Setting Up Your Home Office

Something you don't see every day: a sports tech company actually giving away premium features for free. Suunto's route-planning tool lets you create and download GPX files without even creating an account. No paywall, no trial period—just open the page and start planning routes. And the tool itself works great. What you can do with the Suunto RouteplannerThe tool packs in everything you'd expect from a paid service, and then some: Route creation that uses different map types (outdoor, satellite, even specialized ones for winter and avalanche terrain) Routing that optimizes for your activity (running, hiking, cycling, mountaineering, roller skating, and more), using actua…

The launch of the Google TV Streamer marked a significant shift for the company's streaming lineup, moving away from the behind-the-TV Chromecast dongles it popularized and introducing a pill-shaped set-top box that blends in nicely on a shelf of tchotchkes. It's hiding a worthy processor, double the memory you'd get from a streaming stick, and enough storage to download what you need to run all of your apps. It even acts as a smart hub, with Matter and Thread built in. It's taken me a long time to do anything with the Google TV Streamer. I reluctantly brought it into my home after realizing something more robust, but dated, like the Nvidia Shield, would be too much to m…

Part of the fun of watching sports is that you don't know what's going to happen. TV shows and movies follow story beats, meaning you can usually get a sense for where things are heading, but sports do not work that way. The totally unexpected can, and does, frequently occur—and that's the reason people keep tuning in, whether their team is dominating or an underdog. Sometimes, though, you can't catch the game live, but still want a bit of that feeling. That's why leagues offer extended highlights, featuring all the key moments, complete with the commentary from the broadcast. These can feel almost like watching the full game, and I love catching up with them the next day…

Hitting 10,000 steps every day is a bullshit goal. Step counts can feel daunting, especially for people who work desk jobs or have physical limitations. The mere pressure to hit 10,000 steps can become its own source of stress—miss the goal by a few thousand steps, and it's easy to feel like the whole day was a wash. Rather than obsessing over hitting a specific step count, consider shifting your focus to a simpler, more achievable goal: sitting less. This reframing is not only easier to sustain, it could be just as beneficial for your health. Why you should break up sitting time"Spending the bulk of your time seated is a major contributor to increasing the risk of heart …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Those of us who only have on-street parking know the frustration of waking up on a snowy morning to find our vehicle completely buried in snow—a situation often made worse by passing snowplows that block it in even more. Digging your car out can be a challenge, but taking a few precautions and having the right tools ready can make it easier. Here’s everything you need to dig your car out when it is buried by snow. Digging your car out from the snow actually begins before the storm hits. Prepping the car ahead of time will make it a lot easier to extract from snow drifts. Here's what you need: Battery blankets. Your battery…

If you're going to go with Android rather than an iPhone for your smartphone, then Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy handsets are the two most high-profile options you've got. There are other Android phones worth considering—from the likes of OnePlus and Nothing, for example—but Google and Samsung are the most well-known. While the fundamental operating system on Pixel and Galaxy phones is the same, there are numerous differences between these two flavors of Android. They're not all obvious, though, unless you spend every day with these handsets, and that can make it tricky to decide whether you're better off going with Google or Samsung. As it happens, I use Pixel and Gala…

I've been using Firefox as my default browser for over two decades now, and during this time, I've learned a thing or two about making the most of its many features. There are some features that are turned on by default that I would recommend turning off, and some simple tweaks you can make that will greatly enhance your privacy and security. Here are all the Firefox hacks I use to make my browsing experience better, so you can try them yourself. Make the home screen truly yoursFirefox pushes the Firefox Home screen as the default whenever you open a new tab. There's nothing particularly wrong about that, but it does come with some unnecessary sponsored content, which you…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The first of a trio of Alice Feeney thrillers getting streaming series adaptations, His & Hers is a glossy, brisk and, perhaps most importantly, twisty Netflix mystery starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal. Thompson plays Annie Andrews, a has-been news reporter who decides to get back on the horse when she learns of a murder in her Georgia hometown. Bernthal is the local detective on the case and—surprise!—he's also her ex. His & Hers is a big hit for Netflix, and a particularly buzzy and bingable example of the form. If you're looking for more of the same after finishing the last episode, here are a dozen more…

January isn't over yet, and Amazon's already set to pay more than $3 billion to U.S. customers across various settlements. If you've bought anything from Amazon recently, keep an eye out: Bezos' baby could owe you some money. How to get Amazon's returns settlementIf you've had difficulty returning an Amazon package recently, you could have a paycheck coming your way soon. As reported by Reuters, the company has agreed to a $309 million cash settlement (in addition to "other benefits") with affected customers, alongside more than $600 million in individual refunds. According to lawyers for the plaintiffs, the settlement as a whole provides more than $1 billion in relief. T…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. As far as smart TVs go, the Roku interface is one of the easiest to use, and with a variety of different lines, it’s also easy to find one that fits your budget. The Plus Series is the brand’s first attempt at making its own television, and it’s a reliable mid-range smart TV that gives users a plug-and-play experience (no Roku stick or box required), solid picture quality, and fast streaming for the price. Right now, the 55″ 2025 Roku Smart TV Plus Series is 30% off at a record-low $348, down from $499.99. …

On Monday, I was introduced to "Clawdbot," the latest AI craze taking over tech social media channels. Clawdbot is designed to be an agentic personal assistant. In layman's terms, that means the bot can perform tasks on your behalf: You give it full access to your computer, and it can organize your inbox, code for you, or clear your calendar (allegedly, anyway). You can also talk to it from a chat app of your choice, like WhatsApp or iMessage, rather than it's own interface. Some people are even buying Mac minis exclusively to run Clawdbot from. If you're wondering where that name came from, it takes after another AI company's product. Creator Peter Steinberger says he w…

There's so much visual stuff you can customize in Android Auto. But Android Auto's capabilities go beyond aesthetics and the apps that pop up when you turn on the car. There's a hidden shortcut switch you can enable to run an action in the car that's programmed on your phone. No matter what car you're driving, if it has Android Auto, the shortcut is there. This is the Custom Assistant Shortcut, and it's been part of Android Auto since early 2021. The feature is worth revisiting now that Gemini is slowly rolling out to replace the legacy Google Assistant on Android Auto. Gemini's natural language processing enables it to handle more complex routines, so you're not just pr…

By default, your Mac doesn't allow you to control the volume levels of individual apps, something Windows has offered for years. If your alerts from messaging apps are too loud, you can either put the Mac in do-not-disturb mode to mute those alerts, or lower the system volume, but that's it. It's not ideal, since lowering system volume also impacts media volume, which can sometimes make it hard to listen to music or hear dialogue in TV shows or movies. If you could separately toggle volume levels per app, that would be ideal. Fortunately, some third-party apps allow you to do this, and this guide highlights the best of them. FineTune: A free Mac app for per-app sound cont…

Many of us choose to upgrade our smartphones every two or three years, while others pick up the latest model every year. But just because it's the norm to swap out your smartphone on a regular basis, that doesn't mean all of us do. Smartphones can last a long time, especially if you maintain it with the occasional battery replacement. But no piece of technology lasts forever. Eventually, something gives out—even if it's just the company that makes it. Even Apple, which usually offers its iPhones a number of years of updates after their original release, drops support for new features after some time. That's why your iPhone XS can't run iOS 26: Apple drew the line here thi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. On Monday, Apple released a new AirTag—but you wouldn't know that from looking at it. The new AirTag is visibly identical to the old one, despite dropping nearly five years later. But the point of this refresh wasn't to introduce a new design, or even a remarkably improved tracker. Instead, Apple added a couple subtle upgrades that benefit new buyers, without displacing existing AirTag users. There are two key improvements here: The first impacts Precision Finding, Apple's system to guide you to lost items. Your device uses its ultra wideband (UWB) chip to give you detailed directions to the location of your AirTag, inclu…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Anker’s Soundcore Liberty 4 NC earbuds just dropped to $56.99 on Amazon, their lowest price yet, according to price-trackers. Normally $99.99, these true wireless earphones have been widely praised for what they offer at this price point. PCMag even named them the best budget earphones of 2023 and gave them an Editor’s Choice badge. That alone makes this deal worth a closer look, especially if you’re looking for a sub-$60 option with solid noise cancellation and more-than-decent sound quality. …

Whether you're a smart TV veteran or are somehow just now setting your first TV with an internet connection, there's a lot to learn. Modern TVs are basically computers, complete with their own operating systems and application ecosystems. That means you can tweak them to run better.—or just the way you want them to. Here are a few tips, tricks, and hacks that every smart TV owner should be aware of. Turn off motion smoothing on your smart TVWondering why every single TV show and movie you watch on your brand new TV looks like a soap opera or a cheap community theater production? It's probably because of motion smoothing. This "feature", which is the default on far too man…

If you filed a claim last year as part of the Siri class action suit against Apple, your payment is on the way. According to the settlement website, class payment distribution began on Jan. 23, and many users on Reddit report that funds have landed in their bank and payment apps over the last several days. If you see a deposit from "Lopez Voice Assistant" or some variation, it's not a scam. The settlement allowed class members to opt for payment via direct deposit (ACH) as well as electronic or paper check, which will be delivered through email or regular mail, respectively. Some class members are reporting that they received their funds via a different method than they…

It's possible the one thing that could universally break smartphone addiction is making social media pay-to-play. Right now, there is zero friction involved in opening Instagram or TikTok, and getting sucked into their algorithms. But add a paywall to those apps, and all of a sudden, I don't have any interest in logging on. If that sounds like it'd work on you too, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Meta will soon test a subscription model for Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. The bad news is that these subscriptions won't be required to actually access the app, or the core features you already know. That will remain free, so we will remain hopelessly …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. At the start of December, Samsung announced its first triple-folding phone, which opens not just once, but twice, unfurling into a massive 10-inch display. It's not the first triple-folding phone to hit the market, but since Huawei is technically banned from operating in the U.S., it's the first planned to officially arrive Stateside. Now the phone, called the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, finally has an official release date. But it also has an official price, and it's eye-watering. Folding phones have historically been pretty expensive, but with a retail price of $2,900, the Galaxy Z TriFold is nearly $1,000 more expensive t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Home security setups tend to get expensive fast, especially when you’re trying to cover more than just the front door. That’s what makes this current deal on the Eufy Security SoloCam S220 4-Camera Pack worth considering. It’s currently down to $179.99 on Amazon—a sharp drop from its usual $399.99, and its lowest price ever, according to price-trackers. At roughly $45 per camera, you’re getting full perimeter coverage for less than the cost of a single premium camera from some competitors, making this a solid value for anyone trying to keep an eye o…

With the monumental winter storm recently covering most of the nation, now seems a good time to look at some cold and winter weather myths and misinformation. You might be freezing, but there's no excuse for being freezing and ignorant. Myth: A blizzard is a heavy snowstormTechnically, for a storm to be a blizzard, it must have these things: wind speeds of over 35 mph and low visibility (under 1/4 mile) for at least three hours. So you could have blizzard from blowing snow, even if no snow is falling, and you could get a ton of accumulation without it technically ever being a blizzard. (Whether it's a snowstorm or a blizzard likely won't matter to you if you're trapped i…

Big changes have come to social media platform TikTok. On Jan. 22, TikTok's operations were passed from Chinese company ByteDance to TikTok USDS Joint Venture, a new entity backed by Larry Ellison's Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and United Arab Emirates-based investment firm MGX. Days later, on Jan. 23, TikTok introduced new Terms of Service for users. So far, the transition has not been smooth. Users immediately raised privacy concerns over the new TOS, taking to X with posts like this: This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Changes to TikTok's privacy policy While TikTok's new terms sound draconian…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Quality power tools are an investment, and if you take proper care of them, they’ll last a long time. It’s not unheard of for someone to have a decades-old drill or a circular saw that was manufactured in a previous century. Even older cordless power tools can maintain their usefulness for a surprisingly long time if you take good care of them and observe proper battery maintenance. But power tools have seen a lot of advancement in recent years. While your old warhorses might still perform their core function well enough, if your drills, saws, and other power tools are five years old or older, it’s time to consider upgradi…

Roku was one of the original names in streaming, and even with so many options now available from Amazon, Apple, Google and others, it remains one of the most popular options thanks to its affordable boxes and streaming sticks and widespread availability as an integrated operating system on some TV sets. The platform is speedy, simple, and supports just about every streaming app out there. If you've got a Roku or two in your life, you may not be using it to its full potential. These tips, hacks, and hidden features should help you go beyond the basic business of launching your streaming apps and get more out of your hardware, whether you've just unboxed your first Roku de…