Lifehacker

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 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...

I always get excited when a new version of a gadget is about to come out—not necessarily because I want the latest and best, but because I love scoring a good deal on last year’s model. However, sometimes the deals aren’t as good as they seem. Apple is currently making way for its new Apple TV 4K, and thus the 2021…Read more...

It’s hard to believe, but YouTube just celebrated its 17th birthday. To commemorate the website’s ability to see R-rated movies, YouTube is rolling out a suite of new features and changes to all users over the coming weeks. Here’s what you can expect when the new YouTube hits your devices.

To achieve the maximum spooky factor from your jack-o’-lanterns this year, what you need is a little smoke creeping out of their cold, dead mouthes. Candles don’t produce enough to be worthwhile here, however, and it would be a challenge to get tiny fog machines inside all your carved pumpkins: That’s where dry ice…Read more...

Hardshell tacos have a reputation for being “inauthentic,” an aberration of the form invented by a white fast food mogul named Glen Bell. (Can you guess which popular chain he founded?) And while Glen—and Taco Bell—are responsible for the hardshell taco’s massive popularity in the United States, not to mention the…Read more...

Whether you’re one of the roughly 35 million Americans enrolled in Affordable Care Act-related coverage, or will be applying for a health insurance plan through the marketplace for the first time, it’s time to think about your coverage for 2023. With the open enrollment period quickly approaching, here’s what to know…Read more...

Ferrero Rochers are too pretty for Halloween—too fancy, too golden, too...nice. Fortunately, there are two easy ways to transform them into being perfect for last-minute Halloween party or spooky evening in with the kids.

Adorable: This holiday season, married actors John Krasinski and Emily Blunt are getting matching series on Prime Video. The third season of Krasinski’s Jack Ryan doesn’t drop until right before Christmas, while Blunt is getting the pre-Thanksgiving slot with The English (Nov. 11), a Tarantino-esque revenge thriller…Read more...

New molding can give a boring room more visual interest and look more expensive. While springing for the real thing looks great, it can be pretty pricey (hence why it looks expensive). There are some ways to fake the look of real wooden molding, though, without shelling out for it.Read more...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced that Bob Evans Farms Foods, Inc., is recalling approximately 7,560 pounds of Italian pork sausage products for potentially having possible foreign matter contamination—specifically, “thin blue rubber.”

What do you do when your head hits the pillow but your brain is still racing? We’ve recommended box breathing in the past, and shuffling visual images, and various relaxation routines. But I’ve always found those to be either too much work for my brain, or too boring to stick with for minutes on end. I figured out a…Read more...

When Google announced the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro earlier this month, it revealed new features for Android 13, including Clear Calling. This option makes phone calls easier to hear by reducing background noises and improving vocal quality. Although Clear Calling was announced jointly with the new Pixels, it didn’t…Read more...

For some people, “just use eyedrops” is a simple recommendation, like “take a pill” or “use this lotion.” But some of us can’t “just” use eyedrops; our eyes involuntarily twitch or blink, or we flinch and pull away entirely. I’m one of those people, and I’m happy to report there’s a way to get the drops in anyway.Read more...

Normally we frown upon “PC cleaner” apps like CCleaner because they tend to do little more than help you find the same cleanup options already built into your computer (sometimes for a fee). However, we can make an exception for PC Manager, because it’s built by Microsoft itself, and it works really well.

I’ve played a ton of survival horror games, and while I love the genre, I sometimes want something scary in a different way. After all, we should not limit ourselves to only one type of spooky entertainment, especially this time of year. The 17 games listed here provide a wide variety of video-game horror through…Read more...

With Halloween rapidly approaching, your costume might be in need of some quick, last-minute bloody gore—and it’s actually easier to make your own “blood” than you might think. Here are some simple recipes to try that are fast, cheap, and as realistic as you need for the spookiest of days.Read more...

Yet another assemblage of malicious apps is plaguing Android devices everywhere, which means its time to make sure you haven’t unknowingly downloaded one of them—but this batch is a bit different from the usual crop.

I rarely dive into the discourse, but last week I had to, because the discourse was centered around salad dressing. Specifically the “special” salad dressing that Olivia Wilde allegedly made for Harry Styles. The dressing turned out to be the fairly standard vinaigrette (called it) from Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, but it…Read more...

We’ve all been there: You send a text to your partner and you’re left on read. On your end, you think “what’s so hard about answering a text?” On the other side, your partner might think, “I’ll respond later,” and think nothing else of it. If this sounds familiar, chances are you have a textual compatibility problem.

No one wants to be the friend who always has to miss dinners, concerts, and vacations because of their strict budget. Maybe you’re unexpectedly tight on cash all of a sudden, or maybe your friend group has slowly but surely fallen victim to lifestyle creep. Whatever your reasons, saying “no” to well-intentioned…Read more...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that shampoo company Unilever has voluntarily recalled a number of their dry shampoos over potentially elevated levels of benzene, a chemical known to cause cancer.

As Halloween approaches, adults everywhere are faced with the usual questions: How sexy is too sexy when it comes to costumes? How much candy can you confiscate from your children before you become a monster? And, most importantly, can you pair alcohol with that stolen candy—and if so, how does one do that with the…Read more...

After an extra month or so delay, Apple has finally released iPadOS 16 to the public. Well, technically, it’s iPadOS 16.1. The wait means we’ve already skipped a version and are onto a “point update,” and that before anyone outside of beta testers even had a chance to try iPadOS 16. No matter what Apple is calling it,…Read more...

If the risk/reward ratio for making a movie sequel grows more skewed with both how beloved the original is and how much time has passed, A Christmas Story Christmas may be one of the most fraught films ever made. I certainly can’t help but greet the followup to 1983's perennial basic cable classic A Christmas Story,…Read more...

If your only options when you’re sick are going into the office or calling off, then obviously if you’re contagious, you should call off. But now that so many of us have the option of working from home when we can’t make it to the office, the decision becomes a little trickier.Read more...

Hiring a house cleaning service can be hugely helpful if you’re busy, unorganized, or in a rush, but there is some etiquette you have to know before hiring a stranger to clean up your messes. For instance, there are some things a professional cleaner shouldn’t—or can’t—clean. Sometimes it’s a time or efficiency issue,…Read more...

Besides agonizing over the details of your elaborate Rings of Power group Halloween costume, part of the allure of Oct. 31 is the excuse to eat copious amounts of sweets. Although I truly believe that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are gross, I also recognize the flavor combination of chocolate and peanut butter itself is…Read more...

Here we go again: Apple’s next big iPhone update, iOS 16.1, is here, bringing a host of tweaks and improvements to the operating just over a month after it launched. Once it hits your iPhone, you’ll be able to peruse Apple’s short list of the new features and changes, including the launch of iCloud Shared Photo…Read more...

Respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV, is surging again, to the point where people who work in healthcare are worried about hospital resources becoming overwhelmed. The illness can be serious in babies and in elderly people, so read on for more about what to know.Read more...

Although there’s little to see in terms of federal relief from record-breaking inflation, some states are stepping up to help their residents face our current economic reality. Twenty states are sending (or already sent) one-time rebate checks or other payments to eligible taxpayers. While these payment amounts aren’t…Read more...

Arches are a good way to give any room an eye-catching focal point, but having an arched door installed or building an arched alcove is time-consuming and potentially expensive. Instead, add a painted arch or two, netting some of the same curvy appeal without breaking the bank. Here are some tips on how to paint one,…Read more...

Part of the charm of city living are the no-frills accommodations. Plain white paint coats your walls, trim, and door frames, a standard boob light is mounted on your ceiling, and you probably have an austere radiator in the corner in every room. Nondescript, metallic, and efficient, these things heat your home…Read more...

Doing your own home improvement projects and maintenance can be rewarding: In addition to saving money, there’s a sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a task yourself. But accident rates for DIY enthusiasts might be higher than you think, so practicing some basic safety precautions when you’re using…Read more...

Scrolling through social media, with its carefully curated images of beautiful, clutter-free living spaces, often has the effect of making you feel inadequate about your own home. Whether it’s the dishes in the kitchen sink, the piles of laundry you can never quite find the time to put away, or the scattered toys you…Read more...

Whether we’re talking about “shit,” “fuck,” or “sirloin,” people love inventing amusing stories to explain the origins of common words. False etymology is fun—explaining that “fuck” derives from signs adulterers wore reading “for unlawful carnal knowledge” is way more amusing than pointing out the Indo-European root -…Read more...