Setting Up Your Home Office

At the beginning of February, Amazon officially launched Alexa+, the company's new AI-powered assistant. Alexa+ is like the old Alexa, but with new contextual abilities. Users can ask complex, multipart questions, as well as requests for tasks, like asking Alexa to book you concert tickets. If you've used a voice mode on chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini, you're familiar with the concept—it's just now available on your Echo devices, too. Now, Amazon is letting you lightly customize the personality of your new AI assistant, offering the choice between concise, calm, and enthusiastic bots. On Wednesday, Amazon announced "Alexa+ personality styles," a new feature that lets yo…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you track your runs (and bike rides, and all your other exercise) with a Garmin device, you’ve probably already found its gear tracking features. This is how I realized I'd put over 1,000 miles on my favorite Nikes. Until recently, the usefulness stopped there. But in a new (free) update, Garmin has introduced a ton of new gear tracking features, including one I’ve been hoping for ever since I bought my first pair of trail shoes. Garmin Forerunner 970 Premium GPS Smartwatch (Black) …

You've probably heard that you should feel a certain muscle working when you do an exercise. Your biceps should burn a little when you're doing bicep curls, your quads when you're doing squats, and so on. But this isn't an ironclad rule. Sometimes you can get a totally effective workout without feeling any specific muscle at all. So why do so many people tell you to pay attention to feeling the muscle working? Partly because it can be a useful teaching tool to make sure you're doing the exercise right—but that's only true for some exercises. And honestly, another big reason is the influence of bodybuilding lingo and techniques on gym culture in general. Bodybuilders who …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Samsung HW-Q800F soundbar is down to $547.99 on Woot right now, which is a good chunk less than its $747.99 Amazon price tag, and even lower than the lowest price it’s ever gone for before ($697.99), according to price trackers. This offer is valid for a month or until it sells out, with free shipping for Prime members and a $6 fee for others. It comes with a 90-day Woot limited warranty, but the real appeal here is the performance: It’s a 5.1.2-channel system with Dolby Atmos support, meaning you get immersive audio, even without extra satellit…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Spending less than $100 on noise-canceling earbuds used to mean accepting weak ANC, short battery life, or stripped-down features. The Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 makes fewer of those compromises. They’re currently $99.99 on Amazon, down from $129.99—a $30 drop, or about 23% off—and price trackers show this is the lowest they’ve been. Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 …

Most of us believe that we would never, ever fall for a scam. We think we know the "tells," like poorly formulated communication that sounds urgent. Unfortunately, social engineering—tactics that prey on human emotions and instincts to get us to act against our own interests—can work on anyone. Romance scams are a textbook example of emotional manipulation in which the perpetrator exploits a victim's feelings of loneliness, love, or desire for connection to build trust over the long term. Beyond the emotional toll, the financial consequences are significant: The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported $672 million in romance scam losses in 2024, and this num…

If you are planning spring or summer travel, you may want to slow down and pay close attention to the process. Scammers have a lot to gain by targeting travelers: The Federal Trade Commission tracked more than 58,000 reports of travel, vacation, and timeshare plan fraud in 2024 totaling $274 million in losses. And AI is helping them get away with it. How scammers are targeting travelersSome of the most common travel scams involve impersonation: of people, brands, and listings. For example, fraudsters will post fake vacation rental listings and collect payment (sometimes by pressuring you to use wire transfers or peer-to-peer apps) and leave you stranded with no place to …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you need to start a cordless tool kit or replace a set that’s worn out or broken, this Ridgid 18-volt, eight-tool combo set has all the basics you need for home DIY and beginner woodworking projects. Because cordless tools can be expensive, getting a good deal on a set is a way to stretch your DIY budget. I’ve used this set for shop work building shelving and displays, and the tools are durable and the batteries hold a charge well after years of use. At 65% off, it’s a great deal for eight tools and …

Last year, Google's Gemini AI took a major step forward in image generation with the launch of its Nano Banana upgrade—perhaps as much due to its quirky codename as its impressive capabilities—and now the next iteration is here. Nano Banana 2 is another notable upgrade for AI image-making, and it's currently rolling out to all Gemini users. Nano Banana 2 is a combination of the original Nano Banana and the Pro version that followed a few months later. It's essentially Nano Banana Pro at faster speeds, as noted in Google's announcement, though Nano Banana Pro is also sticking around for those on Plus, Pro, and Ultra plans for situations where detail and accuracy matters mo…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Right now, those in the Samsung ecosystem can take advantage of a pre-order deal on a brand-new Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra unlocked phone. $1,299 discount is the standard retail price, but Amazon is offering a free $200 gift card to sweeten the deal on the phone, which officially releases on March 11, 2026, and is available in four colors. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Unlocked Android Smartphone + $200 Gift Card …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Dark began as a mystery involving a missing child and evolved, over its three seasons, into a wildly complex narrative: a time travel-driven story that explores dark family secrets over the course of several generations. Youth may be a sort of protection in some horror stories, but not here, not even a little tiny bit. No one is safe from the show's emotions threats, nor from literally being killed. Dark gets twistier and more compelling throughout its three seasons and, miracle of miracles, ends on its own terms and on a highly satisfying note. There's nothing quite like it out there, which is a big part of the appeal, bu…

Amazon's Wish List feature is a versatile way to tell other people what gifts you're interested in. That might be a gift registry for a baby shower, or letting your friends and family know what you want for your birthday. But it's also commonly used for online creators to receive gifts from fans or for someone in need to receive donated items from strangers online who want to help. Up until now, we could rely on Wish List as a secure way for strangers to send items, without worrying about setting up a post office box. But going forward, Wish List now runs the risk of telling fans exactly where the creator lives—unless the creator takes action. Amazon is putting addresses …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Samsung just announced its new earbuds during the Samsung Unpacked 2026 event earlier this week, and Amazon is already offering a pretty sweet deal to preorder them. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 are $179.99 and come with a $20 Amazon gift card, and the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro go for $249.99 and come with a $30 Amazon gift card. Both will be released on March 11, but you can pre-order them now. Considering these will be their flagship earbuds for some time, it's a great opportunity for any Samsung fan or anyone curious about Samsung's new earbuds to s…

Ever since I deleted my Facebook account, Instagram has taken its place as the social network I visit most often to check what my friends are up to. I've been on the app for something like 15 years now, and during this time, I've learned a trick or two that improve the experience (or at least make it less annoying). Here are 10 Instagram hacks that will enhance your privacy, reduce the amount of junk in your feed, help you reset your algorithm, and more. Use Instagram filters to block spam messages and comments and clean up your feedOn every social media app, I like to set up filters to mute offensive keywords, but you can use keywords to block almost anything you don't w…

In a post on its community blog today, Meta announced the timeline for the shutdown of Horizon Worlds for VR users. The Horizon Worlds app and related Events will disappear from Quest headsets by March 31, and VR users will no longer be able to use the social hub at all after June 15, 2026. Horizon Worlds will continue, Meta says, but only for mobile users. “We are separating the two platforms so each can grow with greater focus, and the Horizon Worlds platform will become a mobile-only experience,” the company explained in the post. “This separation will extend across our ecosystem, including our mobile app.” Horizon Worlds launched in 2021 as a VR-only platform where u…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Cardio zones aren't real—not in the way your fitness app makes them sound, anyway. Yes, heart rate zones are a way to describe how hard you're working during a cardio workout, like running or cycling. But the cardio zones everyone's always buzzing about are just a way of bucketing exercise intensity into digestible categories. They're a useful shorthand, but there are no physiological lines in the sand where your body suddenly switches from "zone 2" to "zone 3." It's a spectrum, and the specific cutoffs vary depending on who you ask (or what app you're using), what formula they rely on, and whether they measured your lacta…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Smart home technology has really changed the way we live and work in our homes, giving us more control over our environment and appliances. We can now adjust the climate, monitor our resource consumption, and stream our media anywhere in the house with a tap of the finger or a few spoken words. But that convenience and power has come with a cost, and that cost is the, well, aesthetic of some of that smart tech. Smart devices are often clunky plastic monstrosities that insist upon taking over more than their fair share of flat surfaces. If you’re hoping for a more elegant, analog look—while still enjoying the benefits of mo…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. There's nothing sweeter than listening to your favorite album or watching your favorite movie with pristine audio. And if you're a true audiophile, few brands approach the quality Sonos can offer. Right now, Sonos is offering major discounts in the lead-up to Amazon's Big Spring Sale, and the Sonos Beam G2 + Sub Mini combo in particular stands out; it's currently $749, a 25% drop from the $998 list price and the lowest price it yet reached, according to price tracking tools. …

If your browser of choice happens to be Firefox, good news: Your web surfing is about to get a bit more private. On Tuesday, Mozilla announced a number of upcoming updates to Firefox, all under the theme of user customizability. One such option happens to be a built-in VPN that Mozilla will offer users free of charge. This new VPN option in Firefox rolls out March 24, as part of Firefox 149. There are no downloads required, since the VPN is baked into the update: Once it hits your browser, you'll be able to turn on the VPN and start hiding your IP address and location while you use Firefox. The only caveat here is that Mozilla is capping VPN data usage at 50GB per mont…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. From humble beginnings, Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone has grown into TV's one inescapable franchise. The Kevin Costner-led original ended its run after a relatively compact five seasons, but that doesn't reckon with the three official spin-offs, the three others in development, nor with the Sheridan shows (Landman, The Madison, Bass Reeves) that feel like they could extensions of the Yellowstone universe, even if they technically aren't. But given that success only feeds our appetite for more, here are 15 other shows that play with the themes and tones that have made Yellowstone such a phenomenon. The Madison (2026 – ) …

If the cost of signing up for a Spartan Race or Tough Mudder has ever given you pause, good news: You can now use your Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA) funds to cover race registration fees. Spartan has partnered with Flex, a platform that enables HSA/FSA payments across fitness and wellness brands, to make this possible. How using your FSA to pay for a race worksA quick refresher on how HSA and FSA accounts work: Both are funded with pre-tax dollars, meaning the money goes into them before the IRS takes its cut. When you spend those funds on a qualifying purchase, you're effectively getting a discount equal to your tax rate. For most people…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Razer Wolverine V3 Tournament Edition wired gaming controller is down to $54.99 on Woot right now, which is the lowest price it has ever hit. It usually goes for around $99.99 on Amazon, and even previous deals didn’t dip below about $59, according to price trackers. If you’re a Prime member, you get free shipping, while others pay an extra $6. This deal is live for 12 days or until stock runs out, and Woot only ships within the contiguous U.S. Razer Wolverine V3 Tournament Edition …

Whether you love to garden or take pride in an immaculately landscaped space ideal for entertaining (or both), creating and maintaining a beautiful outdoor area for you and your family to enjoy adds immeasurable value to your property and quality of life. If your family includes some beloved pets who also enjoy your outdoor spaces, however, you have to be careful when it comes to the plants you choose for your garden or landscaping. There are a lot of plants that are safe for humans that can poison our furry friends, so being deliberate in your choices when planning out the garden or laying out your landscaping is a must if pets are going to be allowed outside. Here are s…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When digital music first started popping off, the vast majority of us didn't care all that much about audio quality. Some of the less, erm, legal methods of downloading music offered horrific quality audio, while even the best options at the same (i.e., iTunes) only supported MP3, a relatively low-quality codec. Times have changed: While most of us still aren't necessarily audiophiles, we do expect high-quality tracks from the streaming services we use—especially if we pay for them. It might not be the "gold standard," but streaming sounds great, even with wireless headphones. But there is a clear ceiling in audio qualit…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Robot vacuums are peak if you’re looking to minimize your cleaning routine (who isn’t?). One of the most intriguing models on the market is the Ecovacs Deebot X11 Omnicyclone rcombination obot vacuum and mop, which earned a 2026 CES Innovation Award thanks to its unique 4WD design and built-in debris canister, which sets it apart from competitors and predecessors alike. Right now, the Ecovacs Deebot X11 Omnicyclone is 40% off, bringing it down to an all-time low price of $899 (originally $1,499). …