Lifehacker

If you’ve run out of ways to make this summer exciting, we’ve got a suggestion you probably haven’t thought of yet—drop ice cream from your roof onto your kids. Or, rather, try to drop ice cream into the giant bowls your kids are holding, and hope for the best.Read more...

Getting food to go, even from your favorite restaurant, is not the same experience as eating at that restaurant. For instance, my favorite Lebanese restaurant (Nicholas) always sends out a giant pita for the table, which is served on its very own pedestal. Not only do I not have a pita pedestal (sad), I don’t have the…Read more...

You may be nervous to enter a doctor’s office right now. If you aren’t even supposed to be in a restaurant or classroom, how can you go to an enclosed space with other sick people?Read more...

Did you know there is a coin shortage in the U.S.? You probably haven’t noticed, unless you need them to do laundry.Read more...

You’re getting off the plane and you head to the bathroom to freshen up. You open your makeup bag, reach in, and end up with a colorful hand painted in sparkling eyeshadow and some kind of goo. Is that... facial wash? It is. You didn’t pack your makeup correctly, and these are the consequences. Here’s some ways to…Read more...

I’ll say it: This summer has been a bummer so far, and it’s not looking like it’s going to get much better. As the school year wound down, and summer approached, my son would even say things like, “Well, I’m going to be on summer vacation soon, not that it matters because we won’t be able to go anywhere or do…Read more...

Had I an option, I’d invert the colors in everything I do; dark mode is just so much easier on the eyes. And while WhatsApp users have been able to play around with dark mode on their apps for some time, only now are you getting the same option on WhatsApp’s web-based interface and desktop app.Read more...

Have you ever wondered why your cat bites you after just three pets? Or how to get your dog to chill out and stop barking? We’re uncovering the mysteries of our four-legged friends this week with help from animal behavior expert Zazie Todd. In this episode, you’ll hear about the underlying psychology behind why our…Read more...

GameCube-Style Wired Switch Controller (Mario Red) | $15 | Amazon

Eaters of onion rings have, at one point in their lives, bitten into an onion ring only to have the onion portion slide out of its crunchy home. It’s not the worst thing that can happen, but it is pretty frustrating, as the soft onion and fried batter are supposed to be enjoyed together. Waffling your onion rings…Read more...

Tribit XFree Go Bluetooth Headphones | $25 | AmazonRead more...

Two of Netflix’s buzziest summer debuts both land on July 10, at which point the streaming service’s audience will be divided into two camps: Those who stand with The Old Guard, a new high-concept action thriller starring Charlize Theron and based on an acclaimed comic; and those who can’t wait to find out why Zac…Read more...

Health-o-Meter Lose It! Smart Scale | $25 | MehRead more...

Are you someone who appreciates the subtle difference between two similar shades of red? Do you anxiously await the announcement of Pantone’s color of the year? Are you constantly making mental plans to redo various rooms in your home, despite not actually having the time, money or energy to do it? If so, you’ll…Read more...

As children, we were told not to stare (or even look directly at) the sun because it could hurt our eyes. Sure, that makes sense, but it also adds to the mystery of the sun. We know it’s bright, but what exactly does it look like? Thanks to NASA, you can wonder no more, because they recently released a 10-year time…Read more...

For the past few years, we’ve been told that loneliness is a public health crisis, as damaging as smoking 15 cigarettes each day. The messaging is that we’re people—people who need people—and spending too much time by ourselves is a major problem. Oh, but at the same time, apparently we’re all introverts now, and …Read more...

Naipo Warmer and Cooler Seat Cover | $25 | Amazon | Use code 2S2IE4EJRead more...

With all this time at home this year, a lot of people have been getting into cooking. While some are just starting off and mastering basics like eggs (they’re harder than they look!), other more experienced home chefs are taking on new, more challenging projects. If you fall into that second category—or just enjoy…Read more...

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that most people are capable of handling far more than they thought. During the past few months, many of us have experienced unprecedented changes to our work, home and social lives. And just when you think you there’s no possible way of taking on another single thing, something…Read more...

If you’re not a fan of fireworks (or the ones in your area have been cancelled), there’s something going on in the night sky on the 4th of July: a penumbral lunar eclipse. No, it’s not as flashy or loud as fireworks, but it probably also won’t cause your dog to shake and hide under the couch. Here’s how to watch the…Read more...

I cannot imagine anyone is feeling very patriotic right now. If there is one thing that we can all agree on, it’s that things suck really bad in the USA, and celebrating America feels tone deaf at best. I never feel particularly patriotic, but I’m not going to let that stop me from drinking over the long weekend.…Read more...

Kids are missing out on lots of conventional social interactions with their friends right now, but we’re also getting pretty good at figuring out pandemic variations on the classics. “It’s Better Than Nothing” should be everyone’s mantra by now, which is why I’m going to recommend that you let your kids have video…Read more...

You should be washing all your fruits and vegetables, even the ones you plan to peel before eating. Besides dirt from the field, there can also be bacteria and pesticide or other chemical residues. So as you’re packing your picnic basket, give your produce a rinse.Read more...

If you’ve ever signed in to a third-party app or website using your Facebook account, you should take a moment and update a few security settings.

It’s summer, so you probably want to take advantage of having access to fresh watermelon now that it’s in season. But how can you tell which melon is the ripest and sweetest, and which ones you should leave in the grocery store? Here are three steps to picking the perfect watermelon, courtesy of Texas A&M Agrilife.

Along with knitting, puzzles and baking, gardening has become another popular pandemic pastime. The sale of seeds has skyrocketed, and regardless of whether people have a giant backyard or a tiny fire escape in the city, they’ve been getting into the weeds (mostly to pull them).Read more...

In case you missed it, Wendy’s started serving breakfast back in March. (You may have been distracted by the beginning of the global pandemic). On the surface, this doesn’t seem like something that would succeed—after all, with so many people working from home, it probably means fewer drive-thru breakfasts. Well, it…Read more...

I try not to move if I can avoid it, which is why I’ve stayed in the ultra-expensive Silicon Valley—while working remotely for Lifehacker—instead of living like a king in an affordable, smaller town somewhere. When I do move, I take particular care of my desktop PC, because I have a lot of expensive stuff that I don’t…Read more...

Sega Genesis Mini | $40 | AmazonRead more...

2-Pack: Bright Basics Motion Activated Light Bar | $15 | MehRead more...

Does your voice assistant often seem a little too eager to chime in? A recent study by Ruhr University Bochum and Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy found over 1,000 words and phrases that Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant frequently misidentified as activation commands (also known as “wake words”). Here are…Read more...

As the United States’ post-pandemic reopening plans increasingly look like a bad on-again-off-again relationship in many states, many workers have been concerned about losing their unemployment benefits.Read more...

Recently, headlines warned of a new flu virus with “pandemic potential,” based on a study of viruses on pig farms in China. There’s no need to immediately start freaking out, however: While it’s always a safe assumption there will be another pandemic someday, this one is not cause for concern just yet.Read more...

Hotels are gross. There, I said it. It’s something we often forget about, especially if we’re staying at a place that’s a bit classier than the Schitt’s Creek Motel, but anywhere you sleep where 1) other people have slept and 2) someone else has to clean is invariably going to fail you. That’s just the way it is, and…Read more...

A new privacy feature in iOS 14 has exposed a number of popular apps and raised concerns about clipboard privacy. In the video above, I explain why this is concerning, but not something to panic about.Read more...

Remember when we told you that you could view 3D animals in your own home using Google and a smartphone? Well, now you can do the same thing with your favorite Jurassic World dinosaurs, such as the velociraptor above who visited my sun porch today.Read more...

One of the most nerve-wracking moments of booking travel is realizing you have accrued points with your airline, but not enough to get you where you want to go. As travel starts reopening, airlines are figuring out different ways to encourage travelers to book travel. Typically you’d have a choice between buying a…Read more...

I have a summer tradition that involves yelling about raw corn on the internet. Raw corn is good and I think more people should eat it, so every summer I just start shouting and resharing this little blog I wrote a few years ago. This inevitably leads to a lot of corn discourse, and this year that included someone…Read more...

It’s hard to think of any professions that haven’t been impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Whether you lost your job, transitioned to working from home or have had to follow new protocols as an essential worker, most people have seen significant changes in their work lives in the past few months. And while the…Read more...

If you have federal student loans, you may know that while the government owns the loans, they enlist another company—a servicer—to handle the day to day business of collecting payments from borrowers. But soon, the way you pay your monthly student loan bill will be changing, and you may even find that you have a new…Read more...

Nothing says summertime like going out in the sun and getting horribly burned, right? Wrong!Read more...

I have made an actual waffle in my waffle maker exactly once, but I have waffled many other foods, some of which were quite greasy, sticky, or otherwise aggressively messy. An electric waffle maker cannot be washed in the sink, and it’s not something you can just wipe down, thanks to its many grooves, valleys, and…Read more...

Job interviews are a delicate balance between selling yourself and your skills, while also evaluating the company and your potential new boss. As many people have found out, even if you land what you thought was your “dream job,” if you work for someone who turns out to be a terrible boss and/or manager, your…Read more...

I’ve got a barbell, but for the first three months of pandemic life I had no place to put it except on the ground. That’s fine if you want to deadlift, or do olympic lifts, or pick it up and curl it or press it. And I did all of those. But you can’t squat without a rack.Read more...

I cannot tell you that by going to a playground right now, you or your child aren’t exposing yourselves to at least some risk of contracting COVID-19. But I see you out there, parents of little kids who are desperate to get them out of the house and burn off some of their energy. If you’ve been debating whether or not …Read more...

My girlfriend and I share a single account for every subscription service we use. Most of these services are cool with us using the same account simultaneously, but a few of them aren’t. Spotify used to be one of those more restrictive apps, but the company has just added a new “Premium Duo” subscription plan for US…Read more...

Whether you’ve bit the bullet and installed a brand-new iOS beta on your iPhone or you’re updating to a new public release of iOS, the process usually goes swimmingly. When it doesn’t, however, the anxiety kicks in: How the heck do you fix an iPhone that almost works perfectly, save for some new, fatal flaw?Read more...

I have never shied away from a visceral meat-eating experience. I find eating bone-in chops and steaks, offal, and even a literal face all deeply enjoyable. Bone-in steaks are a little pricey for everyday consumption, and faces take a lot of prep—but chicken hearts are cheap, easy to skewer, unchallenging to cook,…Read more...

Whether you were willing to wait for it or not, you’ll no longer have to after today: On July 3, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s revolutionary, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical blockbuster Hamilton is coming to Disney+. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the Fourth of July weekend than by hosting a virtual Hamilton…Read more...

One of the latest bits of Mac malware to keep top of mind as you go about your downloading day is a destructive strain of ransomware known as “EvilQuest.”Read more...