Setting Up Your Home Office

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If your current version of Office is starting to feel a little old, this might be the right time to upgrade without committing to a subscription. Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows is down to $49.97 on StackSocial—marked down from its regular $219.99 price. It’s a one-time purchase with a lifetime license for one Windows PC. That means no monthly fees, no renewals, and no cloud dependency to use the core apps. You’ll get instant delivery of your license key after checkout, and setup is straightforward. Just note that the license ties to …

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 waiting for a chance to grab a MacBook without wrecking your budget, this refurbished 2020 M1 Apple MacBook Air deal is worth your time. It’s currently on sale for $499.99 on StackSocial, which is a huge drop from its original $1,499.99 price. Since it's a Grade "A" refurbished unit, it should arrive looking almost brand new, with little to no visible wear. You’re getting the 13.3-inch model in the Gold finish, with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD—pretty much the combo most people need for everyday work, casual creative projects, and light…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Tariffs on products being imported to the U.S., especially from China, Canada, and Mexico, have been a hotly debated topic in the news, and many people are predicting a hike in prices on things like tools and materials for DIY projects as the tariffs are enacted. There is a lot of conjecture about how to keep your home improvement and DIY projects prices down, with many commentators advising people to simply “buy American"—but that probably won’t work. The economy is increasingly international, with parts of almost everything made in the U.S. being imported from all over the world. Most tools made in the U.S., even from b…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When I first reviewed the Boox Palma e-reader, I called it the ideal solution to your doomscrolling habit—a device as portable and pocketable as a phone, with an adaptable Android operating system that allows you to run any apps you want, but with an e-ink screen that is both easier on the eyes and not nearly as stimulating to stare at as your smartphone’s LED display. Weirdly, by looking like a smartphone but feeling just a little bit worse to use (complimentary), this little device helped me smash my 2025 reading goal in fewer than six months. But doomscrolling isn’t a mobile-only problem (at least, not for me)—it’s just…

With the weather warming up, your thoughts may be turning to spending lazy summer afternoons at the beach with a good book. Tina, an online creator and co-host of the podcast Book Talk, Etc., opened her edition of the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday to find the newspaper's "Summer reading list for 2025." If Tina were me, someone who isn't in-tune with the latest in literature, this article might have seemed like a useful jumping-off point for some new book recommendations. But seeing as Tina creates content all about books, I imagine she is acutely aware of which authors are writing which books—which is why she was able to immediately spot a number of books on the list that s…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. For anyone looking for a straightforward, budget laptop for school, writing, or browsing, this open-box Microsoft Surface Laptop SE sale is worth a look. It’s priced at $189.99 right now on StackSocial, down from its original $378.99 listing. Even Amazon has it for about $20 more at the moment. Being an open-box item means you're not getting the out-of-the-plastic wrap experience—these units were likely returned, displayed, or pulled from shelves—so the box might be bruised or have a sticker or two, but the product itself is tested, verified, repack…

I never considered myself a walking girl. I never engaged in the "hot girl walk" trends on social media or went on "mental health walks" during the pandemic lockdown. In fact, I long thought walking—the milestone most of us reach as babies, the activity the majority of us do each day to accomplish all the other basic tasks of living—had a little too much PR hype, especially after learning that the much-ballyhooed "10,000 steps" we're supposed to take every day relied on an arbitrary, made-up figure for marketing pedometers. If I am going to do cardio, I reasoned, I'm going to do cardio: cycling, running, swimming, or playing sports with my friends. If I'm not sweating, wh…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Motorola is set to release its latest wearable, the Moto Watch Fit, on May 22 with a price tag of $199 in the U.S. ($249 in Canada). The new smartwatch, which was initially unveiled alongside updated Razr flip phones last month, will be available through Motorola's official website at launch, with availability expanding to Amazon and Best Buy in the coming weeks. What to know about the Moto Watch FitUnlike most Android smartwatches on the market, the Moto Watch Fit runs on a proprietary operating system rather than Google's Wear OS. While this might raise some concerns for potential buyers wary of an untested system, there…

It's that time again, for Google to announce that real-time translation has come to one of its communication apps. This time, it's Google Meet, which can translate between English and Spanish as you speak in a video call. If that sounds familiar, it's because it's not the first time Google has announced something like this. Google Translate has had features that let you speak to someone in another language in real time for a while. For example, back in 2019, there was a real-time translation feature called Interpreter Mode built into Google Assistant. It's also been possible on Pixel phones for a while (and even Samsung phones). Most of these, however, have been either te…

Google's Smart Replies are getting an AI-themed, and to me, slightly creepy update. At its Google I/O 2025 keynote, Google announced a new feature called Personalized Smart Replies. This feature uses Gemini AI, alongside the data in your Gmail and Google Drive, to reply to emails in a way that sounds like you. Google promises is can write like you would, using your tone and writing style, as learned by your Gmail history. With this new update, the Smart Replies option that shows up when you reply to an email will be a lot more powerful and a lot more contextual. On stage, Google CEO Sundar Pichai used planning a trip as an example. Let's say a friend emails you asking for…

At Google I/O 2025, the company announced that Gemini Live Camera and Screen Sharing is rolling out to iPhone starting today. This means that you'll be able to use your phone's camera to live stream a feed to Gemini, and have a conversation about with the AI agent about what it sees. This feature has been available on Android for some time, but it's coming to iPhone for the first time starting today. This could be useful for many things, such as showing Gemini a video of something in your neighborhood and asking it to identify the item. In theory, you could ask it to identify cars, trees, or important landmarks in your neighborhood, or ask it general knowledge questions a…

The last time we talked about 23andMe’s bankruptcy sale, we suggested you might want to delete your genetic data from the site, since we didn’t know who would end up owning it. Now, a buyer has been announced, and they’re promising to “prioritize the privacy, security and ethical use” of customer data and to keep offering the company’s services uninterrupted. This is all—probably—good news. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic, anyway. Regeneron will be 23andMe’s new owner23andMe’s new buyer, paying $256 million for the company’s assets, is Regeneron. Regeneron is a biotech company perhaps best known for developing an antibody treatment for COVID early in the pandemic. (Dona…

There are some real-world use cases out there where AI could genuinely be a useful tool that doesn't just act as a shortcut to something you could do on your own. Case in point: Google's new 'try it on' feature, which allows you to see how various outfits look on your body over your phone or computer. The company announced the feature at Google I/O 2025, and it uses a photo you upload to generate images of you in different clothes. This feature is available via Google Search Labs starting today. How to use Google's 'try it on' featureTo try out this new feature, go to Google's Search Labs page, sign in to your account, and opt in to the "try on" experiment. The next time …

Sometimes you need to quickly convert an image, audio file, or video, so you search for an online tool. The problem: many online conversion tools aren't safe to use, putting you at risk from malware or mining your data. Vert isn't like that. This is an open source, browser-based tool that can convert the most common image, audio, video, and document formats. It isn't clogged with ads and you don't need to create an account to use it. More importantly: the tool works (almost)entirely in your browser, meaning your files are never actually uploaded anywhere (save for video files, as I'll explain below). I tested this by opening the website, turning off my WiFi, and convertin…

Google I/O's 2025 keynote could have more reasonably been called The Google AI Show. Almost everything the company talked about was AI-powered, some of which is promised to arrive in the future, and some of which is available today. Features were spread across Google's whole range of products, but here are some of the ones you're actually likely to see. It's tough to talk about Gemini because it simultaneously refers to a set of models (like Gemini Flash, Gemini Pro, and Gemini Pro Deep Research), different versions of those models (the latest seems to be 2.5 for most of these), and different apps that these models are available through. There's the dedicated Gemini app, …

The Google I/O 2025 keynote was all about Gemini and AI. But it's nice to see that the Chrome desktop browser got some new updates and features, too. While Gemini has been available in every web browser so far, until now, it's still very much just been a website. Meanwhile, over on Android, the Gemini app integrates deeply into the ecosystem. Thankfully for AI fanatics, it can now do that in Chrome, too. Plus, Google is adding some quality-of-life upgrades to the password management system, as the browser can now change your passwords for you, automating one of the most tedious but important security tasks there is. Gemini comes to Chrome on desktop Starting tomorrow, Gem…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Even though the residential burglary rate has been dropping steadily in recent years (down 26% between 2019 and 2023), many of us still worry about being robbed or experiencing a home invasion. Alarm systems and other high-tech security are really effective—a study once found that 83% of criminals check for an alarm before selecting a house to rob—but they don’t actually stop someone from breaking into your home. If you want to prevent a determined criminal from getting inside in the first place, you don’t need to spend a fortune turning your house into some sort of smart home fortress—there are plenty of cheap, low-tech s…

It's 2025, and Google is now bringing its own agentic AI feature to the Gemini app. While the company has discussed agentic AI prototypes before, it now seems ready to take them mainstream. At the Google I/O 2025 keynote, Google discussed how the new feature can go out on the web on its own and perform tasks for you. Just like OpenAI's Operator, it can take a prompt, make a checklist of things that need to be done, and then do them for you. According to Google, Agent Mode combines features like live web browsing and deep research with data integration from Google apps to accomplish its online tasks. The model is supposedly capable of executing multistep actions, start to…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re looking for a compact speaker that won’t flake out on sound or durability, this refurbished Sony SRS-XB100 wireless Bluetooth speaker is worth a closer look. It's on sale right now for $34.99 at StackSocial (down from its original $59.99 price), and this Grade “A” refurbished unit arrives in like-new condition and ships free across the contiguous U.S. It’s not brand-new—those are going for around $48 on Amazon—but this version comes with barely noticeable wear, if any, and still delivers the same sound and features you'd expect. Physically…

Google announced a lot of new stuff today at I/O, but few things were more eye-watering than the company's new Google AI Ultra subscription. At $250 per month, it's by far the most expensive subscription Google has yet launched. So it makes sense it comes with everything. And I mean everything. For starters, subscribers at this tier get to use Gemini Ultra, which includes the new Veo 3 video generation model that can also generate sounds alongside video, to...some effect. This tier will also be the first to get access to the upcoming 2.5 Pro Deep Think reasoning model that Google says can "consider multiple hypotheses before responding." It also brings access to tools lik…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Amazon's Memorial Day sale is in full swing, and you can find more than just the usual appliances and tools on sale. There are discounts on many tech products for audiophiles as well, from Beats headphones, to the Sonos Arc Soundbar, and the beloved Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, which have dropped in price after the release of the WH-1000XM6. If you're looking for bargains on budget headphones and earbuds, I've rounded up the best ones that you can find under $100, whether you're looking for earbuds, bone conduction headsets, or open-ear, in-ear, or …

It should have been obvious that Google I/O 2025 would be jammed-packed, considering the company felt the need to hold a separate event to cover all of its Android news. But color me shocked that Google pulled off a nearly two hour-long presentation, full of announcements and reveals, mostly about AI. Not all AI announcements are equal, of course. Some of the news was geared towards enterprise users, and some towards developers. But many of the features discussed are on their way to consumers' devices too, some as soon as today. These are the updates I'm going to focus on here—you can expect to try out these features today, in the coming weeks, or at some point in the…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Just in time for Memorial Day grilling, barbecuing, and smoking, the thoughtful folks over at ThermoWorks have put together a sale that you won’t want to miss. Starting today, you can get my favorite meat thermometer 30% off. It’s the Thermapen One, and I like it so much, I even bought one for my dad. ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE, No. 1 Recommended Instant-Read Thermometer - Cayenne Pepper Red …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Streaming services have basically come full circle: What started as a cheap alternative to cable TV has become an expensive monthly cost in its own right, as price hikes and crackdowns on password sharing have made subscribing to multiple streaming services just as expensive, if not more so, than some conventional cable plans. Luckily, there are often discounts, deals, and loopholes to exploit that can make streaming more affordable—and sometimes even free. Here are the best streaming deals you can get right now. This month's best streaming deal …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Oura ring is great at tracking sleep and keeping tabs on your healthy habits, but as I noted in my review of the Oura ring 4, it’s really not great at activity tracking. That may be changing with a rollout of new activity-tracking features that the company has announced today. These still aren't enough to replace, say, a proper sports watch, but they do look like a significant improvement on Oura’s previous abilities. I’m going to test these features over the coming days and weeks to let you know how much of an improvement they really are. Here’s what Oura says is included: Step counting will use a new algorithm that…