Lifehacker

On Tuesday, March 31st, Marriott International announced that there may have been a data breach that compromised the information of over 5.2 million guests. This is the second time in the past two years that the hotel group has experienced such a massive breach.

Despite being a great phone, the Galaxy S20 isn’t selling so hot right now. Samsung is trying to boost enthusiasm for its latest smartphone with a new buyback policy that ensures customers will get a sizable refund on the device in the future. And while guaranteed money sounds like a good deal, is it?Read more...

We now know when you can expect your coronavirus relief payment to arrive.Read more...

If you’ve previously had all your tech needs handled by your company, but they’ve since sent you off to work from home with little more than a laptop to your name, it can be a jarring transition. And since we’re all probably looking at a few more months of self-isolation, it makes sense to trick out your home…Read more...

Ready to settle in for another night at home?

If you’re not a black coffee drinker, you might be struggling just a little right now, especially if you’re not a fan of non-dairy powdered creamer. After all, not only are you stuck at home, but you could be stuck at home with another person, and that person might be using all the half & half.Read more...

One unfortunate consequence of our ongoing quarantine is the end of in-person Girl Scout cookie sales. You won’t find Girl Scouts going door-to-door in your neighborhood, selling at your office, or sitting outside your local grocery store.Read more...

Cloudflare has launched a new version of its free DNS (Domain Name System) service called Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 for Families that blocks adult content and malware before your browser ever has a chance to load it. It’s one more tool in your security stash that’s worth considering if you want to stay extra-safe (or find…Read more...

I, too, thought the toilet paper would be back in stock by now. I got used to seeing empty shelves throughout the grocery and drugstores, but assumed that once enough people had purchased their 20-pack of toilet paper, the shelves would return to normal.Read more...

Yoga is an ideal quarantine workout: It can be as relaxing or as physically punishing as you like, and all you need to get started is your body and a reasonably soft surface. But as with any exercise, you won’t get much out of practicing yoga if you have bad form—so before you hit the mat (or carpet) for the first…Read more...

The ever-busy developers at Microsoft have been gradually releasing fun new utilities for Windows users to mess with. These PowerToys tend to add a bit of quirky-but-practical functionality to your operating system, and they’re completely free for you to try. We’ve covered some of their previous offerings, but two…Read more...

I don’t know about you, but I am running out of toilet paper. I only have two rolls left in my cabinet, and my local grocery store has nothing but empty shelves. There wasn’t any toilet paper when I last visited the grocery store in person, two weeks ago—and when I put in an online order this week, which gives me the…Read more...

The deluge of emails never ends. Even with ample quarantine time, tidying up your Gmail account and reaching inbox zero feels like a far-fetched fantasy, but it doesn’t need to be one: There are a number of excellent (and mostly free!) third-party browser extensions that will help you sift through that…Read more...

I was going to write a post about how to help your little kids burn off all that cooped-up energy that is emanating out of them right now—and I still will—but I needed to press pause on the hacks for a second to tell you something important: If you’re struggling, it’s okay. If you’re totally and completely overwhelmed…Read more...

The Tokyo Olympics were due to host 339 events in 33 different sports, with 30% of 7.8 million tickets sold to overseas visitors from outside of Japan—roughly 2.34 million people. But on March 24th, the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympics and Paralympics decided that the games would be postponed until July of…Read more...

After a long day of awkward virtual meetings and scrolling through increasingly apocalyptic headlines, hanging out with friends on a Zoom call might be the closest thing to normalcy you’ll get all week. But using your company account to circumvent the 40-minute time limit on free calls is a pretty bad idea—just not…Read more...

How are you feeling today? Healthy, if a little more anxious than usual? Run-down? Feverish? A team of physicians and researchers are hoping you’ll take 10 seconds every day to self-report your symptoms (or lack thereof) to a new COVID Symptom Tracker app.Read more...

Given that the goal right now is to stay inside, some people have developed a bunker-like mentality, spending most of their grocery budget on canned, frozen, or dried foods. Due to its limited shelf life, fresh produce isn’t getting a ton of love these days, but next time you make it to a store that sells such, I urge…Read more...

One of the lesser-known features added in last year’s iOS 13, iPadOS 13, macOS Catalina, and tvOS 13 updates was the ability to connect Xbox One and PlayStation 4 controllers to your Apple devices. In the video above, I show you how to pair these controllers with an iPad to play games like Fortnite and Minecraft.Read more...

A free three-month subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited, a discount on Soulcalibur VI, a stainless steel kettle, Sonos speakers, and more light the fire for Thursday’s best deals of the day across the weird wide web.

While a lot of the items in the coronavirus relief bill are temporary, here’s one that can benefit your tax returns for years to come.

Numerous celebrities have stepped forward over the past few weeks to offer to read to us (and our children). Actor Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf, was among the first to begin reading to kids live over Twitter and Instagram. Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams started the #SAVEWITHSTORIES campaign to encourage a slew of…Read more...

Sometimes, it’s a lot easier to record yourself doing something and send it to a person than attempt to describe it for them and watch them struggle to do it themselves. At least, that’s how I feel whenever I’m trying to explain a PC setting or otherwise troubleshoot a friend’s system.

One of the few silver linings to come from the big coronavirus quarantine is that a number of app developers are doing their part to be generous in times of self-isolation and unhappiness. Daylight Studios, developer of the popular “Holy Potatoes!” simulation games for Android, iOS, PC, and Mac, is offering up iPhone…Read more...

Try Three Months of Amazon Music Unlimited Free | Amazon Gold BoxRead more...

It’s April 1st, which means a ton of new content has dropped on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+. The COVID-19 pandemic has also moved a lot of would-be live events to the web.

There happens to be a vulnerability in the way Zoom converts URLs into hyperlinks that hackers can use to collect your Windows login credentials and potentially access your desktop remotely. Until Zoom fixes this, resist the urge to click URLs from people you don’t trust—namely all those public Zoom meetings you’ve…Read more...

The coronavirus relief package that was signed into law last week included relaxed rules for taking money out of your retirement account. But while the option now exists for those who need the financial lifeline, there are several considerations to keep in mind before you start moving money around.Read more...

I have never fully trusted anyone who doesn’t relish eating the skin off of a roasted chicken. (This includes my mother.) Crispy skin, whether fresh out of the oven or off the Costco rotisserie spit, is one of the highlights of poultry consumption. Those who leave it behind are fools.Read more...

It’s a bummer that Dark Sky is going away for some people—whether you’re an Android user or your depend on the service’s API for your own customized weather setup, like a Home Assistant card. But maybe it wasn’t the best weather service to begin with?

Companies that prey on sick people to sell useless stuff are awful, and those who do it during a pandemic are (and this is a scientific fact) the worst. Recently the FDA sent twelve warning letters to companies violating the law by claiming their products could cure or prevent COVID-19.Read more...

Humble Bundle has an incredible deal if you need a boost to your self-quarantine/social distancing entertainment backlog while also supporting charities on the front lines of the coronavirus fight.

If, a few weeks ago, you’d told your kids that you were all going to TAKE A TRIP TO DISNEY WORLD and then added the caveat, “from the comfort of our own home,” chances are there would have been a mutiny. But, as we all know, things have changed. Standards have been lowered. Now, riding Splash Mountain from the living…Read more...

Wipes. Disinfectant. Sanitizer. Bleach. Sprays. What cleaner are you supposed to use where? And which one is most effective in our fight against viruses? Does “99.9.% of germs” include the coronavirus?Read more...

While we’re all stocking up on food, toilet paper and cleaning supplies, it’s important to remember that many of us also take daily medications that we need to ensure we have access to during the pandemic. According the CDC, almost half of us have used a prescription drug within the last 30 days. That’s a lot of…Read more...

Until very recently, I put the majority of my spending on credit cards that offered me travel rewards. I favored an airline card for personal spending and a business travel card for freelance spending. Since I (used to) travel relatively often, I was very interested in earning and burning my travel rewards as quickly…Read more...

Bouillon cubes and pastes are an easy way to add a whole bunch of flavor with a single ingredient, but they’re usually reserved for soups, stews and gravies. There’s no need to limit them like this. They have so much to give.Read more...

Up to 40% off Peak Design Bags | Huckberry

The poems we read over and over again in our childhood can stay with us for the rest of our lives. April is National Poetry Month, which makes it a good time to introduce your kids to the wonders of poetry. But the fact that so many of us are sheltering in place at the moment—and the kids have read through their…Read more...

If you’re having network connectivity problems on your Windows desktop or laptop—and you’ve ruled out user error or a crappy wireless connection—there’s a small chance that Microsoft might be to blame. There’s a bug affecting users connecting with proxies or VPNs, and it’s serious enough to warrant Microsoft issuing…Read more...

The world you inhabit has shrunk dramatically in the past few weeks, which means anything that makes your space feel bigger could play a critical role in helping you maintain a grip on your sanity while you’re cooped up with your kids. Enter the Alphabet Scavenger Hunt.Read more...

Keeping up with the news is important, but unless you’re rocking a news aggregation app, it can be hard to catch up on the most important news of the day without coming through multiple publications’ homepages. Luckily, Windows users can try out Microsoft’s new News Bar app for Windows 10, which continually updates…Read more...

Dark Sky just announced it has been acquired by Apple, and with the sale come a few big problems for fans of the hyper-local weather app. First of all, the Android app is going away altogether—for obvious reasons. You can continue to use it until July 1, and subscribers will be refunded any money they’ve spent on a…Read more...

Ready to settle in for another night at home?

Since dining out (my favorite hobby) isn’t an option right now, ordering delivery has become something of an event, especially ordering pizza. And, since there’s not much else going on, there’s a lot riding on those pizzas, happiness-wise. This is why I’m ordering my pizzas un-sliced.Read more...

If you’re hoping to use your physical-distancing time to pick up a new skill, Skillshare is offering a free three-month Premium account on its service to help you make it happen.

As cities across the U.S. began to issue “safer at home” orders, I felt like the only person I knew who didn’t have an ambitious project or three to tackle during the coronavirus.Read more...

If you spend any amount of time on Twitter, you’ve probably seen tweets imploring everyone to hold off on grocery shopping until April 3rd or later. The reasoning is simple: Government benefits are deposited on the first of the month, and with grocery stores experiencing extremely high volume due to the coronavirus…Read more...

Everyone at Lifehacker—along with the rest of the world—is now hunkered down at home, trying to make sense of this new (temporary) normal. So this week each of us recorded audio from our lives to provide a glimpse of what we’re up to. From learning how to work from home with the kids around to cobbling together a…Read more...