Setting Up Your Home Office

The Department of Labor (DOL) is a critical federal agency that protects workers' rights, ensures workplace safety, and promotes employment opportunities across the United States. Around since 1913, the DOL is the latest government entity currently facing scrutiny from the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). On Friday, a federal judge declined to limit DOGE—which is not an official government department, but a task force led by Elon Musk—from accessing the DOL's systems and sensitive information. Not everyone is happy about that, because they are worried Musk might gut the agency in similar fashion to what is being done with USAID. But what does the…

If you want to give yourself some grace, you can see tub rings as a sign that you are a person who, at the very least, takes regular baths. Unfortunately, that doesn't make rings any less unappealing to behold. Getting rid of them, unfortunately, isn't exactly an easy task, but I've figured out the two best ways to get it done with the least amount of elbow grease. Why you have a tub ringEvery two weeks or so, I run some water in my tub, splash a little Fabuloso in there, and zhush it around to clean and refresh the tile, but since I started using a new body scrub, the ring buildup has gotten too bad for that to be an effective end-all-be-all in my bathroom-cleaning rout…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. It’s become fashionable to hate on Valentine’s Day, and I get it—the commercialization; the unreasonable expectations; the bland commodification of a deeply human experience. But here's why I clarify that it's also OK to love love. It’s OK to look forward to Valentine’s Day, whether because you’ve found your own storybook romance (whatever it looks like), or because you enjoy watching other people navigate the many possible relationship complications. Here are 25 movies that celebrate love, ranging from dark to outright comedic, If the expectations of V-Day start to feel overwhelming, throwing on a movie might offer you a…

As anyone who has ever tried to design their home knows all too well, neutral always works. Beige, white, and various subtle shades of gray are the safe choices in any room—they may not be exciting, but they also won’t irritate you over time or cause your guests to whisper about your choices behind your back. That safety combined with a long-running trend toward minimalist and uncluttered spaces has led to the color “pop”—a blast of vibrant color as an accent to add a dash of drama to your otherwise bland spaces. But as concepts like “unexpected red” demonstrate, you aren’t confined to painting an accent wall or buying a big red sofa when you want that pop of color. While…

The Beats Solo 4 came out last summer—they're Beats' latest headphones. Beats are a more affordable alternative to Apple headphones, and you can often find them with substantial discounts. You can now get the Beats Solo 4 for $99.95 (originally $199.95) after a 50% discount. This is matching the lowest price they've been since their release, according to price-checking tools. The Solo Buds and Studio Buds + are also both also seeing their lowest price right now. Beats Solo 4 …

The Pixel 9 Pro is the latest and most premium model in the Pixel lineup, and right now, the unlocked 128GB Google Pixel 9 Pro is discounted to $799 (originally $999). That's matching the lowest price it has ever been on Amazon, according to price-tracking tools. The 256GB version is also at its lowest price of $899 (originally $1,099), doubling your storage for $100. so too are the 512GB version, currently $1,019 (originally $1,219), and the 1TB version currently $1,249 (originally $1,449). Google Pixel 9 Pro, 128 GB …

OpenAI is trying really hard to make ChatGPT Search into a viable product. It's available for free, to all users, without limits. And now, just like with Google Search, it can be used without logging into an account. But even with all it AI features, Google Search still focuses on giving you links to pages directly, while ChatGPT Search instead uses online sources to give you an answer, backed up by links. You can click the links in your answer's sources to open a website (and you really should check ChatGPT's homework, as it tends to hallucinate quite a bit), but the question remains: is ChatGPT Search worth making your default search engine, and is that even possible? …

With tax season officially underway, you'll need to know the standard deduction amount you can claim for 2024. After all, most taxpayers opt to take the standard deduction rather than itemizing deductions on their federal income tax return. The standard deduction amounts tend to increase slightly each year to adjust for inflation. So let's take a look at how much you can claim in 2025 for the 2024 tax year. What's this year's standard deduction? For tax returns filed in 2025 for the 2024 tax year, here are the standard deduction amounts: Single filers: $14,600 (up from $13,850 in tax year 2023) Married couples filing jointly: $29,200 (up from $27,700 in tax year 2023) Hea…

We're in the final days of Microsoft's free software updates for Windows 10, and a lot of people with perfectly good computers still cannot upgrade to Windows 11. When Microsoft released the latest version of Windows, it put some stringent minimum system requirements in place, the toughest of which was TPM 2.0. This small "Trusted Platform Module" chip (whether virtual or physical) aids with encryption and other security related tasks, but plenty of people have PCs with older TPMs or good gaming machines that lack TPM entirely. Officially, Windows 11 is out of their reach. However, if that sounds like you, there's an easy way to bypass TPM checks and install Windows 11 on…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Movies can certainly have dialogue that sings, and some great movies don't lean on beautiful images, but for the most part, film is an inherently visual medium. Heck, before audiences heard Al Jolson's voice in 1927's The Jazz Singer, movies were largely silent entertainment. While silent movies are mostly a thing of the past, some filmmakers still recognize the power of spare use of dialogue. The animated film Flow, one of this year's Oscar nominees for Best Animated Picture, stars a cast of animals who are truly animal—they don't speak at all—and that's not the only recent example. Here are 12 modern movies with no (or …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’ve been thinking about getting a budget-friendly robot vacuum with mopping capabilities, you might want to check out the iRobot Roomba Combo Essential. This PCMag Editor's Choice-winning robot vacuum is currently $149 (down from $274.99), its lowest price ever, according to price trackers. iRobot Roomba Combo Essential $149.00 …

Saving money at the grocery store is easy on paper, but when I step into the aisles a new brain takes over. “Don’t you need chocolate?” and “Ooh, maybe chicken strips?”—the word “budget” has disappeared from my mind. For me, the best money-saving trick is to make a proper checklist of ingredients that are budget-friendly and that ideally can be used for multiple meals. Below, you'll find my budget-friendly grocery shopping list that keeps me afloat during crappy economic times—maybe it'll help you, too. I’ve broken down the list into main sections to clarify how I build my grocery list. However, everyone has their own way of cooking and eating so even if my list isn’t per…

I love gimmicky social media trends as much as the next person, but that doesn't mean I understand what they are right away. For a few months, I've seen people on TikTok and Reels engaging in a "Sunday reset," but each reset seemed to be a little different—In one video, I'd see someone cleaning their apartment, and in another, someone would be doing pilates. Over time, though, the idea of a "Sunday reset" finally started to make sense to me, and I actually think it's a great way to incorporate a bit of structure and mindfulness into a routine before the work week begins. What is a "Sunday reset," anyway?There are over 500,000 videos tagged #SundayReset on TikTok right no…

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).…

Fans of Apple TV+'s Severance, your day is about to be improved: Apple has released eight chapters of The You You Are, the fictional self-help book by Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale that is central to the plot of the show. If you want to read it, you can even download it for free, or listen to the audiobook version, narrated by Ricken himself (actor Michael Chernus). The brief excerpts from The You You Are that have appeared in Severance are among the funniest bits in the show, but the book as released isn't just for laughs: It's also a great representation of how propaganda works, both in the Severance universe and in real life. In the "outie" world of the show, The You You Are…

YouTube's Android app is cluttered, slow, and full of ads. Even worse: It tracks every video you watch. NewPipe is a free and open source Android alternative interface for YouTube that's fully private and doesn't show ads. We've talked about ways to watch ad-free YouTube videos, and NewPipe is arguably the best one for Android users. Even better: NewPipe plays the audio from videos in the background, making it perfect for multitasking. You can listen to music, podcasts, or video essays on YouTube while doing chores, all without the need to keep the screen on. It also offers picture-in-picture mode, so you can watch videos while using another app, and downloads videos so y…

When the Nintendo Switch 2 was officially announced, it was hard to feel like it wasn’t just more of the same. With no weird 3D gimmicks and no absurd naming scheme, did it even really feel like a new Nintendo device? But eagle-eyed viewers picked up on something else—Nintendo, it turns out, might be the first console maker to build a mouse right into its default controller. At about 1:01 into the announcement trailer, you can see what looks like an optical sensor pop up on the side of one of the Switch 2’s Joy-Con controllers (or whatever they end up being called), and just a few seconds later, those same two controllers glide along a desk on their side, as if t…

Bluesky is setting itself up to be a social media jack of all trades. There's the main experience, of course, which replaces something like X or Threads. But it's not all about the text posts: Soon, you'll be able to use an app like Flashes to transform Bluesky into a kind of Instagram. Before that drops, however, you can use a different app to turn Bluesky into TikTok. It's not quite there yet, but it's a fascinating look into a unique kind of social media client—an app that turns one platform into something else entirely. Introducing Bluescreen for Bluesky Bluescreen is a Bluesky client with one singular purpose: It identifies the videos from your Bluesky feed and deliv…

Have you ever been scrolling along, minding your own business, when an ad suddenly hijacks your page with a full-screen warning about a computer virus or account insecurity? These are invariably scams, but to the untrained eye, they could look like a genuine pop-up from a firewall. That’s why Microsoft Edge is using AI to help users spot when someone’s trying to frighten them into downloading malware or giving up sensitive information. Available now to all users via a preview, the browser’s new “Scareware blocker” is an AI-based tool for dismissing and navigating away from these troublesome interruptions. While Edge’s built-in Defender SmartScreen tool already blocks know…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Apple community has been finding their lost keys since 2021 with the AirTag, but Tile has been helping both Android and Apple users locate their missing devices since 2013. Over a decade later, their latest tracker (after being acquired by Life360), the Tile Mate, is just $16.95 (originally $27.99) for a single tracker, $33.99 (originally $44.99) for a two-pack, and $55.99 (originally $79.99) for a four-pack, the lowest prices, according to price-tracking tools. If you're an Android user, this is a good opportunity to stock up. (If you're an Ap…

Thanks to a tight market, sky-high prices, and elevated interest rates, the path to home ownership is more littered with obstacles than ever, but buying property remains a key goal for most Americans—nearly 70% of us still consider it part of the American Dream. But as much as you might think you want it, it's important to weigh all the financial and emotional factors that go into buying a huge. While it sounds impossible, considering the size of the commitment, it's surprisingly easy to get so focused on the anxiety of never being able to find the right house that you buy the wrong house for the wrong reasons. If you don’t want to wind up with a money pit or a house tha…

Kickoff for the Super Bowl LIX matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles is set for 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 9. Fox is broadcasting the game live from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, so anyone with a cable or broadcast TV subscription (or an OTA antenna) can view the game via Fox, Fox Deportes, or Telemundo. If you don't have cable, you can still stream the game to your computer, mobile device, or smart TV—even if you're outside the U.S. Here's how. Where to stream Super Bowl LIX in the U.S.Fox-owned Tubi is streaming Super Bowl LIX for free in the U.S. and Canada. The platform supports a wide range of streaming devices and smart TVs as we…

As convenient as the internet is, when big tech companies chase endless growth, that can mean bloat. Nowadays, it feels like every company wants to lure me into an algorithm trap, convince me to use their AI services, or try to make me pay a premium to browse like I used to. One of my favorite tools for fighting back against these trends is Tapestry. It's a timeline app for iPhone and iPad that lets you combine multiple feeds from blogs, YouTube, podcasts, and social media, then view them in chronological order, with a beautiful interface. Essentially, you can use it to make your own curated version of (nearly) the entire internet. Tapestry is designed by The Iconfactory,…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Chances are good that if you've ever owned an e-reader, it was one of the many varieties of the Amazon Kindle. But though the Kindle is the most ubiquitous e-reader, that doesn't mean it's the best—nor does it mean that other companies haven't bettered Amazon at the game it more or less invented. One of the most interesting competitors in the space is Onyx International, a Chinese company that has been producing innovative e-readers for more than a decade under the brand name Boox, often including new features (like color e-ink displays) years before Amazon brought them to the Kindle. Though Boox makes my own favorite e-b…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Like any surface, a wood floor can get stained and dirty, but you have to be really careful with how you clean it. You shouldn't use harsh chemicals, whether your floor is sealed or unsealed, because you don't want to damage the wood itself, but that leaves you with fewer options. I tried two—well, three, but we'll get to that—simple techniques that didn't require any intense chemicals today and they both worked well. Remove stains from wood floors with vinegarFirst, I assessed the stains I was dealing with, which I noticed while cleaning under my couch earlier in the week. They appeared to be leftover from a project I di…