Lifehacker

Most VPNs come with monthly subscription plans, but if you want an all-in-one VPN solution without the recurring cost, the Mini Decentralized VPN is on sale for $198.99 right now (reg. $359). It uses a seven-layer enterprise-grade firewall, protects you from being tracked online, and offers features like ad blocking-in...Read more...

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days are on the horizon, with salestaking place on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11. To have access to those Prime deals-as well as other Prime benefits like free delivery and streaming content via Amazon Music, Amazon Video, and Prime Gaming-you'll need a Prime membership.Read more...

There's an important difference between looking at porn and being addicted to porn. A porn addiction" involves an emotional dependence on pornography. Looking at porn can be a totally healthy form of sexual expression; it becomes an addiction when it begins to interfere with other parts of your daily life, like work...Read more...

Before Barbie tiptoed her way into theaters, 2023's number one movie was an animated kid's flick based on a video game about a plumber taking mushrooms, a primate with daddy issues, and a giant fire-breathing turtle crooning about peaches.Read more...

It's a cruel irony: A solar eclipse begs to be seen, but looking at one can seriously damage your eyes. We hype these phenomena as visual spectacles, and then we must also resist looking at them with our naked eyes.Read more...

You can get a BirdBike on sale for 60% off right now with free shipping. This A-frame e-bike is designed for riders at least 5' 8" and has a max weight capacity of 265 lbs. It has a 500W motor, manual throttle, and a range of 20 miles (or 50 miles with pedal assistance). It comes with an app and security system, and...Read more...

Made by Google 2023 is officially here, and with it, exciting product announcements. We've now gotten our eyes on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, the Pixel Watch 2, and two new colors for Pixel Buds Pro. But it's not all about hardware: Google also officially introduced Android 14 to the world, and all the new features...Read more...

At Made by Google 2023, Google made some big announcements, from the refreshed Pixel 8 series to the brand new Pixel Watch 2. But that wasn't all they announced: They also shared details about some great updates to the Pixel Buds Pro.Read more...

This year, October is a big month for skywatchers: Excitement is largely centered on the ring of fire" solar eclipse in the middle of the month, but there's also plenty of activity with the moon, stars, and other planets to look forward to. These are a few of the major solar events to put on your calendar.

I love e-bikes-they introduce non-cyclists to the sport, they keep cars off the road, and most of all, ebiking is crazy fun. But is it actually exercise? If so, how much of a workout are you really getting on an assisted ride?

Early Prime Big Deal Daysdeals are here. You can find an assortment of early deals like these Blink security cameras going for up to 60% off, this Ring camera bundle selling at 40% off, or this Echo Pop bundle going for 87% off. The actual Prime Big Deal Day, which will be offering Prime members exclusive deals on...Read more...

I over-plant pumpkins every year-and with good reason. They're slow starters, and right when the vines start taking off and the pumpkins start to appear, the fall rain hits and the temperature drops. There are a lot of challenges to keeping those pumpkins healthy, solid, and ripe enough for Halloween. Here are some...Read more...

If you're looking for the Connections answer for Wednesday, October 4, 2023, read on-I'll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Beware, there are spoilers below for October 4, NYT Connections #115! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today's...Read more...

You can get a lifetime subscription to both Rosetta Stone and Microsoft Office on sale for $199 right now. Rosetta Stone has beginner and intermediate lessons for 25 languages, including French, Italian, German, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, and Filipino, and users can select one language at a time and switch languages...Read more...

This epic clash pits two powerhouses of the Southeastern Conference meeting in to-the-death combat. The undefeated Kentucky Wildcats, fresh from embarrassing the Florida Gators in week five, are traveling to Sanford Stadium in Georgia to take on the number one college team in the nation, the undefeated Georgia...Read more...

Attention Beyhive and the Bey-curious: Beyonce is coming to a theater near you. Not to be outdone by Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour theatrical event,Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce will be showing at theaters across North America on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for at least a month, beginning on Dec. 1.Read more...

It's not just you: Getting windows streak-free and crystal-clear is harder than it looks. Although it seems like a few spritzes of an all-purpose cleaner and a quick swipe of a paper towel should get the job done, in most cases, it takes more effort and different supplies. Of course, a lot depends on the size and...Read more...

In terms of value, it's tough to beat Apple Arcade. The service costs $5 per month following a one-month free trial, or comes as part of an Apple One subscription. Heck, if you bought an Apple device recently, like an iPhone 15, you get three months of Apple Arcade free. But whether you're rocking your free trial, or...Read more...

If you've been looking for a new laptop capable of playing games and handling your day-to-day business, you might want to take advantage of the latest deal from Dell, only available for a limited time. It gets you a Dell Inspiron 16 with a 13th Gen Intel i7-1360P and an Nvidia RTX 2050 for $929.99, $320 off the retail...Read more...

By now, Live Photos are an iPhone staple. And not only can you relive a little of the action occurring in your still photo, you can also turn Live Photos into Boomerangs for Instagram, or even looping GIFs and long-exposure shots. But there's one more thing you can do with Live Photos you might not know about-convert...Read more...

Fat Bear Week is upon us. On Oct. 4, 2023 (Fat Bear Tuesday), one of Katmai National Park's over 2,000 Alaskan brown bears will be crowned the fattest of them all based on internet votes. So, in celebration of these ursine kings and queens, let's enjoy some facts about bears large and small.Read more...

As long as the web has existed, this advice has rung true: Don't believe everything you see on the internet." Whether it's a personal blog, a tweet, a YouTube video, or a TikTok, anyone can say anything on here, and it's tough to know whether or not they're right (or even telling the truth).

Meta's Threads app, seemingly one of the most popular rivals to X (formerly known as Twitter), is full of interesting photos and videos. As with all social media platforms, Threads accounts post everything from cute cat videos, picturesque locations, or screen recordings showing you useful features on your phone....Read more...

The Brave Browser is an excellent alternative to Chrome, sporting useful built-in features like an adblocker and anonymized Tor browsing. In my tests, it was almost as fast as Chrome, and, if you change some settings, you can make Brave even more private.

If you're looking to get a jump on your student loan application for next year, you're going to have to wait: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) won't open until sometime in December. Since 2016, the FAFSA for the upcoming academic year has opened on Oct. 1-however, the process is currently being...Read more...

Your phone is about to get loud this week.Read more...

When facing what feels like a crushing amount of debt, you may be tempted to resign yourself to feeling hopeless and alone. This is understandable, given how society tends to treat debt like a personal problem-your mistake, your job to deal with the consequences. But debtors' unions are trying to change that.Read more...

Annotating your textbooks or other study materials is a great way to help you retain what they're saying-it forces you to read critically and pay attention. Unfortunately, if you don't do it right, you're not going to get as many benefits as you should. Here are the right (and wrong) ways to annotate.

Bing Chat, like other big tech products, makes some money from advertising. It's not necessarily a bad thing, and most of us are pretty used to the practice at this point. But just as with search engines, some of these ads aren't legitimate. In fact, some are malicious, with the ultimate goal of tricking you into...Read more...

Get ready for a little chaos on Wednesday afternoon, because a test of the national Wireless Emergency Alerts will happen between 2:20 and 2:50 p.m. EDT. (That's 11:20 to 11:50 a.m. on the West Coast.) If you have a burner phone that needs to stay hidden, or a baby who sleeps during that time, you may want to be...Read more...

Instead of a smart plug, what if the outlet itself was smart? In fact, what if all your outlets were smart? Leviton, a legacy brand for outlets, light switches, and dimmers, is adding connectivity to its products, which makes a smart home more accessible to everybody. Now, instead of installing a smart light or fan,...Read more...

If you're looking for the Connections answer for Tuesday, October 3, 2023, read on-I'll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Beware, there are spoilers below for October 3, NYT Connections #114! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today's...Read more...

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is an exciting device, marketed as the Apple Watch for those looking for a excellent fitness tracker packed with health features. But maybe fitness isn't your focus-maybe what you want is a top-of-the-line smartwatch that handles the basics well and includes a bunch of extra bells and whistles....Read more...

Now that you know the local high school's running track is (probably) available for you to use, you might want a few tips on how, exactly, to coexist with other runners when you use it. Here are the rules of running track etiquette that thou shalt not break.

This refurbished 7th generation iPad is on sale for $237.99 right now (reg. $499). It's from 2019 and can update to iPadOS 17, and it's compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil and smart keyboards (though they're not included), and it features a 10.2-inch Retina display, 32GB of storage, Apple A10 chip with...Read more...

Amazon isn't the only massive retailer offering a big sale in the beginning of October. Target's own fall sale, Target Circle Week, is going down from October 1-7, and includes discounts on thousands of items for members of Target Circle (it's free).

iOS 17 is full of interesting features and quality of life upgrades-some of them more obvious than others. While Apple will happily advertise features like Contact Posters, video messages in FaceTime, and StandBy mode, there are plenty of hidden features in iOS 17 as well. And there's one such feature you simplyhave...Read more...

With Apple's iPhone 15 event now old news, its time to turn to the next big-thing in smartphones: the Pixel. Google is gearing up to unveil the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, in addition to other hardware and software announcements, on Wednesday, Oct. 4. Here's how you can watch along.

All the different parenting schools of thought (gentle parenting, attachment, etc.) tackle the age-old dilemma of how to get your kids to listen and follow your directions. Turns out, a simple language adjustment might be the key you need to turn a kid who defies into a kid who complies. Declarative language-using...Read more...

Welcome to Training Diaries, a Lifehacker series about my journey to the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon. This series will cover all the ups, downs, and hill repeats on my journey to the biggest marathon in the world. Leading up to race day on Sunday, Nov. 5, I'll go over proper fueling, injuries and setbacks,...Read more...

Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days are around the corner, offering Prime members exclusive deals on tons of stuff Amazon sells on Oct. 10-11. But you don't need to wait until then to get great deals. Amazon has single Blink security cameras and bundles for up to 60% off, available today.

Your tech is probably a mess. Don't take it personally; mine is, too. Your phone, computer, and cloud storage are likely full of stuff that's bogging it all down, so let's figure out exactly what needs to be weeded out and how often you need to do it.

Being a college student is one of those it takes a village"situations: Family members, friends, professors, and administrators can all help you along the way. But with the right suite of tools, your phone can also be one of your greatest allies when it comes to studying and scheduling. Here are some of the best...Read more...

Google Authenticator is an excellent solution for generating one-time passcodes for two-factor authentication. But while the app makes a lot of sense to use for many, if you're locked into the Apple ecosystem, you're better off using iCloud Keychain. And that's true now more than ever, as Apple recently made it easy...Read more...

Fall is a busy time for new podcast releases, but there are a few that shouldn't be missed. Within this list, we have family secrets; a reality GV-driven murder mystery; a sitcom for your ears starring a German techno DJ, thoughtful reflections on class and weight; never-before-seen information about who killed Biggie...Read more...

We're fully into the NFL's 2023 and the biggest real controversy this season is a low-key debate about banning the QB sneak (either to protect quarterbacks or because the Philadelphia Eagles do it too well.) Meanwhile, there's firestorm of imaginary controversy raging in the inboxes and Facebooks feeds of culture...Read more...

This refurbished Lenovo Tab 4 is on sale now for $75 right now (reg. $180). It's for 2017 and obviously doesn't have the newest features, but it's a decent refurbished tablet that could be good as a secondary device for traveling or for kids. The Tab 4 runs on a quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU and Android 7.0 Nougat,...Read more...

Fall brings out my outdoor neat freak. I feel an intense need to get things buttoned up in the yard before the cold hits. After the annuals and vegetables have come down, I find my eyes wandering to the shrubs and trees. While I understand the desire to clear up the scrub and deadwood to make your yard tidy before the...Read more...

Do you chronically put off mundane financial tasks like tracking expenses, paying bills, and filing taxes? Does even checking your bank account balance fill you with dread? If so, you may be a financial procrastinator.

If you're looking for the Connections answer for Monday, October 2, 2023, read on-I'll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Beware, there are spoilers below for October 2, NYT Connections #113! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today's...Read more...