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. 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. Early October Prime Day Deals are here, and some good ones are rolling in. Amazon devices have big discounts right now, and that includes Kindle readers. Right now, Amazon is offering Prime Members bundles for the Kindle, Kindle Colorsoft, Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle Scribe, where most of them are cheaper than getting the standalone tablet, making…

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. If you’re looking for a new all-in-one robot mop and vacuum to make your life easier, the Roborock S8 Max Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop is currently 42% off, dropping from $1,300 to $750 in this deal ahead of Prime Day in October and marking its lowest price ever, according to price tracking tools. Roborock S8 Max Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop …

Your iPhone is essentially a computer that fits in your pocket, so it only makes sense for Apple to treat it as such. To that point, with iOS 26, both the iPhone and the iPad get a new app that was a Mac exclusive for over 20 years: Preview. What can you do with the Preview app?Like on macOS, the Preview app for iOS and iPadOS is largely made for viewing PDFs and other documents. When you first open the app, you'll see the options to either create a new document or scan one with your iPhone's camera. Most of the time, however, you probably you have an existing document you want to open using Preview. If so, you'll find those options in the bottom half of this starting p…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Apple Watch’s hypertension notifications may soon have a competitor. Oura, maker of smart rings, is planning to pursue FDA clearance for their own warning feature for high blood pressure. Oura members can sign up for a study soon in the Oura app. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, can lead to problems with your heart and blood vessels over time. That’s why medical professionals measure it at office visits and why people who have high blood pressure may take medications or use diet and exercise to try to control it. What Oura is planning for its blood pressure featureOura said in a press release that the feature wi…

If you don’t like Halloween, we can’t be friends. I don’t care whether you celebrate with a drunken costume party, pumpkin carving, door-to-door candy begging, or a more personal observance like watching horror movies alone, but respect must be paid to the awesomest of all holidays. But where did Halloween come from, and how did it end up like the modern holiday we now celebrate? The origins of Halloween are surprisingly slippery. Oct. 31 is next door to a Christian religious holiday, and it's around "harvest time," which might generally explain the date, but no one really knows why we put on costumes and beg for candy. There are a ton of theories describing how modern H…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Since its release 2023, the Boox Palma e-reader—and its successor, the Palma 2—has sown confusion. It's the same size and shape as a cell phone and it has an e-ink screen, but it isn't an e-ink phone, because it doesn't have a SIM card slot or eSIM. Well, today Boox's parent company, the Chinese device-maker Onyx International, announced the new Palma 2 Pro, and things aren't getting any less opaque. As I wrote about last month when the new device was first rumored, the Palma 2 Pro does have a SIM card slot, but it still isn't really a phone—while it can handle mobile data (meaning browsing the internet, streaming video, r…

Throughout my academic and professional journeys, one thing has remained my constant ally: Google Docs. Not only is having all your documents available no matter where you are helpful, but the software itself is surprisingly versatile and intricate. I have used it for over 15 years to manage basically my entire life. I have never encountered anything I couldn’t do with Google Docs, from signing a contract to seamlessly working with huge groups of collaborators. There are other, smaller hacks for the word processor that you may not even know about, though, whether you're a student or not. Google Docs hacks for essays and notesSo much of schoolwork centers on writing, from…

Red light therapy devices are everywhere—from lamps, to full-body mats, to those glowing face masks flooding my social media feed. I usually see red light therapy advertised for "younger-looking skin," but I'm not interested in these devices as a means to slow down aging—I'm interested in them as a recovery-obsessed athlete with very sore muscles. These gadgets promise to boost athletic performance, speed muscle recovery, and reduce inflammation, all by bathing your body in specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light. But do these trendy tools live up to the hype, especially for muscle recovery? What red light therapy advocates claimRed light therapy devices typic…

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 Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. Doing things the old-fashioned way and hand-writing your notes is better for retaining what you’ve learned, but it definitely has drawbacks that can make typing notes more appealing. Hand-written notes aren’t searchable on your phone or laptop, for example, and unlike your phone, your notebook probably won’t always be with you for a quick study session on the bus or train. That’s why you should take advantage of both methods: once you’ve written them out, …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you just need a tablet for streaming, browsing, and the occasional recipe lookup, the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) is tough to ignore at its current price. It’s down to $79.99 (from $179.99), and according to price trackers, this is the lowest it's ever been. The 32GB version costs $10 less, but spending that extra ten bucks is worth it if you plan to download movies or books for offline use. Whichever version you pick, you can expand the storage by up to 1TB with a microSD card (sold separately), so space won’t be an issue. Also, the battery life of…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Language learning apps usually fall into two camps—either they’re too rigid and boring, or they gamify things so much that you stop learning and start guessing. Qlango aims to find the middle ground, and currently, you can buy a lifetime subscription for $31.97 from StackSocial (down from $119.99), which grants access to all 50+ supported languages. Languages include Spanish, French, and German, as well as less common ones such as Georgian, Tatar, and even Latin. Whether you're prepping for a trip, brushing up your vocabulary, or just trying to keep…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Amazon Big Deal Days is on October 7-8, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools. Follow our live blog to stay up to date on the best sales we find. Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox. New to Prime Day? We have a primer on everything you need to know. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change. Rowing is in. And for good reason: Rowing offers a full-body, low-impact workout that engages up to 86% of your muscles, seamlessly combines cardio and streng…

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. Besides measuring heart rate and other metrics like steps, pretty much every fitness tracker and smartwatch measures heart rate variability, abbreviated as HRV. This measurement is the basis for recovery scores and stress readings, and you can usually find it as a standalone measurement in the “vitals” section of your chosen app. So let’s break down what this number actually measures, and how to interpret yours. HRV is heart rate variabilityHRV stands for heart rate variability, but that doesn’t mean what y…

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 Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. As of today, a ton of massive changes just hit the Peloton ecosystem. The at-home fitness giant didn't just overhaul one part of the structure 6 million people rely on for quality workouts—it made improvements and tweaks across its hardware, software, content, and partnerships. Everything is available for members to explore now, both in the mobile app and on the brand's proprietary equipment devices, but I don't blame you if you're not even sure what to st…

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. Amazon announced a new lineup of upgraded Kindle Scribe digital notebooks today, but I'm sure it's only a coincidence that it's also a great time to grab last year's model at a discount. Right now, the 2024 Amazon Kindle Scribe with 16 GB of storage is $300. That's 25% off, marking its lowest price ever, according to price trackers. With your purchase you also get three free months …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. In Lifehacker’s series, “A Guide to Automating Your Entire Home,” we’re highlighting all the ways you can power your home with autonomous technology, room by room. Whether you want to build a smart security system, turn a “dumb” device smart, or simply control your lights from your phone, this guide will help walk you through it. If you're starting out with smart home tech, you may feel overwhelmed by all the devices and protocols available to automate every part of your routine. But you don't need to invest a lot of time and money up front to replace all of your electronics. Instead, consider adding wifi-enabled smart plu…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. In Lifehacker’s series, “A Guide to Automating Your Entire Home,” we’re highlighting all the ways you can power your home with autonomous technology, room by room. Whether you want to build a smart security system, turn a “dumb” device smart, or simply control your lights from your phone, this guide will help walk you through it. We might not live in a future where your home can cook your meals, do your dishes, and walk your pets—yet. But there's one area where the smart home of the future became a normal reality while we were barely paying attention: your lights. I've been using smart lights for the better part of a decad…

Are you old enough to remember talking to your friends on the phone all the time? A phone with a cord? Then welcome to the Out of Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture, a guide to what's going down with all the youths out there. This week, the young 'uns are stealing each other's brainrots, guzzling heavy soda, (not) paying $500 for a rock, and being harassed by a rizzed-out robot. "Steal a Brainrot" If you know anyone under the age of 16, they are probably playing "Steal a Brainrot," and you are probably asking "Steal a what now?" so here's what it's all about: "Steal a Brainrot" is a multiplayer mini-game within maxi-games Roblox and Fortnite. In a game of Brainro…

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. Earlier this month, we saw a new running world record—more specifically, running backwards. In heels. Christian Roberto López Rodríguez claimed the fastest 100m backwards in high heels with an impressive time of 16.55 seconds. I may not be setting that sort of record, but I do see running backwards crop up time and time again as a trendy idea for the average runner. Sometimes called "reverse running," it's exactly what it sounds like: runners literally turning around and jogging backwards. But does running b…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. In 2025, I tested a ton of exotic smart glasses, e-bikes, and other gear for Lifehacker, but the tech that upgraded and improved my day-to-day life the most is a more niche product. I'm a (very) amateur musician, and Yamaha's Seqtrak is my favorite thing this year. It's an "ideastation," a music production studio small enough to slip into a backpack. Look at how tiny this thing is: Credit: Stephen Johnson Yamaha SEQTRAK …

The idea of declaring “email bankruptcy”—just deleting all the emails in your inbox past a certain date—is so popular, it has its own Wikipedia entry. I can see why it's tempting to just blow everything up and start over, and the temptation goes far beyond emails: Declaring a personal bankruptcy and mass-deleting games, movies, and e-books you fear you’ll never play, watch, or read is a practice with proponents far and wide (including some of us here at Lifehacker). But declaring bankruptcy is such a drastic step. What if you tried inbox amnesty instead? What is inbox amnesty?The idea for inbox amnesty comes from Lifehacker’s health editor, Beth Skwarecki, who advocates …

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. As fall creeps toward winter, we know we’ll have to turn on the heat. But when is the right time? If you’re arguing with your partner or roommate about the thermostat, we’re happy to be able to end that argument for you. (They’ll probably never admit they’re wrong, though.) The easiest answer, which is not necessarily the correct answer, is to look for nighttime lows falling below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. That said, neither the calendar nor the weather forecast can give you very good advice here. The temperatu…

Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. New Year’s resolutions are all about improving ourselves, right? The same goes for your best buddy—your dog. While your dog can’t physically tell you what they need to feel their best, there are simple things you can do to help set them up for success. Right now, you can save 50% off your first box of human-grade The Farmer’s Dog pet food, so that’s a great start. Check out these pup-centric resolutions and help keep their tail wagging into 2026—and for years to come. The Farmer's Dog Save…

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. Right now, the Arlo 2K Essential Indoor/Outdoor Camera (2nd Generation) is available in a three-pack at 59% off, bringing it down to $109.99 and marking its lowest price ever, according to price trackers. If you’re looking to boost your home security system and cover multiple vantage points, this is a strong option. Arlo 2K Essential Indoor/O…

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 Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news. Yesterday, at its 2025 Meta Connect conference, Meta finally unveiled its first Ray-Ban smart glasses that actually have a screen inside them. I have yet to try them for myself, but according to my colleagues over at CNET, seeing is believing. If you want to book a demo to try out the new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, you're in luck: They're popping up in select stores across the country, and you can already schedule your visit. In fact, you'll need to if …