Lifehacker

Any mask—even a surgical-style or cloth one—should fit snugly around your face. But since many masks gap at the sides, here’s a quick trick to make yours fit better.Read more...

A highly successful email spam campaign is infecting computers with ransomware and other malware like cryptocurrency miners and botnet software that can send spam messages from your accounts without you noticing.Read more...

You’re probably sick of hearing about the coronavirus, and it’s only existed on this earth for seven months or so—as far as we know. Can people get it twice? A recent case reported in Vox suggests the answer may be yes, but there are too many unknowns to confirm whether that’s true, or what it means. Here are a few…Read more...

Welcome to Ask Kotaku, a new weekly feature in which Kotaku’s rank and file weigh in on the burning questions of our time. Each query is a crucible on which nerds and giants clash, monumental contests of wit, that...well, OK. It’s just another excuse to talk vidya games. You down?

It sounds ridiculous to suggest, in the age of the camera phone, that you aren’t taking enough pictures of your pets. Because, okay, that probably isn’t true—our cat died last summer and I’d estimate there are still several gigs of photos of him floating around in the cloud. You might not, however, be taking the right…Read more...

Google is finally adding a dark mode to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Android. The new dark themes look identical to those in other first-party Google apps: The bright white is replaced with dark grays and blacks that should be easier on eyes and batteries.Read more...

If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, we have some good news: There’s still time to lower your bill. When the IRS pushed back the filing deadline to July 15, 2020, some other deadlines moved along with it, which may give you the chance to make some late-breaking moves to slash what you owe or increase your tax refund.

Have you ever spun out over why your friend ended that text with a period? Or missed the subtle sarcasm in an unpunctuated email? We’re clearing up all of these online miscommunications and more this week with help from internet linguist, Gretchen McCulloch. Listen in to hear Gretchen talk about how to better approach…Read more...

With COVID-19 case numbers skyrocketing in the U.S. and other countries restricting who can and cannot cross their borders, we may not be able to travel abroad for a while. Heck, it’s not a great idea to travel, period, even within our nation’s borders. But being stuck at home and bored with your surroundings doesn’t…Read more...

For some kids, learning how to write numbers can be a real challenge. There are so many to learn! In all kinds of weird shapes! One can see how that would be frustrating. But an occupational therapy assistant may have come up with a method to help those kids out. She has dubbed it the “Thumb Numbers” method.Read more...

About twice a month, my boyfriend and I order far too many chicken wings. (We order so many they bring them to us in a catering container. We also get fries. We will not be shamed.) He and I have slightly different strategies when it comes to dealing with the leftovers. He eats them in his sleep while crouched in the…Read more...

All you need to lift a weight is just yourself, and the weight. But there are a lot of handy things that can help, and I’ve accumulated quite a few of them in my gym bag. Let’s take a tour.Read more...

It can be difficult to determine whom to allow into your family’s little physically distanced bubble right now, but as businesses open back up and more parents return to their in-person jobs (or actually attempt to get work done at home), someone’s got to watch the kids. Finding the right babysitter during normal…Read more...

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a devastating impact on the U.S. economy. While employers added a promising number of new jobs last month, unemployment is still in the double digits. Although Congress has passed three economic stimulus packages—totaling almost $3 trillion—many folks are still barely scraping by.

My post-work hours are precious, and there’s little I find more annoying than hearing Slack’s all-too-familiar knocking interrupt my afternoon nap. (I’m not sixty years old; I just wake up super early for work.)

Frozen cake is an underrated convenience item, and Sara Lee makes a pretty good one. The All Butter Pound Cake is a very tight example of the genre and—though one is supposed to let it come to room temperature before consuming it—eating frozen slices as the craving strikes is more my speed. This was my plan for the…Read more...

The French have given us many wonderful things. Wine, for one; no one does fermented grape juice like the French. Also, croissants, obviously. Croissants are the fucking best. A few years ago I spent three weeks summering in France and I started every day with a walk to a nearby bakery—there were about six to choose…Read more...

Save up to 20% on LED Smart Bulbs | Amazon Gold BoxRead more...

If you’re someone who reaches for your phone as soon as you wake up (other than to turn off the alarm), you may find yourself scrolling through your newsfeed or social media channels out of habit. It can start out innocently enough: quizzes to find out which Golden Girl you are, pictures of your friends’ kids drawing…Read more...

When we think of sobriety, it’s usually in terms of no longer using alcohol or recreational drugs, but it’s more complicated than that. According to the definition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), sobriety means “not being intoxicated,” then goes on to explain that sobriety is more…Read more...

Thanks to COVID-19, you may not get to take your kids to the planetarium any time soon. But if they’re into astronomy, you’re in luck, because we should be able to see a comet starting tonight. Known as Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) for science reasons, it’s been visible at dawn a few times this month, but will be making…Read more...

Going on walks and hikes in uncrowded parks is one of the few activities that we can still do without having to worry too much about spreading COVID-19 (assuming that you’re either by yourself, with the people you’ve been quarantining with, or with other people while physical distancing). If you’re new to hiking,…Read more...

Since COVID-19 first started to spread in December 2019, it has made its way around the world. When it came to the United States, there were initially a few cases in Seattle, but the first major hotspot was New York City. Now, a few months later, places like Arizona, South Carolina and Florida are new hotspots for the…Read more...

If you live somewhere with all four seasons (or probably more realistically, two: summer and winter), you may look forward to growing outdoor plants once the weather warms up. But things can get tricky if there’s not enough rain. According to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, many parts of the…Read more...

After months in quarantine, we’re all used to working and socializing remotely (right?). The ubiquity of camera-touting devices and the abundance of video-chat apps made the transition easy (well, not easy), but there’s always room for improvement—and one way to make your video chats look even better is to get a…Read more...

So you like bold coffee, but all you have at home is a bag of light-roast beans. What to do? Well, one solution is to buy another bag of coffee—but with some small tweaks, it is possible to get dark-roast flavor out of light-roast beans.Read more...

As the election approaches, student loan forgiveness has become a popular topic. While some politicians have proposed student loan forgiveness, the current Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program has had some difficulties.

In the early days of the pandemic, many companies made a show of extending special benefits and discounts to the “essential workers” who weren’t able to hunker down indoors and binge Netflix when states issued stay-at-home orders. Now, as states reopen, communications giant AT&T is extending generous discounts—up to…Read more...

Most people—even people who know relatively nothing about cocktails—know what a martini is supposed to look like. It is supposed to be served up (without ice) in a stemmed glass with sloped sides. There should also be a lemon twist or an olive in there. It is known. But iconic as it is, that version of that drink is…Read more...

When it comes to getting the news, everyone has their preferred sources and outlets. Some people want news that reflects their own political viewpoints, while others are more concerned with the accuracy of the reporting. But how do you know which outlets have the best reporting if the articles exploring the subject…Read more...

There are lots of reasons that parents—and yes, particularly moms—dodge the camera. We haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in multiple years, as the dark circles under our eyes can attest. Or we just woke up and our pajamas have holes in them and our hair is disheveled. Or we haven’t lost the baby weight all these…Read more...

A Facebook bug is causing widespread crashes across a swath of iOS apps. The crashes have been reported for Spotify, Bumble, Mario Kart Tour, PUBG Mobile, Tinder, Venmo, and a few others.

See if this scenario sounds familiar: You’ve put on your best Zoom shirt for your daily work check-in, you’ve poured the wine for your weekly friend hangout, you’re ready to engage in some digital face-to-face connection—but you spend the entire chat session staring at your own face. Happily, if you want to change…Read more...

Scammy Android apps? You don’t say. A relatively established bit of malware known as “Joker”—insert your favorite Heath Ledger meme here—has permeated yet another handful of Android apps. And the fun thing about this one is that this Joker likes to sign you up for subscriptions you don’t want.Read more...

I used to hate beets, but I couldn’t tell you why. “They taste like sweet dirt,” I would say, as if that were a bad thing. The truth is, the earthy sweetness of a beet is delightful, perfect for summer salads and simple sides. A beet is, however, kind of a pain to prep while raw. Luckily, a box of kosher salt (and an…Read more...

With unemployment numbers still off the charts and the economy officially in a recession, you may find yourself needing to cut back on your monthly spending. While you’re already no doubt trying hard to budget in other areas of you life, you actually have a good shot at saving money on your bills, too: It’s possible to…Read more...

Are you sitting at home? Working at home, perhaps? Working at a desk somewhere? If so, my fitness challenge to you is a simple one today: get up for a minute and take a stroll around the block.Read more...

As difficult at the spring was, with having our kids home with us all day as we ourselves tried to keep working, it did have a finite feel about it. At the most, it could only go on as long as the rest of the school year, which in my case was just shy of three months. And while they did have online assignments and…Read more...

By design, most Alexa-powered devices can be controlled entirely with voice commands right out of the box—just say “Alexa” and your Echo speaker, Fire TV or other Alexa device will respond, no button-presses or taps necessary. The rare exception is the Alexa smartphone app, which requires users tap an “Alexa” button…Read more...

The pandemic has impacted how Americans spend money in major ways. In April, the New York Times reported big dips in spending on travel, shopping and restaurants. But there have been increases in other areas, like groceries and subscription services.Read more...

Not everyone has—or wants—a mentor. But if you do have someone in your life who helps guide your professional and/or personal life, you probably want to make sure that you use your time with them wisely. A lot of energy and effort go into mentoring someone, so if you’re on the receiving end of that sort of …Read more...

In a perfect world, you’d pay for super-fast internet service, connect your cable modem to a reasonably speedy router and realize incredible download speeds for every device in your home. Unfortunately, we live in the real world, which often paints a much different picture.Read more...

Logitech will sunset its Harmony Express remote in just a few weeks, after barely a full year on the market. Don’t worry, though; you’ll be able to get an even better smart remote for free. But you should put in the request sooner rather than later.

Before you turn in that resignation letter to your boss, it’s important to take care of some data management first. In the video above, I go over the steps you should take to back up your data and erase any personal information from work devices.Read more...

This is your periodic reminder that there is still no known cure, nor specific pharmaceutical preventative or treatment, for COVID-19. So if anybody is selling one, it’s a scam.Read more...

Android 11 beta 2 is here. That means we’re just one beta away from a Release Preview, otherwise known as “the beta you want to get if you want to try new features in as stable an environment as possible.” From there, it’s on to the Android 11 final release. So close!Read more...

About three years ago, I removed a pig’s face from its skull, packed it with herbs, zest, and spices, and sous-vided it for many hours to make a porchetta di testa. This process was recorded and made into a video (my first for Lifehacker), and it made a lot of people very angry.

As more and more international flights resume, many countries have placed bans on who can enter their borders and who cannot. The United States, for instance, is banned from the European Union, due to the spike of COVID-19 cases in the States. Here’s everything you need to know about the EU travel ban.Read more...

It’s still virtual summer camp season, and the latest free camp to be announced is one that many little kids will be pumped to attend: The Wiggles’ Virtual Summer Camp.Read more...

Are you curious to see if your employer or local businesses got a slice of the government’s $2.2 trillion stimulus package? This week, ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom, released a new Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) tracking tool.