Lifehacker

An Instacart $100 gift card and Sony’s WF-1000XM3 wireless earbuds lead Friday’s best deals.

It can no longer be ignored: Christmas is almost here, and it’s time to submit—to give yourself over to our uniquely American celebration of the day, in which religious sentiment and buying things become one. This week’s Out-of-Touch Adults’ Guide is all ‘bout that Christmas, with presents from TikTok, exploding…Read more...

The most consistent element of my pandemic meal plan is a genre of food I call “stuff on rice.” Even a single fried egg or a bowl of beans becomes a full meal when served with rice, which means I can stretch out any leftovers so I don’t have to worry about tomorrow’s lunch.

$100 Instacart Gift Card | $80 | Best Buy

One of the most notable features of the iPhone 12 is the 5G speeds. However, many users may find that the constant turbo-boosted 5G is detrimental to their battery life. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to disable 5G on your iPhone when you don’t need it.Read more...

A friend of mine just had their Facebook account broken into the other day, and the attackers employed an ingenious trick to lock her out forevermore: enabling two-factor authentication and tying it to a random phone number. As a result, she can’t get in no matter how many password resets she submits, and Facebook’s…Read more...

Since Disney+ launched in 2019, the streaming service has acquired over 86 million paid subscribers, and this month at Disney’s Investors Day event they announced development on 100 new projects between 2021 and 2024. Out of those projects, 80% will be streaming on Disney+. So how will Disney keep up with their…Read more...

Top Pick: The Matrix (4K UHD Blu-ray) | $25 | AmazonRead more...

The filmmaker, producer, and comedy show runner Tyler Perry has never really been a lifestyle influencer. He’s wildly successful—a show-business tycoon worth a billion dollars—but the public has never looked to Perry for personal wellness, beauty, or anything that might fall under the remit of a Kardashian.

Discord has finally added screen sharing to its Android and iOS apps. You can now share your mobile device’s screen with up to 50 others in voice channels or video calls.Read more...

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If you haven’t already brought Baby Yoda/Grogu/The Child into your home for the holidays—whether in the form of a giant stuffed animal, a walking toy, or just obsessive rewatchings of The Mandalorian—there is another... option (to borrow Yoda’s dramatic phrasing from Return of the Jedi): Use your Android phone to drop…Read more...

As much as we miss the Before Times—when we didn’t have to wear masks and could go to crowded places and travel and throw parties and attend concerts and eat at the same table as acquaintances and strangers—those times aren’t coming back soon. No matter how good the news on vaccines might be, hang on to your masks.Read more...

Amazon’s Luna cloud gaming service is now available for Android in the U.S., adding yet another option for playing console-quality games from anywhere on your smartphone. Using Luna on Android is simple, but there are several requirements you’ll have to address before you get started.

Whipped cream is the fluffy final touch to so many desserts and drinks, and for good reason. It tastes good (like cream), and it looks good (like a cloud), and it never fails to make things feel fun.Read more...

The National Park Service has announced their 2021 free park dates and it’s time to start making your travel plans. Since pandemic activities have kept us mostly indoors for much of 2020, making a getaway to the great outdoors might be the perfect plan for your new, less-restricted year. (I’ve been taking walks around…Read more...

If the skies are clear enough when you live, you should plan on gazing upward early next week to witness what I can only liken to a great cosmic romance. Though the pandemic is rampant and your town or city might be buried under a deluge of snow, the heavens have promised an escape from the drudgery here on Earth with…Read more...

My husband and I warned our 10-year old earlier this week that, despite the big snow storm headed our way, a snow day was unlikely. He’d been on a hybrid schedule for most of the year, going into the classroom two days a week, but his school has gone all-virtual to get us through the holidays. Short of a major power…Read more...

Top Product: Cheeky Deadpool Sweater | $40 | AmazonRead more...

It’s hard to see someone you care about in pain. We’ve all experienced pain in some capacity, so when we have a loved one having a hard time, it reminds us how unpleasant it was. But there are situations when someone close to you starts to suffer in a different way—and may not even fully realize what’s going on. Maybe…Read more...

Our long national nightmare is over. No, not that one. What I’m saying is, you can finally watch HBO Max on Roku without resorting to a workaround.Read more...

Microsoft is testing out a new password-management feature in its Authenticator app, which makes the former even more useful as a one-stop shop for all of your account-related information. It’s super easy to set up, and it enables you to synchronize your passwords across iOS and Android, as well as Chrome and Edge on…Read more...

I wrote earlier this week that parents can—should, even—ramp up the holiday magic even more than usual this year. It’s all we have right now! But one commenter came in ready to up the ante even further than my suggestions of extra decorations, new traditions, and fancy Christmas dinners.Read more...

The world of automotive DIY-ing is a fruitful one, full of knowledgeable experts and easy-to-follow guides. You won’t be getting that here.

By now you have probably seen the chaotic TikTok video where a young woman rinses some cooked ground beef to get rid of “all this grease.” It is upsetting content for people who love flavor, but I suspect it’s even more upsetting for plumbers.Read more...

Nuoavawhite Complete Home Whitening System | $19 | MorningSave

Herman Miller x Logitech G Embody Gaming Chair | $1,495 | Herman MillerRead more...

Delta is now offering “quarantine-free” flights to Europe, which, in a bold move they are also billing as “COVID-free.” If only it were so easy to guarantee that the coronavirus won’t be on the plane. The flights do use a testing protocol to reduce the chances that somebody with COVID makes it on board, though.Read more...

The latest Firefox update, version 84, is now out for desktop and Android. While you’re updating your browser, let’s have a quick look at everything that’s new—especially critical if you’re sitting on a brand-new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac Mini.Read more...

As you recall, Apple runs its App Store with an iron fist. And it’ll be a cold day in Cupertino before the company allows game-streaming services to have regular ol’ apps—not unless the service submits each streamable game for review by Apple, which isn’t going to happen. And you can bet Apple would want to take a cut…Read more...

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In the face of so much uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s tempting to search for answers that might help you regain some sense of control over your life. You might, for instance, find yourself reading the advice of self-appointed health “experts” and social media gurus, who love to make overblown and…Read more...

The first COVID vaccine to be rolled out in the U.S., the one from Pfizer and BioNTech, is an mRNA vaccine. The second one probably will be too: Moderna’s vaccine is up for consideration this week. We’ve never had an mRNA vaccine in common use before, so you’re not alone if you’re wondering what the hell this…Read more...

Every year my family follows a strict holiday watch list, including a rule that The Muppet Christmas Carol must only be viewed on Christmas day—no earlier. The Muppet Christmas Carol is Jim Henson’s take on the classic transformation story of Ebenezer Scrooge. With characters like Ganzo and Rizzo The Rat adding…Read more...

Jewelry is a pretty common gift around the holidays, but as with other types of presents, it’s not necessarily something you want to hang onto forever. You also might need a little extra cash right now, and digging through your jewelry box is a good place to start looking for stuff to sell. But should you go to a gold…Read more...

Food is a good gift, though giving it can be tricky, as—due to societal norms—most people are already getting absolutely bombarded with cookies and candy this time of year. Luckily, those aren’t your only options. There are plenty of edible delights you can bestow upon your loved ones that fall outside the realm of…Read more...

It used to be that a child’s only options for personally connecting with Santa in the lead-up to Christmas were to send a handwritten letter to the North Pole or snag a few one-on-one moments at their local mall. But in 2020, even in the middle of a pandemic, kids have loads of ways to connect virtually with the big…Read more...

Amazon Echo devices can now work as your personal translator thanks to Alexa’s new Live Translate mode. Like the translation functions available from other digital assistants, Live Translate is an AI-powered feature that can recognize multiple languages as they’re spoken, and translate for both speakers. The tech…Read more...

Lettuce recalls, while common as a passing breeze these days, aren’t really that big of a deal for the general consumer unless you’ve already gobbled up a bed of contaminated romaine. Massive auto recalls are another dilemma entirely: If you’re affected by one, you’ve likely paid thousands, or signed on to a longterm…Read more...

For someone who spends a lot of time cursing nostalgia culture and lamenting the fact that the vast majority of new entertainment—from movies to Broadway musicals—seems to exist only to milk a little bit more money out of some valuable IP, I sure do love Netflix’s Cobra Kai.

I love a candy cane. I love the look of it. I love the smell of it. I love the taste of it. And, while the minty bent sugar sticks make great stirring implements for hot cocoa, the easiest way to give your beverages a ton of candy candy character is to melt a whole bunch of them down into a syrup.Read more...

The Washington Football Team used to be called the Washington Redskins. The now discarded mascot endured for nearly a century—from 1933 to earlier this year. The Redskins’ moniker finally met its demise, but it took decades of criticism and campaigning from Indigenous activists to make it happen. Their efforts…Read more...

This January, Hulu picks up more sci-fi, action-adventure, and extraterrestrial encounters to stream in the new year (since an alien invasion is the only thing that hasn’t happened yet). First on my watchlist is the awkward sci-fi comedy Save Yourselves, where a quirky couple Jack (John Reynolds) and Su (Sunita Mani)…Read more...

In the latest of the Chronicles of Things We Have to Do Virtually This Year, it’s now time to figure out how to give a gift to our kids’ teachers while still in the midst of a pandemic that has children largely learning from home.Read more...

iOS and iPadOS 14.3 are here, and they appear safe to download. At least, I haven’t noticed any major reports of the update bugging out iPhones left and right, but it’s also still a little early. If you’re tentative, or you’re not foaming at the mouth to get your hands on some of the features it brings to your…Read more...

Apple Fitness+ launches today, and if you have an Apple Watch Series 3 or newer, you can try it out. The service will cost $9.99/month (or $79.99/year) but when you buy a watch (or upgrade yours), you get a month’s access for free.Read more...

For many people, today is the last day to enroll in federally subsidized health insurance for 2021, as open enrollment in the 36 states that use the federal exchange will end tomorrow.

With over 350 million players, Fortnite is one of the biggest franchises in gaming, and it owes much of that success to its accessibility. The game is free to download and play on every major console, many smartphones, all Windows PCs, and Macs (with big caveats). Even weaker computers with outdated hardware can run …Read more...

Last week, during an investor conference call masquerading as entertaining content (or vice versa) Disney announced an exhausting number of new Disney+ series and films arriving over the next few years, most of them having something to do with the Marvel or Star Wars franchises. The majority of those are a long way…Read more...

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