Lifehacker

I am, unfortunately, an annoying banana consumer. I like them to be bright yellow and free from any hints of brown or green, though I will choose a freckle or two over a green stem if forced. (Unripe bananas have too many tannins, and those belong in wine.)Read more...

While most financial experts agree that you should set aside emergency cash totaling three to six months of your expenses, that advice can be pretty broad—especially for such a large sum of money. Here’s a look at the barebones expenses that should be included in your emergency fund, and how to know whether you should…Read more...

Trying to freshen up your iPhone’s Home Screen layout? Fortunately for you, iOS 15 makes that easy. You can now easily rearrange the order of your Home Screen pages, and even hide or delete an entire Home Screen really fast. Here’s how to quickly customize your iOS 15 Home Screens.

Microsoft recently added a passwordless sign-in option to Microsoft accounts for consumer-level Windows users, including anyone using Windows 10 Home edition and, soon, Windows 11 home edition. Prior to this change, passwordless sign-ins were exclusive to enterprise-level Windows users, but all users will now be able…Read more...

The arrival of winter, that darkest of seasons, often brings with it increased feelings of sadness, stress, and worry. And this winter will certainly give parents and kids plenty to feel stressed, sad, and worried about—it’s our second under the cloud of an out-of-control pandemic, back-to-school routines are once…Read more...

“Candied bacon” is a phrase that almost feels like a cheat code. In the early 2000s, it was ubiquitous, so much so that I almost got tired of seeing it in every menu I opened. Candied bacon made its way into French toast, cupcakes, and cocktails, where it would often distract from and obfuscate other ingredients,…Read more...

While the pandemic has been hellish in myriad ways, being able to work from home has had its perks. No commute, no Brenda from accounting unloading some long-winded drama about co-parenting her dog with her ex, and the simple joy of showing up to meetings in your comfiest PJ bottoms and slippers. But perhaps the…Read more...

Apple’s big iPhone update, iOS 15, is chock full of fun features. We’ve highlighted 36 we find particularly interesting or useful. But it’s not for everyone. If you don’t feel like adding a slew of new changes to the iPhone you’ve come to know inside and out, but want the security that comes with a new update, there’s…Read more...

On Reddit’s “Am I the Asshole?” subreddit, users with questions about the ethics and/or morality of their actions lay it out before the merciless hoard of Reddit’s rabble, asking that age-old question: “Am I the asshole here?”

Apple devices tend to retain their value, even after a brand new model is announced. So if you want to resell an iPhone or iPad, or trade in your older one for a discount on a newer model, follow these steps to make sure your info is wiped before you make the hand-off.Read more...

The housing market has been bonkers for long enough that some of us have lost all hope of ever owning a home. One possible alternative, though, is searching for a foreclosure: a property the lender has repossessed from a borrower who missed a certain number of mortgage payments and defaulted on their loan.

It’s complicated—there are a lot of rules, and it requires a lot of capital—but investing in property through an IRA can be a good way to diversify your investments, especially if you feel like you’re currently investing in too many stocks.Read more...

Not everyone is fortunate enough to live somewhere with a bathroom that has a powerful exhaust fan—or any exhaust fan at all. This means that getting out of the shower feels like you’re walking out into a steam room instead of your own bathroom.Read more...

When it comes to romantic relationships, there are certain unwritten rules that often go undiscussed until one person thinks another has broken one. We’re getting better at being open about things like monogamy, but what about disclosure of personal information?Read more...

Getting a new set of curtains is a quick and relatively affordable way to give a room a little refresh. But beyond picking the colors and patterns, other factors—like their material and length—can help you further customize the space. In an article for The Spruce, Laura Miller shares some strategies for picking the…Read more...

Driving a well-maintained, regularly serviced automobile is the best method of passing an emissions check, but what are ya, some kind of square? If you don’t have a newer car, check out the tips below to try and squeeze your beater under the smog-check wire. And if that doesn’t work, do not use the less-than-ethical,…Read more...

It’s not that we ever stopped loving television, but it has ended up playing a bigger role in many people’s lives since the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed how we socialize. So even if you’ve never cared about the Emmy Awards before, you may be a little more invested this year, and interested to see whether…Read more...

Part of what makes a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers so special is knowing that they won’t be around forever, so you should cherish them in the moment, or some crap like that. Because when you think about it, you’re essentially putting a bunch of flower corpses (or amputees) in a vase and keeping them around until they…Read more...

When they do their job properly, suction cups are great. Extra storage in the shower? Don’t mind if I do. But sometimes, suction cups lose their ability to stick to the wall. Try as you might to get them to stay put, they keep sliding down the tile in your bathroom or the kitchen window, and it’s a problem.…Read more...

The FDA’s advisory panel voted unanimously Friday that booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine should be available to people 65 and older and people at high risk of severe disease. That recommendation is likely to be amended to include other groups like healthcare workers. Assuming the FDA uses the panel’s recommendation,…Read more...

Even though it still feels like summer, fall officially starts in a few days. And if you have a grass lawn, you may not be heartbroken at the thought of putting your landscaping equipment away for a few months.Read more...

This financial move requires a bit of work, but it might be the best way to maximize interest on your emergency fund during times of high inflation: It’s called a CD ladder—a series of overlapping certificates of deposits that expire at different times so you have a steady stream of cash that still takes advantage of…Read more...

If your yard is a little lackluster and you’re looking for ways to increase curb appeal, here are some of the easiest ways to spruce it up, minus the headaches or prohibitive timelines.

Dancing can be intimidating. At any wedding or club, there always seems to be someone there who looks so effortlessly cool moving around on the dance floor. Not everyone feels that confidence or has an arsenal of moves to break out at just the right moment, though, and when you’re in a time crunch before a big event,…Read more...

There’s a line from an Eileen Myles poem that I keep turning over in my head: “Every season has cracks through which winter or fall might leak through.” And while Eileen goes on to declare June “the most perfect flavor,” for me, the month of September is undoubtedly the time with the most eclectic fractures.Read more...

As of this writing, 18 states have legalized recreational cannabis, meaning partaking for fun is now an option for around 140 million Americans over the age of 21—but even if you aren’t one of them, you don’t have to let stoner FOMO rule your life. There’s actually a 100 percent federally legal way to consume THC—and…Read more...

Fall is here, which means a deluge of questionable pumpkin spice items, along with some dubious opinions on their merits. I am here to tell you that the best pumpkin spice item is not a Starbucks latte, it’s not the bread, and it’s certainly not the fucking travesty that is the pumpkin-spice flavored Cup of Noodles,…Read more...

What you want to do in the bedroom is up to you, but what you actually do is also up to your partners. Everyone involved has to agree to it—it’s called consent, and it’s pretty fundamental. There aren’t many “right” or “wrong” things to be into as long as the participants are willing, but it can be difficult to…Read more...

Apple’s M1 Macs are fast. It’s not just the hardware that’s responsible for that performance, however—part of that speed comes when apps have been properly optimized for Apple silicon. If you want the best gaming experience on your M1 iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or Mac mini, you need to know which titles are…Read more...

The weather’s getting colder (terrifying in itself), which also means that spooky season is upon us. If there’s some compensation for the shorter days and darker evenings, it’s the onset of that sense that the veil between worlds truly is beginning to recede. Or maybe it’s just the evocative plastic pumpkin displays…Read more...

Transparency mode is one of the Apple AirPods Pro’s best features. Using a mix of internal and external microphones, it allows you to listen to music through you earbuds without totally shutting out the world around you. But not all ears are created equal, and some people might want to let through more sound than…Read more...

We can all probably agree that Siri isn’t the best smart assistant. Wouldn’t you rather use Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa? If you’re an iPhone user, you’ve had the ability to launch Alexa on your device for a while, but it’s not quite as easy as summoning Siri—but it has just gotten a lot easier.

If you’ve ever walked into a martial arts gym, you’re familiar with the rapid thud-thud-thud-thud-thud of the speed bag. That small, air-filled bag that hangs on a swivel may look innocuous—especially when set against the hulking presence of the bigger, heavier bags—but it happens to be a seriously underrated form of…Read more...

Even if your favorite cheeseburgers are the ones you grill in your own backyard, there’s no rule saying you can’t enjoy fast food cheeseburgers, too. And if you were to venture out to buy one, tomorrow’s a good time to do it. Saturday, Sept. 18 is National Cheeseburger Day, and there are all sorts of deals and freebiesRead more...

This week is all about young people gone bad. Kids out there are straight delinquents. They’re throwing baked beans around, vandalizing school bathrooms, and pointing out ontological inconsistencies. Stop disrespecting my assumptions about reality, ya punks!

When Beth first started assigning Lifehacker fitness challenges to the writers at the site, I pretended I did not notice. I have never been good at exercising. I struggle to even spell the word. With the exception of playing softball when I was five, I didn’t play any team sports as a kid. I dabbled with gymnastics…Read more...

Cardio workouts are so good for your body—and your mental health!—but not all of us have learned to like running. Cycling is great, but not everybody has a bike or the patience to troubleshoot their sore butt. (We have tips for that, though.) So let’s take a look at some of the other ways to get your cardio, from gym…Read more...

Someone recently broke into my car two nights in a row. The first time I figured it was a slip up on my end, and that I forgot to lock it after I got home. So I made a point of locking it and arming the alarm the next night, and yet someone was able to break in again.

While used car prices might have plateaued in August, demand is still very high due to supply shortages, with the average median listing price up 34.3% compared to last August. Even if you don’t intend to sell your car, it’s always a good idea to check in on your assets to see how much they might be worth—and doing it…Read more...

If you’ve ever had sore shins after starting a running program, or if they crept up on you when you increased your mileage or added more intense exercises, you’ve probably had shin splints. This injury isn’t usually serious, but it can be frustrating if it doesn’t resolve quickly.

Though it’d be nice, there’s no one-size-fits-all storage methodology to maximize the freshness of different fruits. Some need to be cloaked in a cocoon of temperate air; others thrive when they’re stored below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Some care and storage is obvious (don’t leave berries to rot at room temperature),…Read more...

Edible leaves, commonly referred to as “lettuce” or “greens,” are often used as the foundation of a salad, and for decent reasons. Leaves provide color, texture, and nutrients, but they don’t “have” to be involved. It is entirely possible to eat a pile of vegetables doused in dressing, without any lettuce at all.Read more...

One of the key features of the new iPhone 13 series is called Cinematic mode, and it’s a feature designed to make the iPhone 13 a viable camera for cinematographers. Smartphone cameras are evolving rapidly, and a lot of Apple’s focus this year has been on improving the iPhone’s already great video cameras. Here’s…Read more...

With very few exceptions, buying used stuff beats buying new. There’s just one problem: Sifting through page after page of near-identical listings on Ebay, Craigslist, Etsy, and Facebook Marketplace takes time. And if you don’t know what you’re after, you’ll close your tabs feeling more confused than ever.

Sleep tracking is a great way to learn more about your unconscious nighttime habits. You can find out if you wake up throughout the night, what your heart rate is like hour-by-hour, and whether the quality of your sleep is up to snuff. Fitbit is now adding a new metric to its sleep tracking capabilities, giving you…Read more...

If you feel a mild surge of defeat every time you enter your closet—clothes on the floor, not enough space, unpacked boxes—we see you. In addition to the old standbys of installing shelves and putting out-of-season clothes in labeled bins until you need them again, behold these simple storage hacks that can instantly…Read more...

At some point, everyone who uses the web suffers from tab fatigue. You might try managing them using different windows, but that’s never been a great solution, and they don’t carry between all your devices. And while group tabs are the way to manage unorganized tabs, Safari users were out of luck. Until now, because…Read more...

When traveling abroad (remember that?), some streaming platforms limit what you can watch, and even whether you can access your account at all. Downloading movies and episodes of your favorite shows is an easy way to stay entertained on the road, or if you don’t have a wifi or data connection to stream to your device.

I’ve been through plenty of phases in my fitness journey, from a casual exerciser to a marathon runner, to a competitive (if mediocre) weightlifter. Along the way I took a lot of bad advice and failed to follow good advice. Here are some of the biggest mistakes I made, and how you can avoid making them yourself.

When we think of what a good life entails, we might imagine one that is filled with happiness or defined by a sense of purpose. Perhaps we imagine a life of contentment and stability, supported by a close-knit group of friends and family, or one in which we spend our years working toward a meaningful goal, with all…Read more...