Lifehacker

The world of young people can be a confusing and annoying place, so let me help you translate their lives with a weekly guide to what’s happening with these damn kids. (Stay off my lawn.)

An Aukey 1080p webcam and Boltune noise-canceling headphones lead Friday’s best deals.

If you don’t like Bing, then you must really hate the Windows 10 Start menu’s web search. You may even have it disabled entirely. We don’t blame you, but there’s a second option that gives you the best of both worlds: the ability to search the web from your Start menu using a different search engine entirely.Read more...

A few years ago, I was hosting a playdate between my son, my then-foster son, and another boy. This third boy took a toy away from my foster son and was refusing to give it back. Because the boy’s parents weren’t there, I eventually stepped in when it was clear he was picking on my foster son, taunting him with the…Read more...

Apple cider can take many forms. Hot or cold, still or sparkling, hard or soft—all of these words can and have been used to describe the beverage. And though they may vary in flavor, temperature, effervescence, and alcohol content, all of these ciders have one very important thing in common: they all taste really,…Read more...

Bluetooth is convenient AF when it works and annoying to troubleshoot when it doesn’t. Conceptually, it should just... always work. One device pairs with another, they communicate happily as long as they’re both powered up, and they save you from having to deal with annoying cords and cables. Simple, right?

After years of watching a TV show and getting to know the characters, it can start to feel as through their homes are an extension of our own. In fact, some of the most prominent interior design trends from the past few decades have been at least partially inspired by sitcom sets, including the popularity of the…Read more...

Bank accounts are easier to get approved for than credit cards, but it is still possible to get denied for one if you have a bad credit history. But don’t let rejection deter you—there are other ways to secure a checking or savings account.

Nintendo recently warned Switch owners that failing to charge their consoles regularly (in this case, at least every six months or so) could impact battery life. It’s an easy problem to avoid—if you somehow aren’t using it enough to drain the battery, just make sure you charge your Switch or Switch Lite twice a year…Read more...

As I’m slogging through a run, I never tell myself I’m halfway. Everything I just did, I have to do it all again? Not a helpful thought. Instead, I use some more creative math. The first mile of any run, after all, is just a warmup, and the last mile is gravy—if you only have a mile left, you can practically crawl…Read more...

Thursday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

Do you have a missing 401(k) that you don’t know about? It’s more common than you might think. One U.S. Labor Department study suggests that people will have worked a dozen jobs by their mid-40s, with most of those barely lasting a few years. With that kind of churn it’s easy to lose track of your 401(k) somewhere…Read more...

Apple loves their “Shot On iPhone” ad campaign, which makes gorgeous billboards out of photos seemingly shot with one of their regular phones. So why don’t any of your photos look like that?Read more...

Even before the pandemic hit, it became popular to prioritize “self care.” Parenting podcasts like One Bad Mother have long discussed the challenges parents (particularly mothers) face in finding balance: One of their signature phrases is “I am a self,” a fact we’re meant to remind ourselves of when we feel like…Read more...

If you hike a lot, or go for walks in parks, you’ve probably memorized what poison ivy looks like—and if you haven’t, you should. Leaflets clustered in threes, let it be, and all that. But as summer turns to autumn, there’s an important change to note: poison ivy can change colors just like the leaves on trees.Read more...

It’s a bit ironic that the best time to bake bread (a cold, dark day) is the worst time to proof (or prove) bread. Bread yeast needs a warm, kind of humid environment to thrive, and it can be hard to find such conditions come October. A microwave makes a pretty good ersatz proofing drawer, but that means your…Read more...

Earlier this year, Apple admitted it secretly throttled older iOS devices, and subsequently agreed to pay $500 million to settle a class-action lawsuit. Millions of iPhone owners are eligible for a share of the payout, but you have less than a week to submit your claim(s)—the deadline is Tuesday, October 6.

Admittedly, scary movies aren’t for everyone. Yes, I personally peeked from around the corner at age six as my dad watched Tales from the Crypt, because I love All the Horror. And no, I won’t ever forget how the tall basketball player didn’t fit into his short casket, so the funeral home owner had to chainsaw off his…Read more...

Typically, our focus, five weeks out from a presidential election, is on the candidates’ last-minute campaigning to reach undecided voters. And while Donald Trump and Joe Biden are making some attempts to sway the 11 percent of the electorate who still consider their vote up for grabs, at this point, the actual…Read more...

It should come as no surprise that this week’s presidential “debate” was rife with misinformation about the upcoming election, including unsupported claims from President Trump about systemic voter fraud by Democrats and poll watchers being “thrown out” of polling places. He went on to urge his supporters to go…Read more...

Borderlands 3 and 124.8oz of hand sanitizer lead Thursday’s best deals.

Isn’t it fun when one platform’s technology won’t play nicely with another? Owners of various Samsung Androids are experiencing this joy firsthand, as the Samsung Camera’s motion photos don’t appear to be working with Google Photos—a popular, free, wonderful photo backup solution.Read more...

Voter suppression tactics are as old as the United States itself. Limited enfranchisement, poll taxes, gerrymandering and, more recently, voter ID restrictions and targeted polling site closures have all been used throughout our country’s history to deny the vote to targeted populations.Read more...

Baking is an activity that involves all of your senses. You have to look at your dough to see if it has doubled in volume, feel the bread as you knead it in order to nail the right level of elasticity, and smell the air to make sure nothing’s burning. Taste... well, obviously. And according to Peter—the first star…Read more...

If you’re interested in one of Amazon’s many upcoming Alexa-powered devices, the company is running a limited-time trade-in offer that could knock a sizable chunk off the sticker price of its new Echos, Rings, and Fires TV, plus its latest Fire tablets and Kindle e-readers.Read more...

With only a few weeks to go before the election, it’s time to come up with a voting plan if you haven’t already. But before you request an absentee ballot or look up the address of your polling place, take a minute to make sure that you’re actually registered to vote. Even if you think you are, check. Make absolutely…Read more...

You can’t blame travelers for being once bitten, twice shy when it comes to travel insurance during the pandemic. Last spring, many discovered that the insurance they paid for—to protect against unexpected medical issues, job losses, storms, terrorist attacks—did not cover COVID.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed enormous numbers of lives, many of them elderly adults. But children and young adults are not immune to COVID, nor is it so rare in children that we can ignore the possibility that they’ll catch it. So here are a few remindersRead more...

Google’s “Launch Night In” gave us an overview of the company’s upcoming hardware releases, including two 5G Pixel phones, a new Nest Audio speaker, and an updated Chromecast with a dedicated remote.

Even if you’re not the type to decorate the outside of your house for Halloween, this year’s must-have trick-or-treating accessory will give your home the unmistakable look of the post-apocalypse—and there’s no need to go out of your way to come up with a theme. Certainly 2020 has been far more chilling than anything …Read more...

I’ve been covering press events for roughly 15 years or so, and in all that time, I’ve never seen a company speed through its announcements as quickly as Google did during today’s “Launch Night In” event. Perhaps Google knew it was staying up past its bedtime and didn’t want to get yelled at?Read more...

Wednesday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

With so many Americans in a financial crisis, families are looking at all their options to find the money they need. Sixty-one percent of Americans say their emergency savings won’t last through the end of the year, according to a recent survey by the real estate servicing company, Clever. To close the gap, one option…Read more...

I’m not generally a fan of TikTok—it’s the place teenagers go to take part in stupid, dangerous shit like the “Skull Breaker Challenge” or the “Benadryl Challenge.” It’s also the place where actual parents have gone to mock people with disabilities or genetic diseases. But I have discovered one little corner of the…Read more...

If you were one of the unlucky folks who tuned into last night’s debate, you’re probably in the mood to watch something else—basically anything else—tonight. Well, as luck would have it, this week’s night sky provides the opportunity for a much quieter and calmer viewing experience, in the form of the Harvest Moon and…Read more...

Most of us ordinary folks know what will make us healthier: a little strength training, eating vegetables, maybe losing some fat, doing cardio sometimes. But it doesn’t follow that somebody who does all of these things to an extreme is healthy. Even if they look good as a result.Read more...

“I should make a bust cake of Mick Jagger,” I told my boyfriend as we watched the latest episode of The Great British Baking Show. “I just have to make the lips really big. It would be easy.” “Okay, well I don’t want to be here for that,” he replied, no doubt recalling the very dramatic Cinnamon Roll Incident of 2017.Read more...

Did you know a cactus could droop? I didn’t until I killed one. Some plants are hardier than others, but if you’re anything like me, the only plant that survives under your thumb is an artificial one. It doesn’t have to be this way. You, too, can keep a plant alive indoors. All you have to do is not kill it. Habitual…Read more...

I’ve been flying regional jets and in general aviation for 12 years. But your flying job will always restrict you to the type of flying and destinations that your employer needs, and unless you’re Bezos or Zuck, you can’t own every genre of airplane and fly everywhere. With Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, I got a…Read more...

Fall hardware announcement season continues. Google is on tap today; its fancy “Launch Night” event kicks off in just a few hours. As for what the company is planning to announce, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, since much of it has already leaked across the internet—or at Home Depot.Read more...

We’ve all got a lot of big feelings right now, what with *gestures around.* It can be challenging for even the most self-aware among us to pinpoint how we’re feeling from moment to moment. It’s even harder for our kids, who are still learning to put words to all their big feelings.Read more...

An LG 8K TV and AuraGlow Teeth Whitening Kit lead Wednesday’s best deals.

In a perfect world, we could download apps from a centralized, secure app store on our phones, and these apps would allow us to connect to other services we enjoy without any extra hassle. In the real world, you’re going to have to employ some clever workarounds if you want to get game streaming to work on the…Read more...

Sweet cheese blintzes are the stars of the stuffed pancake pantheon, but they are, if not difficult, at least somewhat tedious to make and fill. And while I will always choose a homemade blintz over a store-bought frozen one, the less precious nature of frozen grocery store blintzes makes them ideal candidates for…Read more...

Disney+ just launched its GroupWatch feature for US customers, which lets up to seven people watch the same Disney+ show or movie together remotely and complete in sync. Plenty of other streaming apps and media companies offer similar watch party features, but Disney+’s GroupWatch is more streamlined—and more…Read more...

Look, far be it from us to promote political apathy in the run-up to The Most Important Election of Our Lifetimes, but consider this your permission not to watch tonight’s first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

We live in the age of the gig economy, as nearly half of Americans earn extra cash through side gigs, according to a 2019 Bankrate survey. But when should you consider your side hustle a proper business and pay taxes separately from your individual tax return?

Even though we’re now several months into wearing face masks in public, some aspects continue to be a challenge. Beyond the facts that they’re uncomfortable and have become politically divisive, face masks have also made it a lot harder to communicate.Read more...

Tuesday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

Resistance bands and dumbbells are both great for strength training at home, since they don’t require much storage space and tend to be a lot cheaper than a full setup with a barbell and plates. But they each have pros and cons, so let’s talk about how to choose.Read more...