Setting Up Your Home Office

While Apple has offered password management solutions for years, it was only this past fall that the company finally rolled out a dedicated passwords app, appropriately named "Passwords." It's a bit basic, but it's built into the OS, and it gets the job done. (It's also free, which helps.) If you're fully into the Apple ecosystem, it's an easy way to create, store, and access the passwords of your numerous accounts. However, as it happens, Passwords has a critical security flaw that Apple only recently addressed. Here's the situation: Passwords has a security feature that helps you change an account's password directly within the Passwords app. This is particularly helpfu…

YouTube Premium is expanding its list of paid-only features—at least, for those who are willing to experiment. In a blog post this week, the company announced a handful of new experimental features available to Premium subscribers. These features, while not enabled by default, can be switched on from youtube.com/new, and can be used until they expire. In addition, YouTube also announced a sneak peek at a feature in the works, as well as a Premium discount for Google One subscriptions. Higher-quality musicYouTube Premium is adding a new high-quality audio bitrate for music videos. Now, songs can be up to 256kbps, matching the highest audio quality found on YouTube Music…

Lift heavy to build muscle: That’s advice you’ve probably seen in a million places, whether you're aiming to get stronger, get "toned," or simply reap the health benefits of putting on a little muscle. But how heavy is “heavy,” and how do you know if your workout qualifies? There’s no specific number of pounds that will constitute “heavy” for everyone. What’s heavy for a teenage girl picking up a dumbbell for the first time will be a lot less than what’s heavy for a pro strongman. (If you do want to compare your lifts to other people's, sites like Symmetric Strength can show where you stand—but please consider these comps as just for fun.) In basic terms, training “heav…

If you're trying to get your finances back on track—and who isn't?—you're sure to see "no-buy months" and "low-buy years" all across social media. No-buy challenges ask participants to eliminate all non-essential purchases for a set period. While the concept seems straightforward, these challenges often fail because they don't address the psychological aspects of spending or provide realistic frameworks for long-term financial habits. I've written before that sticking to a budget can feel a lot like sticking to a diet. A strict approach is not only too difficult to maintain, but it can backfire. The all-or-nothing mentality is frustrating and demoralizing, and you might …

When it comes to managing your finances and taxes, consider advice from TikTok with a hefty grain of salt. Certain tax "loopholes" may go viral, but that doesn't mean they're good for your specific tax situation. TikTok's bite-sized videos have a habit of distilling nuanced tax strategies into just a few sentences—a recipe for misinformation. This advice is lightly misleading at best, and totally inaccurate at worst. Blindly following this advice could cost you in penalties, back taxes owed, and a tremendous hassle. Let's take a look at the questionable TikTok tax advice I've seen and how you can make sure it doesn't lead you and your money astray. Hiring your kids Some v…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Housing is getting smaller and more expensive—which means many of us are putting our mental energy into making our existing homes work for us even if they’re bursting their seams with stuff. From storage unit strategies to time-honored ideas like making sure every stick of furniture comes with bonus storage capabilities, we’re all trying to cram two houses’ worth of stuff into one house. If your house appears to be at full capacity and you just don’t have any more room for shelves, cabinets, or anything else, you have one move left: Start literally carving storage out of the bones of your house. There are hidden voids ever…

There used to be a clear progression in home ownership: You bought a “starter” home when you were young, built equity, then cashed in when prices rose and leveled up to something bigger, newer, or with the features you really want. And if you bought a house that didn’t live up to expectations, or if your situation changed without warning (hello, unexpected third child!), you would list the place and move to a better option. But increasingly, that seems like an artifact of a bygone age. It’s easy these days to feel “stuck” in your current home—because of that amazing mortgage rate you locked in years ago, the eye-watering cost of a house these days, or some other issue. If…

Lately, I’ve noticed my grocery money isn’t going quite so far, especially with meat. I’ve needed to change things up a bit. Specifically, the chicken that I usually toss into my salads, pasta dishes, and soups, well, I’m swapping it out for slabs of fried cheese. Is it weird? Maybe. But I love an excuse to eat cheese, and it’s really working for my wallet. Let me start by saying that my household consumes a great deal of chicken. What can I say: It’s a wonderful bird. And when you’re buying multiple pounds of it, and if it’s the bougie air-chilled chicken that I like, you can see how this quickly ends up being unaffordable. While my problem may be the price of chicken, …

If your Garmin watch is showing a blue triangle, you’re not alone—Garmin has acknowledged that other users are experiencing this, and has published instructions for fixing it. The issue affects several models of watch, including Fenix, Epix, and Forerunner watches. As of January 29, they say the issue has been resolved (but your watch may still need a hard reset to make use of the fix.) The company initially told me in an email: “Garmin is researching reports of devices displaying a blue triangle when starting a GPS activity. A reset by pressing and holding the power button may restore functionality. We will provide more information on a permanent fix when available.” Ga…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Garmin unveiled a subscription tier for its app last week featuring an AI that promises to provide insights on your training. I liked the company’s policies around training and privacy, but hadn’t seen much of the actual AI output when I wrote about it. Now, I’ve spent a week with the feature, which Garmin says is still in beta. Here are my impressions. The AI insights are just one of the features that rolled out with the new $6.99/month Garmin Connect+ subscription. Some of the other add-ons look a lot more useful, like the Live Activities feature. I have a full rundown here on what you get if you pay for the upgrade. The…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. You know that I love a good running watch, but there’s a soft spot in my heart for the more lifestyle-y Garmin Vivoactive 5. It’s a sleek touchscreen watch with plenty of fitness features, and it’s going for as little as $209 today in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale. The original price of the Vivoactive 5 is $299, and depending on the color you want, you can get it for somewhere between $209 and $219 in today’s sale. It’s available in black, white, navy blue, and orchid purple. Garmin Vivoactive 5 GPS Smartwatch With…

Gboard, the default keyboard on many Android phones, is finally getting a proper undo button. Up until now, you had to use a Japanese keyboard to access the undo button, but Google has finally addressed that gap. With Gboard 15 for Android, you'll be able to use the undo button that, thankfully, works with all languages. How to set up the undo and redo buttons in GboardFirst up, go to Google Play store and update Gboard to the latest version. After that, open any app where you can see the keyboard, such as Messages or Chrome. Fire up the keyboard and tap the four squares icon in the top-left corner of the keyboard. This will show you all the shortcuts that you can add to…

Google has pushed out a shiny new AI model in the form of Gemini 2.5 Pro, albeit with an experimental label next to it—and it's available for free, so you don't need to subscribe to Gemini Advanced to get it. As with many recent AI model releases, the "reasoning" capabilities of the model are said to be the biggest upgrade here. In artificial intelligence terms, reasoning means answers that are more thoroughly worked through. That should produce fewer mistakes, more logical responses, and a better appreciation of "context and nuance" according to Google. This capability for extra "thought" will now come as standard in future Google models. The Pro (Experimental) release i…

Gemini Live is the chatty, natural conversation mode inside Google's Gemini app, and it just got a significant upgrade: The AI can now instantly answer questions about what it's seeing through your phone's camera and on your phone's screen in real time. The feature is coming first to Google Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 phones. You've long been able to offer up photos and screenshots for Gemini to analyze, but it's the real-time aspect of the upgrade that makes this most interesting—it's as if the AI bot can actually see the world around you. You may remember some of this functionality was shown off by Google under the Project Astra name last year. …

Good news, Android users: You no longer need to pay in order to use Gemini Live's camera and screen share features. Google announced the update in a post on X on Wednesday. The company cited the "great feedback" they received from users' experiences with Gemini Live camera and screen share, and revealed plans to roll out the features to all Android users over the coming weeks. You might even see the options right now. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Gemini Live has come a long way Gemini Live is the conversation mode for Google's AI assistant. Originally, it supported audio-only experiences: You could ha…

GIMP, the free and open source image editing application long seen as the best free Photoshop alternative, just released a major update: Version 3. The update brings long-awaited improvements to working with filters, layers, and text. There's also a sleeker user interface with improved UI scaling. Among the biggest changes is nondestructive filters. Previously applying filters, such as blurs, was final—you could use the undo function to get back to a pre-filtered state but you couldn't simply edit or remove the filter. You can now tweak the settings of filters, or even remove filters entirely from the layer panel. …

You might not think about it, but you're probably pretty used to how Gmail's search function works. You type in your query, wait a moment, then scroll through the results, looking for the email in question. These results are always in chronological order, with the most recent results appearing at the top. After years of searching this way, you're likely subconsciously expecting this order, scrolling backwards in time to find the result you have in mind. I imagine it's going to be a bit confusing the next time you search for something in Gmail, and the results are not sorted by recency. That's because Google is changing the way it returns Gmail results for users: Google an…

It's been clear for some time that the Gemini AI app would be replacing Google Assistant, once it had learned all the necessary tricks and been granted all the required hooks into other apps. Now, Google is in the process of actively dismantling the features available in Google Assistant ahead of its retirement. As per Google's official support document (as spotted by 9to5Google), seven more Google Assistant features have recently been pulled across Android devices and Nest smart speakers and displays. These deactivated features add to a bunch of other capabilities that were taken away last year. On smart displays, you can no longer use your voice and Google Assistant to …

The Google Gemini apps are getting a memory upgrade, with the AI bot now able to recall past conversations you've had with it—building on the tool's existing ability to remember personal details about you, such as the foods you like or what you do professionally. Like several other new Gemini features when they first launched, this is exclusively for Google One AI Premium subscribers ($20 per month), with English language users getting the upgrade first. Google says support for more languages and Enterprise accounts will be added in the "coming weeks." Google's intention here is to make Gemini more useful. You could refer back to something you were chatting about last wee…

Google is announcing a slew of new Gemini features today, this time aimed squarely at its free users. Features that were previously only available with the $20 per month Advanced plan will now be accessible to the public. GemsGems are Gemini's little AI helpers that you can create for any task. You can start with pre-made ones like Google's Career guide. But you can create a Gem for any purpose. You can create one for repeated tasks, or to help you research a topic with very specific prompts. Previously, the Gems feature was exclusive to Gemini Advanced users, but now Google is making them to available to all users. You'll find Gems in the sidebar, where you can easily ge…

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a fantastic security measure, but not all 2FA is created equal. SMS-based 2FA is by far the least secure authentication option, and yet, far too many companies use this method as default. Hackers know this, which is why they target users' 2FA codes to commit fraud and steal access to Google accounts. All that said, any 2FA is better than no 2FA, so it's worth tolerating SMS-based authentication if it's the only 2FA option offered. Now, however, the winds are changing: Google is the latest company looking to switch from SMS codes to an alternative method. As reported by Forbes, the company is planning to shift from SMS codes to QR codes. …

Summer is on the way—at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere—and Google has pushed out some useful upgrades across several apps to make your travel planning a little easier (and a little more reliant on AI). First, the AI Overviews that you've no doubt noticed up at the top of Google search results are being expanded to cover travel itineraries for regions and countries, as well as cities. All you need to do is ask for a plan for a certain place (like the south of France), together with any requirements (such as kids or a specific budget), and the AI will do the rest. You get a day-by-day breakdown of where you should go and what you should do, and you can che…

Google has issued another round of significant AI model announcements, upgrading its Gemini offerings across the board to bring users and developers artificial intelligence engines that are, according to the company, more capable and reliable. In the wake of DeepSeek's rise and new OpenAI models, the pace of AI development isn't slowing down. First up, the Gemini 2.0 Flash model that appeared in December for a select few is now rolling out to everyone, so you'll see it in the Gemini apps on desktop and mobile (this actually began appearing last week, so you may have already used it). The Flash models are designed to be faster and more lightweight, without too many perform…

Google's first Pixel Drop of 2025 happened this week with a long list of upgrades for the company's flagship phones, tablets, and watches. Google followed the update closely with the March 2025 Android Security Bulletin, with fixes for 43 malicious bugs—including two zero-day vulnerabilities that may actively be under "limited, targeted exploitation" on devices running Android OS. The patches cover concerns ranging from flaws that allow attackers to gain remote code execution on vulnerable devices to issues with Qualcomm and MediaTek components. The two zero-day (highest severity) exploits are labeled CVE-2024-43093 and CVE-2024-50302, both of which are "privilege escalat…

There are numerous ways that your internet activity is tracked as you navigate from website to website, many of which you can mitigate with your choice of browser (and browser settings), as well as the use of tools like VPNs. Google Chrome remains the absolute worst browser for privacy for many reasons, but that doesn't mean the browser is free of privacy progress. In fact, the upcoming version of Chrome will finally patch a 20-year-old bug that allowed users to be tracked and profiled through their previously visited links. A privacy fix is coming to Chrome 136The issue, which Google is addressing with Chrome 136, has to do with how a user's previously clicked links ar…