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lj1word1day_feed) wrote2025-09-01 05:07 pm
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-31 08:00 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are rolling in, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
It's Labor Day weekend, and tech sales are going strong, with deals on TVs, iPads, tablets, and headphones. If you're looking for a deal on a new MacBook, this is your best chance so far this year: Apple's powerful M4 MacBook Air already dropped to $799, its lowest price ever, and now, the base 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro is following suit: It's down to $1299 on Amazon, a $300 discount from the usual $1599. It's the cheapest price yet for this model MacBook Pro. (The pricier M4 Pro model with the M4 Pro chip and 25GB RAM has already received a $300 cut, from $1999 to $1699.)
The 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro is a step above the M4 MacBook Air. They share the same chip, but the MacBook Pro gets a 10-core GPU instead of an eight-core. You also get 16GB Unified Memory, and 512GB Storage as standard (instead of 256GB for the Air).
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-31 07:00 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are rolling in, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
There’s nothing worse than getting partway through a DIY project and discovering you don’t have the right tool to finish it—and Labor Day sales provide a good way to keep that from happening, providing discounts that make it easier to upgrade your toolkit while keeping to a budget. Even if your budget is relatively miniscule. To that end, here are the best Labor Day tool deals I’ve found under $25.
A good tool kit should include a set of wrenches and a ratchet, which will allow you to drive nuts for multiple sizes of bolts for assembling and disassembling furniture, changing filters on large appliances, or auto maintenance. Here are some great under-$25 deals on wrenches and ratchets.
This Crescent 20-piece ratchet set is on sale on Amazon for $24.98, 41% off its usual price. This set comes with a ⅜-inch ratchet handle, an extension bit, and 8 each of metric and SAE sockets. This is a good beginner kit because it covers most sizes of nuts you’ll encounter, and it’s small and easily portable.
This Ryobi 26-piece 1/4 -inch drive ratchet set is on sale for $19.97 at Home Depot, 33% off its normal price. This set comes with a ¼-inch drive ratchet handle, 24 sockets in both metric and SAE sizes, and a carrying case. This is a good set for smaller home maintenance tasks and because it’s so compact, it’s great for apartment living.
This Craftsman 10-piece combination wrench set is on sale for $19.98 at Lowe’s, 31% off its typical price. The set includes 10 double-ended, SAE wrenches. This set is a good companion to a ratchet set, so you can use a wrench to hold a bolt head as you’re turning the nut, or use the wrenches on their own to drive nuts.
A range of screwdrivers is essential for any basic home toolkit, whether you're assembling flatpack furniture or swapping out a switch plate. Here are some deals on screwdriver sets on sale for under $25.
The Craftsman 8-piece screwdriver set is on sale on Amazon for $14.98, 49% off its usual price. This set includes 8 screwdrivers with half slotted and half Phillip’s head, in a variety of sizes; it also has two short-handled drivers for turning screws in tight spaces. This is a good starter set.
The DeWalt 2-piece screwdriver set is on sale for $9.97 for Labor day. The set includes two drivers, on Phillip’s head, and one flathead. The tips of these screwdrivers are magnetic, so they’ll hold onto your fasteners, which is convenient if you’re working in an awkward space.
The Craftsman 15-piece ratcheting screwdriver set is on sale at Ace Hardware for $14.99, 41% off the regular price. It's labeled as a 15-piece set because the bits are double ended, but it actually comes with 7 bits and a ratcheting handle. The bits store inside the handle, so it's a compact option for your home tool kit if you have limited storage space. It includes Phillip's head, flat head, square tip, and star drive bits.
Here are a few more standout Labor Day tool deals on tools and accessories.
The DeWalt 20-inch handsaw is on sale at Ace Hardware for $15, 50% off its normal price. This is a basic handsaw for cutting medium sized dimensional lumber, and can be handy for finishing corners when cutting sheet goods with a power saw. The 8-tooth-per-inch blade will provide a medium-to-smooth cut without splintering or tear out on most lumber.
A set of four Vevor bar clamps is on sale at Lowe’s for $24.99. This set includes two 6-inch clamps and two 12-inch clamps with a 2 ½-inch jaw depth and a 600-pound pressure capacity. Clamps are a useful tool for DIY woodworking because you can use them to hold joints flush while you’re driving fasteners or waiting for glue to dry.
A DeWalt 16-oz. Hammer is on sale for $14.99 at Ace Hardware, 44% off its regular price. This is a small, smooth-faced hammer with a curved-claw for pulling nails. This is a good hammer for projects like hanging pictures or driving small finish nails, but it doesn’t have the weight necessary for larger jobs like framing.
lj1word1day_feed) wrote2025-08-31 09:41 amcoeval [koh-ee-vuhl]
adjective:
1 of the same age, date, or duration; equally old
2 coincident
Examples:
Their personalities and their pain are made almost exactly coeval, with little telling slippage between. (Vinson Cunningham, The Search for Faith, in Three Plays, The New Yorker, November 2023)
It is the alien with whom we share our planet, a coeval evolutionary life form whose slithery slipperiness and more than the requisite number of limbs (each of which contains its own “brain”) symbolise the dark mystery and fear of the deep. (Philip Hoare, Octlantis: the underwater city built by octopuses, The Guardian, September 2017)
Flipping over the table mats at Chaaye Khana, one pre-empted and anticipated, where the wisdom of tea was already trilled about, Raj coeval writers like Orwell, Johnson and Lewis, heartily drunk on the brew, speaking freely on tea with some Japanese sage opining that “If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.” (Ramin Khan, Chaaye Khana lives up to its billing, dispelling the affectation of coffee with good, strong tea, The Express Tribune, January 2011)
The inn stood at one end of a small village, in which some of the houses looked so antique that they might, I thought, be coeval with the castle itself. (Catherine Crow, Round the Fire)
Such an eye was not born when the bird was, but is coeval with the sky it reflects. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden)
Origin:
'having the same age, having lived for an equal period,' 1620s, from Late Latin coaevus 'of the same age,' from assimilated form of Latin com 'with, together' + aevum 'an age' (from PIE root aiw- 'vital force, life; long life, eternity'). As a noun from c1600. (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Coeval comes to English from the Latin word coaevus, meaning 'of the same age.' Coaevus was formed by combining the co- prefix ('in or to the same degree') with Latin aevum ('age' or 'lifetime'). The root aevum is also a base in such temporal words as longevity, medieval, and primeval. Although coeval can technically describe any two or more entities that coexist, it is most typically used to refer to things that have existed together for a very long time (such as galaxies) or that were concurrent with each other in the distant past (parallel historical periods of ancient civilizations, for example). (Merriam-Webster)
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-30 08:00 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are rolling in, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
It's Labor Day weekend, and tech sales are going strong, with deals on TVs, iPads, tablets, and some of headphones. If you’re looking to upgrade your movie nights, the Nebula Capsule Air Projector is now 35% off on Amazon. Perfect for an outdoor cinema moment in your backyard or on a camping trip, this soda can-sized mini projector from Anker is a space-saving alternative to a TV.
Weighing in at 1.43 pounds, portability is a great perk for this battery-powered portable smart projector. The included base attachment allows the projector to “lean back” so you can project directly on the ceiling if you prefer.
The Capsule Air offers up to 2 hours of playtime off its 34Wh battery, so while it can handle a single movie or a few episodes, it’s not quite enough for a Netflix binge. With built-in Google TV, it supports more than 30,000 apps on Google Play, eliminating the need for an external streaming device. While the image quality isn’t full HD, it’s fairly vibrant at 720p, with decent color accuracy (you can play content up to 1080p, which will be automatically down-converted, according to this "excellent" PCMag review.) It has 150 ANSI Lumens of brightness,which means you’ll get the best viewing experience in a darker setting, and it may not work well in brighter rooms.
Users report that the built-in speaker isn’t very loud, so you may need to pair it with an additional Bluetooth speaker. But if you don’t need ultra-sharp HD visuals and can live with the shorter battery life, the Nebula Capsule Air Projector is a compact choice for on-the-go entertainment.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-30 07:00 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are rolling in, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Labor Day sales often bring the kind of discounts that make you wonder if it’s worth upgrading your tech, and the current deal on the Sonos’ Roam 2 fits the bill there. The waterproof portable speaker is marked down to $139, only a few dollars more than its all-time low, according to price trackers.
For a Sonos device, that’s a tempting price cut, especially if you’ve already got other devices from the brand. The Roam 2 is small, and shaped like a rounded triangular bar with rubber feet, so it doesn’t wander across the counter when the bass kicks in. It plays mono sound through a racetrack midrange driver and a tweeter, delivering a fuller punch than its size suggests. Placement matters, however: Set it upright and you’ll notice detail takes a hit, since the tweeter fires from the bottom. When laid flat, clarity improves.
The real issue for most people will be connectivity, which is a bit of a mixed bag. You get Bluetooth 5.0, which already feels dated compared to speakers pushing newer standards, and support is limited to AAC and SBC codecs, so don’t expect the highest quality streams. Multipoint pairing and Google Fast Pair aren’t part of the package either, which means switching between phone and laptop isn't as seamless as it could be. On the upside, it does have dual-band wifi and AirPlay 2, which makes it work nicely in a home setup, especially if you’re already running other Sonos speakers.
Alexa is available for hands-free commands, but oddly, it doesn’t let you control music playback. Sonos Voice Control can handle that, but the limitation is noticeable if you’re used to smarter assistants, as noted in this PCMag review. Battery life hovers around 10 hours, which is fine for day trips but not spectacular for the price bracket. The inclusion of wireless charging sets it apart though—you can just drop it on a Qi charger instead of fiddling with cables. Durability shouldn't be a concern, either: With its IP67 rating, the Roam 2 can shrug off sand, dust, and even a 30-minute dip in the pool, making it a good pick as an outdoor sound system for Labor Day gatherings near water.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-30 06:00 pmLabor Day sales are in full force, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
If you need a basic tool set for home maintenance or want to expand your DIY skillset, a set of cordless tools is a necessity. Shopping Labor Day sales is one of the best ways to save money on tools. I'm a fan of Ryobi's cordless offerings, and Home Depot has some great starter sets on sale for Labor Day.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-30 03:00 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are rolling in, and Lifehacker is sharing the best bargains based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
The iPad Air is the best iPad for people who really like iPads. The regular iPad is great for kids and basic use, while the iPad Pro is designed to handle professional level creative workflows, with its latest M4 chip and tandem-OLED display. The iPad Air, on the other hand, gives you everything you need from an iPad, without the compromises of the base iPad, and for far less than the iPad Pro.
And during Labor Day sales, you can get the 128GB base 11-inch iPad Air for $449.99. That's down from the sticker price of $599, and it's the lowest price yet for the latest iPad Air.
The device has an 11-inch Liquid Retina display with 500 bits of brightness and 2360×1640 resolution. It's powered by the M3 chip from last year, which is still way more powerful than most iPad users will need, with an 8-core CPU, a 9-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. There is also 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Even when you factor in the new multitasking and freeform window support coming to iPadOS 26, this thing can handle it.
The iPad Air supports both the Apple Pencil (USB-C) and the Apple Pencil Pro. And unlike the iPad Pro, it uses Touch ID in the power button for authentication, rather than Face ID. In its expert review, PCMag gave the M3 iPad Air a 4-star rating and an Editor's Choice award, noting, "[The] iPad Air remains the best choice for students and creators who need a powerful tablet at a decent price."
If you want to go a size larger, you can also check out the 13-inch iPad Air, which is also discounted to its lowest price ever, at $649 (down from $799).
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 08:55 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are in full force, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
If you're on Android, there's a good chance you're using one of Samsung's Galaxy series phones. These phones are fast, reliable, get frequent updates and support, and depending on your model, pack best-in-class cameras. The latest Galaxy phones, at least if you're not counting the ones that fold, are from the Galaxy S25 series. These have the latest and greatest Samsung mobile tech, and because the Galaxy S26 series isn't expected to release until early next year, they'll still be relevant for a good while yet. Labor Day has deals on every S25 you can buy, which means it's a great time to invest in a Galaxy S25.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 08:19 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are in full force, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
I've been testing portable projectors for a bunch of different use cases, but few, if any, have come close to the complete package offered by the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro. It's my favorite of the lot, and right now, you can get a sweet bundle with the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro portable projector and the PowerBase Stand (which you do honestly need), a carrying case, and an optical filter for $399, down from $619.97.
If you don't have a projector screen, you can get this bundle instead, which includes the projector, PowerBase Stand, and a 70-inch outdoor screen for just $69 more (or get the original bundle and buy your own screen separately). Whichever you choose, you'll be scoring an all-time low price, according to price-tracking tools.
The projector has two ports—a USB and a micro HDMI—so you can project from a laptop or phone, or you can simply screen mirror from your devices, since it uses the Google TV OS. Also, since the projector is "smart," it already comes with the typical apps like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, and you can download more from the Google Play Store. With 450 lumens and 1080p, it's best used in dark rooms, but you can get away with some ambient light (that's how I use it in my backyard).
Where this projector truly shines is with the auto keystone focus feature. If you move it anywhere, it'll autocorrect to make the image look its best, regardless of where you set it up. It's very user-friendly and made to be moved around. It also comes with a powerful 5W Harman Kardon speaker, which performs about on par with an Echo Dot.
One caveat: This projector has no internal battery, which is a huge bummer. You'd need to use a portable charger, plug it into an outlet—or, if you're getting it with the bundle, the PowerBase Stand will deliver 2.5 hours of battery life and truly make it a portable projector. If you plan to use it mostly indoors, you can plug it into a wall and go for just the projector for $337 to save some money.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 08:00 pmNo one wants to build their playlists from scratch when moving from one music streaming service to another. Sure, some of us circumvent this issue by subscribing to multiple streaming services simultaneously, but that's not an option for everyone. Several third-party alternatives let you easily transfer songs from Spotify to Apple Music, or vice-versa, but official support for this feature has been lacking so far.
Apple Music is changing that, as you can now transfer your playlists right to Apple's music app from other streaming services such as Spotify. At the time of writing, this feature is available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Apple Music's library transfer feature is powered by SongShift, which my colleague Khamosh Pathak has already covered. It supports importing music from the following streaming services:
Amazon Music
Deezer
Spotify
Tidal
YouTube Music
There are a few small requirements if you want to transfer songs from any supported streaming service to Apple Music using this method. Here's what you'll need:
An Apple Music subscription.
Either an iPhone/iPad with the latest version of iOS/iPadOS, or an Android phone with the latest version of the Apple Music app. Alternatively, you can also transfer your library over using any web browser.
Your credentials for Spotify, or whichever service you're transferring music from.
You also need to ensure that the Sync Library feature is enabled on all your devices that have Apple Music. This should be enabled by default, but you can double check it easily. On your iPhone/iPad, go to Settings > Apps > Music and enable Sync Library. If you have Apple Music for Mac, open the app and click the Music button in the menu bar up top, and open Settings. Under the General tab, enable Sync Library.
Once this is done, you can proceed to transferring your music from other streaming services.
To transfer songs from Spotify (or other streaming services) to the mobile version of Apple Music, follow these steps on your iPhone/iPad or Android phone:
On an iPhone/iPad, go to Settings > Apps > Music. On an Android device, open the Apple Music app, tap the More button (three-dots icon), and select Settings.
Tap Transfer Music from Other Music Services.
Choose the streaming service you're importing music from, and sign in to your account for that service.
Pick the music you want to transfer, and once you're done, tap Add to Library.
Sit tight and wait for Apple Music to match your catalogs. Once your music is swapped over, you'll see a message that says "Transfer Complete."
If Apple Music can't find exact matches for your content, you'll see a message that says "Some Music Needs Review." Select Review Now, choose alternate versions of the problem songs, and hit Save to finish the transfer.
To transfer music to the web version of Apple Music, follow these steps:
Go to music.apple.com and sign in with your Apple Account.
Click the profile icon in the top-right corner, then select Transfer Music.
Select the service you're importing music from, and sign in to your account for that service.
Pick the music you want to import, and click Add to Library once you're done. Apple Music will start the transfer process, and the time it'll take to complete will vary based on the size of your library. When the transfer is finished, you'll see a notification that says "Transfer Complete."
If exact matches can't be found for some of your content, you'll also see a message that says "Some Music Needs Review." Select Review Now, which will let you pick alternative songs, and hit Save to finish your transfer.
Apple says you have 30 days from the date of initial transfer to review your transferred music and complete the transfer process. During that time, you can't initiate a new transfer on that device until you complete reviewing your last one. This means that if you're trying to import music from multiple streaming services, you'll have to review your songs from the first service before you can move on to the next one. Luckily, doing so is easy.
You'll get an opportunity to review your transfer immediately after completing it, but if you skipped it, you can still review it within a 30 day window. Follow these steps to complete your review, depending on your device:
On an iPhone/iPad, you can go to Settings > Apps > Music > Review Current Transfer.
Open Apple Music on your Android phone and tap More. Now, go to Settings > Review Current Transfer.
On music.apple.com, click the profile icon in the top-right corner, and then hit Review.
Note that, depending on your service, you have a good chance of being unable to transfer certain playlists to Apple Music. That's because, while it'll transfer the playlists you created yourself, it won't be able to bring in playlists that Spotify, Tidal, or other services created for you.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 07:30 pmDid you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source.
Hulu, one of the OG streaming services, is losing its standalone app. Next year, Disney will fold the service into the Disney+, even if you don't subscribe to the latter.
Until then, however, the Hulu app is still very much alive. If you rely on it to watch shows and movies like Shōgun and Paradise, there are things you can do to make your experience better, save you money, and keep watching when Hulu doesn't want you to. Even when the app is gone, some of these tips will still help enhance your time watching Hulu in the Disney+ app.
If you subscribe to Hulu alone, you either pay $9.99 per month (with ads) or $18.99 per month (without ads). However, there are some other subscription options you can choose to make your money go further.
If you're paying every month for Hulu with ads and you're sure you'd like to keep the account for the year, you'd be better off subscribing to Hulu's annual plan, which comes out to $99.99 at once. That'll hurt more than the $9.99 per month, at first, but it works out to a savings of $19.89 each year, or nearly two "free" months of Hulu.
You can also consider one of Hulu's bundles, of which there are many. Disney+ and Hulu, both with ads, costs $10.99, or $1 more per month than the standard Hulu with ads plan. If you want the same bundle but without ads, it costs $19.99, also $1 more than the standalone Hulu without ads plan. There are more bundles that follow this logic that include ESPN or HBO Max, so it comes down to which subscriptions you really want, and what you're willing to pay.
Once upon a time, you could share your Hulu subscription with anyone you wanted. Life was good. Flash forward to today, and much has changed. You can only share a Hulu account with people who live in your household. All others will be blocked when trying to log in.
Hulu is far from the only company doing this, and it's also not the only one with an official (paid) solution: buy an extra member account. If you have someone in your life that doesn't live in your house, but you want them to have access to your account, you can pay to grant them access.
There are a number of options for this, depending on the type of Hulu account you have. Here's how the current pricing breaks down:
Hulu (with ads): $6.99 per month
Hulu Premium: $9.99 per month
Disney+, Hulu Bundle: $7.99 per month
Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium: $10.99 per month
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select Bundle: $11.99 per month
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select Bundle Premium: $14.99 per month
If you don't want to pay for an extra member, there are ways around Hulu's restrictions here, but they aren't totally convenient, and are dependent on the type of device you're watching on.
Hulu determines where your "household" is based on the TV you log into. If you're trying to watch Hulu on a TV outside of the established household, you'll likely get flagged. You can switch the household location to your TV, but then you'll be kicking out the account holders, which won't go over well. Instead, you can choose the I’M AWAY FROM HOME option. This will send a code to the account holder's email: Enter that code on your TV, and you're golden. (Hulu uses this feature for account holders who are on vacation or otherwise away from home, so use with caution.)
Other devices, like laptops, smartphones, and tablets, only need to connect the wifi of the household to validate themselves. So, at your earliest convenience, use Hulu on your device at the home of the account holder, and you should be able to use it outside the household without issue.
Unless you need to limit your data use, you likely want to watch Hulu in the best video quality available on mobile. However, you won’t find those quality controls within a particular show or movie.
Instead, to adjust your video settings, head to your Profile, then choose Settings > Cellular Data Usage. Change the setting from the default “Data Saver” to “Best Available,” which will then let Hulu decide the best quality based on your service. To make sure you download shows and movies in the highest quality possible, go to Settings > Downloads, then make sure “Video Quality” is set to “High.” Of course, this will consume more data, so only adjust these settings if you're okay with that.
If you’re traveling somewhere without wifi or cellular service or you don’t want to put a strain on your data plan, you can download Hulu shows ahead of time to watch without worry. Unfortunately, you need a Premium Hulu account or bundle for this, and you can’t download titles on laptops or computers yet; for now, this option remains a smartphone and tablet exclusive.
To download titles on your device, open the specific episode or movie you want to watch, then tap the "Download" button that appears under the description. To manage your downloaded titles, you can head back to the “Downloads” tab on the main screen. Unwatched downloads are available for 30 days, while titles you've played will be available for 48 hours after beginning them.
To delete a download, tap "Edit," choose the titles you want to delete, then choose the Trash icon. Finally, confirm your choice by tapping "Delete."
If you plan to download shows and movies on your device, you should make sure you actually can! By default, Hulu doesn’t allow you to download content while using cellular data, in a good-faith effort to prevent you from running over your data plan. But if you have an unlimited data plan, or you’re just good at managing the data you do have, you might want to download your content whenever, wherever. To do so, head to Profile > Settings > Downloads, then make sure that “Cellular Downloading” is set to “On,” rather than the default “Off.”
When you’re done watching something, or you stumble upon a title that you’ve seen before, give Hulu some feedback by choosing the “Like” or “Dislike” button. (This feature is a bit hidden on desktop; just click the three vertical dots next to the title and choose the appropriate option.)
If you’ve previously watched a show you don’t like and don’t want Hulu to think it’s a favorite, you can also delete it from your My Stuff history. On desktop, navigate to My Stuff and click on the minus sign in the upper left corner of the show you want to delete and confirm removal. On mobile, tap the My Stuff icon in the bottom navigation bar, then the three dots in the upper right corner of the show you want to delete and uncheck “My Stuff” in the popup window.
You know, streaming services, sometimes it’s nice to soak in the credits after a great show or movie. We get a chance to process what just happened, or to appreciate the hundreds of people that worked on that content, rather than jumping immediately into another attention-grabbing episode.
You can easily disable autoplay to stop this from happening. Just head to Settings from your Profile, and ensure that “Autoplay Next Video” is set to “Off,” rather than the default “On.”
Similarly, I can't stand when I'm checking out the description for a show, and the preview starts playing automatically. Sure, there are times where that could be useful, but most of the time, it's distracting. If I want to see a preview, I'll click on the trailer, thank you very much.
From this same settings page, you can make sure "Autoplay Previews" is turned off as well. This will only affect previews on your current device.
If you started a show or movie but didn't finish it, it'll end up in your "Continue Watching" list. That's convenient when you want to start that title up again in the future, but not so convenient if you have no intention of watching it further.
You can quickly remove any title that appears here by selecting the three dots, then choosing either "Remove" or "Remove from Watch History."
If you're done with Hulu, but not really done, you don't need to cancel your sub entirely. Instead, you can pause payments, so you can take a break, without having to re-enroll in your chosen subscription.
To do so, head to your Hulu account settings on desktop, then choose "PAUSE" next to "Pause Your Subscription."
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 07:00 pmApple allows you to install adblockers for Safari, DNS-based content blockers that work across apps, and VPN apps that can also block ads for you. Unfortunately, none of these methods allow you to block Apple's own ads. As Apple has increased its focus on services such as iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV+, and more, it has increased the number of ads you're served on your Apple devices.
Some of these are easy to disable, such as spammy ads for movies Apple wants you to watch, but there's nothing much you can do for things like ads in the iPhone App Store. In this guide, I'll walk you through how to block as many of Apple's ads on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac as possible, while also discussing steps you can take to protect your privacy.
Apple’s own apps like to push you to check out new movies, albums, and upgrade opportunities for paid subscriptions. The easiest way to get rid of these is to completely disable notifications from Apple apps, but it's not ideal for everyone. Some apps, such as Wallet, have genuinely useful notifications that remind you about upcoming trips, events, etc. Disabling all notifications from Wallet means losing access to the useful alerts as well. That's why you should take a moment to go through each Apple app's settings and see if there's an option to disable only the useless ones. If you've installed iOS 26, try these steps to disable Apple's promotional notifications.
Open the Wallet app. Tap the three-dots button in the top-right corner, and select Notifications. Now, disable Offers & Promotions.
Open the App Store, tap the profile icon in the top-right corner, and select Notifications. Now, disable Recommendations & Offers.
In the Books app, go to the profile icon in the top-right corner, select Notifications, and disable Recommendations.
In the Music app, tap the profile icon in the top-right corner, select Notifications, and disable New Music.
A lot of Apple apps use a similar workflow for this, so while I've listed the biggest offenders, you can try similar steps in any Apple app to see if you can disable spammy alerts.
Meanwhile, if you just want to go nuclear, then you can disable all notifications for Apple apps. Go to Settings > Apps > Notifications on your iPhone or System Settings > Notifications on your Mac. Here, go through the list of apps and select Apple’s apps one by one. Turn off notifications for all the apps that don’t send you useful notifications. For me, this includes the App Store, Music, and TV.
Some apps, such as Messages, FaceTime, and Apple TV Keyboard, send useful notifications, so I would recommend avoiding disabling notifications for those.
Next, you can stop allowing Apple to track your data to serve you personalized ads. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising and disable Personalized Ads. On Mac, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising and turn off Personalized Ads.
This will reduce tracking, but be aware this means it will also increase the likelihood of seeing irrelevant ads in Apple apps.
Apple tracks some of your location data to show you relevant content. For example, if you go on a vacation to Portugal, the App Store may show you more results for apps popular in that country. If you don’t use Apple’s apps for discovering new content, you can disable this without consequences.
To do this, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and disable location access for all Apple apps that don't need it. Remember that some apps, such as Find My, need access to your location to work correctly, and others, such as Camera, use location data to geo-tag your photos. However, apps such as App Store and News don't need access to your location, so can turn it off for them without affecting core functionality.
On the Mac, you can do the same thing by going to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.
Apple tracks your location data to improve a bunch of its services even if you disable location access for its apps. This won't necessarily impact your ads, but it can affect your privacy. You can find these services on your iPhone or iPad by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services. On your Mac, head over to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services.
Go through each of the items carefully and disable location access if you're sure the service you're looking at doesn't need it. If you don't understand what a particular setting does, then it's best to ignore it until you know what it does. For example, it is safe to disable location access for iPhone/Mac Analytics, Improve Location Accuracy, Improve Maps, and a few other selections depending on how you use your iPhone. I've also disabled location access for Apple Pay Merchant Identification, because the service isn't available in my region. But if you use Apple Pay regularly, you probably shouldn't change this setting.
This also doesn’t directly impact advertising on your devices, but I recommend reducing the data Apple collects from your iPhone or Mac. Once a company starts pushing ads aggressively, it’ll find new ways to collect more data. That’s why it’s better to proactively reduce data collection wherever you can. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements and disable all options. On the Mac, you can visit System Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements and do the same thing.
Apple will have more opportunities to get data on you and show you ads if you spend time inside its apps. If you stop relying on Apple to discover new content, the company will not have as many chances to pepper you with promotions.
One alternative is to use a search engine to look for apps, or visit sites such as Lifehacker to learn about interesting new apps. If you spend less time in the App Store, you will see fewer ads as a result. You can also still get direct links to apps from these sources—just verify the URL takes you to apps.apple.com.
Similarly, you can start reducing your dependency on Apple’s ecosystem. Other than iCloud (which is very useful for backing up your data), all of Apple’s subscription services have solid alternatives. And, if you want to stay with Apple Music, you can consider using third-party apps that provide a better experience than Apple’s own app.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 06:49 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are rolling in, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
I use the Pixel Watch 3 every day, and it's one of the best smartwatches I've owned. Naturally, part of me is eyeing the new Pixel Watch 4 Google just announced, but I think last year's model is still plenty good for me. And now that it's on sale for Labor Day—currently $250, down from its usual $350—it can be good for you, too.
The Pixel Watch 3's battery life lasts all day (sometimes more than one), which has been my major gripe with past smartwatches I've owned. The heart-rate tracking is solid, and you can keep an eye on your current heart rate at a glance from the clock display.
Since Gemini support finally rolled out to the Pixel Watch, it's also gotten much smarter as a voice assistant. It used to be that I had to carefully issue commands using the exact right phrasing, but now I'm able to reply to messages, set reminders, or look up basic info from my watch without it getting confused as easily. It's still no replacement for a smartphone, but it's a lot more convenient than it used to be.
At $250, the Pixel Watch 3 is at its lowest price ever, according to price-trackers. While it's hard to say if it's likely to get much cheaper when the Pixel Watch 4 comes out on Oct. 9, it's definitely cheaper than the new one will be for a while. So if you're not swayed by the domed display or side-mounted charger of the new model, this one will do most of what that one does for a hefty chunk of change less.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 06:30 pmAfter finally logging back into Strava after encountering a pesky bug last week, I've spent my morning testing the newest feature for subscribers: a comprehensive route builder built for mobile. When it comes to creating routes, I've always favored the simplicity of the free site onthegomap.com. Now, with the ease of this mobile route-builder, Strava has reeled me back in with its one-stop-shop appeal.
What sets Strava's route builder apart is its (sometimes controversial) integration of community-powered data. Using its iconic heatmap feature, Strava automatically suggests routing based on where others have actually traveled for your chosen sport. This means your running route should follow popular jogging paths, while your cycling route should stick to bike-friendly roads and trails that the community has vetted through real-world experience. Road bike routes prioritize paved surfaces, trail running routes follow existing hiking trails, and so on. This community intelligence eliminates much of the guesswork involved in planning routes in unfamiliar areas. Here's how to build your perfect route with a Strava subscription.
With your Strava subscription ($11.99/month or $79.99/year), you'll see two main methods for route creation in the app.
The traditional approach allows users to tap specific locations on the map, with Strava automatically connecting these waypoints using community data. This method works particularly well when you want to visit specific landmarks or viewpoints along your route. You can place points far apart to see what interesting paths the community suggests, or keep them close together for more precise control over your route.
The flexibility extends to editing as well—points can be moved, deleted, or added even after the initial route is complete. Users can tap on any existing point to relocate it or remove it entirely, with Strava automatically recalculating the connecting segments.
I messed around with a route I know intimately: The Central Park loop. In the screenshots above, I'm holding my finger over certain points along the route to get details like elevation and surface type. Plus, the distance it calculated was accurate to my experience running this route hundreds of times in the past.
What really excites me is Strava's drawing functionality, which allows users to literally trace their desired path with a finger on the screen. This intuitive approach feels natural and immediate—simply tap the pencil icon and draw where you want to go.
The magic happens when you lift your finger. Strava's algorithm automatically snaps your rough sketch to the nearest appropriate roads or trails, creating a clean, followable route from your loose drawing. For cyclists, this means your sketched line becomes a proper road route; for runners, it translates to sidewalks and running paths.
Here's what it looks like in action, with a screenshot of my doodle on the left and the resulting route from Strava on the right.
I'm excited at the prospect of using this feature whenever I'm somewhere new and have a general sense of direction, but want the freedom to explore organically. You can continue adding to your drawn route by tapping the pencil icon again and extending the path, building your adventure piece by piece.
Once your route is complete, make sure to save your route with a custom name. I recommend downloading it for offline use, since I'm often running around areas with spotty cell coverage. Privacy controls let you decide whether to share your creation with the community or keep it personal. Even after saving, you can go back in and continue refining their routes, moving waypoints, or making adjustments based on new discoveries or changing preferences.
The new route builder is available now. In addition, Strava is rolling out a few more features next month.
Power Skills for cyclists: This new tool (coming from Strava's recent acquisition of The Breakaway) gives power meter users detailed insights into their performance. You'll see your personal records across 12 different cycling intervals, identify your strengths and areas for improvement, and track your progress over time. Soon, you'll also be able to compare your recent 8-week performance against your all-time bests to better understand how your training is paying off.
Training Zones for everyone: Both cyclists and runners will now get clear breakdowns of how much time they're spending in different intensity zones (like the popular Zone 2) over weeks, months, or 3-month periods. This takes the guesswork out of balancing hard training with recovery time.
Cheater crackdowns: Strava has been working hard to keep their leaderboards legitimate. I've previously covered how Strava has been using AI to crack down on cheaters—to the tune of purging over 4 million fraudulent activities from its leaderboards. Now for the update we've all been waiting for: Spotting e-bikes. Now, instead of e-bike activities incorrectly appearing on regular bike and running leaderboards, they'll only show up on the e-bike-specific leaderboards where they belong.
Again, all these updates are available only with a paid Strava subscription.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 05:54 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are rolling in, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Ultrawide monitors are an excellent balance between the screen real estate of a dual-monitor setup with the convenience of a single display. And Samsung's Odyssey G9 line has some of the best monitors of this type you can get. For this Labor Day, two versions—the OLED and VA LCD models—are both on sale for their respective lowest prices ever.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 05:21 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are rolling in, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
The MacBook Air is generally considered the best MacBook for most Apple users out there. It offers amazing value in a thin and light device. In fact, the recently released version with an M4 chip, being mighty powerful, offers even better value than the MacBook Pro, according to Senior Tech Editor Jake Peterson.
And that's before you factor in the savings with Amazon's Labor Day sale, where the base M4 MacBook Air is discounted by $200. You can get the brand new 13-inch model with 16GB Unified Memory and 256GB SSD for just $799 instead of the sticker price of $999. This is the lowest price I've ever seen for the MacBook Air; the previous low was a $150 discount.
Right now, the M4 is a staggeringly good deal, beat only by the M1 MacBook Air that's discounted to $599.
While this is the entry level MacBook, it equipped to handle most tasks at school and work. In fact, because of the RAM upgrade, it can pull off some video and coding workflows using intensive applications as well. That's all thanks to the 10-core CPU and 8-core GPU.
There's a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2,560 by 1,664, a P3 wide color gamut, and a maximum brightness of 500 nits. You also get Touch ID support with an excellent backlit keyboard, WiFi 6E support, and great speakers. There's also MagSafe charging. It comes in a new Sky Blue color, which is also available on discount.
The camera is upgraded too, in this model, now featuring a 12MP sensor with Center Stage. This is a full-HD sensor, so your video calls will look better than before. The base MacBook Air was rated 4 stars in PCMag's expert review, noting "Apple’s M4 processor update, baseline memory increase, and price decrease have elevated the MacBook Air to its highest perch yet."
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 05:10 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Labor Day sales are rolling in, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before they’re over. You can also subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Labor Day weekend is usually good for headphone deals, and Apple’s newest entry-level buds just got pulled into the mix. The AirPods 4 (without noise cancellation) are down to $89.99 on Amazon, a rare dip from their usual $129. That’s also just 99 cents above their all-time low, according to price-trackers.
The design hasn’t changed much from the earlier AirPods, but Apple tweaked the fit so they sit more securely, and the sound is better than you’d expect from buds that don’t seal off your ear canal, notes this PCMag review. Speaking of, the open-ear design of these earbuds means you can still hear what’s going on around you, which is handy if you’re walking in the city but not so great if you want total immersion. That said, the sound itself is surprisingly full for this style—Apple’s 11mm drivers bring out a solid bass line without distorting, something older AirPods couldn’t really pull off. The trade-offs are clear, though: There’s no noise cancellation, no wireless charging, and you don’t get an EQ to fine-tune the audio. Those omissions will matter to some, less so to others.
Day-to-day use is where these shine. The stems double as control strips with little haptic clicks when you press them, so you always know if you skipped a track or answered a call. Battery life runs about five hours per charge, with another 25 hours in the case, which is nothing groundbreaking but reliable enough. Both the buds and case are splash- and dust-resistant with an IP54 rating, and they slot right into iOS 18 without any setup headaches. For iPhone users who just want clean sound and an easy fit without shelling out for the pricier ANC model, this is worth considering. But if you want extras like noise cancellation or wireless charging, you’ll want to keep moving up the lineup.
lifehacker_feed) wrote2025-08-29 05:00 pmWe may earn a commission from links on this page.
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Renovating projects can actually sometimes make your home worse—like when mold suddenly appears post-renovation. Even though your house never had mold before, and you’ve just put a lot of brand-new materials into it, mold can suddenly spring up after a house renovation project for a variety of reasons. That makes it crucial to monitor your contractors (or your own DIY work) during the project to make sure you’re not turning your house into the ideal breeding ground for post-renovation mold.
Older homes are often pretty “leaky” when it comes to air. They’re difficult to heat and cool in part because your climate-controlled air keeps leaking out into the world, and they allow allergens and dirt to infiltrate your living space. So when folks plan a gut renovation, they often seek to make the house as airtight as possible—which isn’t a bad idea on its own. But you need to ensure the house has adequate ventilation, or that airtight seal will trap moisture in the house, and that extra humidity will almost always lead to mold growth.
Renovated bathrooms can be a specific concern. Bathrooms are naturally humid rooms, and they almost always require a properly calibrated ventilation fan to pull moisture out of the space. Not only does the fan have to be the right capacity for the size of the room, it needs to be run long enough after every shower to ensure the room dries out (some models have a built-in humidity sensor that will trigger the fan any time the rooms gets damp), and it needs to be vented to the outside of the house, not into the attic or walls.
If your renovation plan meant any area of your home was exposed to the elements—lacking windows, roofs, or doors—there may have been water intrusion at some point. This is normal for extensive renovations, and harmless as long as your contractor took the time to dry the place out before closing up walls and floors. It doesn’t require a heavy rainfall inside the house to sow the seeds of a moisture problem weeks or months down the road—just letting a space get swampy and then sealing it up is all it takes.
Mishaps will happen during renovations, including plumbing emergencies, water spills, and drain problems. As long as the problem is fixed and it was an isolated incident, these kinds of accidents aren’t a big deal—but they can lead to damp areas on walls, ceilings, and floors that need to be addressed. Slapping a coat of primer over a damp spot on your wall does nothing to prevent mold, and may even encourage it because sealing up that damp spot prevents the moisture from evaporating.
You should also never assume that water stains from a repaired leak accident are only unslightly. Covering water stains on a wall with cabinets or paint without ensuring they’re completely dry is a recipe for disaster. Bottom line: Any damp areas need to be dried out thoroughly before they’re covered over, no matter how small or unobtrusive they might be.
Sometimes you can do everything right in terms of construction practices and still bring mold into the house, by using moldy or even damp materials. Just because you’re buying your lumber, drywall, and other renovation materials brand new doesn’t mean they’re clean and mold-free, especially if they’re stored outside for a while. If the framing lumber being used to create your walls or the joists supporting new floors come into the house too damp, they become breeding grounds for mold once they’ve been sealed up behind drywall or subflooring. And drywall is porous and can easily absorb moisture while looking superficially clean.
It’s vital that all of these materials be inspected prior to installation—both visually (for visible signs of mold) and using a pinless moisture meter. Wood should show a moisture reading of around 6%.
Damp drywall is an almost perfect host for mold, so ensure that all the drywall being installed during your renovation has a moisture reading of 0.5% or less and shows no signs of visible molding. This is especially crucial if the drywall was delivered and left to sit outside; even if it doesn’t rain or the drywall is covered, it can absorb moisture from the air. Priming and painting over damp drywall will look good for a while, but that trapped moisture will eventually give mold spores everything they need to grow.
One unexpected way a renovation project can cause a mold infestation involves your HVAC system, even if you’re not actually doing anything to it. HVAC systems are often disturbed during renovations—ducts have to be shifted out of the way, registers temporarily removed, compressors temporarily displaced. And that can be a problem because mold can grow in HVAC ducts undetected, and all that jostling and movement can disturb it, releasing spores that are then circulated all over the house when everything is hooked back up. If those spores are blown into a damp area—like a poorly ventilated bathroom—mold will happily take root.
It’s always a good idea to think about the cleanup after a renovation to make sure that dust and debris don’t plague you after the workers are gone—and a thorough cleaning of your HVAC system’s ducts should be part of that plan, even if they weren’t directly affected by the project.
