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. There might be something shifting within Apple's commerce strategy. Whereas in the past, new models of the company's products rarely went on sale, now some of them are getting respectable discounts shortly after release—including, recently, the M4 MacBook Air and, now, the Apple Watch Ultra 3. Despite being released just this past September, the GPS + Cellular 49mm model is already marked down to $699.99 (originally $799), the lowest price it has yet reached, according to price tracking tools. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Promising to "level up your vision," rapper/entrepreneur Soulja Boy recently launched a pair of so-called "AI Smart Glasses." For $64.50, you can own a pair that offers "hands-free music control, live performance enhancements, and seamless social media connectivity." And if a stylish, inexpensive pair of AI smart glasses for $64.50 sounds too good to be true to you, it almost definitively is. I'm not knocking Soulja Boy's hustle, and "Crank That" is an all-time banger, but I am an expert on smart glasses, and I would not recommend that anyone buy these glasses. …

Computers are supposed to be unambiguous. When you click a function, that function is supposed to do what it says it does. So, when you click "Update and shut down" on your PC, you assume your PC will install any available updates, then shut down. Simple. As you might expect from this headline, that isn't actually the case. For some reason, when you choose "Update and shut down," Windows only listens to the first half of the command. Sure, your updates will download and install, but if you watch your computer, you'll see that it doesn't shut down, but restarts instead. That might come as a surprise, especially if you walked away from your PC under the assumption that it w…

There are myriad ways to prioritize your to-do list, but even if you find one that works for you, you might find they can be a little weedy and overcomplicated. That means when it comes to tasks that don't quite require that level of involvement, your productivity method can actually manage to stress you out. If you're tired of your to-do list feeling like such a heavy lift, you can make simplifying things, well, simpler by prioritizing your tasks with the "must, should, want" technique. What is the “must, should, want” technique This technique was developed by Jay Shirley about a decade ago. The blogger set out to enhance not only people’s productivity, but their dail…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds take a sharp turn from the brand’s usual noise-canceling dominance. Instead of sealing you off from the world, they sit outside your ears, letting in ambient sound while still delivering rich, detailed audio. Priced at $199 (down from its original $299), this is their lowest price yet (according to price trackers), and they cater to people who prefer awareness over isolation. Think cyclists, runners, or anyone who doesn’t want to miss the honk of a car while listening to music. …

Whether you're hosting a party or just cleaning the house, sometimes it's nice to have audio in multiple rooms. You could do that by running wires through your house, or by purchasing a multi-room audio system, but if you have a Mac you don't have to do any of that. There's a feature that makes it possible to send your Mac's audio to multiple speakers, including Bluetooth ones. The feature is a little obscure, though—you won't find it in System Settings, or anywhere obvious. No, to send audio to multiple devices on your Mac you need to open an application called Audio MIDI Setup, which you can find using Spotlight or by browsing to Applications > Utilities in Finder. …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Google TV Streamer 4K is Google's latest iteration of the smart TV stick. No longer is it hiding behind your TV, but now it takes center stage with a hub on your TV stand. Right now, you can get the Google TV Streamer 4K for $74.99 (originally $99.99), the lowest price it has been since its last summer, according to price tracking tools. Google TV Streamer 4K 32GB With Voice Search Remote (Porcelain) …

If you've joined a private Facebook group—counting on your membership and posts to be visible only to those approved to join—and receive a notification that said group is about to go public, you don't need to panic. While Meta is now allowing admins of previously private Facebook groups to change the status to public, it is also assuring users that past activity will remain private. Private Facebook groups can be made publicAccording to Meta's post announcing the update, the option to transition from private to public allows small groups to grow into larger communities that are more easily found, with content visible to anyone (even people who aren't on Facebook). Any ad…

If you've been an iPhone user for a long time, you might remember "slide to unlock." When you wanted to use your iPhone, you had to physically move your finger along the screen to actually unlock the device. It was a clever way of ensuring than your iPhone didn't unlock in your pocket, or due to an accidental touch. With iOS 10, Apple killed slide to unlock in favor of pressing the Home button, then later swiping up on the bottom of the screen. Since then, for the better part of a decade, swiping right on the Lock Screen simply takes you to the "Today View," which contains your widgets. Change is good, and I don't necessarily think Apple should bring back slide to unlock…

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 QLED TV for everyday gaming and watching TV shows and movies, the 2025 Samsung 50” QN90F Neo QLED TV is a smart option, offering high-end picture performance for an LED TV. Right now, it’s $997.99 (originally $1,397.99) on Amazon, marking a 25% discount and its lowest price ever, according to price tracking tools. Samsung 50-Inch Class Neo QLED 4K QN90F Series …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Meta has begun rolling out its latest firmware update for its Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses. The update, V19.2, is available this week, and improves Garmin integration and video recording for both first and second generation Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta wearables. Ray-Ban Meta - Wayfarer Large glasses with Meta AI, Audio, Photo, Video Compatibility - Polarized Gradient Graphite Lens (Refurbished) - Matte Black $263.00…

Anna's Archive, a popular website for pirating books and articles, seems to be square in Google's sights, according to copyright and digital rights publication TorrentFreak. The search giant is said to have blocked some 749 million Anna's Archive URLs from showing up in search results, TorrentFreak found, after combing through a recent transparency report. The removal wasn't necessarily targeted, as Google regularly delists content at the request of copyright holders. At time of this writing, has taken down links to 15,125,359,564 pages since 2011. But this is the latest in an ongoing, AI-prompted saga that is seeing copyright holders crack down on so-called "shadow libra…

When you get your first office job, you learn a whole new language. Suddenly, you’re being schooled on your team’s “workflow,” being forced to declare if you have the “bandwidth” to take on a new responsibility, and forever “circling back” and “drilling down,” all in the name of achieving "KPIs." One piece of workplace jargon you may not have yet learned is the “single source of truth"—and it's actually a helpful tool for staying organized. Here’s what a "single source of truth," or SSOT, is and why you should implement one in your (forgive me) workflow. What is a single source of truth?When your boss refers to a single source of truth, they’re talking about a repository…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Power tools make everything easier and your finishes more professional. You might think that connecting those power tools to an app on your phone via Bluetooth is an unnecessary upgrade—why in the world does your power drill need to be connected to your phone? The truth is that Bluetooth-connected, “smart” power tools offer a lot of real advantages, and you should definitely start thinking about upgrading your tools to include them. More controlThe biggest reason smart power tools are a good investment is the increased control they offer. If you’ve ever wasted time experimenting with the torque settings on a drill (and the…

The FBI is targeting a popular website for snapshotting websites on request, and may soon make it harder to get past paywalls online. The domain registrar of the site Archive.Today has reportedly been subpoenaed in an attempt to uncover the archive's owner, as first reported by 404 Media. A PDF of the subpoena posted to the Archive.Today X account late last week. The site is similar to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, but is intended more for immediate short term access rather than maintaining a longterm record. As opposed to the Internet Archive's methodical web crawlers, Archive.Today's work quickly in response to user requests, but don't make any promises to kee…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. A Costco membership usually pays for itself, but this deal makes it even easier to justify: You can get a one-year Costco Gold Star Membership, plus a $40 Digital Costco Shop Card, on sale for just $65 on StackSocial right now. That effectively drops the cost of membership to just $25 for the year, and it's sent straight to your inbox within two weeks of redemption. If you were planning to shop there anyway, it’s a no-brainer, but this offer is only available to new members or those whose membership has expired for at least 18 months. The Gold Star …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Creator/writer/star Mae Martin's Wayward is Netflix's biggest show right now. It's a sly mystery involving cult behavior and cycles of trauma at a school for troubled teens, given added relevance by its proximity to real-life stories of abuses at similar facilities. Wayward does a few different things well: It's a mystery box show, first of all—meaning that we're presented with not just one but several intriguing puzzles right off the bat, with resolutions handed out frugally. It's also a great example of the "small towns are weird" subgenre, one that likes to remind us that there are strange and ominous doings in even the…

iPadOS 26 is a huge deal for anyone who wishes Apple would just make a touchscreen MacBook already. The update rolls out a major multitasking redesign that introduces macOS-like windows, a macOS-like menu bar, and a macOS-like file management. The iPad even has the Preview app, for crying out loud—though, to be fair, so does the iPhone. Apple has toed the line with its tablets over the years, introducing features and functions that make the experience more like using a computer, while never really committing to the bit entirely. To that point, iPadOS 26 probably won't replace your MacBook, but it comes pretty close. If your major concerns have to do with things like win…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Microsoft Surface Book 3 isn't the newest model on the market, but it's one of the few laptops that can serve as both a tablet and a creative workstation, which helps explain why it initially launched at nearly $1,700. Currently, StackSocial is offering the 15-inch 2020 Surface Book 3 on sale for $929.99, equipped with 32GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage, or on sale for $999.99 for the 1TB version. The smaller 13.5-inch models are also available, priced between $699.99 and $799.99. Each one is refurbished to Grade A condition, meaning it looks …

Plex has been rolling out a new user interface for a while now, and to say it's been divisive among users would be an understatement. Users on Reddit regularly complain about the interface being confusing and slow; others wish the application would focus on personal media servers instead of things like movie rentals. Plezy is an alternative Plex client that solves these issues. The application, which is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, focuses entirely on personal media servers. Plez has a simple user interface, but the real advantage over the official Plex app is its speed. Everything about Plezy is faster than the official Plex app—it launches fast…

Windows 11 users are getting a long-awaited Start menu redesign this week. While the features have been available in beta for awhile, Microsoft is rolling out the updated interface to everyone alongside November's Patch Tuesday. What's new with the Windows 11 Start menu The Start menu will now be scrollable, so you can see all of your apps on the homepage instead needing to click All apps to open a separate page. Below pinned apps and recommendations, Microsoft will now automatically categorize similar apps into groups—the Productivity group may include your browsers and Microsoft 365 suite, for example—and place remaining apps under Other. Categories are created with th…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When you’re new or returning to running, the last thing you need is one more barrier. Shoes, appropriate clothes, sweat-resistant sunscreen: These things are hard to do without. But those running watches that it seems like everyone else is using? You don’t need one, and certainly not on your first day. You don’t even need to run with your phone. It's off how "fitness" has become almost synonymous with tracking fitness. How many steps are you taking? How many calories are you burning? How many minutes per mile was your pace when you went jogging this morning? What was your heart rate? Each of these numbers can be worth tra…

You already know that scheduling your tasks—whether you’re time blocking, task batching, or theming entire days—is a major priority when it comes to being productive and getting stuff done. But when you have a bunch of tasks and don’t even know where to start with scheduling them, you need an efficient method to decide what to get on right away, what to delegate, and what to forget about. Essentially, not only do you need to know what you need to do, but you need to rank those tasks based on how crucial they are, how much time they'll take, and what you'll need to get them done. What is the Eisenhower Matrix?This assessment and productivity tool is named for former presid…

Most of our apps these days continue to receive AI upgrades—whether or not we actually want them. That's no surprise from a company like Google, who is among those leading the AI charge right now. If you use Chrome, Android, or Google Workspace, you've likely dealt with Gemini in some capacity. The charge, as you might expect, continues to this day. On Tuesday, Google announced a set of new AI-powered features coming to Google Photos, for both iOS and Android users. Google doesn't yet have a definitive release date for these new features, but it seems they're rolling out soon. These are largely optional—you can keep using Photos as an image library, and avoid using the A…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Your home is under constant threat from the elements—but especially from water. From roof leaks to burst pipes—water damage is the second-most claimed loss on home insurance policies, just below “wind and hail.” In fact, there are way more losses due to water damage than fire. And the most troubling aspect of water damage is how silent it can be. You can have a leak for a long time before the damage becomes bad enough to notice. And even if you know you have a water leak somewhere, locating it can often be difficult because water can travel a long way from the source before making its presence known. That’s why you need th…