Lifehacker

Alexa has a few new commands that can help you prepare for hazardous weather or crummy traffic conditions. These features have actually been around for a few weeks—Amazon quietly slipped them onto Alexa-supported devices last month—but since the company didn’t mention the updates until recently, most people haven’t…Read more...

It’s true, kids: If you don’t use it, you lose it. The ability to touch your toes, youthful optimism, and manageable hangovers all wane with the passing of each season. So does citrus.

If you routinely take your own cup to Starbucks for the discount (and, you know, for the planet), you should know that the coffee chain has changed its policy in light of the coronavirus outbreak.Read more...

I love simple little utilities that help you change your behavior for the better—Pomodoro; all those apps that remind you to drink water; and, now, good ol’ “Do Not Touch Your Face” dot com.Read more...

According to numerous user bug reports, Windows 10 update KB4535996 has several critical errors that are making it impossible for some users to use their PCs. Ironically (though predictably) the patch was released to fix bugs introduced in another update from earlier this year.Read more...

It’s a go-to gift from so many well-meaning folks. They’re soft! They’re fluffy! They’re cute! But before you know it, your child has approximately 147 stuffed animals—toys that defy stacking, that can really only be heaped precariously until the slightest nudge sends the whole mountain avalanching down.

One of the best ways to increase your income is through salary negotiations, either when you’re first offered the job or during a performance review. It may make you uncomfortable, but it’s extremely important. Here’s how to get what you want out of a negotiation.

Most of us are probably familiar with the standard coronavirus prevention advice: Wash your hands, avoid touching your face, regularly sanitize common surfaces like door handles, and wash your hands again.Read more...

Progressive Leasing has been around for 20 years. You might have seen the company’s name if you’ve shopped at Mattress Firm, Lowes, Kay Jewelers, Pandora, Big Lots, Metro PCS, Cricket Wireless, and Sam Ash—and that’s just naming a few.

Here at Hack or Wack, we love testing hacks from the youth’s favorite platform, TikTok. But it turns out TikTok has some older content producers contributing their best life hacks, too.Read more...

As a recipe writer (and eater), I can get overly focused on developing super-savory, heavily-browned, rich dishes. The flavors brought into being by searing, caramelizing and other non-enzymatic browning processes are delicious but they aren’t the only way to make something taste good. And sometimes it’s nice to take…Read more...

As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the United States, so do the concerns. High on many people’s lists is the possibility of having to spend time under quarantine or home isolation. (Yes, there’s a difference between the two, and we’ll get there in a minute.) While some people are flocking to grocery stores and…Read more...

We like to say that it takes a village to raise a child, but sometimes that village looks pretty sparsely populated. We often don’t live in our hometowns, surrounded by extended family members and friends we’ve had since elementary school. Our attached garages allow for extra privacy from—and less interaction with—our…Read more...

Home security? Super-important. Privacy? Also important. What happens when the two collide, and someone starts using their home-security cameras to invade others’ privacy and protect their packages from door thieves at the same time?Read more...

Want to help researchers understand and find a vaccine for the coronavirus? Help them out by playing this video game.

One of the most common uses for cream of tartar is stabilizing egg whites in towering meringues, but meringues are rarely an everyday affair. This can result in unused cream of tartar just hanging out in your spice cabinet, which is too bad, because that stuff is pretty expensive. Luckily, cream of tartar’s egg white…Read more...

If you’re thinking about canceling your travel plans due to the spread of the coronavirus, it’s worth asking yourself three questions:Read more...

Coronavirus is a pain in the ass—to put it mildly. We’ve seen big cancelations of large group events and conferences, and your employer might be encouraging you to work from home until everything blows over. To help ease this process, Google and Microsoft are stepping up to offer free conferencing tools for a limited…Read more...

If you live in the U.S. and own any Alexa-supported devices, you can earn one free movie ticket during the second half of March. It’s the little things, right?

As the coronavirus that has captured the world’s attention continues to spread, school districts across the United States—particularly in areas with confirmed cases of the virus—are considering the possibility of shutdowns. And working parents of young children are asking themselves what in hell they’re going to do…Read more...

Hacks are all about spending less time, using less equipment, and making one’s life easier in general. But sometimes there just isn’t a shortcut or substitute. Sometimes you have to take the long way, or buy the proper tool. One such tool is a digital thermometer.Read more...

You’ve seen the pictures of the wiped-out grocery stores and heard nightmare tales from your local warehouse clubs. Everyone seems to be stocking up on, well, everything, as they anticipate quarantines in the United States.Read more...

Hello, all you ambulatory wildebeests of self-pollution, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only advice column that’s the FAQ for the game of love.

If the COVID-19 outbreak has got you checking the news a little more often—or asking yourself whether it’s time to stock up on food or medications, cancel travel, or prepare to work from home—you’re not alone.

Flexibility is something I don’t work on enough. I mean, I can move well enough to do all the lifts and exercises that matter to me, and I tell myself that’s all that really matters. But then I see people who have obviously worked on their flexibility, and the things they can do just amaze me. Maybe this month we can…Read more...

Setting up a new phone is always a pain. But it can be especially annoying trying to search for and re-download all of your apps. In the video above, I show you how to easily find all the apps you’ve ever downloaded or purchased.Read more...

It’s no secret that Twitter’s list feature is a great way to extract usefulness from the chaos of internet strangers yelling at you all day long, and a new update makes it even easier to access your lists on the iOS or Android Twitter app.

Don’t believe everything you read on social media. This is a good general rule, but it’s especially important when the news (and your newsfeed) is filled with misleading to straight-up false information about an easily misunderstood topic like the coronavirus.

The concept of the five love languages is probably not new to you. The idea is that we all give and receive love differently—and those different ways tend to fall into five different categories. Where we get tripped up and disconnected, particularly from a romantic partner, is when we give love through our language…Read more...

Picture-in-picture (PIP) video playback is a near-universal feature for many people—unless you own a Chromebook, that is. There, the feature only works for a couple of apps, unlike the experience you’d get in web browsers and video streaming apps on Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS.

Meatloaf is probably my favorite loaf. It’s obviously good right out of the oven, but I’m always a little more excited for the meatloaf sandwich I make the next day. I have eaten sandwiches with cold meatloaf, pan-fried meatloaf, and meatloaf that has been zapped in the microwave, but sandwiches made with waffled…Read more...

Robinhood users learned the hard way on Monday what happens when everyone wants to trade at once. The stock trading app was out of service for most of Monday and again on Tuesday morning, leaving users locked out of their accounts and unable to complete transactions during a major market rally.

If you’ve invested in a pair of AirPods, you want to make sure you keep them in tip-top shape—and yes, that means cleaning them periodically. One clue that your AirPods need to be cleaned is that they seem to be getting quieter. Turns out, it might be your own natural earwax clogging up the pods.Read more...

A brand-new version of Facebook Messenger has dropped for iOS, and while I appreciate Facebook’s newfound interest in keeping the app svelte, I think the cuts have gone too deep. You’ll no longer find any apps or games tied into Messenger’s UI, but it’s now harder (or impossible) to do things that most people probably …Read more...

Kids rely on us for so much, including basically everything when they’re babies and still mostly everything by the time they’ve graduated to “little kid” status. But according to one psychologist, an easy way to help them build their resilience and confidence as young as six or seven years old is by relying on them…Read more...

There’s an incredible deal on refurbished 2017 and 2018 MacBook Pros on Amazon’s Woot site for today and today only. The pre-owned models are on sale at drastic price cuts—$600 to $900 off the full retail prices, and hundreds of dollars cheaper than Apple’s refurbished models.Read more...

Cast iron is a favorite tool for serious home cooks. But what most people find really serious is the proper way to maintain their heavy metal cookware. Some people swear that soap is the enemy of a properly seasoned pan. Others hold firm that the correct method for seasoning a pan takes five hours.Read more...

Hand sanitizer is sold out everywhere. That’s just a fact of life right now. But there are plenty of DIY recipes out there so you can make your own, so I set out to test them. And then I ran into problems.Read more...

If you woke up tomorrow to an email from your boss, announcing that the office was recommending everyone work from home to protect against coronavirus transmission, how much work would you be able to get done?Read more...

Like every other food writer on the planet, my fridge is littered with jars of mystery pickles, infusions, and marinades. I (mostly) love them all, but I’m not above playing favorites, and right now, a jam jar full of soy sauce, garlic skins, scallion butts, and ginger peels is the light of my life.Read more...

If you have plans to attend an event anywhere beyond your own neighborhood this spring, the thought has probably crossed your mind: “Oh, I wonder if that’ll get canceled.”

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as too many hacks for getting picky eaters to, you know, eat. Parents of picky eaters need to work a little harder at providing healthy, balanced meals that their kids will eat without an epic battle every morning, noon and night. Sure, food picks might be all it takes…Read more...

While everyone should always grab the latest security updates for their Androids whenever possible, you’re going to want to pay extra-special attention to this month’s update, and grab it immediately, if your device has any MediaTek chips on the inside.

Are anyone else’s hands really goddamn scaly and dry lately? Flu season/coronavirus paranoia has us scrubbing up even more than usual—and that, combined with the winter weather, is leaving our poor hands crying out for moisture.Read more...

We know how individuals should protect themselves from COVID-19: mainly by washing hands and staying home if you’re sick. But workplaces have some more responsibility here, because they can be a place where the virus can circulate.Read more...

The second big Pixel Feature Drop rolls out this week, adding a handful of new features to each of Google’s Pixel phones. Some of the new features included were already spotted in preview builds of Android 11, and a few even leaked out a little early in unofficial capacities, but you’re getting the final versions in…Read more...

Easter candy is the best candy. No other candy has the range! Not only does Easter candy encompass—nay, embrace—both chocolate and fruit-flavored confections with gusto, you cannot deny that egg-shaped candy is objectively fun and good. (Reese’s eggs have the best peanut butter-to-chocolate ratio; the trees and hearts…Read more...

When I was in the early stages of my various careers—both as an executive assistant and later, when I retooled as a freelance writer—I was all about the overdelivery. I had read in some business book that the secret to becoming a valued employee was to always turn things around a little bit faster and a little bit…Read more...

Drive-in movie theaters may seem like a relic of the past, but there are actually still around 300 scattered throughout the country. Whether you want to relive your childhood of cramming into the way-back of your parents’ station wagon, or are going to one for the first time, there are a few things you should know to…Read more...

Now’s as good a time as any to buy a Raspberry Pi 4. I confess, I was never big into the Raspberry Pi world until I got one and slapped Pi-hole on it. Now, this tiny little wonderbox does an incredible job of blocking third-party advertising and other terrible trackers—more so than even the best browser extensions,…Read more...