Setting Up Your Home Office

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. If you want to read more books but don't have the time to actually sit down and stare at a page of text, audiobooks are a great alternative. You can listen to them on your commute, while you’re lounging around on vacation, or while you’re completing boring tasks around the house. Audiobooks used to be expensive and cumbersome, but digital subscription services has made them all too easy. A subscription to one of them is among the best ways to maximize your listening experience, as they'll give you access to a ton of books at once. Amazon-owned Audible is unquestionably the leader in this space, but they are far from your o…

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…

Only 50% of employed people in the U.S. describe themselves as “extremely satisfied” with their job, so it’s safe to say that everyone at some point in their lives has dreaded going to work on Monday and dreamed of the sort of career you see on television: Fun, exciting, and with a high enough salary to be comfortable. If you think that “fun” and “pays enough” are polar opposites, the good news is that’s not true. If you want to have a good time while earning a salary, there are some surprising options out there. These jobs may not make you rich, but they will pay your bills while you get to have a blast. LEGO master builderIf you thought your days of playing with LEGO en…

Just like everything else, cars keep getting more expensive—new car prices have risen steadily in recent months, and will probably just keep getting pricier (the average new car now costs an eye-watering $49,740). That’s one reason why about half of all car buyers finance their purchase, and why we collectively owe an astounding $1.644 trillion in auto loan debt. But that’s also why about 38% of car buyers bought their vehicles with cash. Cash offers some advantages, especially if you’re looking to avoid interest and monthly payments that can mess with your budget. But if you decide to buy your next car without financing it in any way, there’s one thing you should absolut…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Soon after Nvidia's new RTX 5080 and 5090 gaming GPUs went up for sale last week, they sold out pretty quickly—which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has tried to buy one of its graphics cards before. According to PC parts seller Newegg, the company’s stock sold out “within minutes,” and none of the big-name retailers I’ve checked today have cards available. While that might sound like a success on Nvidia’s part, consumers and reviewers alike are responding to the short supply with ire, accusing Nvidia of a “paper launch,” a term for when a company only releases enough units to say that a product released on schedule,…

There's a lot going on right now. And it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Especially when you're (maybe chronically) online. Most of your work life, and personal life, all happens online. And sometimes it's really easy to get carried away doomscrolling and forget that, sometimes, you need to touch some grass. Opera Air is a new browser, hoping, trying, to save you from all of that. Opera Air has built-in features that remind you to take a break every hour or so, and in that break time, suggests that you do some breath work, meditation, or some relaxation exercises. There's also a dedicated background music feature that plays customizable binaural beats to help incre…

Your eyes are fragile, complex, and important to your well-being, but taking care of them can be expensive. First of all, it’s not easy to get glasses without a recent prescription, and the average cost of an eye exam without insurance coverage is close to $200. The average cost of the glasses themselves is about $230—and that’s before you add on the coatings you need. This can be a real challenge for the estimated 63% of Americans who don’t have vision insurance, meaning they’re paying out of pocket. There are resources that can offer low-cost or even free eye exams and glasses, however, if you meet certain requirements (like income level and lack of insurance). If you o…

Processing fees. Service fees. Hidden fees. It feels like most companies and services these days have found countless ways to sneakily squeeze money out of me. Even when it’s only a few dollars here and there, it’s the principle of the thing: Why am I being charged in the first place? What can I do to circumvent these fees and save my hard-earned money? Here are some of the most common fees that have been infuriating me lately, and what you can do to avoid paying them. Concert “service” feesIf you’ve tried to buy a concert ticket in recent history, you’ve been slapped with a shocking string of processing, commission, or transaction fees. From secondary sellers like StubHu…

If you tried to open ChatGPT this morning, only to find the service endlessly loading or erroring out, you're not alone: ChatGPT is up and down this morning, along with other OpenAI services. OpenAI's official status site shows some issues for services across OpenAI's portfolio, but ChatGPT is the most affected. As of this article, all other services are listed as "Operational," but not ChatGPT. The chatbot was previously listed as dealing with a "Partial Outage," but OpenAI has since relabeled it as a "Major Outage." The company has six updates listed on Jan. 23 under "Past Incidents:" The first was at 3:54 PST: "We are currently experiencing elevated error rates in th…

WhatsApp is adding new choices for customizing your chats, with both preset themes and mix-and-match colors for backgrounds and chat bubbles, as well as a selection of 30 new wallpapers. Users on WhatsApp have been able to change chat backgrounds for a while, with options ranging from solid colors to patterned wallpapers to images uploaded from your camera roll. Now, customizations have expanded to include chat bubbles, with default themes that coordinate background and chat colors and options to customize one or both for individual chats or all of your WhatsApp threads. According to a blog post from WhatsApp announcing the update, chat themes are currently being rolled…

Windows 11's minimum system requirements have been controversial from the day Microsoft unveiled the new version of its desktop operating system. The controversy boils down to one single line item: TPM 2.0 support. TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module, which is a chip that protects against malware and ransomware attacks. If your PC doesn't have TPM version 2.0, then you can't officially upgrade to Windows 11, unless you used a bypass that Microsoft had published. It appears that Microsoft doesn't want you to use the bypass any longer. Neowin spotted an update to a Microsoft support page with wording about the bypass removed. You can even check the page on The Wayback M…

If you have T-Mobile, and either an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy device, you now have access to Starlink—potentially. Here's the scoop: Back in December, T-Mobile announced a partnership between itself and SpaceX to bring Starlink service to customers. Then, earlier this month, the company started accepting users into the beta, but only those with specific, recent Samsung devices. However, that changed when Apple released iOS 18.3 this week. It seems the iPhone maker has been working with SpaceX and T-Mobile to roll out Starlink support to iPhones as well—though none of this was announced from Apple as part of the update. T-Mobile isn't letting all iPhones customers into…

Prime Video's original content lineup in February has a little something for everyone, starting with a new comedy series executive produced by the late Normal Lear. Clean Slate (Feb. 6) stars George Wallace and Laverne Cox—who also created and produced the show—as a father-daughter duo working on reconciliation when Cox's character returns home to Alabama as a proud trans woman. Later in the month, Prime Video is premiering the third installment of Reacher (Feb. 20), the crime thriller starring Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher, a former U.S. Army policeman and the titular character from Lee Child's book series. In season three, Reacher attempts to rescue a DEA info…

I’m at the age where I have a pre-written packing list for whenever I travel, and the very last item on the list, though certainly not the least, is entertainment. I almost see it as a reward for myself. When I’ve got all my clothes and medications packed away, I get to sit down with my iPad and download my favorite shows to watch on the plane. The problem is that, after awhile of manually downloading episode by episode, it stops being fun. That’s where Netflix’s newest feature for iPhone and iPad comes into play. Now, after updating your app, the display pages for your favorite shows will show a “Download Season” button next to the share icon. Android users already had t…

This week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that Fitbit has agreed to pay a $12.25 million settlement over one of their older smartwatches, which had a battery defect that left some users with serious burns. Meanwhile, Fitbit itself announced that some of its more recent smartwatches—the Sense and the Versa 3—may also have an issue with overheating batteries that could pose a hazard to wearers, and is updating their software to fix the issue. What is the problem with Sense and Versa 3?According to a notice posted on the Fitbit Help Center, some (not all) Sense and Versa 3 devices have a defective battery that could overheat and possibly cause burns. Both o…

All of the devices you own and every app running on those devices is eager for your attention, which can make it difficult to actually get anything done— and Windows is no different when it comes to regularly distracting you with pings and pop-ups. Leave the default notification settings in place, and it can get a bit overwhelming. Windows does give you plenty of control over how notifications work, though, including which apps and system events are allowed to bother you and when—there are even various Do Not Disturb options and modes you can take advantage of. Here's how to set Windows 11 notifications up to suit you. Notification settingsTo get started with notification…

Members of the media recently received invites for an Amazon devices event in New York City on Feb. 26, which means one thing: Don’t buy any Amazon devices until after the event. While Amazon hasn’t explicitly said what will be shown on the big day, it’s always good practice to wait until after these sort of announcements to buy—assuming the products are not too far away. Even if you don’t see anything that interests you in the reveals, older, now outdated products are likely to get a discount in the weeks following news of their successors. You'll either get something brand new, or save on something you would have paid full price for. As for what we can expect Amazon to…

When it comes to your important data, you should always have a backup. And then a backup of that backup. Cloud storage services shouldn't be your whole strategy here, but they can help with that. Sometimes, you just don't have enough physical space to store all the photos you've taken over your life, or all your ebooks and work documents. Plus, there is the convenience factor of syncing your files between all the devices that you use, so that a document you drafted up on your iPad can instantly show up on your Mac or your Windows PC. That said, picking a cloud storage service isn't as easy as it used to be. Now that so much of our cloud usage is tied to platforms and ecos…

Falling victim to a scam is terrible, but being targeted a second time by fraudsters posing as law enforcement promising to help you recover is even worse. Scammers pretending to be from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) have been reported more than 100 times between December 2023 and February 2025, according to an April 18 public service announcement. Impersonation scams aren't new—a widespread scheme in 2022 saw scammers posing as government and law enforcement officials, for example—but this latest one doubles up on people whose money has already been stolen. How the IC3 scam worksAs the FBI's notice describes, scammers may contact fraud victims by pho…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The 65” Samsung S85D OLED TV is now $997.99 on Amazon. That’s $900 off its usual $1,897.99 price, and according to price-trackers, this is the lowest it’s ever been. Powered by Samsung’s NQ4 AI Gen 2 processor, it promises improved performance and runs on the 2024 Tizen OS, offering voice control and easy casting from your phone. Its design includes adjustable feet for soundbar placement and cable management clips to keep things organized, though wall-mounting might be tricky due to recessed ports. And, while it comes with 20W 2.0 channel speakers (…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Whether you're worried about hurricanes, fires, or winter storms, a little bit of preparation can go a long way to making your home more resilient to extreme weather. Taking the time to plan ahead will make it safer and more comfortable to hunker down if an emergency occurs. Here are some home updates you can do yourself to keep yourself and your home safe. Check drainage and gradingWhen there is a deluge of rainwater or water from melting ice or snow, it can test the strength of the water barriers on your foundation and siding. One way to give your home a fighting chance in a wet environment is to ensure that you have pr…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. We’ve all been there: You find the perfect product, the chair or skin cream that will solve all your problems through the liberal application of capitalism—but it doesn’t fit into your budget. You have three choices: You can spend the next few months (years?) saving diligently toward the glorious day when you can afford to pull the trigger; you can put that purchase on a credit card and deal with the interest charges—or you can find a dupe. Dupes—short for “duplicates”—are having their moment. While knockoffs are nothing new, as anyone who has ever bought a “designer” handbag on the streets of New York City can attest, dup…

You've heard of inflation—get ready for eggflation. You’ve probably noticed these astronomical prices on grocery store shelves, or noticed no eggs on the shelves at all. According to the latest consumer price index, or CPI, the price of eggs is up 36.8% from where it was a year ago. Compare that to the trajectory of overall food prices at just 2.5%, and the eggflation is clear. Here's what's behind the current state of this kitchen staple, and what you can do to make eggs more affordable right now. Why eggs are so expensive right nowSoaring egg costs are due to both increased demand and pervasive avian flu outbreaks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).…