Setting Up Your Home Office

Shortly after Meta (then Facebook) bought WhatsApp in 2014, it promised to implement a surprisingly un-Facebooky feature: End-to-end encryption. The move was supposed to be a boon for privacy, ensuring nobody could see your messages aside from the recipient and yourself. Even now, WhatsApp's website claims, "No one outside of the chat, not even WhatsApp, can read, listen to, or share [your messages]." However, a new lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco is now claiming that's not the case. According to reporting from Bloomberg, an international group of plaintiffs has sued Meta, saying that the app's claims of end-to-end encryption are a lie. The lawsu…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Soundcore Boom 3i is clearly built with water-first trips in mind. It has an IP68 rating, so it’s fully resistant to dust and water, and it’s also designed to handle saltwater, which in itself is pretty rare even for outdoor speakers. That’s the kind of detail that matters if your idea of “outside” means beaches, boats, or time near the ocean. It also floats, and it does so with the speakers facing upward, which keeps the sound usable instead of muffled when it’s bobbing around. In practice, that makes it less annoying to live with than other fl…

When Apple introduced Liquid Glass to the public in June of last year, it kicked off a saga that's still ongoing. The company's toned down the effect multiple times, and in November, it added controls for tinting it. Some have even found out ways to disable Liquid Glass entirely. It's not a quagmire I'd jump into willingly, but apparently, that's exactly what Android's about to do. According to "images of internal builds" seen by 9to5Google, Android's next update will add significant amounts of blur "across Android 17." "Throughout the OS, you can expect a system UI that switches from solid light or dark backgrounds to a blur effect that allows you to see what's immediate…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The JBL Charge 6 is waterproof, dust-proof, and drop-resistant—and it's selling right now for $129.95 on Woot—$70 off its usual $199.95 listing on Amazon. That deal runs for the next six days (or until it sells out), and Prime members get free shipping. It includes a 90-day limited warranty through Woot, which is shorter than JBL’s standard coverage but still decent. That said, it ships without a charging brick or USB-C cable, which feels like an oversight at this price. JBL Charge 6 Portable W…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Sony's 1000X headphone series has been around since 2016—the WH-1000XM6s are the latest model, released in 2025, and they're the best over-ear headphones I tested that year (and ever, really). Right now, you can get the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones for $398 (originally $459.99), their lowest price ever, according to price-tracking tools. Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When you get serious about your fitness goals, one first step is usually to get your nutrition in order. You want to get enough protein to support your muscles, fruits and vegetables for health, carbs for fuel, and a total amount of calories that supports your activity and your goals without undereating or overeating. Preparing your meals ahead of time ("meal prepping") really helps with that. But meal-prepping has its pitfalls. Maybe you will get bored with your meals. Or maybe you won’t even get that far, and you’ll burn out just from the mental and physical effort of cooking a whole week’s meals at once. With that in m…

I am a self-professed AI skeptic. I have yet to really find much of a need for all these AI-powered assistants, as well as many AI-powered features. The most useful applications in my view are subtle—the rest seem better suited for shareholders than actual people. And yet, the AI believers have a new tool they're very excited about, which is now all over my feeds: Clawdbot. Could this agentic AI assistant be the thing that makes me a believer as well? Spoiler alert: probably not. What is Clawdbot?If you're deep in the online AI community, you probably already know about Clawbot. For the rest of us, here's the gist: Clawdbot is a "personal AI assistant" designed to run l…

Impersonation scams are everywhere: bad actors are constantly trying to convince you that they represent organizations like LinkedIn, PayPal, your bank, the FBI, the FTC, and the IRS as they look to steal your money and information. When it comes to phishing schemes, which typically try to trick you into handing over sensitive data or account credentials via malicious links, tech brands are (perhaps not surprisingly) among the most commonly spoofed. A recent report from Check Point Research found that Microsoft was imitated in nearly a quarter of all branded phishing attempts in Q4 of last year—nearly double the next most-impersonated company. The most popular brands f…

I'm something of a treadmill hater. When I do hop on one, it's only during times when it's truly unsafe to run outdoors. I know that the treadmill brings all the same physical benefits as running outside (because no, it is not “cheating” on your workout). However, I mourn all the mental perks of spending time outside. That's why it's necessary for me to use whatever mental tricks I can to transform a monotonous slog into an actually enjoyable workout. The best part? None of these require special equipment or significant time investment—just small, smart adjustments to your routine. Whatever reason you have for running indoors, here's how to make the most of your time on t…

If you tried hopping on TikTok Sunday, you might have noticed something odd: the app wasn't working. Outages happen, of course, as anyone who has Verizon can attest. But in the moment, theories were flying left and right. TikTok had just officially moved into U.S. control, leading some to speculate that the outage had something to do with this change in ownership. As one user put it, "TikTok being down days after the people they were forced to sell to take it over does not feel like a coincidence." As it happens, it does appear that the changing of the guard was responsible for the outage—just not in the way that some conspiracy theories might suggest. TikTok finally rel…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The JBL Flip 7 is currently $84.95 at Woot, down from its usual $149.95. That undercuts the previous low of $99.95 and, according to price trackers, makes this the cheapest it has ever been. This deal runs for the next two days or until it's sold out, whichever comes first. Prime members get free standard shipping, while non-members pay $6. JBL Flip 7 speaker …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Zendaya is busy. Euphoria, which she produces in addition to starring in, is finally set to return for its third season on April 12, four years after our last visit to East Highland, and nearly seven since it premiered. As frustrating as these between-season breaks can be, they leave plenty of time to explore other tales of the wild lives of high schoolers. It's all relative, though: While growing up in never a picnic, there's drama, and then there's drama. These 15 streamalikes vary widely in tone and style, but they all make clear that being a young person in the 21st century is not f*cking easy. Stream the first two se…

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 pair of basic, true wireless earbuds at a low price and don’t need features like noise cancellation, the Sony WF-C510 earbuds are worth considering. Known for their comfort and balanced sound, these affordable buds check most of the everyday features people are looking for (like Ambient Sound Mode and multipoint Bluetooth) at a fraction of the cost—and right now, Grade A refurbished Sony WF-C510 wireless earbuds is available on Woot for $34.99, which is less expensive than their lowest recorded price on Amazon, according to price-track…

To avoid a court proceeding, Google has agreed to a $135 million class-action settlement over its data collection practices with Android. News of the settlement was first reported by Reuters. Upon approval by a judge, the settlement could see Android users in the U.S. getting up to $100 each, provided they qualify. The settlement was filed in San Jose, California on Tuesday evening, and focused on claims that Google collected unnecessary cellular data from customers even when Google apps were closed, location-sharing was disabled, and screens were locked. The lawsuit alleges that Google collected the data with the intent of "conversion," a legal term that in this case wou…

Phones are valuable targets. If someone can steal your device, especially if they know how to break into it, they have access to a huge amount of your sensitive data. As such, good security features can mean the difference between losing that data, or protecting it entirely—even if your phone is long gone. Google has a number of anti-theft features baked in Android, appropriately called "Theft Protection Features." While the company isn't announcing a slate of new features today, it did announced new updates to its existing Android Theft Protection features in a post on the company's Security Blog Tuesday. Here's what's new: Google's updated Theft Protection Features for …

A recent Google Pixel feature is reportedly turning on the microphone when it's not supposed to, and Google's finally acknowledged that there's a bug. Reports started as early as last September and gained traction last week, and now, Google has removed the feature on some older phones. Called "Take a Message," the buggy feature was released last year and is supposed to automatically transcribe voicemails as they're coming in, as well as detect and mark spam calls. Unfortunately, according to reports from multiple users on Reddit (as initially spotted by 9to5Google), the feature has started turning on the microphone while taking voicemails, allowing whoever is leaving you …

Big news for runners with an Apple Watch: You can now follow Strava routes directly from your wrist. Route navigation on Strava-compatible watches isn't exactly new technology—it's just been inexplicably absent from Apple's platform until now. In a Reddit post from Strava's product team, the news was welcomed by runners, cyclists, and hikers who've long wondered why their Apple Watch couldn't do what Garmin and Coros devices have offered for years. What's new with Strava's Apple Watch appThe core update here is users can now view maps directly on their Apple Watch during activities, seeing both where they're headed and how to backtrack if they take a wrong turn. For subs…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. A 77-inch OLED dipping below $1,500 doesn’t happen often. Seeing it at $1,419.99 is even rarer. That price beats the lowest tracked deal for the Samsung S85F and lands well under Amazon’s current $1,597.99 listing. This Woot deal is for a factory-reconditioned unit. In exchange, you get a 90-day Samsung warranty and free standard shipping if you’re a Prime member, while non-members pay an extra $6. The deal is live for two days or until stock runs out. Samsung OLED S85F 4K Samsung Vision AI Sm…

The Mac menu bar is a bit of a mess. Way too many applications want to put icons in the top-right corner of the screen, and most users only want to see a fraction of those. This is a particular problem on recent MacBooks, where the camera notch blacks out a chunk of space right in the middle of the menu bar. This is why applications for cleaning up the Mac menu bar are so popular—the clutter can feel overwhelming. Here's the thing, though: You probably don't need to leave applications like that running constantly. You can hide icons in macOS' Settings, then use a free tool once to move all the icons closer together. Here's how. How to hide icons in Mac System SettingsTaho…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The 2026 Winter Olympics will kick off in Milano Cortina, Italy, beginning on Friday, Feb. 6. With more than 3,200 hours of winter sports coverage spread across broadcast, cable, and digital streaming platforms, finding what you want to watch can feel like a full-time job. So here's where and when you can watch the Olympics. Watching the Olympics is a deeply personal experience. Some love the technical precision of a perfect luge run; others dig the emotional narrative of an underdog’s journey to the podium; and some just want to catch the meme of the week as it happens. Because everyone's "perfect Olympics" is unique, I’…

Moltbot (formerly known as Clawdbot) is the most viral AI product I've seen in a while. The personal AI assistant runs locally and connects via a chat app, like WhatsApp or iMessage. Once you give Moltbot access to your entire device, it can do things on that device for you. This the sort of thing that excites agentic AI pioneers, but worries privacy and security enthusiasts like myself. And indeed, I have significant concerns about the risks installing Moltbot on your personal machine. Since agentic AI will autonomously perform tasks based on prompts, bad actors can take advantage of the situation by surreptitiously feeding those bots malicious prompts of their own. Thi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Surround sound systems are not cheap, especially if you want to go for flagship options like Bose, Sonos, or JBL. However, one brand offers a complete surround sound system that is still on-par with the rest as far as quality, but offers a much better bang for your buck—that's Samsung's HW-Q990F/ZC, and right now it's 58% off on Woot for a new system. You can get it for $847.99 (originally $1,997.99), the lowest price I've seen it on sale. Samsung HW-Q990F/ZC Soundbar …

If you've been scrolling through your fitness algorithm lately, you might see content creators in their "soft cardio" era. This trend sounds a lot like last year's "cozy cardio," although the way I see it used is slightly different. Where "cozy" cardio is a little more about tricking yourself into working out by establishing a comfortable, maybe even luxurious ambience, "soft" cardio has a greater emphasis on the "low effort" of it all. Whatever the wording, this type of workout is simply the latest iteration of bigger trend toward low-effort cardio, promising all the benefits of exercise without the sweat, strain, or stress. But here's the thing: While soft cardio might …

As scammers continue to find ways to impersonate known brands, users should remain wary of spam-like emails—even if they appear to come from a legitimate company address. Ars Technica has identified a scheme that abuses a Microsoft subscription feature to send phishing emails from no-reply-powerbi@microsoft.com, a real address that the company advises users to add to their allow lists. How the Microsoft Power BI scam worksUsers targeted with this scam have received emails from an address connected to Microsoft Power BI, a business analytics platform. The messages include (fake) billing receipts with large purchase amounts from services like PayPal, Norton LifeLock, and …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When the cold weather arrives, there’s a tendency among homeowners to focus on the interior—namely, our personal comfort and the utility bills. That’s perfectly sensible—no one wants to shiver in their own house, and no one wants to be slammed with an enormous utility bill, either. But the exterior of your house is just as important. Heavy snow and icy buildup during extended periods of severe cold can really take a toll on your house. Snow and ice combined with melt/freeze cycles during sunny periods can do some serious (and often completely silent) damage to your home in a variety of ways, from water intrusion through y…