Setting Up Your Home Office

The internet is changing rapidly, and the (rather large) chunk of it devoted to adult entertainment is no exception. Porn sites in an increasing number of U.S. states must now verify that their users are adults by requiring them to submit a government-issued ID or some other suitable method of proving their identity. Understandably, this is not necessarily something everyone wants to do every time they visit an adult site. In response, Pornhub, as well as other sites under its parent company Aylo, have gone dark in a lot of these states in protest. As such, many users across these states are now searching for the best VPNs (virtual private networks) to install on their de…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. As YouTube TV and Disney continue their feud over rising channel rates, it's customers that are losing out. One of my coworkers found this out last night when her family couldn't (easily) watch their home team, the Philadelphia Eagles, play—and that was with an NFL Sunday Ticket package added on to their YouTube TV plan. The ESPN/ABC blackout is hitting YouTube TV's sports fans hard, and with Google already issuing compensation to customers, it seems like there's no end on the horizon. Luckily, YouTube isn't the only game in town for watching NFL football. There are a number of alternative solutions you can try while you …

Saving your passwords in your browser—like Chrome or Firefox—provides an easy way to access logins when you need them on websites, and having a safe place to keep strong, unique passwords is better than, well, not. However, browser password managers aren't necessarily the most secure nor the most convenient for filling password or payment fields in apps, nor do they come with features included with third-party password management tools, like encrypted storage or dark web monitoring. If you're transitioning away from your browser's password manager or simply want to remove credentials you no longer use, here's how to delete saved passwords in the most popular browsers. Ho…

Push-ups are a classic exercise to build strength even when you don't have gym equipment available, but not everybody can bang out rep after rep—sometimes you have to work on other exercises to build the strength to start doing push-ups. This is what I'll guide you through today. And if you remember those knee pushups from gym class—well, those are okay, but they aren't your best option. To do knee push-ups, you place your knees on the ground (or on a cushion, if that's more comfortable) and otherwise do the standard push-up motion. Knee push-ups are better than nothing, but they have a few downsides compared to other types of push-ups. The main one is that they are a lo…

The internet is many things, but for many of us, it is far from private. By choosing to engage with the digital world, you often must give up your anonymity: trackers watch your every move as your surf the web and scroll on social media sites, and they use that information to build profiles of who (and where) you are and deliver you more "relevant" ads. It doesn't have to be this way. There are a number of tactics that can help keep your browsing private. You can use a VPN to make it look like your internet activity is coming from somewhere else; if you use Safari, you can take advantage of Private Relay to hide your IP address from websites you visit; or, you can connect…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Ankle weights seem to have tunneled through a wormhole from the 1980s to the present moment, appearing in countless TikToks and Instagram posts. Do they really help tone your legs? Are they worth buying at all? The promises are overrated, but in some cases ankle weights do actually work. Here’s what you need to know. Where ankle weights work bestAnkle weights’ best use is to add a little bit of resistance to exercises where you are moving your legs against gravity. For example, side-lying leg raises become substantially more work for your muscles with even a pound or two of weight on the ankle that you’re raising in the a…

At my local Blink Fitness—which is now a PureGym—I recently worked in sets with another woman on the assisted pull-up machine. For me, the vibe was utter relief. No one was being rude about sharing equipment, it didn't feel remotely competitive, and there was a safety and solidarity in being the only two women in that quadrant of the gym at that moment. For a brief window, the gym felt like a space for both catharsis and camaraderie. Unfortunately, this moment only made me realize how rare this sort of shared gym culture has become. Truthfully, I don't know if gym culture was ever for me. The stereotype is it's all bros, right? I'm no Joey Swoll, self-described "CEO of g…

The internet is a wild place, and not particularly kid-friendly. Unfortunately, it's highly impractical to keep your kids entirely off the web. That's where family accounts come in handy: Parents can set their kids up with supervised accounts, giving them access to essential apps and services, without allowing unfettered access to the entire net. It's often imperfect, and kids find workarounds for the guardrails, but still; it's better than nothing. Every company that offers a family account handles things differently. Meta, for example, continues to update their policies in the wake of criticism surrounding how addictive and harmful their apps can be for children. These…

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 my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. When I first reviewed Fitbod (which you can read here), I approached it with the skepticism of someone whose idea of strength training was lifting my water bottle during long runs. Well, that's an exaggeration, but there's some truth in my inability to squeeze proper strength training into my schedule. The big promise of Fitbod is that your strength program is AI-powered to be perfect for you personally. For me, that means a strength program that works around…

Weeks ago, my partner suggested I develop a recipe for doughnuts made in the air fryer. I tried to explain to him how deep fried doughnuts are always better than baked ones, adding, “unless you wanna throw some Entenmann’s in there.” I laughed, and then shook my head, because I had sealed my own fate. Once it occurred to me, I absolutely needed to test the idea. I bought a variety pack of Entenmann’s doughnuts (including chocolate glazed, powdery crumb nubbins, and classic glazed). I fearfully placed one of each into the basket of my air fryer and pressed Start. I experienced a range of emotions during the next seven minutes, pinging from worry, to hope, to, finally, di…

I'm sure you've received a random text from a supposed employment recruiter recently—we all have. These texts, you likely realize, are scams. No company is so desperate for workers that they’d message random numbers with job offers. According to the Federal Trade Commission, you shouldn't respond to these texts or click on any links on them—the smart thing to do is to block these numbers and get on with your day. But I wanted to see what happens to people who follow through and actually try to get the job, so I answered a scam text, and it led me down a surprisingly long road that included bogus online piecework, a discussion of the nature of labor itself, and repeated r…

I run marathons. I post about running marathons. But you won't see my sweaty face mid-stride, my pace per mile, or the unglamorous truth of what 26.2 miles does to a body. No shots of my form breaking down at mile 20, no documentation of the new insecurities that crop up when you realize your running gait is asymmetrical or your breathing sounds like a dying dog. I share the accomplishment—the medal, the bib number, maybe a scenic shot from the course—but I carefully curate out the messy reality. Is this humility? Self-protection? Or am I just bragging with plausible deniability, performing health while refusing to actually perform it? After all, isn't social media fundam…

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Ever since I visited Japan in 2019, I've been converted into a loyal bidet user. I started with a basic bidet added onto a standard toilet, but I always knew the time would come when I would make a big upgrade. That time was this Black Friday when I pulled the trigger on the Loniko Smart Toilet, and I'm so glad I did. It's $444.99 (originally $549.99) after using the additional $30 on-page coupon, and it's worth every penny. Loniko Smart Toilet …

Cheese and carbs have never been a tough sell, but if you’ve ever had a stretchy, springy bite of pão de queijo (a Brazilian cheese bread puff) then you know that this simple combination can soar to new heights. It’s the most utterly stretchy cheese puff you’ve ever known. If you haven’t had the pleasure of noshing on pão de queijo, then we should change that. Luckily, it only requires six ingredients and with the help of a blender or stand mixer, it’s nearly effortless. What is pão de queijo?While many South American countries have a version of a this cheesy bread, pão de queijo originated in Brazil. This delightful snack owes its stretchy, gummy center to tapioca flour…

The cold weather has had me putting my Dutch oven through its paces the past couple weeks with a succession of stews, breads, and soups. Everything I make just seems to come out better during the winter, maybe because the thick cast iron emanates warmth long after I turn off the flame, or because removing the lid of the heavy pot always feels like opening a treasure chest. Whatever the reason, every meal has more than satisfied. This week, I tried out my crispy chicken and rice recipe, and I’d like to encourage you to do the same. Chicken and rice is one of those rare dishes with countless iterations from across the world. It’s an undeniably comforting combination, and i…

Hades II introduces a new mechanic called Forget-Me-Not, which allows players to pin recipes they don't have enough crafting reagents for. While they're out in the world, the path to those resources will be highlighted, making it easier to keep track of what you need. I love this feature, in no small part because I've been making my own version of it for other games for years. It's just one of the many ways I use spreadsheets to improve my gaming. To be clear, I am not recommending that you follow in my footsteps and create a spreadsheet for every game you play. I am deeply unwell, the world is on fire, and creating little charts and tables is how I exert some semblance o…

There are a lot of ways I trick myself into meeting my goals, like coming up with various rewards and punishments for myself or outsourcing my progress tracking to apps. In general, I'm a deeply goal-oriented person and I am, for better or worse, obsessed with "winning"—which I always thought made me a perfect candidate for complicated productivity techniques like detailed to-do lists full of tasks in order of priority. While I do love a good technique, I decided to switch things up last year when I got worried that maybe I was spending so much time prioritizing and planning that I wasn't spending enough time doing. So I just focused on the doing—and it worked. Here's wha…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Oura announced last week that its long-awaited charging case is finally shipping. I got one to try out, and can confirm that it works well and is arguably better designed than those of its competitors. That said, is it really worth $99? The charging case works with the Oura Ring 4, not the older models like the gen 3. I’ve previously reviewed the Oura Ring 4, and it’s probably the best smart ring out there right now. You pay a premium for it, though—not only are Oura’s prices higher than many of its competitors ($349 to $499), Oura also requires a $5.99/month subscription to access nearly all of its features. The standar…

My mom has been a master Chinese painter for over 40 years. I recently used AI to incorporate her art into physical gifts. If you want to achieve the same quality with a meaningful family photo, here's how you can utilize Adobe's new upscaling features to get the best results. For this process, I used Adobe Firefly and Photoshop. Adobe Firefly is Adobe's generative AI application, and the company released a phone app this summer to help you create on the go. If you're a total newbie to Firefly, you can just ask the app for help along the way. Photoshop, which has long been the gold standard for image edit…

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 my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. The market for fitness bands competing with Whoop is beginning to fill out, and the latest one I’ve gotten my hands on is the Polar Loop. (I recently reviewed Amazfit’s Helio Strap and Garmin’s screenless tracker, which turned out to be a sleep-only specialty device.) My full review of the Polar Loop will have to wait until I have more data, but right away I noticed some significant physical differences between the Polar Loop and its competitors. Below is a …

AI is everywhere! Writing essays, editing photos, producing social-media slop, doing your browsing for you, making plenty of mistakes—and now, if you've installed the latest Android 16 update (currently rolling out to Pixel phones), summarizing your notifications so you have less text and fewer alerts to wade through. The new summarization feature, as per Google, will "help you cut through the clutter and stay focused," and give you "quick understanding and context at a glance." I'm all for cutting through the clutter, so as soon as the update landed on my own Pixel device, I decided to enable the feature and see how useful it really is. How AI summaries work, and how to …

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 my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. The Apple Watch Series 11 is now available, and just a few days into using a review unit, I’m happy with the upgrade. But whether it’ll be worth it to you is a different story entirely. Before the Series 11, I was still using a first-generation Apple Watch SE. Since I don’t need much from my smartwatch, the SE was enough for me: basic media playback with heart-rate tracking and tap-to-pay. What more could I want? But the Series 11 taught me that I could want…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Audio enthusiasts need no introduction to Sony's 1000X series. They've been around since 2016, improving on the previous iteration to eventually land on the latest Sony WH-1000XM6, the best over-ear headphones for ANC your money can buy in 2025. As you can imagine, that means the still excellent 1000XM5 is dropping in price. If you're willing to splurge, it's a good time to do so during Amazon's Memorial Day Sale. The WH-1000XM5 are currently $298 (originally $399.99), matching Black Friday and Christmas prices, according to price-tracking tools. …

Your clothing and accessories can either clog up your closet for free or go out there, get a job, and earn its keep: I recently found an app that helps you to rent out your clothes and accessories (and borrow other people's), and maybe even help you declutter in the long run. Let me explain why I love Pickle. What does Pickle do?As I have explained, I have a low threshold when it comes to what will inspire me to download an app. Typically, I see an ad, tap on the App Store link, and install on sight. The other day, I saw an ad for one called Pickle, which is a peer-to-peer clothing and accessory rental service—like DoorDash for fashion. I attempted to download it only to…