Setting Up Your Home Office

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I've scoured the February releases on Amazon's Prime platform to find the best new and new-to-streaming movies and shows. This month sees the premiere of Clean Slate, a series created by Norman Lear. There's also a third season of Reacher to enjoy, and an Amazon retelling of the story of King David on tap. So February is pretty eclectic over on Prime. Clean Slate This Amazon original series was dreamed up by the late, great Norman Lear, a man who was known for spinning comedy gold from hot-button social issues with grace. Clean Slate stars actress and trans activist Laverne Cox as Desiree, who returns to her home…

I absolutely love the Aventon Pace 500.3 e-bike. As I noted in my review, it's a solid all-around bike, powerful enough for experienced riders, but friendly enough for beginners. If this is your first e-bike, there are a few things you should do before you hop onto it and start riding. While the Aventon Pace 500.3 is ready to hit the road as soon as it is assembled and charged, if you want to get the most out of your new ride, you should take a few minutes to pair your bike with the Aventon app and customize the settings. Changing things like the screen brightness and the measurement units is helpful, but you'll probably be most interested in setting your ride's top speed…

Software updates are important and inevitable. To expand features and patch existing security issues, you need to update your apps and machines. If you avoid updating, you might find certain programs, functions, or even websites stop working as they should. However, if you visit a website, and you see a prompt to update Chrome in order to proceed, run away. In all likelihood, you just encountered a scam. Don't fall for it. WordPress sites are getting hackedThe scam in question is targeting WordPress websites—10,000 of them, in fact. That's according to c/side, a web security company, whose research uncovered the current attacks. Here's what's going on: Hackers are hijack…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Home improvement projects large and small can make us happier, our homes more comfortable and livable, and our property more valuable. But there’s a reason many people hesitate to take on some of these projects: They seem really complicated, difficult, and even dangerous. If you’ve never done any DIY home improvement projects, it’s easy to imagine that you'll quickly get in over your head and make matters worse. All of this is exacerbated in the bathroom, which is vital to our everyday health and hygiene. There are plenty of bathroom repairs best left to the professionals—but even if you’re totally inexperienced and wouldn…

It’s hard to imagine a time when hotels TVs didn't feel vestigial. Not all that long ago, some made their TVs a selling point, plastering “free HBO” all over their roadside signs. These days, guests are more likely to stick to their phones, sacrificing their room’s beautiful 48-inch flatscreen on the altar of TikTok and YouTube. But with just a little extra work, you can get the best of both worlds and cast whatever is on your phone to your hotel room's smart TV. How to cast your iPhone to a hotel TVThere are official and unofficial options to send what's on your iPhone to a TV. Let’s start with the most legit. Use AirPlay (provided your hotel supports it)iPhones can now…

It's officially tax season. While you're probably eligible to file your taxes for free, with so many options available, it can be overwhelming to choose the right service. Here are some of the most popular tax filing services, their pros and cons, and who they might be best suited for. Intuit TurboTax TurboTax is one of the most well-known and widely used tax filing services. It offers a range of options, from free filing for simple returns to more comprehensive packages for those with more complex tax situations. Pros: User-friendly interface and step-by-step guidance Extensive help resources, including live support Ability to import data from previous years or employers…

Following a surge in popularity for Chinese AI app Deepseek and its free reasoning model this week, frequent OpenAI collaborator Microsoft is helping America’s AI leader drop the paywall on its own reasoning model, giving all Copilot users free access to OpenAI o1. Notice the distinct lack of a “Plus” or “Pro” after “Copilot.” You won’t need specialized hardware for this, nor will you need a ChatGPT or Copilot subscription. The news came via a LinkedIn post from Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, wherein the executive said Copilot’s “Think Deeper” feature is now “free and available for all users of Copilot.” Think Deeper began testing in October and essentially gives the …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. There are so many techniques you can use to help you declutter your home, but they all have the same end goal: reducing the volume of junk lying around your house and organizing what remains. Where these techniques differ is in their methodologies: Some are better suited to larger homes or larger volumes of stuff, for instance. Some are ruthless, while others leave some wiggle room for items you are hesitant to part with. Here are some of my favorite decluttering techniques, so you can find one that will help you downsize with minimal stress. Before you start decluttering, keep these questions in mindBelow, you'll find 1…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. It can get a bit confusing to decide between the standard iPad, the iPad Air, and the iPad Pro. For the most budget-friendlyoption, the iPad 10th gen is your best bet. For those looking for top-of-the-line specs, the iPad Pro is the way to go. If you're somewhere in between, that's where the iPad Air's sweet spot is. Right now, the latest 11-inch M2 Wifi iPad Air is $499 (originally $599), and the Wifi + Cellular version (if you don't want to rely on wifi) is $649 (originally $749)—for both models, those match their lowest-ever prices, according to …

Most video editing software works through re-encoding—essentially, uploading the file so it can be broken apart and stitched back together. This is necessary for advanced editing techniques but has some downsides. It's slow, for one thing, and the encoding process isn't lossless, meaning videos can look worse over time. This is a particularly vexing problem when all you want to do is cut a bit from the beginning or end of a file. Lossless Cut is an open source application for Linux, Windows, and Mac that can trim videos without the need for encoding. The changes to the original file are basically instantaneous and totally lossless. It's a great tool if all you ever do whe…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Have you ever switched gyms and tried to do your usual workout, only to find that the machines are a lot harder—or maybe a lot easier? Before you start questioning your strength or your training, you need to know something: you can’t trust the numbers on the weight stack, and you shouldn’t expect them to match from gym to gym or even machine to machine. What do the numbers on the weight stacks mean? When you’re looking at a cable machine, or any type of strength training machine with a stack of rectangular weights, there is probably a little sticker on each plate with a number. Sometimes those numbers are in pounds, and …

There are a whole host of decluttering methods you can try, but no matter which one you choose, at some point, you'll you'll be faced with the difficult task of picking up and considering every single item in your space to determine whether it should stay or go. Ideally, you'll do this with a particular criteria in mind, and for a lot of people, that means following the KonMari principle of pondering whether the thing you're looking at "sparks joy." But that doesn't work for everybody, or every object. Maybe you're less sentimental, and more practical. Maybe you already did a round of decluttering and found that too many things "sparked joy," so you're still overladen w…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Bose is a recognized name in audio tech and has been making capable active noise-canceling (ANC) headphones since 2016, when the company launched the QuietComfort line of devices. Right now, you can pick up the Bose's QuietComfort headphones for $179, $170 off the original price of $349. This is the lowest price they've reached, according to price-tracking tools, making them a good bet if you're looking to get a high-performance pair of ANC headphones without spending a fortune. You can get them "unopened" (which is exactly what it sounds like) from…

DeepSeek is having a moment: With the release of its impressive R1 model, the AI company overtook ChatGPT (and every other app) to become the number one free app on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. If you gave the app a try this week, however, be warned: Your chats may have been exposed. As reported by The Hacker News, DeepSeek left one of its online databases exposed. While the company has issued a fix, this database is a treasure trove of user information. It contains over one million lines of log streams, which includes chat history, secret keys (used to encrypt and decrypt data), backend information, and other important data. As of this article, DeepSeek…

If you live in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Colorado Springs, or Rockville (Maryland), Comcast might have just given you a sneak peak at the internet of the future. In collaboration with Apple, Meta, Nvidia, and Valve, the service provider is currently rolling out a new open standard called “L4S,” which seeks to drastically reduce how lag works online, and make gaming and video calls much smoother. What is L4S?Short for “Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable Throughput,” L4S wants to make this internet feel faster— not by upping bandwidth, but by making data transfer more efficient. Right now, your internet service provider, or ISP, sends data to you in the fo…

My Spotify liked-songs playlist is not exactly listenable on shuffle; there are simply too many genres and moods in there. Luckily, there's now Liked Songs Manager—an online service that automatically sorts your liked songs into playlists based on whatever criteria you like: genre, decade, or even mood. To get started, head to Liked Songs Manager and sign in using your Spotify account. You'll then see a list of criteria you can use to create playlists. I recommend first clicking the Analyze songs per playlists at the top of the screen—this will show you how many songs in your liked list are available in each category. You can then browse the categories and check any that …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. For those looking for affordable smart security without monthly fees, the TP-Link Tapo D225 Video Doorbell is now $79.99 (down from $99.99). It covers all the basics, plus a few features that even pricier models skip, earning itself an Editors’ Choice award from PCMag. At about 6 inches tall, the Tapo D225 isn’t the slimmest doorbell out there, but it’s built to handle the elements with an IP66 water-resistant rating. And should someone try to steal your doorbell, its built-in 98dB siren is loud enough to scare off intruders. …

It should be as easy to cancel a service as it is to subscribe to it, and at long last, it's about to be. For anyone who's ever found themselves trapped in an endless maze of customer service calls trying to cancel a subscription—especially when the company doesn't want you to—relief is finally on the way. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has introduced a new rule that will require companies to make canceling subscriptions as simple as signing up for them. Here's what you need to know. The "Click to Cancel" ruleUnder the new FTC regulation, if you can sign up for a service online with a single click, companies must provide an equally straightforward cancellation process…

I don't like how scrolling makes me feel these days. Every headline, meme, and take I scroll past leaves me feeling worse about the world. It isn't entirely unwarranted—there's a lot of bad happening—but marinating in that feeling doesn't help. Scrolling isn't always detrimental, of course. It can be relaxing, for one thing, and it can be a way to keep up with what's happening with your friends. But I think we all know there are diminishing returns when it comes to scrolling—the overall quality goes down the longer you keep going. And that's why reading is possibly more important now than its ever been: There aren't diminishing returns. Scrolling is briefly thinking about…

Sharing files or accessing messages between a Windows PC and an iPhone can be an utter pain in the rear, mostly because, without third-party utilities, you can’t rely on AirDrop to do it. There’s the Phone Link app, but even that requires opening up a separate window—your PC won’t even be able to serve you iMessage notifications unless it’s open. Meanwhile, Android users currently have a smoother experience, able to access their connected phones’ battery levels, messages, and calls right from the Windows Start menu. Now, iPhone users are finally about to get the same. In a blog post on its site, Microsoft announced that its Windows Insider beta testers are currently getti…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you’ve been shopping around for knives, you’ve probably noticed that there are tons of options available to you. Between boning knives, filet knives, bread knives and the like, it can start to feel like each ingredient needs its own special blade. Recently, I was wondering if a carving knife would be worth adding to my toolkit, so I got one to test out. It was sharp, light, and pretty to look at, but it turns out I didn’t need a carving knife at all. I have been working with a lot of chicken lately—spatchcocked birds, butterflied chicken breasts, and deboned chicken thighs—and when you’re slicing a lot of meat you begi…

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…

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…

If your Garmin watch is showing a blue triangle, you’re not alone—Garmin has acknowledged that other users are experiencing this, and has published instructions for fixing it. The issue affects several models of watch, including Fenix, Epix, and Forerunner watches. As of January 29, they say the issue has been resolved (but your watch may still need a hard reset to make use of the fix.) The company initially told me in an email: “Garmin is researching reports of devices displaying a blue triangle when starting a GPS activity. A reset by pressing and holding the power button may restore functionality. We will provide more information on a permanent fix when available.” Ga…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Two years ago, I discovered that clean smarties around the Internet were using their handheld steamers to clean their homes and I thought that was brilliant, so I started doing it right away, too. Professional steam cleaners are awesome because they heat up so much that they can even disinfect surfaces—and while I've never been totally convinced my little garment steamer from Amazon is quite as powerful as all that, I've still found a lot of ways to use it around the house. Here is the steamer I have, which retails for about $26 and comes with a brush you can stick on the front. I try to avoid using the brush when I'm cle…