When you think about freeing up storage space on your iPhone, iMessage may be one of the last things that comes to mind. However, the service tends to take up a deceptively large amount of storage space on your iPhone and on iCloud because we use it all the time to send photos, videos, and other large attachments—it…
We’ve all been psyched to dig into some Kosher baby dills or fresh jam, but after twisting, grunting, and vowing I will not ask for help, I can do this myself, we realize our meager hands aren’t cutting it. Many of us reach for a silicone grip, a jar-opening kitchen gadget, or try to create friction with a dish towel.…
It’s Monday morning, so let’s talk about disasters! This week’s disaster is the earthquake. These seismic catastrophes are the most deadly of all natural disasters.
The first time I heard an ad for Noom—the so-called “anti-diet” weight-loss app—I was carrying more than a few extra post-anorexia pounds. The other things I carried far outweighed the weight gain: namely, a functioning brain and a fuller outlook on life and my self-worth. Still, I wasn’t exactly at peace with my…
After any winter storm comes the time when you have to get out from under the blanket, and head outside to take care of your sidewalks and/or driveway. Clearing the snow away is one part of the job, but once the rest of the snow starts to melt when the sun comes out during the day—and then freezes again when…
Though we may associate coyotes with the desert, or the mountains—or wherever roadrunners live—there’s a good chance they’re in or near your area. It doesn’t matter whether you live in the suburbs, the country, or even in a city, because coyotes are quite adaptable and can make their home in a variety of climates.
Even if you haven’t been following along with football season, we feel obligated to tell you that it will soon come to an end. Not because you should feel pressured to watch the playoffs and get to know the teams that move forward, but because the Super Bowl is exactly two weeks from today, and that means food deals…
Part of the appeal of Fridays is looking forward to what you’re going to do over the weekend (at least for those who typically have Saturdays and Sundays off). Maybe you start off thinking that you’ll take some time to relax, but after an hour or two on the couch or in bed (or wherever you go to unwind), a feeling of…
Even if you know nothing else about baseball, you probably are aware that Babe Ruth is one of the game’s most famous players. Sure, if you grew up in the 1990s, then there’s a chance you were introduced to The Babe—aka the Sultan of Swat, the Titan of Terror, the Colossus of Clout, the King of Crash, the Great Bambino…
Though long-associated with lining drawers and shelves, contact paper has a lot more to offer. And if your only experience with it has been limited to clear (to cover your workbooks in school), white, and the range of pastel-colored patterns available in the ‘90s, you’re in for a surprise.
Teenage culture can be depressing, dark and senseless, whether we’re talking about hopeful movements falling apart for no reason, game show winners being bullied, or bleak adolescent TV dramas.
There’s no substitute for a letter from Hogwarts, but in lieu of actual magic, Harry Potter fans can pretend to be witches and wizards wielding their iPhones as wands. Apple’s Siri has three spells built in and a handful more that you can set up using Shortcuts.
The news that wonder-boy billionaire Elon Musk is serious about developing technology that connects our brains directly to our computers (and electric cars) got me thinking about whether it’s a good idea to become a cyborg now and beat the rush.
Sure signs of winter include: the sudden desire to wear long underwear, a craving for hot chocolate, and a proliferation of snowy road disasters highlighted in the IdiotsInCars subreddit.
Even the most devoted animal lover will tell you that every pet adoption comes with unexpected challenges and lessons. For instance, my roommate shares custody of a hamster with her boyfriend; I wish she had known more about just how much hamsters like to work themselves into a tizzy on their wheels all throughout the…
You’re probably all-too-familiar with Screen Time feature on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, if only because it is constantly pinging you with anxiety-inducing stats about how much time you spend staring at screens.
You probably know the feeling: The night before you have to go back to work or school after being off for a couple of days (or longer), you start to feel anxious. You can’t focus, can’t sleep, and find yourself imagining all the stressful or annoying things that await you at work in the coming week. Welcome to the “…
A home appraisal is a standard step in the mortgage approval process. If you’re buying a home or refinancing your current one, your lender likely will require a professional appraisal to ensure your loan amount and the home value are aligned and that you’re not paying way too much for what you’re getting. Typically,…
Lunar New Year, known as “Spring Festival” in China and sometimes called “Chinese New Year” in the U.S., is among the most widely celebrated holidays on earth. The beginning of a new year on the Chinese lunar calendar is marked by family reunions, gift-giving, and delicious food.
The child tax credit—a benefit designed to help taxpayers support their families—was greatly expanded for the 2021 tax year by the American Rescue Plan Act. The credit grew from a maximum $2,000 per qualifying dependent to a maximum of $3,600 in 2021. And for the first time, many taxpayers received half of the credit…
According to Twitter, my decrepit Facebook feed, and a daily trash-talking text thread shared among my husband, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law, if you love Wordle, you really love Wordle. Like, play it as soon as you wake up, or get the kids off to school, and promptly advertise your results to whomever will…
Movie snacks are a rare source of conflict in my household. My boyfriend is motivated by an insatiable sweet tooth, while I’m a bottomless pit for what I call “salty crunchies,” and in the context of movie-watching, that always means popcorn. Kettle corn is the perfect compromise: It’s sweet, it’s salty, and it’s…
Machines are one of the easiest ways to get started with exercising. They don’t require much in the way of technique, nor are there many fiddly details to worry about. You certainly don’t have to assemble your equipment from bits lying around the gym like you do for a barbell workout.
Based on an unscientific survey of my husband, largest WhatsApp chat, and everyone I work with, 100% of respondents use mouthwash after brushing. But common wisdom might have many people using mouthwash at the wrong time. And it’s a lot of people: According to Statista, nearly 200 million Americans used mouthwash in…
Volunteering is good. It’s good for the communities and individuals who benefit from it directly, it’s good for the people who do the work, and it’s good for society in general. It can also be good for your career.
You may have heard people describe themselves as an “empath” to indicate they’re sensitive, intuitive people deeply aware of the emotions and energy of those around them. These self-proclaimed highly feeling souls are emotional sponges, immediately sensing peoples’ moods, making them natural helpers and healers. But,…
Last week, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the “Doomsday Clock” will remain set at 100 seconds to midnight, the closest humanity has been to complete annihilation since the clock was created. We haven’t moved the needle since 2020, when it sunk to its current, dismal, less-than-two-minutes-left…
On one hand, using a cheap Bluetooth mouse with your Mac is better than moving the cursor with your finger. On the other hand, though, you miss out on some of macOS’ trackpad gestures—including the three-finger drag to switch to different workspaces. But there’s a free app called Mac Mouse Fix that adds trackpad…
If you don’t want to be overwhelmed by the pressure of replying to every message the second you see it, it’s best to just hide or disable your online status so people won’t see you or know when you were last online. You can appear offline in most popular social media and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook,…
Like many social media apps designed to suck you in, Google uses what it knows about you—including your YouTube watch history—to serve you an endless stream of content that it thinks will hold your interest. If you have hours to go down a rabbit hole of comedy or cute animals, that might be fine.
Here’s a fun thought experiment; picture the amount of personal data you think tech companies keep on you. Now, realize it’s actually way more than that (hmm, maybe this isn’t that fun). Even as privacy and security become more talked about in consumer tech, the companies behind our favorite products are collecting…
After brushing and flossing, mouthwash completes the trifecta of daily dental care. But do we really need all three steps? Dentists wouldn’t dare tell you to skip flossing or brushing, but it turns out they’re a lot more equivocal about mouthwash.
Exhibiting emotional intelligence is more important than ever in the workplace. We are in the midst of the Great Resignation, and people are increasingly less likely to stick with jobs where they do not feel seen, heard, or valued. Employees want to work with and for people who exhibit high degrees of emotional…
Google Photos does a great job sorting through your photos using a text search, thanks to the tech giant’s prowess with image recognition, machine learning, and, er, search. Apple’s Photos app isn’t nearly as useful—but you can do a few things to fix that.
If you have to suffer through a natural disaster, a blizzard is a good one. The death rate is relatively low—the worst blizzard in American history, the “Great White Hurricane” of 1888, only claimed a total of 400 lives—and preparation is easy. As long as don’t do anything dumb and you’re not incredibly unlucky, you…
With temperatures dropping outside, our pipes are at an increased risk of freezing—especially in areas where freezing temperatures are unusual. Identifying and troubleshooting high-risk spots now can save you the hassle of a frozen pipe and—worse—the expense of fixing a burst one.
The iPhone keeps you connected to the world, but there is another, more straightforward it can help you make sense of what’s going on around you: You can use its Magnifier feature like an actual magnifying glass.
If you make your own mayo, you know you can go all out by playing around with vinegars and various fats. Duck fat mayo, for instance, will change your sandwich game. Even something as simple as swapping egg yolks for whole eggs can change the flavor and texture of your spread. But while I love tweaking and tinkering…
While some people have always loved vintage (i.e. secondhand) furniture, others are new to the thrift store, flea market, and yard sale game, thanks to current furniture shortages and shipping delays. But shortages or not, there are many benefits to buying secondhand furniture and other items for your home, including…
Not only can cold, dry winter air be problematic for your skin, it can cause some unwanted changes to your hair and scalp as well. This means that we may have to shift our haircare routines in order to protect it more throughout the season. And part of that is avoiding certain treatments and styling techniques that…
Each year, carbon monoxide poisoning brings more than 20,000 Americans to the emergency room—around 4,000 of whom are hospitalized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports. Additionally, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning (not linked to fires).
Owning a home has long been one of the pillars of the “American Dream.” And even with increasing numbers of people choosing to rent a home rather than buying one, there are still plenty of folks out there who’d rather make payments on a mortgage, instead of to a landlord.
Cleaning your bathroom may not be your favorite household chore, but at least it’s pretty straightforward. In fact, you probably have some sort of routine down pat: Putting cleaner in the toilet to work its magic while you clear off the floor and counters, giving everything a quick-but-thorough wipe-down, running the…
Out of all the foods that are off-limits to dogs, chocolate is probably the one people are most familiar with—even if they don’t have a dog of their own. And it’s for good reason: Chocolate is toxic for dogs, and could make them seriously ill.
If you have a grill that runs on propane, there will come a time when you need to deal with the empty tank. Depending on how old the tank is, there are a number of options available to you, from refilling or recycling to disposing of it entirely.
For many years, I had a Keurig. I loved my Keurig and its compact pods with their promise of just enough coffee to make the perfect cup without ever needing to measure. But every time I casually tossed one of those plastic pods in the trash can: guilt. They’re neither recyclable nor biodegradable, and tossing the…
A friend of mine used to say that the first question we ask when we’re introduced to a new piece of technology is, “how can I use this to have sex?” To that end, here’s how to use an Oculus Quest 2, PSVR, Vive, or other VR headset to have sex...or watch virtual porn, anyway.
