Lifehacker

With heavy storm activity moving across North America, and autumn moving in, there are bound to be some downed power lines here and there. But what do you do if you see one near you? Knowing how to handle this dangerous situation is important to avoid shock and minimize fire risk. Here's how to keep yourself and...Read more...

Growing up with a uterus, you're taught that getting your period is a sign of good health, with the added benefit of relaying that you're not pregnant. But periods are costly, sometimes painful, and annoying at best. While people have been skipping periods by taking hormonal birth control for years, many still think...Read more...

If you're looking for the Connections answer for Wednesday, September 6, 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 September 6, NYT Connections #87! Scroll to the end if you want some hints (and then the answer) to...Read more...

If you're interested in cybersecurity and the world of IT, this iCollege Complete 2023 Cybersecurity Developer and IT Skills Bundle is on sale for $69.99 right now. iCollege is an online learning institution with a 4.7-star rating on Indeed, and this sale is for 26 courses with more than 400 hours of instruction in...Read more...

Homemade mayonnaise is a different beast from the store-bought stuff. Even my favorite brands-Kewpie and Duke's-can't hold a candle to the rich and tangy DIY mayo. The texture is less jiggly, the flavor fresher, and you can customize it by playing around with the acid (vinegar or lemon?), eggs (whole or yolks only?),...Read more...

No matter how advanced science gets, we'll always reach a wall on forecasting the weather into the future-and that threshold, on average, is two weeks. That is how long an unaccounted-for event in our environment takes to have a significant impact on the weather. If you're planning on inviting friends for a picnic or...Read more...

The true measure of any home gardener is their first tomato. Not just any tomato, but one of those giant heirloom slicers, which they will display with smug self satisfaction over social media. The earlier in the summer, the better, which leads gardeners to do all kinds of wacky things to get bigger plants in the...Read more...

Ice has become a given in cocktail culture, but there are good reasons to do without. You avoid overly diluting your drink, it's friendlier on the environment, and you could be a forerunner in the scaffa (room-temp drink)trend. Or maybe you're here because you simply ran out of ice. It happens. Luckily, you don't need...Read more...

I first had labneh at a Lebanese restaurant in Tampa, Fla., and I became instantly enthralled. It had the tang of yogurt and the richness of cream cheese, and it caused me to put away pita in a way hummus never could. I then spent many years purchasing it in fancy grocery stores before I realized I could make my own.

When you hear the word commune" or the term communal living," you might immediately think of 1960s counter-culture radicals living on a farm somewhere, or of a cult that ended in dramatically violent fashion back in the 1970s. But the concept is getting a fresh look in the modern age.

Swirl Wines is offering 15 bottles of mixed wines for $64 right now (reg. $225). The price doesn't include taxes or shipping, but still, each bottle winds up costing less than $10 each to have wine delivered to your doorstep.

One of the pains of gardening is that with annual vegetables, you have to start over each year. Sure, you move forward with the accumulated knowledge of gardening years past, but you still have to grow a seed from scratch and nurse it along until it's mature enough to produce vegetables. For peppers, this can be tortur...Read more...

For years, I've shied away from making popsicles. They tend to come out just a little too icy. Yet, of all things-not cream, not yogurt, not anything dairy-based-tofu saved the day. Tofu is a sweet and savory sensation in more ways than I can count, so I suppose it comes as no surprise that she's got yet another trick...Read more...

Not only is handheld PC gaming now a reality, you actually have quite a few great options to choose from. One of the most notable, of course, is Valve's Steam Deck, beloved for its easy-to-navigate menus and excellent emulation. However, the new Lenovo Legion Go is also an enticing device, albeit a bit more expensive...Read more...

Fall in the garden is often thought of as a time for harvesting and putting it to bed for winter. In areas where temperatures during the winter get below freezing, you might think you can't grow anything in the winter months. This is only partly true-you won't be able to harvest anything in the coldest months, but you...Read more...

When you think of fiction podcasts, you probably think of serious, speculative, and/or dystopian fare like The Bright Sessions or Limetown. But podcasting is a medium, not a genre, and there are fiction shows of all kinds-including a ton of hilarious, offbeat comedies. My favorite funny fiction podcasts take you to...Read more...

Student loan payments are starting back up soon, and while some borrowers may get a break on their monthly bill, the burden on budgets will increase for many. If your workplace offers employee benefits, you may be able to claim more than $5,000 in tax-free assistance toward your student loans. Here's how to tap your...Read more...

Labor Day has come and gone, which means it's now time to lean into fall, including cooler weather and changing leaves-and enjoy it while it lasts. To that end, SmokyMountains.com puts out an annual fall foliage map, which indicates when fall colors are likely to be at their best across the country, broken down to the...Read more...

If you're looking for the Connections answer for Tuesday, September 5, 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 September 5, NYT Connections #86! Scroll to the end if you want some hints (and then the answer) to...Read more...

This refurbished 2019 Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is on sale for $399.99 right now (reg. $899). It has a 7th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, an 8MP rear camera, a 1.2MP front camera, and up to 10.5 hours of battery life. It's been cleaned, professionally tested, and certified to work...Read more...

Every house is a complex system. When all the parts are working correctly you'll have a dry, warm place in which to weather a storm. When parts of that system stop working correctly, you'll have a very, very long night instead. Keeping your house in working order sometimes requires expensive repairs, replacements, or...Read more...

A little one doesn't come when you call them, but they're probably just distracted, right? You are constantly asking older kids to turn down the volume on the TV, iPad, or Nintendo Switch, but they are just really absorbed in their activity, right? Maybe-but these are also signs of hearing loss in kids.Read more...

Birthday parties for kids can get way too expensive. I know this isn't exactly a hot take-we've all been to over-the-top parties with clowns and petting zoos-but I still wince when I think about the Benjamins I dropped this year for pizza and video games at what I believed would be an affordable affair to celebrate my...Read more...

This refurbished Macbook Air is on sale for $399.99 right now (reg. $575). It's originally from 2017, but it has been refurbished with a Grade B" rating, which means there may be faint scuffs that don't affect its performance. It has a 13.3-inch display with 1440 x 900 resolution, a full-sized backlit keyboard, and...Read more...

I'm a 70s baby, and the badge of my people is our incredibly strong feelings for fondue. And, you know, talking cars and Care Bears and an unwilling affection for the Bee Gees. But fondue endures in a way K.I.T.T. can't.Read more...

Having separate types of paint for indoor versus outdoor use may sound like a marketing ploy to get us to buy more paint-reminiscent of when advertisers a century ago tried to convince women to switch from a single all-purpose skin cream to using separate products for day and night. However, in this case, there are...Read more...

I have (somewhat infamously) written about recipes you should never make. As I jotted down this recipe for cheese curds, I genuinely assumed no one would follow my lead; it was simply too laborious for such chaotic times. I'll let you in on a secret: I don't even like cheese curds, or at least I thought I didn't.Read more...

Cheesemaking can be really labor intensive, with a lot of time spent stirring, standing, and waiting around for milk to fulfill its curdy destiny. But then the workload drops off, and you have to transfer your efforts to a cheese cave and wait while it hangs out in Tupperware or a vacuum-sealed plastic bag.

Bloomy cheese is the reason to start cheesemaking. It encompasses the best parts of cheesemaking: You get to watch impossible clouds of fluffy curds condense into adorable wheels of cheese with fabulous patterns, and gaze upon the fuzzy mold as it blooms-mold you put there, yourself, on purpose. And after many weeks...Read more...

It's hard to talk about cheese without mentioning balls-big, white, wet balls. Mozzarella isn't the easiest cheese to make, but it's the one people often start with. In the world of cheese appreciators, there are those who enjoy your hard classics: cheddar, muenster, a big lacy Swiss. And then you have the gourmands...Read more...

It's now September, which means that it's time to start planting spring-flowering bulbs like daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips. If you're new to gardening, it can take a while to get used to thinking so far in advance, but if you time it out right, you can ensure you have something blooming-or at least green-year-round.Read more...

Feta is already pretty perfect. It has a crumbly, moist mouthfeel, a good bit of salty umami, and a great shelf life, but you can take it one step further by preserving your homemade (or even store-bought) feta in oil.Read more...

Here's the downer about fresh cheese: It has a shelf life. Sure, you can extend that shelf life in the freezer, but those icicles don't do our curdy friends any favors. You can have a brief romance with a brie (about a week or two), and a gruyere can offer you a committed month of intense adoration, but for the most...Read more...

Ricotta doesn't get enough airtime. It's a perfect food, capable of handling both savory and sweet, and it lives in that space between smooth and silky and toothsome. I challenge you to find a cheese with as much potential as ricotta.Read more...

At some point in your cheesemaking journey, you'll need a cheese press. But before you run off to the big warehouse in the cloud to get one, you should know a few things about cheese presses, so you buy the right one. (Hint: I couldn't find one on Amazon that met the grade.)

Chevre is one of those fantastical cheeses that plays both sides of the fence-the sweet and the savory. This flexibility explains why it's so easy to find in the grocery store deli. Often, you'll find logs of the goat cheese with some sort of flavoring, because chevre is highly receptive to that sort of thing. The...Read more...

As extreme weather is becoming increasingly common, so too are the power outages that often accompany it. From downed power lines following a strong thunderstorm or blizzard, to the grid getting overloaded as people crank the air conditioning to stay cool during a heatwave, we're losing electricity more frequently,...Read more...

I engage in a lot of high-risk activities. Not doing drugs or jumping off cliffs so much, but fermentation, pottery, and gardening, the sorts of hobbies that have a high failure rate that you just have to accept as part of the game. Cheesemaking is like that, and even now, many years into my journey, I occasionally...Read more...

While you really don't need a special location or kitchen to make cheese, you will need some equipment-and, most importantly, a deep appreciation for cleanliness. I thought I knew about sterilization from my many years of canning, preserving, and fermenting, but I was in no way prepared for how diligent you must be...Read more...

Humans can live without a lot of things, but clean water isn't one of them. And while you may have a few jugs of water stashed in a closet or your basement for emergency situations, would it be enough to sustain all the members of your household? And is it safe to drink? Here's what to know about storing your...Read more...

When we enter the workforce, we all come in with different life experiences, maturity, emotional intelligence, and understanding of longstanding power structures and systemic inequities. This is often most visible when it comes to entitlement.Read more...

While most of us reach for a vacuum when we need to clean up a non-liquid spill on the floor, there are still times when it makes sense to grab a dustpan and brush. Whether your vacuum's battery needs to be recharged, or it takes less effort to use a dustpan for smaller messes, it helps to have one handy.Read more...

Buying, maintaining, and insuring a car can get pretty costly, so it makes sense to save money when you can-including when it comes to putting air in your tires. As we discussed in a previous Lifehacker post, while there's been some hype about filling your tires with nitrogen, its marginally better performance isn't...Read more...

Even if you spend hours scrolling through Instagram posts featuring expertly decorated homes, that doesn't necessarily mean you know how to bring those design elements into your own home-or where to start. For many people, that entry point is creating a gallery wall: A collection of (usually) framed art, photos,...Read more...

At a time when there are countless ways to exchange information, having an actual conversation with another person-whether they're a colleague, a family member, or someone you encounter socially-may be the most powerful. That's because conversations are about more than what is said: They also affect how we navigate a...Read more...

If you're looking for the Connections answer for Saturday, September 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 September 2, NYT Connections #83! Scroll to the end if you want some hints (and then the answer) to...Read more...

This Lifetime Learning Subscription bundle comes with Rosetta Stone and StackSkills Unlimited, and it's on sale for $159.97 right now with promo code ROSETTA through Labor Day, September 4. Rosetta Stone comes with all the beginner and intermediate language lessons for 24 different languages (including French,...Read more...

Chocolate magic shell does seem like something of a miracle. A saturated fat (usually coconut oil) and chocolate are melted and stirred together, and the shiny sauce is poured over something cold (usually ice cream) to make a hard candy coating that you crack with your spoon. It's fun, interactive, and delicious.Read more...

You probably learned to tie your shoes as a kid and haven't given the method of tying a second thought since then. But if your shoes are always coming untied, maybe we should revisit that shoe-tying lesson. You see, there are two ways to tie the standard shoelace knot, and only one of them will hold reliably.Read more...