Lifehacker

If you use Facebook or Facebook Messenger, you’ve probably seen notifications prompting you to try out the new “Messenger Rooms” feature. Messenger Rooms are basically a free and simpler alternative to video chat apps like Zoom, Teams or Google Meet. Instead of being a separate product, they’re integrated directly…Read more...

With the cost of baggage increasing, the risk of lost or damaged luggage and the unsavory fact that checking a bag means the bag will touch many surfaces (germy surfaces), it’s smart to stick with a carry-on.

Using the Mail app on your computer can be a lot more convenient than logging into a website like Gmail. There are a number of benefits—including the biggest, being able to access your downloaded email whenever you’re lacking an internet connection.

When Apple killed the headphone jack and introduced AirPods, they changed the earbud game forever. Today, “true wireless” earbuds have trickled down to the budget realm, and the market is flooded with affordable alternatives.

I hate rollouts. I really do. Whenever a company announces some new, awesome feature, but drops the phrase “rolling out” into the description, I can’t tell you how annoyed I get. Invariably, it means I have to wait a week or more to try something out while seeing everyone I know get their special access before me.Read more...

Today is kind of a bummer here at Lifehacker, because we are saying goodbye to Melissa Kirsch. Melissa has been our editor-in-chief and fearless leader since around the time I came on as a staffer, and I am currently having a hard time imagining the site without her.Read more...

Have you ever wondered who would make a better plate of nachos: Bill Murray or Guy Fieri? Well, tonight you can find out when the two battle it out in a “Nacho Average Showdown.”

Never booked a flight before? Look, we’ve been there. Maybe someone else has always done it for you. Maybe you’re just out of college and your parents always made the travel arrangements. Or you’ve just… never flown before.Read more...

It seems like it should be a fairly easy thing, kids’ shoe sizes. And yet their feet grown so damn rapidly, it’s like first they’re a four and then they’re an 8 (how is a toddler a size 8 when I’m a size 8??) and then a 12 and now, wait, a 1.5? What just happened there?Read more...

If you’re looking for a new MacBook, B&H Photo and Amazon are selling the 2019 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models for between $150 and $300 off their regular prices. For the MacBook Pro in particular, that’s the best discount we’ve seen yet.

Bellesa Line | $87-$111 | Bellesa | Promo code “INVENTORY”

I have a handful of credit cards, all of which I keep for different reasons. There’s the one I use for my favorite airline, the one I use to rack up travel points, the one I got in college and keep for mostly sentimental reasons ... the list goes on.Read more...

Unlike Android devices, whose major updates roll out slowly across different devices, carriers, and manufacturers, all Apple devices get new updates at exactly the same time. The act of updating your iPhone or iPad is easy, but there are plenty of details you should know regarding OS and app updates—including how to…Read more...

If you’re not already registered to vote, now is definitely the time to do it. Yes, there’s a big presidential election coming up in November, but there are opportunities to vote at least once a year in your local elections, and you shouldn’t skip those either. But how, exactly, does one register to vote? Good news:…Read more...

In this month’s fitness challenge we’ve revisited the scientific seven-minute workout and Canada’s antique-but-holds-up 5BX. This week, let’s dial the time machine back just a few years to 2016, when we told you guys about this 15-minute morning workout from Darebee.Read more...

If you feel like there isn’t enough time to do everything you want (and need) to do, one solution—as counterintuitive as it sounds—might be to reduce the number of hours in the day.Read more...

Microsoft announced its new Family Safety app back in March, and you can now sign up for a limited preview of the app on iOS or Android. The idea behind the app is to give parents a glimpse at how their kids are spending time on their devices, so they can make adjustments as needed. The app also allows family members…Read more...

My first highball was an equal mixture of Captain Morgan spiced rum and Diet Coke poured into a red Solo cup. Everything about it was wrong. The proportions were off. The mixer was gross. And the ice was made by a freezer whose lines probably hadn’t been cleaned in some time.Read more...

Recently, there have been a lot of news stories about a new condition called pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which is similar to a rare childhood illness called Kawasaki disease. This new syndrome is starting to appear in children across the U.S. and is thought to be associated with COVID-19 infection. As…Read more...

We’ve all been there: You need to work on your computer for a few minutes and there’s no free wifi in sight. If you have a smartphone in your pocket, you might be in luck. Most smartphone data plans allow you to use your phone as a mobile hotspot, which means you can share that data connection with your computer and…Read more...

As the end of the school year approaches and the long summer months loom ahead, I am often struck by two questions: Has my son learned everything he was supposed to learn in third grade? And how the hell am I supposed to keep him from falling even further behind without setting up an ongoing academic schedule during…Read more...

You vacuum. You dust. Every so often, you get a bee in your bonnet and decide to clean your windows. And right now, you’re probably spending some extra attention on cleaning your doorknobs and light switches.Read more...

Bleach is useful for keeping your clothes looking fresh and bright. It can also be bad news for your favorite shirt if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you aren’t used to it, using bleach may be a little intimidating—so here’s how to do so with confidence while doing (not ruining) your laundry.Read more...

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...