Lifehacker

You might love essential oils, but there are good reasons to avoid putting them inside of your humidifier.

After a year of tumult at Warner Bros. Discovery, we can be thankful for at least one streaming blessing this holiday season: David Zaslav hasn’t kicked Doom Patrol to the curb...yet. Despite a raft of cancellation rumors this past summer, the weird-as-shit series following DC Comics’ weirdest band of anti-heroes will…Read more...

The United States Department of Agriculture might not be the first place you think of when you’re unsure whether it’s okay to stuff the turkey the night before, but they have a hotline built to answer exactly these sorts of questions. Add 1-888-MPHotline to your contacts to be the hero everybody needs for Thanksgiving…Read more...

When working with teams, I hear a lot of complaints about bosses. One of the most common is about a manager who doesn’t hold people accountable. Someone (or maybe a couple people) on the team consistently perform poorly in their jobs, and the boss doesn’t do anything about it.Read more...

Terrible weather can make a winter home search uniquely stressful. We can’t make it any warmer out there, but here are a few things to consider if you’re buying a home in the winter months.

For all the talk about how the world today is “entirely digital,” it sure doesn’t feel that way sometimes. I still receive a ton of paper documents, from bills to insurance info to dog license applications. We don’t deal with as much paper as we used to, but it’s still a mess if not meticulously organized. And if…Read more...

Black Friday brings some of the deepest discounts of the year for all sorts of tech products—and apps are no exception. If you’ve been holding off on buying any pricey paid, it’s worth taking another look this week. It might just be the perfect time to tap “Buy.”

If you’ve been holding out for a cheaper price on a major streaming service, now is a good time. Most major streaming platforms have Black Friday deals on offer, from several months at a reduced rate to discounts on annual subscriptions.Read more...

Shopping for techie friends is the worst, so maybe you shouldn’t even bother trying to pander to their most obvious interest. Instead of fighting that battle and second guessing what tech they might like or already own, get them something they wouldn’t buy themselves.

President Biden’s sweeping plan to forgive student loan debt for millions of Americans is stuck in the courts (we cover those legal troubles in more detail here). For borrowers, the most visible consequence of these legal blows thus far is that applications for Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan are not currently…Read more...

I confess I’ve only come into the holiday TV movie fold within the last few years, as the advent of the gay Christmas movie spurred me to explore other classics of the genre. What one immediately discovers, when delving into these worlds of small town values overcoming big city cynicism, is that a suspension of…Read more...

Psychology-related words and phrases tend to creep into our everyday vocabularies. Unfortunately, many of them have been twisted in our minds, and we now use them to refer to the wrong thing—or, in some cases, science has moved on and we’re talking about something woefully outdated. Here are some of the worst…Read more...

Back in my day, TV shows had the decency to return from hiatus every September, like clockwork. In the streaming arena, that clock is broken. Shows return whenever they feel like it. Two half-length seasons six weeks apart? A full year between seasons, with all episodes dropping on the same day? Sure, why not. Take…Read more...

Thanksgiving is almost here, which means you’re probably already cleaning your house and prepping the meal. It’s a lot of work...but then you get to enjoy the eating. Yay! But then you have to focus on cleaning again. Boo!

It’s true iOS isn’t as customizable as Android, but the gap is much narrower than it used to be. These days, your can personalize your iPhone’s Lock Screen, change your app icons to anything you like, and even add a digital pet to the Dynamic Island. If you’re in the market for yet another iPhone customization hack,…Read more...

I’m not trying to bullshit you. If you have a Samsung Galaxy—virtually any one of them—then you have a hidden chihuahua on your phone. You would never stumble upon it, which is why you’ve likely never seen nor known about it, but it’s there, lurking, ready to greet you at a moment’s notice.

Octavia Butler, the venerable science fiction writer and futurist, died unexpectedly in 2006. That spared her from witnessing just how terrifyingly prescient was her 1993 post-apocalyptic novel The Parable of the Sower. But it also robbed her of seeing her work, once relegated to the fringes of genre fiction, embraced…Read more...

The holiday season is ripe with nostalgia, so it’s not totally surprising that you might receive a text from a curious ex during this time. An innocent text is one thing but if an ex comes strolling back into your life, wanting to rekindle things as soon as the nights get a little colder, you might be on the receiving…Read more...

We’re in for expensive gas bills this winter. Whenever I so much as think about turning up the thermostat, I can hear my dad’s voice telling me to put on another sweater instead. But when sweaters don’t suffice, I turn to my trusty, cheap, easy-to-use space heater to cut costs on my central heating. But how much money…Read more...

Browsing the internet has its perils. Some websites are borderline unusable thanks to pop-ups, ads, or poor design. If you encounter these sites frequently, automatic redirects can help take you to a better place (on the internet, at least).

Back in the old days, when theaters still made actual money showing movies that weren’t part of a “cinematic universe,” December was the best time of year to be a cinema junkie. That was when, in the final weeks of the year, studios would release all of their most lavishly produced, high-minded star vehicles, in the…Read more...

It can make your heart sink when you realize the holiday gift you searched for all month is already gathering dust just after New Year’s. How often does the latest fad your kid is obsessed with end up as another flop headed to Goodwill Instead of risking bodily harm this holiday season for something plush or plasticy…Read more...

Wrestling a whole turkey body into a roasting pan (or rather, onto a wire rack), isn’t for everyone. Even I, a seasoned professional, have to steel myself for the gory moments of cutting through bone when I spatchcock a bird, and I would be totally OK with never having to smash in a breast bone again. If you have…Read more...

2021 was a banner year for calls to ban books. According to the American Library Association, there were 729 attempts to censor libraries, targeting 1,597 books—the highest amount since the ALA started keeping track 20 years ago. Most of these were school libraries.

Whether it’s investing in the newest cryptocurrency, or eyeing some type of “make money while doing nothing!” scheme, it can be hard to resist all the shiny “new” finance trends that constantly pop up. Often, though, these trends aren’t actually all that new—and even if they are, it’s important to look for signs that…Read more...

The first National Treasure film was released in 2004, an archeological dive into the United States’ founding myths that played sort of like a louder, dumber Indiana Jones crossed with The Da Vinci Code. Of course it was a hit, prompting the creation of a sequel and no doubt funding the purchase of several additional…Read more...

One Gmail, one address. That seems right. After all, you have one phone number, and one home address. The same should be true for your email addresses, Gmail included. As it happens, though, your Gmail account has an unlimited number of addresses you can use whenever you want, fooling everyone from Netflix to spammers…Read more...

If you have a vagina, you’ve probably been told that it’s an absolute must to pee immediately after having sex to prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs). But it turns out there isn’t a lot of evidence to support this idea. There is shockingly little research on the question of whether this oft-repeated advice…Read more...

Over a hundred years into Europeans’ exploring, trading, and slave-taking in mainland North America, one particular English dude jotted down a few notes about a harvest party in his town:Read more...

As the cold really settles in, we’ve been talking a lot about ways to conserve energy. We’ve also been talking about how to prepare for the big holiday season. What if we told you that you could do both? Even if you’re throwing a massive Thanksgiving or Christmas shindig, you don’t need to break the bank with the…Read more...

With the nation’s current 7% mortgage rate and all the cascading effects of brutally high inflation, there’s a new hot take every day on the state of the housing market. A quick YouTube search reveals a slew of clickbait titles like “The TRUTH About the 2023 Housing Market Crash” and “What’s coming is WORSE THAN YOU…Read more...

Anytime you have someone new over your house, one of the first questions they’ll ask is, “What’s the wifi?” Sure, you could tell them, but do you even know? To be honest, I don’t. If you’re like me, you have some convoluted wifi name and password combo on the bottom of your router you need to consult every time it’s…Read more...

I received a notice in the mail some months ago that I was involved in a data breach a certain massive, multi-national telecomm company was settling. Like many people involved in such settlements, I was not offered a ludicrously small amount of money as a reward for being an unwitting victim. Instead, I was given the…Read more...

Rolling out a flaky pie crust is a pain in the ass. It’s temperature sensitive, needs beauty rest in the fridge, and even under the best conditions, it might crack under pressure. Well, good news: You never need roll out another pie crust. You can stop the precarious transfer of dough from counter to pie plate.…Read more...

It’s November, which means it is once again Black Friday season (the Friday after Thanksgiving now somehow lasting an entire month), and retailers across the internet—and the brick-and-mortar chains that remain—are dropping deals. Traditionally, this is the best/worst time to be a video game fan. The best, because…Read more...

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the talk of the town, but not for the reasons Nintendo likely wanted. While many are enjoying their new Pokémon adventures, the tweets are all about how buggy the games are. These glitches range from funny to bizarre to hilarious. But there’s one quirk that isn’t like the others—the…Read more...

Like almost every consumer good, the used car market has been bonkers over the last few years. While used vehicle prices are still up significantly, both prices and demand appear to be dropping slightly, and if you’re considering purchasing a used car, you may want to know how to weigh current mileage against the…Read more...

There are plenty of ways to launch apps on your Mac—to start with, you can pin apps to your dock or use Spotlight to search for and open apps. There’s an even faster way to launch apps, though: by using a floating dock.

Dense meatballs got you down? Despite your attempts at rolling well-mixed yet tender meatballs, do you end up with rubber super balls every time? All that’s about to change, and it starts with the mix. To help encourage a crumbly blend, use tofu.

So, I’m really bad at video games. Elden Ring proved too much for me: I couldn’t stop dying. Everything I tried, every path I took, seemingly placed me in front of enemies that would best me at every turn. I imagine, then, that I won’t be invited to join one of gaming’s most exclusive clubs. It’s not enough to beat a…Read more...

It’s almost time for you to drag out the lights and the plywood angels and tell the world you’re a festive person by decorating the outside of your home for the holidays. The traditional of holiday-centric self-expression dates back at least to Ancient Roman Saturnalia displays, and so does the tradition of completely…Read more...

Zip files are a useful but cumbersome solution to compressing multiple files together. They come in different ways—an archive of photographs for a project, or the need to compress a file that just won’t fit in Gmail’s archaic 25MB file limit. It’s one thing to deal with zip files on a computer, but when you see them…Read more...

While there’s no way to guarantee that your Thanksgiving gathering will be 100% conflict-free, setting a few boundaries with your guests ahead of the big dinner can help to at least minimize confrontations and awkward moments. Here are a few examples of topics to discuss and agree on before coming together for the…Read more...

It’s easy to forget about our microwave when we’re not using it—especially since many models are compact, tucked into the corners of counters, or mounted above the stove. But, like other kitchen appliances, our microwaves need basic maintenance in order to keep running smoothly.Read more...

Clothes and electronics aren’t the only items marked down on Black Friday: A number of restaurants have also announced a range of deals (some of which include free food) on their meals, snacks, and gift cards.Read more...

Not only do Thanksgiving traditions vary across families (both biological and chosen), communities, and regions, they also have a tendency to evolve over time. This goes for the menu (e.g. the inclusion of Brussels sprouts since they became trendy in the early 21st century), as well as shopping habits.Read more...

Though some are quick to assume that if a home has been on the market for more than a week or two, something has to be wrong with it—especially if its listing price drops—that’s not necessarily the case.Read more...

With the 2022 holiday season kicking off next week with Thanksgiving, time is running out to send any packages, cards, and other mail that you want to arrive by Christmas (December 25), the end of Hanukkah (which runs from December 18—26), or the beginning of Kwanzaa (December 26—January 1).Read more...

With the highly anticipated Air Jordan 1 “Lost & Found” scheduled to drop on Nov. 19th, now is a tempting time to start investing in sneakers. The practice of reselling the limited edition kicks is polarizing, and any sneakerhead can share their perspective on how bidding up prices impacts shoe culture. One thing is…Read more...

Chipotle is running a “Bowls For Goals” promotion in honor of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which starts this Sunday. (Here’s how to stream the World Cup for free.) Whenever the USA national team scores a goal in the World Cup, Chipotle will be give away free food eligible to be claimed through Dec. 31.Read more...