Setting Up Your Home Office

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When you're packing to move, you have a lot to keep in mind. You may want to think of how to minimize costs and how to get rid of all your extra junk, but what about packing in a way that makes unpacking easier? Few things are more annoying than getting to your new home and needing a specific object—where the heck is that screwdriver?—only to find that your past self's haphazard packing job made things difficult on your current self. You want your transition into your new space to be smooth and even enjoyable, to the extent it can be. Here are some tips to make sure not just that the packing process is easy—but the unpack…

TikTok has had a wild start to 2025. The app was banned in the United States, went dark, then came back online. New users can't download it, since the app hasn't returned to U.S. app stores, but those with existing access to the app (or simply the website) can continue watching videos like the ban never happened—at least, for now. The thing is, ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has owned and operated other apps within the U.S. You might've learned that over the past couple weeks, as other popular apps went dark and disappeared from app stores alongside TikTok. While these apps were not a part of the major discussion around the ban, they all should, in theory, have many…

Paramount+'s February slate includes the return of several highly anticipated series, starting with the season three premiere of thriller Yellowjackets (Feb. 14). The show, which received a handful of Primetime Emmy nominations, follows a group of teenage girls who survived a plane crash in the wilderness into their adult lives. The third installment picks up in the aftermath of a character's present-day death in season two. Fans of the Taylor Sheridan Yellowstone universe are getting the second (and final) season of prequel series and origin story 1923 (Feb. 23), starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as the Dutton family patriarch and matriarch in harsh conditions of …

I enjoy Super Bowl Sunday. I’m not much of a football fan, but my friend always hosts a lovely party with plentiful snacks, and I don’t have to do a thing. You see, hosting a dinner party is one thing—there’s a set meal, and you can plan out the timing—but a party based on hot snacks means lots of upkeep, and frequent refreshing. You need a lineup of snacks that are delicious, easy to prep, and quick to churn out, leaving you plenty of time to yell at the TV. This sounds like a job for the air fryer. Here’s a list of my favorite Air Fryday snacks fit for the big game. Cheese-stuffed biscuit ballsYou know what’s better than cheesy breadsticks? These cheese-stuffed biscuit…

Apple Intelligence brought with it some of the most hyped new features for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac when it released with iOS 18.1. Even now, its functions are being upgraded and currently include writing assistance, an enhanced form of Siri, and AI image generation. Capabilities are limited to the iPhone 15 Pro series, all iPhone 16 models, all iPads running an A17 Pro chip and above, and all Macs with an M-series chip, but that's still a lot of options. However, not everyone's happy with it. That's because Apple recently made the decision to turn Apple Intelligence on by default for all compatible devices. Even though the new features are exciting, not everyone wants …

I absolutely love the Aventon Pace 500.3 e-bike. As I noted in my review, it's a solid all-around bike, powerful enough for experienced riders, but friendly enough for beginners. If this is your first e-bike, there are a few things you should do before you hop onto it and start riding. While the Aventon Pace 500.3 is ready to hit the road as soon as it is assembled and charged, if you want to get the most out of your new ride, you should take a few minutes to pair your bike with the Aventon app and customize the settings. Changing things like the screen brightness and the measurement units is helpful, but you'll probably be most interested in setting your ride's top speed…

Rest days are a standard part of exercise programs, but they’re not the only way to avoid overworking yourself. Contrary to what a lot of beginner advice says, you don't always need a rest day after each day of exercise, and you can even work out seven days a week if you like. But once you start bending the rules, you'll need to take some extra effort to make sure you allow yourself enough recovery, even if it doesn't come in the form of rest. Recovery is important (whether it comes in the form of "rest days" or not)Most strength training programs either work your whole body and then have you rest the next day, or else they have you split up your workouts so that each mu…

Complicated cleaning hacks can be fun projects, but I love a simple one even more—and this one is really simple: You can use the lid of a pot or pan to clean your carpets and fabrics. It works like a charm, which is why it’s been all over TikTok for the past few years. To freshen up your upholstery or carpet, you’ll need: The lid from a pot or pan, with a handle in the center A large microfiber rag A bowl of water Dish soap Depending on what you’re cleaning and how you like to do it, you may want to add a few drops of vinegar or vodka, but otherwise, stick to the cleaning recipes you’d normally use for whatever upholstery or carpet you’re working on. Cleaning the upholst…

It’s been a minute since Lifehacker looked at the slang of Generation Z—long enough that Generation Alpha has had time to develop and spread some of its own special buzzwords and jargon. Below is an alphabetized collection of slang taken from both Gen Z and Gen A, in case someone younger than you says something you don't understand. As with all slang, if you need an online list to know what a word means, you are too old to say it aloud. 304: Hoe. (Type "304" on a calculator and turn it upside down.) 4+4: Ate. Four plus four is eight, or "ate." (See "ate") Alpha male: Taken from animal ethology, an alpha male is the dominant member of a group of males, or just a male who …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Most people won't be able to tell the difference in visual quality between a QLED and OLED TV at a glance, but the difference in price is immediately obvious. The truth is, if you get a good QLED TV, most people will be happy with the picture quality and be happy to pocket the price difference. If you think that applies to you, I think this QLED from TCL is a about as good a choice as it gets. The TCL QM7 is a Quantum Dot Mini Light Emitting Diode (QD Mini-LED) QLED TV, meaning TCL combines QD and Mini-LED tech to improve picture quality with more realistic colors, better contrast, and higher brightness. The QM7 also supp…

Spring cleaning time is around the corner and while you’re prepping your regular to-do list, there are a few things you might be overlooking—we all have blind spots, after all. Let’s go over a few of the places you are likely to forget about so you can add them into your routine. Once you familiarize yourself with these suggestions and tips, you can use this checklist I created in Google Sheets to help remind you about what you might have missed. You can make your own copy out of this doc and open it up every couple of months to check off each of the tasks as you work through them. Most overlooked spots in your bathroomYou already know to clean your toilet (and how not t…

Like storytelling, cooking skills are often passed down from family. You mosey into the kitchen as a kid and watch your parents cut, stir, cook, and bake a few times a day, and that’s how you do it yourself later in life. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with the knife techniques you grew up with, there’s a chance you’re missing out on a few foundational skills. Learning the difference between similar cuts (and when to use each) can help you make progress toward cooking goals that have been hard to reach, like duplicating recipes you’ve seen on the internet. Or maybe you want to work in the food industry—most of the intricate, professional cuts you see in resta…

Thinking about getting a new iPhone? You certainly have options: Apple's latest generation of smartphones, the iPhone 16 series, offers four different models, each with their own plusses and minuses. If you're not set on having the latest and greatest, you could consider last year's iPhone 15, or even 2022's iPhone 14. They're all great. However, there's one iPhone that stands out from the rest: the iPhone SE. Unlike every other iPhone Apple currently sells, this one has a Home button. In fact, the phone looks nearly identical to the iPhone 8 Apple released back in 2017, which itself borrows the design from 2014's iPhone 6. That means it has a smaller, lower quality displ…

If your Garmin watch is showing a blue triangle, you’re not alone—Garmin has acknowledged that other users are experiencing this, and has published instructions for fixing it. The issue affects several models of watch, including Fenix, Epix, and Forerunner watches. As of January 29, they say the issue has been resolved (but your watch may still need a hard reset to make use of the fix.) The company initially told me in an email: “Garmin is researching reports of devices displaying a blue triangle when starting a GPS activity. A reset by pressing and holding the power button may restore functionality. We will provide more information on a permanent fix when available.” Ga…

Tax season is now open, and the last thing you want to do is pay money to, well, prepare your return and pay your taxes by April 15. Thankfully, more taxpayers are eligible to file their taxes for free this year thanks to the expansion of the IRS' new Direct File program alongside its long-standing (but income-capped) Free File partnerships. Here are all the ways to file your taxes for free in 2025. IRS Free FileIRS Free File is one of several free filing options provided by the IRS. With Free File, you complete your tax return using guided software via a partner site, which then e-files it with the IRS. Most commonly used federal tax forms and schedules are available t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. There are so many techniques you can use to help you declutter your home, but they all have the same end goal: reducing the volume of junk lying around your house and organizing what remains. Where these techniques differ is in their methodologies: Some are better suited to larger homes or larger volumes of stuff, for instance. Some are ruthless, while others leave some wiggle room for items you are hesitant to part with. Here are some of my favorite decluttering techniques, so you can find one that will help you downsize with minimal stress. Before you start decluttering, keep these questions in mindBelow, you'll find 1…

On Tuesday, Apple announced Apple Invites, a new app for iPhones that creates custom event invitations "for any occasion." If that sounds a lot like popular party planning apps like Partiful, that's because, well, it is—only, this app integrates with the greater iOS experience, which is likely bad news for third-party competitors. This isn't a surprise to anyone follow Apple rumors closely. As reported by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple has been working on an invite system for iOS, internally referred to as "Confetti." It wasn't clear whether those plans would manifest as a standalone app, or rather as options built-into existing apps like Calendar and iMessage. Of course,…

It’s hard to imagine a time when hotels TVs didn't feel vestigial. Not all that long ago, some made their TVs a selling point, plastering “free HBO” all over their roadside signs. These days, guests are more likely to stick to their phones, sacrificing their room’s beautiful 48-inch flatscreen on the altar of TikTok and YouTube. But with just a little extra work, you can get the best of both worlds and cast whatever is on your phone to your hotel room's smart TV. How to cast your iPhone to a hotel TVThere are official and unofficial options to send what's on your iPhone to a TV. Let’s start with the most legit. Use AirPlay (provided your hotel supports it)iPhones can now…

The next phase of AI evolution looks set to be focused around agents: AI bots that can not only chat to you and draw pictures, but also carry out tasks on your behalf. These new AI tools won't just be able to tell you about the best hotels close to your next vacation destination—they'll be able to make the reservation for you. These kinds of multimodal agents are being worked on by Google, OpenAI, and others, and now Perplexity has announced Perplexity Assistant for Android (as per The Verge, Perplexity says iOS doesn't give apps the necessary hooks into the operating system for an iPhone version to be possible right now). You can find the assistant in the main Perplexity…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. During Samsung's Galaxy S25 Unpacked Stream earlier this week, the new Galaxy S25 Series lineup was announced. They include the Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra. This new lineup arrives on Feb. 7, but preorders are up already. Amazon and Samsung are currently offering the best preorder deals, with an Amazon gift card of up to $200 or a free storage upgrade. The new Samsung S25 phones have a focus on AI features and are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC with 12GB of RAM, a significant improvement over the last version. …

I just learned that one of my favorite ways to pass the time in a hotel gym has been given a catchy name and a celebrity endorsement. It’s the 15-15-15 workout, and it will give you a good 45-minute cardio session even if you cannot stand doing anything for 45 minutes straight. What is the 15-15-15 workout? The 15-15-15 is a simple idea: You just do 15 minutes each on three different cardio machines. Like so: 15 minutes on a spin bike 15 minutes on the elliptical 15 minutes on a treadmill I’ve often done a version of this when I’m at one of those sad hotel gyms with few or no weights, just cardio machines. There’s usually a treadmill, an elliptical, and/or a bike, so I’…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Ever wish you were a runner? Whether you want to follow in our own Meredith Dietz's footsteps and run a marathon, or just want to get a little VO2max boost with something like a Norwegian 4x4 workout, you have to get comfortable with running. You probably have some questions about how, exactly, you “become” a runner, beyond putting on shoes and going outside. Fortunately, we have answers. Here are the most important things to master in your first few weeks. Set some beginner-level goals"Be a runner" is a really vague goal, so think about what that means to you. Do you envision yourself as somebody who goes for a jog every …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Welcome to “Cookbook of the Week.” This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own. Cookbooks don’t really teach you how to cook. Instead they offer a collection of recipes that you (hopefully) like. If you find one, though, with recipes that serve as inspiration for adapting and modifying to create even more new recipes—well, that’s a real gem. The cookbooks I find myself going back to time and again make a wee inspiration library. Sometime…

Not to be out-done by Deepseek, OpenAI is launching a new Deep Research feature in ChatGPT. This is OpenAI's newest Agentic AI feature (after Operator), which builds on the recent trend of making AI more autonomous. According to OpenAI, Deep Research is capable of producing detailed reports matching the level of a research analyst. In a layperson's terms, it browses and interprets the internet for you. Deep Research uses OpenAI's upcoming o3 reasoning model to perform complex tasks, taking its own sweet time to do so. The feature is available now for ChatGPT Pro customers (the pricey sub that costs $200/month), but will soon be available for ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise us…