Category Archives: life

just plain life

11 Questions to Ask the Neighbors Before You Buy a New House

Moving into a new home can be scary. No matter the reason for leaving your current spot—whether it’s rising rent, quality of life issues, or something more positive like a new job opportunity—your old home was comfortable and familiar. You knew what the problems were and what to expect each day. A new house is […]

These Six ‘Misunderstandings’ Can Seriously Impact Your Hospital Bill

Nobody wants to go to the hospital. Finding yourself in one means you’re either sick or injured, or visiting someone who’s sick or injured. There are more than 34 million hospital admissions every year, and those admissions are expensive: The average daily cost is more than $2,800. Considering the average hospital stay is 4.5 days—totaling […]

Three Crucial Facts You Need to Know About an Insurer Before Buying a Policy

People in the U.S. pay more than $1 trillion in insurance premiums each year. Most of us have more than one insurance policy at any given time, including health, auto, homeowners, and life insurance policies. And when the time comes to shop around for a new one, you probably do some due diligence, researching the […]

How I Choose a Good Sweat-Resistant Sunscreen for My Workouts

After years of working out in the summer sun, I’ve become a connoisseur of sunscreens. I’ll wear this stick for my face, that cream on my hands for shorter runs, this spray for long trail runs—and that’s aside from slipping on a sun shirt to provide my primary upper-body protection. The exact formulation of each […]

The Kindle Colorsoft Will Make Your Books Look Worse

Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft is now the company’s most expensive e-reader (with the exception of the Kindle Scribe, although that’s more of an e-note than an e-reader), but that doesn’t automatically make it the best Kindle money can buy. Let’s say you have the cash to burn and want the best reading experience Amazon offers: If […]

Peloton’s Little-Known Strength Training Device Is Dead

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Pour one out for a friend gone too soon: Peloton has stopped selling its Guide device. There’s a chance you didn’t know anything about this equipment—a webcam-type device that was meant to help you with strength training—because it never really had the name recognition the […]

There’s Already a Class Action Lawsuit Against the Viral ‘Tea’ App

Last week, a sequence of events happened pretty quickly: The Tea app—like Yelp, but for rating and reviewing men under the guise of promoting safety—rocketed to the top of Apple’s App Store as women sought to determine, anonymously, whether the guys in their lives were “green flag men” or “red flag men.” Then, there was […]

Your Echelon Gym Equipment Is Now Useless Without a Subscription

We may earn a commission from links on this page. In a move that pretty much exemplifies everything wrong with modern smart device ownership, Echelon has effectively rendered thousands of its home gym machines useless without an internet connection and monthly subscription. This firmware update has stripped away offline functionality, forcing users into a $39.99/month […]

Apple Is Making It Borderline Ridiculous to Fix an iPad

For years, Apple had a pretty straightforward policy toward product repairs: Take it to us, or a repair shop we approve of, or buy a new one. The company didn’t want independent repair shops or, god forbid, actual customers to be able to buy genuine Apple parts and fix their devices themselves. It wasn’t just […]

I’m a Comics Reader, and I Can’t Recommend the Kindle Colorsoft

Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft is the company’s first color e-reader, and for me, that means one thing: Comic books. While there’s other color content out there (like children’s books and even textbooks) as an adult and a superhero nerd, comics would be the reason for me to go in on Amazon’s most expensive Kindle. Unfortunately, after […]

This Amazon Echo Show 8 Is $40 Off on Woot Right Now

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re looking to get more out of your video-enabled Alexa device, right now you can get an open box Amazon Echo Show 8 for $110 on Woot! That’s $40 less than a brand […]

Google Is Rolling Out Its AI Age Verification to More Services, and I’m Skeptical

Yesterday, I wrote about how YouTube is now using AI to guess your age. The idea is this: Rather than rely on the age attached to your account, YouTube analyzes your activity on its platform, and makes a determination based on how your activity corresponds to others users. If the AI thinks you’re an adult, […]

The Pixel 8 Pro Is Nearly 50% Off, and It Comes With a Free Pixel Watch 2

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Google has officially announced the Google Pixel 10 lineup set to be released in August, along with the Pixel Watch 4, so it makes sense they’re trying to get rid of their older models’ […]

Three Things I Liked About Garmin’s Sleep Band, After My First Night

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I woke up this morning from my first night with Garmin’s Index sleep band, and so far it’s exactly what I hoped for—super comfortable, and requires no thought to use. You just put it on when you go to bed, and everything is taken care […]

I’m a Lifelong Anime Fan, and These Are 18 of My Favorite Anime on Crunchyroll

If you like anime, Crunchyroll is probably still the best streaming service for you. While other platforms, including Netflix, have made huge strides in bringing anime into U.S. homes, Crunchyroll still has the largest collection of classics, modern hits, and most importantly, currently airing programs you can find right now. That’s what makes compiling a […]