Lifehacker

Between now and January 7th, Fortnite is giving away a collection of 14 free character skins and other in-game items for all players during its big Winterfest event.

If you own one of four TP-Link routers, including the TP-Link Archer C5 (v4), you’re going to want to find and install its latest firmware update right now. The patch fixes a critical vulnerability that would otherwise allow an attacker to take full control of your router—admin access and all—and lock you out of it.Read more...

Have you ever got on the road only to realize you’ve forgotten something crucial back at home? Do you have some kiddos in the rear who just don’t know when to stop kicking the back of your goddamn seat? Or are you just plain tired of making five-point turns? Then mastering the forward 180, courtesy of Wyatt Knox at …Read more...

Here’s some good news for your eventual retirement: Congress is trying to make it easier for you to save for that day when you can finally leave your briefcase behind and kick back on the beach.Read more...

If you’re looking for a last-minute gift that doesn’t require any shipping or handling, don’t assume you have to send a boring old gift card. Here’s Lifehacker’s guide to gifting ebooks, audiobooks, digital games and more.Read more...

Redbox is getting out of the game rental business and is offloading its stock of PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and a smattering of Switch titles with a clearance sale. You’ll find many of the deals listed on RedBbx’s website, but some noteworthy discounts include:

A cheese, charcuterie, or even vesper board can function as a snack, meal, or cocktail party sustenance. The contents of the board are obviously the most important part, but the board itself can greatly influence your snacking experience. For easy snack board-eating enjoyment, grab a rimmed baking sheet.

On Wednesday and in a vote that split very closely along party lines, the House impeached President Donald Trump, making him the third president in U.S. history to have ever been impeached. In its vote, the House passed both articles of impeachment brought forth yesterday, including abuse of power (defined as having…Read more...

There are the hospital visits you expect—a planned surgery, for example. And then there are the visits you don’t expect—such as when you have to rush your baby, who was born with a congenital heart defect, to the emergency room just days before Christmas.Read more...

If you’re planning on flying Alaska tomorrow, you might want to plan on wearing your favorite holiday sweater.

After several candidates threatened to boycott tonight’s round over a local labor dispute, it’s official: The final Democratic presidential debate of 2019 is back on. And in a first for the debates so far, we will witness just seven candidates on stage at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

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We had a lot of opinions this year, every one of them perfect, but some more perfect than others. The Lifehacker staff talked amongst ourselves and decided these were our best opinion pieces in 2019. Thank you for agreeing.

A brand-new Instagram update has finally added a much-requested feature to the app: Users can upload a collage of multiple photos in a single Instagram story and use a new “Layout” mode to create more engaging story posts.

The Internal Revenue Service is getting more funding in 2020. That’s pretty exciting for taxpayers, as it means more staff to process tax returns and more staff to answer the phone when you have a question. But it could mean that your risk of getting audited will go up too, at least, a little bit. The Motley Fool says…Read more...

Back in 2017, Unroll.me—the third-party service that attempts to unsubscribe you from unwanted email threads and newsletters—came under fire for collecting user information, selling it to Uber, and saving copies of emails and other data without notifying its users.Read more...

One of my favorite cold-weather meal formats is a big hunk of roasted meat, served with a starchy side and some sort of green or fresh plant matter. I usually have leftovers of the roasted meat, which I almost never reheat, because I cooked it perfectly the first time, damn it. (Could I reheat using my immersion…Read more...

By now we know that when we praise kids, we should focus less on natural ability or intelligence and more on effort. As in, “You worked so hard on that homework!” versus “You’re so smart!” But adults have another way of complimenting kids that we should also do away with—insulting our own ability by comparing it to…Read more...

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If you’re eagerly awaiting this weekend’s winter solstice because it’s the shortest day of the year—and thus every day after that will be a teensy bit longer—I have some bad news: while the total day length will get longer, sunrise will actually keep getting later for a while, meaning we’ll have even darker mornings.Read more...

Much has been written about the security of Amazon’s Ring Cameras. I still maintain that most of the issues people are discovering with the company’s security all require an attacker to know your user name and password—something you can help prevent by using a strong, unique password for your account. But don’t stop…Read more...

Earlier this week, I ran a report on all of my 2019 spending to date, divided by category. While I’m sure I’ll have a few more expenses before the year ends, I was still able to get a fairly accurate picture of where my money has gone this year—and whether I allocated my money in accordance with my values.Read more...

Brushing a sticky, sugary glaze on your salty holiday ham is practically a given, but the best glazes have need a flavor besides sweet to make them shine. A splash of vinegar or orange juice can add some acid and depth, but truly interesting people glaze their cured pork with pepper jelly.Read more...

A Rubik’s Cube or “magic cube” can be configured over 43 quintillion ways, and every configuration can technically be solved in 20 moves or less. In practice, the most expert human cube solvers usually need more than 40 moves. But these mobile apps can solve it faster—or they can teach you how to solve like an expert.…Read more...

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If you’re going home for the holidays, you’re probably thinking about a vacation that doesn’t involve sleeping in your childhood bedroom. Time to start planning: Until midnight tonight, JetBlue is having a hell of a flash sale for one-way tickets.

A Canon 50mm lens, Klymit sleeping pad, Thermapen Mk4, and a Bahamas cruise lead off Wednesday’s best deals from around the web.

When the much-anticipated Disney+ launched last month, some of its classic kids’ movies came with a warning: “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.” The language of the warning itself is inadequate in how it categorizes racist stereotypes in many of Disney’s…Read more...

They say money can’t buy happiness, but I’m not convinced. Some purchases can make your life easier or more enjoyable, which contributes to your overall happiness. Don’t believe me? I asked the Lifehacker staff what purchases they found most valuable this year (beyond the everyday essentials, of course). From one-time…Read more...

Not everything has to be a platform for something else, and that’s especially true in your smarthome. While you can supplement your smart speakers with skills, actions, and apps—we’re mainly talking about the Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home devices—you should think twice about what you’re installing. Vulnerabilities…Read more...

If you’re the kind of person who hates the holidays, chances are you’re not into the predictable Christmas movie formula. But if you love horror, you’re in luck, because it turns out that holiday horror is its own movie subgenre. Just this week, the remake of the classic Black Christmas debuted in theaters, paying…Read more...

Don’t use bad passwords. Not even for stupid stuff. Because the dumb social network you join today might add a wallet or a cloud service or a camera some day, and before you know it, the only thing stopping someone from draining your bank account and spying on your home is the word “dragon.”

There were a lot of trendy diets in 2019, including a few even I hadn’t heard of before I started researching this list. Google published the ten most-googled diets, and we’re here to explain what they are and what you might want to know if you’re looking into them.Read more...

Google Photos has received several big updates recently, but now the app has a full-on messaging service that you can use to swap photos and carry on conversations between your contacts.

So far, many of the Democratic candidates for president want to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund their policy plans. But what does that really mean?Read more...

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December is usually a good time to get a deal on a car since both manufacturers and dealers want to end the year with strong sales numbers. However, just because something looks like a good deal doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick apart the details.

Helping kids develop their news literacy skills has become more important than ever—and teaching kids only to identify fake news isn’t enough. To develop true news literacy, kids have to learn deeper strategies than simple fact-checking; they also have to consider how the news is gathered and presented.Read more...

Microsoft plans to roll out Edge via a Windows Update on January 15. We’ve had a great time playing around with it since the Chromium version of the browser debuted in April, and we’ll probably have even more to say before its official release next month. But it’s also OK to not want another browser on your desktop or…Read more...

Because they last a long time, it’s easy to forget that your passport is about to be invalid. Whether you have an unexpected international trip come up or you meticulously planned an international journey without paying attention to the most important details, sometimes you need a passport—fast.

A major WhatsApp bug has been discovered that leaves your chat history at risk of being permanently deleted by others, and you should update the app as soon as possible to patch out the vulnerability.

Ever tried to learn SQL, the query language that lets you poke at the innards of databases? Most tutorials start by having you create your own database, fill it with nonsense, and then run queries that will make your eyes glaze over (hooray, we can simulate the accounting department for a widget factory). The Knight…Read more...

On Monday night, a federal judge approved a purge of 313,000 voters in Georgia who did not vote in recent elections, effectively shrinking the number of registered voters in the state from 7.4 million to 7.1 million, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports.

Every home baker wants a stand mixer, and they often go on sale just in time for holiday gift-giving. If you’re committed to buying one for yourself or someone you love this year, don’t default to the cheapest Kitchenaid on Amazon. Depending on your needs, a vintage mixer might actually be a better choice.

If you were hoping to apply for an Affordable Care Act health insurance plan for 2020, you should know that the deadline for applications submitted through Healthcare.gov has been extended.Read more...

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While you’re thinking about your own financial lessons from the past year, take a look at some of the most popular stories here at Two Cents in 2019. They range from the practical to the absurd, but they’re all on this list for a reason: They contained some kernel of financial wisdom you can take away and apply to…Read more...

A solid plumbing system, if well-maintained, could—and should—last for decades. This is a good thing, because replacing the whole thing is a huge and costly project.

It’s a pretty well-known fact that Alexa-enabled devices and Google Home products record everything you say to them. What you may not know is how to delete these recordings or turn this feature off entirely. In the video above, I show you how.Read more...

We’ve all got stories about that neighbor. The one who never cuts the grass. The one who never cleans up after their dog. The one who plays video games—with the sound enhanced by a subwoofer—in the middle night, right up against your shared bedroom wall.Read more...