Lifehacker

If you ask a kid, any kid, what their favorite part of the school day is, you’re likely to get one of two answers: Recess or lunch. Which means, while many kids probably aren’t pining for a good old fashioned math or social studies lesson right now, they do miss running around together outside and chatting in the…Read more...

Feeling stressed and lonely? Of course you are. Now imagine living in a confined space, no bigger than your average apartment, two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth, for six months to a year.Read more...

Everyone is Zoom-ing nowadays—unless you prefer one of the solid alternatives to the can’t-get-enough-of-those-virtual-backgrounds meeting solution. And while you’ve probably heard a bit about how a Zoom meeting host can tell if the Zoom window isn’t focused on your computer when they’re screen sharing, there’s one…Read more...

It’s the end of the month, which means it’s your last chance to catch a lot of programming on Netflix before it’s replaced with new shows on Wednesday.Read more...

If you’re using your social distancing time at home to hone your music or video editing skills, you can score a free month of a number of popular software programs to help you make it happen.

If spending more time at home lately has you itching to travel, you’re not alone.

Quibi, a new entertainment platform designed specifically for your phone, is set to officially launch on April 6th. When it does, it will launch with a decent-sized lineup of programming.

We’re all spending a lot more time at home right now. If you’ve started to run out of things to watch, Roku is offering 30-day free trials of a number of different channels including Showtime, Epix, and Smithsonian.

If you’re using your time physical distancing to learn guitar, Fender is offering free guitar, bass, and ukulele lessons to the first 500,000 people to sign up for Fender Play. It’s a free trial, but you don’t have to handle over any payment details to get access, so you won’t run the risk of getting charged if you…Read more...

A portable car jump starter, $20 wireless headphones, free blue light lenses, a cheap gaming headset, and more are at the top of list of Saturday’s deals.Read more...

Sir Elton John may have paused his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour due to COVID-19, but you can still catch him perform this weekend from your living room.

Looking for things to do this weekend without leaving your couch?Read more...

Even if you’re following advice to stay home as much as you can, we all have to get food somehow, which means regular grocery trips or deliveries. If the idea of letting packages of food from The Outside into your home is nerve-wracking, it’s important to remember that while the risk of picking up the coronavirus from…Read more...

What a week we’ve had! It feels like it’s still Monday, but maybe that’s just me. We’ve helped figure out cable modems and ISP speeds; how to set up your work laptop with your monitor at home; talked about why your work laptop stinks at wireless networking; and helped troubleshoot the ever-vexing “now my primary…Read more...

Emergency dispatchers are overwhelmed with calls right now. Between coronavirus patients and a variety of “regular” emergencies, call volumes are breaking records. New York City, for instance, reported receiving 6,500 medical emergency calls in a single day—the highest since 2001.Read more...

Right now, all Plex users are eligible to receive three months of free, live TV streaming while they wait out COVID-19. This is a pretty sweet upgrade for free users, since live TV is normally locked behind the premium Plex Pass. But there are a few catches.

A lot of you have been sharing your newfound work-from-home tips, but you merely adopted working from home. I was born in it. Molded by it. I have been doing this for years, and I’m good at it.

When the Senate passed a gigantic coronavirus economic relief bill that includes checks of up to $1,200 for many Americans, a lot of people reacted like it was a done deal. But even though the House of Representatives approved it today, the bill isn’t a law yet, and it might be a while until you get your “recovery…Read more...

We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: Unless you’re using a mesh router setup, which typically ties its configuration to an easy-to-use app and/or service, there’s no need for you to enable remote management on your router. The setting sounds great on paper—who wouldn’t want to access their router’s…Read more...

Watching the world shut down around us has been hard on everyone in lots of ways. But parents of young children have the additional challenge of trying to explain what is happening in a way that little kids can understand—without also causing them to feel fear or anxiety. Luckily, the New York Times’ podcast is here…Read more...

I’ve been having trouble sitting down to write this post, because as COVID-19 coverage swirls around me, I’m thinking: who has time for shoulder stretches? But then again, maybe this is when we most need a few shoulder stretches. Are you hunched over at your desk? I am.Read more...

Do not go to your friend’s house this week. Please. Not even if you and your friends are all young and healthy, not even if it’s “just one friend,” not even if “it’s OK if I get sick, that’s a chance I’m willing to take,” not even if “we’ll be careful and wash our hands, promise!”Read more...

Since we’re all living in a video-chat world nowadays, Instagram has rolled out a new feature that makes it easy for you, and those you’re conferencing with on the service, to enjoy the best and worst of the social site together. Without breaking your video call, you’ll all be able to watch the same videos at the same…Read more...

The online reseller Woot tends to hold generous sales on refurbished Apple devices, but today’s deal on refurbished iPhone 7, 8, XR, SX, and XS Max devices might be one of the best you’ll see for a while. Almost all of the available devices are on sale for hundreds of dollars cheaper than you’d pay if you bought…Read more...

We’re coming up on the end of another week of physical distancing and sheltering in place—and, for some of us, that means another week of heightened anxiety, unclear routines, and new bad habits.Read more...

A tall, cold glass of chocolate milk is a nice treat for young and old alike, but most people use a spoon to stir it which, and a spoon, I am sad to say, is an inferior stirring implement. What’s the correct tool, you ask? Why, a fork of course!Read more...

You know what’s worse than school being canceled or sports being canceled or most of the rest of life being canceled right now? Needing to cancel the birthday party your kid has been looking forward to for months. As someone who loves birthdays and holidays both big and small, I will not stand for that. There may be a…Read more...

[Updated 3/27/20, 10:30 am] Here’s the good news: You no longer have to drop a beta version of WhatsApp on your Android phone in order to take advantage of the app’s new dark mode. This feature has (finally) rolled out for everyone, including both Android and iOS users.Read more...

In 40,000 hours, your HP solid-state drive will die. That’s not the plot of a D-List Mission Impossible spoof; it’s reality. Thankfully, you are probably not affected, since the solid-state drives with the self-destructing issue are all enterprise-grade HP drives—800GB or 1.6TB drives sitting in a company’s servers or…Read more...

Ready to settle in for another night at home?

States and cities around the country have decided to pause evictions and utility shutoffs during the coronavirus pandemic. But if you’re at risk of being evicted, a moratorium may be only a temporary protection.Read more...

Physical distancing has put an end to most of our usual activities. For runners, that includes the cancelation of any upcoming races. Luckily, there are alternatives that can get your heart rate up and spark your competitive side while you’re staying safe and healthy.Read more...

Apple added external mouse support for the iPad when it rolled out iPadOS last year, but as of the iPadOS 13.4 update, users can now customize the look and behavior of the iPad UI’s cursor. Using a mouse or trackpad to control your iPad might seem unnecessary given that it’s a touchscreen device, but it’s helpful if…Read more...

When I first heard I would be spending all this time at home, I envisioned nightly cocktail hours in the bath, lots of reading, and a sparkling clean apartment. But in what scientists are calling “predictable,” none of that has really come to pass.Read more...

In today’s edition of Tech 911—Lifehacker’s tech-support column that’s been focusing on your working-from-home questions all week—we’re tackling an old favorite: Microsoft Windows. Specifically, what happens when Windows starts tossing up annoying error messages each and every time you try to launch the operating…Read more...

I’ve been interested in the financial independence movement, often dubbed FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), for a while. Probably since 2004, when I found an old copy of Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez’s Your Money or Your Life at the public library. As I’ve written many times before, YMOYL was the book that…Read more...

If you’re out of work due to the coronavirus, the relief bill passed in the Senate last night (and expected to soon pass in the House of Representatives) will offer expanded unemployment benefits.Read more...

Trying to get through the day—day after day—with the whole family in the same space and maintaining a positive attitude is going to be ... a challenge. It probably already is. But one key for keeping one’s composure is to start the day on the right note. And one member of our Offspring Facebook group has a hack for…Read more...

The notorious Windows malware Astaroth (aptly named after a demon baron of Hell found in occult cosmology) is back at it after several months of inactivity. Microsoft exposed its tactics last year, but the annoying malware is even harder to catch this time around—thanks to the clever methods it uses to conceal itself…Read more...

If there are a lot of cases of COVID-19 in your city—which is pretty much everybody’s city at this point—you may feel tempted to visit rural relatives or take an impromptu vacation somewhere secluded. That’s actually a terrible idea, and here’s why.Read more...

My freezer is an inefficient piece of garbage, and any steak, chop, or chicken thigh I freeze ends up enrobed with a layer of frost. The meat is technically edible, but it does not taste that good. This is why I’ve had a single frosty pork chop hanging out next to a bag of frozen corn for months now.Read more...

For the past several days, I’ve been experiencing periods of shortness of breath, fatigue and general soreness. On any normal occasion, I’d dismiss this as part of my generalized anxiety disorder. But now, in our current hellscape, where the symptoms of COVID-19—shortness of breath, in particular—have been drilled…Read more...

Once again, a batch of Android apps managed to make their way onto the Google Play Store and infect more than one million devices with malware. I don’t mean to be glib about it; it’s a problem, and it’s happening with enough frequency, and affecting enough people, that it feels almost kind of commonplace at this…Read more...

Rhiannon Ragland has never been particularly interested in building her own social media presence. But as the mom of a teenager, she adheres to parental best practices—she follows her daughter Brenna’s accounts, pays attention to what she posts, and has talked with her about sharing information responsibly.Read more...

Now that many of us are (checks watch) a week and a half into physical distancing—i.e., cooped up in the house with the kids—it’s time for a welfare check. How’s everyone’s academic scheduling going? Have you morphed into a homeschool-teacher extraordinaire yet? Or have your kids been playing video games nonstop for…Read more...

After much debate, the Senate has passed a bill that will send relief checks to most Americans. The checks are part of a $2 trillion relief package aimed to buoy the economy through the coronavirus pandemic.Read more...

Many of us are stuck inside, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be good neighbors and help each other out. Nextdoor recently launched a new “Help Map” feature that lets users volunteer to take on extra chores and other helpful activities for those around them. This feature could make a huge difference for elderly…Read more...

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Now that we’re all spending a lot of time at home, we’ve started rounding up some of the best things to do while you’re there.