Lifehacker

I’m a sucker for anything that takes text data and turns it into something visual. This week I came across Location History Visualizer, a tool that creates a heat map using your Google Location History.

No matter what your political affiliation, you can probably agree on one thing: politics have gotten stressful.

If you use Facebook (or even if you don’t) you probably know that advertisers have some information about you. Targeted ads are Facebook’s special juice, and scroll down your timeline will likely prove that the ads you’re seeing are anything but random. What you may not realize; however, is that you can also see…Read more...

A huge discount on the Instant Pot, an incredible TV value, and discounts on big brands from Backcountry lead off Sunday’s best deals from around the web.Read more...

The holidays are coming up fast which means it’s time to start crafting that perfect Out of Office message. I used to try and be creative with these, but at some point reverted to the classic “I’m out until X. Email this guy if you need something.” It’s not exactly going to put a smile on anyone’s face, but it gets…Read more...

Ever wonder where your tax dollars are actually going? While I have a decent general idea of what the government funds, I’ve never taken a look at how my money specifically is being used by the state and federal government.

Big savings on Amazon’s furniture brands, an essential cookbook, and one of the best Dyson discounts we’ve ever seen lead off Saturday’s best deals from around the web.Read more...

AmazonBasics makes pretty much everything at this point, and generally speaking, it’s a brand you can count on to be affordable and of good quality. While Amazon runs discounts on individual AmazonBasics products with some regularity, a whole bunch of it is on sale right now.

We use the term psycho all the time, but what does it actually mean?Read more...

Going to your first sleepover is a Big Kid Rite of Passage. It means you’ve officially crossed the threshold from “I go to playdates my mom set up” to “I have my own legit social life.”Read more...

Automation is one of the most important tricks to getting your finances in order. Having auto-deposits to a retirement or other investment account and transfers to a savings account are proven to get people to save more, while auto-bill pay can help individuals cut back on late fees and boost their credit scores.

Happy weekend, everyone, and welcome back to 3-Ingredient Happy Hour, the weekly drink column featuring super simple yet delicious libations. This week we’re making a classic (very strong) prohibition-era rum drink to help us forget some of the hard truths of this world, if only for a moment.Read more...

You can get away without having a primary care physician (PCP) for a while if you’re young, healthy, and a little bit stupid. But over time you’ll have enough health concerns that avoiding a PCP will make your life more complicated. Here’s how to know when you hit that point:Read more...

In work and in life, I love a script. If a repetitive type of interaction is part of your life—making a certain kind of small talk, having to send the same type of email with some frequency, making daily phone calls to clients or vendors or sources—why bother wasting mental energy coming up with fresh material every…Read more...

Another hell week draws to a close. Let us go prepare for the next hell week. Let’s relax with a shower, some Adderall, a glass of whiskey, and looking up our first names on Urban Dictionary.

I have made many a Thanksgiving main in my day, but one thing I have never messed with is the turducken. Nothing against the excessive gluttony of it all—eating three birds at once actually sounds like fun—I just value my time, and deboning three birds just to re-form them around each other takes up too much of it.…Read more...

At $8 per month for Prime members, Amazon Music Unlimited was already more affordable than Spotify Premium or Apple Music, but Amazon’s sweetening the pot for new members by offering four months for free, if you have an Amazon Echo device tied to your account.

Enlarging the font size on your phone is one of those famous old-people tech habits, like putting “...” all over your texts, or posting Facebook memes about sauerkraut. But it’s healthy for younger people too—it reduces eye strain, according to Intelligencer.

Thanksgiving is about spending time with those you love (or at least tolerate fondly), which is why the Lifehacker staff decided to gather for a staff turkey dinner. To make it extra special, I helped each staffer with their assigned dish, giving them little tips and tricks to make the meal, tastier, easier, and just…Read more...

Retirement savers can put an extra $500 aside in their 401(k)s and IRAs as the IRS adjusts for the annual cost-of-living for 2019.

A 12" MacBook, a KitchenAid mixer, and Uniqlo cold weather gear for men and women lead off Friday’s best deals from around the web.

I love overly dramatic cover songs, the kind you hear in movie trailers where some lady is stage-whispering “He did the mash, he did the Monster Mash” while the Inception sound blasts over shots of a robot wizard tornado. I play them in two moods: feeling extremely dramatic and pumped up, or feeling goofy. So I took a…Read more...

Flickr is under new ownership and that means new rules. Now it’s time to back up all those photos that you just assumed would be there forever.Read more...

Ever find a few mystery pills in the bottom of your purse—or worse, in a place your kid or pet may have gotten into? Fortunately every medication has its own distinctive shape, color, and markings, so it’s possible to identify a lost pill. The Poison Control Centers have a pill identifier that can help.Read more...

If you’ve spent any time with teens, you know that they tend to be forgetful. It’s not that they don’t try, of course, but somehow remembering to change the toilet paper roll or empty the dishwasher escapes their brains. With heavy homework loads and demanding after-school schedules, teens, just like adults, can have…Read more...

The A.V. Club Does the most important year for superhero movies belong to The Dark Knight or Iron Man? | Deadspin Raheem Mostert Leaves Game With Gut-Churning Arm Injury [Warning: Graphic] | Jezebel After Killing Mayonnaise and Hooters, Millennials Bring Fresh Perspective to Mortuaries | Splinter Rep. Jeff…Read more...

Lead is not something you want in your water, your food, or your personal care products. But until recently, the US FDA allowed lead acetate in one such product, a certain type of hair dye, on the basis of old studies that found it didn’t migrate from hair into the bloodstream. This week, they changed their mind.Read more...

Like every single component of Thanksgiving dinner, cranberry sauce inspires a lot of feelings. There are can purists—“We need the ridges!”—and there are homemade enthusiasts. Then there are those who like to play around with the genre, infuriating both camps. I bet you can guess which category I fall into.Read more...

It’s a human impulse to take action, especially in potentially dire circumstances. You might think striking out in search of help is the best thing to do when stranded in your car. It’s not.Read more...

In the quest to wring out as many pennies as possible from customers and compete with budget airlines, three U.S. carriers—American, Delta and United—now offer three distinct levels of Economy class tickets, and the differences between the tiers are potentially equal to hundreds of dollars in ticket fares.

Are you embarking on a one-month quest to write the first draft of that novel you’ve been dreaming of? Or perhaps you just want to feed off the energy of the 400,000 people who are. Here are our top tips for aspiring novelists.

You don’t need to take a bartending class to convince your friends you’re a great mixologist. You just need, like, three cocktail recipes with more than two ingredients, and big, clear ice cubes. You all can jump into the comments to help each other with the former, but for the latter, I’m really impressed with True…Read more...

Thanksgiving demands a lot from us all, but it demands the most from the dishwasher. If you’re having a smol Thanksgiving, it might not make sense to bust out every single pot and pan, but luckily you don’t have to. A full Turkey Day meal—complete with cranberry sauce—can be cooked up in your oven on single sheet pan.Read more...

Sound the alarm: Taco Bell is giving away free tacos today.

I love spruce-up shortcuts. Company coming to your messy home? Just clean your bathroom. Look like shit today? Slap on some red lipstick. Here’s mine: Replace your shower curtain, and you’ll feel like you have a whole new bathroom.

When my sister-in-law was pregnant earlier this year with my nephew, I watched him get spoiled—consistently and thoroughly—despite not yet having even taken his first breath.

Your Amazon Alexa device will now work a bit better with your calendar.

Thanksgiving menus aren’t exactly cradles of innovation. Some people refuse to mess with tradition, and tweaking the classics can be a real gamble—especially when it comes to pie. But if you’re sick of the same old pumpkin and pecan, slip in a little miso paste and watch as hardline traditionalists and radical pie…Read more...

Airlines are not allowed to charter flights between two countries if they are not based out of either. That’s why you won’t find Delta selling trips between Canada and France, or Malaysia Airlines flying between the U.S. and England.

We’ve squatted and we’ve deadlifted, so it’s about time we tackle the bench press. And we’re doing it with room for everybody: even if you’ve never tried, and are perhaps slightly terrified of dropping the bar on your face, you can still join in.Read more...

The Concourse A Truly Brilliant Solution To The Problem Of People Wearing Non-Spooky Halloween Costumes | The A.V. Club A very British Mike Myers talks Bohemian Rhapsody and George Harrison on The Late Show | Jezebel 10 More Spooky Stories to Keep You Up at Night | Splinter Here’s Jeffrey Toobin Calling Kris Kobach a…Read more...

Making plans with your friends, loved ones, and romantic partners should be a straightforward process, maybe even an enjoyable one. And yet, so many people are absolutely god awful it, muddying the waters with dithering, failure to grasp or account for basic details, poor communication skills, and sheer laziness.

This week Hack Your City took the Seoul train to South Korea. We got great tips on the city from locals and frequent visitors, and we put just a few highlights below. First off, here’s a great map guide—I love when people draw on maps—to the traditional village of Bukchon, depicted here overlooking the city’s modern…Read more...

It’s officially November, which if history is any indication, is the best time of year to buy a robotic vacuum. This Roomba 801 normally sells for around $349, and includes up to 5x the suction of the 600 and 700-series Roombas, plus a cleaning head that automatically adjusts its height based on the type of floor the…Read more...

For the last eight years, I’ve devoted my life to learning, appreciating, and respecting one of the world’s great culinary marvels. People have called me obsessive, over-the-top, bordering on mania.

When you’re a kid, Halloween is about throwing off that winter coat your mother insists you wear over your costume and getting as much candy as possible. Halloween as an adult generally means getting drunk and spending Nov. 1 trying to remember where you left your car. Be especially mindful about that last bit because…Read more...

We see a lot of deals around the web over on Kinja Deals, but these were our ten favorites today.

If you have hosted many Thanksgiving dinners at your lovely home, chances are you have all the pots, pans, and tools you need to cook up a turkey along with an impressive array of sides and pies. But if this is your first year, you are most likely not prepared, because a Thanksgiving dinner requires kitchen items you…Read more...

Ads and in-app purchases have become so prevalent in the games our kids play on their tablets that experts are calling them more than just distracting—they’re labeling them as “unfair” and “deceptive.”

Spotify is sweetening its family plan subscription offer for the holidays. Starting tomorrow, November 1, family plan account holders in the U.S. can get a free Google Home Mini smart speaker for their listening (and voice-searching) pleasure. The offer, which runs from Thursday through the end of the year, is the…Read more...