Setting Up Your Home Office

There are times when eggs are non-negotiable in a recipe—like egg drop soup or quiche—but when eggs play a minor role, then why not use a replacement? Egg wash is a prime example. Using it adds color and shine to finished baked goods like dinner rolls and pies, but when eggs are selling at a premium price, it’s hard to justify using an egg wash at all. Finding a good egg wash alternative isn’t only useful for saving a buck, but it can be a handy back-up even when eggs are plentiful. There’s always the occasion where you just ran out, or you have folks coming over that are on egg-free diets. After some browsing on the internet, butter, mayo, milk, heavy cream, maple syrup,…

Do you have a missing 401(k)? It’s more common than you might think. One U.S. Labor Department study suggests that people will have worked a dozen jobs by their mid-40s, with most of those barely lasting a few years. While you have a few options for handling an old 401(k), some strategies are better than others. The wisest path forward is typically to consolidate your old 401(k) into another qualified retirement plan. But what if you can't locate your old 401(k)? Did you forget which company was managing your retirement account? A new federal database should make it easier to track down. Use this new government databaseThis new tool been years in the making, as a part of …

Android, unlike some phone operating systems, allows users to install software from outside the default app store (even if you don't live in Europe). And that's good, because there's all kinds of great software that you can't get on Google Play. The game Fortnite is a prominent example—that game's developer, Epic, doesn't want to pay Google a cut of sales and as such isn't available on Android's main app store. Other apps aren't available because of Google's interests—for example, there's an ad-free, privacy respecting YouTube client that you can't find on Google Play. If you've never installed Android software without using Google Play, however, you might not know where …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Apple Watch Series 8 (GPS + Cellular, 45mm) is now $329.99 on Woot, down from its original price of $749—a $419 discount available for four days or until it sells out. This model comes in a silver stainless steel case with a white band that gives it a premium look and includes a one-year Apple limited warranty. Plus, Prime members get free standard shipping (while non-Prime users pay $6); note that shipping is not available to Alaska, Hawaii, PO boxes, or APO addresses. Apple Watch Series 8 (GPS + Cellular…

If you want to give yourself some grace, you can see tub rings as a sign that you are a person who, at the very least, takes regular baths. Unfortunately, that doesn't make rings any less unappealing to behold. Getting rid of them, unfortunately, isn't exactly an easy task, but I've figured out the two best ways to get it done with the least amount of elbow grease. Why you have a tub ringEvery two weeks or so, I run some water in my tub, splash a little Fabuloso in there, and zhush it around to clean and refresh the tile, but since I started using a new body scrub, the ring buildup has gotten too bad for that to be an effective end-all-be-all in my bathroom-cleaning rout…

You can now use a feature that's very similar to Android's "circle-to-search" on iPhone. While it's not exactly called that, both the Chrome app and the Google app will now allow you to circle text or images to search whatever's in your selection using Google Lens. The limitation? On Android, you can use the circle-to-search feature across your entire phone, but on iPhones, this feature is limited to the Chrome and Google apps. When you've got a webpage loaded in the iPhone Google app, press the three-dots button in the top-right corner and tap Search this Screen. In Chrome for iOS, open any webpage, tap the three-dots button in the bottom-right corner, and select Search …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Like any surface, a wood floor can get stained and dirty, but you have to be really careful with how you clean it. You shouldn't use harsh chemicals, whether your floor is sealed or unsealed, because you don't want to damage the wood itself, but that leaves you with fewer options. I tried two—well, three, but we'll get to that—simple techniques that didn't require any intense chemicals today and they both worked well. Remove stains from wood floors with vinegarFirst, I assessed the stains I was dealing with, which I noticed while cleaning under my couch earlier in the week. They appeared to be leftover from a project I di…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Like most tech products, the Apple Watch has a basic model (the SE), a mid-tier model (the Series 10), and a high-end version (the Ultra 2). But the older Series 9 offers a sweet spot for those looking for a budget mid-tier option. The Series 9 offers many high-end features at a price that's closer to the price of the SE than the Ultra 2, and cheaper than the newer Series 10. Right now, the 45mm Apple Watch Series 9 is $370.99 for the GPS and Wifi version (originally $529), currently matching its lowest price since its release, according to price-ch…

As convenient as the internet is, when big tech companies chase endless growth, that can mean bloat. Nowadays, it feels like every company wants to lure me into an algorithm trap, convince me to use their AI services, or try to make me pay a premium to browse like I used to. One of my favorite tools for fighting back against these trends is Tapestry. It's a timeline app for iPhone and iPad that lets you combine multiple feeds from blogs, YouTube, podcasts, and social media, then view them in chronological order, with a beautiful interface. Essentially, you can use it to make your own curated version of (nearly) the entire internet. Tapestry is designed by The Iconfactory,…

Wireless earbuds are great, but they can be pretty same-y from one brand to the next. Most adopt the classic AirPods design language—small buds, usually with some sort of stem, all of which travel in a charging case. Each has its own list of pros and cons, of course, but the product category has certainly homogenized. The newly announced Powerbeats Pro 2 seem a bit different, though. Of course, these new buds do all the things you'd expect from a pair of $250 headphones: They have active noise cancelling and transparency mode—the latter of which pumps in sounds from the world around you so you can hear what's going on with your earbuds in. They're IPX4 sweat- and water-r…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Do you want to haul out your fridge every time you clean under it? I'm not strong or motivated enough to do all that. Frankly, I'm lazy enough to avoid even moving shelving or furniture unless I absolutely have to. This trick from TikTok allows you to clean under larger pieces—and while you'll still have to yank them out at some point, you can extend the amount of time between your feats of manual labor. Grab a sponge and a spatulaI saw this video on the Washy Wash account a few days ago. In just 14 seconds, it shows how you can easily clean under heavy furniture and appliances with only a sponge and a spatula. …

Text replacement tools, also called snippet managers, are one of those productivity tools everyone needs even if they don't know it. They let you paste any text you want in just a couple of keystrokes and are perfect for anyone who finds themselves typing the same information again and again (so basically, anyone who uses a computer). Whether you answer the same customer question multiple times a day for work or find yourself constantly telling friends about the parking situation at your house, it's handy to have a quick way to paste long bits of information. The Mac has a decent text replacement tool built in, which I mentioned when I talked about how I fixed my worst wr…

On Feb. 11, "volunteer IT consultant" Elon Musk appeared at an Oval Office event to discuss the findings of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency. Among other claims, Musk said that a "cursory examination of Social Security” revealed that people who are clearly dead may be receiving social security benefits. “We’ve got people in there that are 150 years old,” Musk said “Now, do you know anyone who’s 150? I don’t, OK… I think they’re probably dead, is my guess, or they should be very famous, one of the two.” In a later post on X, Musk provided some numbers and joked, "Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security." …

It happens way too often. You install a new, interesting app. The app asks you to grant it permission to your photo library, and you end up granting it full access. That is, after all, the most convenient option. Doing this for a trusted, popular app like Instagram or Slack is fine, useful even. But not all apps are built the same. In fact, researchers have recently found photo-scanning malware apps on the App Store. Yes, malware has started to make its way from Android to the iPhone. Dubbed SparkCat, this is a kind of malware framework that runs in the background, running OCR on all your photos in hopes of finding credentials to your crypto account. But any app that has …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Soundbars typically fall into two broad categories: High-end options like those from Sonos, and the cheaper options that are honestly not worth the money. There is, however, a sweet spot to be found in older models from reputable soundbar companies that were good values to begin with. That's where the Samsung HW-B650 fits, and it's currently $189.99 (originally $399.99), the lowest price it has been since its release, according to price-tracking tools. Samsung HW-B650 …

The Beats Solo 4 came out last summer—they're Beats' latest headphones. Beats are a more affordable alternative to Apple headphones, and you can often find them with substantial discounts. You can now get the Beats Solo 4 for $99.95 (originally $199.95) after a 50% discount. This is matching the lowest price they've been since their release, according to price-checking tools. The Solo Buds and Studio Buds + are also both also seeing their lowest price right now. Beats Solo 4 …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Apple has been top dog in the premium tablet space for years, and the iPad Pro with an M4 chip released last year solidified their dominance. If you've been waiting for a discount on the best-performing tablet you can get, take your pick from the available options: the 11-inch iPad Pro wifi and celular version is $1,099 (originally $1,199), the 13-inch iPad Pro wifi version is also $1,099 (originally $1,299), and the 13-inch wifi and cellular version is $1,299 (originally $1,499). These deals bring all versions down to the lowest prices these iPad m…

The Pixel 9 Pro is the latest and most premium model in the Pixel lineup, and right now, the unlocked 128GB Google Pixel 9 Pro is discounted to $799 (originally $999). That's matching the lowest price it has ever been on Amazon, according to price-tracking tools. The 256GB version is also at its lowest price of $899 (originally $1,099), doubling your storage for $100. so too are the 512GB version, currently $1,019 (originally $1,219), and the 1TB version currently $1,249 (originally $1,449). Google Pixel 9 Pro, 128 GB …

It’s official: Skype is dead. The long-lived (by internet standards) voice-over-internet app has been put out to pasture by parent company Microsoft. Though Skype was once considered the way to call someone online, it's now going the way of Google Hangouts and dozens of other trendsetting apps before it. Come May 5, it’ll officially be replaced by Microsoft Teams. It’s truly the end of an era. Launched in 2003, Skype quickly became synonymous with video calls online, with “skype-ing” entering the lexicon as its own verb. It has supported countless long distance relationships, podcasts recording sessions, and remote D&D games, but after being supplanted by apps like Z…

CSV, or Comma Separated Values, are files used for all kinds of things, from managing large datasets to exporting data to move it between web services. You might think CSV files are just spreadsheets, similar to Excel files, but it's a lot more interesting than that: Open any CSV file in a text document and you'll learn that the "comma separated" thing is literal. Really, these files are just text documents—every line break is a row in the table, and columns are the items in each row, all separated by commas. There is nothing stopping you from editing the values right there in your text editor of choice, but doing so would be extremely annoying. And while you can import …

Artificial intelligence may be threatening to take your job, but the tech can also help you find a new one, Google thinks: It's just rolled out a new AI-powered tool called "Career Dreamer," which leverages AI algorithms to help you identify roles that are suited to your skills and experience. Google says it's worked with groups including students, recent graduates, adult learners seeking a career change, and veterans to help develop the tool. It's part of the wider "Grow with Google" portal, which offers a variety of tools and guides for job seekers and businesses—many of which involve some form of AI. …

Fartleks are a well-known and popular running workout—or at least they’re something runners talk about all the time. But how many of us have gone out and said “I’m doing a fartlek today” and actually followed through with it? The original idea is that the workout is unstructured (the name means “speed play”) so it’s hard to plan one. Here’s what you need to know about fartleks, and some guidelines to setting yourself up for a fun and productive one. What counts as a fartlek run? “Fartlek” comes from a Swedish term meaning “speed play,” and it’s usually described as something you just go out and do for funsies. You choose a landmark—say, a mailbox up ahead—and decide to ru…

Well, here we go again. With TikTok’s future in the United States still uncertain, parts of Congress are already moving toward banning DeepSeek, a Chinese ChatGPT competitor that quickly usurped ChatGPT on the App Store last week. A new bill introduced by Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri would “prohibit United States persons from advancing artificial intelligence capabilities within the People’s Republic of China.” In other words, it would effectively ban DeepSeek, despite not mentioning the AI chatbot by name. Under the bill, anyone convicted of “the import from or export to China of artificial intelligence technology” could be sentenced with up to 20 years in …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Projectors are a great option for some evening entertainment inside and outdoors (once the weather warms up a bit), but they can be a little bulky. If you're looking for a smaller projector you can take with you to a party or a friend's house, consider the Nebula Capsule 3 GTV projector, currently $379.99 (originally $499.99), the lowest price it has been according to price-tracking tools. Nebula Capsule 3 GTV Projector Resolution: 1080p, Streaming: Google …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Growing up, I was obsessed with helping my mom cook. Though she would dabble in making Italian food or try out popular boxed ingredients of the time, most nights featured what she knew best—giant pots of Thai comfort fare and heaping mounds of jasmine rice. My childhood of ad hoc cooking lessons taught me two things: Jasmine rice goes with everything, and anything can taste good with the help of one of five bottled Asian sauces. I'll assume you have the rice covered, so let me tell you about these sauces. Fish sauce This sauce gives you the most flavor bang for your buck. The thin, reddish-brown liquid is made by fermenti…