Lifehacker

Most folks are well aware that hummus is an excellent sandwich spread; it’s creamy, nutty, savory, and friendly to almost every kind of diet. Those are all things I enjoy in a salad dressing, but hummus—straight from the tub—is a little too thick for drizzling on a pile of greens.Read more...

I’ve been to Disney World a few times with my extended family, including with my son and three nieces. Around the time they were in the four- to seven-year-old age range, getting character autographs was a Very Big Deal. We did what every other parent of that age group seemed to be doing: We bought a Disney autograph…Read more...

Buying a nonrefundable airline ticket is a risky proposition; if your personal circumstances change, you’ll end up saddled with the cost of a useless ticket. But despite its label, the “nonrefundable” ticket is refundable—under the right circumstances.

iOS: When you sign up for a free trial with your credit card, there’s a risk that you’ll forget to cancel, and Netflix or Spotify or Audible or HBO will start charging you monthly. Some services make it hard to cancel, and some, like MoviePass, even “uncancel” you. There’s a new tool for power users who want to sign…Read more...

Being able to turn your smartphone into a miniature access point that can give other devices an internet connection—like your laptop—is one of the best features ever. It’s saved my bacon plenty of times, those rarer moments when I need to use my laptop for something (like editing a Lifehacker post), but can’t access…Read more...

When is it okay to recline your seat on an airplane? The right answer is, of course, “between takeoff and landing.” The better answer, however, might have something to do with the person seated behind you.Read more...

I used to save my data on services forever—in case I ever needed to take a trip down memory lane—but I’ve recently found lots of relief and joy in purging my Twitter account of old tweets.Read more...

We all lose our shit with our kids sometimes.

I came to the sport of running late in life. Though I was on my high school’s track team for a brief period, it wasn’t until after I had kids that I put serious effort into running regularly. And, over the last ten years, I’ve made great strides in the sport: along with four close friends, I’ve completed countless…Read more...

There’s a difference between having a tight budget and being seriously stretched thin for cash. And if you’ve ever experienced the latter, you know that pit in your stomach doesn’t magically dissipate when you try to close your eyes to sleep at night. What can you do to get money fast and get back on your feet again?

Before you travel overseas, don’t forget to pack the essentials like a proper visa, if it’s necessary, and your passport. And while this tip may seem obvious, you should also make sure your passport has blank pages when traveling internationally as some countries require them for you to enter the country.Read more...

You can’t turn right on red in New York City (or smoke in parks—but good luck getting that enforced). In the French Quarter of New Orleans, you can carry your drink around on the street, as long as it isn’t in a glass container. It pays to know the local laws: when the liquor stores are allowed to open, how much…Read more...

Let’s start of the week with a confession: I never bothered seeing Inglourious Basterds, and I’ve been quietly irritated by the spelling of the title since it first came out in 2009. I assume it’s a reference to something within the movie, but who’s to say? Not me!Read more...

Brother P-touch, PTM95, Handy Label Maker | $10 | AmazonRead more...

The few months that Colonel Sanders was the voice behind the turn-by-turn directions in my car were some of my favorite times behind the wheel. A few years later C-390 helped me navigate across the country which was also a lot of fun, but his jokes about road construction almost scored me a ticket in New Mexico (Long…Read more...

Summer is a great time to head outside and explore the world around you. If you’re looking for a new spot to explore, AllTrails is an app that can help. The iOS and Android app offers a library of 75,000 hand-curated trail maps for walking, biking, and hiking, as well as information on whether than journey will be…Read more...

Sometimes you want to watch Netflix, but need that watching to be on the discrete side. Or instance, maybe it would help if your computer’s screen looked like you were on a conference call talking to people in another office rather than watch The Office.

The Day Market Tote | $125 | Everlane

I flew 7,000 miles on Alaska Airlines last year, but I currently hold the airlines top-tier of status “Gold 75k” an accolade reserved for passengers that have flown 75,000 miles or more on the airline over the course of the previous year. It’s a designation that’s scored me First Class upgrades on at least a half…Read more...

Hulu released season 4 of Veronica Mars Friday, a week early, as a birthday present for its star Kristin Bell. Her birthday was July 18th. If you’re all caught up, you can stream that now through the service.Read more...

If you travel to any major city, and even some of the smaller ones, you’ll probably run into some sort of bike-sharing opportunity.

I’m sure you’ve been there. You come home from a long day of travel—exhausted and famished—only to open up your refrigerator to see it stocked full of nothing. Bah. You just want food. Preferably fresh food if you’ve been eating your meals off of airplane trays for far too many hours.

The good news? A recent phishing attempt hit Discord and only ensnared a small batch of users—around 2,500 in all. The bad news? There’s no easy tool to tell if you’re on that list, so you might as well take a moment to reset your password on the service right now. More important, it’s time to stop being lazy and…Read more...

Safe deposit boxes are legendary for revealing items that fix problems—at least, they do in Hollywood stories. But in real life, safe deposit boxes may not be the haven for your valuables they used to be. A horrifying story from the New York Times recounts the tales of some people who put their valuables (think…Read more...

Have you ever been late for a flight and had to run through a terminal Home Alone-style? No? Lucky you. If you have had this experience, though, you know that few things add to travel stress more than showing up with mere minutes to spare before your plane leaves.

A massive data leak was recently discovered by cybersecurity researcher Sam Jidali, revealing private information for 45 major companies and millions of individuals. Dubbed “DataSpii” by Jidali and his team, the leak was perpetrated by innocent-looking Chrome and Firefox browser extensions that collected and…Read more...

Every time I write either “affect” or “effect,” I have to pause for a second to double-check myself. Their meanings are related, their spellings are similar; even their pronunciation is nearly the same. But one of them causes something and the other is the result. And knowing the difference is a good thing.Read more...

It is 2019, so I shouldn’t have to tell you that single-use plastic is not good for our planet. Chances are, you have at least one friend who quit using plastic straws and carries a metal one around with them. If you too want to cut down on your plastic use, especially around your home, then Etee is a brand you want…Read more...

My favorite nightcap is an ounce or so of Fernet, over ice, with a pinch of salt, but that drink signals the end of a good evening, not the start (or even the middle) of one. But I want to be salty all night long—from beginning to the bitter end—so I decided to take that flavor profile and make it into a martini.Read more...

Occasionally, we all find ourselves in a position in which we need to pack a bunch of stuff—including clothes—into a backpack. It might be as simple as heading to a friend’s house for the weekend. Or packing your kid up for a weekend at grandma’s. Or—maybe your life is a little more exciting—you’re catching an early…Read more...

As Jalopnik’s resident car buying expert and professional car shopper, I get emails. Lots of emails. I’ve decided to pick a few questions and try to help out. This week we are discussing free gifts with test drives, dual-clutch transmission worries, and how much of a hit you would take if you bought and sold a…Read more...

One of the best tips I can give any flyer who doesn’t want to pay stupid fees for the slight extra legroom of “premium” seating is this: check your seat assignment constantly.Read more...

Last week, hundreds of flights at New York’s LaGuardia Airport were delayed or canceled because of thunderstorms in the area; inbound flights landed nearly four hours past their scheduled arrival times. And while we’d like to think delays are a rare occurrence, United and other major airlines like Delta and American…Read more...

It’s usually best, in any situation where you end up with your finger touching your eye or grazing your lips, to not think of where it’s been. That goes double when taking any form of public transit, where your hands touch the places all the other hands of people who are just as gross as you have touched (relax, it’s…Read more...

If you’ve ever found yourself in a position where you need to defrost some chicken thighs ASAP, you’ve probably wondered which thawing method is best and also quickest. Well, you’re in luck—because that’s exactly what we’re about to tell you.

The site ShowSkimmer is a new tool for finding the best episodes of a TV show. Search for a series, and ShowSkimmer will list the best 5, 10, 25, or 50 episodes, in chronological order. It’s a great way to watch a series while skipping all the forgettable episodes—which is especially good for long-running sitcoms with…Read more...

Every penny counts, when you’re saving for retirement or another big financial goal. That includes the pennies you’re paying in brokerage fees and losing to expense ratios—which can add up to a lot more than you realize, thanks to what’s called “negative compounding.”Read more...

Traveling is fun and exciting, but traveling with my 40-pound Aussie mix is not my idea of a good time.

Comcast’s mobile carrier, Xfinity Mobile, is finally opening its doors to Android devices—but not all Android devices.Read more...

Jam is a delicious cocktail ingredient, and even the tiniest bit can color and flavor a boozy beverage for the better—even the sticky, residual bit that clings to the jar in defiance of any knife, refusing to take its place on toast. As our luck would have it, ethanol has a way of dissolving such sugary substances,…Read more...

If you have an Android phone you aren’t using anymore, don’t let it collect dust in a drawer. Donate it to the Duke Lemur Center, which will be more than happy to use it to learn more about lemurs’ ability to perceive colors.Read more...

Travel insurance is one of the most overlooked benefits of many credit cards. We’re so focused on earning rewards and avoiding foreign transaction fees (worthy efforts, yes), that sometimes we don’t even realize that the same credit card could make life easier when your trip goes sideways.Read more...

Last week we talked about how to balance really well on your feet (or, better yet, one foot). This time let’s flip the script and balance on our hands.Read more...

Monopoly is going cashless—a new edition of the board game features a voice assistant that manages the buying and selling. This is weird. Doesn’t the joy come from basking in all the paper bills you’ve collected like you’re Scrooge McDuck? But the change may also be an indicator of a larger issue. If kids stop being…Read more...

Getting ghosted by a friend or a romantic partner is one painful kind of rejection. (Was it something you did? Something you said? They used to be so into you! Why are they no longer into you?) But getting professionally ghosted by a company you’ve interviewed with can feel like its own special dagger to the…Read more...

National Ice Cream Day is Sunday, July 21. Here’s where to get that sweet cream for free or cheap.

Starbucks’ coffee isn’t cheap; for one writer at CNBC Make It, it’s an expense that costs nearly $2,300 a year.

We’re going old-school with this week’s Tech 911 column—Lifehacker’s weekly Q&A where we solve your quirky technological issues. While plenty of people now use their smartphones as their default camera of choice, some still enjoy a trusty point-and-shoot. And the elite among you might even pull out something called …Read more...

Cascade Complete ActionPacs | $10 | Amazon | Clip the coupon and use Subscribe & SaveRead more...

The fourth iOS 13 and iPadOS beta has rolled out for developers, and while there are the usual list of changes and bug-fixes in Beta 4, one of the more interesting tweaks is a much more responsive Context Menu that you’ll be able to pull up on any device running iOS or iPadOS 13.