Setting Up Your Home Office

My fellow Lifehacker writer Beth Skwarecki is a weightlifter. I'm a marathon runner. Together, we make one reasonably competent Hyrox athlete—and in four weeks, we're going to find out if that's enough. Beth and I are competing together in a Hyrox doubles race on May 29, in something of a joint experiment in just how little training you can get away with before showing up to one of these things. Hopefully, we can each bring our respective strengths to the floor, cover for each other's weaknesses, and survive. Hopefully. What is Hyrox, anyway?If you haven't encountered Hyrox yet, here's the short version: It's currently the trendiest fitness-race-sport-competition-lifestyl…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Samsung’s flagship soundbars have reached the point where the yearly upgrades are more about refinement than reinvention, and that is pretty much the story with the Samsung HW-Q990H. Right now, this 2026 model is down to $1,299.99 on Woot, which is its lowest price yet, according to price trackers. The same system is listed for nearly $2,000 on Amazon, so the discount itself is substantial. Samsung HW-Q990H Soundbar System Q-Series 11.1.4-channel setup $1,299.99 …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Google Pixel Fold launched in 2023 as Google’s first foldable, and while newer phones have come out since then, this current price changes how you might look at it. It is listed at $449.99 for the 256GB model, which is significantly lower than its earlier pricing and still below what you will find on places like Amazon. The deal is expected to run for the next ten days or until stock runs out. You also get free shipping if you are a Prime member (others pay $6), although it is worth noting that Woot does not ship to Alaska, Hawaii, PO boxes, or …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. A lot about 2026 has been depressing, infuriating, or worse, but at least the TV has been pretty good—there are future classics streaming across the genre spectrum, from the medical realism of The Pitt, to the endless mystery of FROM, to the over-the-top comedy of Big Mistakes. Below are the ten most-streamed series across all streaming services for April, and there's almost definitely something here you'll dig. The Pitt The Pitt continues to dominate the streaming charts. HBO's gritty, hyper-realistic medical drama has earned acclaim from critics and audiences for its relentless pace, as each episode follows one …

If Roku or TCL made your TV, listen up: Your set might be involved in a class action lawsuit. Both TV manufacturers are currently in the middle of a suit, and while it's far too early to know where the case is going or what a potential settlement would be, we do know which TVs in particular are named. What is the Roku/TCL lawsuit? As Top Class Actions reports, plaintiff Terri Else recently filed the lawsuit in California federal court. Else's suit asserts Roku and TCL issued software updates that were "repetitively defective." According to the suit, the updates rendered some TVs from both Roku and TCL "bricked" or otherwise unusable. Else says these updates "materially i…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. As a headphone reviewer, not a lot of headphones outside of the flagship Sony, Bose, and Apple models get me excited. However, the JBL Tour One M3 Smart Tx headphones not only got me excited when I first heard of them, but I started using them over my Sony 1000XM6 as my go-to headphones. The Tour One M3s are down to $299.95 (originally $449.95), their lowest price ever, according to price-tracking tools. This is a great deal for these headphones, which I deemed my favorite travel headphones in my review. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Last weekend I strapped two different Garmin running watches to my wrists and raced a 10K. On one arm, I wore the Forerunner 970, Garmin's top-of-the-line, $750 running watch. On the other, I wore the Forerunner 165 Music, which is far more budget-friendly at $300. I wanted to see if having a fancy running watch really makes a difference during a race. The answer is complicated. Consider this: The weekend before my race, the winners of the London Marathon competed wearing the Forerunner 55 and the Forerunner 255—two watches that are, by tech standards, practically ancient. This fact was certainly in the back of mind as I r…

If you mostly use Reddit on a desktop browser, you probably have no issue jumping from subreddit to subreddit. On mobile, it's a different story: Reddit really wants you to use its mobile app, and it makes that clear with pop-ups whenever you access the site in your browser. If you'd rather not download another app onto your phone, dismissing the pop-ups is easy enough—until it isn't. That's the situation this week. Some users accessing the Reddit home page or jumping directly to individual posts on the mobile site are running into a new roadblock that stops their browsing in its tracks. Things seem normal when first loading up a thread, but as you start scrolling, a larg…

It's official: For the second year in a row, Google will be hosting "The Android Show: I/O Edition" ahead of its big I/O event. It's a sign the company once again has many announcements going into the developer conference, and, rather than cutting down on any specific category, would prefer to sequester the Android portion of the event into its own keynote. That's good news at least for Android fans, who will be watching for any developments on Google's mobile OS. That also indicates that Google I/O 2026 will focus on Google's endeavors outside of Android—perhaps, most importantly, AI. While Gemini is a key component of Android these days, the company is rolling out new…

If you're at the stage where you want to do more with your phone and start building automations—customized mini-apps to carry out tasks—then Tasker (for Android) and Apple Shortcuts (for iOS) are likely to be included in the tools you turn to. You'll find an introduction to both these apps and what they can do for you below, as well as an explanation of how they're similar and how they're not. The main difference is that Android continues to allow its apps to dig deeper into the operating system and its features than iOS does, and Tasker can take full advantage. For those who've never looked into phone automations, there's an almost limitless array of possibilities here, …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Sometimes I fear my running career has plateaued. Well, not my career, but my pace. I lace up four or five times a week, push hard enough to feel pleasantly wrecked, watch my mileage climb steadily upward, and then—after months of honest effort—still find myself running the exact same pace I was running a year ago. It's clear that in order to get faster, effort alone isn't enough. I'm not alone here. It's well known in running circles that a lot of us unconsciously settle into what coaches call "the gray zone"—an effort level that's too hard to be truly easy and too easy to create meaningful high-end adaptation. It feels …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Beats Studio Buds+ have been around long enough to feel familiar, but this current deal adds a layer that makes them worth a second look. Right now, they are bundled with two years of AppleCare+ and listed at $123.95 (down from $198.95)—price trackers show this is the lowest this bundle has ever been. Wireless earbuds are easy to misplace, drop, or wear down over time. AppleCare+ extends repair coverage and adds accidental damage protection, which can save you from paying full replacement costs if something goes wrong. For a product that lives i…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. A flagship soundbar rarely comes cheap, but Woot is currently shaving a big chunk off Samsung’s 2025 model. The Samsung HW-Q990F, a premium 11.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos soundbar, is marked down to $887.99. That’s nearly half of Samsung's list price for brand-new units, and also the lowest price yet, according to price-trackers. This deal is live for the next three weeks (or until stock runs out). Shipping is free for Prime members (otherwise it's $6 for shipping), though restricted to the lower 48 states. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. This past weekend I ran a 10K while wearing both the Garmin Forerunner 970 and the Forerunner 165 Music, and while I'll be doing a full comparison soon, the experience made one thing immediately clear: Sometimes it's worth it to have a premium running watch. While both watches have excellent running features, the 970 has a few that the 165 lacks—and after putting them to use on race day, I can say that two of them in particular made a real difference. Garmin Forerunner 970 …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Apple Notes is an excellent note-taking app that often goes under the radar because many of its best features are hidden. The app does a great job at capturing your ideas and syncing them across Apple devices, but when you start digging deeper, you'll quickly realize that it has powerful features under the hood. As someone who's used the app for over a decade, I've discovered quite a few of the best Apple Notes hacks on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Here are 10 I think everyone should know. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. April's 10 most-streamed movies offer a diverse collection of styles and genres, so there is, as they say, something for everyone. If you like stylistic horror, don't miss Dust Bunny. If you're into stripped down thrillers, Apex is for you. If you like sports movies, there's Marty Supreme—or you could just re-watch The Devil Wears Prada before you head out to the theater for the sequel. The Housemaid (2025) The Housemaid …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The AirPods Max finally got their anticipated upgrade—and no, I'm not talking about the 2024 refresh when they added a USB-C and called it a "new" version. These are the AirPods Max 2, with improvements that warrant putting that "2" after the name. Now, the new AirPods Max 2 are getting their first decent discount, currently $509.99 (originally $549.99), their lowest price yet after their recent release, according to price-tracking tools. Yes, they're still expensive, but these are Apple's latest flagship headphones and the best Bluetooth headphones…

If your console of choice is PlayStation and you tend to buy your video games digitally, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you might be entitled to some money thanks to a proposed lawsuit settlement from Sony. The bad news is, it's probably not going to amount to all that much. In a press release on Wednesday, the Saveri Law Firm announced a class action settlement for a case filed against Sony. The case, which is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, centers on Sony's PlayStation Store: The plaintiffs in the case claim that Sony acted as a monopoly in the sale of its digital games, which drove prices for game…

You don't necessarily need an app to see where an aircraft is at any given time—if you type the airline and flight number into Google, it'll show you the arrival and departure information and where it is en route based on data pulled from Flightview (which also has a standalone app). However, there are a handful of native and third-party flight trackers, both paid and free, that provide live updates and other alerts so you have the most current information when you travel, often faster than the airlines themselves. Here are five of my favorite recommendations. Flighty costs money but can be more accurate than your airline's own appFlighty is an iOS app with robust flight…

If you're a long-time Samsung Galaxy user, your messaging app of choice might be Samsung Messages. Despite the company removing the app as a default several years ago, many still rely on it—though not for long. Samsung is shuttering the app in July, marking the end of an era for the Galaxy ecosystem. The app won't be completely useless after this date, as Samsung says that you'll still be able to contact both emergency services and emergency contacts. But aside from these limited scenarios, Samsung Messages will essentially be defunct. As such, all Samsung Messages users need to plan for how they want to continue messaging on their Galaxy. While Samsung hasn't told us w…

The AI chatbots are coming for your smart home. Both Alexa+ and Gemini for Home are now rolling out to users who've opted in to the upgrades, replacing standard Alexa and Google Assistant, respectively. Once you get access, they'll do everything we've become familiar with from these next-gen AI assistants—natural language conversations, complex queries and responses, various hallucinations—while retaining all the previous smart-home functionality, whether that's turning off lights or checking in on video doorbells. I got access to these two upgrades within the space of a week, giving me the opportunity to test them against each other. With an Amazon Echo Show, a Google Ne…

This week, a meme-based generational civil war is breaking out on TikTok, and only one side knows it's even happening; a throwaway tweet from rapper Young Thug has me looking into why so many rappers put "ASAP" in front of their names, and we're going back in time to 2012, when prank videos ruled the internet. TikTok’s Le Snack Demon and why it signals a generational riftTikTok has been around since 2016; Instagram, since 2010. Both have lived long enough to see long-time users butting heads with newcomers, and generational battle lines are being drawn around a little AI cartoon character called Snack Demon. It started on (older-coded) Instagram, where this video from a…

As powerful as LLMs can be, all have one shared weakness: hallucination. For reasons beyond our understanding, AI models have a habit of making things up, totally out of the blue. A response might be accurate, with well-cited sources and relevant information; then, all of a sudden, the AI pushes a false claim, or mistakenly interprets an ironic forum comment as fact. (That's how you end up with Google's AI Overviews recommending adding glue to your pizza.) Some LLMs may hallucinate less than others, but none are immune. That's why anytime you use a chatbot, you'll see some kind of warning on-screen, letting you know that the AI can make mistakes. Apple Intelligence, App…

The Opera you're using today is obviously a very different browser from the one it was decades ago. Perhaps the most significant change is that it's a Chromium-based browser, which means you can install Chrome extensions to fill any features you may be missing. That said, the browser still retains its core philosophy of shipping useful integrated features—even if those options aren't always obvious. From bypassing unskippable YouTube ads to using a built-in volume booster for every tab, here are the best Opera hacks you should know about: Use "Early Bird" to try experimental features before releaseIf you live on the bleeding edge of tech, you can use Opera's "Early Bird" …

If you're in the Google ecosystem or use Google Workspace at work, Google Chat is a popular choice for messaging and collaboration. The app replaced Hangouts in Gmail (RIP), originally launching for business before rolling out to everyone. Regardless of the context for using Google Chat, there are a handful of hacks to maximize its features. Add Chat to Gmail to keep everything in one tabIf you already have too many tabs open—and one of them is Gmail—you don't actually need another one for Google Chat. Instead, you can add Chat to your Gmail taskbar and toggle between your inbox and chat interface in the same tab (as long as they are under the same Google Account). Hit t…