Setting Up Your Home Office

Nintendo didn't make preordering the Switch 2 particularly easy—especially with its back and forth decisions in the face of tariffs. But even if you manage to get your hands on a Switch 2 for launch day, be careful, because Nintendo is ready to brick any Switch device you own should you break its rules—and I'm not talking about cheating at Mario Party. Rather, Nintendo is particularly concerned about Switch users who hack their systems, use emulators, or engage in piracy using Nintendo hardware. These players are the targets of the company's newfound bloodlust, and they're not messing around: steal our games, and lose the right to use your console. Stephen Totilo of Game…

If you're out and about with your laptop, or just in a different room than your charging cable, you want to eke out as much time as possible before the next recharge—and an important part of that is knowing which apps are draining the battery the quickest. Once you know who the worst offenders are as far as battery drain is concerned, you can do something about it. Maybe you can use the programs in question less often, enable any battery-saving features (if they're available), or uninstall them altogether and switch to less power-hungry alternatives. Take Google Chrome, for instance—not a program known for its light touch on system resources. If you find it's putting a lo…

After months of beta testing, DuckDuckGo's AI integrations are going live for everyone and getting some upgrades at the same time: They're free to use (with certain limits), and stay in line with DuckDuckGo's commitment to user privacy (you don't have to create an account to use them, and your searches aren't tracked). As with Google, Bing, ChatGPT, and others, you can now get AI answers to your web searches at DuckDuckGo. They appear in a small box with an Assist label attached, but they aren't as prominent and don't show up as often as they do on Google or Bing—DuckDuckGo is aiming for a less-is-more approach to the feature. …

When venturing out into the wilds of the modern web, many people now make use of a VPN, or a Virtual Private Network. These software packages have been around for decades as ways of securely connecting to private networks remotely, but the term is now more commonly used to refer to third-party VPN services that act as intermediaries between your devices and the internet at large. The idea behind VPNs is they keep you and your data safer while you're browsing, with a trade-off in terms of speed (though the best VPNs will aim to minimize the hit on download and upload transfer rates). If you're wondering what exactly a VPN is, how these services work, and whether or not you…

Tax season can reduce even the most organized individuals to stressed-out procrastinators. And if you're anything like me, you're not exactly the most organized individual in the first place. The complexity of gathering documents, understanding deductions, and meeting deadlines creates anxiety that many of us dread each year. But with a well-designed tax preparation checklist, I've been able to turn my taxes into a manageable (maybe even even satisfying?) task well before the April 15 deadline. Here's how you can, too. A tax preparation checklist serves as your personalized roadmap through the filing process. Luckily, I've create this template to get you started. It inclu…

Netflix didn’t used to have the best reputation when it came to anime. The service would buy up the rights to distribute shows, only to air them on a significant delay from when they came out in Japan. That's to say nothing of its selection, which was hit or miss. Well, this anime fan is pleased to say that’s no longer the case. In the last few years, Netflix has gone all-in on distributing anime in a timely fashion, sometimes even funding shows itself. A good number of modern hits are now Netflix exclusives. Even outside of what’s exclusive to the platform, you can currently find a number of all-time classics on the service. I used to recommend subscribing to other plat…

This week's biggest event was the Super Bowl. While the game was a snore-fest reminiscent of the lopsided Super Bowl blowouts of the past, the halftime show was nothing like the performances of 1980s Super Bowl favorites "Up with People." If you compare the two performances (and you should), you'll see how far we have come as a society. Kendrick's jeans win the Super Bowl Super Bowl 2025 may have been more of beatdown than an exciting football game, but luckily Kendrick Lamar was around at halftime to provide some much needed drama. From "Uncle" Samuel L. Jackson providing a preemptive critique of the show from "mainstream" America, to Serena Williams crip walki…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I have a problem: My garden is a finite size. It will hold only so many trees, though I’ve been trying for years to squeeze in more. The solution might be a micro orchard, which provides distinct benefits. First, all the fruit on your trees is reachable (because nothing is as frustrating as a peach just out of your reach) because the trees are kept small and fruit is encouraged to grow close to the ground. That small stature of tree means you can pack more into a smaller space. Being able to have many trees instead of one allows you to diversify your harvest, or improve the pollination of one kind of fruit tree by having a…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. You know that I love a good running watch, but there’s a soft spot in my heart for the more lifestyle-y Garmin Vivoactive 5. It’s a sleek touchscreen watch with plenty of fitness features, and it’s going for as little as $209 today in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale. The original price of the Vivoactive 5 is $299, and depending on the color you want, you can get it for somewhere between $209 and $219 in today’s sale. It’s available in black, white, navy blue, and orchid purple. Garmin Vivoactive 5 GPS Smartwatch With…

Google Maps' Timeline feature is a great way to look back on your past travels—if you have the data to look back on. Timeline users over the past couple of weeks have noticed that their data is missing, with no warning or explanation. Redditor srj737 posted on the r/GooglePixel subreddit earlier this month, reporting they lost over a decade of Timeline data, seemingly out of nowhere. Before, they could browse each location they visited with Google Maps over the past ten years; now, they had to start from scratch. What makes the situation especially confusing is the fact that Google had previously warned users they might lose Timeline data. The company announced late las…

Gboard, the default keyboard on many Android phones, is finally getting a proper undo button. Up until now, you had to use a Japanese keyboard to access the undo button, but Google has finally addressed that gap. With Gboard 15 for Android, you'll be able to use the undo button that, thankfully, works with all languages. How to set up the undo and redo buttons in GboardFirst up, go to Google Play store and update Gboard to the latest version. After that, open any app where you can see the keyboard, such as Messages or Chrome. Fire up the keyboard and tap the four squares icon in the top-left corner of the keyboard. This will show you all the shortcuts that you can add to…

The Steam Deck changed the game for PC players, opening up a world of portability that was usually reserved for Nintendo fans. Naturally, manufacturers tried to follow suit with Windows-based handhelds and the results are, shall we say, mixed. Now, Valve has released official instructions for installing its SteamOS on devices other than the Steam Deck. Let's dive into how to do it—and whether you should. I should note up front: This is going to be a nebulous area when it comes to official support from the company that made your handheld. At time of writing, the Lenovo Legion Go S is the only handheld with the "Powered by SteamOS" branding (besides the Steam Deck itself), …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you need a sturdy watch to meet all your athletic and adventurous needs, good news: You can save big right now on the LTE Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. The watch is currently 39% off during Amazon's Big Spring Sale. Normally priced at $649.99, the current discount brings the smartwatch down to $396.94. This is as low a price as this watch ever gets, according to price-tracking tools. Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra …

Scheduling your computer to do something every day, every time you log in, or whenever the screen wakes up isn't impossible on most computers, it's just not convenient. Task Scheduler on Windows and Automator for macOS work if you're willing to dig in, but there's a learning curve. Task Till Dawn (which I found via App Addict) is a free Windows and macOS application made by developer Oliver Matuschin that you can use to set up custom automations for everything from starting a backup to changing your desktop wallpaper. To get started, download the application and launch it. You can start creating automations right away. There are four main sections to the automation builde…

Max still goes by Max for now, but the return to the original HBO Max branding is expected sometime this summer. In the meantime, the third season of HBO Original series The Gilded Age is set to drop in weekly installments starting June 22. The period drama, set in 1880s New York, stars Carrie Coon, Christine Baranski, and Cynthia Nixon, among others. On the movie slate, there's A24's Parthenope (June 6), a Paolo Sorrentino coming-of-age film set in Naples and starring Celeste Dalla Porta and Gary Oldman, and Cleaner (June 13), about radical activists in present-day London who take hostages at an energy company's annual gala in an attempt to expose corruption. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. You can add Walmart to the list of retail behemoths hosting spring-time sales, joining the likes of Amazon, Target, and Best Buy, who each have similar sales around the same time. Here is everything you need to know about Walmart's upcoming Super Savings Week sale. When is Walmart's Super Savings Week?Walmart will run its spring sale for a full week from March 25 to March 31. Do you need to be a member to shop for Walmart's Super Savings Week?Walmart has a Walmart+ membership that goes $12.95 per month or $98 per year (you can always get a free 30-day trial), but Walmart hasn't yet said if its sale is exclusively for memb…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is on now, a mini version of Prime Day that has inspired competing sales at Target and Walmart. Plenty of fitness trackers and smartwatches are among the discounted items. Here are my picks for the best deals, including watches from Apple, Garmin, Fitbit, and Samsung. Apple WatchesThe Apple Watch SE, the most budget version of this smartwatch, is available starting at $169 today. (As with all Apple Watches, the price goes up if you want a larger size or if you buy the version with cellular connectivity.) That’s 32% off the o…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. There was a time when you needed to spend over $1,000 to get your hands on a MacBook that could handle everything from spreadsheets to video edits without complaint. That’s no longer the case—at least not with this deal. This refurbished 2020 MacBook Air with the Apple M1 chip is down to $549.99 for the 8GB RAM + 512GB SSD model and $589.99 for the 16GB RAM + 256GB SSD configuration. Both are “Grade A” units, meaning they might have little to no visible wear even though they are refurbished. You get the same M1 chip that helped Apple cut ties with I…

Google search has steadily been getting worse, but most of its free alternatives just aren't as good at surfacing the things I'm looking for. Since Google makes money through advertising, its primary incentive is to boost revenue by showing you better ads. Of late, this has resulted in a noticeable decline in the quality of my search results. That brought me to the idea of using a paid search engine instead of Google. Enter Kagi. What is Kagi?Kagi is a paid search engine developed by the people behind the Orion browser. It lets you make 100 searches for free, but after that, you can pay between $5/month and $25/month for different tiers of its service. Thanks to search gi…

I really like the iPhone's Dynamic Island, the pill-shaped cutout near the top of the device's screen. It's an aesthetically pleasing way to check your battery percentage, record voice notes, and control music playback, among many other things. Since many MacBooks have a display notch too, you can use an app to bring an iPhone-like Dynamic Island to your laptop. Doing this makes the cutout look like a useful design feature rather than an abrupt gap in the screen, and some apps even let you move the giant volume and brightness adjustment popups to the Dynamic Island. Alcove brings the Dynamic Island to your Mac …

Paramount+ is light on original content in April, though there are a handful of titles for viewers looking for music and sports. Following the music features that debuted in March, Paramount+ will debut An Evening with Elton John and Brandi Carlile (April 6), a primetime concert special—filmed on March 26 at London's Palladium Theatre—with live performances from both artists. There's also the premiere of the two-part documentary The Carters: Hurts to Love You (April 15), which gives an intimate look at the family of pop stars Nick and Aaron Carter through the eyes of their sister Angel. Paramount+ is exclusively streaming matches from the UEFA Champions League Q…

Google I/O 2025 was chock full of announcements. The problem is, Google isn't always clear about which features are new, which have already been released, and which are coming out in the future. While there are plenty of features to look out for on the horizon, and a number still that you've been able to use for some time, there are brand new features Google rolled out immediately after announcing them. Here are all the Google I/O features you can check out right now—though some do require you to pay. Imagen 4 Credit: Google G…

Last year, I advised readers that the "second-generation" AirPods Max were actually a worse deal than the original pair. Apple was charging $549 for headphones that were virtually identical to the pair that launched in 2020, only with USB-C instead of Lightning. What's more, Apple actually took away a feature with the USB-C pair: Unlike the Lightning AirPods Max, the USB-C model was not compatible with 3.5mm adapter, meaning you couldn't use them for wired playback. Seeing as the Lightning AirPods Max are frequently on sale by around $150, it seemed silly to recommend the newer, more expensive AirPods Max—unless you really couldn't live without USB-C. That is, until toda…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you find running intimidating, know that there is another way to get some fresh air while doing a reasonably intense workout. It’s called interval walking training (IWT), or sometimes "Japanese walking" or "3x3 walking." It’s a form of HIIT, but it won’t end in you collapsing on the floor, hating your life. Here’s how to do it. How to do the 3x3 "Japanese walking" workoutThe original protocol for this exercise, as published here in 2007 by Hiroshi Nose’s team at Shinshu University in Japan, used a lab test to help people determine how fast they should walk during the workout. Since that’s not practical for most of us,…