Lifehacker

I learned to make cheese under the tutelage of two women on a farm in New Zealand. The memory that really stuck is being shown to the cheese cave, a walk-in outbuilding protected by the largest duck I’d ever laid eyes on. As if to explain his largesse, the cheesemaker noted “we throw him a lot of curd.”

There are so many different ways to lift weights that, at first, everything is a learning experience. You’ll do too much or too little, and you’ll discover that you hate certain exercises. But those are the good kind of mistakes—the kind you can learn from. The following are the other kind: beginner mistakes you’ll be…Read more...

If the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America fail to reach an agreement on a new contract by 11:59 p.m. ET tonight, the resulting strike will shut down production of many movies and TV shows in Hollywood. The longer the (hypothetical for now) strike continues, the less…Read more...

The Nintendo Switch is a fantastic little device that can run a huge library of first and third-party games both at home and on the go. Sure, the thing is showing its age a little in 2023, but then, my PS5 can’t run The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, so specs only matter so much.

A good sauce doesn’t have to be loaded with milk, cheese, and butter. The wonderful thing about plants and plant-based ingredients is how flexible they can be. Whether you’re vegan, dairy-sensitive, or simply trying to branch out a little, exploring alternative sauces might lead you to your next favorite meal. While…Read more...

Eggs and toast is a near perfect meal. It’s easy, cheap, filling, delicious, and texturally pleasing. A soft scramble or yolky fried egg on crunchy toasted bread makes my mouth happy, but you can streamline the experience with toasted panko bread crumbs.Read more...

While there are some common signs that a layoff may be coming, it’s still totally possible your employer will spring one on you, and often not in a tactful way. In these instances, you may almost immediately lose access to your work-related accounts—or, in the very worst-case scenario, find out you’ve lost your job …Read more...

There’s a lot of magical thinking surrounding retirement. The rule of thumb is to target about 80% of your current income for your retirement, and while that number is a little sketchy, it’s useful in that it highlights just how expensive retirement can be. When you’re young, you think retirement is so far away …Read more...

Macaroon fans know there’s no such thing as “too many” or “too much.” One chewy coconut cookie will inevitably lead to two, five, and seven, which is why we should cut out the middleman (standing and walking to the cookie dish again) and make the damn thing into a cake already.Read more...

For months, Bed Bath & Beyond has been closing stores to avoid bankruptcy, but the pandemic-induced financial woes have finally caused the retailer to admit defeat. The company filed for bankruptcy last week and is in the process of selling everything before it goes out of business.

Microsoft Edge, and only Microsoft Edge, employs artificial intelligence as your browser co-pilot, thanks to the integrated Bing sidebar. But nothing is stopping you, or clever developers, from adding a ChatGPT sidebar to any Chrome-based browser—a tool that will help you generate summaries, ask research questions,…Read more...

If you see a blue check on Twitter these days, it’s likely because that accounts now pays for Twitter Blue and not because they verified their identity with the company. But thanks to the company firing much of its staff and its digital infrastructure falling apart, you can get your blue check back free of charge…Read more...

When we think about our careers, we tend to focus on the type of work we do, the industry we’re in, or the salary we need. These are all important factors to consider, but they’re all content-focused. They are the “what” part of your work life—and not a complete picture of what makes a career satisfying. What often…Read more...

In celebration of the eighth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, (starting May 12), you can get a free month of the Paramount Plus Premium and Showtime, a somewhat new collaboration that usually goes for $12 per month. You can also get a combination of any of the plans offered by Paramount Plus.

At this point in history, one would assume we have already explored the map of the world of pizza to its edges (which are probably stuffed with cheese). You can grill it, shave truffles on it, use cauliflower instead of dough, and jam the crust full of all kinds of weird crap. But a recent discovery revealed to me…Read more...

We all know that, in theory, we should be recycling—but there are a lot of myths and misconceptions that can make it difficult to know what, exactly, should be recycled—and how. To avoid recycling the wrong thing (which can contaminate other, perfectly good recyclables in your bin) and not recycling the right thing,…Read more...

Running is pretty darn expensive for a cheap sport. In theory, all you need is a pair of shoes, but somehow, you’ll inevitably find yourself spending a ton of money on a lot of gear. (And even the shoes seem to get pricier every season.)

Your emotional connection to a house begins the moment you walk onto the property for the first time and begin imagining your life there. You start mentally arranging the furniture, imagining the parties you’ll host, and seeing your future life staged in that space. From that moment on, a huge part of your life is…Read more...

Many marriages do, in fact, last for decades—contrary to popular misconception, the divorce rate in the U.S. has been dropping steadily for decades, and the old saw about half of all marriages ending in divorce is hogwash—although for people over 50, the divorce rate has actually doubled over the years. And that’s…Read more...

You should be cleaning your dryer vent about once a year, and while it can be a slightly inconvenient task, it’s important to know that the much-touted “hack” of clearing lint out with a leaf blower is a bad idea. In addition to not being very effective for a few reasons, using traditional cleaning methods on your…Read more...

Whether you’re dutifully attending open houses looking for your next home, or have lived in the same one for decades, you should always be on the lookout for water damage. That’s because it’s more than an eyesore: Water damage is a sign of a larger problem.Read more...

Mattresses don’t come cheap, so it’s in your best interest to take care of them. In addition to covering them with a mattress protector and removing dirt and dust by vacuuming them regularly, it also means quickly cleaning up spills before they turn into stains. Here’s how to do that.Read more...

You’re in the shower shampooing your hair, and suddenly you catch a whiff of something unpleasant. Something that smells like sewage. Your first instinct is that it’s coming from the toilet. That might be true, but it could also be coming from your shower drain. Here are a few examples of what could be behind the…Read more...

Whether you’re into classic, well-manicured American suburban landscape design, or favor a more natural look featuring native shrubs, you probably have some type of foundation plant around the perimeter of your house (or at least the parts visible from the street).Read more...

In addition to using less energy, part of the appeal of tankless hot water heaters is that they take up less space than traditional models. So, unless you have a sprawling basement where storage space isn’t an issue, your hot water heater with a tank is occupying valuable real estate.Read more...

If your home was constructed out of wood, its structural integrity depends on the natural material remaining intact and sturdy. So if you happen to notice that wood in your walls, floors, or support beams is losing its shape, changing color, crumbling, or looks like it’s beginning to collapse, it’s important to take…Read more...

For one day—Tuesday, May 2—teachers across the U.S. are meant to feel the love and respect they should be getting all year—if not with a salary the reflects what they’re worth, then at least with a few deals and freebies. Here are some of the best Teacher Appreciation Day deals every educator can take advantage of.

When I was younger, I vowed I’d never be end up a clueless old jerk with no idea what was going on in the world, but I realized today that it’s time to give up on that dream. What I’m saying is, this week’s viral video broke me. Even though it’s literally my job to understand what young people are doing, I cannot…Read more...

Windows 11 has come a long way since its initial launch, but it still isn’t for everyone. Plenty of Windows 10 fans refuse to upgrade their machines to Microsoft’s latest OS: One estimate suggests Windows 10 still commands 73.46% of PCs in the world, while Windows 11 remains at 20.95%. There are more than a few…Read more...

Flash cards are an effective memorization tool, as any test-taker well knows. And if making physical flash cards is useful, why not make them online? The next time you find yourself getting stuck while trying to glean the most important information from a long YouTube video, a dense PDF, or a bunch of articles, you…Read more...

Finals season is just around the corner, and tests happen all year long, but it’s never too late to learn a new method of studying—and this one is pretty effective. If you’ve got an important exam coming up and you want to know if you’re prepared enough, all you need to do is find a study buddy who knows absolutely…Read more...

Gear Isle, an “adult novelties” business based in the San Francisco Bay area, is voluntarily recalling some of their viagra pills after the FDA found undeclared ingredients in them that could cause consumers to have health problems if they’re also taking certain medications.Read more...

Last week, Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems reached a settlement in a landmark defamation case stemming from the 2020 election, and the immediate reaction from the online communities (Twitter and Reddit) was something like disappointment.

I love my Roomba, and I hate my Roomba. The endearing little beeps and boops, the hypnotic but inexplicable path it takes across my floor, the possibility of training woodland animals to ride it across the floor…there’s a lot to like. But, three years into its use, I have some bones to pick. Here are all the things…Read more...

Dave’s Hot Chicken started as a single popup in a Los Angeles parking lot in 2017. Today, it’s in 20 states and Washington D.C., and it’s on track to be the fastest-growing chain after opening its 100th location in Brooklyn, NY, with 14 more to open in Queens and Long Island over the next five years. In celebration…Read more...

Webcams, especially the ones built-into computers, haven’t always been that great. The priority was convenience, not necessarily quality, when it came to powering video calls on your mobile machine. But times have changed: Not only can you buy high-quality webcams to connect to your computer, but some now ship with…Read more...

ChatGPT can do a lot, but we haven’t reached Hollywood-levels of AI just yet. OpenAI doesn’t let you ask ChatGPT questions with your voice, and it won’t respond in kind, at least not without a browser extension. But, as it turns out, you can pick up the phone and give ChatGPT a call, thanks to the work from a…Read more...

Email is old. In its earliest incarnation, email dates back to 1965—a time when computers were the size of elephants and only a small number of nerds had regular access to them—and the kind of email we recognize today dates back to the early 1970s.

For some reason, I have a Moon Pie-branded tin that is absolutely stuffed with old wine corks I’ve collected over the years. I don’t know what I’m saving them for; all they do is remind me that I’ve spent a fair amount of money of mid-priced wine, yet I cannot let them go. (It might be tempting to think that I’m…Read more...

We didn’t need the cinematic corporate bipoic Air to remind us of the indelible mark Michael Jordan has made not just on basketball, but on the shoe game. The birth of the Air Jordans in 1985 meant big things for the company, but it also blew the starting whistle on an entire culture built around sneakers. Kicks…Read more...

The concept of an omelette is enticing and simple: Wrap tasty stuff in an egg blanket. In practice, however, it can be so frustratingly hard to get “right” that even celebrity chef judges will quiz other professionals on if they can make a perfect French-style omelette or not. No one’s day (or career) should ride on…Read more...

I’m going to admit upfront that I’m a big Windex girl. It’s cheap, it’s always available, and it’s easy to spray on everything from mirrors (normal!) to tabletops (nor normal!) for a quick rubdown. It turns out, though, that you’re really not supposed to use the specialty glass cleaner for everything, as it can cause…Read more...

Amazon’s Prime Video is known to have some of the deepest pockets in the streaming biz, having recently spent more than $140 million on Daisy Jones & the Six, $175 million on The Peripheral, and $465 million on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. But even Rich Uncle Pennybags needs to skip a turn once in a…Read more...

Car insurance companies don’t take unnecessary risks—and now, for State Farm and Progressive, many Hyundais and Kias are a risk they are not willing to take, at least temporarily. The reason? That same viral TikTok trend from the “Kia Boyz” we covered back in February, in which users learned how to easily hot-wire the…Read more...

If you’ve ever felt like your melatonin gummies hit harder than you expected, it’s possible that you didn’t actually take the dose you thought you did. In a recent study, melatonin gummies labeled as containing 3 milligrams actually had anywhere between 3.6 milligrams and a whopping 10.4, depending on brand.

When you keep shuffling between browser tabs, meetings, and tasks on your Mac, it’s easy to lose track of a few important things. You may have referenced a document that contained an important quote for a blog post, or heard an insightful comment during a meeting but forgot to save it. Rewind is an app that can help…Read more...

Cost-effective, erosion-proof, and chemical-corralling, the mighty grass driveway doesn’t get the respect it deserves. But if you have rainwater rushing down your gravel driveway, washing away dirt or leaving trenches in its wake, it might be the solution for you. Using a system of interlocking pavers, a grass…Read more...

Buzzkills everywhere agree: Fun as they are, attending a loud concert can damage your hearing. Plenty of venues are obnoxiously loud, and you could experience symptoms of hearing loss within just five minutes of exposure the cacophony.

Cookies are the perfect treat, and each one is valuable to society. And yet, I’ve recently unwittingly stumbled upon an outstanding way to improve almost any cookie. To experience an otherworldly crunch phenomenon, simply wrap your drop cookies in phyllo dough.

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or evidence of a disturbing cultural trend, but a lot of people seem to be shooting people for really dumb reasons lately. There’s the guy in Kansas City who allegely blasted a kid for ringing his doorbell, the man in Florida who is reported to have opened fire on a six-year-old for …Read more...