Lifehacker

When you’re heading camping, to the beach, or on vacation, you want convenience. You also want to eat off clean dishes. Packing a bottle of dish soap when you travel anywhere is a hazard because it could spill, leaving you with a mess and a lack of necessary suds. (You could try the plastic wrap hack here, but even…Read more...

It’s pretty hard to break into a locked iPhone without without knowing the passcode. But what if your iPhone is stolen while you’re using it? You can make a few changes to protect your iOS data from thieves, but most of those tricks won’t work if your phone is already unlocked. But if you own an Apple Watch, you can…Read more...

It’s officially high travel season. The pandemic emergency has finally, officially been called off by the World Health Organization. The number of travelers passing through TSA checkpoints in June is approaching 2019 levels. And the travel industry has been enjoying slipping sneaky fees to unsuspecting travelers…Read more...

Whether you’re looking for a gift for dad or are just in it for the bargains, Father’s Day is one of the best times to find deals on tools. A careful shopper will notice that many “Father’s Day” deals actually extend through June, and some even into July. While you can certainly save on the perfect gift for the handy…Read more...

The forces of Good and Evil are really battling it out this week for cultural supremacy. On the good side, there’s TikTok’s chicken wars, a celebration of poultry farming, and nonsense that is pure and beautiful. On the dark side, there’s the rise of Baby Gronk, a 10 year-old athlete/internet star. Embodying both…Read more...

I don’t claim to be a great authority on bagels. I wasn’t even aware they existed until I moved from Aberdeen, Mississippi to Los Angeles at the tender age of six. I’m also not much of a baker, even with a good recipe, so I tend to accept whatever New Yorkers tell me when it comes to these boiled-then-baked rings of…Read more...

Some people are lucky to work in a career or a specific role that they find fulfilling, challenging, and even inspiring. But many of us—maybe the majority of us—are working in jobs that are...not that. To a greater or lesser degree, every job has its boring or frustrating moments, but if you find yourself consistently…Read more...

Unless you live in a fire-prone area, air purifiers used to be somewhat of an odd home appliance you might encounter when visiting friends who have furry pets or those who took the pandemic very seriously (air purifiers alone won’t protect you against COVID-19). But now that much of the United States has been covered…Read more...

A college degree is no guarantee of a high-paying job, but it can certainly help, as can trade skills that enable you to jump into into a field like plumbing or electrical. But what can you do if you have a high school (or equivalent) degree and no specific skills, experience, or certifications? How can you make a…Read more...

Whether you live on the East Coast and the wildfire smoke drifting from Canada is choking you, or you foolishly allowed someone to smoke a cigarette in your home, you’re here because you want to know how to eliminate the smell. There are a variety of tips out there promising to get smoky stinks out of your upholstery,…Read more...

The blanket of orange haze currently surrounding New York City and Philadelphia may dissipate soon—at least temporarily. When air quality will improve on the east coast depends not only on how long Canadian wildfires keep burning, but also on the weather patterns that have been carrying smoke our way.

Buying a new iPad can get expensive, but refurbished models can offer a cheaper alternative—provided you go in with the understanding they won’t all run the latest apps or be compatible with the newest version of iPadOS.

I’ve always loved the idea of a 15-inch MacBook Air. It never sat well with me that, in order to buy a big-screen MacBook, you needed to pay way more than the 13-inch options. The 15-inch was always locked away behind the “Pro” series, while many potential customers didn’t need that extra power: We just wanted a…Read more...

Some mornings are too busy to allow for cooking, or even chewing. On such mornings (or, sometimes, afternoons) I’ll make myself a protein shake. I keep it simple: a big scoop of protein powder, frozen fruit, water, and a little half & half. That tastes fine, but I recently found myself craving a more intense fruity…Read more...

Flashlights are handy tools, but the time when you need one is rarely the time you remembered to bring one along. Instead, get a compact everyday-carry flashlight you can stick to your keys until you need it. Right now you can get two of them on sale for $36.

If you haven’t paid attention to the air quality index until now, you’re probably learning a lot about it rather quickly. Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. are under an air quality level that people are calling “code purple” after its color on the AQI scale. Here’s what that all means.

If your credit cards are chipped, peeling, and collecting dust, then it’s probably safe to say it’s time for an upgrade. But how else can you tell when it’s time to shop around for a new credit card? There’s a good chance than an older card is no longer the best match for you.Read more...

Buying a house is an expensive operation. Not only is the median price of an existing home over $375,000, the median price of a new home is close to $440,000. And that’s just the price of the house—there are also closing costs, insurance costs, loan fees, attorney fees, inspections, moving, and potential costs for new…Read more...

They say “fences make good neighbors,” but if I’m to believe my TikTok feed, that’s a load of hoohockey: It’s all purple mountain majesties and property line disputes out there. It’s not just #fencetok, either. According to a 2016 study, a whopping 42% of Americans report a conflict with their neighbor, and those…Read more...

Shopping for dad year after year can be tough once you’ve already gifted him your greatest ideas. This year, why not go the practical route and get him something he can use every day?

Early into my now 95-hour playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, I started feeling anxious. The game’s giant scope was becoming clear, and even though I was enjoying my time in Hyrule, I started worrying over the other video games, movies, and podcasts I was missing. And judging by social media…Read more...

We usually hear about executive functioning skills in the context of mitigating the executive dysfunction experienced by many adolescents and adults. But executive function doesn’t just crop up in young adulthood to menace young adulting efforts. They are skills that we can use and practice from babyhood.

Thousands of people are sharing a tweet this week that suggests Disney Cruises sends or sent children to Jeffery Epstein’s private island on snorkeling trips. This claim isn’t true, but it is built around a nugget of truth. It festers in that weird gray area in the popular consciousness, where something that is…Read more...

The wasabi most of us get at sushi restaurants, or from the store, isn’t wasabi. That green, slightly bitter powder is often made out of horseradish. In higher end restaurants, real, unprocessed wasabi is served, and prized for its fresh taste, lack of bitterness, and unique sharpness. It has the pungency of…Read more...

I’m not aware of any scientific literature on the subject, but the rate of skin cancer among members of the goth subculture is probably very low. Their dedication to a nocturnal lifestyle and collective fetish for ghostly pale skin is both an ideological rebuke to shiny, happy consumerism and a great way to avoid…Read more...

Amid a bunch of new products, Apple announced a slew of privacy and safety related features at this week’s WWDC 2023. Here are the best privacy and safety features that you can look forward to when you update your iPhone to iOS 17, or your other Apple devices to the new operating systems releasing this Fall.Read more...

Like many people on this wonderful wide web, I am a little obsessed with the boys from The Basement Yard. Joey and Frankie are beautiful, perfect himbos. Not only are they wrong about so much, but they’re wrong in delightful and interesting ways. Take, for instance, this discussion on broth and how to make it.Read more...

Wordle arguably owed its early popularity to its built-in friendly competition: when you finish a puzzle, you get to paste those little yellow and green squares to social media or send them to a friend. Now, there’s a new way to share how you did and engage in a little playful competition: Wordle Golf.

After inheriting your parents’ home, the prospect of selling that house can seem overwhelming. It’s a whirlwind—mentally, physically, and of course, financially.Read more...

iOS 17 is upon us. The new software introduces features like Live Voicemail, the ability to turn anything into a sticker, and StandBy, which turns your iPhone into a mini smart display. It isn’t ready quite yet, though—Apple always kicks off a new software release with the developer-only beta first, rolling out a…Read more...

Your bed can look as luxurious, warm, and fluffy as they do in catalogs and magazines. Gravity isn’t going to make it easy and will pull down even your thickest blanket, but fortunately, there’s a simple way to make your bedspread look more voluminous than usual.Read more...

I woke up to an air quality alert this morning, as probably a lot of you did. Smoke from Canadian wildfires has drifted toward the eastern half of the U.S., causing poor air quality in many areas. New York City issued a warning for people with heart or breathing problems to mask up when they’re outdoors, and many of…Read more...

Apple has just announced its sleek new lineup of MacBook Air laptops, including a 15-inch model with the powerful M2 processor. But while that machine is undeniably attractive, it starts at $1,300 and includes a lot of features (and power) you’ll probably never need if you only use your computer for browsing the…Read more...

Filling a watering can or setting up a sprinkler can be difficult (if not impossible) with low water pressure. While we all want to save water, sometimes you need a little force to get things done. Hiring a plumber to inspect your system to find the problem can be expensive, though—but there are some things you can…Read more...

Not every dog loves (or even tolerates) a bath, but almost every dog loves to run around. A new viral TikTok has suggested you can give your pooch the best of both worlds this summer by putting some shampoo on them and letting them loose when the sprinklers are running in your yard or a nearby park.

Having children means being exposed to nonstop illnesses. On average, young children get six to eight upper respiratory infections a year; in practical terms, that means a lot of missed school. One common illness that circulates among young children is strep throat, which is caused by Group A strep bacteria and is…Read more...

Dates can already be stressful, but throw in the curveball of their costs, and, well, they can feel more anxiety-inducing than they’re worth. It’s normal to want to “wow” your date with a solid first impression, but the good news is that they don’t need be super expensive. You can surprise your date with something…Read more...

Whether you’re jumping into a major DIY project or you just have some yard work to do or a picture frame to hang, the cost of buying new, high quality tools can add up quickly—so skip the hardware store and start shopping estate sales instead.

Somedays I feel deeply disconnected from the “food content” traveling across social media, almost to the point of doubting my own powers of perception. Yesterday was such a day. On Facebook, I saw people coo over an obviously mealy, pale tomato before watching a woman store fresh blueberries and hard boiled eggs in…Read more...

When most people think of growing peppers, they become devilish fiends for heat, goosing up ghost peppers and evil hybrids intended to max out the Scoville scale. I kindly propose you consider the other end of the pepper family, in which flavor and body takes precedence over the ability to burn out the pipes on either…Read more...

The word “hobby” has a lot of unfair connotations. When someone describes an activity as a hobby, they’re implying that it’s not serious, or it’s not “professional” work. But many people are incredibly skilled at their hobby, and it’s not uncommon for people to turn a hobby into a more serious endeavor. Plus, hobbies…Read more...

I garden for one reason: the sheer delight and utility of always having what I want to eat available outside my door. Not outside my door as in a “There’s a store down on the corner and this is why I live in the city” kind of way, but in a “I can always pull a carrot, onion and some celery from my yard at 10 p.m. if I…Read more...

While the internet might be abuzz about Apple’s expensive Vision Pro VR headset, there was plenty of other news to come out of WWDC 2023. For those of us with an iPhone, the biggest story might just be iOS 17. While the update won’t be the most revolutionary one Apple has ever issued, it adds plenty of few new features…Read more...

Travel-sized items have their place. I swear by my little dopp kit that has a travel toothbrush, mini tube of toothpaste, pint-sized deodorant, and a short-handled razor in its own protective case. These items last nearly forever, take up very little space in my suitcase, and work just as well as their full-sized…Read more...

The Kiru Knife Kitchen Master 8" Chef Knife is a versatile kitchen tool with a mirror-polished blade and an ergonomic G-10 Garolite handle. And until June 11 at 11:59 p.m. PT, you can get this Japanese chef knife on sale for $79.97 (reg. $156).

Last weekend, my boyfriend came home with a bag of pre-shaped burger patties and cheap hot dogs. (Someone brought too many to a cookout.) I was thrilled, because I love burgers and hot dogs, no matter the price point. We had hot dogs one day and burgers the next, and still had plenty of each leftover, which was great…Read more...

While butterfly bushes don’t need much water and bloom beautiful flowers, they have a bad side too. In many places in North America, some species of butterfly bushes (Buddleia) are invasive. They can sprout almost anywhere—including on buildings and pavement—and don’t have native adversaries to keep them in check.Read more...

Job hunting is tedious, but sometimes AI can help make it a little easier. Resoume is an AI-assistant resume writer that can help you craft professional-quality resumes, cover letters, and CVs in a fraction of the time it could take you on your own. Right now, a lifetime subscription to this AI resume writer is $39.99…Read more...

Apple’s WWDC keynote featured Mac product updates, a new “spacial computing” headset, and what felt like a rushed section of OS updates. But while Apple covered all the big new features, there are many small and interesting ones heading to your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch this fall that Apple didn’t make time to…Read more...

Travel rewards are a nice bonus for joining an airline or hotel membership program or holding a co-branded credit card, but it’s a bummer when those points and miles you’ve spent so much to accumulate evaporate due to an expiration policy.