Lifehacker

There are very few cake “improvements” that I trust right away. I’m a food skeptic by nature, and I usually stare at viral hacks and food tricks with squinted eyes until I’m convinced. That’s how I was when I assessed Renee Erickson’s peach cobbler with hot sugar crust before testing it out. But after taking one bite,…Read more...

There are so many things to consider when buying a new car—especially at a time when gas prices are high and inflation has made everything else more expensive, too. And while you’re picturing yourself driving around town in your new vehicle, taking it in for service is probably not part of the fantasy. After all, it’s…Read more...

As much as we love our pets, sometimes our furry friends provide us with more than love and affection: They also leave hair all over our homes and clothing. And while there are ways to deal with the fur coating everything you own, somehow, no matter what you do, some always ends up in the laundry.Read more...

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Perennials have earned a place in the hearts and yards of people who enjoy having foliage around, but don’t necessarily want to spend time planting it each year. And while perennials do tend to be lower-maintenance than their annual relatives, that doesn’t mean that they’re completely hands-off.Read more...

Now that we’re in the third summer of the COVID-19 pandemic, some people who weren’t comfortable traveling in 2020 or 2021 have opted to do so this year. Unfortunately, a combination of factors—including high gas prices, a shortage of rental cars, increasing airfare, and fewer flights—mean that traveling during the…Read more...

When you change the air filter in your furnace, you expect the old one to be dirty. But let’s say that when you go to make your regularly scheduled switch, you find that your old filter isn’t just a little grimy—it’s completely filthy. And it’s not as though you left more time between filter changes, so it somehow…Read more...

Traveling via any means is bonkers right now, so you may not be thinking about booking a trip anytime soon. Or maybe you are revenge traveling and booking all of the trips—either way, if you have e-credits or vouchers from trips that were canceled during the pandemic, you should probably use them soon or find out how…Read more...

If you live overseas or travel frequently, make sure you aren’t giving more money than you have to to ol’ Uncle Sam back in the United States. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) allows a U.S. taxpayer to exclude up to $112,000 in income (the 2022 figure—it’s annually adjusted for inflation) from taxation.…Read more...

I have long been on the record about my loyalty to silk sheets, but what I less frequently disclose is what a pain in the ass they are to wash and de-wrinkle. They’re finicky, fragile, and they’re so shiny that every wrinkle is magnified, which almost defeats the purpose of having something so obnoxiously luxurious in…Read more...

If you haven’t been already, you’re about to start hearing a lot about the so-called “blackout challenge,” which is causing an uproar online. TikTok is being sued by the families of two young girls who died, allegedly due to the viral challenge. The families call the app’s algorithms “dangerous” and blame the social…Read more...

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Amazon’s “Prime Day” event is back for another year: another complex, multi-tentacled web of alleged discounts. But at its heart, it’s the same thing as any old sale or coupon—a way of getting you to spend more money while pointing out that technically, if you do the math a certain way, you can tell yourself you’re…Read more...

From the Weather Underground movement of the 1960s to the Capitol attacks of January 6, 2021, the stories of radicals and radicalist movements are often violent, mysterious, and packed with fascinating characters.

While aging is inevitable, spending money on your birthday is not. Thanks to a combination of the digital revolution and late-stage capitalism, every chain restaurant is vying for your business by offering perks via their app’s loyalty programs, with a frequent incentive being a free reward on your birthday. With the…Read more...

Congratulations, you just bought your first home! After years of apartment living, exotic stuff like extra bedrooms, garage space, and a backyard seems pretty exciting, right? Even a modest starter home can make you feel like an aristocrat—for a while, until you think about all the stuff you need to buy to make it…Read more...

There are films and TV series that make cooking (and eating) feel like joyous, unifying activities that bring families and cultures together. There are others that remind us that the business of preparing food is stressful, harried, and sweaty. FX’s buzzy new series The Bear, starring Jeremy Allen White as the head…Read more...

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Many kids with one of the various diagnoses that fall under the umbrella of neurodivergency exhibit behaviors that, to the untrained or unsympathetic eye, look like bad behavior. When my son is anxious, for example, he doesn’t hide behind my skirts—that’s a “flight” response, and my child’s stress response looks more…Read more...

There’s lots of content out there to help you decide what to cook with your fancy sous vide precision, immersion, circulation, sans conflagration tool, or so I’ve heard. I’ve read about all the cool things one can sous vide with tantalizing results—juicy steaks, cheesecakes, buttery lobster tails, and the silkiest of…Read more...

The main thing that separates kids from older people isn’t the technological divide or that kids haven’t fully internalized the inevitability of their own death. It’s that young people have so much more time on their hands than we do. The freedom from having to support themselves and clean everything leaves plenty of…Read more...

We all need more sleep. Although adults typically should get more than seven hours a night, more than one-third of Americans average less than that despite chronic sleep deprivation having well-known impacts on our overall health—like increasing the risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. But although there’s no…Read more...

Biscuits can stir up a great deal of tension when you suggest tinkering with a traditional recipe. Well, things are about to get awkward. I made biscuits with a cherry fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt cup, and I liked it. Frankly, I prefer it to other biscuits. I completely understand that some family recipes are great, and…Read more...

The popular online wisdom holds that Amazon is evil and you should stop giving them your money. Yet some 76.6 million households in the United States use Amazon Prime, so either the message just hasn’t gotten through to some of us, or we’ve resigned ourselves to our fates. And if you’re going to make a deal with the…Read more...

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The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which you can reach at 1-800-273-8255, will be getting an easier-to-remember number as of July 16. The old number will still work, but after the switch you will also be able to connect with the service by calling 988. (That’s the entire number: it’s a special code like 911.)Read more...

I get a lot of spam texts. A lot. They’re immediately recognizable: The source number doesn’t look familiar, and is attached to a message so obviously a phishing attempt it’s insulting. But lately, I’ve noticed an uptick in a new type of spam text, typically arriving from an email, rather than a phone number, with a…Read more...

When you rent an Airbnb, you’re obviously staying on else’s private property. And those property owners all have different ideas about how to run their DIY hotel—and a lot of them like security cameras and other recording devices. On the one hand, this makes perfect sense: The property owners worry that the randos…Read more...

We use the phrase “you’re more likely to be struck by lightning” to describe unlikely events all the time, but according to the National Weather Service, around 20 people are killed by lightning each year and hundreds more are injured. No, it’s not worth panicking about, but you still don’t want to be one of those…Read more...

House arrest might seem like one of those special deals that celebrities get, and the infamous ankle bracelets are punchlines, but the reality is that house arrest is a relatively standard sentence for celebs and non-celebs alike. What’s more, you can actually request it as a sentence if you meet certain criteria.

Let’s set the scene: You’re out in the world, doing what you do, when you stumble upon an abandoned USB flash drive. What could be inside? Perhaps it’s simply someone’s spreadsheets from work—maybe alongside some information identifying the owner, allowing you to return it. But also, maybe government secrets? The only…Read more...

Have you ever stuck your restaurant leftovers in a hotel mini fridge only to wonder the next morning why they’re so...warm? You’re not imagining it. Hotel refrigerators are often set to a temperature that keeps drinks cool, but is’t cold enough to keep food or medications out of the “danger zone.”Read more...

The jury’s still out on the “right” way to eat a banana, but there’s no denying that you’re wasting a banana peel if you just throw it in the trash. Banana peels have anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidants, but they can also be used around the house in some weird, creative ways. Just don’t bother putting banana…Read more...

Android’s reputation as a platform that doesn’t care about user privacy is outdated: If you’re using a modern Android smartphone, you have a lot of control over which app can access your data, and in what contexts. Thanks to new privacy features, you can give an app access to your location for a limited time, for…Read more...

There’s more to sex and foreplay than the obvious. Knowing and understanding your partner’s erogenous zones—and your own—is key to increasing your sexual satisfaction. The big ones are obvious—the clitoris, the head of the penis—but there’s a lot more area to cover if you really want to heat things up.Read more...

I talked to a corporate-lifer friend last night about the layoffs coming to the tech company she works for. She’s been through the wringer before, so it’s no biggie to her, but her co-workers are a different story. They’re mostly younger—some are at their first real job—and seem oblivious to the warning signs of…Read more...

It took me a few extra laps around the track of adulthood to find my cooking gene. My life had previously been spent trying to convince those closest to me that the bowl of cereal I poured or the eggs I scrambled was enough cooking. For everything else, there was take out—or my wife.

The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are powerful machines—that much isn’t news. One such example of that power is The Matrix Awakens, currently available on both systems, which provides a free-of-charge look at Unreal Engine’s future in gaming. That unique experience, however, is going away for good, unless you download it…Read more...

Almost everyone agrees that large swaths of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit are terrible, each in their own way. But these monolithic social media platforms are so ubiquitous, it’s easy to forget that you don’t have to use them. Which isn’t to say that you have to swear off of social media forever:…Read more...

Older Android phones are a known security risk, but recent research from Microsoft’s 365 Defender Research Team shows just how vulnerable the outdated devices are vulnerable to a serious form of malware known as “toll fraud.”

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I replaced my kitchen scale recently. The new one has every feature I was looking for—negative tare being the big upgrade. But it also has two features that I never asked for and do not want. Nobody wants them. I’m talking about the “milliliters” and “fluid ounces” settings, which are both complete bullshit.Read more...

Fishing out the last stem from a jar of Amarena cherries is extremely disappointing—even more upsetting if there’s no cherry attached. These bitter cherries are saturated with flavor and boast such a romantic, dark red, you’ll be instantly smitten the moment you pop the lid. They’re the elevated version of a…Read more...

If you use Google Chrome on Windows or Android, you need to update ASAP. There’s a new browser update for each platform that includes patches for newly discovered security vulnerabilities. The bad news: One of these security flaws has a known exploit, meaning your browser and its data are at risk unless you update now.

Travel is a mess right now, and with so many things going wrong, it’s entirely possible that you’ll be stuck overnight somewhere or have your luggage delayed on an upcoming trip. Of course, you can always purchase a comprehensive travel insurance policy to cover any additional expenses you might incur, but many credit…Read more...

Most of the apps in Apple’s App Store are slowly moving away from asking you to pay upfront, opting to make their money either through ads or in-app purchases. But if you’re someone who prefers to buy an app rather than deal with micro-transactions, keeping track of prices can be a pain—especially since Apple ditched…Read more...

No matter what browser you use on your Android, it accumulates junk files over time. Left unchecked, those files can take up anywhere between 100s of megabytes to multiple gigabytes of storage space. It not only slows down your browser, but can also affect the speed of your phone, and the solution is easy:…Read more...

Given the ubiquity of shows like Vikings, movies like The Northman, and the forthcoming Thor: Lover and Thunder (this installment differentiated by the presence of a bonus Thor), Norse mythology is very much in the zeitgeist lately.Read more...

In order to get along in the world, we generally operate under the assumption that we’re experiencing the same reality as others. But this may be an illusion— ask a random person who won the last presidential election to get a picture of how little we share in a political and cultural sense—and if you want to take it…Read more...

Some of my favorite foods are utilitarian sources of protein. Cottage cheese, jerky, hard boiled eggs—things I can grab and shove in my face the moment I realize I’m way past hungry. (Being a food writer does not automatically make one good at recognizing hunger cues, as it turns out.) Hard boiled eggs are one of my…Read more...