Lifehacker

Oh, laundry. Dreaded fucking laundry. While looking at a basket full of freshly folded threads for the whole family is an enormously satisfying—if mundane—accomplishment, getting there is often a slog through procrastination, days of using the basket as a closet, and lots of heavy sighing.

This Sunday, I will be watching the Super Bowl with my father for the first time in literally forever. We’ve watched a lot of football together, but almost all of it has been SEC games. Ironically, I will not be cooking anything. My dad told me my stepmom likes to make chili dogs and Rotel dip for such occasions, and…Read more...

Apple silicon is known for its efficiency, resulting in long periods of MacBook use and sleep without needing to return to the charger. Lately, however, it seems MacBooks of all kinds are draining fast; you might open your fully charged MacBook to find it completely dead, with no clear explanation why. Not only do we…Read more...

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Walking around naked. Belting show tunes in the shower. Basking in some peace and quiet. There are plenty of perks to living alone. At the same time, there are plenty of concerns, from handling bills, to dealing with emergencies, to generally getting lonely.

Two years ago, I reached my cacio e pepe saturation point. The combination of Pecorino Romano (or, in some recipes, Parmigiano Reggiano) and pepper was everywhere, and on everything. It still is. And though I still think we should collectively expand our pasta repertoire, even I must admit that cheese and pepper are…Read more...

Comedian Bob Saget’s January death was recently revealed by his family and the Florida medical examiner’s office to be a result of accidental head trauma. “They [the authorities] have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep,” his family’s statement…Read more...

No matter what happens in the world, your local library remains an oasis of calm—a place where you can teach yourself, conduct research, or simply find a quiet space during your busy day. But modern libraries are a lot more than just book repositories; they’ve evolved into community hubs that offer a wide range of…Read more...

A floating platform bed can add an interesting aesthetic and dimension to your bedroom—and they’re relatively inexpensive to make and install yourself. There are some things to consider before you dive in, though, from both a design and safety perspective.Read more...

Is Valentine’s Day a beautiful tribute to one of the most fundamental parts of the human experience, or a made-up holiday designed to make you spend money you don’t have on candy nobody wants? Perhaps it’s both, but there’s no question many Feb. 14 rituals are outdated and limiting, proceeding from the assumption that…Read more...

Have you ever been talking about something with a friend, only to receive an ad for the same thing later? It makes you wonder whether your phone is listening to you and what you can do to stop it. But just how much do our phones spy on us?

Like every other aspect of life, the housing market has gone absolutely wild over the last few years as prices have soared by double digits in basically every market. The median selling price for a house in November, 2021 was 25 percent more than it was less than two years before, which is, again, wild. And there are…Read more...

Hangover cures simply do not exist. Every single purported remedy floating around out there is just something that will keep your mind or your stomach busy while your body finishes metabolizing the alcohol. You may feel like you’re taking care of yourself, but you’re only having a weird breakfast and waiting for…Read more...

The glory days of dedicated Super Bowl “counter-programming” are gone. When you can stream whatever you want on Netflix to prove how much you don’t even care about the Super Bowl, there isn’t a lot of point to networks dedicating programming to countering the game. But there are still a few alternatives to the big,…Read more...

It was a joyous occasion when Apple finally released its own Files app for the iPhone and iPad. We all thought Finder made its way to the iPhone. But the Files app is no Finder from the Mac. In fact, it’s severely removed from one of the simplest and easiest file managers on any platform. If you’ve used the Files app…Read more...

For a while, I held out on getting an Amazon Prime membership. Fancying myself an advance planning wunderkind, I saw no need to pay $100 a year for free shipping on things I could get free shipping on if I thought ahead and bought them at least two weeks in advance. How hard was that? And then I had a third kid, got a…Read more...

My most successful adult birthday party was my most recent one. For my 35th year, I had friends and family gather in my newly-acquired backyard for eating, drinking, and general merriment. It was a potluck with a very simple theme: Dips & Drinks.

Following months of controversy surrounding Spotify’s business partnership with Joe Rogan, artists including Neil Young, India Arie, and Crosby, Stills and Nash are pulling their music from Spotify’s library, and users are migrating to other platforms. This exodus raises an important question: If you want to move to a…Read more...

Plenty of human snack foods are bad news for dogs, as you may remember from our advice not to give your dog turkey skin on Thanksgiving and to keep them away from all kinds of candy, not just chocolate, on Halloween. So you won’t be surprised to learn that your Super Bowl party spread also has a bunch of things you’ll…Read more...

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Do you have a preschooler or toddler? Do they toddle and do adorable things like giggle uncontrollably when you pretend to bump into walls, say “blankely” instead of blanket, and occasionally send an aggressive spray of their own spittle in your direction? Oh wait, that last one’s not actually cute.

I realized the other day that I don’t know how to open an envelope.Read more...

Ceilings are often overlooked elements in our homes, but a little bit of texture or some color can really add a lot to a room. If pressed tin ceiling tiles are out of your budget, there are simpler ways to add some expensive-looking detail without breaking the bank. Here’s how to achieve a fast update that perfectly…Read more...

A sore throat isn’t exactly the end of the world, but when you have that scratchy, hurts-to-swallow feeling, you’re surely looking for relief beyond an endless stream of cough drops. What other scientifically-backed, at-home methods can you use to soothe the pain?

I am bad at Valentine’s Day. Or, maybe, I am very good at it. My boyfriend and I get each other gifts if the right gift presents itself—this usually takes the form of a vintage pornography poster—but neither of us force the issue. Sometimes we’ll make spaghetti. Sometimes we sous vide lobster tails. We almost always…Read more...

Even if you aren’t paying attention to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, you might have noticed that their value plummeted last week, with the total value of the market tumbling from a high of $3 trillion last year to about $1.5 trillion in a matter of days. Bitcoin, the most famous and largest cryptocurrency, saw…Read more...

If you’ve ever wished you could keep Microsoft Word pinned to your screen while jotting down notes from a lecture on Zoom or from a YouTube video, you’re in luck. Thanks to Microsoft’s PowerToys for Windows—specifically, the Always On Top utility—you can now pin your most important windows so they stay fixed …Read more...

If you’re one of the unlucky taxpayers still waiting for your 2020 returns, don’t expect this year to be any better. Numerous sources have reported that the 2022 tax filing season is again going to be full of major delays. The Treasury Department warned at the start of this year that the IRS will face “enormous…Read more...

With a growing need for vegan and vegetarian recipes, creative cooks and food companies have come up with some pretty clever plant-based meat replacements. While this is fantastic for eaters of all stripes, there’s a catch: When large communities or cultures are introduced to an ingredient for the first time as a…Read more...

Recently, we asked you to share your partner’s grossest habits and (un?) fortunately, you delivered.

I did not grow up watching the Super Bowl. The closest thing my home state of Mississippi has to a professional football team is the Saints, but my dad and grandfather were far too busy cussing at the TV while watching Mississippi State lose to pay attention to any of that. Besides, the Super Bowl always falls on a…Read more...

Snoring can bother your bed partner, and can sometimes be a red flag for health conditions (notably, obstructive sleep apnea). But sometimes you’ve got a snoring habit that is harmless and still drives your partner nuts. Here are some of the ways you can become a quieter sleeper.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day. Sometimes called “Oh, shit, I forgot again” Day, the annual Feb. 14 celebration of love is marked by candy, greeting cards, and difficult-to-obtain dinner reservations, but where did Valentine’s Day come from? Why do we celebrate it? Who said we have to give people candy? What does it all …Read more...

In theory, a homeowners association (HOA) is a great idea: Property owners in a neighborhood banding together to share expenses and enforce a few simple rules that will improve their quality of life—and their property values.

Using the Xbox Game Pass on a PC is great, with some caveats. The Xbox app doesn’t allow you to install games in a custom folder on your computer; by default, you can only choose which drive the games are installed on. If you like to keep things more organized than that, there are ways around this limitation.

Over the last seven years, an average of 104 million people have tuned into the Super Bowl—and it’s safe to say, lots of people will be doing the same when the Rams take on the Bengals this weekend. But what’s a non-football fan to do while the rest of the country guzzles weak beer and tries to keep buffalo wing…Read more...

There’s a lot going on in the world, so you can be forgiven for not paying this year’s NFL season the attention it deserves, but football is way more fun to watch with some context. Before you show up to that Super Bowl party, read through this thumbnail sketch of the teams, players and drama that will define 2022's…Read more...

When you’re exhausted, it can feel almost impossible to pay attention to nutrition. As hard as it can be, though, the foods we eat play an important role in helping maintain our energy levels.Read more...

Even as cryptocurrency becomes more and more mainstream, the wild ride that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are always on scares off a lot of people. It’s one thing to imagine you were hip enough to buy Bitcoin when it was worth a few bucks, it’s something else entirely to pony up thousands of dollars only to see…Read more...

There’s nothing wrong with food that is fried or that is dripping with cheese, but there’s no reason a Super Bowl party has to have just that. What if there could be a few extra vegetables beside those sad little celery sticks? What if you could expand your dip horizons beyond queso and guacamole? What if you modified…Read more...

I suppose once kids reach a certain age they may take an interest in the Super Bowl. My kids haven’t reached that stage, nor, as a grown person, have I. But Super Bowl parties are a family affair, and if you’re having or going to one, you can bet a large contingent of tiny humans will be present, threatening to…Read more...

It’s become fashionable to hate on Valentine’s Day, and I get it—the commercialization; the unreasonable expectations; the bland packaging of the whole thing. But, just as importantly, it’s also OK to love love. It’s OK to look forward to Valentine’s Day, whether because you’ve found your own storybook romance (of…Read more...

We all know the threat of phishing attacks, but hackers use a similar SMS-based tactic called “smishing” to infect smartphones with malware and steal data, and according to recent reports, they’re using it more often. The cybersecurity firm Kaspersky says hackers are infecting users across Europe and Asia with the…Read more...

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With the launch of iOS 15, Apple supercharged the Do Not Disturb feature for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, giving you the options to precisely configure which apps or people can and can’t get in touch with you when Do Not Disturb mode is engaged.Read more...

Face ID is a great iPhone feature—when your iPhone can see your face, that is. While wearing a mask helps protect you and those around you from COVID, it also blocks you from unlocking your phone with your face. Apple added a workaround to this problem for those of us with Apple Watches, but what about those of us who…Read more...

Whether you plan to Buffalo wings, tots, cauliflower, or tofu puffs this Sunday, there is a high probability that you will be dousing something with the combination of Frank’s and melted butter.

Remember that person who had a crush on you for years—who hung out right there, by your side, close but not stalking, quietly waiting to be noticed while you messed around with flashier, trendier versions of the real deal? Who, once wizened by adulthood, did you look back on and think, “Huh. They were pretty great,…Read more...

Take a minute to think about when you had sex for the first time, how much sex you have, and whether you think other people are doing it more or less than you. If this thought experiment makes you feel embarrassed about how much or how little you’re doing it, relax. Chances are, you’re more normal than you think.Read more...

Compared to previous generations, millennials are less likely to own a home with a family of their own. This might have a little something to do with the fact that the average millennial is burdened with nearly $93,000 in debt. And according to CNBC, houses aren’t about to get much more affordable; we can expect to…Read more...