Lifehacker

If you’re thinking about opening a rewards credit card just to grab the bonus—or if you’re planning on quickly downgrading to a credit card that doesn’t come with an annual fee—you might want to check your credit card’s fine print.Read more...

This weekend, more than 150 bands are taking the stage at this year’s Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago’s Grant Park, with headliners like the Tame Impala, Twenty One Pilots, and Ariana Grande set to perform in front of a few hundred thousand attendees and amid the sweltering heat. (Last year, more than 160…Read more...

Over the past few years, I admit to having moments in which I’ve thrown my hands up and said, “It’s going to be up to our kids to fix the mess we’ve made for them. They already seem more capable than we’ve ever been.” Of course, I’d much prefer that we get a better handle on things like gun control, climate change and…Read more...

Starbucks is rolling out its Nitro Cold Brew coffee nationwide, and to celebrate, they’re giving out free shots of it today—as long as supplies last. Go get yours.Read more...

If you have an American Express travel credit card that includes Priority Pass membership, be aware that Amex just cut your ability to save on dining at the airport.

If you’re a fan of Wendy’s, then you’re probably already familiar with their Junior Bacon Cheeseburger (or JBC, for those in the know). It’s deceptively simple: a cheeseburger topped with bacon, iceberg lettuce, tomato and mayo—but people love it.

Dirty martinis made me the gin drinker I am today, and for that I owe them a debt. And though I now prefer a simple five-to-one ratio of gin to vermouth (with an olive), I still get a hankering for a dirty boi from time to time. If you want it super funky, you could go heavy with the olive juice, or you could keep…Read more...

Today is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, which, yes, is silly, but we’re not going to quibble over any excuse to get a free or cheap treat. Whether you prefer your ice cream sandwiches out of a box—with vanilla ice cream between two soft chocolate wafers — or featuring homemade cookies and gourmet ice cream, there’s…Read more...

Every time we go to my friend Anna’s house, she puts a plate of fruit out for the kids. Plums, Asian pears, melons. My daughter always devours piece after piece. However, whenever I feed the child the same type of fruit at home, she’s rarely interested. What’s the difference? I’ve concluded that it’s gotta be Anna’s…Read more...

The first time I ever dropped my son off at daycare, it hit me: I’m someone’s mom. Sure, this probably should have been obvious already, considering I’d carried a baby to full term (and beyond), gave birth to that baby and had spent the past few months caring for an infant. But there was something about walking up the…Read more...

Martin Amis uses a thesaurus. The British novelist and critic is known as kind of a snob, and the thesaurus is known as a dangerous tool abused by amateur writers trying to sound smart, but as you’ve probably guessed, Amis uses his thesaurus very differently than a college freshman. In the Big Think video above (via …Read more...

In February, German airline Lufthansa sued a passenger for intentionally missing one leg of his flight, taking advantage of a much-whispered-about “hidden-city” loophole.

iOS: Ever read a paper book and wish you could hit ctrl-F? Use the free iOS app SearchCam to search through printed text using your phone’s camera. It works on documents, books, packaging, even posters.

Welcome back to Tech 911, Lifehacker’s weekly tech-advice column. We have a slightly new look! I hope you like it, because I love it. This week, we’re tackling a tougher reader question—more for its subject matter than its difficulty. I felt compelled to answer this one, though, because it’s something that all of us…Read more...

August brings with it nine new Amazon Original series and one Amazon Original movie—a film called Carnival Row, set in a Victorian fantasy land and starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne.

Most of the time, Google’s Pixel devices are first in line to get the latest operating system updates big and small. However, owners of the OnePlus 7 Pro got a chance to beat Google to the punch this month, as OnePlus started rolling out the August 2019 security update for Android yesterday.Read more...

Like every other consumable good, food is subject to the winds of capitalism, which results in trends that have nothing to do with seasonability. Whipped feta is currently trendy, but it’s also delicious, so I—the arbiter of this type of thing—am fine with its surge in popularity.Read more...

HBO’s Divorce and Euphoria will both have their series finales this month on HBO, making room for the series premieres for a number of shows including A Black Lady Sketch Show, Our Boys, and season 2 of the Emmy-nominated drama Succession.

You’ve been waiting all year for this, right? We’re going to hop in the pool and swim for exercise. (Lake and ocean swimmers are welcome, too.)Read more...

Records from the Holocaust and Nazi persecution have become more accessible, thanks to newly digitized archives. A joint initiative between Ancestry.com and the Arolsen Archives—an international center on Nazi persecution—has resulted in the digitization of millions of records from the era. And unlike many of the…Read more...

Vizio’s SmartCast TVs are known for their integrated Chromecast support, making it an easy sell for Android users. Now, a host of Vizio smart TVs are also eligible for a SmartCast 3.0 upgrade that will bring AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support—spreading some love to iOS and Mac users.Read more...

A lot of us know that saying “phone, wallet, keys” before we walk out the door can remind us of what we don’t want to leave behind. Well, itturns out that developing similar mantras for other areas of our lives can help us focus on our goals.Read more...

At some point, you could find yourself in the midst of an emergency and although you have your cell phone with you, you might not be able to place a call or talk to a 911 operator. You may want to stay quiet because you’re hiding; you may be injured in a way that prevents you from speaking; or you may have poor…Read more...

Do you have strong opinions on everything from the best method for corralling wayward Legos to how to swaddle a newborn? Do you have revolutionary ideas for getting a picky eater to take a bite? Is your rad road-trip playlist guaranteed to keep the whole family entertained with precisely zero renditions of “Baby…Read more...

My daughter never had a problem wearing bibs—in fact, I always considered the ones with the food-catching pockets to be the breakthrough invention of the century. (A harried-parent hack that I heard from “a friend”: On mornings when you’re racing out the door, pour some Cheerios into the pocket and let your kid eat…Read more...

Last night, deep in the doldrums of New York’s never-ending summer and the second round of Democratic debates, I cracked open a White Claw hard seltzer.

On Wednesday night, 10 more candidates took the stage in Detroit for the second round of Democratic Presidential debates, discussing issues of healthcare, climate change, and police reform—but Joe Biden was the clear subject on every candidates’ mind.

I hate to talk people out of something that is easy, whimsical, and almost free. But here goes: it’s best not to give yourself a sunburn tattoo. Or to let your kids give themselves sunburn tattoos.Read more...

What does “being rich” mean to you? (In the financial sense, not the “rich with love” sense.) The New York Times has developed a quiz to help you determine whether your own definition of wealth means that you’re rich—and the results, as they say, may surprise you.

A mediocre salad can be made great by the help of an excellent dressing, but one of my favorite salads—the steak salad—is barely dressed. Rather than whip up a vinaigrette or creamy tahini, I like to finish my ribeye-crowned pile of greens with a squeeze of lemon and—more importantly—the juices from the pan.Read more...

If you’re looking to pick up the latest MacBook Pro, steer clear of Apple for now. Head on over to Amazon or Best Buy, and you’ll be able to nail great discounts on a barebones 13-inch MacBook Pro and both 15-inch versions of Apple’s latest laptops. We haven’t seen prices shoot this low for these laptops, and we doubt…Read more...

“Over easy”? More like “over difficult,” am I right?Read more...

You never intend for it to happen—it usually just creeps up on you: feeling as though you’re in competition with a friend. Of course you know that you’re not (unless it’s the 1992 Olympics and you’re either Dan or Dave), but it’s really hard not to compare yourself to your peers, especially when they’re friends.

It is now August, which means we are directly in the middle of Tomato Season, and if you’re not yet planning all the ways in which you will consume their juicy, flavorful goodness, you better pick up the pace. Those pale, watery, tasteless garbage tomatoes are right around the corner.Read more...

Long layovers aren’t all terrible; if you’re connecting in an unfamiliar city, it’s a chance to explore a new destination for a few hours and until your next flight departs. But if you aren’t finding an ideal itinerary because your connection is too narrow, you can expand your options by booking each leg of that…Read more...

If a website has ever annoyed you with too many pop-ups, stupidly designed menus, or a million tests to prove you’re a human, then the web game User Inyerface will drive you nuts while making you laugh.

The internet is really useful for many things, ranging from letting your wi-fi enabled refrigerator to blast Yoo-Hoo ads 24/7 to letting you play Canasta with a naked man halfway across the world. But one of the things it truly excels at is spreading misinformed hysteria, often about driving. Such a case is the…Read more...

Contrast is an important thing, both in food and in life. How can one appreciate the happy without the sad, the highs without the lows, the sweet without the sour? This is all to say I like to put vinegar on my fruit, and I urge you to do the same.

As the mother of a six-year-old, my phone is filled with contacts such as “Mary LeilasMom” and “Dana MaddiesDad.” It’s how I keep track of my daughter’s new friends and the personal assistants who keep their schedules (AKA their “parents”). This labeling method helps my brain connect the adult to the child, but it’s…Read more...

Most of you are running iOS 12. And that’s a good thing, because you’re getting a speedier experience with as many patched bugs and vulnerabilities as possible. It’s especially important, too, given that Google researchers recently disclosed six serious iOS vulnerabilities that Apple fixed up in the iOS 12.4 release…Read more...

I used to make a lot of smoothies for my son when he was younger. My go-to recipe was bananas, frozen blueberries, greek yogurt, milk or orange juice, spinach and flaxseed. He loved it fresh out of the blender. But I’d always have a bit leftover, and once it had been stored in the fridge for a while, he turned his…Read more...

Kale does not come out of the ground ready to eat. It may be tough and bland, but it’s also bitter! These shortcomings, however, make it a great make-ahead lunch salad, you just have to apply some pressure.Read more...

Falling asleep to podcasts has become the geeky equivalent of a glass of warm milk before bed. It’s so popular, in fact, that there’s an entire podcasting genre dedicated to dry topics and gentle conversations to help lull you to sleep. It’s also a terrible catch-22: put on your favorite podcast before bed, and you…Read more...

On Tuesday night, 10 of the Democratic Presidential candidates took the stage in Detroit to discuss issues of immigration, gun violence, climate change, student loan debt, and race relations in America.

Any sport that’s physically tough is also mentally tough. Seven miles into your 10-mile long run, part of your brain will try to talk you into quitting. The only way to finish that run is to have a good answer for why and how to keep going. It’s the same when you need to add weight to the bar for your last set of…Read more...

If you’re a Capital One customer, odds are good that you’re probably wrapped up in the company’s recent data breach—one that affected 106 million people (100 million in the U.S. and six million in Canada.) Here’s our question: Has Capital One actually told you if you’re affected?Read more...

You’ve become the “go-to” person in your office for a slew of tasks that nobody else can (or will) do. Good news: You feel indispensable. Bad news: You can basically never take a vacation. Here’s how to get out of this mess—or, better yet, avoid it in the first place.

If you recently booked a British Airways SEA-LHR award ticket through American Airlines, you may be eligible for a fuel surcharge refund.Read more...

Will Shortz is the most prestigious name in crosswords. As editor of the daily New York Times crossword, he has worked on every puzzle since 1993. He’s also the founder of the World Puzzle Championship, the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and owner of the Westchester Table Tennis Center.