Setting Up Your Home Office

In a livestream today, OpenAI finally announced the launch of its GPT-4.5 model, but with a twist: For now, using it requires a $200 per month ChatGPT Pro subscription. That’s because the new large language model, or LLM, is still technically in a “research preview” state. This is all apparently shorthand for “please pay us for the privilege of being a beta tester.” Jokes aside, the company is promising GPT-4.5 provides more “natural conversation,” and performs better when it comes to programming, pattern recognition, writing, and “solving practical problems.” Note that GPT-4.5 isn’t intended as a reasoning model, meaning it won’t have the self-correcting or deep researc…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. I used to buy cheap earbuds from random brands all the time, simply because I needed some earbuds that wouldn't give me a heart attack if (or when) I lost them or got them wet. If that sounds like your earbud-buying strategy, there's a great deal on a pair of budget earbuds that actually have pretty decent specs: the Anker Soundcore P20i. Right now, they're on sale for $19.99 (originally $39.99), the lowest price they have been according to price-checking tools. Soundcore by Anker P20i …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Sony's PlayStation VR 2 headset is getting a permanent price price drop this March, down to $400 from $550. That'll include the headset, the controllers, and a pair of wired earbuds—but is that a deal worth getting excited over? Well, for Sony, maybe. The price cut comes a year after Bloomberg reported that Sony had stopped making new PSVR 2 units and shifted efforts towards getting rid of excess stock. That points to lower-than-expected sales for the peripheral, and it's easy to see why. Sony's VR loyalists were surprised to hear when the headset came out, for instance, that it would not work with the existing library of…

Obsidian is the Winamp of productivity tools. If you're as ancient as I am, you might remember that the best part of that once-ubiquitous music player extension was the massive number of plugins and themes you could install to make it better, all of them built by enthusiasts. Obsidian is a good note-taking application on its own, stuffed with all kinds of features: You can organize notes in folders, link to notes from other notes, and even use advanced options like Mermaid diagrams. But like Winamp, Obsidian truly shines once you dig into its extensive plugin ecosystem. There are over 2,000 Obsidian plugins available as of this writing, and you can use them to basically t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. GoPro is the indisputable king of small outdoor action cameras. Its latest flagship camera, the GoPro Hero13 Black came out this past September, but the older GoPro Hero12 (released in 2023) has a good bundle deal you should consider. The Black Creator Edition bundle offers the Volta pack, a media and light mod, extra battery, and carrying case all for just $55 more than the camera alone. You can get the bundle for $399 (originally $499), its lowest price yet, according to price-tracking tools. GoPro HERO12 Bl…

I like watching Reels and TikToks about cleaning because in addition to getting some good tips, I find them relatable. Why, yes, Algorithm, I do often find myself in a position where friends are coming over but my home isn't exactly spotless. How did you know? One Instagram user has a suggestion for how to turn that exact situation into a cleaning win: Called the "GFD bin," it's gained some traction on the app as a quick decluttering method worth trying. What is a "GFD bin?"A "GFD bin" is a "guests for dinner" bin, according to its creator, Holly Blakey. The organizing and interior decorating guru shared this video last December explaining the idea: Essentially, befor…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. They don't make movie stars like they used to, but they only made a movie star like Gene Hackman once. Born in 1930, Hackman served as a marine and studied journalism in college before dropping out to work as an actor, earning acclaim on Broadway and in television roles but not breaking out in films until his late 30s, when he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for playing Warren Beatty's brother in the crime classic Bonnie and Clyde. It proved to be the start of an eclectic big-screen career that would see him earn four more Oscar nominations (and two wins, for 1971's The French Connection and 1992's Unforgi…

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. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. While I was poking around online shopping this week, I noticed a great deal: Amazon has the Dyson V8 Plus Cordless Vacuum marked down to $349.99, a 26% discount off its normal price of $469.99. A little over a quarter off doesn't usually move me, as far as sales go, but on something as expensive as a Dyson that's a solid deal. The spring and summer get dusty and allergen-y, so a strong vacuum is always a smart upgrade to make before the sneezy season hits. Dyson V8 Plus Cordless Vacuum (Silver/Nickel) …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. As we’ve discussed before, there are three ways to hold onto a barbell if you’re worried your grip is going to slip. You can use straps; you can face your palms in different directions (mixed grip); or you can hook your thumb underneath your fingers, a technique known as hook grip. A hook grip is more secure than mixed, and it's essential for lifts like snatches and cleans where mixed grip isn't an option. Yes, it hurts. Yes, you'll get used to it. I am happy to report that, after six years of training and competing in olympic weightlifting (where hook grip is neither feared nor debated, but simply a part of life), I now …

If all you want is a simple, reliable email client, Apple's Mail app is superb choice. And over the years, it's only gotten better. But until now, it's had this one weird quirk that has users running to third-party clients like Gmail or Outlook. It has to do with how the Archive feature works. When you archive an email that you're reading, the Mail app automatically opens the next email in your inbox. Now, that's great if you're just going through newsletters. But when this happens, the next email is marked as read automatically, something you might not want to do in every case (like if the sender is using a tracking service, or if you were saving that email to read late…

Whether or not you plan on observing the Christian season of Lent, celebrating Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday) is a great excuse to chow down on some desserts. In the past, Lent meant abstaining from indulgent foods like butter, sugar, and eggs. As Christianity spread across different parts of the globe, during a time when food spoiled relatively quickly, there was no hope in preserving these ingredients during the 40-day period of fasting. Instead of tossing it all, there was a massive clear-out feast: Everything had to go. In the wake of this food-liquidation period, many creative and indulgent treats were born. Most of them are fried. All of them are carbs. Here are nine e…

Setting up a free email account has never been easier. You now have many great options that promise lots of storage or convenient features, although there are a few things to keep in mind when picking one. The rule of thumb is that if you're getting a free email service, you're probably paying with your privacy, because the company has to make money at the end of the day. Depending on the company, it could use your emails to serve ads, track you across the web, or even use the text in your emails to train AI. However, there are exceptions to that rule, specifically when it comes to end-to-end encryption. It's a tough balance. In general, you’ll have to pay real money to a…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The TP-Link Tapo C402 is $19.99 on Woot for the next two days or until it sells out. If you're a Prime member, you get free shipping; otherwise, it’ll cost you an extra $6. TP-Link Tapo C402 $19.99 at Woot $49.99 Save $30.00 …

Getting rid of stuff can be hard, even if you’re not exactly a hoarder. It’s hard enough for so many of us in our consumerist society, in fact, that scientists have studied why that is—and are always coming up with ways to overcome an aversion to decluttering our lives. Just in time for spring cleaning season, look to research published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology that suggests there’s a way to ease yourself into parting with old belongings: Instead of throwing them out all at once, banish them to purgatory first. What it means to put clutter in “purgatory”The researchers, Mathew S. Isaac and Poornima Vinoo, kicked off their paper by explaining that people who s…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Noah Wiley can't seem to escape the emergency room. After spending more than a decade on NBC's '90s mega-hit E.R., he's back in scrubs for HBO's buzzy new doctor show The Pitt. If that show hasn't quite scratched your itch for medical drama, there are plenty of other shows to stream. The genre's roots can be traced back to the early '60s, and the sexy Dr. Kildare, but it really exploded in the '70s with shows like Medical Center, Emergency!, and Quincy, M.E., all of them fairly soapy dramas with plenty of action and occasional doses of silliness. Later in the decade, M.A.S.H. became a hit by lacing the sit-com formula with…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I'm Lifehacker's resident marathon runner and senior finance writer. And now, I'm merging my two worlds. Running is often touted as one of the most accessible sports—just lace up and go, right? But as many runners discover, what starts as a "free" activity can quickly transform into a significant investment. After a decade of "casually" running, I looked around at my room one day and saw dollar signs: sneakers, my second pair that year, at least $100. Medals from races, some costing $250 to register. A box of energy gels for long runs, around $30. A fancy hand-held water bottle, anti-chafing sticks, high-tech cold-weather …

I'm a full-screen apps guy on my Mac. I love sending each app to its own workspace and swiping between them to use the one I need. When I'm writing, it helps me focus on the task at hand, and it's not hard to use three and four-finger swipes on my trackpad get to my other productivity apps as I need them. However, messenger apps like WhatsApp and Slack are an exception. I need to be able to check these out at a moment's notice, like when I'm using my browser in full-screen. Luckily, that's where the Opera sidebar comes in. This handy tool is home to social media apps, messengers, and even some streaming services, keeping them from getting lost in separate tabs and letting…

Pixel users will soon get an extra layer of protection against malicious calls and texts, as Google's AI-powered, real-time scam detection is rolling out widely next month. The Gemini Nano feature, which is coming to both Google Messages and Phone by Google, runs in the background and will alert you mid-call if it identifies "conversation patterns commonly associated with scammers." You'll hear a beep at the beginning of possible scam calls to indicate that the conversation is being monitored, with subsequent beeps sounding every few minutes. You'll also see an on-screen prompt when suspicious activity has been detected, with options to "End call" or mark "Not a scam." F…

Do you remember a time when the internet was a more chaotically personal place? When the experience of using social media wasn't so uniform? SkySpace seeks to recapture those days. The site transforms your Bluesky profile into a Myspace-esque page, complete with backgrounds, music, and a section for your top eight friends. I kind of love it. "I miss when social media was more about being social and less about media," wrote Ste Curran, who built the site, in the project's FAQ. "I miss the personality, the ugliness, the chaos, the feeling of planting a flag in tiny part of the internet and saying 'this is mine'." And SkySpace certainly delivers there, allowing you to custom…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Google just announced that its “loss of pulse dectection” feature for the Pixel Watch 3 has received FDA clearance and will be available to U.S. users by the end of March. Read on for more on what this feature does, how well it works (according to one early study), and how you’ll be able to enable it. The feature has been available in several European countries since late 2024. According to a Google help page on the feature, it’s currently available in “Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.” …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The market for earbuds can be hectic if you're not on top of it, with many brands and new models coming out regularly. I do keep up with them, though, and can tell you which ones are worth your money. The Sennheiser Accentum earbuds are a great value right now, after a 50% discount that lowers their price to $99.95 (originally $199.95), the lowest price they've ever been, according to price-tracking tools. Sennheiser Accentum Earbuds ANC: Yes, Battery Life:…

"Don't Google yourself" is terrible advice. If there's personal information about you floating around on the web, you should be aware of it—because, despite common misconceptions, the internet is not written in ink. If your info is popping up on Google Search, you might be able to get rid of it. On Wednesday, Google announced its redesigned "Results about you" tool. This feature, first rolled out in 2023, looks out for your personal information on Google Search, including your name, phone number, email addresses, and home addresses. The tool then tries to remove any information it does find. Note that this doesn't necessarily delete that information from the website in …

If you’ve tried to buy or sell a house, you probably worked with a licensed real estate professional—there are more than 3 million of them in the U.S., and their advice and assistance are often invaluable. Real estate agents know the properties in their area and can help you locate them (and weed out deceptive listings) and guide you through every step of the process. A good real estate agent who has your best interests at heart is worth their commission and then some. But not everyone who has a real estate license is a good agent—or an ethical one. Sometimes the red flags around an agent are big and obvious, but sometimes real estate pros engage in subtle little scams th…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Making homemade bread and pizza can be greatly improved with the use of a pizza stone. I’ve used one for years, and it’s the best way to get a well-browned bottom crust. I thought I had it all figured out, until the pizza steel arrived. If you’re getting serious about cooking (and reheating) pizza at home, one of these tools should be in your oven. What’s a baking (or pizza) stone?A pizza stone is a plank or circle of ceramic or cordierite (a type of thermal shock-resistant ceramic). They’re typically between a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch thick and can range in size from nine to 20 inches across. Compared to a…