday gear for regular folks. Whether you're looking for a pair of audio-first glasses, display glasses, or full augmented reality, here's what to expect from the major players and smaller operators in the smart-glasses space. CES's major smart glasses announcementsThis year's Con…

As someone who regularly switches between the Mac and PC, I really can't live without the PowerToys app on Windows. It adds little missing features that I really like on the Mac, like a Spotlight Search alternative, auto dark mode, screen awake, on-screen OCR (which lets you pull text from images), and more. But the reverse is also true. When I'm on MacOS, I start to miss the little features and commands that I've been used to Windows having for decades now (I started using Windows in school, but was only exposed to macOS when I was in college). It's the little things, like not being able to cut and paste files in Finder. And why must I accidentally open the Music app eve…

Since the days when Google Gemini was still called Bard, it's been able to connect with the company's other productivity apps to help pull context from them to answer your questions—but you still had to connect those apps to the AI manually using extensions. And even after bringing your apps together, you usually had to tell Gemini where to look for your data to get much use out of its abilities. For Instance, if you wanted it to pull information from your emails, you might have started a prompt with "Search my email." Now, Google is making it easier to connect Gemini to its various services, and adding "reasoning" when pulling context from across your Google Workspace. …

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…

Short form videos are addicting. They're also often low quality, AI-generated, misinformation, or some combination of the bunch, and may have a negative impact on our attention spans and mental health. In short, they're just not that good for us. It's bad enough for grown adults to control their scrolling habits, but it's another thing entirely for children, which poses quite the a challenge. It's easy enough to ban short-form video apps entirely, like TikTok. But what about apps that have short-form content as just one pillar of the overall package? Take YouTube: You might not mind your child having limited access to the app or site to watch long-form content you approve…

DIY fixes around the house can save you a lot of money and headaches—with few basic skills and a few basic tools, you can tackle a wide range of home projects while other folks pay professionals enormous amounts of money to get the same work done. But sometimes, you get what you pay for. Professionals may be pricey, but they bring with them a wealth of experience and knowledge that helps them avoid simple mistakes that can lead to real trouble—including code violations. A lot of DIYers tend to skip steps like pulling permits and inspections on the assumption that they’re not necessary for minor fixes, but hacks that seem like clever solutions when you’re DIY-ing can actu…

It's not whoever gets to the flagpole first, but who does it with the most style. Following PlayStation and Steam, Nintendo has finally released an annual recap so you can pour over your Switch and Switch 2 stats for 2025, and as it turns out, even see your playtime data for as far back as when you first booted up a Nintendo Switch system. Mid-January is a bit of a late release for one of these annual recaps, and last year's Nintendo Switch Year in Review came out in mid-December. However, since Metroid Prime 4 came out pretty shortly before that, I can see why Nintendo might have opted to wait this year. Plus, the delay gave people who got Nintendo Switch 2 systems for t…

If you're a Verizon customer who's noticed your phone shifting into SOS mode throughout the day, there's now an official explanation: As confirmed by Verizon itself, the carrier has been facing a nationwide outage throughout the afternoon. "We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers," Verizon said to Lifehacker sister site Mashable. "Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience." The company also posted an acknowledgement over on X, while on popular service interruption tracking website Downdetector (whi…

Age-verification is all the rage these days. Governments around the world are putting the pressure on tech companies to make sure users are actually the age they should be in order to access their services. Sometimes, that means uploading an ID to prove your age; other times, it involves an AI system guessing how old you are based on your appearance, activity, and behavior. Roblox is the latest platform to roll out new age-verification rules, following intense criticism from parents, researchers, and even attorneys general, who, among other claims, assert that Roblox enables predators to connect with children via the platform. In response, the company announced new age-ve…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. JBL portable speakers are popular for two simple reasons: They sound great, and they stand the test of time. I've had my JBL Charge 3 for years, and it's still thumping powerful beats just like when I first got it. If you get a chance to buy an older JBL speaker at a discount, you can rest assured you're getting a quality product at a good price—and that's what Woot is offering right now. You can currently pick up a new JBL Flip 6 at a 46% discount, bringing it to $69.95 (originally $129.95), the lowest price it has ever reached according to price t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. While I was covering CES, the big consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, I gave myself a side quest: try on every exoskeleton I could find. I kept seeing them at booths and events, promising to help me walk farther without fatigue, or reach my athletic potential as I'm (judging from their marketing videos) sprinting up a mountain. I ended up testing six of them—four assisted me at the hip, one at the knee, and one at the ankle. Exoskeletons first landed on my radar as I was considering products for the Best of CES awards. I was helping to judge "age tech"—devices designed to help people as they age—and devices that assist…

Say what you will about AI (and I've said plenty) but the progress in transcription and speech-to-text software is genuinely impressive. Whereas before such software was either clumsy or expensive, there are now all kinds of great open source tools that work well. Which brings me to Pipit, a free Mac dictation app that works offline, meaning it's totally private. Even more interesting, it can be used to do more than just transcribe speech—it can launch apps, toggle settings, and even launch a web search or query an AI service. The first time you open the application, it will ask for permission to use your microphone before downloading the Parakeet model for offline transc…

If you have Verizon, yesterday might have been a bit chaotic. The wireless carrier's coverage was down for large swaths of the country for much of the day, leading to confusion, frustration, and, for some, conspiracy theories. I saw some users on X post cryptic messages like "This is how it starts," and "These are the end times." It's good to know in times of service disruption, we can all keep a level head. But despite claims to the contrary, the world didn't end yesterday, and Verizon fixed the issue. The company issued a statement at 10:20 p.m. ET, confirming the outage had been resolved, and that Verizon would contact affected customers directly to issue account cred…

Yesterday, your phone might have been borderline unusable—at least, when you were away from wifi. That was due to Verizon's nationwide outage, which impacted roughly two million customers across the United States. If you were among them, you couldn't use your phone when you were on the go, which is sort of the idea behind cellphones in general. This included the ability to use navigation apps in your car, send emails or messages for work, or make calls outside of SOS mode, which basically limited you to emergency services. Worse, some users are still experiencing issues this morning following Verizon's official resolution, though there's likely a quick fix for that. I don…

If you're subscribed to Spotify, start checking your inbox. The music streaming service is sending emails to customers letting them know about yet another price hike coming next month. To Spotify's credit, the price hike is pretty minor. But starting on whatever your February billing date is, individual premium plans will jump from $11.99/month to $12.99/month, while student plans will go from $5.99/month to $6.99/month. More extensive plans will see a slightly more costly jump. The Duo plan, which gives premium access to two people at the same address, is going from $16.99/month to $18.99/month. The Family plan, which gives premium access to up to six people at the same…

If you receive a warning on a LinkedIn post that your account has been restricted, don't engage with it. Scammers are using LinkedIn branding in official-looking "reply" comments to spread phishing links intended to harvest users' login credentials. As reported by BleepingComputer, this impersonation campaign relies on fake company pages and LinkedIn's official link shortener to trick users into "verifying" their identities on a domain run by threat actors. Here's what to look for. How LinkedIn reply comment phishing worksScammers are replying to posts on LinkedIn with messages claiming that users have in some way violated the platform's policies. The comments include a…