Setting Up Your Home Office

Americans spend almost $28 billion on interior decorating every year, and there are good reasons why. Our homes are incredibly personal spaces—they’re where we walk around in our underwear, where we talk to ourselves, where we spend intimate moments with our families. That’s why decorating our homes isn’t frivolous—it’s important that the space we live in feels comfortable, usable, and, maybe most importantly, personal. Making your home beautiful while reflecting your personality can seem daunting, though. Design shows on TV offer an impossible standard of supposed taste, and it’s easy to believe that you need a professional interior designer or your house will look tacky…

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. The Apple Watch has a built-in sleep tracker, but it can be hard to find. Here’s how to access it, how to set it up so that it properly records how much sleep you’re getting, and how to understand the results. Does my Apple Watch support sleep tracking? Sleep tracking was introduced with WatchOS version 7 (released in 2020). That version of WatchOS works on watches from Series 3 and newer, paired with an iPhone 6S or newer, with iOS 14 and newer. In other words: The oldest devices that will work are a 2015 phone, a 2017 watch, and 2020 releases of the software that run on them. As long as your Apple Watch isn’t truly anc…

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. Midrange TVs have been getting so good over the last few years that it's getting hard to justify spending two to three times the price for an OLED TV. That has been TCL's goal, since their business model is essentially to kill off OLED TVs by mastering the QLED tech at a relatively low price. TCL's QM7 is the best and latest example of that, which I got to review and put to the test. The 55-inch model is just $479.99 (it was $799.99 during its release), an amazing value for its current price. The 65- and 75-inch are also much cheaper than their laun…

While many X-pats have flocked to alternatives like Bluesky and Threads, there are still plenty of users checking Elon Musk's infamous platform. If you're one of them, you might have noticed something odd today: X is down. Depending on when you see this article, X may be back up and running. But multiple times Monday morning, the platform was unreachable. According to Downdetector, most of the complaints funneled in at three peaks: The first came around 5:41 a.m., the second at 10:11 a.m., and the third around 11:11 a.m., which is when I initially noticed the issues. There are a large number of reports associated with event, as well. Scanning through the Downdetector gra…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Ever since Apple released the latest Apple Watch Series 10 earlier in September, it has been steadily dropping in price; it's currently sitting at $299 (originally $399) after a $100 drop, the lowest price yet, according to price-tracking tools. This price is for the 42mm case, 130 to 180mm size bands, in black, denim, and rose-gold case colors. The bigger 46mm case is down to $329 (originally $429), also the lowest price yet after a $100 discount. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 8 is currently $129.99 on Woot, a massive drop from its usual $499.95 price tag. According to price trackers, this is its lowest price ever—and if you're a Prime member, you get free shipping (otherwise, it's $6). This deal is set to last for the next 27 days or until it sells out, but note that you can't have it shipped to Alaska, Hawaii, or a PO box address. Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 8 …

Saturday, March 8, was International Women's Day. March is a whole women's month, even if Google erased it from its calendar. So I'm taking a look at young women—and not in a creepy way. I want to know: what's up with young women? What are they about? What are their dreams? How are they feeling deep in their hearts? So I'm checking out Reddit's woman-centric corners, listening to Doechii and "Call her Daddy," and consulting some "coochie doctors." The state of young women in two subredditsTo try to get some insight on young women between the ages of 18 and 25 or so, I took a look at some Reddit communities ostensibly made for, by, and about women. I started at Reddit's…

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. When you watch a piece of media produced in a language you don't speak, you have a couple of options. You can, of course, turn on subtitles and follow along by reading. But in some cases, you can switch the audio track to whichever language you speak. This is called the "dub," and it usually requires voice artists to record the lines in this new language—in a way that matches the original tone of the show or movie. This requires time and money, something studios aren't always willing to part with. As such, not everything has a dub. But what if it could? On Wednesday, Amazon announced "AI-aided dubbing" for Prime Video. O…

While they will never have the name recognition of the Amazon Kindle, e-ink devices from Chinese tech company Onyx International—sold under the slightly silly "Boox" brand name—are gaining a cult following in the U.S. I've reviewed three of its e-readers and digital notebooks over the past year, and I'm a huge fan. And if you're reading this article, you probably are too (or soon will be). I love Boox devices not only because they're well built and full-featured (though if you want more of my thoughts there, check out my assessments of the Boox Palma, Note Max, and Note Air 4C). I also can't get enough of their customizability. Nothing makes me crazier than trying to do s…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. While there is something special about a physical book, e-books are a great alternative for reading on the go (and building a library that doesn't take up any space). If you want to read on your phone, tablet, or e-reader, there are a number of options for finding millions of titles to borrow or buy. Your e-reader choice doesn't necessarily limit where you can get e-books, as some of the best e-readers (Kindle and non-Kindle) support a wide range of document formats, which you can convert back and forth using a service like Calibre and Adobe Acrobat, with some limitations. (If you're in need of an e-reader, we've broken d…

I've recently rented a car in two different states. Both times I was asked if I wanted to pay an extra fee per day to avoid worrying about paying tolls—a crucial issue in some states, like Florida, that no longer accept cash on the road and sometimes won't even allow you to pay online. Both times I declined, and set my Google Maps to "avoid tolls." I was reasonably confident Google would keep me safe from an unpaid toll ticket, but my heart still skipped a beat when, a few weeks ago, I got a text message letting me know I had unpaid I-Pass tolls from Illinois. But then I took a closer look at the text. Missed toll texts are the latest scamIt turns out that texts purport…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. International Women's Day, in one form or another, has existed since around 1909—placing the holiday's inception roughly in line with the early days of film. It seems fitting, then, to take a look at movies that examine and celebrate the accomplishments (and trials) of real women in history. This isn't an exhaustive list of movies about women who've changed the world (or at least changed their worlds), and there are plenty of very important women whose lives have never been touched by filmmakers (and others, sadly, with movies that aren't streaming—I'm looking at you Hypatia of Alexandria and Agora). But, like Internationa…

There’s something magical about having a pool you can just dip into any time you want. That’s why it’s estimated there are nearly 11 million pools in the U.S., most of them residential. But pools are expensive. Aside from the price of installing one, it can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 annually to own and maintain a pool, which is why it’s often advisable not to add a pool to your home if you’re thinking of selling it someday. If your house already has a pool, or you want those summertime pool parties more than you want your money, you can at least cut down on those pool maintenance costs with a few simple steps. Use a pool coverOne of the easiest ways to lower you…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Apple just casually announced the new M4 MacBook Air with sales beginning on March 12. While that may be exciting news for anyone looking to get the latest and greatest devices, it can also be a boon for anyone hunting for deals. After new products launch, there tend to be some great discounts on earlier models to help clear inventory. Apple unfortunately has a pretty controlled sales market, so finding new units of earlier models may be difficult. But if you’re familiar and comfortable with the wide world of refurbished products, you can find some …

Earlier this week, I proclaimed the brand new M4 MacBook Air the best MacBook for most people. In short, that's because Apple packages everything that's already great about modern MacBook Airs with its latest M4 chip, all for a fantastic MSRP of $999. The thing is, the M4 chip itself isn't brand new: Apple first rolled it out with the iPad Pro last May, before introducing the M4 MacBook Pro in October. Before this week, Apple had cemented the MacBook Air as the previous generation brand: If you want an entry-level Apple computer, you could buy the M2 MacBook Air for $999, or the M3 MacBook Air for a little more. If you wanted M4, well, that's "Pro" territory. M4 vs. M4No…

With tax season in full swing, smart filers are looking to maximize every deduction available to them. We're all familiar with common tax deductions like mortgage interest, charitable donations, and retirement contributions. However, there are plenty of unexpected deductions and other little-known uses for pre-tax money. Andy Phillips, Vice President of H&R Block’s Tax Institute, shares some more unexpected facts about deductions. For instance, people who are wrongfully incarcerated may be able to exclude settlement money they receive to compensate them. And if you’re just starting to repay your student loans for the first time, you might not know that most taxpayers…

My Apple devices have over 55,000 items in the Messages app. This includes texts, voice notes, photos, videos, gifs, and other attachments sent and received on multiple devices. Over time, Messages has threatened to become the second-largest occupier of my precious storage space, right after Photos. Fortunately, I took action at the right time to start getting rid of the cruft I don't need. I told myself that I don't need to be an iMessage archivist and I can begin letting go of some messages to free up some space. Here's how you can get rid of unnecessary items from iMessage to free up space on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and iCloud. How to quickly free up iMessage storage s…

After months of beta testing, DuckDuckGo's AI integrations are going live for everyone and getting some upgrades at the same time: They're free to use (with certain limits), and stay in line with DuckDuckGo's commitment to user privacy (you don't have to create an account to use them, and your searches aren't tracked). As with Google, Bing, ChatGPT, and others, you can now get AI answers to your web searches at DuckDuckGo. They appear in a small box with an Assist label attached, but they aren't as prominent and don't show up as often as they do on Google or Bing—DuckDuckGo is aiming for a less-is-more approach to the feature. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Nintendo Switch Lite is already a solid pick for gamers who prefer a portable console, but this deal on Woot makes it even more tempting. For $164.99 (for the next two days or until it sells out)—down from its usual $199—you’re getting an open-box Singapore model that’s been fitted with an official Nintendo USA power adapter. That means functionally, it’s the same as the U.S. version, and it plays all U.S. and international Switch games without any issue. The only catch is that it's an open-box deal, so while it’s brand new, the box has been ope…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you own a Lectric XPeak 2.0 e-bike, it's possible to modify a ton of aspects of the bike right from the onboard screen, including changing the top speed, adjusting the throttle and pedal assist, controlling the lights, and more. But these settings are not readily understandable from the display alone, so here's a step-by-step guide to how to change settings on a Lectric e-bike, as well as some suggestions on which settings you should change, and which you definitely shouldn't. (You can check out my review of the Lectric XPeak 2.0 right here.) How to adjust the settings on a Lectric XPeak 2.0 e-bikeHere's how to access t…

Google's first Pixel Drop of 2025 happened this week with a long list of upgrades for the company's flagship phones, tablets, and watches. Google followed the update closely with the March 2025 Android Security Bulletin, with fixes for 43 malicious bugs—including two zero-day vulnerabilities that may actively be under "limited, targeted exploitation" on devices running Android OS. The patches cover concerns ranging from flaws that allow attackers to gain remote code execution on vulnerable devices to issues with Qualcomm and MediaTek components. The two zero-day (highest severity) exploits are labeled CVE-2024-43093 and CVE-2024-50302, both of which are "privilege escalat…

There are nearly two million apps on the iOS App Store, and a lot of them aren't worth your time. That's why many of us, when considering a new app, turn to reviews: You want to see what other users' experiences were like with the app—whether they loved it, liked it, or loathed it. Personally, the current review system works fine for me. I scan some reviews, and generally get a sense of whether the app is right for me. If I'm feeling particularly analytical, I'll even adjust the filters, perhaps to see which reviews are most critical (so it's not just a bunch of fluff) or ones that are most recent, to see what customers thought of the latest version of the app. But it's…