Lifehacker

If you’re traveling again and have any amount of anxiety over climate change, you might have considered whether to buy carbon offset credits to minimize the environmental impact of your flight. One study found that 8% of carbon emissions across the globe are generated by tourism—and approximately half of that comes…Read more...

We all know the iPhone’s alarm is anything but a gentle wake-up. “Radar,” as the alert tone is called, is abrasive, startling, and unforgiving. In contrast with the competition, Samsung in particular, it seems Apple designed its default alarm to punish all of us heavy sleepers. We don’t have to live this way, though—…Read more...

If you’re a parent, I’m sure you’re trying to teach your child to save their money—but if you want to set your child up for a deeper level of financial success, you have to teach them the difference between saving and investing. This early lesson in financial literacy could be the difference between a comfortable nest…Read more...

If you aren’t the first owner of your home, you are likely to encounter out-of-date and worn carpeting. But sometimes, if you’re lucky, there are beautiful hardwood floors under the old carpet that are just crying out for their chance to shine once more. The tricky part, though, is removing the old carpet padding…Read more...

Many signs can tip you off to the fact that you are becoming an old person. Your neighbors suddenly seeming loud and obnoxious instead of like the hosts of terrific parties, for example. You develop a sudden preference for footwear that is “comfortable.” You realize you have no idea who some of the highest-paid…Read more...

Every once in a while, a hack comes along that fills you with a mix of awe and judgment for being so basic, so obvious, that you can’t believe you didn’t think of it yourself. But while you mutter “duh” under your breath, you must reluctantly admit, it was news to you.

You’ve reached the end of a job interview, or maybe you’ve just been offered a new role. You’re feeling confident. Then, your potential future manager asks if you have any questions for them. How can you tactfully secure critical information about your future boss, directly from your future boss?

Last week, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the “Doomsday Clock” will remain set at 100 seconds to midnight, the closest humanity has been to complete annihilation since the clock was created. We haven’t moved the needle since 2020, when it sunk to its current, dismal, less-than-two-minutes-left…Read more...

On one hand, using a cheap Bluetooth mouse with your Mac is better than moving the cursor with your finger. On the other hand, though, you miss out on some of macOS’ trackpad gestures—including the three-finger drag to switch to different workspaces. But there’s a free app called Mac Mouse Fix that adds trackpad…Read more...

If you don’t want to be overwhelmed by the pressure of replying to every message the second you see it, it’s best to just hide or disable your online status so people won’t see you or know when you were last online. You can appear offline in most popular social media and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook,…Read more...

Like many social media apps designed to suck you in, Google uses what it knows about you—including your YouTube watch history—to serve you an endless stream of content that it thinks will hold your interest. If you have hours to go down a rabbit hole of comedy or cute animals, that might be fine.

Here’s a fun thought experiment; picture the amount of personal data you think tech companies keep on you. Now, realize it’s actually way more than that (hmm, maybe this isn’t that fun). Even as privacy and security become more talked about in consumer tech, the companies behind our favorite products are collecting…Read more...

After brushing and flossing, mouthwash completes the trifecta of daily dental care. But do we really need all three steps? Dentists wouldn’t dare tell you to skip flossing or brushing, but it turns out they’re a lot more equivocal about mouthwash.

Exhibiting emotional intelligence is more important than ever in the workplace. We are in the midst of the Great Resignation, and people are increasingly less likely to stick with jobs where they do not feel seen, heard, or valued. Employees want to work with and for people who exhibit high degrees of emotional…Read more...

Before we fully throw 2021 into the “let us never speak of it again” file and slam the drawer shut, why not let’s take a look back at the year in online porn? After all, every year, porn video sharing network Pornhub releases a deep dive into that year’s traffic, providing a look at the world’s secret desires. What…Read more...

Employee monitoring software—which you can safely expect to be installed on your work-issued computer—allows your workplace to view every site you visit, every email you’ve sent, and even all the personal passwords you save. Maybe you’ve already come to terms with the fact that expectations for privacy have been…Read more...

Some mornings, it feels impossible to get your kids out the door without hovering, asking four times if they have their snack, and repeatedly saying “Come on, let’s keep going!” in a tone you know sounds more agitated than you want it to. But you can’t help it. Jackets and backpacks are strewn everywhere, the bus is…Read more...

Buying a house is a complicated, expensive process, especially for buyers who can’t swing a “traditional” 20% down payment. You’re basically convincing a bank to lend you upwards of half a million dollars in many markets; if they don’t believe they can trust you to pay back that much money (plus interest), it’ll cost…Read more...

Making dinner can be exhausting, especially when you have to do it every single night. It can be especially challenging if you’re trying to cut down on food waste and want to avoid buying specialty ingredients that you’ll only use once.

Without question, we live in an era of media over-saturation. Even post-COVID (lol), the industry is still pumping out new movies and new streaming services to host them on at an alarming rate—and those same services mean we also have easy access to thousands of films from the last century. I never need to rewatch a…Read more...

There’s no shortage of apps on the market to help you move and manage money, but simply using certain apps in particular doesn’t net you any funds. Usually.

The “clingy phase” is a common one among little kids. They may feel the separation anxiety hit when it’s time to go to daycare or school—or they may not want to let you out of their sight even in your own home. It can be a frustrating time for parent and child alike—but it’s also a normal part of child development.Read more...

Ever since it was first domesticated in the South American Andes roughly 8,000 years ago, the modern potato has changed the world. And while there’s plenty to say about the potato as a food that has made its way into cuisines across the globe, the tasty tuber can also perform a number of functions outside the kitchen.…Read more...

Google Photos does a great job sorting through your photos using a text search, thanks to the tech giant’s prowess with image recognition, machine learning, and, er, search. Apple’s Photos app isn’t nearly as useful—but you can do a few things to fix that.

With temperatures dropping outside, our pipes are at an increased risk of freezing—especially in areas where freezing temperatures are unusual. Identifying and troubleshooting high-risk spots now can save you the hassle of a frozen pipe and—worse—the expense of fixing a burst one.Read more...

The iPhone keeps you connected to the world, but there is another, more straightforward it can help you make sense of what’s going on around you: You can use its Magnifier feature like an actual magnifying glass.

If you make your own mayo, you know you can go all out by playing around with vinegars and various fats. Duck fat mayo, for instance, will change your sandwich game. Even something as simple as swapping egg yolks for whole eggs can change the flavor and texture of your spread. But while I love tweaking and tinkering…Read more...

While some people have always loved vintage (i.e. secondhand) furniture, others are new to the thrift store, flea market, and yard sale game, thanks to current furniture shortages and shipping delays. But shortages or not, there are many benefits to buying secondhand furniture and other items for your home, including…Read more...

Not only can cold, dry winter air be problematic for your skin, it can cause some unwanted changes to your hair and scalp as well. This means that we may have to shift our haircare routines in order to protect it more throughout the season. And part of that is avoiding certain treatments and styling techniques that…Read more...

Each year, carbon monoxide poisoning brings more than 20,000 Americans to the emergency room—around 4,000 of whom are hospitalized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports. Additionally, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning (not linked to fires).Read more...

Owning a home has long been one of the pillars of the “American Dream.” And even with increasing numbers of people choosing to rent a home rather than buying one, there are still plenty of folks out there who’d rather make payments on a mortgage, instead of to a landlord.Read more...

Cleaning your bathroom may not be your favorite household chore, but at least it’s pretty straightforward. In fact, you probably have some sort of routine down pat: Putting cleaner in the toilet to work its magic while you clear off the floor and counters, giving everything a quick-but-thorough wipe-down, running the…Read more...

Out of all the foods that are off-limits to dogs, chocolate is probably the one people are most familiar with—even if they don’t have a dog of their own. And it’s for good reason: Chocolate is toxic for dogs, and could make them seriously ill.Read more...

Steven Soderbergh is even worse at retiring than Hayao Miyazaki. Despite his stated intent to stop making films and try his hand at painting way back in 2013 (when he said “movies don’t matter anymore”) he’s about to drop his third film in two years (after Let Them All Talk and No Sudden Move), direct to HBO Max.Read more...

Since we all know cloth masks don’t cut it anymore, hopefully you’ve gotten some of the good kind—N95, KF94, or similar. But even the best mask isn’t protecting you if it doesn’t fit right, or if you’re wearing it wrong. So here are some tips on getting the best protection from those high quality masks.

I don’t think I really know what the term “Champagne Year” means. I faintly recall someone telling me sometime, but the definition felt unremarkable and unfitting for such a forceful duo of words—CHAMPAGNE YEAR—so my brain must have immediately rejected it. When I think “Champagne Year,” I think of a train of silk…Read more...

Most years, at least a couple of my friends participate in Dry January. The last few years have not been like most years. I don’t know a single person (who wasn’t already sober) who is abstaining from alcohol completely this month, but I do know a few who are trying to drink less, or at least drink more thoughtfully.

NASA—the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,—would like to send astronauts to Mars, and it needs your help to do so. Especially if you have a novel solution to the problem of recycling waste in space.

Weed-infused drinks are a staple of the edibles market. But thanks to new innovations in weed tech, THC drinks are looking to move beyond traditional cannabis circles, and replace your booze, seltzer, or hard iced tea with a cannabinoid-infused version.Read more...

Apple is good at what they do. They make products that are easy to set up and use, but, before you know it, you feel entirely trapped in their ecosystem. Now, for many of us, that’s not so bad; the ecosystem has a lot of perks, and life seems pretty good here. But for those of us looking for another tech opportunity,…Read more...

Whether they’re called pacifiers, binkies, dodies, or pacis in your household, their purpose is to soothe babies. But there’s nothing soothing about a pacifier that poses a potential danger to your baby. For this reason, Mushie & Co—a company that manufactures and sells a wide variety of products for babies and small…Read more...

Returning to exercise after any physical setback is tough. You trust yourself to listen to your body, but it’s also tempting to get back out there before you’ve fully recovered. However, jumping back into your fitness routine too soon can cause more harm than good—and this is especially true if you’re dealing with the …Read more...

If you have a grill that runs on propane, there will come a time when you need to deal with the empty tank. Depending on how old the tank is, there are a number of options available to you, from refilling or recycling to disposing of it entirely.Read more...

For many years, I had a Keurig. I loved my Keurig and its compact pods with their promise of just enough coffee to make the perfect cup without ever needing to measure. But every time I casually tossed one of those plastic pods in the trash can: guilt. They’re neither recyclable nor biodegradable, and tossing the…Read more...

The iPhone’s Voice Memos app is easy to use to record anything from a college lecture to a podcast—but not all recordings turn out to have the quality you’d like. You might end up with wind noise in the background, or a speaker’s voice that is barely audible. With patience (and some audio editing skills), you might…Read more...

This week, all the kids are breathlessly following corporate acquisition news and making one another sign non-disclosure agreements. It’s all very adult.

Some governments in other parts of the world have been providing free tests and masks for a while. The U. S. just got on board with the trend last week, promising to send four rapid tests to each household (you just need to request them at covidtests.gov). Now, we’re getting free N95 masks—but only three per adult.

Most needs are actually deep wants. I don’t need Maldon salt, but my scrambled eggs aren’t the same without the crunchy flakes. I don’t need to remove every germ from every garlic clove, but doing so can reduce bitterness. I don’t need an inflatable hot tub, but I bought one anyway. Do I need to devein every shrimp I…Read more...

If you were to ask someone at Nintendo about the Wii U, they’d likely say “Wii U? What Wii U? We make the Switch; that’ll be $350.” If it were up to the company, the world would entirely forget about this flop of a console. After all, the Switch prints money, and the Wii U was a dud, right? Commercially, sure. But in…Read more...

Facebook has introduced a new Privacy Center that gives users more control over how the platform collects and uses their data. Meta’s former namesake has long been the subject of complaints and concerns about its privacy and data policies. Now, users have a little more say over what data Facebook has access to.