Setting Up Your Home Office

Google is adding one of the iPhone's most controversial features to its latest Pixel phones, but it's promising to show a bit more restraint than Apple did. Yes, as part of the November 2025 Pixel feature drop, Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 phones (excluding the Pixel 9a) are getting AI notification summaries. The problem with AI notification summariesIf you're reeling back after reading that, I don't blame you. This is one of the few AI features Apple beat Google to the punch on, and when they came out during the iOS 18.3 beta, the summaries were quickly criticized for handling hard topics like breakups with a cold tone, as well as for misreporting the news. Apple quickly pulled …

Smart glasses maker Even Realities today released its latest model, the Even G2 Display Smart Glasses. Featuring a monochrome display, stylish frames, and a unique ring controller, G2s are available now for $599. In contrast to Meta Ray-Ban Displays' "do-everything" approach, G2s are designed to do one specific thing: provide a smart display that only the wearer can see. Instead of a camera and speaker, the G2s feature a suite of basic apps, like a teleprompter and a map that you can see with a tilt of your head or a touch of your ring, packed into a pair of light, slick-looking designer frames. The idea is to create cool-looking everyday glasses that are useful instead …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Peloton's app and its fitness equipment have tons of options for workouts, but they can't do everything. If you track some of your workouts with other devices, like a Garmin watch or bike computer, they wouldn't show up in your Peloton workout history—until now. A new Garmin integration is rolling out, and here's how it works. How to link your Peloton and Garmin accountsThe new integration allows Peloton to import workouts from Garmin Connect. Garmin Connect is the name of the Garmin app, so this means workouts you do on a watch (say, your Forerunner 570) sync to the Garmin Connect app, and from there to Peloton. This doe…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. There’s something oddly comforting about holding an entire childhood in your hands. The Retropian X Handheld Retro Gaming Console is currently on sale for $89.99 at StackSocial, bringing back that exact feeling. Think of it as a portable time machine with over 20,000 preloaded games spanning more than 30 classic systems, all tucked into a body small enough to slip into a jacket pocket. No cartridges, adapters, or online sign-ins, just a black handheld with a sharp 5.1-inch IPS display and a simple mission: let you play the hits from your childhood, …

Back in 2021, Apple announced a new feature for the Wallet app, that allowed users to add their driver's licenses or state IDs to their iPhones. To me, it sounded like the beginning of the end for physical wallets. In reality, it was anything but: Not only are the applications limited, but even after all this time, only 12 states and Puerto Rico actually support the feature. While the rest of us wait for our respective states to get on board, many might have another option for these virtual documents. On Wednesday, Apple announced "Digital ID," a new initiative that lets you create an ID in the Wallet app using your passport. This bypasses the waiting period for the 38 s…

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 new QD-OLED TV with fantastic picture quality from a reputable brand, the Sony QD-OLED 77" Bravia XR A95L Series is currently $3,798 (originally 4,999.99), bringing this popular TV down to its lowest price ever, according to price-trackers. Sony QD-OLED 77 inch Bravia XR A95L Series 4K Ultra HD TV $3,798.00 …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Summer might have passed, but if you’re looking for a year-round portable speaker that’s durable and rugged enough to survive the outdoors (and multiple drops), the JBL Charge 6 is down to $129.95 (originally $199.95) on Amazon, marking its lowest price. If you don't need one for yourself, this speaker would also make a great gift. JBL Charge 6 …

SMART goals are a helpful way to turn your ideas and to-dos into actionable plans for the near and far future, but they're not always the best approach. If you work on a larger team or need to track highly ambitious, long-term goals, for example, SMART might not be the best method to turn to. Other goal-tracking methods, like FAST and PACT, may be a better fit. You'll need to start by familiarizing yourself with these alternate methods, but once you do, you'll see that they are more tailored to specific needs and might just be your best bet. When should you use SMART goals?SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound—that's what the acronym s…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The PowerBoy 2-in-1 Retro Gaming Console and Fast-Charging Power Bank mixes the old with the new, and it's currently on sale for $79.99 at StackSocial. At first glance, it appears to be a simple handheld game console from the early 2000s, complete with a 3-inch IPS display and a familiar D-pad layout. But hidden inside that nostalgic shell is a 5000mAh magnetic power bank capable of 22.5W fast charging. You can play 1,500 preloaded games, covering everything from side-scrollers to puzzle titles, or use it to recharge your phone during a long commute…

When people say they work 40 hours a week, are they really working 40 hours—or are they spending a lot of that time waiting on colleagues to respond to emails, chatting with coworkers, and wasting away in meetings? Hell, even when you're alone at your desk, are you locked in on that spreadsheet or graphics project for eight straight hours, or might you be sipping a drink or texting your spouse every once in a while? There are simply some hours that aren’t true work hours, even if they occur during the work day. Times like these are known as idle time or downtime—but there’s a difference between the two, and understanding that can actually help you work smarter and be mor…

A few years ago, my neighborhood went through an extended blackout, and I had to take a few ice cold showers during the cold weather, and that reminded me that I shouldn’t take hot water for granted. Yet, most people don’t spend much time thinking about their hot water heaters. And when they break down, most of us just replace them with the same type and move on. But heating up that water is expensive—typically close to 20% of your home’s total energy footprint goes into hot water, and it’s usually the second-largest energy-related expense. That’s why you should consider a heat pump water heater—if you can make it work. How does a heat pump water heater work? Where tradit…

You may be doing everything you can to protect your privacy online—using tools like multi-factor authentication, a secure password manager, and a VPN—but unfortunately, not all privacy-focused apps and services are actually doing what they promise. In its November fraud and scam advisory, Google is warning users about VPN apps and extensions that appear legitimate but are actually vectors for malware. VPNs may actually be spyware A VPN, or virtual private network, makes your internet activity much more difficult to track by routing your traffic through a different connection rather than your regular internet service provider (ISP). This allows you to hide your IP address …

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…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. For years, "burnout" has been a cultural buzzword, but the concept isn't new: Working too hard and too fast just isn't sustainable, so while productivity techniques that advise you on how to prioritize multiple tasks in a single day are helpful in the short term, they can't last forever for everybody. I love structured to-do lists and days where everything comes together, but in a world where work, school, personal wellness, family, and friends are putting endless demands on us, it's not always possible to get it all done in one morning—even with the most detailed, time-boxed schedule. If you feel some burnout coming on or…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I fell in love with cold weather running while I was training for a spring marathon. It wasn’t a choice at first: Some weeks, the weather was bad for days on end, and if I stayed home I would fall behind in my training. Everybody else in my training group was braving the elements, so I did too—with no regrets. I got to run on quiet mornings while snow was softly falling. I signed up for a winter race that herded finishers into a heated barn for hot chocolate and soup. I set a personal record at a spring race, during which I pushed myself hard without breaking a sweat. I now find it sad when somebody tells me they’re afraid…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The holidays are the perfect time to settle into your couch and check out a classic Christmas movie or 12. Streaming services have made just about any of them available at will, from traditional classics like Miracle on 34th Street, to potential future classics like Hot Frosty. That said, choosing what to watch (and finding where it's available) can be a chore, so I've compiled the best 50 Christmas movies and specials in an alphabetical list. Revisit an old favorite, or check out a classic you've never seen before (preferably with a nice cup of cocoa at hand). Bad Santa (2003) Cut through the treacle of the seaso…

We’ve been using passwords to protect our various accounts for a few decades now, and, to be honest, we’re not very good at it. Many of us use the same simple, easy to remember passwords for all of our accounts—convenient for logging in, but horrible for security. Not only will a bad actor (or computer) be able to guess that password easily, they’ll try it against your other accounts. Before you know it, you have multiple breaches, some of which may involve financial or private information. There are a number of steps you can take to beef up your password security, of course. First, you can use a complex and unique password for each of your accounts, making sure to never…

Walking is great exercise, but can be slow and a little boring, unless you're truly captivated by the wonders of the natural world—though that won't get you very far if your scenery is the walls around a treadmill, rather than a walking path. Whether you're walking outdoors or indoors, you can benefit from using guided walks to spice up your ambling. I love the walking video offered by Peloton, but I to access them, I pay $50 a month (though I get so much else as part of my subscription). But if you want a free option, there are some great ones on YouTube. They're similar to the free guided runs on the platform, but here, you just walk. (In general, if you want to find g…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Plenty of people have been waiting for a good excuse to grab Samsung’s newest foldable, and today’s deal could be the nudge they needed. The 512GB Galaxy Z Fold 7 now sits at $1,719.99, down from its regular price of $2,119.99, a $400 drop. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 Cell Phone, Jet Black $1,719.99 at Amazon …

When it comes to productivity hacks, there are two things I love: the tried-and-true classics, like the Pomodoro method, and shaking them up with a few customizations. I've written before about other ways to mold Pomodoro to match what you need, but today's idea, Pomodoro 2.0, is one of the easiest and most effective adaptations. What do I mean by "Pomodoro 2.0?"First, a refresher on what the Pomodoro technique even is. When you're using this technique to focus and be productive, you set an alarm for 25 minutes, work for that time, then take a five-minute break. You complete that cycle four times, then give yourself a longer break at the end, up to half an hour, before s…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When it comes to the common, everyday tools we use to do quick maintenance and repair work around the house, there’s a tendency to just stick with what you have. If you have a measuring tape or clamp in your tool chest, you’re probably not going to think about getting a new one until the old one breaks. Usually, that’s a good practice—if a tool is doing its job, why waste money on a new one? One reason is to upgrade that tool. Just because the standard spirit level you’ve been using for the last decade still does the job doesn’t mean an upgraded version won’t do the job better. These upgraded versions of common, everyday t…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan's new series Pluribus has earned a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. It's just an excellent show, featuring an end-of-the-world science fiction story with a wildly inventive apocalypse: instead of zombies or nuclear bombs, Pluribus' world ends with humanity literally coming together. Through a transmission from space, everyone on Earth is melded into a single consciousness, so there's no more conflict or hunger, but there's no more individuality, either. Mysteriously, a handful of people were left out of the great melting, including Carol (Rhea Seehorn) a cynical, hard-drinking writer wh…

If you're having trouble accessing sites and services on the internet this morning, it isn't just you: It appears Cloudflare is experiencing a global outage. When I try to load sites like X or, ironically, Downdetector, I'm met with various errors. X shows me an internal service error, while Downdetector asks me to "Please unblock challenges.cloudflare.com to proceed." (I definitely do not have that authority.) You may experience similar errors on websites you try to load this morning, even ones you don't regularly visit. As part of this article, for example, I would google queries and click the top results to websites I had never heard of before, only to encounter simil…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Sony's 1000X series have been around since 2016, improving on the previous iteration to eventually land on the Sony WH-1000XM6, the best over-ear headphones for audio quality currently on the market. But not everyone can (or needs to) drop nearly half a grand on headphones. The WH-1000XM5 are a generation older and were the best headphones for audio quality up until this year, when they were succeeded. They're currently $248 (originally $399.99), their lowest price they've ever been during the early Black Friday sale, according to price-tracking too…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you own a home or just like to maintain your stuff, you probably own a bunch of tools that help you do stuff that would be impossible otherwise. (Unless you've had more success than I have at hammering a nail into a block of wood with your fists). But tools themselves can often be augmented with accessories that make them a little easier to use, more effective, and safer—think of these accessories as tools for your tools. Even the best-stocked tool chest can be improved with the addition of a few simple, low-cost accessories. Here are eight that every DIYer should pick up to make their next project a little easier. Buc…