Lifehacker

Lotus Biscoff - 300 Count | $27 | AmazonRead more...

An Alienware gaming desktop (and laptop), a Tile + Google Nest Mini bundle, and a J. Crew blazer sale lead Saturday’s most exciting deals of the day.

If you have a trip coming up on United, you may want to consider prepaying for that checked bag. The airline announced Friday that it plans to raise the cost of checking a bag from $30 to $35 starting March 6th. The price of a second checked bag will also go to $45 from $40.

Google recently announced it banned over 600 apps from the Play Store for using aggressive advertising practices. Buzzfeed reports that many were published by relatively popular developers like Cheetah Mobile, which had 45 apps available on the Play Store—some with billions of downloads—before being banned.Read more...

Pre-orders for Samsung’s next wave of Galaxy-class Android smartphones went live this morning. We doubt you burnt the midnight oil to buy a smartphone in advance, but as you contemplate whether you want to plunk down a significant sum of cash for a new Samsung device, know that there are a number of different…Read more...

After a long week at school, kids don’t necessarily want to spend their weekend pitching in on household chores. They’d rather be watching TV than vacuuming. Or building a new Lego creation instead of folding towels. (So would we, kids. So would we.) They can be especially resistant to chores that fall outside of…Read more...

When I recommend a new bottle of booze, I try to feature it in multiple recipes, so it doesn’t sit on your bar cart, languishing away. I particularly like to make a point of this with expensive bottles, and green Chartreuse—which I used in Lifehacker’s birthday cocktail—is, uh, quite pricey.Read more...

A few years ago, I moved into a new apartment. While my new place is just a few miles from my old one, the move turned into an adventure in both art of packing and taking apart furniture so it actually fit in a vehicle to travel those few miles.

If you have people over to your home—whether it’s a friend, roommate, former partner or a random party guest—someone is bound to leave stuff at your place at some point. But just because it’s in your house, it doesn’t automatically make it yours. Here’s what you should do with it, according to common U.S. law.Read more...

You shouldn’t be afraid of using public wifi anymore. Or, at least, you have much less to fear nowadays. While that doesn’t mean that you should blindly connect to “free internet,” “xfinity,” or other random, open hotspots without a little common sense—and some software backups—we’ve come a long way from the days of…Read more...

According to early developer builds of the upcoming Android 11, the Pixel 4-exclusive Car Crash Detection app will make its way to older Pixel devices when the big Android update releases later in 2020—but you can try it out early if you don’t want to wait. An early version of the app was extricated from a developer…Read more...

Ever thought you were a shoo-in for a promotion at work, only to watch your boss announce the role was going to someone else? It’s got to be one of the worst feelings you can experience.Read more...

If you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, there’s still time to do it. Now we also know how effective it’s likely to be.

Earlier this week, we looked at whether it’s ever a good idea to get your tax refund in the form of an Amazon gift card (my verdict, for what it’s worth, is no).

I primarily use my Instant Pot for cooking large cuts of meat until they are so tender they fall apart with a glance. The appliance produces a wonderful pork roast but, if you cook that roast in a can of tomatoes, you get a transcendent ragu.Read more...

In our month-long quest to get stronger hands and forearms, we’ve trained our crush grip, support grip, and pinch grip. Now it’s time for a different challenge: open hand grip, the kind of grip that helps you hold onto large and sometimes oddly shaped objects.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 car purchases based on global economic factors, why new some cars have massive discounts, and can junkyard cars be diamonds in the…Read more...

It’s so easy to do your taxes from the comfort of your home. Even if you’re working with a tax preparer instead of using one of the many online options, you barely even need to talk by phone anymore. In person appointments? No way. Just zap your forms across the internet and your tax professional will take care of the…Read more...

When I was pregnant with my son, my husband and I became committed to cloth diapering. So committed, in fact, that I bought a huge stash worth a couple hundred dollars (an investment) and washed and hung them to dry long before the kid was even born. So committed that we told everyone how committed we were.Read more...

I like to spend my one wild and precious life arguing with strangers in Twitter reply threads. But I want them to be real strangers, not bots, spammers, or fake identities. I don’t want to waste any of my over-wrought insults and smug dunks on a fake account. And since bots make up 15% of Twitter users—and a quarter…Read more...

You’re probably sitting wrong. Or, at the very least, you could be sitting better. In the video above, ergonomics consultant and occupational therapist Ellen Kolber showed me how I could improve my desk set up to avoid the constant neck and back pains.Read more...

Spam is annoying, but you shouldn’t see much of it in your actual inbox if you’re using a halfway-decent provider for your email. At least, I find that it’s rare for something to slip through Gmail’s mighty spam blockers and get me to consider opening it.

Tacklife 3.7V Cordless Rotary Tool | $15 | Amazon | Use the promo code WBFX6A95 at checkoutRead more...

Windows 10 will soon be getting a host of new system icons, giving the operating system’s look a much-needed refresh (in advance of Windows 10X). The icons are slowly showing up in test builds of Windows 10, and you can check them out early if you’re a Windows Insider. If you don’t want to deal with betas, the best…Read more...

Frequent Lifehacker readers will recognize our staff’s love of boring finances. It’s especially the case when it comes to credit cards. Using the same credit cards for many years improves your credit score by lengthening your history of credit use.

I lift. A lot. I’m at the gym usually six days a week, and I find an excuse to compete every couple of months. While it’s fine (and maybe even healthier) for exercise to be a casual thing, committing hard to an athletic pursuit often requires some rejiggering of your life to be able to train effectively every day,…Read more...

If you’re planning a trip away for July 4th, the time to book your plane ticket is now.

Quick pickles are basically condiment sunshine: they’re bright, cheery, and nobody’s ever mad to see them. I think this is especially true for pickled red onions, which improve everything they touch and ask so very little of you in return. If you can mix sliced onions with seasoned vinegar, you’ll be rewarded with a…Read more...

The next time someone asks whether you want to take a class or join a committee or be part of their new book club, don’t reply based on the assumption that you’ll find a way to make room for this time commitment in the future.Read more...

Did you get a weird notification on your Samsung phone last night? You’re not alone. Reports of a mysterious notification have been hitting the internet over the past day after some Samsung phones received a “Find my Phone” push notification that simply said “1,” with no explanation.

Every year, UrbanSitter releases results of its study of more than 25,000 families across the United States that helps determine the average hourly babysitting rate (by major city). And every year, the average hourly cost inches up and parents cringe, but we have to admit our babysitters deserve it.

Searching through your Gmail for specific messages is about to get a lot easier—if your organization uses G Suite, at least. You’re still free to be a keyboard warrior and fill Gmail’s search bar with parameters, like from:soandso@gmail.com before:2020/2/20, or use its drop-down menu to get specific with your searches…Read more...

If you’ve racked up a lot of credit card debt on several different cards, you know it can be hassle to keep track of them all. Not only does each card have a different due date—they probably all have different interest rates, too.

Does your phone continue to show you work-related email or Slack notifications even after your workday is over? Do you feel compelled to open those apps when you see the notifications, just to make sure you haven’t missed anything important—and then do you feel compelled to respond right away, even if the message can…Read more...

A bowl of olive bar olives is a nice snack, for your friends, particularly if you get a variety of colors, sizes, and cures (the wrinkled oil-cured guys are my current faves). No one would be mad at a bowl of room temperature olives, but if you want your guests to feel loved, cared for, and especially attended to, warm…Read more...

Have you ever ordered a 10-piece Chicken McNugget and a large drink, and found yourself with too few hands to adequately carry, sip, and dip? Well, TikTok’er @MakeupByPablo recently posted a genius McDonald’s hack that we decided to test out.Read more...

Hello, all you concupiscent piranhas of the Interwebs, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that gives you extra lives for the game of love.

There is a certain pattern to my evenings these days. I pick up my son from after-school care. I am happy to see him; he is happy to see me. We smile, we hug, we walk out the door of the school. And then, things get sour.Read more...

Taking a loan from your 401(k) is one of those financial life rafts we at Lifehacker only recommend if you’re desperate. But if you’re already thinking of taking out one of these loans, you probably think you’re already in the worst-case financial scenario. You might not be considering how it could get even worse: if…Read more...

Carbon offsets can seem too good to be true. In theory, the offsets work like a big sponge sopping up all the emissions you put into the environment when traveling by plane or riding in a car. It all comes at a relatively low cost, as well: you can offset emissions for a 12-hour flight for the price of an airport…Read more...

Wool Dryer Balls (Pack of 6) | $8 | Amazon | Promo code XTD92QNKRead more...

Most routers come with some kind of administrative website that you access by typing their IP address into your favorite web browser and entering your login and password—which you changed from admin/admin or admin/password, right? If you’re lucky, you have a “smarter” router that’s a bit easier to configure via an…Read more...

Mozilla launched the beta for its long-planned VPN, Firefox Private Network, adding yet another VPN service for both mobile and desktop users. There’s currently a waitlist for beta access, so we haven’t had the chance to test the new service, but there are some notable features that help Firefox Private Browsing…Read more...

As winter catches its last few breaths and spring starts to roll in, Netflix is updating its schedule with a ton of new content to help you escape the weather, whatever it might be.

I love sober people. I want them to be happy, and I want them to feel welcome in all establishments, including bars. Dry January may be well over, but the “sober curious” movement is gaining hashtags, no-proof bars are cropping up in major cities, and companies like Seedlip are putting out fancy looking bottles of…Read more...

We talk a lot about dark mode at Lifehacker—and based on the responses we get whenever a new app or service introduces a new way to view it with a black background, it’s clear that many Lifehacker readers prefer a dim device over a bright one.Read more...

The ninth Democratic presidential debate is set to take place tonight in Nevada, three days before the Nevada caucuses. Six candidates have qualified for space on the stage: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and Mike Bloomberg, who just qualified for the debate after receiving …Read more...

It happened while I was helping my daughter get up on the toilet, my son standing behind me. When I turned back to face him, I just managed to catch the moment when he decided to lick the handrail inside of the sandwich shop’s bathroom. It’s the only time I’ve ever considered actually washing his mouth out with soap.…Read more...

Here’s a helpful trick if you’ve ever struggled to find an old Gmail contact or unsaved number on Android: it turns out that Google keeps a list of every Gmail account you’ve ever sent or received an email from, including those you don’t save to your contacts, as “Other Contacts.”

Ever chatted with someone who has so much debt they feel overwhelmed? “Maybe I’ll just file for bankruptcy,” they might say. But then, the inevitable caveat: “I’d still have my student loans, though.”Read more...