Setting Up Your Home Office

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. Lots of apps are getting built-in AI features these days, and they’re often disappointing. They’ll summarize (sometimes incorrectly) the same data that’s already available in charts or graphs elsewhere in the app. But the AI advisor that was recently added to the Oura ring's app takes a different strategy, one that I’ve come to appreciate over the past few weeks since its launch. Instead of just reporting data, it asks questions. It asks you to do a little analysis, a little introspection. And I think Oura is really onto something here. Some of the questions the Oura Advisor has asked meI’ll admit that, at first, I was in…

Leftovers can be challenging. Occasionally, you’ll have a meal so good that you actually look forward to scarfing it down cold the next day, but that's not always the case. I usually have bits and bobs of leftovers—things I didn't care for in the first place, or stray ingredients I can’t seem to get rid of. My curse however, is that I hate (hate!) tossing edible food. So over the years, I’ve gotten better at reworking leftovers, and you can too. Here are my favorite ways to repurpose leftovers into incredible new meals. Recipes for using leftoversI run into two types of leftovers: leftover meals and leftover single ingredients. Let’s start with leftover meals. This secti…

April brings the highly anticipated return of some of Netflix's most popular series, including Season 7 of Black Mirror (April 10) and Season 5 of You (April 24). The former—Charlie Brooker's dystopian sci-fi anthology series—is getting six new episodes, including a sequel to "USS Callister" from season 4. The new season includes appearances from Paul Giamatti, Issa Rae, Will Poulter, Chris O'Dowd, Rashida Jones, Awkwafina, and Tracee Ellis Ross. And in the final 10-episode season of psychological thriller You, serial killer Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgley) returns to New York to live peacefully but is haunted by his past. Also debuting in April is Wester…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Air travel may be fast, but it’s also often a source of stress and discomfort. Aside from tight seats, delays, and generally uncomfortable accommodations, airlines have been nickel-and-diming us with fees for just about everything, including luggage. Checked bag fees range around $30 to $40 to start, so it’s not surprising that more and more people are trying to travel with just their carry-on. Restricting yourself to a single carry-on is liberating—no more waiting at the luggage carousel, no more dragging a bulky, heavy roller behind you everywhere—but also limiting in terms of space. Clever packing, like rolling your clo…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Although the practice of making solid blocks of soil for growing seeds isn’t new (it may go back over 2000 years), soil blocking has gained popularity in the last few years. It’s not a complicated process: You form blocks of compressed seedling mix, lay them out on a tray, then plant into them. It works much like growing seeds in a plastic seed tray, without the tray. Using less plastic is only one benefit—the real reason people love soil blocking is that it creates seedlings with incredibly strong root systems, without getting root-bound. The air around the block acts as a pruning mechanism; the roots grow to the edge of…

Microsoft's latest Patch Tuesday update is an important one, patching 57 security vulnerabilities (including seven zero-day flaws). It's an update I'd encourage all Windows users to install as soon as possible, especially as those zero-day vulnerabilities pose a serious security risk to anyone using a PC. As it happens, this update comes with an extra patch that Microsoft didn't initially disclose, or, for that matter, intend: removing Copilot from Windows. Copilot disappears in the latest Windows updateSome users, after installing KB5053598 (Windows 11) or KB5053606 (Windows 10) on their PCs, will notice the update not only unpinned Copilot from the taskbar, but uninsta…

Scams are a dime a dozen these days—so much so, you're pretty safe ignoring most of the messages you receive from unknown senders. But every now and then, an uncommon message isn't a scam, spam, or malicious in intent; in fact, sometimes, it's an official message from none other than Apple, warning you that you're being spied on. As much as this situation sounds like classic spam, it's very much not: Apple actually did send alerts to users on Wednesday warning them they might be targeted by "mercenary spyware attacks." Two of the users Apple alerted were Ciro Pellegrino, an Italian journalist for Fanpage, and Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a Dutch right-wing activist. You can se…

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…

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…

The last time we talked about 23andMe’s bankruptcy sale, we suggested you might want to delete your genetic data from the site, since we didn’t know who would end up owning it. Now, a buyer has been announced, and they’re promising to “prioritize the privacy, security and ethical use” of customer data and to keep offering the company’s services uninterrupted. This is all—probably—good news. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic, anyway. Regeneron will be 23andMe’s new owner23andMe’s new buyer, paying $256 million for the company’s assets, is Regeneron. Regeneron is a biotech company perhaps best known for developing an antibody treatment for COVID early in the pandemic. (Dona…

There's chatter on TikTok right now about going "monk mode," but if you watch enough videos on the subject, you'll realize this means different things to different people. At its core, though, the idea of engaging with your work in a distraction-free environment is timeless. In fact, even "monk mode" has been around as a specific concept since the early 2000s and has experienced periodic surges of popularity on Google over the years. Here's how to make it work for you. Define what your "monk mode" isWhen you're in monk mode, you're approximating what monks do, or at least part of it. Imagine a monk in your mind. What is he doing? Whatever it is, it's probably calm and fo…

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 …

The following content is brought to you by Lifehacker partners. If you buy a product featured here, we may earn an affiliate commission or other compensation. Photoshop has been the industry standard in image-editing software for over 30 years, but up until now, creators have been limited to using it on their computers and tablets. The recent launch of the first Photoshop iPhone app has (finally) changed that. Now you can go to the App Store, search "Photoshop," and download the spanking-new Photoshop iPhone mobile app. It’s available for free with an impressive feature set, but if you’re a savvy Photoshop user, the $7.99 a month/$69.99 a year Photoshop Mobile and Web Pla…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Whether you're shopping for your very first security camera or already have a system at home you're looking to grow, you might find something worthwhile in Amazon's sale section on Ring and Blink cameras. As Amanda Blum, our smart-home tech reviewer at Lifehacker, mentioned in her review, the Blink Outdoor 4 is a worthwhile entry-level wireless security camera—and right now, you can get bundles for up to 50% off, with the five-camera bundle for $199.99 (originally $399.99). This is the lowest price I have seen for this particular bundle, after check…

I've recently rented a car in two different states. Both times I was asked if I wanted to pay an extra fee per day to avoid worrying about paying tolls—a crucial issue in some states, like Florida, that no longer accept cash on the road and sometimes won't even allow you to pay online. Both times I declined, and set my Google Maps to "avoid tolls." I was reasonably confident Google would keep me safe from an unpaid toll ticket, but my heart still skipped a beat when, a few weeks ago, I got a text message letting me know I had unpaid I-Pass tolls from Illinois. But then I took a closer look at the text. Missed toll texts are the latest scamIt turns out that texts purport…

While property taxes vary widely across the United States (Essex County, New Jersey has some of the highest on average, at $13,145; while West Virginia has some of the lowest—just $989), if you own a house, you’re paying some kind of property taxes—and if you renovate that house, your property taxes will probably go up. That happens because significant improvements to your home will increase its value, and your property's value is what your property taxes are based on. It can take some time for your local tax assessor to catch up with your renovations, but at some point your property will be reassessed and your taxes increased accordingly, so it's best to be prepared to …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. You've been hard at work all week, as have I—as Lifehacker's tech deals writer, I've been hunting down the best deals on TVs, speakers, laptops, and other tech all week. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's highlights, all of which I've vetted using my favorite price tracking tools. This week was the start of retailers launching their Memorial Day sales. You can find deals on Pixel phones, Sonos speakers, Sleep Number beds, OLED TVs, smart watches, and much more. …

While I’ve known about the aquafaba (chickpea brining liquid) hack for a while, I’ve always thought of it more for folks with food allergies. Why would I, a happy egg eater, ever need to use it to replace eggs? Well, here we are. Egg prices don’t seem to be coming down anytime soon, and if you’re as reliant on the ovum as I am, you may be looking for ways to cut costs. While I’ll still be splurging on the real thing for perfect, jar-scrambled eggs, I’ll be using aquafaba for these other egg-related recipes. Chickpea liquid gets its magical binding properties from the starches that leach out of the bean and into the brine. When cooked, the water evaporates and you’re left …

Bluesky's latest update adds a few more useful options to its impressive arsenal of anti-harassment tools. The changes make it easier to hide direct messages (DMs) from strangers, and to mute accounts even faster. You don't need to do anything to receive these features, too. As long as you're using the latest version of Bluesky's apps or log in to the website on any browser, you should see them. Here's everything that's now available as a part of Bluesky's 1.99 update. Block DMs from strangersNo one wants a bunch of DMs from strangers, and Bluesky has now acknowledged that. If you're on the end of a targeted harassment campaign, you'll now be able to sort out DMs from str…

Hulu's May lineup brings viewers back into the world of Mormon "MomTok" with the second season of cult reality show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (May 15). The series centers on eight Utah-based, Mormon TikTok influencers navigating ongoing relationship drama. Also back for a second season is reality series Vanderpump Villa (May 8), which follows the staff at Real Housewives and Vanderpump Rules star Lisa Vanderpump's French estate. Nine Perfect Strangers (May 21), originally produced as a miniseries, is returning with another installment as an anthology series starring Nicole Kidman and ensemble cast that includes Annie Murphy, Christine Baransky, and Murray…

Everyone wants privacy, but how far are you willing to go for it? For most people, the answer is "not very far." The cost of privacy is not only the knowledge it takes to navigate safely and invisibly online, but often also the inconvenience that comes with security practices practices like using VPNs, installing ad blockers and other extensions, and using a non-Chrome browser. If you go to extra lengths to protect your online privacy, we want to hear from you. And if you go to extreme lengths, we definitely want to hear from you. The first time I switched to a privacy-focused browser, I wondered why I hadn't done it sooner. I left Google Chrome after reading one of the …

Every once in a while, you come across a beautiful app that makes you smile whenever you use it. Tinker is one of those apps for me. It allows you to create beautiful analog clock widgets for your iPhone, and its attention to detail is remarkable. It has a few curated designs to get you started, but you can also bring in your own clock faces and customize every aspect of the widget. The best part—it works with StandBy mode. In addition to your calendar, the iPhone's StandBy mode lets you view photos, live activities, or a clock when the iPhone is charging in landscape mode, essentially turning it into a convincing substitute for a real alarm clock. Tinker adds far more op…

If you're trying to get your finances back on track—and who isn't?—you're sure to see "no-buy months" and "low-buy years" all across social media. No-buy challenges ask participants to eliminate all non-essential purchases for a set period. While the concept seems straightforward, these challenges often fail because they don't address the psychological aspects of spending or provide realistic frameworks for long-term financial habits. I've written before that sticking to a budget can feel a lot like sticking to a diet. A strict approach is not only too difficult to maintain, but it can backfire. The all-or-nothing mentality is frustrating and demoralizing, and you might …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. While most people think of smart cameras as just a part of their security system, they’re also a good way to monitor the things growing in your yard. In most cases, the cameras you already have set up for security can be doing double duty as a tool to keep track of what's happening in your garden. I believe we’re on the cusp of smart cameras becoming a much bigger part of the gardening experience. For the last few years, smart bird houses have exploded in popularity. One of those companies, Bird Buddy, has launched an entirely new line of cameras specifically for micro-viewing experiences in the garden. Their Petal cameras…