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Like smartphones and other battery-powered devices, laptops go to sleep to conserve energy. But you might notice your machine hitting the sack in the middle of work, for no apparent reason other than bringing another device too close. No, the battery didn’t die; it’s much simpler.

You’ve just washed some glasses, and you’re putting them away in the cabinet. How do you set them down—upside down or right side up? While this is the subject of much debate, there’s a simple series of questions that will help you find the right answer. (And yes, you need to ask, because the only universal answer is …Read more...

Frequently added before cooking as binder (for meatballs) or a coating (for chicken cutlets), breadcrumbs can be mistaken for something that needs to be cooked. But breadcrumbs are already cooked. They’re bread. They’re delicious, crunchy, and they deserve your attention. Not just as a prep ingredient, but as a…Read more...

November is a great month for traveling, with lots of fun festivals and events happening all over the world. If you want to plan a short-notice vacation this year, or just fantasize about where you could be going, here are some of the best places to travel in November.Read more...

The sensation of tapping into terror can became an obsession—even an addiction—and few mediums allow you to do so quite as readily as podcasts. The intimacy of the medium—just you, your earbuds, and your cortisol response—can be a portal into the places that scare us the most, whether they are real or entirely…Read more...

One perk of moving from the Northeast to Texas was learning to add a little spice to things, like sprinkling Tajín on watermelon or enjoying a mangonada on a hot day. The same is true for candy: You should try the luxury of eating dulces enchilados—candies covered in a tangy, sweet, sour, and spicy mixture. Dulces…Read more...

Newer DIY enthusiasts often approach hardware stores like a kid in a candy store: Everything is interesting and all the cool tools are on display. Isles upon isles of materials beckon as they load their cart with goodies...but while the tool aisle is exciting, there are some things you should never do in the hardware…Read more...

I think I hate flying. I don’t hate traveling. Just the flying, and all that comes with it. The security lines, the agony of boarding, and the most uncomfortable seats you’ll ever pay several hundred dollars to be trapped in for several hours. Anything you can do to make your time in the air even slightly better is…Read more...

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I am a Halloween-scholar with a PhD. in witchology from Virginia Tech*, and I want to share my knowledge with you.

It’s sick season, and I’m a little sick. It’s not COVID, but it is the first head cold I’ve had in over two years, and it will not go away. I suspect there might be others in a similar boat. What we all need, besides cold meds and rest, is a good chicken soup, and the best chicken soup starts with gently poaching a…Read more...

Apple’s Focus feature is a great way to wrangle all of your Apple devices together to match your current activity. If you’re on the job, a Work Focus can knock out unnecessary notifications on your iPhone, as well as your iPad and Mac. On the flip side, a Personal Focus will ensure none of your work communications…Read more...

I believe fiercely in the value of homemade Halloween costumes. The idea of buying a pre-made costume is offensive to me personally. As I set out this week to put the finishing touches on my outfits for Halloweekend, I’m making a conscious effort not to ruin the pieces of clothing involved. When making a costume, some…Read more...

The Xbox is a fantastic console that ships with pretty good software. Fortunately, it has even greater potential: Your Xbox contains plenty of hidden features that are not enabled by default. All it takes is a deep dive through the settings, however, to make your great console even better.

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It’s nearly Halloween, and I know what you’re thinking: “How do I cram more candy into my body?” Eating candy as a snack is a good start, but for a well-balanced Halloween, it’s important to incorporate sweets into your beverages, too. As you plan for this weekend’s festivities, consider buying extra candy to jazz up…Read more...

As inflation soars to the highest rate since 1981, you’ve very likely noticed how much it’s affecting the cost of many of your day-to-day necessities. But even beyond your checkbook and credit card statements, inflation is eating away at the purchasing power of the money you have parked in a savings account. One…Read more...

Sometimes it feels like Google Drive has been stuck in time. Certainly the program looks and functions more or less the same as it did seven years ago—and how much innovation can you expect from a word processor, anyway?

Korean automaker Kia will recall about 71,000 older 2008 and 2009 Sportage SUV vehicle models in the United States again for continued potential fire risks and advises owners to park the car outside of their homes until repairs are complete, according to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration…Read more...

For such a simple condiment, cranberry sauce is quite the lightening rod. I have never been able to serve a Thanksgiving meal without including at least two types (usually homemade and canned, with the ridges), but riffing on the standard is one of my favorite holiday pastimes. Besides the usual modifications to the…Read more...

Whenever I have to chat with a bot, a part of me dies inside. Having to communicate with an automated system makes me question my own existence, and if there is a way to bypass my existential crisis, I’m going to take it.

Halloween is almost here, and you forgot to decorate. Maybe you didn’t have time or didn’t think anyone would come over, but suddenly plans are in motion and you need to make your house festive. You can upcycle stuff you already have into cheap, easy decor to get it done fast, then recycle it all when you’re done so…Read more...

There’s something fascinating about accidental deaths in theme parks. These places are meant to give us the illusion of danger while keeping us perfectly safe, but sometimes a day at the park really does turn into a life-ending nightmare.Read more...

Putting secrets in texts is risky business. An email is almost certainly a no-go, as is a traditional SMS. Encrypted texting, like iMessage, is better, since only your device and the recipient’s can read the messages, but you never know who’s looking at the other end. (Sure, your friend might be alone, but they also…Read more...

Have you ever gone on a group hike where you all forgot to bring bug repellent, or perhaps held a backyard barbecue where the mosquitoes came out in force? Chances are, by the end of the day, some people are covered in bites while others have just one or two itchy spots. “Mosquitoes love me,” the unfortunate among you…Read more...

It’s hard to keep track of the many ways malware can infect your devices, but “typosquatting” is one of the sneakiest. As the name implies, hackers create websites, download links, and other legit-looking but malicious URLs including slight misspellings that can be easy to overlook.

Apple has seen a lot of success with its M series chips. These SoCs now power nearly the company’s entire suite of Mac computers, ranging from the original and capable M1 to the overpowered M1 Ultra. But Apple isn’t the only company eyeing hardware based on Arm architecture. Microsoft also wants in, and wants to push…Read more...

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I have never been too invested in pumpkin carving. I like looking at jack-o’-lanterns, and I have a deep respect for those who take the art of carving them seriously, but I don’t have the skills nor the attention span to manage much more than a goofy face myself. I do, however, appreciate pumpkin tips that make…Read more...

Even though I live in the Pacific Northwest, between the pandemic and having fairly young kids, we haven’t experienced a super wet trick-or-treating night yet. This year, however, rain is in the forecast. Whether you’re also expecting rain or it sneaks up on you unexpectedly, here’s how to prepare if you want to brave…Read more...

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Web browsers love to hide their best settings within ayers upon layers of menus, and Microsoft Edge is no different. That’s not the worst thing in the world, because it’s actually a pretty great browser out of the box—but there is definitely room for improvement. (For one, the default settings force you to use Bing …Read more...

Ready to read something genuinely horrific, based on real life true stories of people who experienced unimaginable pain and suffering? No, I’m not going to recommend a spooky novel or true crime exposé. I’m going to tell you about parasites. And they’re all real.Read more...

If you never had the pleasure of trudging through in the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout 3, now is your chance to experience the grim survival role-playing game without any fallout to your wallet. To celebrate the 25th year of the Fallout franchise, Epic Game Store is giving you until 11 a.m. on Oct. 27 (that’s…Read more...

While you might think of fall as a time for harvesting and preparing your garden for the winter, there is still some planting to be done before the first frost sets in. Choosing plants for next year isn’t just about looking through seed catalogs and dreaming of spring.

It has been more than a dozen years since Disney released a traditionally animated feature film, having taken audience indifference to middling mid-aughts efforts like Home on the Range and Brother Bear as a sign that computer-generated animation was the wave of the box office future. Whether they were right about…Read more...

Although you can install ad blockers for your iPhone, these apps have a glaring blind spot: Apple’s own ads. No iPhone ad blocker (not even the DNS or VPN-based ones) can block Apple’s ads for various apps, its own services, and search. The worst offender in this case is the App Store, where Apple has included giant…Read more...

Although the COVID-ignited sanitary panic of 2020—when people still pretended to wash their hands for 20 seconds, and disinfectants were flying off the shelves—has passed, industry experts at the American Cleaning Institute expect that most people will retain at least some of their pandemic cleaning habits.Read more...

Welp, Apple Music and Apple TV+ suddenly got more expensive this week. As of Oct. 24, Apple Music now costs $11/month for an individual subscription (previously $10) and $17 for a family plan (up from $15). Apple TV+ is now $7/month (up from $5/month).

Most of us can’t afford a Rolex (or other high-end luxury watches, for that matter). But if there ever were a time that those closest to that financial milestone would be able to afford one, it’s now. According to a report from Morgan Stanley, pre-owned luxury watches have fallen in price because the market has been…Read more...

Storage units can be a temporary fix during a move, or help keep your clutter—holiday decorations, out-of-season clothes, sporting equipment, and so on—to a minimum. But there are some items that shouldn’t be kept in this kind of space. While a storage unit might seem similar to a garage or basement, there are…Read more...

iOS 16 opened the lock screen to whole new experiences—there’s a widget section, Live Activities for real-time updates, and Dynamic Island if you’re using the iPhone 14 Pro. It wasn’t going to be long before someone figured out how to use all of these new features to launch apps. The fact that the official Shortcuts…Read more...

Your monthly mortgage payment isn’t the only expense to consider when you own a home. Your budget should also include—at the least—insurance, utilities, maintenance, and property taxes, all of which can add up to a hefty sum and make homeownership a little less affordable.

If you love finding new ways to wake up and set your mouth on fire, salsa macha eggs are sure to be your next stop. Although salsa macha is commonly used as a flavorful topping, its high oil content makes it a great lubricant and heat conductor for your scrambled eggs. Add a sprinkle of salty cheese, and this dish…Read more...

If she were a baseball player, they’d call UK politician Liz Truss a “cup of coffee”—that is, a player whose time in the big leagues is so short that he barely has time to drink a cup before heading back to the minors. Truss completed the fastest prime-minister-speed-run in British history: while in office, she met…Read more...

As we’re all carving our pumpkins this week in hopes they’ll make it to Halloween before they rot or the squirrels get to them, you’ve probably been digging through pumpkin guts and separating out the seeds to make crunchy fall snacks. When you’re done, don’t toss those gooey pumpkin guts—make them into something…Read more...

About twice a month, my boyfriend and I order doughnuts on Saturday evening, usually around 10 p.m., almost always while watching Italian horror movies. We order a dozen, which is too many doughnuts for two people to eat in an evening. My boyfriend does not take any doughnuts with him when he goes back to his place on…Read more...

Heating pads can offer comfort when you’re sore, sick, or just really cold. But for those who own one of the half a million heating pads recalled for safety risks, they could have the opposite effect. Here’s what to know about the massive recall, including what to do if you’ve purchased one of the faulty products.Read more...

The golden age of streaming is coming to an end: Netflix is officially doing away with its free password sharing. The effects won’t be immediate: Netflix isn’t planning to start charging for password sharing until early next year, when account holders will start being charged a few bucks extra for profiles for users…Read more...