Lifehacker

With Boris Johnson winning the election in Britain, you’ve probably seen a bunch of headlines about how Brexit is sure to happen. But it’s not that simple. Let’s break down the event and what it means for the U.K.—and what it might (eventually) mean for us in the U.S.

Tonight’s nearly full moon is still a visual treat in the night sky, but there’s another light show going on at the same time: the Geminid meteor shower. It’s the second-to-last meteor shower of the year.Read more...

Do you love birds? Do you also not hate being outside in the cold? There’s an annual census of birds that occurs each year around this time, and in many locations there’s still time to sign up to help.Read more...

When we got all excited about Apple’s new Communication Limits that allow you to restrict who your kid can talk to (and when), we didn’t realize Apple left a big loophole that makes it very easy for your crafty child to bypass these restrictions.Read more...

Google Photos has a few AI-driven features that enhance your photos and build “automated creations” on your behalf—such as slideshow videos, collages, and animations of your shots. For example, the Google Photos AI might create a slideshow based on your hiking adventure last weekend, giving you a neat way to view your…Read more...

With all the hacks we test every day, it’s hard to differentiate which ones are trendy, and which are real game changers.Read more...

If you’re flying home for the holidays, get ready for lines of all kinds—according to a forecast by advocacy group Airlines for America, more than 47 million Americans will fly in the days leading up to Christmas and through January 5, 2020, representing roughly 2.6 million passengers a day.

God I love content-aware fill. At Lifehacker I frequently want to illustrate a post with an image that’s not wide enough (like above). So I throw it into Photoshop, I expand the canvas size, I select the new blank parts on the sides, and I hit my cmd+option+F—my custom shortcut for Edit > Content-Aware Fill.

Closing a credit card isn’t always great for your credit score. If you’re closing your oldest credit card, for example, it might reduce your overall age of credit— and the credit bureaus often dole out a few extra credit score points for people who have maintained the same credit accounts for, like, decades.Read more...

A holiday riff on a classic cocktail is a fine thing, but the “seasonal twist” always seems to start and stop with cinnamon. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with cinnamon—it’s accessible and uncontroversial, it reads as sweet without adding actual sweetness, and it is even purportedly good for your blood…Read more...

We get it, it’s fun to choose the perfect emoji when sending or requesting money from friends on Venmo. It shouldn’t be so much fun, but somehow, it is. But everyone needs to find a new way to get three seconds of joy, because you’re putting yourself at risk if you don’t have your Venmo account set to “private.”

As of today, all Alexa users can finally use their Alexa to play podcasts through Spotify, simply by saying “Alexa, play The Upgrade on Spotify.” If you’re partway through an episode on the Spotify app, Alexa will pick up where you left off, and vice versa. No more juggling your progress between the two apps.

Do you want to do a pull-up? Can you already do a few, but want to move forward from here? In our series of year-end fitness benchmarks, here are several levels of pull-up oriented tests to gauge your progress.Read more...

iOS: Here’s a silly thing to do on a Friday. Download Rewound, and listen to your Apple Music library (streaming or owned) through an old click-wheel iPod interface.

We got our first dusting of snow in Eastern Pennsylvania earlier this week, which reminded me that we are fast approaching the first big snowfall of the year. And that snowfall will be followed by a couple of snow days and my son’s burning desire to play in the snow and build a snowman without his gloves getting too…Read more...

It’s been another year of big 5G promises, and while we’ve seen the first 5G devices hit the market and an ever-increasing number of ads touting the glory of 5G speeds over the past 12 months, the tech still isn’t worth the money for the average smartphone user. That’s especially true for most of T-Mobile’s new…Read more...

Our quest to explain every weird thing at the gym has now landed on Fat Gripz, the heavy rubber handles, often blue, that you can wrap around barbells and dumbbells. Their main job is to make the bar harder to hold onto, which can be a good thing.Read more...

Next time you want to have a conversation with someone who speaks a different language, you might be able to do it using just your phone.

I was writing a sentence the other day that included the sentiment that something was of “the utmost importance.” And I paused. Was it utmost? Or was it upmost? I was pretty sure it was “utmost,” but I was also pretty sure I’d seen/heard “upmost” at some point in my life. What’s the difference?Read more...

Microsoft accidentally pushed yet another unnecessary Windows 10 update. This week’s “KB4532441" update went out to regular users of Windows 10, even though the update was meant for those using Windows Autopilot—a way for IT departments to set up and manage new computers. Microsoft even let loose with a number of…Read more...

Chuck E. Cheese is a cacophony for the senses—buzzes and bells and screeches, crowds and music and overstimulated kids (and parents), colors and lights every which way. It’s a lot for those who don’t have sensory-processing challenges. But for people who are sensory sensitive it can be Way. Too. Much.

Hello, all you little orgasm dermestid beetles, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column to help you take your relationship out of early access.

If you’re flying around Christmas this year, schedule some delay time into your schedule. And if you want to optimize, check out the delay rates and average delay time at different airports. The artificial Christmas tree site Treetopia, in a useful bit of branded data journalism, analyzed government flight data from…Read more...

In a story for the New York Times, one traveler with a severe apple allergy shared her recent experience being denied boarding to her Emirates Airlines flight. According to her account, she had filled out a medical request form acknowledging her allergy and provided it to the airline—but that paperwork wasn’t enough…Read more...

Tonight’s full moon is the last one we’ll see before 2020. And conveniently for those of us who go to bed early, sunset is always the perfect time to see the full moon.Read more...

I’ve had my share of roommates, including more than one stint in one of those group houses where it seems like there’s a new roommate every other month, and have experienced nearly everything that can go wrong financially.

The difference between restaurant food and homemade is widest when extreme heat is required. Commercial ovens are designed to reach the high temperatures needed for blistered pizza and crusty artisan bread; home ovens just aren’t. But even if you’ve got an ancient, wimpy rental, clever rack positioning can trick your…Read more...

Maybe you’ve already started to reflect on where 2019 has taken you, and what you want to focus on in 2020. You’re planning a trip, or figuring out how to get back to the gym regularly, or thinking of starting a hobby. But have you thought about your money?

If you own a Ring camera and you’ve seen headlines like Vice’s “How Hackers Are Breaking Into Ring Cameras,” you’re undoubtedly a bit nervous. Has someone broken into your own home setup? Are they watching you? Your pets? Your kids?Read more...

Sharp 50" 2160p UHD TV with HDR Roku TV + Google Nest Mini | $200 | Best BuyRead more...

We’re all told to save up as much money as possible. But are there some things that are worth spending a few extra bucks on?Read more...

If you parent a toddler, you already know that having an arsenal of snacks while traveling is Of The Utmost Importance. Snacks stave off hanger tantrums, they give you flexibility if your food options are limited and, if you’re flying, the swallowing can help combat middle ear pressure during take-offs and landings.Read more...

Ah, the holidays—a time for celebration, family, and garbage. Lots of garbage. Lots of decorative garbage that lasts for up to a month or a day before meeting its end in the trash. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans churned through over five million Christmas trees in 2017 alone. And Earth911…Read more...

Glitch wants to do for web apps what YouTube did for videos, Flickr and Imgur did for pictures, and Twitter did for bad opinions: make them easy to create, share, and embed, and give them the chance to reach the right audience or even go viral. I talked to CEO Anil Dash about Glitch, his career, his internet fame, and…Read more...

As readers will have noticed, I have gotten really into lifting over the last year or two. And along the way, I’ve acquired a few items that were a bit expensive. If I were smart, I would have asked for them as birthday or holiday gifts, but last year around this time I wasn’t quite sure what I would end up needing.…Read more...

A few months ago, two friends of mine and I went on a road trip from Las Vegas to Denver. Our mission was to visit national parks along the way and maybe a few hot springs. It was a mission that was ultimately successful but involved passing a number of Google Docs back and forth during its planning stages.

RCS messaging, the next iteration of text messaging that Google has embraced for its Android operating system, has been rolling out to Android smartphones since November. That doesn’t mean that your phone, on your carrier, can use this super-improved version of SMS, but a new update to your Carrier Services…Read more...

Chrome 79 is here. Before you do anything else, click the triple-dot icon in the upper-right corner of your desktop browser, click on Help, click on “About Google Chrome,” and summon that update for your system. (Go ahead and update your Android or iOS apps, too.)

Ghost Paper 96-Page Notebook | $20 | Amazon | Promo code KINJA1219

Front squats are a great exercise to work into your routine, but some of us have a hard time getting comfortable with a bar right in front of our neck and our wrists cocked back. If this sounds like you, we have a few options you can try.Read more...

If your child wants video games this holiday, and you don’t know what to pick up for the little nerd or nerdette, here is my age-rated guide to games your child will be excited to find stuffed in their stockings or under the Festivus pole.Read more...

While you were busy counting down the days to 2020 so we can escape this exhausting year, a new trade deal was reached yesterday.Read more...

Canned beans are rarely thought of as luxurious. Economical? Sure. Convenient? Absolutely. But they’re not exactly the kind of thing that pops in your head when you’re planning a fancy holiday soirée. They should be though, particularly if that party is this evening, and you forgot you were supposed to make something…Read more...

No matter how prepared you are, airport delays are inevitable. If your bag’s overweight, expect to take a few minutes just to unpack, redistribute your things, and re-pack again to appease an airline attendant. If there’s a line just to check-in, well, that could take an extra 30 minutes with the family of 12 ahead of…Read more...

Writing a will is a lot to take on, mentally and emotionally. Not only does it make you confront your own mortality, but it also forces you to make big decisions about who you trust to handle your financial and personal matters after you’re gone. It’s a lot to take on, but it’s one of those to-dos that can afford you…Read more...

We’re told to trust our gut when it comes to decision-making—but we also know that our gut can lead us astray.Read more...

Perhaps the most annoying response to “I don’t like that” is “You’d like mine,” but that’s exactly what Jeffrey Morgenthaler said to me when I told him I hated eggnog. Even more annoying? He was correct. Jeff’s nog is the only good nog, and it is made with tequila.

If you weren’t able to pick up a Google Home Mini for someone on your holiday shopping list, don’t fret—Google and Spotify are giving them away for free to all Spotify subscribers.

If you want to support a nonprofit organization without donating money, you can give your time by volunteering or spreading the word about the their work. Or, you could shop on Amazon to support your favorite charity.

I came across an advice column in The Guardian recently that weighed on my heart. A mother wrote in to ask for advice because her 10-year-old son had been talking about how nobody cared about him, he wished he’d never been born and his life wasn’t worth living. He had also, she said, mentioned suicide in “non-specific…Read more...