Setting Up Your Home Office

Typing with a keyboard is second-nature to most of us at this point. Typing on a game controller, however, is not. For as long as I've played games, I've loathed having to slowly hover my on-screen cursor over each key with a joystick. It just isn't fun. It seems Microsoft agrees with the challenges of game controller to keyboard inputs—especially when using a typical on-screen keyboard design for PC. As a result, the company is planning to roll out an on-screen keyboard designed for use with an Xbox controller with an upcoming version of Windows. This should, in theory, make interacting with Windows much easier when you're locked into your controller, and away from your…

Every folder on macOS looks the same—a boring blue representation of a paper file. That makes browsing a folder full of folders harder than it needs to be because everything looks identical. Unless, that is, you use custom icons for your most-used folders. You can do that pretty easily, but the feature is a little bit hidden. And yes, this means you can use something silly for your folder icon. But it can also be practical. Having an important folder a different color than the rest, or all of your folders different colors depending on functionality, makes it easier to find and click on what you're looking for. And the process isn't difficult. First things first: you need …

On average, Americans spend $77 each month (or $924 annually) on subscriptions, according to a recent survey. But how many of those subscriptions are really adding value to our lives, and how many are set to autopay and simply slip through the cracks every month? From streaming entertainment and fitness apps to meal delivery kits and software tools, if you’re not sure what you’re spending every month on subscriptions, it's time for a personal audit. Why you need to audit your subscriptionsWhile subscription services offer convenience, they can silently drain your bank account when left unchecked. There’s a reason why auto-renewal subscription payments are referred to as “…

Members of the media recently received invites for an Amazon devices event in New York City on Feb. 26, which means one thing: Don’t buy any Amazon devices until after the event. While Amazon hasn’t explicitly said what will be shown on the big day, it’s always good practice to wait until after these sort of announcements to buy—assuming the products are not too far away. Even if you don’t see anything that interests you in the reveals, older, now outdated products are likely to get a discount in the weeks following news of their successors. You'll either get something brand new, or save on something you would have paid full price for. As for what we can expect Amazon to…

Whether you're hosting a party or just cleaning the house, sometimes it's nice to have audio in multiple rooms. You could do that by running wires through your house, or by purchasing a multi-room audio system, but if you have a Mac you don't have to do any of that. There's a feature that makes it possible to send your Mac's audio to multiple speakers, including Bluetooth ones. The feature is a little obscure, though—you won't find it in System Settings, or anywhere obvious. No, to send audio to multiple devices on your Mac you need to open an application called Audio MIDI Setup, which you can find using Spotlight or by browsing to Applications > Utilities in Finder. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. 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. If you’ve been looking for a great pair of noise-canceling earbuds that don’t cost a fortune, the JBL Tune Buds are now down to $44.95, their lowest price yet, according to price trackers. That’s less than half of what they’re originally sold for, which makes them a strong contender in the under-$50 range. JBL Tune Buds …

If you like the Kanban method but have grown tired of using bloated, online-only tools, Kanri is a free open-source alternative you can install on Linux, macOS, and Windows that works entirely offline. It even supports importing from Trello. We've recommended the Kanban method, and related tools, for tracking your work and visualizing projects. And there's nothing about Kanban that needs to be digital—it works well with sticky notes on a wall or even a notepad. Most people, however, depend on apps like Trello for the job—but Trello has a few limitations. There's no offline mode on the computer, for one thing, and the app has a habit of asking you to upgrade. If you'd pref…

Perhaps you completely forgot about the “Secret Santa” gift exchange, or your estimated delivery date got pushed back to 2026. Whatever your reasons, you’re in need of a last-minute gift, and your options are limited. If you're reading this at a time when it's too late for online delivery, and in-person store options are already closed, then all that’s left is the glory of your local 24-hour drug store. If you have access to a major chain like Walgreens or CVS, you could be in surprisingly good shape for this last-minute gift. All it takes is a little ingenuity to level up this gift from "a protein bar" to "a gym bro collection," or "some loose nail polish" to a "curated …

Journalists love a good tech prototype. These exciting experiments break up the monotony of covering the same incremental refreshes day-in and day-out.They also come with a downside: As attention grabbing as they are, there’s no guarantee that they’ll ever actually come to market. That’s why covering them can be a bit tricky, as it can be difficult to decide how much attention to give a product consumers might never actually see. Luckily, Lenovo actually made good on one of its earlier promises at CES this year, showing off a rollable laptop that’s set to launch sometime in 2025. Now, the company has three additional concepts it's showing off for Mobile World Congress, al…

Letterboxd is the social media app of choice for many movie fans out there—and for good reason. The service has long been a platform for rating movies, sharing and viewing recommendations, and organizing your watch lists. Now, however, the company is gearing up for a new business model: on-demand video streaming. Letterboxd announced the news at the Cannes film festival on Tuesday. While the company's reveal is lacking many details, we do have some idea of what to expect. The new streaming service will be called the Letterboxd Video Store, and will host "shelves" of select titles. These movies are curated by Letterboxd, and are quite specific. According to the company, …

I'm always harping about how everyone should familiarize themselves with and start using time boxing and time blocking, the techniques that call on you to pre-plan your entire day down to the minute, filling up every space on your calendar with defined tasks. I stand by my enthusiasm for the methods, but even when you’re time boxing your whole day, you’ll notice you end up with a few random pockets of time sprinkled throughout your schedule. If you don’t have a plan for what to do with these, they’ll become unproductive—so start thinking of how you can maximize your productivity with “time pockets.” What are time pockets?Time pockets are small amounts of time throughout y…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. 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. With this live blog, you can keep up with the best deals the Lifehacker team finds every day, all in one place. Bookmark this page to keep an eye on what we're finding. As always, we use price-tracking tools to suss out the deals that are actually worth paying attention to, not just hype designed to instill a false sense of urgency. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are fast approaching, but many deals are actually already here. I'm always hunting for deals on at-home fitness products, but whether you need some dumbbells, more serious equipment, or anything else to boost your health and wellness journey, this is the moment to save. Check this live blog often to see the best fitness sales we're finding in the lead-up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are coming up soon, but deals are already trickling out across marketplaces across the Internet. If you're shopping for home goods or home improvement items (like I always am), this is the time to load up on tools, organizers, appliances, and more, all for cheaper than you'll pay during other times of the year. Check this live blog often to see the best sales on home products that we're finding in the lead-up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Although Black Friday hasn't technically started yet, many retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart already have early deals with some impressive discounts. We've used price trackers to determine the best tech deals around so far. Visit this page for regularly updated sales information. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Garmin watches are great for running, but are a bit tricky to work with when you’re trying to track strength training in the gym. (I have some tips here on how to make the most of that strange experience.) But an app called LiftTrack makes up for Garmin’s shortcomings, giving you the Garmin-based strength experience that maybe Garmin should have given you in the first place. Workout creation makes more sense with LiftTrack Credit: Beth Skwarecki LiftTrack is an app (available f…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Right now, if you live in the U.S. and you're familiar with lock screen ads, it's probably from your e-reader, your PC, or maybe even your refrigerator. Plenty of devices with screens in them like to subsidize costs by running ads, but American smart phones have been surprisingly good at keeping your lock screen clear. Until now. "Nothing" experiments with lock screen adsIf you haven't heard of Nothing, I don't blame you. The Android phone company made waves back in 2022, largely on the back of its founder, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, but it only recently started making phones on par with flagship devices like the Google …

If you receive an email about your Social Security statement, proceed with caution: According to a new report from Malwarebytes Labs, hackers are impersonating the Social Security Administration (SSA) to trick people into installing a remote access tool and handing over full control of their devices. The SSA is no stranger to phishing scams—the Office of the Inspector General put out an alert last month warning the public of fraudulent emails purporting to include Social Security statements that in reality led to fake websites. How the Social Security phishing scam worksThe current attack is the work of a phishing group known as Molatori. It begins with an email that a…

The winter sky has some brightly lit star patterns visible this month, including a triangle featuring Mars at one of its points, making it worthwhile to brave the winter temperatures for stargazing. These shapes aren't constellations, but asterisms: groups of stars that form recognizable patterns but that don't have official locations from the International Astronomical Union. The Big and Little Dippers are asterisms, for example, though their stars are part of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. The Winter Triangle, which is especially visible now, is made up of the stars Sirius, Procyon, and Betelgeuse, which are found within the constellations Canis Major, …

Rideshare services are convenient, but accessing them can prove a challenge to less tech-savvy potential passengers, particularly older adults. But companies are introducing changes that make their services easier for these groups to access. Lyft Silver is a new account type that, like Women+ Connect (aimed at women and nonbinary passengers), makes it simpler and safer to hail a ride and get support when needed. Lyft Silver has several features to make rideshare services more accessible to older adults. With a Lyft Silver account, users will see a redesigned version of the app with larger fonts and simpler navigation. The app will prioritize matching Lyft Silver users wi…

Mac users take note: A well-known (and relatively sophisticated) phishing scheme previously targeting Windows is now being redirected at macOS and Safari in an attempt to obtain login credentials (your Apple ID). On Windows, this scam worked by displaying fake security alerts on compromised websites claiming that the user's device had been "compromised" or locked" at the same time that malicious code caused the website itself to freeze (making the scam more convincing). The notification prompted users to enter their Windows credentials to regain access—obviously handing them directly to the attackers to take over their accounts. Users were also advised to call a fake hot…

Magic Leap is back. The tech company, now owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, today revealed a prototype for a pair of Android XR smart glasses made as a "reference design for the Android XR ecosystem," and announced it had extended its partnership with Google. The AR glasses have thicker-than-normal frames, but not ridiculously so, and seem to have a camera. But that’s about all we know: there's no word on availability or what the glasses actually do. While Magic Leap didn't reveal a ton of concrete details about its new shades, it did say they combine "Magic Leap’s waveguides and optics with Google’s Raxium microLED light engine" with the goal being an all-…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. No matter what kind of productivity goals you have and which techniques you plan to use to get it all done, you still probably start with a to-do list. Learning to formulate a solid to-do list is the key first step to being productive, since you need it to move on to other planning stages, like using the Eisenhower matrix to prioritize tasks or Kanban to organize them. And to make a good to-do list, try using the 1-3-5 rule, which is designed to keep your daily schedule more manageable—and thus more achievable. What is the 1-3-5 rule of productivity?The 1-3-5 rule acknowledges that in a typical day, you just don’t have tim…

Tax Day is here. Many of us high achievers have already received our tax refunds—and are perhaps enjoying slightly larger checks than expected this year. While it might be tempting to spend that entire sum on a vacation or shopping spree, I recommend a more balanced approach. Enter the "1/3 rule": a simple and effective strategy to maximize the benefits of your tax refund. The 1/3 rule is straightforward: Divide your tax refund into three equal portions and allocate them to three different financial priorities. Allocate 1/3 for savingSet aside the first third of your refund for your financial future. I've recommended before that dividing your money into multiple accounts …