Lifehacker

Hiking is one of those activities where it pays to have a map of where you’re going as well as some reports for what’s happened to those who have traveled before you. Sure, there are popular, marked trails out there, but when you’re on the hunt for something a little more obscure, the hunting can sometimes be a bit…Read more...

I’m an incredibly competitive person, especially when it comes to board games. That means that I will always be the first person to declare someone is “breaking the rules” and whip out the rulebook to prove it.

For someone who writes for a living, my Twitter feed has an embarrassing number of typos. I typically notice them the second after I hit post, and am immediately faced with the decision “Do I delete this tweet and pretend it never happened or just roll with the typo?”

Kick off the weekend with an affordable basketball hoop, a fantastic vacuum, OLED TVs, and a whole lot more.Read more...

Earther The Trump Administration Just Lost Another Court Battle To Kids | The A.V. Club James Gunn fired from Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 over resurfaced tweets | The Takeout Woman who jumps behind Burger King counter to help cook is The Takeout’s Employee of the Month |Read more...

I thought we’d all signed off on every use of bacon. I thought Reddit and Epicurious and Epic Meal Time had taught us that bacon goes with everything. But judging by the looks I get at the diner when I dip my bacon in butter, we have not. We apparently have not collectively agreed that bacon, like french fries or baby…Read more...

Can we stop being mad at plastic straws for a minute? Some folks are saying plastic straws are stupid and useless while others make the point that I’m disabled and I need these to drink. What if the fate of the ocean doesn’t hinge on plastic straws at all? Because one of the largest sources of garbage plastic in the…Read more...

If you’re an avid Mail user and always rushing to send an email on your iPhone, mistakes tend to happen frequently. One of iOS’s features on iPhone or iPad can help you call attention to a mistyped email address, with one simple Mail setting.Read more...

San Diego Comic-Con is upon us. And if you’re flying to this, or planning a trip to another geeky convention, you probably already know what you should and shouldn’t try to pack in your luggage. (It’s not in your best interest to surprise the Transportation Security Administration with a thermal detonator, Gom Jabbar,…Read more...

Giving your kid swimming lessons is a smart move, but you can’t just relax the moment he passes all his safety tests. It’s one thing for a child to be a proficient swimmer in a pool (and even then, he’s not drown-proof), but open water is a whole different beast. A new report from Safe Kids Worldwide and Nationwide’s…Read more...

When we last rounded up our staff’s Weekly Upgrades, our editors were buying kayaks, learning history via podcast, rediscovering the joys of community radio, and using jetlag to our advantage.Read more...

Social media stalking might be creepy and a waste of time, but most of us are guilty of it at one point or another. That’s why, after our latest “How to hide your accidental ‘like’ on Instagram” post, we were intrigued by this even more efficient tip coming from one of our readers.Read more...

Happy weekend, and welcome back to 3-Ingredient Happy Hour, the weekly drink column featuring super simple yet delicious libations. I have heard, and felt, that it has been hot out, so I felt like a bubbly, slightly citrusy and refreshing beverage was in order.Read more...

Rubber bands actually make pretty good erasers, it turns out. They can also hold a pair of pliers shut, or keep a lid on a pot while you carry it around. But they make shitty bookmarks. In the video above, The King of Random host Nate tests ten popular rubber band hacks to see if they really work.Read more...

I want the wallpaper from Phantom Thread. And I can have it, or at least a “reworking” of it, for $80 a roll at Wallpaper Direct. I know that thanks to Film and Furniture, a blog and database that spots furniture and decor in movies and TV shows, and tells you where you can buy it. The site has featured designs from …Read more...

Even before you download an app to help you meditate, or to manage your depression, it’s speaking to you. Apps’ marketing often implies that everyday stresses should be seen as mental health issues, and that you’re on your own (with the help of the app, of course) to fix whatever is wrong with you.

Twelve South’s HiRise is the most attractive smartphone stand you can buy, and according to The Verge, a pretty great Nintendo Switch dock to boot. It normally sells for $40, but the black model is marked down to $20 right now, easily the best price we’ve ever seen.

Author Catherynne Valente discovered a passage in New Mother’s Guide to Breastfeeding—a book written in 2002, not 1952, mind you—that reads: “Fathers, if your wife is having trouble or pain, step in and adjust her technique, reminding her that successful breastfeeding is a priority for the development of the child and…Read more...

Huge sales at Nordstrom and Wayfair, $25 off an Instant Pot, and many more kick off today’s best deals.Read more...

Nobody likes paying a ton of money for internet service (especially if you’re spending a small fortune each month for crappy speeds, like a spotty DSL connection). And while a crafty idea might pop into your head from time to time about how you can reduce or eliminate your monthly fee—including asking your neighbor to…Read more...

Earther This Weekend’s Youth Climate March Celebrates Diversity | The A.V. Club The scam industry: How the hip-hop boom sets hopefuls up for failure | The Takeout Restaurant to family of girl who pocketed tip money: Return it and we’ll take down the video |Read more...

If you have the means, should you max out your retirement contributions (that’s $18,500 for a 401(k), $5,500 for an IRA or Roth if you’re under 50 and $24,500 for a 401(k) and $6,500 for an IRA/Roth if you’re over 50) as early in the year as possible, or spread them out?

Of all the high profile Prime Day deals, the 6 qt. Instant Pot Duo for $59 was probably the quickest to sell out. If you didn’t manage to grab one, it’s back on sale for $75, which is obviously not as good a deal as Prime Day, but is still $25 less than usual, and the best price of the year with that one notable…Read more...

Have you ever noticed how online accounts are incredibly easy to sign up for, but can be hair-pullingly difficult to close? Sometimes the Close Account option is right where you’d think it would be, but other times you have to hunt it down, clicking through menu after menu until you finally find out that you can’t…Read more...

The A.V. Club Alice Wetterlund says T.J. Miller, everyone else on Silicon Valley “can fuck off forever” | The Takeout McDonald’s wants to give you free socks today and free fries on the regular | Earther Humans Are Making These Mysterious Clouds More Common |Read more...

When your bike gets stolen, just calling the cops isn’t going to be much help, says bike owner Jason McDowell in OnMilwaukee. But if you register your bike and record its serial number, you can alert the community and local bike shops when your bike goes missing. That makes it harder for the thief to sell your bike,…Read more...

Keeping up with your friends on all the various social networks you share can be an organizational pain. Now, however, Facebook is making this a tiny bit easier by allowing you to bring your Instagram contacts into Messenger, which also syncs your Instagram and Messenger conversations. If you go through with the merge…Read more...

Reddit chat rooms are here. As if you didn’t spend enough of your 9-to-5 workday browsing /r/aww, /r/explainlikeimfive, /r/bestof, or /r/SubredditDrama, you can now share your thoughts about posts (and life) with real Redditors in real time! Mashing the F5 key to refresh a static comments page is so last year.Read more...

This week I read a book over the phone with a stranger, and it was shockingly not awkward. Now, I have some experience reading aloud, as my wife and I read to each other every night. But you’ll pick it up quickly, if you try Audrey, a service that matches pairs of readers and gives them chapters of a book, specially…Read more...

Kevin won a bet with his wife, and while the details of the wager are a mystery, the important part is that he is now going to spend some $200,000 to $300,000 on a seriously fast car. But he’s not sure which direction to go. What car should he buy?Read more...

You probably wouldn’t want to use the Dremel MiniMite for, like, cutting through steel bolts, but it’s perfect for smaller tasks like sanding, polishing, engraving, and, uh, carving jack-o-lanterns. Plus, it’s battery powered, and only $20 today, making it a great addition to your toolbox.

The dairy industry has been fighting for years to get the word “milk” off of the likes of almond milk cartons. Meanwhile, makers of non-dairy milks say that being able to call their product what they like is a free speech issue. Now, it looks like the FDA is planning to side with the cow milkers.

Spending your money on ripe sour cherries is a serious commitment. For me, the promise of cherry pie doesn’t outweigh the pressure to pit and/or freeze several pounds of very expensive fruit before it turns to soup, which happens seemingly overnight—but apparently, the promise of a marinated beet salad sure does.

$55 is a terrific price for a hammock with an included steel stand. But a built-in cupholder? Come on. Who can resist that? Luckily, there’s still plenty of summer left to enjoy it.Read more...

A dad named Jack R. says just about every week, his 9-year-old son asks if he can use the app Musical.ly. His son’s best friend has been telling him that everyone at school has an account. After hearing the kid beg all summer, Jack finally decided to download it onto his own phone and sign up himself so that he could…Read more...

If you’ve taken steps to protect yourself from identity theft, good on you. But if you’re a parent, you’re not done yet—your kid could very well end up as a victim.

Android, iOS: You may be right to view apps or services that promise to “track your entire life” with suspicion. What does a company do with that data? Do you really need something to catalog every place you go, every photo you take, and every mood you feel?

Earther The Former Coal Lobbyist Now Leading the EPA Just Gutted Coal Ash Regulations | The A.V. Club Nathan Fillion on being a Monkees fan and why he gets nervous in a crowd of drinkers | The Takeout 10 lessons learned from a pair of burger cookbooks |Read more...

Psst, women reading this: have you ever suspected that you, and other women co-workers, end up doing a lot of thankless, annoying tasks around the office because no one else will? Well, you do, and you should stop.Read more...

On Tuesday, Refinery29 published an entry in their wildly popular Money Diaries series detailing a week in the life of a 21-year-old intern and college student in New York City whose pricey lifestyle is supplemented by generous assistance from her family.

This week on Hack Your City, we got your travel advice on Superman’s favorite vacation spot, Niagara Falls. We’ve highlighted dozens of great tips in the Staff tab on the original comment thread. Below are a few of our favorites.

I have a bad podcast habit. I keep discovering great, long-running podcasts and downloading their entire backlogs. Right now I’ve queued up 128 episodes of 32 shows. Maybe I should use Cast Rewinder, which sends you one old podcast episode at a time.

Health insurers are interested in your data, according to a recent ProPublica report, and they may be using it to raise rates or to discriminate against groups of people—but it’s hard to know, since companies got squirrelly when asked exactly what they’re doing with the data they collect.

Though more router manufacturers are making routers easier to set up and configure—even via handy little apps instead of annoying web-based interfaces—most people probably don’t tweak many options after purchasing a new router. They log in, change the name and passwords for their wifi networks, and call it a day.Read more...

iOS: Apple and certain medical institutions are making a play to get patients to view their medical records more frequently—and seamlessly—with Apple Health.

Treason, the act of betraying one’s country, is a serious charge. Under US law, it’s defined so narrowly and enforced so rarely that only a few dozen people have faced treason charges in our country’s history. The Constitution sets out a definition of treason and states that presidents can be impeached for it, so in…Read more...

Student loan scams are on the rise, and fraudsters are employing more complex and sophisticated methods than ever before.

Update: Here are a couple more weighted blankets on sale. You’ll pay $4 less for this 15 pound one in light grey- it’s just $71 right now, just be sure to clip the on-page 10% off coupon.Read more...

Salt makes everything better, and that includes beverages. Beyond margaritas, salt enhances the flavor of and tames any bitterness in almost any cocktail. Though it’s a common practice to rim your glass with sodium chloride, it’s a gross one, which is why you should season the drink, not the drinking vessel.Read more...

If you collect a lot of geographic data for research, or if you like poking around census files or other databases full of stats, you’ve got a new tool for visualizing that data in a 3D, dynamic map. Uber has released Kepler.gl, an open source mapping software with an easy interface for uploading sorted data.