Lifehacker

With mortgage interest rates hitting record lows again, you may be thinking about buying a home or refinancing your mortgage. But should you apply for a 15-year mortgage or a 30-year mortgage? Here’s how to decide which option is best for your family.

The structure of your day has probably changed dramatically. While you may not be commuting anymore, there are still ways to plan your day for optimal productivity.Read more...

Having a dysfunctional relationship with your parents—to the degree that you find it necessary to cut off all contact with them—is painful enough. But when you also have kids who are beginning to wonder why grandma hasn’t come to visit in a long time, old wounds get reopened again and again.Read more...

A Nintendo Switch Lite, a refurbished 16" MacBook Pro, a complete Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra Blu-ray collection, a Proactiv 3-Step System, and a Gooloo Car Jump Starter lead Tuesday’s best deals.Read more...

As an enjoyer of large, elaborate steak dinners, I often find myself with a partially eaten, leftover baked potato. Perhaps you’ve experienced this as well. It’s not a bad thing—you can use the leftovers to make really good breakfast potatoes—but you should take a small amount of care when storing them.Read more...

The point of hardware repairs is to ensure your devices remain usable and in good condition as long as possible, so you don’t have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a new product. Spending a couple hundred dollars replacing a severely cracked MacBook screen is a much better option than buying a new one…Read more...

Another day, another Apple event. And while Apple’s product-release schedule feels all wonky thanks to the pandemic (and ensuing quarantines), we’re still going to see some fun new gadgets today.Read more...

Proactiv Original 3 Step System | $30 | Ulta Beauty

As commission-free brokerages and stock trading apps—like the popular Robinhood platform—continue to grow, millions of new stock traders may not be prepared for next year’s taxes.Read more...

Look, we’re in this pandemic for the long haul. As much as we want everything to go back to “normal” in time for the holidays, what we actually need to do is buckle up for winter. And to keep our collective sanity, it’s time to embrace outdoor living in all seasons and at all temperatures.

Monday’s Best Deals | Kinja DealsRead more...

Facebook’s new “Watch Together” feature supports up to eight people in Facebook Messenger, or up to 50 people using Messenger Rooms. However you decide to structure your digital party, it’s a convenient way to get everyone watching (and commenting) on the same videos at the same time.Read more...

Flu shots are more important than ever this year so I hope you’re all scheduling yours, if you haven’t gotten one already. But when you do, you might have a sore shoulder for a couple of days. A reader asks if there’s a good way to prevent that soreness:Read more...

I became a mom about a decade ago, during the time of the so-called “Mommy Wars,” when parenting bloggers—the vast majority of which were women—often used their social media platforms to promote their style of parenting. During this time, women felt pressed to find their “tribe.” Their exclusive breastfeeding tribe,…Read more...

While, sure, anybody could just drive by your house to see what it looks like—all the tin foil in the world isn’t going to shield you from that privacy “violation,” though a fence might help—you can make it harder for people to see your home on Google Maps.Read more...

If you are living in a literal hellscape (as much of the western United States is at this point), you know that you can wear masks to protect yourself from coronavirus, and masks to protect yourself from the particulates in wildfire smoke. However: these are not necessarily the same masks.Read more...

This week on The Upgrade we’re tackling how to survive all types of situations—from hurricanes to earthquakes, scary active shooter situations to stampedes—we’re covering it all with help from crisis reporter Judith Matloff. Judith has 40 years of experience reporting in war zones, uprisings, and other dangerous…Read more...

As a hungry preteen, I was obsessed with Trader Joe’s (now discontinued) Hot & Sweet Mustard. I was hot. It was sweet. It was really good slathered on slices of salty deli ham. It is no more.Read more...

Last week, the Senate failed to pass the latest version of the Republicans’ stimulus bill, making it less likely we will see another relief package before the election. As CNN reports, Congress may now focus on passing a short-term bill to keep the government funded before the September 30 deadline.Read more...

A Cuisinart electric knife, Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro RAM, cheap Borderlands and XCOM 2 bundles for Switch, a FoodSaver vacuum sealer, and a Vava 7-in-1 USB-C hub lead Monday’s best deals.Read more...

Reesha Howard considers her family to be something of a unicorn—they’re a homeschooling, Black, vegan, Christian family with a deep entrepreneurial spirit. She and her husband, Ron—they’re high school sweethearts originally from the South Side of Chicago—lived abroad for many years while Ron played professional…Read more...

Tired of Safari on your iPhone or iPad? You can install plenty of other great alternatives from the App Store—no problem there. But if you want to use them as your default browser on your device, you’ll have to jump through a few extra hoops.Read more...

We’re just a few weeks away from the launch of Microsoft Xbox Series X and Sony’s PlayStation 5. Unlike most generational leaps, this new set of consoles isn’t going to force you to cut ties with your Xbox One or PS4 game library.Read more...

Whether you use a jar of prepared marinara or make your sauce from scratch with canned plum tomatoes, there is always going to be a little bit of jammy, red residue in the bottom an on the sides of the container, whether that container be plastic, glass, or aluminum.Read more...

Even though there are still technically a few more weeks of summer, the high temperatures and humidity haven’t gone away (at least in New York). And those without air conditioning (or who have really old, crappy window units), who would typically work remotely from coffee shops or the library, don’t currently have…Read more...

For those fortunate enough to live somewhere with decent public transportation and rely on it to get around, the past six months have probably been a challenge. Even though a lot of our lives have moved into—and stayed in—our homes, not everyone has the option to work or learn remotely. Of course, this has been the…Read more...

Have you noticed your eyes feeling especially dry lately? There could be a variety of reasons for that, including wearing a face mask. But before we go any further, let us be clear: having dry eye is not an excuse to stop wearing a face mask in situations that require them. This is especially the case because there…Read more...

Anjou Ultrasonic Aroma Diffuser | $16 | Amazon | Clip coupon + Promo Code HKY6TL8I

For a lot of people, our relationship with clothing has changed quite a bit this year. Only a few short months ago, we were putting together outfits (and I use that term loosely) to go to work, meet friends, or do other out-of-the-house activities. Now, our daily dressing decisions come down to regular soft pants,…Read more...

A TaoTronics ceramic heater and oscillating fan, a set of Wanbasion knives, a cheap 2K webcam, a Cornbread Hemp CBD sitewide sale, men’s short and long sleeve JACHS NY tech shirts, luxury hypoallergenic pillows, and a waterproof facial cleansing brush electric massager lead Saturday’s best deals.Read more...

Nearly six months ago, all the way back in mid-March, the Trump administration issued an order banning travel from Europe, Brazil, Iran and China. There was an exception to this rule: U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and their family members have been permitted to reenter the country as long as they flew into…Read more...

After six months of virtual work, school, happy hours, graduations, weddings, funerals and “vacations,” a lot of us are longing to experience even the most mundane parts of our pre-COVID lives. Spending three hours stuck in an airport terminal with spotty wifi and overpriced soggy sandwiches because of a delayed…Read more...

As the pandemic continues to impact the nation, including almost 900,000 unemployment claims, families continue struggling to make ends meet. For many Americans, this may include the painful challenge of being unable to afford food.

There’s something about exercise that scrambles your brain a little. I know I’m not the only one who stops being able to count accurately after about...set two. So if you have multiple sets of an exercise, or rounds of a circuit, try giving yourself some physical tokens to help count.Read more...

Far be it from me to criticize those who get away with something they shouldn’t for a meager gain—like pretending it’s your birthday to score a free cupcake or whatever from a restaurant. It’s even a little funny when your friends pull this prank on you, but only if it’s done rarely; not only is birthday song…Read more...

Friday’s Best Deals | Kinja DealsRead more...

With great power comes great responsibility. And I couldn’t emphasize that any more if I wanted to, because I am now going to give you a tool that you will be tempted to use in a silly way: a means to change the default font in Slack.Read more...

Amazon recently updated Alexa with a new feature that lets users print to-do lists, recipes, and more, with a quick voice command. The AI assistant will also notify you when your ink levels are low and can even set up automatic ink refill purchases at a discount through Amazon.

This is not the cocktail I intended to make this morning, but it ended up being the cocktail I needed. Originally, I had planned to make a sherry cobbler, but I’m all out of oranges, and I cannot go get more oranges because all the news reports recommended that I stay indoors. (And I’m not coming out until this is all…Read more...

While stuck at home most of this year, a lot of us have been focusing on what brings us comfort, like food and dogs (or your pet of choice). What could possibly go wrong with that? Well, it started with a recall of onions, which basically required us to throw away any we had in the house. Next came peaches—recalled…Read more...

Back in the spring, it didn’t take long for my 9-year-old son to develop a condition I’ve come to think of as Zoom Fatigue. He didn’t mind completing his classwork online and he didn’t mind the academic schedule I put together for him. But when came time to Zoom with his class? Dude was not interested.Read more...

People stop me on the street all the time and ask, “Steve, my kid wants one of those damn Mimtendos or whatever. What is all this video game crap?”

Here at Hack or Wack, we usually like to test viral hacks that blow people’s minds. But sometimes we also test hacks that have people very skeptical from the get-go.Read more...

Did you find a new trail to run or hike for last week’s challenge? This week is another trail-compatible one, and I encourage you to find someplace fun to do it. But we’re going to take it up a notch, because I want you to specifically find a scary hill. And go up it.Read more...

The convenience of Amazon is tough to beat, particularly in the midst of COVID-19, but a new report shows the tech giant may be overcharging for some pandemic essentials.Read more...

I know, I know. The temptation is great, if you’re a DIY PC-building enthusiast who is tired of watching your games stutter when you crank them to “Ultra” quality settings. Nvidia’s new RTX 30-series graphics cards are beasts. But should you pre-order one? I wouldn’t.Read more...

Our kids’ Zoom classes can be eye-opening for a lot of reasons, but one thing you may have noticed since the school year began is the sheer volume of instances in which some teachers refer to their students’ moms and dads. Not their caregivers, in general, but their mom and their dad, specifically. As in, make sure…Read more...

When it comes to video game subscription services, console gamers have it pretty easy—they’re mostly stuck with PlayStation, Nintendo, or Xbox’s first-party services. PC gamers, on the other hand, have a lot of choices to pick from.

If you ask someone what mustard “tastes like” they might tell you it’s both “pungent” and “acidic,” which is not quite right. This half-truth is sometimes perpetuated by well-meaning food writers, who tout mustard as “secret ingredient” that can cut through richness with its “acidity,” while claiming that “yellow,…Read more...

How do you manage a multi-platform household? Not everyone is completely loyal to Apple, Google, Microsoft, or any other tech company. You might own an iPhone and use a Windows PC. Maybe you prefer your Android’s camera and your MacBook’s keyboard. Perhaps you’re just a big ol’ geek and you love devices, period.Read more...