Setting Up Your Home Office

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. With October Prime Day on the horizon, now is a smart time to make an Amazon wishlist to keep track of all the things you plan to buy using your Prime account. You can also share your list with friends or family (hint, hint) in case they need gift ideas in the future. How to create and add to an Amazon wishlistTo create an Amazon wishlist in your browser, hover over Accounts & Lists in the upper-right corner of the navigation bar and select Create a list from the left column. (You can also access thi…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I typically hesitate to suggest making peanut butter in blenders, but the Vitamix Ascent X5 is the exception. It's the best blender I've ever tried, and you should definitely make nut butters with it. Not only is it the absolute fastest nut processor I’ve ever tested (under a minute in some cases), but the resulting peanut butter is incredibly smooth. Here’s how to make any nut butter in the Vitamix Ascent X5. How to use the nut butter function on the Vitamix1. Prepare the nuts, if neededI like to roast the nuts in the oven first, because I love the sweet, toasty flavor. To do it, spread out your nut of choice (I used waln…

Until now, the Quick Settings panel on Pixel phones was lackluster at best. You could only add up to eight toggles, there was no option to make them smaller, and it was really difficult to tell when a setting was enabled or disabled. Google has finally decided to fix that issue in its latest Android beta, finally bringing phones running stock Android up to speed with those from manufacturers like Samsung. How to try the new Quick Settings panelAndroid 16 is all about redesign, introducing the new Material 3 Expressive update, as Google is calling it. While this update won't be finalized until September, with a Pixel Drop, it's already live in Android 16 QPR Beta 1. If you…

As much as Apple would like it, iMessage is not the only messaging platform in the world. Yes, RCS is nice, but a lot of people prefer using WhatsApp and Telegram instead. And given the divisive state of world politics right now, secure apps like Signal have their own appeal. The reality is that, instead of just sticking to your default texting program, you're probably juggling between multiple messaging apps right now. Unfortunately, the iPhone doesn't really make this process easy. Now, there's a new app called DefaultSMS that's trying to bridge this gap. DefaultSMS uses a new, obscure iPhone setting to change your default messaging app for you. It'll kick in whenever y…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Unboxing a new kitchen appliance is one of my favorite experiences—it’s a non-holiday present and I know what’s inside—how wonderful! But the instruction manual part really kills my vibe. I know tossing it aside will almost surely lead to failure, but I hate reading them anyway. In fact, I did read the operation manual for the Ninja Slushi, and I still managed to screw up my first batch of slush. (You can read about that experience in my review of the Ninja Slushi.) To help you avoid the shame of a ruined slush, not to mention reading the tedious instructions, I've assembled this step by step guide on operating your new N…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. If you've been anywhere near TikTok lately, you've likely seen the proliferation of posts of people posing with celebrities in elevators, like this one. They are, of course, fake—products of AI image generation tools—but it's a fun kind of fakery that's super easy to be part of. There are a wealth of free AI tools out there you can use to make any kind of photo or video, but if you want your celebrity-meeting-in-an-elevator post to fit in with the current trend, the easiest way is to use CapCut. How to ma…

Like many people, I had a retail job in college. What it failed to deliver in financial rewards, it made up for by teaching me life skills. I learned how to stay calm when someone was being loud and wrong, how to negotiate, and how to manage my time. Other learned skills weren't as obvious. For instance, I didn't realize, whenever I worked a closing shift, that I was learning to manage my own home. At least, that's what CleanTok influencers would have me believe with this latest cleaning trend. It's called "closing shift cleaning" and you may have seen it on TikTok or Reels. What is "closing shift cleaning"? Closing shift cleaning is what it sounds like, as long as you k…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. As you're planning your big move, you'll likely find yourself talking to a number of moving companies to figure out which one has policies, prices, and availability that work best for your needs. Through that process, you might be surprised to learn that there are things movers won't touch, though the exact types of objects they won't move do vary from company to company. This isn't their way of getting one over on you during a vulnerable time, though you might feel like it is. Rather, according to Rob Rimeris, owner of EverSafe Moving Co., "it's about respect and risk." What moving companies generally won't touchRimeris…

If you were looking for a respite from X, but Threads didn't work out for you, you might have ended up at Bluesky. Sure, Mastodon is great in theory, but it doesn't have nearly as many users talking in one place. And as a single app, Bluesky is simply easier to use. Bluesky also feels like an app that has learned (or is still learning) from the mistakes of its peers. It has superior built-in moderation and troll-fighting features, and is relatively easy to get started with. But if you're going to pick up a new social network, you're going to want to carry over your mute words with you—that is, the collection of terms you've made over the years that you just don't want to …

Studies have shown that napping improves both cognitive performance and physical brain health, so it’s no surprise that it also means a brief nap translates to a boost in productivity on the job. That explains why nearly half of workers in the U.S. sleep during work hours—and a third admit to literally sleeping on the job. Our employers, however, haven’t gotten the memo, and being caught sleeping on the job can put you in a tricky situation. If you’re stuck between nodding off in meetings or being fired when you’re discovered sprawled under your desk, you need a napping strategy at work. Here’s your guide to sawing some logs on the clock (without getting caught). Before w…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When you're packing to move, you have a lot to keep in mind. You may want to think of how to minimize costs and how to get rid of all your extra junk, but what about packing in a way that makes unpacking easier? Few things are more annoying than getting to your new home and needing a specific object—where the heck is that screwdriver?—only to find that your past self's haphazard packing job made things difficult on your current self. You want your transition into your new space to be smooth and even enjoyable, to the extent it can be. Here are some tips to make sure not just that the packing process is easy—but the unpack…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The reality of home gardening is that you rarely have as much space as you’d like. For many people, all they have is one raised 4x8 foot bed. While that doesn’t feel like a lot of space, you can fit a whole lot of plants into 32 square feet. With a smaller space, you just have to find new and inventive ways to get more variety in your beds. Around where I live, we call this "cramscaping. " Take advantage of plant timing and growth patternsEvery vegetable and fruit out there has recommended spacing (for instance, tomatoes should be 18 inches apart), and in an ideal world, you’d accommodate them perfectly. However, you can p…

I’ve been enjoying Shuffalo, a quick daily word game from the New Yorker that I can’t help but compare to the New York Times’s Wordle, which is so popular we publish hints for it every day. But it really feels like an improvement on a different New York Times game, Spelling Bee—quicker and with more useful hints. What is Shuffalo? Shuffalo lives on the New Yorker games page, with a different puzzle each day. For each day’s puzzle, you get a collection of letters that you have to form into a word. First you get four letters, and you need to use them all to make a four-letter word. Once you do that, a fifth letter is added, then a sixth, and so on up to eight. Get that fa…

Around November of last year, when readers were certainly not paying attention to anything else, Nintendo briefly shared that the Nintendo Switch 2 would be backwards compatible with games for the original Nintendo Switch. Fast forward to this year, and it turns out that’s not so clear cut. According to Nintendo, the Switch 2 can play the vast majority of Nintendo Switch 1 games, but there are some caveats to keep in mind. The Switch 2 uses emulation to play Switch 1 gamesAs Nintendo posted to its site yesterday and confirmed in a developer roundtable I attended, the Switch 2 does not have any Switch 1 hardware inside. This means that, unlike the Nintendo DS did with the …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Following a brief delay while Nintendo evaluated the ongoing tariff situation, Switch 2 preorders are back on. The company made the new date official last week, and retailers have been getting their stores ready for the likely digital stampede. If you're interested in picking up the latest Nintendo handheld-console hybrid, there are a number of stores to choose from. Here's when each plans to start preorders, so you can secure your unit among the masses. WalmartLike most retailers, Walmart's Switch 2 preorders go live starting April 24 at 12 a.m. ET. The store will happy sell you any number of Switch 2 games and accesso…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Running is hard. Sticking to a training plan is hard. But knowing that you have a race coming up is a great motivator to get you out on the road when you’d rather be watching TV. If you’ve never run a race before, putting one on your calendar might seem scary: Will I feel out of place? What should I wear? How long is a 5K anyway? (It’s 3.1 miles.) I remember being nervous for my own first 5K. Actually, I considered signing up for probably half a dozen before I worked up the nerve to actually do it. I actually signed up for a 10K first, which was probably just a way to put it off even further; I survived the 10K, just bare…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. No matter how locked down your identity information is, there’s probably a gaping hole in your security efforts: your car. Just like you, your car is linked to a few numbers. Unlike you, it rolls around with those numbers—your license plate number and the vehicle’s VIN—out in the open. Your car’s identity is even more vulnerable than yours, and that vulnerability can have a huge negative impact on you. Here’s what to know about car identity theft and how to protect your vehicle. Plates and VINsYour car’s public identity is tied to two things, its license plate number and vehicle identification number (VIN). The license pla…

You have probably heard of skimming, a type of fraud in which criminals install physical devices capable of capturing your payment card details on ATMs, gas pumps, and point-of-sale terminals. If you enter your debit or credit card into one of these fake card readers, your data is stored for later download or transmitted wirelessly in real time to a device controlled by scammers, who will use the information to steal from your accounts. Unfortunately, online shoppers aren't immune from this scheme. Web skimming is a type of cyberattack that uses malicious code to steal card data during checkout, and researchers have identified an ongoing campaign targeting major payment …

Maybe you've treated yourself to a brand new MacBook Air, or maybe you want to factory reset your iMac—either to sell it on or wipe all the digital detritus off the system. Whatever the reason you're setting up a new Mac, these are the steps you'll need to follow. Apple has continually streamlined this process over the years, and with the rollout of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4 Sequoia, it's now easier than ever: If you've got an iPhone or iPad available, it can take care of some of the setup process for you. First, you'll see a hello message, in a cycling selection of languages: Click Get Started, then choose the language you want macOS to use, and your country …

Now more than ever, it's time to curb your online shopping habit. The The President administration's tariffs will hit American families hard, with estimates ranging from nearly $4,000 to almost $8,000 per household. With a general attitude of "recession indicators" all around us, one thing is clear: Times are tight. And as time goes on, your restrictive behavior can swing too far in the other direction, leading to something called “revenge spending.” If you’ve found yourself responding to tight times with overcompensatory spending, here’s what you can do to get your budget back on track. What is "revenge spending"?As the name suggests, revenge spending occurs when you th…

No matter what you've heard, Macs get viruses too. There are a handful of indicators that your Mac may be infected by malware: your computer running slower or working harder than usual (or overheating), apps or programs crashing unexpectedly, or unfamiliar software or processes running on your device. Here's what to do if you suspect a malware infection on your Mac—and how to get rid of it. Disconnect your Mac from the internetAn active internet connection may allow malware to spread across your network to other devices or communicate information to and from bad actors, ultimately making it more challenging to isolate and remove. If you need to download any programs to …

The Switch 2 is finally out this week, if you were lucky enough to secure a preorder, anyway. If you're upgrading, you might want to sell your older Switch, if only to offset the higher price tag this time around (to say nothing of tariff impacts). Before you pop your trusty console on eBay, you should make sure to clean it out properly. Factory resetting any device you sell is good practice—it ensures the buyer doesn't get access to your accounts, payment info, or other personal information that you might not want a stranger to have. On a device like the Switch, though, there's a bit more to it. If you have any game save data, screenshots, or video clips you want to keep…

It’s not just eggs—all the basics we need to live our lives are getting more expensive, including the energy we use to run our appliances, heat our homes, and do just about everything else. The average monthly cost for electricity and gas is already over $200, so when your utility bill spikes, it’s often a cause for panic. After all, you can only do so much to cut down on your usage. If you’re looking for ways to manage your utility bills, there is one option worth investigating. Check with your local utility company to see if it offers what’s known as a Time of Use (TOU) plan. While these plans require some adjustment and a healthy dose of personal discipline, they also …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. Yesterday, at its 2025 Meta Connect conference, Meta finally unveiled its first Ray-Ban smart glasses that actually have a screen inside them. I have yet to try them for myself, but according to my colleagues over at CNET, seeing is believing. If you want to book a demo to try out the new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, you're in luck: They're popping up in select stores across the country, and you can already schedule your visit. In fact, you'll need to if …