Lifehacker

I like it when I get a real stumper for the weekly Tech 911 Q&A every now and then; it keeps me on my toes. This time around, a reader is having a hell of a time getting any data through Verizon. Here’s the weird thing, though: The data connection only drops during business hours.Read more...

Anker Nebula Capsule | $222 | Amazon Gold Box

Reading about exercise when you don’t do it is like looking up at a speeding train on an overpass. I’d be doing fine if I were up there, you think, but I’m down here, and I’ve got no momentum.Read more...

Tapping around your screen is for suckers. If you really want to navigate your way through the YouTube app on Android and iOS, there are four gestures worth knowing about—and odds are good you’ve already stumbled across one (or most) of them during your daily YouTube binges.Read more...

My favorite martini is the one that someone else makes for me. Ideally that person is Dan Casto or Jeffrey Morgenthaler, but certain logistical issues have prevented me from living that life. Mixing a martini at home is not hard, but it requires an answer to the question, “What kind of martini do I want?”

Houseparty is one of my favorite video chat apps. I wrote about it here a few years ago, but it’s had a bit of a moment over the past few months as we’ve all been looking for new ways to virtually connect with friends. The app is typically used for interacting with people you already know, but this weekend it’s…Read more...

I’ve always been a fan of the weekly free games you can get from Epic Game Store, and have amassed quite a collection of titles I’m sure I’ll get to someday. Today, Epic dropped what’s arguably its best free offering yet: Grand Theft Auto V, that delightful, mayhem-filled romp through Los Angeles-lookalike city of Los…Read more...

The Streaming Wars are well underway. Apple, NBC, HBO, Netflix, Hulu, Disney and countless others are all vying for our attention and battling over exclusivity rights for our favorite shows and movies. So how do you figure out what is streaming where, when and for how long? In the video above, I go over some ways to…Read more...

I’ve seen a number of reports lately that Google is rolling out a new “group tabs” feature in Chrome designed to help you organize your unruly number of open tabs into more manageable, color-coordinated chunks. Well, duh. You’ve been able to do this for months; you just didn’t know it.

It’s Thursday! If you’re looking for something great to watch tonight we’ve found a ton of pretty outstanding options.

Generally speaking, babies and sleep and blankets do not go hand-in-hand. For many years, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended babies be put to sleep on their backs, on a firm sleep surface free from loose bedding or soft objects. There’s one exception to this no-blanket dictate: the swaddle.Read more...

There are real reasons to distrust governments and corporations. There really are plenty of powerful people acting in their own interest, often to the detriment of others. There are, in real life, legit conspiracies and cover-ups. Tuskegee. Watergate. That weird thing where Volkswagen faked its emissions test results.…Read more...

Even if you have a retirement account or other investment portfolio, you might be confused about what the stock market actually is. So let’s sort it out.Read more...

According to user reports, the Google Play Store is haunted.Read more...

A bike helmet can literally save your life if you fall and hit your head during a ride—but it’ll do you way less good (perhaps no good at all) if it doesn’t fit you properly.

Whether you’re a seasoned work-from-homer or still adjusting to it in these Pandemic Times, you’ve probably run into the whole “all hours are now potential work hours” problem. Without distinct separation between home and office, it’s hard to know when to work and when not to—especially when you’re combining work with…Read more...

Late last year, I found myself at a crossroads. After ten and a half years, I was getting real fucking tired of dealing with my cast iron skillet. Out of nowhere, it suddenly refused to take on seasoning—and hauling it around was worsening the chronic wrist pain I developed the moment I turned 30. I had two choices:…Read more...

If you’ve been itching to make the jump to getting some of your work done on an iPad Pro, it might be tricky to pick out which keyboard attachment you should go with, since at first glance they might not seem too different. I’ve been getting work done on my iPad Pro for over a year now, and I’ve tested just about…Read more...

Cleaning your windows is one of those tasks that feels almost insurmountable. It’s obvious when they need to be cleaned, but it’s also obviously going to be a lot of work. Still, you’d love to have a clear view out the window one of these days—especially since that’s primarily how you connect with the world in 2020.

Dell U2412M 24” UltraSharp monitor | $175 | B&H PhotoRead more...

Each summer, the Girls Who Code organization offers a Summer Immersion Program to help girls learn ways to apply computer science concepts to personal projects. While it’s typically a seven-week, in-person affair, this year the program has changed to two weeks—and it’s online rather than in person.

Grover, like the rest of us, has been practicing social distancing since the pandemic began. Anya Kamenetz and Cory Turner, hosts of NPR’s Life Kit podcast, interviewed the beloved Sesame Street character this week, and he disclosed that he is a “delivery monster” right now, picking up and delivering groceries for his…Read more...

Let’s say you started your first job and you want to open a credit card, but you don’t have a credit score yet—or you do have one, but it’s low. What do you do? Luckily, there are several alternatives.

Updating your Mac is easy. And if all you do is download apps from the Mac App Store, keeping those updated is easy, too. But if you want to make sure everything on your Mac has the most recent features and security fixes, we have a few tips that can help you out.Read more...

At the best of times, sex toys designed for men can be a little awkward. At the worst of times ... well, it’s best not to speak of it. If all you’ve ever heard about male toys is horror stories about Fleshlights, though, there are better options out there. Do yourself a favor and try out these toys that are worth…Read more...

The Google-owned home security company Nest updated its Nest Aware service with an all-new pricing model and some new features.Read more...

I do not DIY without a reason. If I’m going to make my own version of a commercially available product, it either needs to taste better than its store-bought counterpart, cost me fewer dollars, or align with my particular brand of laziness. This is why I don’t make my own ketchup—it’s time consuming, not much cheaper…Read more...

International travel involves a lot of moving parts:from getting a passport and booking your itinerary to budgeting your trip and learning the basics of the language and local customs. An additional component you may need to figure out is whether or not you need a visa. Thankfully, the United States has visa-free…Read more...

Google Meet is now free for everyone to use. The search giant has finished its rollout, and anyone with an email address—a Gmail address, that is—can use it to hold free video chats. Meet isn’t as fully-featured as other video chat apps, but a few useful browser extensions can add in much-needed functionality. Oh, and…Read more...

Your username on a social network is often a reflection of your personality—but what do you do if you’ve changed and you want your username to change along with you?

It’s Wednesday afternoon, which means we’ve made it through more than half of the week!

It appears that nearly 24,000 apps on the Google Play store may have sprung data leaks. Unlike the Play Store malware and scams we often cover that actively steal or distribute user information, these apps are leaking data by accident due to a poorly configured Google Firebase, one of the most widely used Android app…Read more...

Maybe your parents tried to teach you once when you were six years old, but you crashed into a tree and refused to ever get on a bike again. Or maybe no one ever tried to teach you—or you never wanted to learn. But now, several weeks into the pandemic, things have gotten boring. Your partner, your friends, your…Read more...

One of the biggest challenges of quarantine life is figuring out how to keep your meals feeling new and fun while still reducing the number of trips you’re taking to the grocery store.Read more...

Budgeting is basic. It seems like a personal finance 101 lesson, and let’s face it, book covers and marketing for budgeting guides seem more aimed at a middle schooler than you, a competent adult who somehow manages to usually have enough money for stuff.Read more...

These past few months, ER admissions have dropped between 40-50%, a fact that is causing doctors to worry that heart attack and stroke patients are putting off going the ER because of fears about contracting COVID-19.

Update: We’re done! Join us at 1 p.m. Eastern for a live Q&A with Constantine Kanakis, who is here to answer your questions about all types of COVID-19 testing.Read more...

In my particular section of the world, it is currently easier to acquire freshly-baked boules and baguettes than it is to find flour, so I buy baguettes and boules. The baguettes and boules I make will never be as good as the ones I can buy for three or four dollars, and I simply don’t enjoy the process of baking that…Read more...

If you’re someone who enjoys a nice, hot bath, then you’ve probably paid attention to the condition of your tub and the surrounding tiles (or you certainly should). If you’re someone who just hops in and out of the shower without lingering, it can be easy to let the grime build up over time until one day, you spot the…Read more...

When I was in high school, my car brakes gave out on me while driving down a hill. My memories of the incident are hazy—I remember it as a few seconds that stretched on forever: frantically stomping on the brakes; my car coasting to a stop; me, hyperventilating for an indeterminate period. That incident is but one of…Read more...

For parents wanting to keep a closer eye on what their kids are listening to in Spotify Kids, the app has released two new parental controls that allow you to access their listening history and block unwanted content.

If you have student loans, by now you surely know the good news: Most federal loans are automatically in forbearance until the fall. That means borrowers don’t have to pay, but student loan servicers still mark loans as paid on time. It’s a six-month free pass.

The litter box. If you are a cat owner—especially if you have cats who seem to poop half their body weight daily, such as mine do—the foul rectangle inspires a particular sense of unease. Cleaning it is the task every cat owner dreads. This need not be the case.Read more...

Leave it to a bored adolescent to come up with one of the most ingenious ways to appear “present” in a Zoom chat I’ve ever seen—especially if the chat is on the larger side and someone isn’t paying much attention to your webcam in the grid view.

Quibi’s novel approach to short-form content was intended to set it apart from the likes of Netflix, YouTube and Hulu, but it’s had a bit of a rough start; turns out a time when no one is commuting is not the time to launch a commute-friendly mobile-only streaming platform. Even if you’re smitten with the concept and…Read more...

It’s time to bid farewell to Google Play Music: The service is winding down later this year. It’s been around since 2011, which means if you’re a regular user you’ve probably built up a healthy store of tunes on Google’s servers.Read more...

Fresh berries and cream is and always will be my favorite springtime dessert, but my efforts to limit my grocery store trips right now mean I always run out of fresh berries days before my next run is scheduled. This is a relatively small inconvenience, particularly since I can make an almost-as-good version with…Read more...

iPhone 11 (64GB) | $600 | Back Market | Promo code FLASHRead more...

At some point we’re going to be heading out to see the world again, and if you’re new to international travel, you may be wondering how to exchange currency. Here are your options.Read more...

An image being shared on social media states that hypercapnia, or breathing too much carbon dioxide, can cause symptoms like drowsiness and dizziness. That much is true, and the image comes from Wikipedia here. What’s not true is the implied relationship between hypercapnia and wearing a mask.Read more...