Setting Up Your Home Office

You may have heard of people—elderly folks in particular—getting a heart attack from shoveling snow. This is a real risk for a lot of people, especially if you are sedentary and have certain health conditions. Here's a breakdown of what’s so dangerous about shoveling, and who's most at risk. Snow shoveling is hard exerciseThe connection between shoveling and cardiac events is real: The American Heart Association cites several studies that found higher rates of heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths after snowstorms. Shoveling is hard work, and it can cause your blood pressure and heart rate to rise far higher than levels that are considered safe for sedentary people wit…

Since early Thursday morning, Bluesky has been experiencing intermittent downtime. It's not unusual for a platform to go through outages, of course. If you check in with Downdetector every now and then, you'll see how often users of websites big and small report issues with the service. In most cases, some bug or small issue has gummed up the works behind the scenes, and it doesn't take long for the platform's engineers locate the problem and issue a fix: downtime over. But that doesn't seem to be the case with Bluesky—at least, not this time. Bluesky was hit with a DDoS attackOn Thursday at 7:47 p.m., Bluesky posted an update on its official Bluesky page. The post says …

I don't mean to be alarmist, but I do think it's time to start assuming everything you see online is fake. The internet is full of content produced by real people, of course (this article included). But AI-generated media is getting so realistic, that it almost puts you at a disadvantage to presume the content you're scrolling past on your feeds is legitimate. Don't skip this article because you know what AI content looks like—the current stuff your algorithm delivers to your social media feeds is easy to spot if you know what you're looking for. But even if you can identify AI slop the second it hits your eyeballs, you need to know you're not ready for the next wave of…

If you bought a Windows computer in the past couple years, there's a good chance that it a "Copilot" key where the right ctrl key used to be. But what if you actually used the right ctrl key? Or what if you prefer Claude or ChatGPT to Copilot? Whatever your reason for not loving the Copilot key, don't worry—you can change it. Here's how to do so in the Windows settings or, if necessary, using Microsoft Powertoys. How to change the Copilot key in settingsOpen the Settings application and head to the Personalization section. You should find a Customize Copilot key option here, assuming you're using a recent-ish version of Windows 11. Click the drop-down menu and you'll have…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Smart home technology has really changed the way we live and work in our homes, giving us more control over our environment and appliances. We can now adjust the climate, monitor our resource consumption, and stream our media anywhere in the house with a tap of the finger or a few spoken words. But that convenience and power has come with a cost, and that cost is the, well, aesthetic of some of that smart tech. Smart devices are often clunky plastic monstrosities that insist upon taking over more than their fair share of flat surfaces. If you’re hoping for a more elegant, analog look—while still enjoying the benefits of mo…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Pomodoro technique—so named for the tomato-shaped timer its originator used to track his own work schedule—is widely considered one of the best productivity techniques out there. That's why I've recommended it a lot in the past and why it regularly appears on best-of lists of productivity methods. It's simple: Set a timer for 25 minutes (or use a specially designed app) and work on a task for that amount of time, then take a five-minute break before setting the timer and working again. After four 25-minute cycles, you get a longer break. In theory, this keeps you both motivated and clear-headed. Beloved as it is, it d…

Back in December, Sony rolled out themes for the first time on PS5. While the selection was nowhere near the variety offered by other consoles, they were enticing all the same: These themes were modeled after the UI designs of all previous PlayStation consoles, including the PSOne, PS2, PS3, and PS4. These themes are, frankly, really cool. They adopt each console's unique sound design, like the clicks you hear when switching between menu items. If you had a PS3 back in the day, you'd probably like the wave background this PS5 theme adds here. Similarly, PS2 fans would appreciate the second generation's menu shapes. If you had a particular favorite, you could inject a lit…

You can now use Siri with added ChatGPT on your iPhone, but Google is keen for you to use its Gemini AI bot instead: A few months ago, an official Gemini iPhone app was launched, and now we have some lock screen widgets to go with it. While you can't swap out the iPhone's default digital assistant entirely, as you can on Android, these six new lock screen widgets do give you easier access to Gemini on iOS, and are handy shortcuts if you prefer Google's AI. The widgets are available to you whether or not you're paying $20 a month for Gemini Advanced. To make use of these widgets, you first need Google Gemini for iOS installed. Launch the app after it's been downloaded, and…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. That didn't take long. The M4 iPad Air just came out today, and you can already pick one up at a (small) discount. The wifi 128GB version of the new iPad Air is currently $749, down from $799. While $50 or $800 is not a big discount, the fact that Amazon is cutting the price on Apple's latest flagship iPad on its release day is unusual. This price cut applies to the bigger 13-inch model, while the smaller 11-inch model iPad Air is $559, $40 off the list price of $599 and matching Walmart's pre-order deal. …

Software updates are great when they make features better, but that doesn't always happen. Case in point: a recent Google Pixel update that's brought in a flurry of complaints. One of the least popular changes altered how Pixels handle the Do Not Disturb feature. Previously, you could swipe down from the top of your Pixel's screen and press the Do Not Disturb button in quick settings to toggle it on or off. The March 2025 update changed that, forcing you to make multiple taps to activate or deactivate Do Not Disturb on your Google Pixel smartphone. Plenty of Google Pixel users took to Reddit to complain about this change. Fortunately, there are easy ways to fix this behav…

The Mail app on iPhone got quite a visual overhaul in iOS 18.2. Suddenly, there was a whole AI-powered Priority mailbox, smart Categories up top, and an icon from every sender. For longtime Mail app users on the iPhone, that's a big shift—with seemingly minimal returns. The contact photos feature is perhaps the worst offender here, as most icons are just stock Apple icons. Even if you get an email from Lifehacker, it won't show the Lifehacker website logo, like it does when you visit the website in your browser. And this is the case with the vast majority of email addresses. …

You need to use a lot of quotation when discussing AI. There's "intelligence," of course, but also "thinking," which these days usually refers to a specific type of model that breaks requests into multiple steps and takes longer to process (or "think through") them. Thinking models are nothing new, but if you use Gemini, you do have new thinking "levels" to choose from when using non-thinking models. Here's how it works. As spotted by 9to5Google, there's a new "Thinking level" option at the bottom of the model selector in Google's Gemini app for iOS and Android. To be clear, this isn't the "Thinking" model listed under "Gemini 3," as this model has been available for som…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Amazon's Big Spring Sale continues to march on. Within this sale, you can find deals on a range of different tech items, including laptops, power tools, fitness trackers, and even smart home devices. Computerized smart homes went from a science fiction dream in the 1970s to a full-time headache and money pit in the 2000s, but in 2026, we've finally hit the sweet spot, where you can fully automate your home without spending your life savings or needing a degree in programming. Thanks to the arrival of Matter-compatible gear and some serious discounts…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Building my garage gym is one of the best investments I’ve ever made. No matter the weather, or the traffic, or how much time I have available on a given day, I know I can always get to the gym (my gym) and get a workout in. If you’ve been thinking of setting up your own home gym, the Amazon Big Spring Sale is a good time to start buying the essential pieces. Here are my picks for what I’d get if I were just starting out. Some notes before I dive in: Everybody’s needs will be different, so feel free to skip any items that don’t fit the way you like…

While Android has automated, built-in backups for plenty of data, including photos, apps, and settings, local files have been excluded. In order to ensure you don't lose PDFs, documents, and other files stored on your device, you have to manually upload or copy them to the cloud or another location. But that's changing, at least in part: the February Google Play Services update comes with a new feature that will copy and upload your Downloads folder to Google Drive. This is a meaningful update to Android's backup system, but it has some limitations. Here's what to know before enabling it. How Android will back up your files after the updateAs Android Authority describes…

It finally happened: Threads officially allows you to choose a default feed to see when you open the app, whether that be "Following" or a custom feed you've created yourself. This means that when you open Threads, you'll be able to view posts from the accounts you chose to follow, instead of seeing what the algorithm wants you to. Meta has been testing this feature for a few months, and is now rolling it out to everyone—in addition to a few other new features. How to change Threads' default feed to FollowingThe process of changing your default feed is straightforward. Follow these steps: Open the Threads app on your phone and go to the Home tab. You'll see all your fee…

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…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. YouTube's end screens are useful for creators, but often annoying for viewers. They allow creators to insert links to other content during the last moments of the video. The issue, however, is those links appear as large on-screen elements that cover the video you're watching. While many videos are basically over by this point, some are still going, and you might miss out on the final five to 20 seconds because of the end screen. Now, YouTube is giving you a way to hide these screen—albeit, with a major cave…

It happens to the best of us: You write up a comment on an Instagram post, hit send, and, whoops, realize you made a glaring typo. What do you do? Do you delete the comment, retype it, and submit again, doubling the notifications the poster will receive? Leave it, and hope others will overlook your foolish use of "it's" instead of "its"? Neither option is great, but they're the only two choices you have on Instagram, right? No longer: On Thursday, Instagram announced some exciting news for frequent commenters: Going forward, you'll be able to edit your Instagram comments. Whether you regret one part of your comment, or you only need to fix a mistake, this new feature let…

WhatsApp just announced a slew of updates for iPhone users, playing catch-up with some of the features that have existed on Android for years. With this update, iPhone users can expect multiple accounts, easy cross-platform transfers, an option to only clear the media from chats, and, of course, a couple of Meta AI features to round things off. According to WhatsApp, the update is rolling out now and will be available to everyone soon—though as it's a slow rollout, it might take time before it's live on your iPhone. iPhone users can finally have two WhatsApp accounts at onceThe biggest update here is the addition of multi-account support, something that WhatsApp has been …

While many of us only have one Apple Account to manage, many others have two, and are using both with their Apple devices. I know someone who once created an Apple Account using an employer-linked email address, and at some point, created a second account with their personal ID. Now, they're using two accounts on their devices, with one linked to iCloud and Apple Music, and the other one for all other apps. If you've had Apple devices for a long time, you might have two Apple Accounts of your own. Despite this, Apple didn't allow users to merge purchases onto one account. So, if you wanted to access purchases on an old Apple Account, you needed to sign into it, even thoug…

I really like my Pixel 9a, but there’s one glaring issue with my Pixel that stares at me every time I unlock my phone. And it’s the At a Glance widget on top the screen that Google just won’t let me remove. I like a clean lock screen, and eventually, I got so frustrated looking at this totally uncustomizable widget that shows the time and the weather that I gave up and switched to Niagara Launcher. And if you think that this is just my own pickiness, I can confidently say it’s not just me; Reddit is filled with people complaining about this. But seems like after 10 iterations of Pixels, Google is finally letting people get rid of this widget, clearing space for something,…

Amazingly, your Mac has only just gained the ability to show you a full list of what you've copied. macOS has always allowed you to copy and paste items, but if you copied multiple items back-to-back, there was no way to view the earliest items you added to your clipboard. Sure, third-party apps have filled this gap for many years now, but macOS itself didn't allow you to easily view multiple items stored in the clipboard, until now. With macOS 26 Tahoe, your Mac's Spotlight search has added support for clipboard history, which means that you can view pretty much everything you've copied in the past 30 days. Here's how to set up and use clipboard history on your Mac. How …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Garmin is introducing a feature to many of its watches that Apple Watch users have been able to enjoy for a while. That’s a device passcode, so you can lock your data when your watch isn’t on your wrist. The feature will be rolling out to Fenix, Forerunner, Venu, and Vivoactive users, or you can get it right now with the beta program. Garmin Vivoactive 5 GPS Smartwatch With AMOLED Display (Black) $239.99 at …

When I reviewed the Kindle Colorsoft, one of my biggest points of criticism was how simple the tablet itself is. There's no stylus support or page turn buttons, even though Amazon previously had buttons on the now discontinued Kindle Oasis, and competitors like the Kobo Libra Colour and Boox Go Color 7 are still using them. Until now, that meant that turning the page required you to physically touch the screen, potentially leaving behind a distracting fingerprint. Personally, that's not a major issue to me—I just tap the margins. But it's a major distraction to my husband, who's taken to reading all of his books on his Kobo instead. With its most recent Kindle update, th…