Lifehacker

Summer 2021 is shaping up to be a lot better than summer 2020, vaccines be praised (yay science!), but you’ll be forgiven if you’re not ready to head back to theaters to catch a splashy summer blockbuster. Speaking of which, they’re in short supply anyway—outside of a few delayed tentpoles from last year (including …Read more...

A thing that’s not fun to do when you’re a parent is take your young children to the pediatrician’s office. There are endless reasons why the doctor’s office isn’t fun—it means your kid is hurt, sick, or has some freaky-looking rash; it’s an annual check-up, which might mean shots are in their future; your kid will…Read more...

Between vegans and people with egg allergies, chicken eggs aren’t an option for everyone, and that’s where plant-based egg products comes in. But if you happen to have some in your fridge, it’s a good idea to check the label, because there’s been a large voluntary recall of foods made with the vegan egg-flavored…Read more...

Cooking croutons in your air fryer is kind of a no-brainer, although I don’t know that we can fairly call it “cooking.” “Aggressively toasting” is probably the most accurate description, though “making” also works. Whichever verb you use to describe the process of turning bread into croutons, you should use the air…Read more...

With the news that Britney Spears’s conservatorship team refused to allow her to get her IUD removed, several people have pointed out that it’s possible to remove your own IUD—you just grab the strings and pull. If this sounds like a tempting option for the rest of us, you should know that doctors say it’s safest to…Read more...

A presumptuous houseguest is a houseguest that is unlikely to be invited back. No one wants the type of guest who assumes they have free rein to use appliances and household wares without limits. Sure, everyone needs access to certain amenities in the home, but you can be a better guest by bringing a few of these…Read more...

Everyone loves to joke that time is a flat circle, but rebooting a circa mid-aughts show about the decadent lives of ultra-wealthy Manhattan prep school kids while the nation is still entrenched in another fiscal crisis (if one of a very different sort than the 2008 crash) is a bit... on the nose, shall we say.

“Leaves of three, let it be” is a classic rhyme about poison ivy, and it’s accurate: The plant’s triple leaflets are a reliable characteristic. But if you want to know more about this itch-inducing plant, you need to learn a few more things.Read more...

Bidets have long been a common bathroom fixture in many parts of the world, but they finally found their moment to shine in the United States at the start of the pandemic, when toilet paper was hard to come by. We’ve already talked about the benefits of a bidet and how to use the different styles, but what about…Read more...

Fruit liqueurs don’t have the best reputation. As with flavored vodkas, most options available for purchase taste cloying and artificial. But homemade fruit liqueur can be a wondrous thing—all you need is fruit, vodka, and simple syrup.Read more...

Google is testing a new feature for Chrome on iPhone and iPad that lets you lock incognito tabs with facial ID when they’re left open in the background. (Unfortunately, the feature is not available on Android—at least not yet).

If you’re an iOS user, you no longer have to go through the tedious process of taking a screenshot of a tweet in your Twitter app, switching over to Instagram, and uploading them separately to your Instagram Stories. Twitter now lets you do this directly with its new Instagram Stories share option.

Some things make it into the washer and never make it out, and it can feel like house elves are stealing your things when you swore you put an even number of socks in the machine, only to be left with an odd number. The truth is, your washer really does eat your clothes sometimes. The washer housing might be holding…Read more...

As part of its sweeping product update last month, Airbnb announced a change to its cancelation policy. The change, which was partly inspired by industry-wide ripple effects wrought by the pandemic, intends to make cancelations more flexible for both hosts and guests.

Yesterday the IRS launched a new portal to help you manage advance payments on the recently expanded Child Tax Credit, worth up to $3,600 per child. The tax credit is complicated—as it’s based on your estimated income for 2021—so you’ll want to use the portal to update your income and child dependent status (or opt…Read more...

One benefit of an Amazon smart speaker is that anyone can ask Alexa to play music, or set a timer, or perform any number of basic functions—regardless of whose Amazon account was used to set up the device.

The public beta for iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 starts sometime in July, but users can get their hands on Apple’s new mobile operating systems even earlier by installing the developer builds. These versions are less stable than the eventual public beta, and there are several requirements you’ll need to meet, but it’s the…Read more...

Plant-based protein powders are hugely popular right now, and not just among vegans. Whey protein can be hard to digest, which means even omnivores may prefer to supplement their diets with vegan protein.Read more...

I don’t trust people who claim to not like pasta salad. Pasta is good, and so is mayonnaise. Often there are other ingredients involved that are not pasta or mayonnaise, and they are also good. Sometimes it’s just too hot to eat a steaming bowl of spaghetti, but what am I going to do? Stop eating pasta from the end of…Read more...

Do you know how to clean your blinds? Or do you just leave them until they’re so coated in filth that you have to throw them out and buy new window treatments? That’s gross, don’t do that.

Exercising in the morning can make you feel great for the rest of the day, and we have tips on how to motivate yourself to want to exercise in the morning. But then you have to deal with the practical obstacles: Do you go straight from the gym to the office? What do you do with your stinky clothes, and how do you pack…Read more...

It can be hard to find good plants for the low-light, high-humidity climate of your bathroom, but it’s worth the search. Plants and flowers look great everywhere, including—or maybe especially—in bathrooms, and ones that originate in the tropics, like philodendron and ficus plants, love hot and humid weather. Here’s…Read more...

As a child of the 1980s, I was obsessed with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe—I have a vivid memory of being three years old and arguing with my mom about whether or not Eternia’s greatest hero wore pajamas to bed (luckily the dude did wear a diaper).

There’s a certain type of person in the workplace who often carries a loathsome reputation: the colleague who succeeds in big ways despite not being all that good at their job. These people have “failed upwards,” meaning they’ve attained undue success, sometimes from sheer luck, or maybe thanks to a savvy networking…Read more...

A brand new, tiny little being shouldn’t come with so much stuff. But when a baby moves into your home, they bring with them a crib, stroller, car seat, bath tub, breast pump, bottles, playpen, clothing, and on and on. And each one of those comes with a cost that can really add up over time.Read more...

If student loans have held you back from getting a FHA mortgage, there’s some good news: the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is relaxing the rules on how it assesses student loan debt, which will increase your chances of qualifying for a loan if you’re on a repayment plan.

Whether you’re making meatballs, meatloaf, or some other food that requires seasoning a mass of raw ground meat, it can be hard to predict the flavor outcome, especially if you’re working with a new recipe, a vague recipe, or a recipe that you developed all by yourself.Read more...

It can be difficult to work in silence, but finding music that won’t distract you from high-concentration tasks—like writing—is also a challenge. But it turns out that video game tunes could be the perfect background music when you need to focus. No, seriously.

The virus that causes COVID-19 has been a successful one from an evolutionary perspective, getting to see the world and expanding its little family tree. (Its been successful from its point of view; not so much from ours.) This means that variants of the virus have popped up in several different locations, and some…Read more...

During the pandemic, ChiChi Anyanwu made the bold decision to start her own talent management company, Chi Talent Management, managing the careers of actors in theater, film, and television. Her company is part of a small number of Black woman-owned agencies, so I chatted with ChiChi to see just how she makes it all…Read more...

If you’ve ever fantasized about a tropical getaway while toiling away at your office job, you’re not alone. While you might not be able to leave your home or office any time you crave nature, surrounding yourself with a bit (or a lot) of greenery can be the next best thing. If you’re looking for plants that not only…Read more...

You might have heard of people “churning” through credit card welcome offers, but what about bank bonuses? Many banks offer $400 cash back or more when you sign up for a new checking account, and it’s certainly possible to cycle through new accounts just to accrue bonus money. Banks don’t want to make this easy for…Read more...

We tend to think of a day as this single block of time, a finite period during which you can either triumph or fail. But you might find you have fewer bad days—and more good ones—if you start think of a single day as something that can be divided up into smaller segments of time.

The latest Google app update, version 12.23.16.23, is unstable. Numerous users report the app crashes every few minutes on Pixel, Motorolla, and Samsung devices. This is a problem, considering the app controls everything from Google search, to Google lens, to the “Discover” feed, and communicates with Android Auto,…Read more...

Are you constantly late, despite your best intentions and efforts? Do you find yourself losing track of time on a regular basis? The cause might be a condition known as time blindness—but there are ways to cope, and keep yourself running on schedule.Read more...

I have often thought of turkey burgers as a relic of the ‘90s, leftover from an era when fat was the number one enemy, and Snackwells reigned (and it was a reign of artificially sweet terror). But some people just don’t like red meat, and others have medical reasons for wanting to avoid it. Some people may just like…Read more...

Depression has a sneaky way of creeping into all aspects of your life, and making you not care about any of them. And yes, this includes food. Eating is a prerequisite for life, so it makes perverse sense that, for many people, it’s among the first victims of a depressive episode.Read more...

In April, Apple made some long-overdue changes to its Podcasts app, part of an overhaul of the company’s general approach to the podcasting market that will allow podcasts makers to charge subscription fees for their content via Apple’s homegrown app. Unfortunately, the changes have proved frustrating to many longtime…Read more...

There is no shortage of apps and online courses purporting to offer the best way to learn a new language. Whether you want to brush up on your high school Spanish or start fresh, you might turn to Duolingo (which has been accused of pillaging users’ personal data) or a paid option like Rosetta Stone or Coursera, but…Read more...

If you’re the kind of person who keeps tabs on summertime snack deals, you’ve probably already taken advantage of some of what Wendy’s has on offer—including free small Frostys during the month of June. Well, now you can add another one to the list, because the hamburger chain is also giving away free chicken nuggets…Read more...

In a development fictional scientists are calling “not really that surprising,” I have grown obsessed with cooking cucumbers, both pickled and plain. First I cooked some of the latter over coals, then I turned my attention to ranch-fried pickles, and now I’m all about—and I mean all about—grilled pickles.Read more...

With the labor market tilted in favor of job seekers, it’s time to consider asking for a raise. Your employer is much more likely to agree versus earlier in the pandemic, and you can make a convincing case that rising inflation has weakened the purchasing power of your wages. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you…Read more...

An unusual bug is currently breaking iPhones’ wifi connections. Luckily, it’s easy enough to avoid—and to fix if your phone becomes afflicted—but dang, is it weird. In short, for some reason, if your iPhone connects to a wifi network named “%p%s%s%s%s%n,” the device’s wifi will cease to function. So don’t do that.

When it comes to finding inspiration for your garden you could turn to an average internet search or tutorial, but nothing beats a daily feed of your favorite charismatic and innovative gardeners on social media. Here are some Instagram gardeners and conservatories to follow for both gardening advice and…Read more...

Unless you enjoy getting injured, you should use good form at the gym. But what exactly does “good form” mean, and how much of a difference does it make? First, let’s talk about the purpose of form. For that, we turn to Jordan Syatt, a world record powerlifter and Westside Certified Barbell instructor. According to…Read more...

Even as the pandemic wanes (sort of—get vaccinated!) and we put the political strife of 2020 in the review mirror (wait, actually...), there’s still plenty to be upset about each and every day. So let’s put our combined anxiety aside and agree on one thing: Ice cream is best enjoyed when eaten from a coffee mug.Read more...

It’s understandable that Amazon’s Prime Day sale (June 21-22) looms large for most consumers—the company rakes in just under 50% of all e-commerce retail revenue, nearly six times that of it’s next closest competitor, Walmart. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t find a better deals elsewhere, as other large retail…Read more...

Pride month is in full swing even as more of us are starting to reemerge into the world as COVID restrictions are easing around the country. The timing couldn’t be better: This month is a time to honor those who rioted, fought, and paved the way for the livelihood and rights of LGBTQ people—a time both to commemorate…Read more...

If you’re an avid stargazer, June alone has been a crowded month in an otherwise busy year of celestial events. A solar eclipse, a planetary conjunction, and an asteroid careening within a reasonably close distance of the planet have added a nice bit of cosmic intrigue as the days get warmer and longer.

Fresh herbs are beautiful, fragrant, and vivacious, but they lose their looks and flavor when left simmering in pots of soup or roasting with braised meat dishes. Losing their flavor is kind of the whole point—they are, after all, losing it to your dish—but the look and texture of soggy, heat-withered herbs is…Read more...