Lifehacker

If you have a few different reward credit cards, it can be tough to keep track of which card gives you which benefits. Some cards give you the most points for buying groceries, or gas, or a magical rotating rewards category; others save their top rewards for booking with a specific airline or hotel. It’s enough to…

Breadcrumbs are good—noble, even. Without them, meatballs would be dense little orbs and meatloaves would be just that: loaves of meat. There would be no crispy, breaded, pan-fried fish, no oven-baked chicken tenders. I do not want to live in a world without breadcrumbs, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to switch it…

We’re living in a time when cyber-bulling, self-harm, suicide and school shootings are all things that parents and educators need to worry about. And as technology became more prevalent in the classroom, an obvious solution was born—monitor what our kids are searching, reading, viewing and writing to look for red…

Not all desktop PCs come with built-in wifi, which makes total sense—why wouldn’t you just use an Ethernet connection for a system that’s going to mostly sit under (or on) your desk? It’s still good to have options, especially if your desktop PC happens to be located in an area that is difficult (or annoying) to…

One of the annoyances of owning a non-Pixel Android phone is that you’re often a second-class citizen for major Android updates. Google might release a big new iteration of Android, but you’ll have to wait weeks (or months) for your manufacturer to customize it for your device. Luckily, if you’re a Samsung user,…

Cyber Monday Sale | Emirates

Google Recorder is one of the best apps you’ll find on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, thanks to how well it can automatically transcribe captured audio and even create subtitles for muted videos. And now we’ve got good news for owners of other Pixels: Google is finally porting this app over to the Pixel 2, Pixel 3, and…Read more...

We’ve all been there: you make a budget, you start making purchases based on your budget, and then you get stuck with some expense that isn’t in your budget.Read more...

In your decade(s) of internet use, you’ve probably created dozens, if not hundreds, of user accounts—for online retailers, gaming sites, messaging services, social media apps, and more. If you no longer want or need access to these accounts, take an afternoon to track down and delete what’s outdated.Read more...

Danielle drives a manual Honda Fit—a good car! But it’s getting worn out and is no longer ideal for hauling two kids around. She is feeling some pressure to get something “more responsible” but doesn’t want to give up the stick shift life. What car should she buy?

Due to the somewhat limited nature of the Thanksgiving menu, it is never impossible to acquire a turkey for the big day, even if you wait until the very last minute. (Thawing is another conversation, however.) You have a lot more leeway with Christmas dinner, which means you might be having visions of standing rib…Read more...

Water has gone beyond simply being good for us: reusable water bottles have become a statement unto themselves, signaling our health- and environmental-consciousness to the world. We’re so conditioned to constantly guzzle water that some people panic if they don’t have it on their person at all times. But how much…Read more...

Want to live forever? Here’s some advice from Bulletproof founder and author Dave Asprey. “We know that we can live to 120 years because we’ve seen it done...There’s a really good chance that in the next 100 years, we can get a 50% improvement because of technologies that are just coming online.”Read more...

macOS: A lot of people like Baby Yoda Disney Plus. So why should you have to go through the arduous task of loading your browser, pulling up the service, and clicking around to watch the latest episode of The Mandalorian? Thanks to a fun little hack from DBK Labs, we can shorten this by a few steps on macOS. And if…Read more...

Arbitrary strength classifications are stupid. I know this, and yet I keep looking up how my lifts compare on various charts and tools. The best, and most fun, among them: SymmetricStrength.com.Read more...

This week, the Verge reported on the massive onslaught of Amazon’s cardboard boxes at recycling facilities everywhere—otherwise known as the “Amazon effect.”

Little kids are learning so much in their earliest years. They’re learning to walk and talk and identify all sorts of things—people, animals, numbers, letters and colors. And it turns out that the way we use colors in English—typically prenominally, or before nouns—doesn’t help. We tend to say, “There’s a blue car,”…Read more...

Windows and MacOS: LICEcap is a simple app for recording a portion of your screen and saving it to a GIF. It’s very useful when you can’t easily share a video file, or when you want to post your recording on a web page, and video uploading is too much of a chore.

Medications called PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, can lower the risk of contracting HIV by 97%. They’re recommended for anyone at high risk of exposure to the virus, including people with an HIV-positive partner. These medications can be expensive without insurance, but today the government announced a program to…Read more...

Is your MacBook Pro randomly shutting down, even with plenty of battery life left? You’re not alone; reports of MacBook Pros shutting off prematurely are showing up on various forums and support threads. So far Apple has confirmed the random shutdown behavior on the 2019 13-inch MacBook Pro, though Mashable reports a…Read more...

Joe Biden has said he’ll make college and healthcare more affordable as president, all while moving the country toward more renewable energy sources. Sounds great! But those changes will come with a price tag to the tune of more than $3 trillion. And after months of criticizing other candidates’ plans as being half-bak…Read more...

When you have little kids, it can be tempting to go all-out for the holidays, stuffing as many gifts as you can under the tree, under the guise of creating family memories (that they’re unlikely to remember). But money is also finite; in fact, you may still be trying to pull yourself out of credit card debt from last y…Read more...

Plex launched a new, free, ad-supported streaming service for movies and TV shows today, and here’s the kicker: There’s no way to not view ads. Even if you’re a Plex Pass subscriber, Plex’s premium offering, you’re still going to see ads when you watch anything on its streaming service. Are these minor annoyances…Read more...

When you’re dealing with a major loss, it tends to affect most aspects of your life, whether or not you realize it. Sure, you expect to feel a pang of sadness the first time you go to their home after they pass away, or when you get excited about something and pick up your phone to call them, only to remember that…Read more...

If you’re used to a class, doing yoga on your own can be daunting—which poses should you choose? Or if you’re following along with a flow you found online, how can you modify or replace something that’s not quite at the right level for you? This chart from Stack52 can help you find the right pose.Read more...

Interviewing for a potential job is stress-inducing enough itself, without even considering the whole follow-up process. What if you think it went well but you don’t hear back from anyone? Sometimes this is a sign of bad news, and sometimes it isn’t. You want to follow up and find out what’s going on, but you don’t…Read more...

We always recommend keeping your extension list light, because you never know when something might try to siphon data from your browser—especially more data than it should be able to access. That’s exactly the issue Mozilla is raising with four seemingly “good” extensions—Avast Online Security, AVG Online Security,…Read more...

If there’s a massive downpour or you’re traveling during rush hour, you can usually count on exorbitant surge pricing while using popular ride share apps like Uber or Lyft. If you don’t know how surge pricing works, here’s the long and short of it: If there’s a high demand for rides, a premium is placed on rides in a…Read more...

I come from a quiet people. My classmates and I were always bad at asking questions of the teacher, or recognizing that we had questions. I wish I’d had someone like historian and professor Jacqueline Antonovich, who recently tweeted a trick for encouraging her students to pipe up. She simply rephrases the prompt “Any…Read more...

If you’ve got a lot of credit card debt and the monthly interest charges are adding up, a balance transfer credit card can be an excellent way of paying off that debt without paying interest. In exchange for a small balance transfer fee (usually 3% to 5% of your transferred balance), these cards give you an…Read more...

The NYT Cooking tour of Melissa Clark’s kitchen is a fun, warm ride. Clark’s spice drawers are a modern marvel, as is her impressive collection of salt, her massive jar of homemade vanilla extract, and her two (2) spaetzle makers. But the video isn’t just 11 minutes and 14 seconds of “look at my stuff!” Clark also…Read more...

It may seem ironic, but showers are filthy.Read more...

With so many streaming services allowing us to watch what we want when we want it, it makes sense that people are considering getting rid of cable. And as great as it is to be able to come home after work and watch back-to-back-to-back episodes of The Office or Living Single, there’s something to be said about being…Read more...

Remember the last time you asked your toddler to wait just a second for something, and that only made them more desperate and relentless for the thing they wanted? Toddlers are known for many things and patience ain’t one. They are beginners and they need to stretch their patience muscles. But as parents, it is…Read more...

Here comes the Android December security update. If you’re the proud owner of a Pixel phone, it’s time to check and see if you can grab the latest fixes, patches, and features for your device. But remember: Google is rolling the update out, as always, so it’s possible you might not have it yet.Read more...

A cast iron cookware sale, Breath of the Wild digital copy, natural deodorant, and a George Foreman grill lead off Wednesday’s best deals from around the web.

A few months ago, we here at Lifehacker HQ discussed the possible consequences of hidden city ticketing—when a traveler intentionally misses a connection because it’s cheaper to book a multi-stop flight over a direct itinerary to their destination. And while stories of travelers being “punished” by airlines for…Read more...

If you’re emailing multiple people at once, and you need different people to pay attention to different parts, you should tag each of them. Write “@name” for each person or team, and put their names in bold. Ideally, put all these requests in a list, so people can scan down the left for their name.

Lots of people buy TVs on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but there’s a lot you’ll want to consider when setting up a smart TV—more than just plugging everything in. As with any internet-based product, smart TVs are vulnerable to hacking and security exploits. A hacked TV might sound like something you’d find on your…Read more...

Few things are more frustrating than having your browser freeze while you’re streaming or surfing or having your messenger app lock up mid-rant. So what to do if you’re confronted with the spinning beach ball of death on your Mac and the application you’re using isn’t responding?

Amazon stocks everything you could ever imagine purchasing, at prices that usually best its competitors. But there’s something that just doesn’t sit right about being able to get a 12-pack of paper towels or whatever else your heart desires delivered in two days (or fewer).

‘StrandHogg’ sounds like something out of Quake II, but it’s actually the name of a new Android vulnerability that allows malware apps to masquerade as legitimate apps, ask for permissions, and then perform all kinds of actions you probably wouldn’t want. For example, one of these apps could read and scan your…Read more...

Wednesday, December 4 is National Cookie Day, and companies are handing out free cookies to the public, which sounds like something a boomer says on Facebook. The following chains are offering free cookies with no purchase necessary.Read more...

In preparation for today, Giving Tuesday, I recently started a fundraiser on social media for one of my favorite non-profit organizations. A friend who donated mentioned that they were including the gift as part of her family’s “Gift-Giving Countdown to Christmas.” They’d created an advent calendar of joy and…Read more...

Particulates are just one component of air pollution, but they pose a significant health risk—especially the ones that are smaller than 2.5 microns. Particulate pollution can aggravate asthma and can contribute to heart disease, stroke, and other health conditions. So...how much are you breathing in?

If you have more than one credit card, you’ve probably gotten offers to transfer a balance to one of your other cards—probably the one that gets used less than the others. Not wanting to be left out, that card sends you an offer of zero interest for 12 or 15 or 18 months, giving you time to pay down your balance…Read more...

Those of us who respect and appreciate proper apostrophe usage awoke yesterday to some upsetting news: John Richards, one of the most ardent defenders of the correct use of the apostrophe, is giving up. He posted his reasons for this decision on the website of the Apostrophe Protection Society, an organization he…Read more...

If you’ve missed out on any good Cyber Monday deals, don’t worry. Some of the best offers are still active through Tuesday—this includes several deals by airlines, during what’s referred to as “Travel Tuesday.”

Apple posted its roundup of the best iOS and iPadOS apps and games for 2019, which gives us a look into the trends that drove the year’s best apps. It’s a good read if you have the time, as it reveals some surprising figures—Mario Kart Tour was the most-downloaded game on the App Store, for example, and users were…Read more...

It’s Giving Tuesday! That day we all celebrate charity, rather than this weekend’s shopping gluttony, by donating money to groups and organizations that align with our worldviews. It’s also a day where you can make your money go further than usual, netting the organizations you support the maximum amount of cash.Read more...