Lifehacker

Aukey Wireless Charger Stand | $22 | Amazon | Clip Coupon + KINJACE9

Top Product: TP-Link Archer AX21 Wi-Fi 6 Router | $100 | AmazonRead more...

As runners, we’re often hard on ourselves. I’m so slow, you might think as you check your watch. Or: my feet hurt, am I starting to get a blister? Or the perennial favorite: Oh god, I’m only halfway. But a new set of mindful running tracks from Headspace, featuring comedian Kevin Hart, got me thinking about my inner…Read more...

The show 30 Rock packed in a lot of food jokes over the years, but “Put potato chips on a sandwich!” isn’t one; it’s just good sense. The thin, crispy slices of fried potato add textural contrast, lots of salt, and sometimes more, depending on the flavor of your chip. (I’m a plain Lay’s girl myself.)Read more...

Cloth masks, by themselves, were never the best option for everybody to wear during a pandemic; they were, instead, just the best way to get a lot of masks to a lot of people without too much of an effect on supplies for healthcare workers.Read more...

Monday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

Now more than ever, there are many ways to sabotage yourself when searching for a job. Social media and digital profiles are baked into so many aspects of our lives, but even if you’re not leaving incriminating posts on Twitter or Instagram, an older gaffe still remains that could see your chances of landing a new job…Read more...

The first step in being a responsible pet owner is knowing whether you can afford one to begin with. Beyond the initial adoption costs, you’ll need to budget for hundreds to thousands of dollars in annual expenses—for years to come. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect for different types of pets.Read more...

It has felt, particularly over the past year, like people aren’t being especially nice to each other. These times have been trying, and it’s hard to muster up enough social grace to wave hello to that neighbor who peppered their lawn with political signs of a figure you disdain. But it might be time to reevaluate the…Read more...

If you want to prioritize environmental friendliness with the next car you buy, a handy website called Carboncounter has done the hard work for you. With its interactive charts and graphs, you can see how more than 600 cars stack up in two key areas: greenhouse gas emissions and expected monthly charges.Read more...

For many people who have been stuck at home for the past year, social interaction has been in short supply. Zoom and Discord voice chat allow some stopgaps for friends looking to connect, but physical interactions have been limited to roommates or family. That got me thinking about how difficult it’s been to find new…Read more...

The pandemic has created a nightmare job scenario for many of us this year—whether we’ve had to take a large pay cut, lost our jobs entirely, or found ourselves stuck in a job that we hate. With the job market looking as dismal as it is now, is there any hope? Personal finance expert (and friend of The Upgrade) Ramit…Read more...

The annual Sundance Film Festival kicks off this Thursday, Jan. 28, and for the first time, you don’t have to travel to Utah or stand in line in the cold to take part. The Sundance Institute is screening films, Q&A panels, and special events virtually so you can watch from the comfort (and safety) of your living room.

Cocktail people love to talk about the importance of clear ice, but not nearly as much is said about cracked ice, which is too bad, because cracked ice is the best ice for chilling your drink.Read more...

It’s almost February, which means the biggest spectacle in football is just around the corner. Played during a pandemic, however, Super Bowl LV will be a lot different than the 54 Super Bowl games that came before it. The good news is, you don’t need a cable subscription to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the…Read more...

Having a bad day can happen from time to time, but then there are longer stretches that can turn into weeks or months of feeling unmotivated, lost, or hopeless. Life may keep piling it on, but here are a few starting points for how you can climb out of your hole and get back on track.

Following a recipe is a great way to get started in the kitchen. However, once you’ve gotten the hang of combining ingredients, you can employ a few choice ratios that govern dozens of different dishes—and free yourself from the restrictions of recipes altogether. Here’s how it works.

Switchmate Dual Smart Power Outlet | $29 | Side Deal

Google is bringing back “offline mode” to its web-based version of Google Calendar—at least, for Workspace users. Most of you shouldn’t need this, assuming you’ve previously connected your Google Calendar to one of the many smartphone or desktop apps available, but it never hurts to have a backup just in case…Read more...

Jump to: Tech | Gaming | Home | Lifestyle | Media

If you’ve gone through the process of selling your home, chances are it involved staging the interior when it came time for potential buyers to check out the place. The idea behind staging is to remove any traces of your personality, style, or identity to make it easier for the interested parties to picture themselves…Read more...

Though it sounds like the cozier, cold-weather version of the Battle of the Network Stars, the “Winter Circle of Stars” is actually something that takes place in the night sky, instead of on the fields of Pepperdine University in California. (OK, technically it’s just called the “Winter Circle”—or “Winter Hexagon”—but…Read more...

Jiga Ring Light Webcam | $30 | Amazon | Clip coupon + Code TQWC2G8A

Jump to: Tech | Gaming | Home | Lifestyle | Media

We’re living at a time when the news cycle moves so quickly, that what would previously have been major stories are swiftly pushed to the side to make room for the next piece of breaking news. (Although between a global pandemic, a new presidential administration, and the upcoming impeachment trial of the former…Read more...

Maybe you’re someone who is familiar with every last detail and feature of your car, taking pride in knowing everything your machine can do. Or maybe it’s just a thing that gets you from A to B, and each time you get in, you pop the key in the ignition, turn it, and hope for the best (unless you have one that starts…Read more...

Do you like candy? Do you have opinions about it? Are you looking for a job? If you answered “yes” to all three questions, you may be interested in learning more about a position that will pay you cash money to taste-test candy. And no, this isn’t one of those “dream job” contests—it’s an actual role with a candy…Read more...

So you want to learn to play the drums. Thrash the skins. Hit some wooden circles with sticks in the pursuit of that sweet, sweet rhythm. In this endeavor I salute you, especially if you’re a kid living at home with your parents (they will learn to deal with the noise).

I love my protein shaker. (I’ve even been known to mix cocktails in it.) It’s a staple in my meathead life because I find protein shakes help me achieve my muscle-building goals. But a protein shake isn’t an automatic necessity if you’re lifting weights, so let’s talk about how you know whether you actually need one.Read more...

Today, Joe Biden is expected to sign two new executive orders that will increase food aid and expand protections for federal workers. Provisions include enhanced food stamp benefits, firming up $15 minimum wage for federal employees, and expanded unemployment benefits.Read more...

Top Pick: Capresso Team Pro Plus | $210 | AmazonRead more...

The latest update for Edge Chromium, version 88, is finally rolling out. This version adds many new features to the Windows and macOS versions of the browser, like new password security tools, an updated look, and several quality-of-life enhancements. It’s a lot, so we’ll go over everything new in Edge 88 and show you…Read more...

Top Pick: DeWalt MAX Brushless | $113 | AmazonRead more...

Friday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

If you are a podcaster, musician, or actor working during the pandemic, having an in-home recording studio of some kind could be essential to your business. This year, the majority of recording work has moved into our homes, but often still demands professional-grade sound. Unfortunately, creating a home studio is not…Read more...

You can understand the impulse that led Chelsea Clinton to tweet a “cute” anecdote about her 4-year-old son celebrating this week’s inauguration of Joe Biden. Certainly Hillary Clinton’s daughter has plenty of reasons to mark the ignominious exit from politics of the man who spent half a decade vilifying her mother…Read more...

I love trying new cocktails, and nothing annoys me more acutely than almost having all the ingredients I need to make one of them. Sadly, this is the exact situation I found myself in this week when my friend Dan sent me a recipe for the Yellow Parrot, an extremely booze-heavy (and not very cost-effective)…Read more...

Otter.ai is a solid service that can magically turn your conversations into transcriptions—ones that typically require little editing after the fact. Especially if your call quality was decent and your subject doesn’t mumble, like I do.Read more...

If you still have a Facebook account, then you automatically have a Messenger account. Whether you realize it or not, Messenger is one of the most popular apps in the world. (I only use it to sell all my personal belongings on Marketplace, but it has other functions.) Here are the best features to activate for…Read more...

Whether you believe in fate, or destiny, or that some other higher power exists that influences who we meet or what we do, we’ve all experienced coincidences that seem too wild to be true. I came across this coincidence in my Twitter feed yesterday, and it might as well be the plot of a rom-com that I would absolutely…Read more...

Apparently Hertz has too many rental cars sitting idle on the west coast, so they’re offering a new deal for one-way trips across the country, for as little as $9.99 per day. That’s at least on par with the cost of a flight or train, and it offers an alternative way to travel during the pandemic.Read more...

For all the money and elbow grease that was poured into developing the COVID-19 vaccines, you’d think that vaccinating people is a top-priority project. But precious few resources have been given to any efforts to actually get the vaccine into people’s arms. We don’t have an organized, efficient system. Instead we…Read more...

If you’re just learning to cook or you’re on a tight budget, it’s a good idea to make your pantry staples a set of ingredients that you can mix and match into multiple dishes without getting bored of them. They don’t have to be a huge part of each meal, but they can offer you enough flexibility that you’ll never be…Read more...

The hot trend to watch for in 2021 is maturity, as grown-ass adults are in charge of the country again and youth culture is noticing. Nonsense, shenanigans, jack-a-napes, and malarkey won’t be tolerated, so the hottest young celebrity is a poet, the fieriest thing streaming is a throwback to the 1950s, the meme of the…Read more...

Jump to: Tech | Gaming | Home | Lifestyle | Media

Considering the average hourly rate for a lawyer in America ranges between $100-$300, many people can’t afford to hire an attorney. There is relief available, however, in the form of legal aid—an umbrella term for any service which provides legal assistance to those with low income. Here’s a look at your options.

Opera recently purchased YoYo Games, creators of the game development engine Game Maker Studio, to build up its new “Opera Gaming” division. Opera hasn’t announced what it plans to do with Game Maker Studio just yet, but the acquisition offers great opportunity to check in on Opera’s other gaming-focused product: the…Read more...

When I put out a call for freelance pitches last week, I also asked readers to send me post or topic ideas they’d like to read—even if they didn’t want to write them themselves. Which is how it came to be that a 53-year-old newspaper editor named Andy contacted me with an undeniably good idea: Parents should buy their…Read more...

Nobody likes a broken phone screen—especially when you need to access something on your device, but can’t see your display at all. It’s a frustrating predicament, as Lifehacker reader Ayana explains in this week’s Tech 911 question:Read more...

I...have...a confession...to make: I think that when you wedge ellipses into texts, you unintentionally rob your message of any linear train of thought.