Setting Up Your Home Office

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Testing the Ikarao Shell S1 karaoke speaker during my review has been one of the highlights of my job as tech reviewer. Now that it's $100 off, reaching the price of $249.99 (originally $349.99) after the on-page coupon, it's at its lowest price ever, according to price-tracking tools. While you might've never heard of the brand before, I can attest that this speaker is quality, and now, it's a bargain for its price. Ikarao Shell S1 Smart Karaoke Speaker Bat…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Bone conduction headphones are ideal for activities where it is vital to your safety to hear your surroundings. That's because they use a technology that sends audio vibrations through to the inner ear while leaving your ear canals open. Shokz is one of, if not the best, brand making bone conduction headphones right now; at the high end of Shokz's offerings is the OpenRun Pro 2, which I got to review and put to the test. But the OpenRun Pro are also quality headphones and are currently discounted on Best Buy for $99.99 (originally $179.95), the lowe…

When Google rolled out AI Overviews for Search last year, it didn't go over so well. The company's AI made some pretty massive mistakes with its results, many of which went viral. In response, Google pulled back the feature, reworked it, and slowly reintroduced it to the masses. You've probably noticed. This month, Google is continuing its work of adding AI to Search—whether you want it or not. First, it's rolling out a new version of AI Overviews that's powered by Gemini 2.0, the company's latest AI model. Google says this update will help with "harder questions," like coding, math, and multimodal (prompts using different types of media) requests. In addition, teens can…

Gina Trapani, founder of the website you're reading right now, popularized a plaintext format for to-do lists way back in 2006 (please excuse any weird formatting on that nearly 20-year-old article). Called Todo.txt, it is used by many people to this day, in part thanks to an ecosystem of applications built around the format. I recently stumbled on Calendar.txt, by author and teacher Tero Karvinen. It's a text document based on a similar philosophy—a stripped down, just-the-basics take on your overloaded calendar app. It's a concept worth considering. We're at least a decade into the "using a separate app for everything" era, and sure, a lot of those apps are pretty great…

Like homeowners insurance, auto insurance is getting significantly more expensive: Data show that policy costs rose 11% last year, likely due to factors like climate change, rising accident rates, and higher repair costs. Under certain circumstances, you may be able to offset or at least keep your car insurance premium stable, if not reduce it. If you go through any of the following life changes, it may be time to call your insurance company about lowering your policy premium. You've movedA move is a major life transition—and one that could impact your auto insurance policy for the better in a few ways. First, insurers factor where you park your car into your rate, so …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Corporations are a driving force behind almost every part of American life—including the movies we watch. It sometimes feels like they hold all the power, and, actually, they kinda do. But if the power of capitalism can’t be overcome, it can at least be checked once in a while. And it can be extremely satisfying to watch a crusader standing up for the rest of us. Here are 15 movies about heroes defying big corporations, most of them at least inspired by true events. Usually, reality is at least as wild as what made it to the screen. As The Constant Gardener author John le Carré observed in the afterward to (and the end cre…

Tax season can reduce even the most organized individuals to stressed-out procrastinators. And if you're anything like me, you're not exactly the most organized individual in the first place. The complexity of gathering documents, understanding deductions, and meeting deadlines creates anxiety that many of us dread each year. But with a well-designed tax preparation checklist, I've been able to turn my taxes into a manageable (maybe even even satisfying?) task well before the April 15 deadline. Here's how you can, too. A tax preparation checklist serves as your personalized roadmap through the filing process. Luckily, I've create this template to get you started. It inclu…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you need an extra set of eyes at home without spending a lot, the TP-Link Kasa KC410S indoor security camera is currently down to $26.99 from its usual $44.99. Kasa 2K QHD Security Camera Pan/Tilt $29.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $44.99 …

Aside from the launch of the sky blue M4-powered MacBook Air, this week's flurry of Apple announcements saw the introduction of the most powerful Apple silicon desktop processor yet. Given Apple's numbering scheme for its own chipsets, you'd think that would be one with an M4 label attached, but it's actually the M3 Ultra, which will power the newest Mac Studio. Since Apple started releasing its own chipsets with the M designation, we've seen a variety of different labels attached. First came the standard processor, then the Pro, then the Max, and then the Ultra, with performance improving with each iteration. We're now up to the M4 Max and the M3 Ultra. When preordering …

YouTube's recent price hike has clearly left a hole in the market. If you want a fully ad-free YouTube experience, you currently need to pay $13.99/month (up from $11.99) or use a third-party workaround. But now, YouTube has a compromise. The service's new Premium Lite plan comes in at $7.99/month ($6 cheaper) and is supposed to block ads on most, but not all, content. With YouTube Premium Lite, YouTube won't show ads on popular categories of long form video, like gaming, fashion, beauty, news, and more. That's a bit vague, but in a video with Johanna Voolich, YouTube's Chief Product Officer, she says this means that all "core creator content", including podcasts…

With tax season in full swing, it's prime time for married couples to maximize all the tax breaks available to them. One strategy that you don't want to leave on the table: making spousal IRA contributions. If one spouse isn't employed, they might be missing out on putting retirement assets in their name—not to mention reducing the tax-deferred growth possibilities as a couple. Spousal IRA contributions can double your retirement tax breaksThe IRA contribution limits for 2024 are $7,000 for those under age 50, and $8,000 for those age 50 or older. To clarify: You can make 2024 IRA contributions until the tax deadline on April 15, 2025. Generally, you can only contribute…

As the April 15 tax filing deadline approaches, it's important to separate fact from fiction when it comes to preparing your returns. "Tax laws are often summarized for [the] sake of quickly explaining a potential benefit—or conflict," says Andy Phillips, Vice President of H&R Block’s Tax Institute. "When details are omitted, it’s easy to misinterpret law or consider the advice of a trusted friend versus taking time to do firsthand research." Blindly following someone else’s bad tax advice could cost you precious time and money. "I can file my tax return with the details from my last paycheck stub." The figures listed on your last paycheck stub may be close to what …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When my wife and I bought our house two decades ago, one of the most exciting things about the process was finally having in-house laundry after spending our whole lives (almost literally) sitting in laundromats. The laundry center in the house wasn’t fancy—and it was small—but it represented freedom and we were excited. Of course, upon moving in, the laundry machine was instantly non-functional, so we had to scrape out the bottom of our bank account and buy a new one. And that machine has been humming along for 20 years, and might still be running when the sun swells into a red giant and destroys the planet. Considering t…

As the spring gets closer and closer, I was excited to see a new trend on TikTok that claims you can easily clean fans—a pretty tedious chore—just by spritzing the machine and covering it with a plastic bag. I tried it out on two different fans today and the results weren't great. Here's what happened and what you can (and should) do instead. My attempt at the TikTok fan-cleaning hackFirst of all, here's how it's supposed to look and work when you use a cleaning solution and garbage or plastic bag to "clean" your fan: There are tons of videos like this on TikTok and they all look pretty effective, so I gave it a real try. Different creators recommend different cleanin…

There are nearly two million apps on the iOS App Store, and a lot of them aren't worth your time. That's why many of us, when considering a new app, turn to reviews: You want to see what other users' experiences were like with the app—whether they loved it, liked it, or loathed it. Personally, the current review system works fine for me. I scan some reviews, and generally get a sense of whether the app is right for me. If I'm feeling particularly analytical, I'll even adjust the filters, perhaps to see which reviews are most critical (so it's not just a bunch of fluff) or ones that are most recent, to see what customers thought of the latest version of the app. But it's…

Google's first Pixel Drop of 2025 happened this week with a long list of upgrades for the company's flagship phones, tablets, and watches. Google followed the update closely with the March 2025 Android Security Bulletin, with fixes for 43 malicious bugs—including two zero-day vulnerabilities that may actively be under "limited, targeted exploitation" on devices running Android OS. The patches cover concerns ranging from flaws that allow attackers to gain remote code execution on vulnerable devices to issues with Qualcomm and MediaTek components. The two zero-day (highest severity) exploits are labeled CVE-2024-43093 and CVE-2024-50302, both of which are "privilege escalat…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you own a Lectric XPeak 2.0 e-bike, it's possible to modify a ton of aspects of the bike right from the onboard screen, including changing the top speed, adjusting the throttle and pedal assist, controlling the lights, and more. But these settings are not readily understandable from the display alone, so here's a step-by-step guide to how to change settings on a Lectric e-bike, as well as some suggestions on which settings you should change, and which you definitely shouldn't. (You can check out my review of the Lectric XPeak 2.0 right here.) How to adjust the settings on a Lectric XPeak 2.0 e-bikeHere's how to access t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Nintendo Switch Lite is already a solid pick for gamers who prefer a portable console, but this deal on Woot makes it even more tempting. For $164.99 (for the next two days or until it sells out)—down from its usual $199—you’re getting an open-box Singapore model that’s been fitted with an official Nintendo USA power adapter. That means functionally, it’s the same as the U.S. version, and it plays all U.S. and international Switch games without any issue. The only catch is that it's an open-box deal, so while it’s brand new, the box has been ope…

After months of beta testing, DuckDuckGo's AI integrations are going live for everyone and getting some upgrades at the same time: They're free to use (with certain limits), and stay in line with DuckDuckGo's commitment to user privacy (you don't have to create an account to use them, and your searches aren't tracked). As with Google, Bing, ChatGPT, and others, you can now get AI answers to your web searches at DuckDuckGo. They appear in a small box with an Assist label attached, but they aren't as prominent and don't show up as often as they do on Google or Bing—DuckDuckGo is aiming for a less-is-more approach to the feature. …

My Apple devices have over 55,000 items in the Messages app. This includes texts, voice notes, photos, videos, gifs, and other attachments sent and received on multiple devices. Over time, Messages has threatened to become the second-largest occupier of my precious storage space, right after Photos. Fortunately, I took action at the right time to start getting rid of the cruft I don't need. I told myself that I don't need to be an iMessage archivist and I can begin letting go of some messages to free up some space. Here's how you can get rid of unnecessary items from iMessage to free up space on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and iCloud. How to quickly free up iMessage storage s…

With tax season in full swing, smart filers are looking to maximize every deduction available to them. We're all familiar with common tax deductions like mortgage interest, charitable donations, and retirement contributions. However, there are plenty of unexpected deductions and other little-known uses for pre-tax money. Andy Phillips, Vice President of H&R Block’s Tax Institute, shares some more unexpected facts about deductions. For instance, people who are wrongfully incarcerated may be able to exclude settlement money they receive to compensate them. And if you’re just starting to repay your student loans for the first time, you might not know that most taxpayers…

Earlier this week, I proclaimed the brand new M4 MacBook Air the best MacBook for most people. In short, that's because Apple packages everything that's already great about modern MacBook Airs with its latest M4 chip, all for a fantastic MSRP of $999. The thing is, the M4 chip itself isn't brand new: Apple first rolled it out with the iPad Pro last May, before introducing the M4 MacBook Pro in October. Before this week, Apple had cemented the MacBook Air as the previous generation brand: If you want an entry-level Apple computer, you could buy the M2 MacBook Air for $999, or the M3 MacBook Air for a little more. If you wanted M4, well, that's "Pro" territory. M4 vs. M4No…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Apple just casually announced the new M4 MacBook Air with sales beginning on March 12. While that may be exciting news for anyone looking to get the latest and greatest devices, it can also be a boon for anyone hunting for deals. After new products launch, there tend to be some great discounts on earlier models to help clear inventory. Apple unfortunately has a pretty controlled sales market, so finding new units of earlier models may be difficult. But if you’re familiar and comfortable with the wide world of refurbished products, you can find some …

There’s something magical about having a pool you can just dip into any time you want. That’s why it’s estimated there are nearly 11 million pools in the U.S., most of them residential. But pools are expensive. Aside from the price of installing one, it can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 annually to own and maintain a pool, which is why it’s often advisable not to add a pool to your home if you’re thinking of selling it someday. If your house already has a pool, or you want those summertime pool parties more than you want your money, you can at least cut down on those pool maintenance costs with a few simple steps. Use a pool coverOne of the easiest ways to lower you…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. International Women's Day, in one form or another, has existed since around 1909—placing the holiday's inception roughly in line with the early days of film. It seems fitting, then, to take a look at movies that examine and celebrate the accomplishments (and trials) of real women in history. This isn't an exhaustive list of movies about women who've changed the world (or at least changed their worlds), and there are plenty of very important women whose lives have never been touched by filmmakers (and others, sadly, with movies that aren't streaming—I'm looking at you Hypatia of Alexandria and Agora). But, like Internationa…