Lifehacker

Winter may not be everyone’s favorite season, but it does produce some of the best (or at least cutest) content on the internet: Videos of puppies playing in the snow. But a quick romp in fresh powder is one thing—what about staying outside or longer periods of time?Read more...

With winter setting in across the country, and the COVID-19 pandemic still going strong, it looks like we’ll be spending a lot of time indoors for the next few months. Though it can be tempting to crank up the thermostat inside your home when it’s cold outside, doing so on a regular basis throughout an entire season…Read more...

Capturing the natural beauty of a snowy winter day seems like it would be fairly straightforward, but it’s (usually) not as simple as grabbing your phone or camera, heading outside, and immediately getting the perfect shot.Read more...

There is likely to be a lot more erratic weather in our climate-changed future—more storms, more droughts, and more drivers stuck in their cars in horrendous blizzards, like hundreds of motorists in Virginia were this week. It’s probably too late to do much about climate change, but you can at least be prepared for…Read more...

COVID-19 and the flu are both respiratory viruses that can be anywhere from annoying to life-threatening, and public health experts have been worried about what might happen if both become widespread at the same time (the dreaded “twindemic”). Besides their individual tolls on the healthcare system, there’s also the…Read more...

You could get away with not knowing much about cryptocurrency in 2021, but it’s a new year, and with the crypto market now worth $3 trillion, you’ve got no excuse not to become crypto-literate. Here are some of the year’s biggest buzzwords you should know—and a couple less-new ones to make this brave new monetary…Read more...

There are a lot of reasons you might prefer to keep your religious beliefs—or lack thereof—to yourself. In a society that typically defaults to faith of some kind, it can be feel daunting to “come out” as a non-believer. Atheists can sometimes be stereotyped as jerks who want to debate or discount other people’s…Read more...

It’s frustrating when your computer doesn’t do what you ask. If you no longer need a disk image connected to your Mac, and you go to eject it, it can be frustrating to be met with an error: “The disk couldn’t be ejected because the Finder is using it.” Using it for what?Read more...

Didn’t we just have an Olympics? Yes—but the 2020 Summer Games were booted into 2021 by COVID, so we’re back here again already. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics (or the Second Global Pandemic Games, if you prefer a bit of post-apocalyptic flair) kick off on Friday, Feb. 4 and run through Sunday, Feb. 20, and are set…Read more...

In a country that seems more divided than ever, Americans remain united on one subject: Air travel sucks. From the ever-shrinking legroom to the ever-growing list of fees for basic amenities, it’s a deeply unpleasant experience. But another reason we all despise air travel so much: fear.Read more...

Young people are all over the place this week, recreating the meals on doomed ocean liners, eating Oreos with mustard, and getting all twee with each other. Here’s everything you should know about.

These days I’m perfectly content to take inspiration from wherever it comes. It’s probably an exaggeration to suggest that the human race has reached rock bottom (I wouldn’t care to see what that looks like), but a scan of the news or even a look out the window can certainly invite the thought. In short, it’s…Read more...

The Reminders app keeps growing on us. With the latest iOS 15 update, you now have access to tags and smart lists, which makes it possible to use it as a movie or reading list tracker.

Home improvement projects have become increasingly popular—but the same thing that’s driving their increased demand is also causing prices to rise. Not only do materials cost more now, appliances and labor do, too. You might still be able to squeak in that kitchen upgrade or home office retrofit, though, if you follow…Read more...

Many of us have spent a portion of our free time over the last two years looking at home listings online—first with aspirations of getting outside of our current four walls, and then out of desperation over the out-of-control real estate market.

Let me paint you a picture: You’re cooking breakfast. Today, you’ve decided to make soft scrambled eggs in brown butter. You plan to finish this scramble with a healthy handful of finely sliced chives, or maybe green onion if you’re out of chives. You will eat the eggs with toast.

If you live anywhere long enough—or you simply skew towards the nostalgic—it’s easy to accumulate a staggering array of sentimental items, aka clutter. You may not want to let go of tickets stubs, old meaningful letters, or the shirt you wore on your first date with your spouse. Because hey, one day, you might want to…Read more...

January is Hollywood’s “dump month,” when studios release misfit movies that aren’t worthy of Summer blockbuster season and aren’t good enough for December’s award-eligibility season—movies that seemed like a good idea at the time, which, once finished, they’d rather forget.

Twenty-twenty-two was supposed to be the year that everything got back on track. When we’d all return to our normal lives and finally head back to a chilly cinema to watch that Top Gun sequel that has been sitting on the shelf for three years. Yessir. 2022, when it was all going to happen.Read more...

Living in a neighborhood can be a pleasant experience of convivial support, backyard barbecues, and lasting memories. Or it can be a years-long exercise in weakening patience and muted rage. (Or something in between.) To have the best chance of co-existing harmoniously with your street-mates, watch out for these…Read more...

Teenagers are now eligible for booster doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC has announced. Until now, boosters were only for adults aged 18 and up. Children with weakened immune systems can now also get a third primary dose, even if they are not old enough for a booster.

Tracking the calories and macronutrients in the food you eat can help you reach your nutrition-related goals, from weight loss, to weight gain, to trying to get a better handle on your intake of protein and vitamins. To gauge this information accurately, you’ll want to get a food scale. But then what?

January is usually a month of purging, consolidating, and cleaning, but this January seems particularly suited to it. Omicron is infecting nearly everyone I know, and the weather is terrible—there isn’t much reason to leave the house; might as well clean it.

No company wants to be sued. Since lawsuits can be common for large companies, especially large tech companies, it makes sense that these organizations create strategies to reduce their chances of being sued in the first place. But when those tactics are subtle, scummy, and anti-consumer, as is apparently the case…Read more...

If you’re trying a Dry January, it’s probably starting to get hard. It can help to think about some of the reasons why it’s good to give your liver a break every once in a while.

It’s good to make your home feel like you, but there are also a slew of decorating choices that will make the place look chintzy, basic, or even plain creepy. If you’re going for that kind of vibe, fine. If not, consider changing any of the following decor-don’ts that are a part of your home.

If you’re new to gardening or woodworking—or if you just want to update your refinishing skills—a workshop or adult camp might be for you. Get some hands-on experience and some pro tips in one of these beginner courses for adults.Read more...

We live in the most connected time in history. We can collaborate with people who live thousands of miles away, virtually visit places without leaving the comfort of our homes, and we can—with varying results—express our every thought to the entire world.

Apple Music’s curated playlists are good enough for many people, but they can’t compare to a customized playlist built to suit your tastes. Even better, there are ways to mix, match, and combine multiple Apple Music playlists to create a mammoth list of tracks to suit any mood. You can also define certain rules, such…Read more...

Cold weather is officially here (at least, it is in areas that typically get cold this time of year.) (I’m not talking about southern California.) (I am never talking about southern California.)

The internet loves two things: A fresh trend, and word games. Wordle is both, and even has a love story in the mix. On Sunday, the second day of 2022, the online word game went viral and was played by more than 300,000 people.

CES 2022 is here, running from Jan. 5 to Jan. 7 —with a few notable names opting out of the in-person shows. If you didn’t snag a ticket but still want to experience it, though, you’re in luck. There are plenty of ways to livestream it this year.

Eggs are both simple and complex. They’re one of the easiest foods you can learn how to cook, but can be prepared in a seemingly endless amount of interesting and complex ways. From a chemical perspective, they are absolutely bonkers, packed with all sorts of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and (some) minerals. And,…Read more...

If you find yourself unwillingly hosting scratchy, scurrying vermin in your kitchen—and you’re pretty sure you hear them rattling around in your stove and oven—you’re not alone. Mice are attracted to the warmth of the pilot light and plentiful crumbs and leftover food scraps in and around your oven. Here’s how you can…Read more...

There’s a right and a wrong direction to face when you’re squatting.Read more...

The other day I ran across this video of an anonymous woman carrying an annoyed lion down the street. The video was taken in the Sabahiya district of Kuwait, where the woman reportedly keeps that lion as a pet. It recently escaped and terrorized the neighborhood, but she got it back. If you would like to be mildly…Read more...

If you own retro consoles—say, a Super Nintendo or a Sega Genesis—you have access to some of gaming’s greatest roots. However, you might find plugging these awesome consoles into your current TV doesn’t result in the experience you remember from years past. Games look fuzzy and distorted, and it can be tempting to…Read more...

Considering that the average person spends about 26 years of their life sleeping, how we take care of our mattress matters. But a mattress is easy to forget about. Most of the time, it’s invisible, obscured by sheets and too many throw pillows. As long as it does its job, we may not even think about it until it’s time…Read more...

You already know smoking is bad for you. There are billboards and commercials and pictures of skulls on cigarette boxes to tell you this, as if you won’t also hear terse comments from strangers offended by your puffs of smoke as you walk by them in the street. At this point, anyone who smokes does so with the…Read more...

I love kids. I know how to change a diaper. I know how to sit back and groove to Encanto. But what I need to know is how to get an intimidating 9-year-old to actually respect, enjoy, or (more realistically) simply tolerate me.

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At-home rapid tests for COVID-19 instruct you to stir a cotton swab inside each nostril before sliding the swab into its little testing tube or card. But some people have posted pictures on social media comparing a negative at-home nasal swab with a positive at-home throat swab, and even some experts are saying that…Read more...

Betty White’s first role came in 1930, playing an orphan in a schmaltzy radio drama called “The Empire Builders.” Her final appearance will come a few weeks from now, as part of filmed birthday tribute for theaters. In the 91 years between, she’s been a local television star, a game show guest and host, movie actor,…Read more...

We don’t talk a lot about weight loss here at Lifehacker, mostly because weight loss is a thing that our culture talks far too much about. Pay attention to it a little too long, and you’re on a slippery slope of “thinner is better” and thinking of food and exercise only in terms of how they can make your body smaller.

I will always love the dirty martini. It was my gateway into the wild and wonderful world of gin, and I love any excuse to drink brine. After all, the key to making a classic dirty martini lies in letting the brine replace—rather than supplement—some of the vermouth, so as not to over-dilute the gin.Read more...

If you haven’t personally caught any variant of COVID-19 by this point, you might have an attitude of “well, I’m gonna get it eventually.” That isn’t necessarily true (nor is it the best attitude to have), but it sure can feel that way.

As a lifelong Mac user, I always love learning about something hidden feature of my computer, such as the ability to change your mouse’s cursor color. So you can imagine my delight in stumbling upon this Reddit thread, where user OOF_V2 shared a hidden treasure trove of Apple product icons lurking within MacOS.Read more...

One main aspect of food writing is identifying recipes and methods that let you get food on the table and into your mouth as quickly and with as few dirty dishes as possible. This is especially important if you are talking about food that must be eaten on a weeknight, the kind of night which demands efficiency. Enter…Read more...

It’s winter. The days are short, the nights are cold, and the post-holiday serotonin levels, they are a-dropping. Omicron and inflation are surging and it’s Dry January, a time during which, many of us attempt to cope without booze. You know what this moment calls for? Some nicely folded fucking towels.

Competitive sports often require special spaces or equipment, and that’s true of most strength sports. Weightlifting (the kind they do in the Olympics) requires bouncy bumper plates and a gym that won’t mind if you drop them from overhead. Strongman training uses a variety of unusual equipment you won’t find in your…Read more...