Lifehacker

Universally speaking, autoplay videos are annoying. On social media, they can suck you in, and the next thing you know, you’ve spent an hour scrolling through videos. On websites, they get in the way, following you around the page and covering up the text of an article.

The end of the warmer months can be depressing for the avid gardener. Thankfully, seeds from past blooms give hope for future plantings. But seeds don’t last forever, and the older they get, the less viable they are. How you store your seeds can extend or decrease the seed’s lifespan. Here’s how to preserve your seeds…Read more...

If our children are old enough to be watching the Olympics with us, there’s a good chance they have already seen a fair amount of coverage and the reactions—both good and bad—surrounding Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from the competition due to mental health concerns. And that decision presents us with an…Read more...

Full-scale kitchen remodels can take months of labor and tens of thousands of dollars or more. But giving your kitchen a little refresh doesn’t have to take all that work and all of your money. While you save up for the big kitchen gut job, you can make several subtle, inexpensive changes that will help bring your…Read more...

If you are someone who enjoys baking once in a while, a Bundt pan is one of those kitchen items that seems important—but only very occasionally. The other 364 days of the year, it is a space-sucker, especially if you have a small kitchen. There are only so many pound cakes one can bake, and although a frozen slice of…Read more...

My two-year-old started crying minutes after my oldest son unwrapped his birthday presents. He wanted to play with his brother’s newest haul of toys as soon as they came out of their boxes, but his sibling firmly refused his requests. And while I was disappointed that my oldest child didn’t want to share, I couldn’t…Read more...

Have you tried to speaking with a customer service representative from an airline lately? A perfect storm of post-pandemic demand, scheduling changes, and staff shortages has resulted in frustrated customers waiting for hours on the phone to speak to an actual human. Fortunately, there are methods that can speed up…Read more...

Hello, it’s me, your friendly internet corn truther, here to tell you that you are probably overcooking your corn on the cob. If you’ve been reading me for any real length of time, you know that I love to shout about how you don’t even have to cook corn, but sometimes people like their corn hot, so that the butter…Read more...

Even among professional athletes, nobody works out at 100% effort every single week. There are times to rest and recover, often for a week or more, and you and I can apply this principle to our routines, as well.Read more...

Listen, we’ve all spent way too much time on video calls in the last year-plus, but we’re hanging on to whatever we can to make our time on Zoom (or Teams, or Google Meet) tolerable, if not a little bit fun. With the Delta variant on the rise, it’s obviously time to turn yourself into a cartoon character.

Sweaty Season is fully upon us once again, and unfortunately, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Turning on the stove may be a dealbreaker, but let’s face it: You can only eat so much salad before you need something more substantial.Read more...

Can you back out of an accepted, signed offer to buy a home? After all, a lot can happen during the closing period in any sale—losing your job, a medical emergency, a divorce—that might require you to change your plans. The good news is, yes, it’s possible to rescind a signed offer—but when you do it will determine…Read more...

When we last visited r/eatcheapandhealthy, we found a treasure trove of cold lunches that are full of veggies and protein and won’t break the bank. Today, we’re taking a look at their best tips for lazy meals, some just as simple as two or three ingredients. “I’m talking about LITERAL one-step (or two-step) meals a…Read more...

Every year, Apple adds new features to the iPhone and iPad operating systems to make notifications a bit more manageable. iOS 15 is no different. This time around, Apple has removed the old Delivery Quietly feature and is replacing it with Notification Summary, which gives you even more control over how and when your…Read more...

The trailer for Lamb, the forthcoming freaky horror psychodrama from A24 and director Valdimar Jóhannsson, dropped yesterday, and if you’re on social media at all, there’s a good chance you’ve seen it, or at least encountered people’s horrified, if bemused, reactions to it. Which make a lot of sense once you’ve…Read more...

Recently, I have been very into the various freeze dried vegetables available for purchase at Trader Joe’s. Texturally, they’re just a lot of fun, especially if you’re in an altered state that lets you appreciate various textures even more than you usually would.Read more...

If you’ve ever found yourself reaching for a can of cooking spray before scrambling your morning eggs or pouring cake batter into a pan, you know that it is a useful and easy way to avoid a sticky situation.

There’s no question that sanitation is an important part of our lives—and if we’re fortunate enough to have the luxury of turning the task of cleaning our homes over to someone else, all the better. Unfortunately, though, the people who do the dirty work are often overlooked or under-appreciated. Housekeepers clean…Read more...

Variety may be the spice of life, but you probably don’t want Salmonella in that mix. That’s why it’s a good idea to take a look at your spice collection today: Three popular seasoning mixes are being voluntarily recalled over possible Salmonella contamination, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports. Here’s…Read more...

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis made quite the splash yesterday with the news that there is actually a distinct lack of splashing happening in their home. That is to say, they—and their children—don’t bathe all that often. They explained on the Armchair Expert podcast, as CNN reports:

If you’ve ever found yourself snapping multiple screenshots of one chat to share with someone else in another chat, you’ve probably also found yourself annoyed that you can’t just take one big, long screenshot of the whole thing. While you can snap and save full webpages as a PDF using the iPhone’s built-in screenshot…Read more...

Some people (notably college roommates and coworkers in the office kitchen) think you can throw plates and silverware hither and thither in the dishwasher, what does it matter, it’ll all get cleaned in the end.Read more...

You probably have thousands of photos stored on your iPhone that document life’s biggest (and smallest) moments, from memorable beach vacations to last night’s dinner. And while the Memories feature in the Photos app helps you look back on those memories in small doses, sometimes it offers up an image you’d rather not…Read more...

It’s once again time to crack open your best box of (skin safe) wet wipes and stock up on napkins: Folks, it’s National Chicken Wing Day 2021. Actually, it’s tomorrow, July 29 (we wanted to give you plenty of time to plan out your wing quest). And rest assured that this year’s deals do not disappoint. Here are some of…Read more...

Every borrower wants to have a high credit score, but what does it take to have a FICO credit score that’s over 800? A new LendingTree survey offers some insights into the spending habits of borrowers with the highest scores possible— some of which you can emulate to improve your own score.Read more...

At any given moment, my fridge is about 15% pickles. This may not sound that impressive, but it translates to at least four or five jars, which is a respectable—though not excessive—amount. I appreciate all kinds, from the simple fridge pickle to a true lacto-fermented cucumber (or some other vegetable). I even like …Read more...

The CDC announced today that students and teachers in K-12 schools should all wear masks, whether they’re vaccinated or not. And people who are vaccinated should go back to wearing masks indoors if they are in an area with “substantial” or “high” community transmission.

Make sure you install the latest iOS, iPadOS, and macOS Big Sur system updates immediately to patch a dangerous security vulnerability that hackers are actively exploiting in the wild.

Custom Routines are one of the handiest features of the Amazon Echo—you can use them to launch a cascade of home automation actions before bed or play specific media each morning—all in response to a single request. And now Alexa can respond to up to seven unique phrases per routine (versus just one), so you can…Read more...

According to a new Bankrate survey, 73% of US adults have unused gift cards they haven’t redeemed in the last year, leaving an average total of $116 hanging out there. The problem with gift cards is if you don’t spend them in the first year, they tend to stay unspent, whether because you forget about them over time or…Read more...

How do you raise kids who aren’t racist or sexist? What do you do if you find out that your kid has bullied a classmate? When should you start to worry that your child’s selfishness has gone too far?Read more...

Pots and pans can have a pretty long shelf life, depending on their style, brand, and how well you take care of them—but odds are you’re stretching that lifespan a little too long. The signs that your cookware is at the end of its life aren’t always as obvious as a broken handle or peeling finish. Although there are…Read more...

I rarely cook from recipes. It’s not due to a lack of desire—it’s more a matter of time and energy. After a long day of cooking, tasting, and thinking about food, I rarely want to clean my kitchen only to make a whole new, proper recipe. (I want to eat snacks, which is what I usually do for supper.)Read more...

I love pancakes, but I don’t love making pancakes. Even under the best of circumstances, I’m prone to either overcooking or undercooking them, which leads to a bunch of waste, a lot of frustration, and copious amounts of cursing, which is not ideal when you have impressionable young children around. Add in trying to…Read more...

If you’re one of the many people who got into stargazing and backyard astronomy during the pandemic, you’ve probably noticed that there hasn’t been a lot going on in the night sky as of late. All the usual suspects—the stars, the planets, the moon—are content to just hang around in space, and it’s been a while since…Read more...

Attention hyperactivity disorder, more commonly known as ADHD, is a disorder for which a lack of treatment can have a number of lifelong impacts. Usually, when people think of ADHD, they think of a little boy who can’t sit still. However, ADHD symptoms often look very different in girls, which means many will go years—…Read more...

If you’ve been playing Xbox games on Windows 10, whether through Game Pass or otherwise, there’s a good chance you’re receiving notifications every time you unlock an achievement in a game. But once you start getting them, they’ll just keep coming—these notifications have even shown up on my Windows 10 PC when I’ve…Read more...

When choosing a houseplant, climate doesn’t factor in—a tropical variety will do just as well in the chilly climes of the northeast as a desert shrub in the rainy Pacific Northwest. For your outdoor garden, on the other hand, you might want to be a bit more choosy about what you’re putting into the ground, both for…Read more...

Venmo is convenient, but the app comes with privacy risks if it’s not properly set up. Thankfully, Venmo is rolling out a new design for its mobile app that should make using the app less of a privacy concern.

Normally, buying out the lease on your vehicle isn’t a great bargain. But then again, these aren’t normal times. With used car prices up more than 34% from the same time last year, you might be able to buy out your car lease for less than it’s selling on the market right now. In doing so, you could sell your car to…Read more...

During the height of the pandemic last year, a lot of us looked to our own kitchens to replicate the fabulous dining-out experiences we took for granted before our favorite local spots shut down. Sourdough fanaticism gave rise to flour and yeast scarcities, while meat production slowed to a crawl (and we still suffer…Read more...

Backing up your PC, smartphone, and other devices ensures you can recover your data in the event of a crash, sudden power outage, or total hardware failure—but not many people considering doing the same for their game consoles. Luckily, the PlayStation 5 makes it easy to back up your files to an external USB device,…Read more...

Explosively lifting a giant barbell over your head takes strength, technique, and a certain fearlessness. I’ve been training this sport—Olympic style weightlifting—for about two years now, and it seems like I find something new to learn about it every day. Recently, I had a chance to ask two members of the US Olympic…Read more...

Would you try a pair of headphones that rests on your cheekbones and sends audio to your ears through your bones? This is possible through a technology called “bone conduction,” and it’s most used in consumer headphones. These products aren’t too expensive and may be a good alternative for people who don’t enjoy using…Read more...

Plants are pretty wonderful, providing us with food, shade, and breathable air, but they aren’t magical. Yes, rainforests are vital for our ecosystem because they filter carbon out of the air and create oxygen—but any notion that houseplants can be used to filter toxins out of the air in our homes is, as this report…Read more...

Hotels are already expensive, so the last thing you need are sneaky fees adding unexpected costs to your travel budget. Hotel fees aren’t always something you can avoid—especially at popular resort destinations—but you shouldn’t be surprised by them, either. With that in mind, here’s a look at some commonly tacked-on…Read more...

The worst part of wearing makeup is taking it off at the end of the day. Single-use makeup wipes and cotton pads are as expensive as they are wasteful, but most people see them as a necessary evil. Assuming your cleanser can’t remove makeup on its own, you need something that does. But here’s the thing: No matter what…Read more...

If you’ve been a runner for a while, there’s a good chance that, at one point or another, you’ve had to take an emergency pit stop to poop while on a long run. If you were lucky, there was a bathroom nearby. If you weren’t... well, let’s never speak about that again.

Leaves are a big, if not the main, component of a salad, but the other stuff is what makes it fun. But you know what’s not fun? Adding all of your tasty toppings, crispy bits, and proteins, only to have them fall to the bottom of the bowl when you toss the salad in an attempt to distribute them. This is not a…Read more...

The iPhone has a great accessibility feature that’s been adopted by many popular apps—Dynamic Type, which lets you increase or decrease the text size for the OS and all supported apps, is a prime example. Starting in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, you’ll be able to specify the text size for each app (and even the home screen)…Read more...