Life Style

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Though I've spent years evangelizing for the Boox Palma 2, a phone-sized Chinese e-reader with an open Android operating system, my allegiances have shifted in recent months. I'm now obsessed with the tiny, slightly janky, minimalist devices put out by Xteink, another Chinese tech company. And I'm far from the only one—the Xteink subreddit is a busy place.The $69 Xteink X4 has a 4.3-inch screen and native software that's so bad, it wasn't really worth recommending until fans of the device cobbled together their own crowdsourced alternative. The $79 X3 (which is currently only available in the U.S. direct from Xteink) is largely the same device, but even smaller—about the size of a credit card. Either one is a great cho...

The Reminders app on the iPhone is perhaps one of the most underrated apps that Apple makes. On the surface, it's a simple to-do list app: You can use Siri to add reminders, get notifications, and check them off. But hiding under the surface is a complex program, with features that help you get things done with the right context and at the right time. You can organize your list as a Kanban board, set blaring alarms for important reminders, manage tasks from the Calendar app, and generate your own smart lists. 13-inch laptop with M5 chip MacBook Air ...

Google Meet's "Take Notes for me" feature is one particularly useful implementation of AI. When you're on a video call, Gemini can dictate what's being said, offering summaries and highlights of the conversation. That way, your attention doesn't need to be split between the conversation at hand and writing down notes to remember key points later: You can just check the notes that are automatically generated as a Google Doc once the meeting is over. It's the kind of feature that sells me more on the whole "AI assistant" thing, rather than something trying to order me a coffee. Of course, video conferencing isn't the only time dictation can be useful. An in-person meeting can benefit from the same perks as a virtual one: Why bother with scribbling down notes on paper or typing away on a ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Android Auto isn't perfect, but it is a powerful and highly customizable vehicle infotainment system with quite a few hidden features and settings. If you're using Android Auto in your car, these are the top tips and tricks to maximize its navigation, entertainment, and communication capabilities. Customize the notifications you receive while drivingGetting too many notifications on your Android Auto screen while you're driving can be distracting (and potentially dangerous), but you also don't want to miss important and time-sensitive calls and texts. You can customize what alerts pop up—and how—when you're on the road and even disable message notifications entirely. You can make changes like disabling group chat aler...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Pocket wifi is nothing new, and I considered it a luxury more than a necessity—a way to guarantee wifi in a time when wifi access is already practically guaranteed. Not only was I wrong, but I overlooked it for far too long. And if you don't own a portable wifi device other than your phone, you're probably making the same mistake I was. When I bought my first home, I gave my cell reception only a passing thought. Spectrum wireless was available in our area and was confirmed to work well by the previous homeowner, so home connectivity wouldn't be a problem. My phone carrier, T-Mobile, also covers 99% of the country. I imagined the network coverage maps in full magenta, suggesting I would need to be on Artemis II to lose...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Home Depot's Spring Black Friday sale is almost over, ending this Wednesday, April 22. You can still find deals on grills, outdoor power tools, patio furniture, and more spring essentials until the sale is over. Below are the best last-minute deals you can still snag before the sale ends. Stainless Steel Main Lid NexGrill 4-Burner Propane Gas Grill ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. When picking out a home security system, outdoor lighting is an often overlooked aspect that’s more important than you’d think. Floodlight cameras provide added peace of mind after dark by combining bright LED lighting with HD video surveillance, giving homeowners and renters better nighttime visibility and motion-activated recording—plus the lighting serves as an effective deterrent against intruders. The Blink Wired Floodlight Camera is one of the most popular no-frills options in this category, and it’s currently 55% off, bringing its price down to $44.99 (originally $99.99). That's the lowest price ever for this model, according ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you want to turn your smartphone in a gaming handheld, there are plenty of accessories out there to try. Most, however, add full-size controllers to either side of your phone—that's great for gaming, but not so great for portability. OnePlus appears poised to try something a bit different (at least from most of the competition), by offering a gaming case you can fit in your pocket. The "Gun God" adds triggers and a cooling fan to the Ace 6 UltraIn a post on its Weibo page, OnePlus announced a new gaming accessory for its upcoming Ace 6 Ultra smartphone. The "OnePlus Gun God Game Controller" might have an awkward name, but the accessory itself looks pretty sleek. The controller is a flat slab with rounded edges on ...

If you're trying to access X on Friday afternoon (Eastern Time), you might be hitting a roadblock. That's what happened to me: I went to refresh my feed one last time before stepping away for the weekend, but noticed that nothing was loading. In fact, the site acted as if I had a brand-new account, and invited me to explore users to follow. But whenever I clicked anything, I'd just get errors. I thought it might have just been on my end, because when I checked Downdetector, the site said: "User reports show no current problems with X (Twitter)." Indeed, the chart was flat, minus a small spike earlier today. But the comments were full of users talking about the site not working, confirming that I wasn't alone here. (Disclosure: ZiffDavis owns both Lifehacker and Downdetector.) ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Sony’s portable speakers don’t get the same attention as its headphones, but they should. This Sony ULT Field 3 is a compact, rugged speaker you can toss into a bag without worrying about it, and right now, an open-box unit is on sale for $109.99 on StackSocial. Its sale price offers features you’d normally see at a higher cost.The Sony ULT Field 3 is clearly tuned for bass, with a dedicated woofer inside a relatively small body, and you'll notice that low-end presence even at moderate volume. Turn on the ULT mode, and the bass gets more aggressive, which works well in open spaces where sound tends to get lost. Indoors, though, it ca...