Lifehacker

I eat a lot of corn and corn products. I love cornbread, corn casserole, cornmeal-crusted catfish, grits, and polenta, and consider those last two to be distinct dishes. Much like pornography and erotica, it can be hard to delineate the differences between polenta and grits, but I can identify either on sight (or…Read more...

No one likes to stay in a hospital. Aside from the inevitable association between hospitals and illness (not to mention death), they tend to be everything we hate: chaotic, expensive, and uncomfortable. The whole experience can be maddening—you’re woken up at all hours for questions, tests, and medications; orderlies…Read more...

Have you ever tried getting rid of an old tree stump only to be left, well, stumped? (Sorry, sorry.) There’s no shortage of reasons to get rid of that pesky stump, whether you’re making way for new trees to grow, or you want to avoid trip hazards in your yard. Luckily, there’s also no shortage of solutions for you to…Read more...

Kids and their devices, am I right? Parents are constantly worrying about whether and how to limit screen time. But maybe we need to accept the inevitable—it’s really hard to keep them off of their phones, especially when we are always glued to own own, whether through necessity (for work) or due to our own bad habits…Read more...

So you survived your first day at the gym and you’re ready for the next step—or maybe you’ve mastered the dumbbells and machines but never quite figured out what to do with barbells. Either way, here are all the basic things you’ll need to know on your first day working with barbells.

It is not tomato season. Unless you are in the southern hemisphere, you have absolutely no business buying beefsteak tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, or really any tomato other than the little bitty ones. I know you can acquire Vine Ripe and Roma tomatoes with ease during the winter months, but let’s be real: They suck.

If you installed the latest Windows Server update last week, you might have noticed something frustrating—your VPN wouldn’t connect to Windows. The issue mainly targets the Windows VPN client, but that affects multiple VPN devices, like SonicWall, WatchGuard Firewalls, and Cisco Meraki. If you uninstalled these…Read more...

Your Mac’s standard screenshot tool includes the basic features most people need to capture images displayed on their screens, but it could be better. It doesn’t allow you to take scrolling screenshots (where you capture a long screenshot of an entire webpage), and other tools—including the two discussed below—are…Read more...

Considering that we spend up to 36 years of our lives in our beds (either sleeping, watching TV, or trying to get to sleep), our mattresses are important. But since they’re also large, expensive, and obscured by so many linens, it’s not always obvious when we should replace them (and given the investment, it’s not…Read more...

Back in the spring and summer of 2020, travel came with unprecedented flexibility. Flights, car rental reservations, and hotel bookings could be cancelled at the last minute, change fees were mostly eliminated, and airlines blocked middle seats.Read more...

If your Apple Watch is on its way out, there’s one last thing you need to do before selling or exchanging it: Completely wipe it clean so all your personal data is removed.

If you don’t live in a traditional growing region, access to fresh weed flowers is yet another modern luxury. Like any other agricultural output, cannabis flower has a shelf life, which explains why, throughout its long, long history, the drug has often been often consumed in its super potent (and super shelf stable)…Read more...

We’ve all been there: You head out to a nice restaurant with some friends, settle into your chairs in anticipation...and then the wine list drops in front of you, and suddenly you’re living that dream where you show up for your algebra test naked and everyone laughs at you.

Windows has a dedicated section for uninstalling apps, but Mac doesn’t. It’s supposed to be simpler on the Mac—you delete an app just like a file by dragging it to the Trash, then emptying the Trash. That works fine for many apps, but some are more difficult to uninstall because they leave their mark across multiple…Read more...

When the plan to provide free at-home COVID tests was announced in December, it looked pretty underwhelming—tests would be reimbursable by insurance, and free tests would be available at some community centers. Fortunately, the plan is now being rolled out, with an important addition: You can request free tests from a…Read more...

This evening, a huge asteroid known as 7482 (1994 PC1) will make its closest approach to us Earthlings for the next 200 years. It’ll pass us by at a cool 47,344 miles per hour, so you don’t want to miss your chance to catch a glimpse. Here’s how you can get a once-in-a-lifetime viewing of this space event, plus all…Read more...

Although the recommended amount of sleep is seven to nine hours a night, more than one-third of Americans get less than seven hours a night, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Read more...

Remember that love affair we had with sourdough bread? It was an unusual moment in the sun for yeast. Some folks had extended, public bread-romances on social media, while others had short trysts that wielded little more than a dead starter, graying in the fridge. If you actually got to the baking stage, you probably…Read more...

If you’ve been to a grocery store recently, you may have noticed: It’s March 2020 all over again. At least it looks that way, or perhaps worse. With severe winter weather, cumulative supply chain disruptions, and ongoing staffing shortages due to a steep rise in COVID cases, stock of certain items at grocery stores…Read more...

Companies love to bend the truth to make it seem like their product is better than it is—and one way they do this with certain medical products is by making it sound like the FDA had a major role in bringing it to market. But if a health-related gadget is “FDA cleared,” that doesn’t necessarily mean the FDA studied it…Read more...

Social media platforms from TikTok to Twitter charge you nothing to use their services, except for, well, everything there is to know about you. Part of the strategy in that data collection comes from algorithms, which decide what kind of content to show you based on your past usage. Don’t make their data harvesting…Read more...

We’re not even three weeks into 2022, but there’s already plenty to be angry about. In fact, that’s been the case for a long time now—especially during the last two years of living through a global pandemic.Read more...

Buying a home is always stressful. Whether it’s your first home and you spent the last decade eating wish sandwiches in order to cobble together the down payment or a dream retirement house, the process is a rollercoaster ride of surprise costs, stressful road bumps, and endless paperwork (somehow still involving the…Read more...

It’s cliche to say that letter-writing is a “lost art,” but try to think of the last time you sat down and wrote a personal letter. Nothing to do with business or networking—an actual letter to another person in your life for the purpose of communicating information, messages, and checking in. For most of us, it’s…Read more...

TikTok is getting a new feature that looks a bit like one we’re all familiar with. The “retweet” feature has been a staple of Twitter since the button was added in 2009. Now, TikTok is beta testing a new “repost” feature that many are calling the app’s retweet.

Virtual reality gaming is seeing a spike in popularity right now—but some experts and industry observers are concerned that frequent use of the technology may come with some health risks, including eyestrain, migraines, and falls. Here is what we know so far about the safety of VR, and the potential health…Read more...

I’m not sure if anyone made resolutions this year. The source of most people’s problems are not tied to anything they can change with enough resolve. One cannot resolve their way out of a pandemic, or resolve their child into a safe learning environment, especially when our governing body is more interested in…Read more...

One of the best parts about hiking (or even taking a walk in your neighborhood) is paying attention to your surroundings, and noticing new things each time. But with so much of the world to explore, you probably also want to see new parts of it—including in your own area.Read more...

The AeroPress is on the geekier side when it comes to manual coffee brewing. It doesn’t have the artisanal cred of pour-over, nor the gravitas of a Moka pot, nor the time-tested reliability of a French press. Yet this little, plastic, plunger-based coffee maker—originally developed as a way to make one cup of reliably…Read more...

Now that many people who’ve had the option of working remotely during the pandemic are being called back into the office, it’s becoming increasingly clear that not all employers are on-board with the arrangement. Initially instituted to help prevent employees from contracting COVID-19, work-from-home policies began…Read more...

Despite the classic excuse of not having a “green thumb,” keeping a houseplant alive has more to do with the ability to make and remember to stick to a schedule than being born without a pretend gene that makes you good at gardening. (And if you have a literal green thumb, you may want to have a medical profession…Read more...

Regular Lifehacker readers will know that we’re big fans of space, and frequently post about upcoming astronomical events, including full moons, meteor showers, and interest planet alignments.Read more...

After finally making it through the hot, sticky summer weather—when it can feel as though you’re permanently sweaty—the crisp, cool fall air feels refreshing. For a few glorious weeks, your skin looks and feels “normal.” Then winter starts, and overnight, your skin dries up.Read more...

Once considered a nonnegotiable household staple, the humble bar of soap has had a rough couple of decades. Now, it’s not a given that you’ll find bars of soap next to every sink and inside every tub in the house, as many people prefer the liquid varieties. (One reason for that, according to a 2016 survey, is that 48…Read more...

Homeowners with a driveway who live somewhere that gets a decent amount of snow each year have a call to make: Whether to shovel, use a snowblower, or hire someone for snow removal. Those who opt to purchase a snowblower typically do so because it’s quicker and easier than shoveling (it definitely is).Read more...

This week, YouTuber Logan Paul was scammed out of three and half million bucks, crypto-heads are planning to move away from us forever, and kids are eating NyQuil chicken—or none of that is happening at all, because everything is fake.

My idea of wisdom is knowing better than to judge how somebody orders their martini*. It’s a deeply personal thing. Among the most classic of classic stirred-up cocktails, the martini has perhaps the most forgiving dress code of any. So, it pains me when someone sheepishly admits that they like olives and a twist in…Read more...

Are you trying to stay anonymous on Reddit? If you’ve already tried creating burner accounts, you should consider periodically deleting your old Reddit accounts as well to make it harder for people to use your post history to find information about you. And if you need to go the nuclear route, you can permanently…Read more...

Many of us have no problem checking in on the status of our New Year’s resolutions to “walk more” or “sleep better,” and it’s all thanks to our trusty Fitbits, Apple Watches, and other wrist-sized fitness gadgets. At any moment of the day, you can look to your wrist and have access to your health data. And if you…Read more...

Canopy beds can make your bedroom feel romantic, calm, and peaceful. But canopy beds themselves are, well, expensive. You can get the canopy look, though, but without the cost. Just make your own.

The Messages app on your Mac has hidden keyboard shortcuts that make it a lot easier to text, once you learn them. One shortcut lets you open the contact card for the person you’re chatting with, another lets you send files faster, among so many more, so we’re going to dive into all the keyboard shortcuts you’ll ever…Read more...

There are two kinds of mistakes that make your car look bad: Things you do because you don’t care, and things you do because you care too much but in the wrong way. This list covers both.

Are you too good at Wordle? Of course you are. You know all the strategies: which words to guess first, which vowels to test right out of the gate. You’re probably sick of embarrassing everyone on Twitter with all your green squares. If Wordle feels too easy these days, you might want to try its twisted cousin, …Read more...

Last week, we asked you for your best advice to get someone else’s kids to like you instantly, and you provided us with some keen insight into winning them over. Sure, several people graciously pointed out the fact that kids are super into bribery. But when the snacks run out—heaven forbid—many of you had some helpful…Read more...

There’s a good chance that if you follow the news at all in the coming year, you’re going to hear the word “subpoena” pretty often. It also seems likely that we’re going to hear a lot about people ignoring subpoenas and refusing to comply with them, which leads to an obvious question: Can you get away with that?

Maintaining a balanced exercise routine without getting burnt out on your workouts can be tricky. Making progress requires challenging your body, but that can lead to overtraining if you aren’t careful. Having a predictable workout routine can help maintain consistency, but can also result in boredom and lack of…Read more...

Welcome to our Master Class on banana consumption, where we will discuss the right way to peel a banana. If you’re thinking, “There is no right way to peel a banana!” you may not be ready to hear that according to none other than Chiquita herself, there is a “proper” way—and it’s probably not how you’ve been doing it…Read more...

We talk a lot about what it’s like to start lifting weights, or to start exercising at all. But one day, you’ll come to the end of your beginner stage, and some things will have to change.

When Greek NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo tried dipping his Oreos in milk a few months ago for the first time, his mind was understandably blown. “From now on, that’s an every night snack for me,” he said during a press conference. (Watch the clip below. It is delightful.)

Since Apple introduced the Retina display to the Mac back in 2012, most of their lineup has shipped with one of the laser sharp, pleasingly crisp screens. Whether you have a small 12-inch laptop display or a large 27-inch desktop, your Mac likely looks great. So it can be frustrating when you plug it into an external…Read more...