Life Style

Stopping at a gas station to refuel your car is inconvenient—especially when you have to wait for a pump, or drive out of your way to find somewhere to fill up. So, in order to get the most out of a tank of gas, you may opt to top it off after the pump stopped. But according to experts at Consumer Reports and the American Automobile Association (AAA), squeezing a few extra drops into your tank is a bad idea. Here’s what to know.Even if you’ve been topping off your gas tank for decades without a problem, automotive experts have identified three reasons why you might want to break that habit:“There’s a lot more going on in a car’s fuel tank than just a tank,” says John Ibbotson, Consumer Reports’ chief mechanic. “Fuel systems have become more sophisticated over time to keep up with increasin...

From water bottles to bike computers, there’s a ton of cool bike gear on sale during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days—provided you haven’t spent every last dime on your bike, of course.Whether you’re a dedicated lifetime cyclist or a total newb, here are some bike-centric deals you can check out during Amazon’s latest sale event. Screenshot: AmazonWinter is coming, but snow and cold are not excuses to stop training, especially when you can pick up this Garmin Tacx Boost Trainer, an indoor bike trainer, for half price: $149, down from $299. It sets up easily, and the 675 x 650 mm footprint takes up way less space than a dedicated stationary bicycle. And you still get 10 levels of resistance, a flywheel for realistic feel, and a magnetic brake. Best of all, it lets you can train on your actual b...

Photo: simon jhuan (Shutterstock)Given how much time we spend interacting with coworkers either in person or virtually, various relationship and dynamics are bound to emerge. Sometimes colleagues can become genuine friends; other times, those relationships can turn out to be toxic or manipulative. Another common dynamic is the workplace rivalry. In a 2020 survey by ResumeLab, roughly 82% of participants said they’ve experienced competition with a colleague. And while we may think of rivalries as something negative, of the employees surveyed, nearly 70% of those who’ve had a rival at work saw it as healthy competition. If you’ve found yourself with a workplace rival, here’s how to make the most of that relationship.When it comes to rivalry between colleagues at work, it’s all about finding ...

When it comes to kitchen tools and other household items that are past their prime, people typically fall into one of two camps: Those who throw something away as soon as they notice some type of flaw, and replace it with something new; and those who continue to use the old item as long as possible, then buy a new one, but hang on to the old one “just in case.”Of course, a lot depends on the condition of the kitchen tool—especially whether it’s still fit to be used to cook with—but unless an item is truly, completely broken, there’s a good chance you can repurpose it somewhere else in your home or garden. Here are a few examples.Instead of throwing out kitchen tools that have seen better day, use your imagination to come up with ways you can reuse them in other parts of your home, garage, ...

Image: Product image courtesy of AmazonAmazon’s Prime Big Deal Days are here, and while everything from Pelotons, to laptops are discounted, the best Prime Day deals are always on Amazon’s own devices. This October, it’s no different: Right now, you can get the latest Kindle Paperwhite for $94.99 (normally $139.99)—the cheapest price it’s been all year and the best deal among all of the Kindle e-readers currently discounted for Prime Big Deal Days.This Kindle Paperwhite is the 8 GB version of the black and white e-reader. It includes ads and doesn’t come with a trial of Kindle Unlimited, though you can modify those options and still get a good discount (for example, you can double your memory to 16 GB for just $5 more). Keep in mind that unless you plan to upload audiobooks to your Paperw...

If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Monday, October 9, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Beware, there are spoilers below for October 9, NYT Connections #120! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And further down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!Nothing too specialized, but I feel like younger solvers might benefit from watchin...

Have you ever wanted to share a song or a playlist with a friend or a group online, only to find that they subscribe to Apple Music and you subscribe to Spotify? Earbuds, an iPhone and Android app, breaks down those walls so music nerds can share whatever they’d like. “The average Gen Z user shares three to five songs a week with their friends, and the vast majority use screenshots,” says Jason Fox, EarBuds’ Founder and CEO. “They say, ‘here’s a screenshot, you figure it out.’ But the problem with that is, there’s a lot of effort that the recipient has to do. They have to go manually look up the song. If they’re in a meeting, if they’re busy, or at dinner, if they can’t listen to the song right at that moment, then it becomes gone with the wind.”Earbuds lets you set up chats where links fr...

If you want to get serious about blenders for Amazon Prime Day—I’m talking professional-level appliances with precision controls and gleaming stainless-steel blades that spin so fast they generate enough heat to turn cold ingredients to steaming in minutes—then you need a Vitamix blender.Designed by self-described “dreamers and doers,” Vitamix blenders are more than smoothie-makers: They’re a complete kitchen solution for all your blending needs; once you’ve tried one, you’ll never make a Pina colada with anything else. Here are the top Vitamix deals for Amazon’s Big Deal Days, Oct. 10-11.Photo: AmazonThe Vitamix 5200 Blender is a universal tool for family meals and entertaining. It offers 10 levels of blending for precise ingredient control and finesse. The blades are aircraft-quality st...

It’s no secret that healthcare in the U.S. is difficult to afford, even for those who have insurance. In fact, roughly 20% of U.S. households have some amount of medical debt—and in 2021, more than half of all bills in collections were medical.High out-of-pocket costs and unexpected bills may make medical financing options like credit cards and loans sound like the best option for paying for everything from hearing exams to elective dental procedures to emergency room visits. Your provider may even promote medical credit cards like CareCredit (which has 11.7 million cardholders) and medical loans offered by companies like AccessOne, Cherry, and PayZen.However, while medical cards and loans may be convenient and come with attractive payment plans and promotional rates, you may end up with m...

Image: TP-LinkI have purchased countless smart plugs, and configured an embarrassing number of strip octopi to be able to control what I want from my phone or hub. The Kasa Smart Plug Power Strip HS300, which is on sale right now for Amazon’s “Prime Big Deal Days,” would have saved me so much work.Aside from being a surge protector, which is never a bad thing with the instability of power grids these days, it has six (count ‘em, six) smart outlets. I know it sounds like I’m making a lot of this feature, but there’s good reason. You can give each of them a different function and I don’t know of anyone else making a smart strip with this many smart outlets. Imagine a light display for the holidays or your office setup or a greenhouse. I can come up with twelve situations I’d use this strip i...