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It’s a given that masks are important to wear indoors and in crowded settings, but the CDC now officially says they are not always necessary outdoors. Masking outdoors is still recommended if you are in a crowd, or if you are unvaccinated and will be near others outside your household who are also unvaccinated. But in…Read more...

Reboots have been at the forefront of pop culture for so long, you might be nostalgic for a time when every other film or TV show wasn’t trying to cash in on the reputation of an established brand. Just last week, Warner Bros.’ second attempt to turn the Mortal Kombat video game series into a film franchise arrived in…Read more...

About two weeks ago, my air fryer stopped working. Luckily, Instant Pot was able to send me a new one (thanks, warranty!), but that half-month without my Vortex Mini made me realize just how much I have come to rely on it.Read more...

Transitions are a pain point for most parents of young children. Even the smallest of moves from one activity to another can cause a meltdown in a toddler anxious over not knowing what’s coming up next. So it only makes sense that one of the biggest transition a little kid can make—going from mom’s house to dad’s…Read more...

According to numerous reports, Windows 10 updates KB5000842 and KB5001330 cause annoying performance bugs for games running in windowed modes. Per Microsoft’s patch notes, “a small subset of users have reported lower than expected performance in games after installing KB5000842 or later updates. Most users affected…Read more...

If you’ve assembled IKEA furniture, you’ve used an Allen wrench. These slim, L-shaped contraptions are often the only tool included in the packaging, even when you’ll need others to finish the job. There’s a good reason for this: Most people don’t own Allen wrenches, and when you need one, nothing else will do.

When our kids are babies, we cater to their every need and want. We’re their whole world, so it doesn’t matter how exhausted or busy we might be—when they call for us, we jump to attention. We go everywhere they go, and experience what they experience right along with them. As they get older, though, the way we spend…Read more...

Even if your social media threats are more a whimper or an annoyance than a full-scale war from internet strangers, you can still keep images of your house (and ideally, your address) from sitting around on Facebook.Read more...

Even as sales at retail chains improve, a low labor participation rate has caused a shortage of workers, leading some companies to offer perks like boosted wages, hiring bonuses, and even subsidized tuition to lure in employees. If you’re vaccinated and looking for a job, this might be a good time to shop around.

In terms of flavor and price point, it is hard to beat bacon grease as a cooking fat. It’s smoky and salty and—if you’re already eating bacon—you can enjoy the grease as kind of a “bonus” byproduct at no additional cost and use it to cook your entire meal in a single pan.Read more...

One iOS 14’s headline features—in that it is making headlines by pissing off advertisers—is “App Tracking Transparency,” a setting that lets users opt out of all tracking, including the data an app collects when you’re not using it (much to the chagrin of advertising platforms like Google and Facebook).

Right now, only seven European countries (Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Montenegro, and Serbia) allow Americans to visit as tourists. But the president of the European Commission has announced a plan that would allow fully vaccinated people from the U.S. to visit for nonessential reasons—assuming the EU…Read more...

Paper towels are just another form of non-recyclable paper waste, and you’re probably using them way more often than you need to. On average, according to the U.S. Census data and Simmons National Consumer Survey (NHCS), some 45.3 million Americans use eight or more rolls of paper towels a month. As a single-use…Read more...

Distilled vinegar is so good at cleaning so many types of surfaces that we sometimes forget it also cleans the air. If you’ve run out of Febreze but your living room is starting to smell a little funky, you can clear that stink right up with a bowl of vinegar.Read more...

Due to a backlog of tax returns held by the IRS, millions of Americans are experiencing weeks-long delays in receiving their tax refunds, far beyond a typical turnaround time of three weeks. The IRS has acknowledged the delay, but why is it taking so long—and when can you expect to see your refund?Read more...

Tell me if this sounds familiar: You’ve been training to do something—your first pull-up, let’s say—and after weeks or months, you finally make it. Hooray! But the following day or week, you try to do it again, but now you can’t. Did you get weaker? Did your training not actually pay off? Are you a failure? Should you…Read more...

Every few months, news of another dangerous TikTok “challenge” circulates that horrifies parents everywhere. From the “Skull-Breaker Challenge” to the “Benadryl Challenge,” kids are always finding new, perilous ways to dare each other into harming or even killing themselves. The latest recirculation is called the “…Read more...

It goes without saying that we’re tired of seeing our coworkers’ faces in small boxes on Zoom—and maybe we’re even looking forward to being in the same room again. With Zoom’s new Immersive View feature, you can join other meeting attendees in the same virtual space, like a boardroom, coffee shop, classroom, or…Read more...

Despite its fancy reputation, most French cooking is shockingly simple, understated even, which is what can make it so difficult to master. Besides butter, there’s nothing much to hide behind, and a lot of French dishes hinge on having good ingredients and decent technique. Take this simple grated carrot salad—or…Read more...

Wikipedia is one of the internet’s last bastions of freely accessible public information, and since it’s relatively unspoiled by the type of polarization common on social media it can feel refreshing to research anything from the mechanics of aircraft toilets to Alexander the Great without being bombarded by trolls or…Read more...

Before Listerine killed germs in your mouth, it killed bacteria on bathroom floors. Yes, back in the late 1800s, Listerine, which was originally developed as a hospital-grade antiseptic and later used as “a pharmaceutical specialty for dentists,” was commonly sold to consumers as an all-purpose cleaner, used to …Read more...

Chrome desktop users have long been able to outfit the browser with third-party extensions that track prices and help you find the best deals, but those add-ons don’t work on Android. Luckily, Google is rolling out a new feature in Chrome mobile that will keep a vigilant eye out for price drops on shopping tabs you…Read more...

Raising a child is full of surprises. No matter how many books, parenting forums, and articles you read, the truth is that nothing can completely prepare you for it. After become a parent, though, I now have the gift of hindsight, so here’s what I would say if I could go back to before my daughter was born and tell…Read more...

Mother’s Day is a pretty straightforward holiday in many homes. Mom sleeps in, the kids bring her breakfast in bed, and she receives some handmade cards, small gifts, or flowers. But in many other homes, the day is a stark reminder of loss—a painful day for adults who’ve lost their moms and for moms who’ve lost their…Read more...

The purpose of small claims court is to allow for people to resolve their disputes quickly and inexpensively, for claims that are usually less than $10,000. Knowing when to use them, on the other hand, is a little more complicated. Here’s a look at when they’re worth the bother.Read more...

We love our readers, don’t we, folks? I know I do. For the most part, the people who read and comment on Skillet (and Lifehacker in general) make up a pretty pleasant portion of the internet, and I’m always impressed by the creative and unique food hacks and recipes some of you come up with. In fact, the…Read more...

When you actually stop to think about it, sharing a bed with another person—for the purpose of sleeping—is kind of a terrible idea. Sure, you may get used to sleeping next to a partner and feel more secure doing so, but in terms of sleep quality and disruptions, it’s hard to beat having your own bed.Read more...

It happens to the best of us: one minute you’re innocently scrolling through Zillow listings, and the next you’re planning your life in a a former industrial town where you’ve found the historic house of your dreams at a price you can seemingly afford. You might even go to the next step and see the house in-person,…Read more...

Pretty much everything about moving is hard and annoying and makes you swear that you’ll never move again. But moving with a large collection of (or even a few) houseplants is even trickier. You want to make sure they survive the trip, that their pots don’t break, and that the soil doesn’t spill everywhere and get the…Read more...

Sure, there are all those feel-good local news stories about how the pandemic has “brought out the best in people,” and while that may be the case sometimes, a lot of people are still feeling pretty bitter about the whole thing. If you’ve shared your bitterness on Twitter, you may have gained (or lost) a few…Read more...

Fear of failure makes sense. We’ve all experienced failure at some stage, realized it’s not great, and are worried about feeling like that again. But our brains are hard to please. Because in addition to the fear of failure, many people also experience a fear of success.

Once you’ve decided to paint the interior of your house—or even just a room—the next decision is much harder: picking a color scheme. Maybe you really like canary yellow, but you’re worried about making that kind of commitment. Or maybe you mentioned that you’ve decided to paint, and everyone keeps telling you that…Read more...

The pause in administration of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine appears to be at its end. The CDC’s independent advisory panel, ACIP, voted today to once again recommend the vaccine for everyone aged 18 and over, even though there is a very small risk of blood clots in women under age 50. Vaccinations…Read more...

Music can be a powerful mood elevator that releases dopamine, improves our outlook, relieves stress, helps us focus, and gets us motivated at the gym. It can be used to make your drive better, too, whether it’s a cross-country trip or a grueling commute. But mastering your driving playlist goes beyond making a perfect…Read more...

Deep cleaning typically involves scrubbing spaces that you rarely consider, and that can mean having no idea even how to clean them. Recently I began cleaning my own oven, and after scrubbing down the glass window it still looked pretty dirty. That’s when I realized the double-paned glass was dirty on the inside.

I do not drink gin & tonics in the winter, but it is winter no more. The G&T is a garden drink, best consumed while lounging among pretty flowers and in verdant fields (or backyards), preferably while wearing a fun sundress. (They’re also a very good hot tub drink—they seem hydrating even though they are the exact…Read more...

YouTube is finally allowing YouTube creators to change their channel’s name and profile picture without the edits affecting their linked Google Accounts. Prior to this change, a YouTube channel’s branding was tied to the user’s Google Account information, so you’d have to change your Google account’s name and profile…Read more...

Welcome back to another week of Lifehacker’s tech-advice column, Tech 911. And thanks to everyone who sent in their questions from last week’s prompt. If you didn’t catch it, don’t worry, you can still send your geeky questions in whenever you want. I will always have answers.Read more...

Skateboarding has never followed a rulebook, which means that on some level, a piece about learning how to skate probably defies its countercultural roots. And though it’s fostered the growth of a global community, skating is a solitary sport, which is probably why it’s become a newfound pastime for adults during the…Read more...

Adults are, of course, allowed to bang other consenting adults, and as of this week, they’re also all allowed to get vaccinated against COVID-19. And after over a year of mandated—and necessary—isolation, everybody’s randy. Hell, everybody’s been randy, but the vaccine rollout has finally revealed a light at the end…Read more...

For a while, the biggest film story of 2020 was what movies weren’t coming out, as the pandemic closed theaters and bumped release dates for some of the year’s biggest would-be blockbusters (see you later, Black Widow and No Time to Die, hopefully) and buzziest awards-bait (or is there another reason Spielberg…Read more...

Who among us has not had to live in close proximity to a loud, inconsiderate, rude, or even violent neighbor? I have shared a lot of walls over the course of my life (even now, living in a twin home), and on the other side of those walls have been a number of characters.

I am what most people would call a “good cook,” but I am by no means a good griller. Up until two weeks ago, I had never grilled on anything but a gas grill, and honestly, I wasn’t very skilled at that either. As you probably know, cooking with charcoal involves a bit of a learning curve, but after a few weeks of…Read more...

A recent paper in a journal called Medical Hypotheses has made the argument that maybe we shouldn’t be wearing masks. It cites year-old research, from before we understood the pandemic, and its arguments don’t hold together. But it looks like a scientific study, and it’s been shared on social media and by some news…Read more...

Last summer, director Christopher Nolan had the hubris to think that Tenet was a movie people would risk their lives to see. The first major blockbuster to open in theaters following the start of the pandemic, it was also... the last major blockbuster to open in theaters, after it kinda bombed. But this month it is…Read more...

The fact that we have running water in our homes is pretty miraculous, if you think about it. Unlike other points in history—and other parts of the world—many of us have the privilege of turning a few knobs and being showered in clean, hot water. But sometimes the pressure of that water isn’t ideal. This can be…Read more...

A wise man once said, “I love it when a plan comes together.” And we do too—especially when we’re watching a movie.

This week, fake stuff is bubbling to the surface of the internet, whether it’s fraudulent super-fans, a poseur punk band, or a despicable “national holiday.” (Content warning: The story below concerns sexual assault.)

Google recently unveiled several new Google Meet features, including a reorganized web interface with new pin controls, a new data- and battery-friendly Saver mode for mobile users, and a slew of upcoming video features.

Children have been playing video games since Pong came out in the early ‘70s. According to Common Sense Media, before schools shut down, kids spent an hour or more each day playing social games like Minecraft and Fortnite. But screen time has increased significantly in the age of social distancing. Last year, aspiring…Read more...