Lifehacker

I can’t resist a good wireless mystery, and this week’s question-writer for Lifehacker’s Tech 911 has a good one—an issue that you don’t even think about until it happens, and then it consumes your mind as you try every trick in the book to get your wifi back.Read more...

Now that we are deep into the month of May and Easter is firmly behind us, you might think that the time of cream eggs is over. This is only partially true. The time of creme eggs has (sadly) past us by, but the time for cream-fried eggs is just beginning. At least for me.Read more...

Summer is just around the corner and outdoor hangouts are still the perfect way to enjoy a(nother) pandemic summer. With the CDC lifting restrictions on mask-wearing for vaccinated individuals outdoors, hosting a backyard soiree is going to be lit (see what I did there?). If you are lucky enough to have a backyard or…Read more...

COVID-19 vaccines are getting easier to find. As of a few weeks ago, all adults in the U.S. are eligible to make vaccine appointments, no matter what state you live in. And now, several pharmacy chains are offering walk-ins and same-day appointments at most of their locations.Read more...

Swimply, the “Airbnb of swimming pools,” seems to be having its moment in the sun. The pools-by-the-hour app has grown in popularity during the pandemic and is now expanding into new markets. Here’s what you need to know about renting a private pool, or renting out your own, if you have one.Read more...

Cats love to knock stuff over and push things off tables, which can lead to a lot of broken items. Are they mean-spirited goblins that hate your stuff? Sort of—but not exactly. Here’s the truth about this annoying behavior and how you can prevent it.Read more...

Apple’s AirTags have a hidden debug mode that you can access pretty easily on your connected device (ideally, an iPhone). And while the features found within aren’t going to give you magical tracking powers, you can at least enjoy some of the data related to AirTag tracking. That, and you can change some colors, too.Read more...

If you’ve grilled, you’ve probably burnt food on the grill. Do kebabs with leathery steak and perfectly done veggies sound familiar? Or perhaps a charred-yet-questionably done chicken breast? No more. Today marks the first step on your journey of understanding your gas grill—and as a special bonus, I’ll throw in a…Read more...

As tradition dictates, mothers are meant to be served on Mother’s Day. If you do nothing else to celebrate, it is practically a requirement that someone—someone who is not mom—prepare a nice meal. For some families, that has typically meant scoring a brunch reservation at her favorite restaurant. But, COVID, so those…Read more...

PlayStation 5 owners can remotely download games to their consoles using the PlayStation app—an incredibly convenient feature. Start a download while you’re out of the house and the game will be ready by the time you’re home, provided there’s enough free storage space on your system. But now there’s a way to deal with…Read more...

Home improvement TV shows are nothing new. In fact, one of the classics—This Old House—has been on since 1979 and still going strong (Bob Vila’s gone, but Norm Abram still makes cameos). The difference now (other than many experienced builders, carpenters, and tradespeople were replaced by influencers) is that you no…Read more...

Plenty of little kids start off loving school in the early elementary years but eventually morph into grumbling older kids who’d rather be anywhere else, doing anything else than sitting at their desk all day. It’s understandable—the older our kids get, the more pressure they may feel academically. The work gets…Read more...

Whether or not we realize it, we’re constantly making an effort to influence our future memories. It could be something as simple as leaving ourselves a note or to-do list for tomorrow, or taking the time to pull out our phones to capture a particularly vivid sunset.Read more...

This is part four of our four-part series giving tips and advice to first-time homebuyers, in collaboration with American Family Insurance. Check out part one, part two, and part three to learn more.Read more...

There’s a chorus of voices that say Apple should do more to guard everyone—Android and iOS users alike—against unwanted tracking and stalking. I agree with them, and the entire concept of the AirTag made me curious. Can you track the trackers?Read more...

Most people are familiar with the concept of predatory loans—a lending practice that imposes unfair or deceptive terms on borrowers, often taking the form of payday loans or title loans with egregious interest rates. But what’s the distinction between a predatory loan and a legitimate loan with a high interest rate?…Read more...

I don’t know how to build anything with them, but I do keep a few bricks around for cooking reasons. Foil-wrapped bricks are super useful in the kitchen, especially when you need things to be flat and keep still. Bricks are also very useful in my new outdoor kitchen (which is comprised of a single Weber Kettle), only…Read more...

It’s easy to create a petition to complain about an injustice, and it may feel cathartic to sign one, but not all petitions have an opportunity to create change. Here are the factors that experts say makes the difference between petitions that make a difference and those that don’t.Read more...

You can now add a “captions sticker” to Instagram Stories that automatically transcribes your audio into subtitles without the need for third-party apps. This is a helpful tool for creators and audiences alike, as live-captioned videos are more accessible to people with auditory disabilities and those who prefer…Read more...

When it begins to get dark out, you might notice your phone screen shifts to a more orange tone to help you prepare for sleep. Our bodies expect to only see blue light during the day, the theory goes, so blocking blue light at night should help us wind down and feel more tired when it’s time for bed.Read more...

I love acid. The vast majority of foods, whether savory or sweet, are improved by a hit of bright tartness. There are two main ways to get acid into your cooking: citrus and vinegar. All vinegars contain acetic acid—that’s what makes them sour—but varying the starting material affects the flavor and color. Pretty much…Read more...

Do you still own tech from 2009 or thereabouts? Maybe an old CPU or motherboard that’s sitting in a box in your closet “just in case” you need a backup? What about a Dell? If you or someone you care about happens to still be using a Dell computer produced any time between when Barack Obama started his first term and…Read more...

Do “ugly” produce subscription boxes actually reduce food waste and save you money compared to shopping in a discount grocery store ? Not quite, that’s mostly marketing—but they are still relatively cheap, reliable, and a convenient way to get veggies delivered to your door.Read more...

When you’re starting out with a garden, buying enough plants to cover the ground can seem really expensive. Instead, do what the pros do: Cut and plant stems and leaves, divide roots, and use ground layering to grow more of the plants you already have.Read more...

Graduations are a big deal, because in most contexts, you can only be photographed graduating once. Once your graduate has strode across the stage to collect their high diploma, you won’t have the option of do-over because you missed the vital moment.

While 2021 has been great for Peloton’s profits—including posting their first $1 billion quarter ever—it hasn’t been as good on safety. It started in February, when the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) received a report that a three-year-old suffered a “significant brain injury” after an accident on one of…Read more...

Twitter loves to innovate by “borrowing” features from its competition. Last year it was “Fleets,” its own version of Instagram Stories, and now Twitter is taking on the burgeoning social media app Clubhouse with its new “Spaces.”Read more...

As long as there has been indoor running water, there have been clogged drains. But what do you do when your drain is backed up? Call a plumber right away? Pour chemicals? Well there are some simple fixes to try yourself before resorting to the nuclear option. (Disclaimer: Do you not try to blow up your pipes.)Read more...

When we think about our personal impact on the environment, our first thoughts might be switching to reusable shopping bags or conserving water and electricity. But what about our houseplants?Read more...

We’ve talked recently about what to do if your toddler is hitting or biting. Although you certainly hoped your sweet kiddo wouldn’t be the hitting or biting type, you were probably also aware that these are common things many toddlers do out of frustration, for attention, or because they lack the communication skills…Read more...

It’s been just over a week since iOS 14.5 debuted, and we’ve spent a chunk of time going over the most interesting features the operating system has to offer. This is one update I wouldn’t wait to install, if for nothing else than it’s the only way your iPhone will tell you if someone has slipped an AirTag tracker…Read more...

Premium travel and rewards cards tend to have the biggest welcome bonuses, but they also usually come with annual fees that range from $95 to as much as $550. But what about people who don’t need all the premium perks, or simply don’t want to spend money on fees? Don’t they deserve a little something too?

I do not know a single thing about birthing or raising children, but I do know many things about cooking breakfast and brunch, particularly breakfasts and brunches with a lot of meaning attached to them. If you are planning to make a big breakfast for the mom in your life, I have one piece of advice: Make a meal that…Read more...

Sometimes when we’re sweating away in the gym, our goals can seem quite far away. That’s why it can be so inspiring to watch other athletes who are at the top of their game—they all had to start somewhere, after all. Here are some of our favorite documentary movies and series about real-life people performing…Read more...

On Monday, a photo came out with President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden kneeling next to Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. The older couple is dwarfed by the Bidens; Joe and Jill look like ogre-sized heads of state, while the Carters look Smurf-sized, sinking into their large floral-pattern chairs.

The May 2021 Pixel security update is ready, and you shouldn’t waste time installing it on your device.

Say it ain’t so, Calibri. I’ve always favored Microsoft’s default Word font—much more so than Times New Roman, at least, which Microsoft replaced with Calibri way back in Office 2007. And while Microsoft is finally looking to shake things up again with a new default font, you don’t have to follow the whims of Redmond…Read more...

Most business owners are aware of their personal credit score, but a study suggests that 60% of them don’t know their business credit score—yet this number is essential when it comes to securing vendor contracts and qualifying for loans at competitive rates. Here’s what you need to know about establishing your…Read more...

Even though I lived in Mississippi for the first portion of my childhood (and visited nearly every year after we moved to California), I did not grow up drinking sweet tea. My mom never cared for sugar—she drank water and, to a lesser extent, Diet Coke—and my grandmother sweetened her pitchers of tea with…Read more...

Every step of cleaning a bathtub seems like it was engineered to be as annoying as possible. You have to get on your knees to give it a proper scrub, which is physically awkward at best, and painful at worst. Cleaning the walls is impossible unless you actually step in, a fact I only remember after I’ve already…Read more...

If you’re looking for a grammatical convention guaranteed to spark an unnecessarily outraged debate, look no further than the Oxford comma [Editor’s note: I don’t know that I’d call it unnecessary].

While debates rage about whether we need national or state “vaccine passports,” the truth is that we already have one, and it’s a little piece of paper with some numbers and your name scrawled on it. These cards, originally intended as a convenient reminder for personal use, are increasingly being used as proof of…Read more...

My 10-year-old recently discovered a quintessential preteen pastime that I recall thoroughly enjoying when I was a tween and teenager in the ‘90s: Personality quizzes. Of course, in the ‘90s, you had to wait for the latest issue of Tigerbeat, Sassy, Seventeen, or Cosmogirl to arrive in the mailbox to get your quiz…Read more...

Believe it or not, spring is here, which means the time is ripe to get our plans in order for this year’s garden. The savviest gardeners have probably already made their plans, but it’s not too late for the rest of us. With gardening, timing is almost everything, so start as soon as you can to take advantage of the…Read more...

The upside to having a pool in your backyard is that you have a freakin’ pool in your own backyard! As in, steps away from where you live, available for use as often as you want, all summer long. The downside to having your own pool is dealing with the maintenance and general upkeep that’s involved. Which is a lot.Read more...

While it’s technically legal to get paid for donating your blood, you’re more likely to get a cookie for it, or maybe a tote bag. But donating plasma—the liquid portion of your blood—is a little different: the process involves more time but also pays better, and you can expect to take home $50–$75 per session. Here’s…Read more...

Helping your child make friends in a brand new town during a pandemic would be difficult for any parent. But parents of children on the autism spectrum are likely to find it even more challenging. The masks and social distancing still required of us and our kids, combined with a lack of structured activities to make…Read more...

I use my little air fryer quite a bit, especially now that it’s getting warm and I am avoiding my oven at all costs. It’s very versatile—I can make an entire bacon-and-egg breakfast in the thing—but I depend on it for firing off last minute accoutrement and finishing touches, from crunchy capers, to roasted garlic, to …Read more...

“I’m doing this for your own good” is a saying unruly kids know quite well. Parents love to pull it out to justify a punishment for misbehavior, as if a child will appreciate learning that they’ll eventually appreciate the fact that you loved them enough to their Xbox taken away for a week.

Even though you just installed iOS 14.5—you are using the new operating system, correct?—it’s time to take a trip back to the Settings app and grab a just-released update from Apple that patches up a number of important iOS vulnerabilities. And while all security update are critical, this one fixes two vulnerabilities…Read more...