Setting Up Your Home Office

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Sony HT-Z9F is down to $419.99 on Woot, a steep drop from its original price of $899.99. At this price, it becomes a far more accessible way to upgrade your TV audio without committing to a full AV receiver and multi-speaker setup. The deal is available for the next 16 days or until it sells out, whichever happens first. Prime members receive free standard shipping, while non-Prime customers pay $6. That said, shipping is not available to Alaska, Hawaii, APO addresses, or PO Boxes, and the purchase includes a 90-day Woot limited warranty. Discov…

Ring isn't having the week it probably thought it would have. The Amazon-owned company aired an ad on Super Bowl Sunday for "Search Party," its new feature that turns a neighborhood's collective Ring cameras into one network, with the goal of locating lost dogs. Viewers, however, saw this as a major privacy violation—it doesn't take much to imagine using this type of surveillance tech to locate people, not pets. The backlash wasn't just isolated to the ad, however. The controversy reignited criticisms of the company's partnership with Flock Safety, a security company that sells security cameras that track vehicles, notably for license plate recognition. But the partnershi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you own a home with an unfinished attic, you’ve probably thought about all that precious space and how you might make it more useful. Your attic already serves an important purpose in temperature and moisture regulation in the house, of course, but that doesn’t mean it can’t do more. If you’ve got the budget, you can transform an attic into a bedroom or office space, or a crisp, well-lit storage option. If you don’t have the budget to really build out your attic, though, you can still make it into a more useful space, even if it’s small or slightly scary. With just a few modest purchases (and possibly some sweat equity)…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Presidents' Day sales are around the corner, and the deals are coming in early; right now, Amazon has the latest Kindle Paperwhite from 2024 in "Like-New" conditions for $114.99 (originally $143.99). This Paperwhite in new condition would cost you $159.99, making the refurbished version a much cheaper choice to get while it lasts (discounted Kindle Paperwhites usually sell out quickly). Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 16GB 7" eReader (Like-New, Black) …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Augmented reality smart glasses blend digital content directly with the physical world, enabling hands-free device use, but a persistent pain point remains: Low brightness can make them unusable in certain settings. Many models max out at 400 to 600 nits, but a rare few exceed that, making them more practical in different conditions—like the Viture Luma Pro AR glasses, which can hit 1,000 nits of brightness. Right now, the Viture Luma Pro AR glasses are over $200 off during Amazon's early President’s Day sale, bringing them to an an all-time low of…

Anthropic's Claude is an AI bot that keeps up a steady pace when it comes to pushing out new features, and the latest upgrade of note sees three useful features make their way down to free users, having previously been exclusive to the paid-for plans. If you're choosing between AIs and comparing the features available on the free plans, then there's now more of a case to be made for choosing Claude over a competitor like ChatGPT or Gemini for your next batch of AI tasks. The three new features now available to free users on Claude are file creation, external plug-ins called Connectors, and bundles of instructions called Skills. Here's how you can make use of them. File cr…

This week we're taking a look at some hyper-specific cultures within the larger youth culture. They run the gamut from the truly disturbing Looksmaxxing community, to the strange world of hardcore audiophiles, to the nostalgic domain of the bebot girls. What's a bebot girl? I'm glad you asked! What is a "Bebot Girl"?TikTok is being taken over by Bebot Girls. "Bebot" is Filipino slang from the 2010s that means "babe" or "baddie." The bebot girl trend is posting videos of the transformation from a regular person to a bebot, that is, a Filipino baddy from the 1990s. This is usually accomplished through period-appropriate makeup like heavy bronzer, frosty inner eyes, and str…

AI-related changes to Notepad—yes, that Notepad—allowed attackers to execute arbitrary code on your computer. The vulnerability was related to Markdown support, which was added last year. Markdown is a simple way to add formatting, including links, to plaintext documents—and links were the source of the vulnerability. "An attacker could trick a user into clicking a malicious link inside a Markdown file opened in Notepad, causing the application to launch unverified protocols that load and execute remote files," according to the security response notice. Markdown has long been popular in certain parts of the internet—anyone who occasionally comments on Reddit or chats usi…

We're heading toward the back half of February—and according to your weird aunt on Facebook, this is an unusual, maybe magical month. Some say it is a "miraclein," a lucky calendar configuration that only occurs once every 823 years. Others say February 2026 is a "perfect month." Some say it is the beginning of an extremely unlucky year. Some say that a late-month planetary alignment will cause great upheaval. The February 2026 "miraclein"Though it is not a word used by astronomers (or even astrologers, to my knowledge), some are describing this month as a "miraclein," a month in which every day of the week falls four times during the month. This only happens every 823 y…

If you're an Android Auto user, you may already know that setting up phone notifications while you're driving isn't as straightforward as it could be—though Google has recently made a settings tweak that should simplify things. On the one hand, you don't want to miss important messages or calls, but on the other you definitely don't want to put yourself and other road users at risk by getting distracted while driving. A careful balance is needed, and it's important to know what options are available on your phone. If you're a Pixel user, Do Not Disturb is handled by Modes, which you can find by tapping Modes in Settings. Pick Driving, and if you enable the While driving t…

I've spend more time than I care to admit researching Selena Gomez today. The 33-year-old pop singer and star of Only Murders in The Building is at the center of an elaborate online conspiracy theory that been building steam all week. Why? In brief, many people online seem to believe Selena Gomez is a clone. Why people think Selena Gomez is a cloneIt started with the Epstein files. Last week, videos started showing up on TikTok claiming Selena Gomez was mentioned in the Epstein files. She was, but Gomez wasn't corresponding with Epstein; her name is mentioned in a July 21, 2017 message between Jeffery Epstein and Lana (NAME REDACTED) in which Epstein writes, "sorry , you …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. On paper, the Samsung Galaxy S26 lineup seems like a pretty standard upgrade. The phones have received a new chip, some new AI features, slight bumps to the battery life and charging speeds (depending on your model), and even a fancy new gimmick in the Privacy Display. But once you add one of these new handsets to your cart, you'll notice another detail that's changed: Two of the Galaxy S26 phones cost $100 more than their Galaxy S25 counterparts did at launch last year. We were all hoping it wouldn't happen, but as AI demand makes components like storage, memory and even displays more expensive, the first major tech launc…

Instagram will soon alert parents if their teen repeatedly searches for content related to suicide and self-harm on the platform. According to an announcement from Meta, these notifications will be available to parents in the U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada who supervise their teen's accounts starting next week. As TechCrunch reports, this feature is being rolled out amid numerous lawsuits over how Meta and other tech companies have failed to protect kids and teens across their platforms. How the new safety alerts workInstagram will use teens' search activity to generate alerts. Searches that are flagged include "phrases promoting suicide or self-harm, phrases that sugg…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Right now, those in the Samsung ecosystem can take advantage of a pre-order deal on a brand-new Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra unlocked phone. $1,299 discount is the standard retail price, but Amazon is offering a free $200 gift card to sweeten the deal on the phone, which officially releases on March 11, 2026, and is available in four colors. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Unlocked Android Smartphone + $200 Gift Card …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you own a home, it's never a bad time to be thinking about its curb appeal. That's a given when it's time to sell, but making a series of smaller upgrades over time will leave you with less to worry about once it comes time to list it, at which point you'll probably be more focused on interior renovations. Plus, that way you'll get to enjoy coming home to a prettier, well-kept exterior every single day until then. The math around the cost of improvements and their potential return on investment is always complex, but less so when the upgrades don't cost much to begin with. You can handle a lot of projects yourself in a…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. This winter is looking rough, with one of the biggest winter storms hitting nearly half the U.S. this weekend. It's safe to assume many people will be without power, especially those in cities without the proper infrastructure to take on record-breaking winter storms. A power station is a great device to keep the lights running in a pinch—and the standalone Anker SOLIX C1000 is 41% off, with the options with Solar Panels going for up to 56% off right now. Mashable voted the Anker SOLIX C1000 the best one for most people. …

When Google acquired Fitbit in 2021, it announced that all users would eventually need to link their devices to a Google account to continue using Fitbit's features and services. Google initially set a deadline sometime in 2025 for the mandatory migration, then pushed it to February 2, 2026—a date that seemed final at the time. Now, Google has granted yet another extension. Now, if you're still using a legacy Fitbit account (an account from before 2021), Google has extended the deadline for migrating Fitbit accounts to Google accounts for the second time, giving users until May 19, 2026, to make the switch. How to switch over to a Google accountFor those who've been proc…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Nothing’s Ear (a) earbuds launched at $109, which always felt a little ambitious for a midrange pair trying to punch above its weight. But at their current sale price of $58.99 right now, their lowest price to date (according to price trackers), they’re in a range where the design, sound quality, and software finally make sense for the money. Nothing Ear (a) Wireless Earbuds with ChatGPT Integration, 45dB Hybrid Noise Cancelling Earbuds, Hi-Res Audio, Advanced Equaliser, Dual Connect, 6 Mics, …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Memphis city council members Pearl Eva Walker and Yolanda Cooper Sutton (and many other people online) say that snow is fake. Sutton recently posted a video on her Facebook page to demonstrate the artificiality of snow. Over footage of her husband holding a snowball and a lighter, Sutton says, "So we decided to see what was really hitting the ground." Her husband holds a flame to the snowball, and it does not melt. “It’s not melting [it stinks] when you set fire to it OMG, Jesus Christ, what is happening!!!” Sutton asks. In the video's comment section, fellow council member Walker reportedly replied, "man made," and inc…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Cooking can be a creative outlet, a way of showing affection, and a way to take control of your health. But cooking can also be stressful and time-consuming, especially on a weeknight when you're already exhausted from a long day at work and you've got a hungry family (or just yourself) to feed. Ordering in is always tempting, but that gets expensive and can have an adverse impact on your waistline. You might already have some of the more obvious and established time-saving appliances in your kitchen, but you can always shave a few more minutes and adrenaline spikes off your nightly cook. These kitchen gadgets will make co…

Microsoft's February security update is a big one. This latest "Patch Tuesday" fixes 58 vulnerabilities in total, six of which are zero-day flaws. As a reminder, a zero-day is a vulnerability that has been either actively exploited in the wild or publicly disclosed before an official fix is released by the developer. As BleepingComputer reports, security flaws were found in the following categories: 25 elevation-of-privilege vulnerabilities, five security feature bypass vulnerabilities, 12 remote code-execution vulnerabilities, six information disclosure vulnerabilities, three denial of service vulnerabilities, and seven spoofing vulnerabilities. Three of the elevation o…

It’s tempting to think that an LLM chatbot can answer any question you pose it, including those about your health. After all, chatbots have been trained on plenty of medical information, and can regurgitate it if given the right prompts. But that doesn’t mean they will give you accurate medical advice, and a new study shows how easily AI’s supposed expertise breaks down. In short, they are even worse at it than I thought. In the study, researchers first quizzed several chatbots about medical information. In these carefully conducted tests, ChatGPT-4o, Llama 3, and Command R+ correctly diagnosed medical scenarios an impressive 94% of the time—though they were able to recom…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. An ultra-wide curved gaming monitor with ridiculous specs is every gamer's dream, but they (usually) don't come cheap. The 57-inch Samsung Odyssey Neo G9, one of the best ultra-wide gaming monitors on the market, is currently on sale for $1,499.99 (originally $2,499.99 at launch)—that's its best discount this year, according to price-checking tools. Samsung 57" Odyssey Neo G9 Series Dual 4K UHD 1000R Curved Gaming Monitor, 240Hz, 1ms with Dis…

Spending time in a sauna can feel good, but it can also entail a little bit of suffering; after all, if the weather outside were the same as the temperature in a sauna, you’d probably want to hide out in the air conditioning all day. There’s something about unpleasant bodily experiences that makes us think they must be good for us, somehow, and so the sauna has gained a healthful reputation that it doesn’t entirely deserve. Here’s a rundown of what a sauna can and can’t do for you. Saunas don’t burn fatIt is technically true that you can lose weight by sitting in a sauna, but that’s not because your body is torching fat; it’s because you’re sweating, and sweat is made of …

Over the years, Apple Music has improved its algorithmic playlists. There's now an AI DJ, and you can use ChatGPT to generate playlists. With iOS 26.4, which is currently in beta, Apple wants you to make playlists with its own AI tech. The upcoming update includes a feature called "Playlist Playground," which lets you generate AI playlists directly in the Apple Music app—as long as you're running iOS 26.4. How to download and install iOS 26.4I do not recommend installing and running beta versions of iOS on your primary iPhone. Beta software is unfinished, which means you could run into bugs and glitches that may impact how you use your iPhone, or even result in data loss.…