Lifehacker

When I wrote last week about considering whether it’s time to change our parenting styles as we emerge from the pandemic, one reader reached out to ask me if I’d ever heard of gentle parenting. I did not think I had, but it sure sounded nice, so I decided to dive into the topic. I discovered that this is the type of…Read more...

With the boom of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) retail financing, the preference for no-interest installment plans has prompted popular payment apps like PayPal to launch their own versions. If you’re a regular user of PayPal who’s new to this form of payment, here’s a look at how it works and how to set it up.Read more...

Growing up, catfish was one of my favorite foods—one of the only fishes I enjoyed eating, in fact. As I got older, and lived and traveled outside of the South, I begin exploring (and appreciating) other types of finned food, but it took a while for me to appreciate salmon. It tasted so radically different from…Read more...

The first time (or maybe every time) you’ve purchased towels, perhaps you based your selection on 1) what’s cheapest and 2) is it a towel. But as it turns out, if you’re in a position where you have some flexibility in your towel budget (keeping in mind that they are an investment), you may be interested in learning…Read more...

Look: we know that we’ve heard a lot from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over the past year. What were they supposed to do? We’ve been living during a global pandemic caused by a virus never-before-seen in humans, and we all had/have a lot to learn.Read more...

Whether you’re addressing a group of people at work, or having a one-on-one conversation with a friend, you have the challenge of competing for their attention with their phone (and everything on it). And beyond that, there’s the question of whether they’ll actually retain anything you’ve told them.Read more...

As anyone who has led a team knows, being an effective manager involves more than making sure work gets done and goals are met. But for perfectionists, those aspects of the job can be especially challenging—because the only way to guarantee that everything is up to their standards is to do it (or at least carefully…Read more...

If, like so many others, you first got into gardening during the pandemic, you’ve probably already figured out that it involves more than planting a few seeds or baby plants and letting nature work its magic. Sure, you may be aware that using fertilizer can help your plants grow, for example, but you may not be…Read more...

Remember back in the day (i.e. 2019) when we took the simple act of leaving our home for non-essential purposes for granted? After more than a year of limiting our time in public to outings related to work, emergencies or getting basic supplies, going out to do something because you’d actually enjoy it sounds almost…Read more...

According to a report by Check Point Research, many popular Android apps put your personal data at risk due to poorly secured third-party services.

The majority prefer the familiarity and comfort of monogamy, but sexual adventurists of all stripes walk among us. Just think, while you’re haggling with your partner over the electric bill or Venmo’ing the same $30 back and forth to pay for weekly groceries, there are couples out there swinging from partner to…Read more...

For any high school or college student who is about to graduate, it’s safe to assume they had an interesting senior year. They spent so many of their classes, extra curricular activities, and traditional milestones either virtual or masked up and spread apart. This is not the year to gift them a coffee mug with…Read more...

If you’re fully vaccinated, you may be looking forward to using your masks less and less often now that the CDC has said fully vaccinated Americans can go without masks in many situations. But if you have allergies to dust or pollen, it might be worth keeping them around.Read more...

For whatever reason, the words “bartender’s handshake” make my skin crawl. I’m not against the concept—I actually love the idea of hospitality folks greeting each other with neat little shots and streamlined cocktails. I just hate the phrase.Read more...

Vaccination rates have stalled, and some states are doing whatever it takes to get more shots into arms, even if that means paying them off with freebies like free passes to parks, gift cards, or the tantalizing prospect of winning $1 million. And so far, the campaigns are having an effect. Here’s a look at what’s on…Read more...

Sunlight and summer rain can be great for outdoor plants, but it’s also a great time to give your indoor plants some fresh air. Unfortunately, though, some plants make it outside and then never make it back...because you killed them. The timing and positioning of your plants are important, along with some other…Read more...

You’d be forgiven if you’ve spent the last, oh, 15 months (or longer) in a constant state of anxiety. Certainly in 2021, it’s easy to forgot there is just as much to celebrate about life as to lament. Probably even more! Maybe. But remembering that—and striving to be a positive force in the world yourself—might…Read more...

You should never need an excuse to throw a party, but a graduation ceremony is certainly a perfect reason to festoon your home with decorations in honor of the big achievement. Graduation—from elementary school, middle school, high school, or college—is a rite of passage that deserves more than cake, finger foods and…Read more...

Hello everyone, and welcome to Prix Fixed, Lifehacker’s new menu-planning advice column. Whether you have a hot date, big anniversary, or are meeting the in-laws for the first time, we’ll help you plan an impressive menu suited to your dietary needs and culinary skillset. Will there be hacks? You bet your butt there…Read more...

Creaky joints may sound like a sign that you’re getting older and your body is falling apart, but in most cases your noisy knees are nothing to worry about. Let’s take a quick look at why joints make noise and how to know if there’s really a problem.Read more...

Taking fire nudes is exhilarating, right? Sending them is exciting and hot, as is receiving them. It’s all fun and games…until, sometimes, it’s not.Read more...

Google is testing an experimental RSS-based “Follow” feature in Chrome Canary on Android. Google says the feature is only an “experiment” for now and will decide whether to implement the feature publicly based on user and developer feedback, but this seems like good news for RSS lovers like me.Read more...

There are an infinite number of uses for duct tape. The super adhesive tape fixes ripped tents and makes durable wallets—kids have even gotten scholarships for designing duct tape dresses. You might forget some of the practical ways we can use duct tape to help us in a bind (or maybe you never even know them!), so…Read more...

Last week’s 0ut-of-touch guide touched on heavy internet darkness, so this week we’re keeping it light as a flyweight boxer trying to make his weight class. Nothing more serious than eating pasta, pestering squirrels, zombies taking over Las Vegas, and the oldest “teenager” since Dick Clark went to the bandstand in…Read more...

Remember HDTV? Full 1080p? Well those days are long gone, baby! Now 4k is the minimum acceptable definition you want to watch anything. Otherwise, what are you doing with your eyes?Read more...

As I wrap up Week Three of trying to learn to like running—a thing I have hated most of my life—for my monthlong “Lifehacker Fitness Challenge,” I have to report a few hiccups and one incredible, practically unbelievable success.

If you have an old credit card that you never use, you might be tempted to scrap it. After all, debt is bad right? Well, cancelling your card has some consequences related to your credit score, so you’ll want to consider all of your options first. Here’s what you need to know.Read more...

There’s an obvious appeal to off-the-shelf, “install this to fix everything!” software suites. Or, they sound great on paper, anyway: Dump an app (or a few apps) on your PC, and they’ll continually scan your system to make sure it’s free of viruses or malware. And depending on the suite, they’ll even work all kinds of…Read more...

It’s been interesting to watch COVID vaccine rumors evolve (mutate?) in the months since the vaccines were first introduced.

If you’re forced to deal with a narcissist for any prolonged period of time—whether you have the misfortune of being romantically involved with one, or you have one in your family—you’re going to need to develop some coping strategies, if only to lessen the emotional wreckage these toxic people inevitably leave in…Read more...

When it comes to a job offer, it’s easy to fixate on salary because, well...you need money to live. But you’ll want to carefully evaluate the benefits being offered, too, as they have a monetary value worth thousands of dollars that can make a lower-than-expected salary worth accepting. Here’s what you should look for…Read more...

Every year, as summer approaches, parents and teachers across the country begin worrying about the summer slide. The phenomenon, in which some students regress academically during the months off of school, is thought to most predominantly affect younger kids and children from low-income families. And it was already a…Read more...

If you haven’t already outfitted your backyard to welcome visitors after the CDC eased restrictions, now is the time to add the best yard feature: a fire pit. Most fire pits involve quite a bit of hard labor, including buying bricks or cement blocks, mixing up concrete, or digging out an area for the stones to sit.…Read more...

The latest WhatsApp beta on Android brings some major changes to the way the app’s chat archive system works. The “new archive,” as the app calls it, does the same thing as the “old” archive—house your archived messages—with one major exception: You can now permanently archive chats you want to ignore or remove from…Read more...

Entering virtual reality is fun, but it can also be productive: Lately, I’ve found it a fairly decent way to get in a quick workout. However, strapping on a VR headset does require me to untether from my phone and miss out on all the scintillating messages my friends are sending my way—or at least, it did. If you’re…Read more...

It is impossible to cook bacon with out stealing a strip, a lardon, or a bit during the process. I wouldn’t even call it stealing; as the person doing the cooking, it’s your right to enjoy a little bacon bonus, as a treat for your hard work. Trouble arises, however, if you eat a large (or even small) portion of the…Read more...

I’m not embarrassed to say that opening a bag of chips can be a vexing exercise. The bag’s seal might be stubbornly stuck together, or your hands might already be greasy for dipping your hands into a previous bag of salty goodness. But if you yank too hard, you face the dire risk of ripping the bag, causing most, if…Read more...

After years of historically low inflation rates, consumer prices rose 4.2% year over year in April—the largest increase since the financial crisis of 2008. While price inflation was expected, given the ongoing post-pandemic recovery, some products have seen much more dramatic hikes—we’re talking spikes of 15–30%—due…Read more...

Summer’s nearly here, and you know what that means: It’s time to bust out the box fans and wonder how on earth they got dirtier since you last saw them. Hair, dirt, lint, and all kinds of other gross airborne stuff build up on fans over time—and if you don’t clean it off, it all blows back in your face.

If the past year has you reevaluating how you parent, you’re hardly alone. What seemed to work in pre-pandemic times doesn’t necessarily translate to a time in which you are suddenly home with your children and partner every minute of every day for more than a year. But as we emerge, vaccinated, from the depths of…Read more...

I love fussing with wifi, but when I’m building the backbone of my network in a new location—a house, apartment, or wherever—I tend to go wired as much as I can. Wireless bridges and tri-band mesh/extender setups are great and convenient, but I always appreciate the stability and speed of an Ethernet cable.Read more...

Some perennial veggies provide natural fertilizer for themselves and nearby plant life. The same goes for herbs. Old and used tea bags provide nitrogen, tannic acid, and other components that help make a healthy growing environment.Read more...

Roasting vegetables give them a deeper, sweeter, more complex flavor, which is why I wish they made their way into more salads. After all, there’s no rule that says your salad veggies must me crisp and raw. Instead of a desiccated, shredded carrot, you could bless your salad with slightly caramelized carrot coins, or…Read more...

Spiders offer plenty of benefits in terms of pest control, but that doesn’t mean they’re always welcome guests in your home. Here are some easy ways to keep your home from becoming a spider’s paradise—without calling an exterminator.Read more...

Twitter’s verification process may soon change. The social media company announced plans to update its verification process last year, and recent evidence indicates the new process could go into effect as soon as next week.Read more...

With Memorial Day weekend coming up, Dairy Queen is giving away a “Sweetest Season Pass” that will allow 20 randomly selected ice cream fans to order free Blizzards all summer long. The chain announced the promotion last Thursday; here’s how you can try to snag one of the coveted prizes, each worth a few thousand…Read more...

When our parenting editor Meghan Walbert wrote a few weeks ago that she was determined to learn to like running, several of the comments on that piece (and its sequel) argued against the very idea of trying to like something you hate. I would like to propose an alternative viewpoint: that trying things you expect to…Read more...

Having plants means having to consider lighting, watering, fertilizing, and yes, even bugs. Plants can attract certain bugs, ones like spider mites, gnats, and whiteflies that can all infest your plants and your home if not taken care of. Here are a few natural and store-bought ways to rid your house plants of pesky…Read more...

I confess, even I got a little excited when I heard that Apple was upping the quality of many of its Apple Music tracks to lossless audio. While that’s not a you-can-listen-now change, as the 75+ million lossless tracks will start to debut on the service in June, it’s still something to get excited about. Right?…Read more...