Eating healthy is good for you, no matter who you are or what your goals. You don’t have to be trying to lose weight to eat healthier, for one thing. But it can be tricky to know where to start, so here are your basic guidelines for healthy eating. Fruits, veggies, and protein are some of the easiest places to start, and they’ll have the biggest impacts.

There’s no perfect diet

Before we start, an important ground rule: There isn’t one true perfect way to eat. No matter what your keto friend says, or your mom who has this diet plan you just have to try, or even those ranked lists of the “best” diets. When weight-loss diets have been tested against each other, they all work about the same. And if you’re just eating healthy for, you know, your health (what an idea!) there are still plenty of ways to do it. So let’s talk about the things that nearly all healthy eating approaches have in common.

Even though I’ll list several good starting points below, you don’t have to do all of them—pick one for now. Just as with exercise, it takes time to get used to a habit. Eating healthier may involve many different habits, like learning new recipes or buying different groceries than what you’re used to, so give yourself some time to learn and get used to it.

Eat more fruits and vegetables

If you only change one thing, make it this. Most of us don’t eat enough vegetables, or we eat the same few over and over. Eat more vegetables, and more types of vegetables. Same with fruits, especially fresh fruits. (Apple pie is technically a fruit, but that’s not quite what I mean.) Fruits and vegetables contain fiber, which most of us don’t get enough of, including soluble, insoluble, and prebiotic types. They also contain vitamins and minerals that most of us could use more of, like vitamin A and potassium. And they contain plenty of phytonutrients, which are natural chemical compounds that don’t qualify as vitamins but that are still likely good for us. For example, beta-carotene is a form of vitamin A, but there are at least 40 other carotenes that we can get in our diets. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, and you’ll cover a lot of bases.

How to do it: Try to add a fruit or vegetable to at least one meal a day. (When you’ve got the hang of that, build on that and add another.) Feel free to make this convenient: frozen veggies are just as nutritious as fresh (sometimes more so). You can throw frozen cooked spinach into just about any sauce or soup, or roast a bunch of veggies—fresh, frozen, whatever—on a sheet pan for an easy side dish or meal. Everything tastes good seasoned and roasted.

Get enough protein

It’s not hard to get enough protein on a normal diet, but as you’re overhauling what you eat, make sure that you’re making room for it. Lean proteins like fish, chicken and tofu are an excellent base for your diet. Whether to include fattier ones like red meat depends on your goals for your diet (including whether your doctor has advised you to limit these foods for health reasons).

If you’re trying to lose weight, you need more protein than the average person. The less food you eat, the more of it needs to be protein. Remember, protein is a nutrient found in many foods; it’s not just the meats and tofu themselves. Get used to reading labels (or googling the protein content of your foods) to make sure you get plenty. The numbers are in our protein guide. If you work out a lot, you’ll also need more protein than the average person.

And don’t worry about the fearmongering messages you may have heard about how we already get “too much” protein. This is a myth, borne out of some misunderstandings about how the RDA for protein is calculated. When you check the numbers, it turns out that the average person eats just barely enough protein, and many of us are in groups that should get more than the minimum. If you’re an older adult, for example, you probably need significantly more than you’re already getting.

Have less sugar and processed food

It’s not realistic to cut sugar and processed foods completely out of your diet. Processing is relative, anyway; cooking is a form of processing. But if you find yourself eating a lot of these foods, it can be helpful to ask yourself: What could I be eating instead?

In place of a boxed breakfast cereal, for example, you could make your own oatmeal or overnight oats. If you drink a lot of soda, maybe you’d be fine with swapping out some of those drinks for water or seltzer. And if you snack a lot on candy or chips, maybe you could make your meals a bit larger (more protein? More veggies?) so you’re less likely to get a snacky craving later in the day.

Make it easy to eat healthy

Intending to eat healthy is the easy part. It’s actually grabbing the right meal or snack when you’re busy or exhausted that trips people up. So think ahead about what you want to eat, and set things up to make it easy.

Put fresh fruit in a convenient spot, and shove the candy into the back of a cabinet. Chop some veggies on the weekend and cook some brown rice so they’re ready to throw together when it’s time for a meal. If you like cooking dinner but tend to be lost at lunchtime, go ahead and pack yourself a lunch in the evening (even if you work at home) so that you’ll just have to open your lunchbox when it’s time to eat.

Eating healthy doesn’t have to mean cooking from scratch, by the way. I love getting bags of frozen veggies or veggie/grain mixes from Trader Joe’s and pairing them with whatever protein I have on hand (often also bought and defrosted from Trader Joe’s, sorry, I’m predictable). It’s not cheating to make things easy on yourself. If you think that preparing your meals ahead of time might help, check out my guide to getting into the meal prep habit without getting overwhelmed with the cooking or bored with the meals.

Only track calories if you really want or need to

If you’re trying to gain or lose weight, what needs to happen is that your total calorie intake will need to change relative to the number of calories you burn. And if your weight has been changing but you don’t want it to, you’ll need your calorie intake and calorie burn to be equal. Tracking your food and counting calories can help you keep tabs on whether the numbers are going the way you want them to.

That said, don’t track calories just because you feel like you “should.” If you don’t have a specific goal, or if you’re flexible about the timeline, you don’t have to download MyFitnessPal just because that’s what all your dieting friends are doing. (Cronometer is the better app for meal tracking anyway, and you can get a better handle on your weight gain or loss with Macrofactor (paid) or a free DIY solution.)

If you do end up counting calories, a word of warning: don’t aim for a shockingly low number, even if you have the willpower to make it work. (1200 calories is starvation rations.) Extreme calorie deficits can make you lose muscle, not just fat, which may leave you, ironically, less fit than when you started. Gradual changes are more sustainable anyway.

There are a few tricks with home bread baking that make the difference between a lackluster loaf and a spectacular one. One of them is having a heavy duty baking surface to get a nice bottom crust, and another is creating a steamy environment for a lofty loaf. Managing these requirements might sound like a challenge, or like expensive equipment might be involved, but you can actually solve both needs with a common piece of cookware: the Dutch oven. 

Why you should bake bread in a Dutch oven

A heavy duty baking surface, like a baking stone, is easy enough to come by, but a steam injected oven like the bakeries have is not as common at home. Steam is essential for a fully risen loaf of bread that cracks open exactly where you score it. The moist air allows for oven spring and it’s the last time your bread rises after all that proofing. Without moisture, the bread will immediately develop a dry skin that impedes the oven spring. This can stunt your loaf and also cause it to tear open at an unintended seam as the inside of the bread starts rising a few minutes later. Moist air in the first five to 10 minutes of baking ensures the crust doesn’t develop too early and the dough can expand as much as possible. 

There’s the ol’ pan of water trick, where you add water to a hot pan in the oven in hopes that it’ll steam things up while your bread bakes, but I find that this isn’t always enough because the oven is such a large space and the steam vents out quickly. If only you had a small, enclosed space made from a heavy duty material to capture the bread’s natural moisture and evenly distribute the heat. Oh. Right.

The Dutch oven is like a baking stone and a steam keeper all rolled into one. (And if you don’t have one yet, here are some affordable options.) The Dutch oven makes a huge difference in the rise my sourdough gets compared to the baking stone and water pan method.

How to make bread in a Dutch oven 

You can make any yeast-raised bread in a Dutch oven (and a ton of other stuff too), just make sure the loaf isn’t too big for the pot that you have. A round loaf of bread that’s fully proofed and ready to bake should have an inch of clearance all the way around and a few inches above. A lot of rise is what we’re counting on, so you don’t want the space to be cramped. 

When your bread dough has already done the bulk proof, and it’s been shaped, place it on a large piece of parchment paper for its second proof. Then get to setting up your oven.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

My dutch oven is rather tall so I put the rack down to the second-to-bottom position so I have enough space. About 30 minutes before your bread is finished proofing, put a lid on your Dutch oven and put it in the oven to preheat. Set the oven to whatever temperature you need. I’ll set mine to 450°F for the sourdough. Keep in mind that most Dutch ovens are oven safe up to 500°F or higher, but sometimes the handle on the lid isn’t. Check your brand to make sure. If your lid isn’t oven safe, use a baking sheet to cover the top. It’s not perfect but it’ll do.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Once the bread is ready to be baked, score the bread how you’d like. I’m partial to the square score. Carefully take the Dutch oven out of the oven with mitts on. Remove the lid. Lift the bread up by the parchment paper corners and lower it into the pot. Put the lid on (if you’re using a baking sheet “lid,” put it on once the pot is in the oven) and put the entire Dutch oven back into the conventional oven. Bake it for as long as your recipe indicates, but with 10 minutes left in the baking time, remove the lid so the bread can brown. Take the bread out of the pot carefully to cool on a wire rack.

My Dutch oven sourdough recipe

This recipe uses a sourdough starter for flavor and the leavening, of course. However, if you’re not in the business of keeping starter around (and if you want to but it keeps failing, read this) then you can just stir one teaspoon of active dry yeast into the water measurement before adding the flour and salt. 

Ingredients:

• 7 ounces room temperature water

• 4 ounces sourdough starter

• 10 ounces high-gluten flour

• 0.25 ounces salt

1. Mix the water, starter, and flour together in the bowl of a stand mixer. I use the dough hook and stir things around until the dry bits have been moistened and the dough looks shaggy. Let this rest for 15 minutes. This short autolyse will help hydrate the flour and strengthen the gluten. 

2. Set the dough hook and bowl onto the machine and start it on the first speed. Sprinkle in the salt as it’s stirring. Put the machine onto the second speed for three minutes, and the third speed for another three minutes. The dough may stick a bit to the bottom at first and that’s alright—it’ll gather up by the end.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

3. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap, a plastic bag, or a hotel shower cap. Place this bowl in a warm area, or my favorite mug warmer proofing rig. Every 45 minutes, fold the dough in half and flip it over. This is especially helpful for sourdough, but if you’ve used active dry yeast you can leave it be.

4. Once the dough has doubled in size, usually two to three hours depending on how active your yeast is, dump it out onto a lightly floured surface. Fold the dough in half to knock out the air. Shape the dough into a square and lift the edges together to make a purse. Dust away the flour and flip the purse over. Use your hands to tighten the dough’s skin and shape a ball. Here’s my video on dough shaping. (It’s very helpful, according to me.)

5. Set the loaf onto a large piece of parchment paper and cover it with a tea towel and drape over that same piece of plastic you used before. Let this proof for about 45 minutes, or until a fingerprint springs back halfway.

6. Heat the Dutch oven in the conventional oven during this proofing time. When the bread is ready to bake, score the bread with a sharp serrated knife or a lame. Take out the pot, grab the corners of the parchment paper and lower the loaf into the pot. Cover the Dutch oven and put it into the oven to bake for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and leave the bread in the oven to finish baking for another 10 minutes. Cool the finished loaf on a wire cooling rack. 

While many of us only have one Apple Account to manage, many others have two, and are using both with their Apple devices. I know someone who once created an Apple Account using an employer-linked email address, and at some point, created a second account with their personal ID. Now, they’re using two accounts on their devices, with one linked to iCloud and Apple Music, and the other one for all other apps.

If you’ve had Apple devices for a long time, you might have two Apple Accounts of your own. Despite this, Apple didn’t allow users to merge purchases onto one account. So, if you wanted to access purchases on an old Apple Account, you needed to sign into it, even though you use a newer account for everything else.

For people stuck in these types of situations, Apple finally has a solution—migrating purchases from one account to another. It’s not necessarily simple, but it is doable.

Understanding the risks involved

On the surface, it may seem like a simple process to migrate your purchases from one Apple Account to another, but it appears to be quite tricky in the backend. That’s probably why it has taken Apple so long to make this feature available. Data migration is complicated. I remember when people’s iTunes libraries were corrupted when Apple Music launched and not everyone found a working solution. That’s why I think it’s best to take migrating purchases slow and steady. 

It’s also worth noting that after migration is complete, your secondary Apple Account will no longer be able to make any purchases, so you won’t be able to download any apps from the App Store. I also don’t recommend going through with this process if you’re beta testing many apps via TestFlight. If you’re okay with unenrolling your device from all those betas, then you may proceed to migrate purchases. This process is also unavailable in three major regions—the EU, United Kingdom, and India. Apple hasn’t mentioned why this is, but it could be due to local regulations around payments and data.

Check if you’re eligible for migrating purchases

To successfully migrate your purchases to a different Apple Account, the company requires you meet the following conditions:

• The primary Apple Account should be linked to iCloud and most features. This is the account where all your purchases will be unified. 

• The secondary Apple Account should only be used for media and purchases. This account won’t be able to make any purchases once the migration is complete.

• You should know the email address, phone numbers, and passwords for both accounts.

• Your Apple Accounts should not be shared with another person.

• Your Apple Accounts shouldn’t be created as a child account through Family Sharing.

• If the primary Apple Account has never been used for purchases or free downloads, it can’t be used to migrate purchases.

• Migration can’t be done if both accounts have music library data associated with them.

• The Apple Account shouldn’t be locked or disabled. It also shouldn’t be a part of special access programs for apps on content (e.g. linked to an employer to receive special access to apps).

• The secondary Apple Account shouldn’t be used for testing beta versions through TestFlight. Stop testing all apps before attempting migration.

How to migrate purchases from one Apple Account to another

Before you can start migrating purchases, you need to do the following:

• Update to the latest version of iOS or iPadOS on your iPhone or iPad.

• Make sure you are logged in to your primary account on your device, and your secondary Apple Account for Media & Purchases. To verify this, go to Settings > YOUR NAME > Media & Purchases > View Account. If you see a different Apple Account here from your primary Apple Account, you’re all set. If not, you can sign out and sign in to the correct account.

• Ensure that the secondary account isn’t a part of a Family Sharing group.

• Check that both accounts are set to the same country and region.

• Enable two-factor authentication on both accounts.

• If you have unused Apple Account balance on the secondary account, spend it all before you start migrating.

• Wait for rental content to expire before beginning this process.

• If you’ve pre-ordered any content on the secondary account, then you can either wait for the orders to complete or cancel them.

• Verify that the payment method linked to the secondary account is working and keep all its details handy. You’ll have to verify a payment from the secondary account before this process goes through. 

When all of this is confirmed, you can follow these steps to begin the process:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > YOUR NAME > Media & Purchases > View Account.

2. Sign in to the account if you’re asked to, then scroll down, and select Migrate Purchases.

3. Check the information about both accounts and follow on-screen prompts to complete migrating purchases to the primary account.

4. Once the process is done, you’ll see a message that reads, “Purchases Have Been Migrated,” on the screen. You will also receive emails confirming this on both your email addresses.

5. Check your Media & Purchases settings and sign in here with your primary Apple Account. 

6. You can now sign out of the secondary Apple Account on all your Apple devices.

The migration process can only be done once on an account. Apple allows you to undo an account migration following these same steps, but you won’t be able to migrate purchases again for one year. 

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

The MacBook Air is a staple portable productivity laptop that people seem to love, and as such, many companies try to make their own versions of it. Samsung’s take is the Galaxy Book Pro, and after the recent released of Galaxy Book5 Pro, last year’s Galaxy Book4 Pro has dropped to $699.99 (originally $1,349.99) for the i5 Ultra Processor, a new record-low price according to price-tracking tools. The model with an i7 Processor starts at $899.99 (originally $1,449.99), also its lowest price.

RAM: 16GB, Storage: 512GB SSD, Processor: Intel Core Ultra 5, Size: 14-inch.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro, i5 Ultra Processor

$699.99
at Amazon

$1,349.99
Save $650.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$699.99
at Amazon

$1,349.99
Save $650.00

RAM: 16GB, Storage: 512GB SSD, Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Size: 14-inch.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro, i7 Ultra Processor

$899.99
at Amazon

$1,449.99
Save $550.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$899.99
at Amazon

$1,449.99
Save $550.00

SEE -1 MORE

Regardless of which one you choose, 16GB of RAM is fantastic. If you’re doing anything else other than browsing the internet, I would suggest going for the i7 Ultra Processor. It will expand the life of your laptop and make your work much smoother.

The 14-inch model is perfect for those looking for a portable laptop that can easily fit in a backpack. You get a print-digit reader to open your laptop, an AMOLED anti-reflective touchscreen with 2880 x 1800 (3K) resolution, and a 1080p webcam. It has two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, an HDMI 2.1, a USB-A 3.2, a MicroSD, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

With an AMOLED screen, you get a beautiful contrast with deep blacks and colors that pop off, making it great for streaming. The 120Hz means action scenes or video games will look very smooth. Just keep in mind the speakers aren’t good, so make sure you have a decent pair of headphones.

You’ll get an average of 14 hours of battery life with this laptop when watching videos, which is great compared to the competition. If you’re doing light work, expect more than a day of battery life.

If you’re looking for a Windows equivalent of the MacBook Air with great battery life for a killer price, this laptop is for you.

This week Google added Veo 2 to YouTube Shorts and—wow, this article is already gibberish. Let me back up.

YouTube Shorts is YouTube’s TikTok knockoff competitor. Veo2 is Google’s AI tool for generating videos. As of this week, you can use that AI to make clips for YouTube Shorts. This innovative and revolutionary change will forever alter the vertical videos most people scroll past so they can find the thing they actually wanted to watch.

According to a confusingly worded announcement post, you can now create clips to add to your Shorts simply by typing a sentence. Anyone can create a Short right in the YouTube mobile app either by combining footage already saved to their phone or by recording directly. Now there’s a third option: generating horrifying footage using AI.

“Need a specific scene but don’t have the right footage?” the post asks. “Simply use a text prompt to generate a video clip that fits perfectly into your narrative, or create a whole new world of content.”

I can’t think of any place less appealing than a “whole new world of content.” The very phrase conjures up mental images of a digital purgatory, an endless void of placeholder content where the unworthy are sent to after a life lived passively consuming.

So naturally I wanted to try this out.

I fired up the YouTube application on my phone found that the feature is a little buried. To generate a clip, you need to click the Add button in the bottom-left corner and then—instead of clicking one of the photos or videos on your phone—tap the Create button at the top of the screen. After that, you can type your prompt and tap Create.

I hope this is how it all ends to be honest.
Credit: Justin Pot

You’ll see four thumbnails—tap one and the AI will generate a clip for you. This will be added to your timeline, meaning you can edit it into the rest of the Short however you like.

I played around with this a few times, mostly with cats eating planets (I wanted to see it). The results were not particularly convincing from a feline or astronomical perspective—I’d say it resembled the feeling of a fading memory of a dream more than actual video footage—but I certainly ended up with a video that included the elements I described.

There’s one more way you can use these videos—as an animated background for your Shorts. To do this, tap the down arrow on the toolbar to expand it, tap the Green Screen option, then tap the AI sparkle instead of one of your photos. As before, you will be given four thumbnails to choose from—the one you choose will become a video. You can then record yourself talking as the video loops in the background. Honestly, this seems like a decent use for AI—a quick and disposable visual flare for a video that is also quick and disposable.

For what’s it’s worth, we have an article about how to hide YouTube Shorts from your feed, as does seemingly every other website on the internet. I wonder why that is.

Thinking about getting a new iPhone? You certainly have options: Apple’s latest generation of smartphones, the iPhone 16 series, offers four different models, each with their own pluses and minuses. If you’re not set on having the latest and greatest, you could consider last year’s iPhone 15, or even 2022’s iPhone 14. They’re all great.

However, there’s one iPhone that stands out from the rest: the iPhone SE. Unlike every other iPhone Apple currently sells, this one has a Home button. In fact, the phone looks nearly identical to the iPhone 8 Apple released back in 2017, which itself borrows the design from 2014’s iPhone 6. That means it has a smaller, lower quality display than many might be used to these days, a single camera that isn’t as capable as those on newer iPhones, and poor battery life for its size. In short, the current SE is a bit of a black sheep, and is probably not the iPhone I’d recommend you buy in 2024—even if it only costs $429.

That price is the main selling point of the SE brand, especially when this particular model launched back in 2022. Apple takes the design from the last generation (in this case, the iPhone 8 style), packs a modern chip inside, and slashes the MSRP. In effect, you get an iPhone that can keep up with the performance of the flagship Apple phones, but at half the cost, if not more. Sure, the cameras aren’t as good and the device looks a bit dated, but again, you get a lot of iPhone for the price.

To be frank, if you’re eyeing a mid-range device at a good price, I wouldn’t recommend buying an iPhone at all right now. But if you can wait until next week, Apple might just have exactly what you’re looking for in a brand-new SE (which, according to rumors, might even have a different name).

2025 could be the year of the SE

The new SE looks like it’s dropping soon. Apple CEO Tim Cook posted on X on Thursday, announcing a Feb. 19 launch of “the newest member of the family.” While Cook didn’t elaborate, it seems like this could be the time to reveal the new SE.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The iPhone SE rumor mill has been churning for some time now, but Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman summed up what’s new with the 2025 iPhone SE quite succinctly. Gurman said you can expect Apple’s latest “budget” iPhone to look a lot like the iPhone 14, which means a 6.1-inch edge-to-edge OLED display booting the Home button in favor of Face ID. Apple is shipping the SE with the A18 chip, the same SoC found on the latest iPhone 16 series. It’ll also have an Apple-made cellular modem, ditching the usual models from Qualcomm, though it’s not clear whether that will have any meaningful gains in cellular performance. It will also come with a USB-C port, which will let Apple sell the phone in the EU.

Other rumors suggest the SE 4 will have a single 48 MP rear camera, and 8GB of RAM. That extra RAM would allow the SE 4 to run Apple Intelligence, which is obviously important to Apple, but perhaps not to anyone who has already turned it off.

If those features come to pass, this would be quite the upgrade over the current iPhone SE. The SE 3 is rocking a 4.7-inch 750p LCD, a much smaller and lower resolution display than what’s rumored. It also uses the A15 Bionic chip, which is still powerful enough in 2024 (it’s the same chip used in the iPhone 14), has a Lightning port, a 12 MP rear camera, 4GB of RAM, and, of course, a Qualcomm 5G modem.

The SE always borrows from the previous generation of iPhone, and right now, that’s likely the iPhone 14. Based on these rumors, the new SE would have some edge over the iPhone 14: The 14 has 12 MP rear cameras, 6GB of RAM, a Lightning port, and doesn’t support Apple Intelligence, all of which the rumored SE improves upon. And while the 14’s A15 Bionic chip is plenty powerful for iOS 18, the A18 would be a noticeable upgrade for the SE 4. The A15 was the newest iPhone chip at the time when the SE 3 came out, so it’d make sense for the SE 4 could get the iPhone 16’s A18 chip.

There’s also a potential name change in store for the iPhone SE 4, as noted leaker Majin Bu (don’t you have Saiyans to fight?) has said Apple is considering naming it the iPhone 16E, pushing it as a budget version of its most recent model rather than a separate line altogether. Bu’s report follows a similar statement from popular Chinese account Fixed Focus Digital.

What would a new iPhone SE look like?

Aside from the internals, leakers have also now gotten their hands on supposed dummy units of the iPhone SE 4. As expected, these look a lot like the iPhone 14, but with two noticeable changes.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The biggest changes here, at least according to a video from also coming from Majin Bu, are the swap to a USB-C port and the move to a single camera lens. As previously noted, the former is necessary for the phone to be sold in the EU and constitutes a modest upgrade over the 14, while the latter is likely a cost-cutting measure, but could still be considered an upgrade if the single lens is more powerful than the prior dual lenses, as rumored. Notably, while the move to a single camera lens is a change from the iPhone 14, the current iPhone SE also only uses a single camera lens, and it does provide for a less noticeable camera bump.

Over the old SE, the Home button is also now gone, and noticeably, a notch is here in place of the Dynamic Island Apple made standard on all new iPhones starting with the iPhone 15. That’s not wholly a surprise, given the base iPhone 14 had a notch too, but anyone who was hoping Apple would leave notches entirely in the past after the iPhone 15 announcement will likely need to wait for the SE 5 (or whatever it’s called) to see that wish come true.

Bu isn’t the first leaker to come forward with an iPhone SE 4 dummy, although their post is certainly clearer than prior looks, especially regarding the notch.

Will Apple keep the price low?

Of course, the value of a rumored SE all hinges on the price. Ideally, Apple would keep the same $429 price point for the SE 4—which, itself, was a hike from the $399 starting price for past SE models. These rumors point to a excellent all-around iPhone that omits certain modern or “Pro” features like a Camera button, Action button, zoom lens, titanium build, 120Hz ProMotion display, Always-On display, Dynamic Island, and a brightness maximum of 2,000 nits. Hopefully, scrapping these features most users don’t want or need can motivate Apple to price the SE accordingly. As of this writing, rumors don’t suggest what Apple will do, one way or another.

At the end of the day, most people looking to buy an iPhone want something that can handle iMessage and FaceTime, run their favorite apps, and take great photos and videos. The SE traditionally handles these tasks without issue, so if the fourth-generation iPhone SE does indeed deliver on these rumors and is priced appropriately, it might be the best iPhone for most of us.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

The problem with Netflix’s algorithmic recommendations is that it creates an entertainment echo chamber where viewers’ tastes are confirmed instead of challenged. Right now, there’s probably a TV series languishing in Netflix’s back catalog that would blow your mind, if only you knew about it. But it’s probably not in English.

Netflix has a huge catalog of excellent foreign-language shows, so many that finding a place to start can be daunting. As Lifehacker’s expert on “what’s good on TV,” I’ve put together a list of the best of the best “not in English” Netflix series, listed in order of Rotten Tomatoes review aggregation score. If you can deal with subtitles, I bet you’ll find your new favorite show somewhere below.

Marianne (France, 2019)

I’m starting this list with Marianne, maybe my favorite TV show of all time. I love horror, but I’ve seen so much of it that I’m rarely actually spooked by anything anymore. French series Marianne, though, legitimately creeped me out. A deeply unsettling series about a horror writer whose nightmares come true, Marianne carefully builds an atmosphere of dread that’s practically suffocating at times, then releases the pressure valve with gruesome, Grand Guignol set pieces at exactly the right time. It’s horror for grown-ups, and it’s really good.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Korea, 2022)

K-drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo is a legal show like no other. Park Eun-bin plays the title character, Woo Young-woo, a woman with autism who made herself into a legal savant by memorizing seemingly all of Korea’s laws. Extraordinary Attorney Woo‘s heroine is a fully fleshed out character—she’s a woman who has autism, not “autism personified”—and the show is as much about the different cases she tries each week as it is about her navigating a world she doesn’t fit into.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

Money Heist (Spain, 2017)

This brilliant, stylish, crime thriller begins with some heavy Tarantino influence, but it’s a bait-and-switch. Money Heist‘s gang of misfits are cool, but they aren’t badass anti-heroes. They’re complicated, conflicted, damaged people who make bad decisions for good reasons, and good decisions for bad ones. Their audacious plan to rob Spain’s national mint of billions of Euros may seem like an Oceans’ Eleven lark at first, but it’s soon revealed as a desperate criminal act that blows up and spins farther out of control than anyone predicted.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

The Chestnut Man (Denmark, 2021)

At its worst, “Nordic noir” transplants tired police procedural tropes to Northern European countries, and you end up with NCIS with parkas. At its best, though, Nordic noir is like The Chestnut Man, a grisly, gloomy series that combines serial killing, political corruption, and ancient, unspeakable pagan rituals into something unique, cliche-free, and perfect for binging. If you like the vibe of the first season of True Detective, check out The Chestnut Man.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

Cassandra (Germany, 2025)

Just the premise of this German sci-fi series should be enough for most people to watch it. In Cassandra, a typical suburban family moves into an isolated house that was built in the 1980s and was meant to be the “home of the future.” The massive old computers in the basement still work and the dusty household robot still clanks around, but something is very wrong with this house. If you’re like me, and you feel like you’re being haunted by both the past and computers, Cassandra will resonate deeply.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

Delicious in Dungeon (Japan, 2024)

Along with traditional foreign series, there’s a ton of anime on Netflix too; enough that the specialized genre deserves a separate list (stay tuned). I put Delicious in Dungeon here to represent all anime, and because I really like it. It’s good entry-level cartoon, a fantasy series influenced by Dungeons and Dragons, video games, and food, in which a group of intrepid adventurers eat their way through a monster-packed dungeon to save their friend. It’s a weird combo, but it’s held together by well-drawn characters, beautiful art, and lore that’s as rich as espagnole.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

Dear Child (Germany, 2023)

I went into Dear Child cold, without knowing anything about it, and the first couple of episodes are so mysterious and dread-inducing, I wasn’t sure if it was going in a dark science fiction direction, or if it was more of a supernatural horror show. Turns out, it’s neither. Dear Child is a thriller based on real life, and its carefully paced, visually stunning depiction of captivity, torture, and brainwashing is way scarier than any made-up monsters. Germans really have a unique understanding of how authoritarian control degrades the human soul; go figure.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

Squid Game (Korea, 2021)

You can’t make a list of Netflix’s best foreign shows and not include Korean sensation Squid Game. I defy anyone to watch the first episode of this show and not keep going. Set in a near-future dystopia where rich people convince ordinary people compete in deadly versions of childhood games for a fortune, Squid Game provides pointed commentary on capitalism’s corruption of culture and is somehow is fun to watch at the same time. It’s brutal, addictive, fearless, darkly funny, and wildly original. Squid Game definitely earned its nearly universal approval among critics and viewers.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

Kleo (Germany, 2022)

This stylish, action-packed period thriller takes place in the days after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Jella Haase plays the title character, an imprisoned Stasi agent with an unusual skill set that includes making poison from a pufferfish and kicking serious ass. With the Cold War over, Kleo is released with all the other political prisoners and sets out for vengeance upon the spooks and government functionaries who ruined her life. If you like slick-as-hell action that isn’t stupid, check out Kleo.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

All of Us are Dead (Korea, 2022)

Imagine The Breakfast Club, Parasite, and Train to Busan had a three-way baby and you have some idea of what All of Us are Dead is like. This Korean zombie epic is set at Hyosan High School, where regularly scheduled classes (and teenage romance, popularity jockeying, bullying, shenanigans, etc.) are briefly interrupted by an invasion of fast, deadly zombies. All of Us are Dead hits all the undead invasion notes perfectly—it’s brutal, violent, and action-packed—but it stands out from the pack by featuring characters you care about and thoughtful social commentary on youth and society, without ever devolving into “Heart-to-Heart Talk of the Dead” territory, like the later seasons of The Walking Dead.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%

How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) (Germany, 2019)

Based loosely on a true story, How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) tells the story of Moritz Zimmerman, a high school nerd who dreams of becoming a tech mogul and sticking it to the popular kids one day. So, like the title says, Moritz starts selling drugs online (fast) which expands his social circle, but creates exponentially expanding dangers in the form of cops, drug-dealers, and other crime-show complications. Fast, funny, and addictive, How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) is perfect binge-TV. There’s no score from Rotten Tomatoes, but trust me.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: None

Tabula Rasa (Belgium, 2017)

Intense Belgian mind-fuck Tabula Rasa is criminally under seen—It doesn’t have enough online reviews to even have a Rotten Tomatoes rating—but it’s amazing. Main character Kai lost her memory after a car accident. She lives in a perpetual, confusing present in which her mind seems to “fill in the blanks” of her life with horrifying hallucinations. Or maybe her house is haunted. Or maybe she’s a killer who murdered a young man like the police think. Maybe someone else is setting her up for something. Maybe none of this is real. Tabula Rasa‘s “what is even happening?” plot holds up through the final twist, and its grotesque imagery is fascinating. This is a true hidden gem.

Rotten Tomato Score: None

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Presidents Day is not until Feb. 17, 2025, but as is often the case, retailers have started their sales well in advance. Best Buy has the best sale I’ve seen so far, with great deals on major appliances and tech products, including headphones, TVs, soundbars, washers, and more. Here are my favorite deals from the sale worth considering.

Resolution: 4K, Size: 55 inches, Display: LED, Backlight: Edge Lit, Voice Assistant: Alexa.

55” Samsung The Frame (LS03D, 2024)

$899.99
at Best Buy

$1,499.99
Save $600.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$899.99
at Best Buy

$1,499.99
Save $600.00

Wireless Connectivity: Bluetooth, Maximum Frequency Response: 20 kilohertz, Peak Power: 550 Watts

JBL Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer 5.1-Channel

$259.99
at Best Buy

$599.99
Save $340.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$259.99
at Best Buy

$599.99
Save $340.00

Noise Cancelling (Active): No, Wireless Connectivity: Bluetooth, Water Resistant: Yes.

Apple – AirPods 4

$99.99
at Best Buy

$129.99
Save $30.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$99.99
at Best Buy

$129.99
Save $30.00

Capacity: 4.5 cubic feet, High-Efficiency: Yes, Washer Load Type: Front load, App Compatible: Yes.

Samsung 4.5 Cu. Ft. Smart Front Load Washer

$699.99
at Best Buy

$1,034.99
Save $335.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$699.99
at Best Buy

$1,034.99
Save $335.00

Processor Model: i7, Graphics: Intel Iris Xe, RAM: 16 GB, Display Type: LED, Screen Size: 15.6 in.

HP 15 (Intel Core i7 12th Gen, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, Touch Display, 2024 Model)

$499.99
at Best Buy

$799.99
Save $300.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$499.99
at Best Buy

$799.99
Save $300.00

Screen Size: 40 millimeters, Operating System: watchOS, App: Yes, Built-in Storage: 32 GB.

Apple Watch SE 2nd Generation

$169.00
at Best Buy

$249.00
Save $80.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$169.00
at Best Buy

$249.00
Save $80.00

SEE 3 MORE

A Samsung washer with a $335 discount

If you’re looking for a washer, peep this Samsung 4.5 Cu. Ft. Smart front load washer for $699.99 (originally $1,034.99), the lowest price it has been over the last few months, according to price-tracking tools. If you need other major appliances and like free TVs (who doesn’t?), Best Buy is offering a free 75-inch Samsung Crystal UHD TV when you buy two or more appliances and they total at least $2,499.99. Very doable if you need a stove or fridge.

More major appliance deals:

• Fridge with $400 gift card: KitchenAid – 27 Cu. Ft. French Door Refrigerator — $2,799.99 (originally $3,699.99)

• Fridge with $250 gift card: LG Counter-Depth MAX 26.5 Cu. Ft. French Door Smart Refrigerator — $1,899.99 (originally $2,299.99)

• Washer: GE Profile 5.3 Cu. Ft. Stackable Smart Front Load Washer — $999.99 (originally $1,399.99)

• Washer: LG 4.5 Cu. Ft. High-Efficiency Smart Front Load Washer — $999.99 (originally $1,349.99)

• Range: Whirlpool 5.3 Cu. Ft. Freestanding Electric Range with Cooktop — $599.99 (originally $854.99)

• Dishwasher: Samsung 24″ Top Control Smart Built-In Stainless Steel Tub Dishwasher — $529.99 (originally $854.99)

The Frame TV is $600 off

Samsung’s The Frame is perfect for those who don’t want a regular TV to be the centerpiece of their living room. The matte and anti-reflective screen truly makes it look like you have a piece of art hanging on your wall (I’ve been fooled by them before). You can get the 55-inch The Frame for $899.99 (originally $1,499.99), the lowest price it’s been over the last few months.

More TV deals:

• Samsung 75-inch DU6950 Series Crystal UHD TV — $529.99 (originally $749.99)

• Samsung 85-inch DU6950 Series Crystal UHD TV — $749.99 (originally $1,099.99)

• LG 48-inch B4 Series OLED TV — $599.99 (originally $799.99)

• LG 43-inch UT70 Series UHD TV — $219.99 (originally $399.99)

A JBL soundbar and subwoofer combo over 50% off

Buck for buck, there’s nothing that elevates a home theater setup like getting a soundbar and subwoofer combo. The JBL 5.1 Channel Soundbar and Subwoofer combo is $259.99 (originally $599.99), a killer deal and the cheapest it has been over the last few months. You can read more about the PCMag review here.

More soundbar and speaker deals:

• JBL Xtreme3 Portable Bluetooth Speaker — $259.99 (originally $329.99)

• LG 5.1.1 Channel S70TR Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and Rear Speakers — $299.99 (originally $399.99)

• Sonos Arc 5.0.2 Channel Smart Soundbar with Dolby Atmos — $749.00 (originally $899.99)

A powerful HP laptop for less than $500

An HP laptop with an i7 processor with 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage for $499.99 (originally $799.99) is impressive. Make sure you’re OK having a 15.6-inch screen, which is definitely on the bigger end of the spectrum. The resolution isn’t 4K (only Full HD) with an LED display, but if you care about performance over design and aesthetics, it’s a good choice.

More laptop deals:

• Apple MacBook Air M3 chip 16GB RAM 256GB SSD — $899.00 (originally $1,099.99)

• HP Touch-Screen Laptop Intel Core i3 8GB Memory 256GB SSD — $279.99 (originally $499.99)

• Microsoft Surface Snapdragon X Plus 10 Core 16GB RAM 256GB SSD — $799.99 (originally $999.99)

• Lenovo IdeaPad 1i Intel Core i5 8GB RAM 512GB SSD — $329.99 (originally $599.99)

Apple Watch and AirPods up to $80 off

Apple users will enjoy the budget Apple Watch SE 2nd Generation for $169 (originally $249) and the new AirPods 4 for $99.99 (originally $129.99). Both of these are at the lowest price they’ve been over the last few months.

More headphone deals:

• Apple AirPods Pro 2 — $169.99 (originally $249.99)

• Bose QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones — $349.00 (originally $429.99)

• Beats Powerbeats Totally Wireless Earbuds — $129.99 (originally $199.99)

• Bose Ultra Open-Ear True Wireless Open Earbuds — $229 (originally $299.99)

Finally, a note of caution: If you’ve been eyeing that Google Pixel 7 Pro deal at Best Buy, don’t buy it. It’s much cheaper over at Woot right now with more storage.

Scammers are getting increasingly clever about injecting apps with malware. Certainly it’s nothing new that malicious apps are littered across the internet, but lately they’ve been popping up with alarming frequency even in theoretically safe spots like the Google Play Store and even Apple’s App Store. Malware is even showing up on Steam, serving as a reminder that we all need to be careful with each and every app (or game) we choose to download onto our devices.

As reported by GameRant, Valve recently removed a title called PirateFi from Steam. Created by developer Seaworth Interactive, the game was free to play, and was advertised as a survival adventure that let players fish and swim, with both single player and co-op mode. The game was only released on Feb. 6 of this year, meaning it was active on Steam for less than one week.

Why the removal? Steam claims the game’s developer uploaded versions of the game to Steam that included suspected malware. Steam has since removed those builds, as well as the game itself, but if you happened to play the game while these builds were active, Steam says its likely your PC was infected with malicious code.

Luckily, the scope of the situation was small, relatively speaking: It appears only about 1,500 people actually downloaded the game, which is fewer than many malware scares in recent memory. Moreover, Valve reached out to affected players directly, warning them of the likely malware problem.

SteamDB shared Valve’s message to PirateFi players in a post on X. As part of this message, Steam is warning players they should completely reformat their PC’s OS to make sure they scrub their machine of malware entirely.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

It seems some players who were affected were acutely aware of how malicious the game was. One negative review claimed the game emptied their Steam wallet to buy Dota 2 skins, while another claims most of their accounts were hacked after installing the game.

A troubling trend

Still, that this occurred at all is troubling. Usually it’s safe to download apps and games from official sources like app stores—especially Steam. It’s almost unheard of that a game on Valve’s store would be malicious. It’s even rarer than finding malicious apps on Apple’s stores, which, while uncommon, do slip past the company’s defenses every now and then.

Do I expect more malicious games to pop up on Steam? Not necessarily. In fact, Steam might bolster its security even more following this event. Still, these kinds of situations are a good reminder that, truly, you can never be too careful online.

What to do if you played PirateFi

If you installed PirateFi on your PC, you should delete it as soon as possible. Steam recommends running an antivirus scan of your machine to root out any potential malware, and to look for any new software you don’t recognize: Malware tends to install new programs and files to run in the background, so make sure to uninstall anything you know you didn’t install yourself.

You may want to consider changing passwords on your accounts, as well. While regularly changing passwords isn’t necessary, this malware may have obtained the passwords of your accounts, which puts your accounts at risk. To be extra secure, you may want to reformat your PC entirely—though this is obviously the most intensive solution.

Again, encountering malware on Steam is quite rare, but it’s still worth exercising caution whenever downloading new titles on the store. Make sure to inspect the pages for new games before installing them: Look at the images and the description to see if the game is delivering on what’s being advertised. Importantly, check reviews: If there are too many negative ratings, or too few ratings at all, it might be best to skip the title altogether.

I gave up wearing an Apple Watch about three marathons ago. Fitness watches are fantastic tools for most runners, but they’re not for me—especially when I’m not training for a specific race.

It turns out that, for me, there’s a distinct freedom in running without a training plan. After years of following structured programs with specific paces, distances, and workout types, I’ve learned to appreciate the art of intuitive running—letting my body guide the way rather than my watch.

The joy of watchless running

The decision to ditch my running watch was a conscious one. No more obsessing over pace, distance, or heart rate. Instead, I’ve developed a deeper connection with my body’s natural rhythms and signals. I measure my runs less in miles or minutes, and more in landmarks, breath patterns, and perceived effort. My body has become my most reliable metric.

How to run without a training plan

Without digital data, I focus on three key indicators:

Pay attention to your breathing pattern

My breath has become my personal speedometer. A “good” pace means breathing through my nose or maintaining a comfortable conversation. When I want to push slightly, I’ll let myself breathe harder but never to the point of not being able to string together a few words. This natural governor keeps me honest about my effort level.

Listen to your body’s feedback

I pay attention to how my feet strike the ground, whether my shoulders are relaxed, and if my form feels fluid. These physical cues tell me more about my running quality than any GPS watch could. When my footfalls feel light and my posture stays tall, I know I’m moving well.

Pay attention to your recovery signals

Perhaps most importantly, I listen to how my body feels the day after a run. Mild muscle fatigue is fine, but any hint of joint pain or excessive tiredness means I need to dial back. This attention to recovery has helped me avoid injuries more effectively than when I was following strict training plans.

The advantages of a “slow and steady” approach

Without a race deadline looming, I can truly embrace the “slow and steady” approach to my running. I’m not building toward a specific event; I’m building a sustainable running practice. This means:

• Taking genuine easy days (most days are easy days)

• Gradually increasing distance by feel rather than forced progression

• Respecting recovery as much as the running itself

• Adding intensity only when my body feels particularly springy and willing

The benefits of intuitive running

This more intuitive approach has transformed my relationship with running. Gone is the pressure to hit certain paces or weekly mileage targets. Instead, each run becomes an opportunity to tune into my body’s capabilities on that particular day.

This isn’t just about my hippie mentality—it’s a true fitness hack for me. I’ve found myself more consistent than ever, partly because I’m not burning out from trying to stick to an arbitrary schedule. Some days I run longer, others shorter. Some days I find myself naturally picking up the pace, while others I’m content to move at what feels like a whisper.

Don’t get me wrong. I know there’s a time for intensity and diligence—I’ve run six marathons, after all. but it’s perfect for maintaining fitness and joy in running. I’m building a base that will serve me well when I do decide to train for another marathon. More importantly, I’m cultivating a sustainable practice that I can maintain for years to come.

The beauty of running lies in its simplicity. No gadgets, no complicated workouts—just me, my breath, and the road ahead. It’s a reminder that sometimes, less structure leads to more consistency, and paying attention to our bodies can be more valuable than any data point a watch could provide.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

These days, there are some features that make Bluetooth speakers better than they were just a couple of years ago: USB-C for universal fast charging, hi-res audio playback for great audio quality, charging for other devices, and a built-in speakerphone. The Beats Pill speaker has all these features and more, making it a great modern speaker. It is down to $99.99 (originally $149.95), matching the lowest price it has been since its recent release, according to price-tracking tools. For less than a hundred dollars, this speaker is a steal.

Beats Pill Bluetooth Speaker

Maximum Output: 100 Watts, Frequency Response: 1 MHz, Connectivity: Bluetooth and USB, Audio: Mono.

$99.99
at Amazon

$149.95
Save $49.96

Get Deal

Get Deal

$99.99
at Amazon

$149.95
Save $49.96

I’ve been trying out the Beats Pill speaker since it came out in June, and it has everything I would want in a portable speaker: a stereo sound when connected to another compatible speaker, multi-room mode to play the same music on multiple speakers, the Find My Device feature in case you misplace it, and Class 1 Bluetooth for extended range.

This Beats speaker is not just for Apple users, since Android users can also connect to the Bluetooth 5.3, but it only supports AAC and SBC codecs, so there are no Android-friendly codec options that will make the audio pop out. Apple users will get the most out of the Pill, with seamless iOS compatibility for a much smoother experience. You can read about it in more detail on PCMag’s “excellent” review.

When it comes to battery life, you can expect around 24 hours per charge depending on your use, which is up there with other speakers of its size. The sound is the classic bright Beats sound signature, offering a balanced yet bass-heavy sound. It is rated IP67 for being dust-proof and waterproof, so it can be submerged for up to 30 minutes. The main con for this speaker is that there is no adjustable EQ on the app, but it already comes with a great sound signature.

As a teen, I was confused when I read a box of taco directions. I remember the step after cooking the ground beef was something like “drain off the water.” What water? It only took one time, and then I knew what water they were referring to. Cooking ground beef often results in gray, rubbery nubbins, and browning it is even harder because of that pool of liquid. Luckily, there’s an easy remedy for this problem: Cook faster, more tender ground beef with a sprinkle of baking soda.

The best way to cook ground beef

I have no issues making this claim: This is the best way to cook ground beef. Full stop. Baking soda is a household chemical most folks have readily available in the kitchen (and if you don’t it’s about $1.50 at the grocery store). This method requires the tiniest amount to be effective (more on that in a moment), and it results in not only beautifully browned, crisped edges on your ground beef, but those morsels are soft, juicy, and more flavorful than when they steam in their own liquid mess. 

I first became aware of baking soda’s cooking benefits from America’s Test Kitchen because it can speed up the cooking of tough vegetables. There’s a lot more it can do with meat—and that includes sliced or ground beef, chicken, and pork too. The way I do it is by dumping the ground meat into a large frying pan. (Crowding any ingredient, whether veggie or meat, is a surefire way to create steam and that delays browning, so give your food plenty of space.) Break up the meat with the heat off, and then sprinkle on a small amount of baking soda. America’s Test Kitchen recommends about a quarter teaspoon for every 12 ounces of meat, so for 16 ounces of beef I eyeballed a heaping quarter-teaspoon. 

Sprinkle the bicarb as widely as you can to cover the most meat surface as possible. It’s impossible to cover every spot, and that’s okay, it’ll still work wonders. Toss, flip, and stir the meat around to mix up the meat with the baking soda and let it sit for 15 minutes. When the timer is up, turn on the flame and cook as usual. 

What’s the difference?

I cooked two batches of meat to show the difference—one with the baking soda treatment and one without. For the baking soda batch, I sprinkled it on and waited 15 minutes. Then I turned the flame onto about medium heat and started stirring and breaking up the meat as it began to cook. Not only did the meat cook quickly, but I started seeing browning within the first two minutes; a lot of the meat was still raw in areas. 

Browning starts very quickly in the pan with the baking soda treatment.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

The entire pan of meat was cooked in five minutes, and I crisped it for two extra minutes. There was only one moment where I could see some liquid emerge, but it was nothing you would equate to a pool. 

The liquid that emerges from the baking-soda-treated meat is minimal.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

For the regular ground meat, I simply started cooking it over medium heat, breaking it apart and stirring. Things were looking the same for the first minute, minus the browning. Then just before the final parts turned gray, a great puddle of liquid formed. That liquid is supposed to be inside your meat, by the way. Instead, it fills the pan before the meat can start browning and further delays that browning. That pan took an extra five minutes and the meat pieces were noticeably tough.

The untreated ground beef expelled much more liquid and became tough at the end of cooking.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Why does adding baking soda brown ground beef better?

Baking soda does double duty with meat, acting both as a tenderizer and creating an environment for better browning. In regard to tenderizing, whenever meat hits a hot pan you can see it visibly contract. Whether it’s a burger or a steak, you’ve probably witnessed what appears to be shrinkage. When meat cooks, the muscle fibers contract and squeeze out liquid as a result. The more you cook it, the more liquid squeezes out. That’s why overcooked meat tastes dry. That is exactly what you’re seeing when you see that pool of liquid in a pan of ground beef. What’s left behind is hard, overdone bits of meat in the pan.

Baking soda fixes this by preventing the fibers from squeezing out so much of their juices. That same article explains that bicarbonate of soda changes the pH on the meat, causing the muscle filaments (tiny strands that exist in muscle cells) to repel from each other even when they meet heat. So instead of tightening up, they stay apart. The liquid inside doesn’t have to abandon ship, and that results in juicier meat. 

Less liquid in the pan also means faster browning—because browning can only happen if there isn’t a ton of water or steam present. Additionally, increasing the pH with baking soda creates a more basic environment for the meat, and that is when the Maillard reaction really pops off. The Maillard reaction is what we have to thank for gorgeously browned baked goods, meats, and vegetables, and these browned areas actually create new, more complex flavors. More browning actually does mean your food is more flavorful. And while Maillard reactions can happen without baking soda, they increase with a higher pH. 

Isn’t it nice to know that the smallest, cheapest, most simple addition to your ground beef can have such a meaningful effect on your dinner? I find this very satisfying. Give it a try and I think you will too.    

There’s chatter on TikTok right now about going “monk mode,” but if you watch enough videos on the subject, you’ll realize this means different things to different people. At its core, though, the idea of engaging with your work in a distraction-free environment is timeless. In fact, even “monk mode” has been around as a specific concept since the early 2000s and has experienced periodic surges of popularity on Google over the years. Here’s how to make it work for you.

Define what your “monk mode” is

When you’re in monk mode, you’re approximating what monks do, or at least part of it. Imagine a monk in your mind. What is he doing? Whatever it is, it’s probably calm and focused. I imagine a monk in plain clothes, sitting at a desk in an unadorned room, reading a religious text, fully immersed in the task at hand. I had friends in high school who went on to be monks, and I know that’s a reductive oversimplification of what they do—but this “mode” relies on the baseline stereotype of a calm, focused person engaging in their activities, so that’s what we’re working with.

At its most basic, entering monk mode means committing to deep work, or work that is solely focused on one task, with no attempt at multitasking and no allowances for distractions like social media. Deep work is a concept I’ve discussed here before, so how is monk mode different? Well, first of all, it’s got a catchier name and is well-suited to the viral TikTok economy, but second of all, it’s different if you make it different. Some creators say “monk mode” to just mean deep work, using it to identify moments of the day when they turn off their notifications, buckle down, and focus on one task. Others, though, take it to a different level entirely, committing to weeks or months that can include, among other things, restricting their access to social media all the time, not drinking alcohol or smoking weed, not consuming adult content, meditating or reading a set amount of time each day, or avoiding going out socially.

Clearly, there’s a significant difference between committing to a blocked period of uninterrupted work on a particular task and taking on a 60- or 90-day quest to rid your entire life of anything that might be a distraction. There’s a happy medium in there: You can commit to undertaking the same block of work time every day for a set amount of days. In fact, that’s how a lot of people said they did it in the pre-TikTok era. If you want to begin a habit or reach a goal—you want to go to the gym more consistently or start a business—block out a certain amount of time each day, set a goal of working on it with no distractions at that time every day, and do it for 90 days. That’s a monk-mode approach that doesn’t have to involve giving up half the activities in your life—and it provides a solid entry point to this whole endeavor.

What to keep in mind about monk mode

The more you watch these videos, the more they start veering into manosphere territory, with TikToks featuring jacked dudes who claim to be able to tell you how to “escape the matrix.” It’s grifty business and you shouldn’t feel bad if you can’t cut out social media, seeing your friends, or drinking your morning coffee just to appease a stranger who would actually lose their livelihood if you did stop going on social media and is probably betting the farm on the assumption that you won’t.

Resetting your goals and committing to sustained, deep work on them is a good thing, but do it in a way that is sustainable for you and actually makes sense. Going monk mode can really be as simple as committing to waking up an hour earlier every day and using that bonus hour to work, undistracted, on your passion project before emails start coming in during your 9-to-5. If you feel like cutting out weed or clubs or whatever behaviors or habits you think are holding you back, go for it, but take time to consider what your problems or barriers are before eliminating something from your life based on the advice of some guy on TikTok. Personally, when I engage in my own version of what we’re now calling monk mode, I don’t focus on the “bad” things I can get rid of, but rather, on the “good” things I can add in, then structure my three-month plan around meeting the goal of engaging sincerely and routinely with those good things.

As I said, I’ve known some monks. If there’s one thing I know about them, it’s that they’re not miserable or actively trying to punish themselves. They focus on their responsibilities because it’s the right thing to do and it leads to greater fulfillment. Try starting there. Oh, and put your phone on Do Not Disturb.

Fans of Apple TV+’s Severance, your day is about to be improved: Apple has released eight chapters of The You You Are, the fictional self-help book by Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale that is central to the plot of the show. If you want to read it, you can even download it for free, or listen to the audiobook version, narrated by Ricken himself (actor Michael Chernus).

The brief excerpts from The You You Are that have appeared in Severance are among the funniest bits in the show, but the book as released isn’t just for laughs: It’s also a great representation of how propaganda works, both in the Severance universe and in real life.

In the “outie” world of the show, The You You Are is a joke, a pretentious self-help book only fools take seriously. But in the world of the innies, an ill-gotten copy of The You You Are is seen as a work of towering genius with the power to change lives and change the world. This is only because the sole other book in the Lumon office is The Compliance Handbook, a ponderous, quasi-religious text that exists only so Lumon can keep control of its employees. The innies’ reaction to Ricken’s work reminds me of those people who read half a book (or a single headline) and suddenly think they know everything about a complex topic, and who hasn’t met a few of them?

What is The You You Are about?

Ricken’s book excerpt is hilarious and in keeping with the show’s darkly comic style. It opens with, “It’s said that as a child, Wolfgang Mozart killed another boy by slamming his head in a piano. Don’t worry. My research for this book has proven the claim untrue,” and continues in that vein.

Ricken’s book purports to be a practical guide to self-improvement, where readers are meant to gain self-knowledge by following a series of steps:

• Figure out your YouType (more on that below), write it on a piece of paper and affix it to your vanity.

• Write your name on another post-it and tape it next to your YouType.

• Choose a theology and add a “totem” of it to your YouShrine. “This could be a Christianman’s cross, an An-Ra Scarab, or a Masonic square and compass,” Ricken writes, also suggesting you can “use a photo or etching of me.”

• Add something you consider sexy. As the author puts it: “Something that whispers to your nethers in a voice only they can hear. This may be a pinup photo from wartimes of yore, a beloved undergarment, or a still life of a sinewy gourd.” Ricken also suggest you can use a picture of him for this step.

• Think of an insult you’ve heard. Write an acrostic poem using the letter of each word of the insult and add it to your vanity. Ricken goes with “Everyone laughs at you the second you walk out of the fucking room,” which was once said to him by Severance main character Mark S.

• Print out a copy of a poem that Ricken wrote and paste it to your vanity.

• “Conceive and found a charitable organization based on a cause that you hold dear…Whether you wish to curtail bear populations, bathe the infirm, or send bottled water to astronauts, stay the course until the organization is procedurally viable. Then, once your licensing paperwork comes in, affix it to the vanity amongst your other totems.”

This is where the excerpt ends. Too bad; I hear page 197 slaps.

Does The You You Are include any clues about the plot of Severance?

In Chapter 3, Ricken mentions going to a theater to see “an American religious satire film which I consider to be the most over-celebrated piece of commercial cinema ever produced,” a film we know as Sister Act. There’s other evidence in the show, but the Sister Act bit confirms that Severance takes place somewhere around now in something like our world, despite the ancient computers and everyone driving cars from the ’80s and ’90s.

The You You Are also gives us a ton of backstory about Ricken’s character and history. For instance, he was conceived and born as part of a “nine-month performance art piece originated by [his] parents titled ‘Smells Like Afterbirth, F**ker.’”

There’s no information about how, exactly, Ricken has enough money to afford his relatively lavish lifestyle. It certainly isn’t from sales of his books, and his parents were performance artists, so it’s not likely to be family money either—unless, as some have theorized online, that Ricken is actually a black sheep member of the Eagan clan.

Maybe the most important thing in The You You Are are the passages where we learn about Ricken’s feelings toward Mark’s (maybe) dead wife Gemma. When Ricken writes about Gemma, he seems to be in love with her. This could be a red herring, but as Severance unfolds, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ricken’s feelings toward Gemma become a major plot point.

The deeper meaning of The You You Are within the Severance universe

The “big idea” behind Ricken’s book is the “YouType,” the kind of made-up psychological concept common to self-help books, pseudo science, and cults—think “love languages,” the Myers-Briggs personality inventory, and Scientology’s “emotional tone scale.”

According to Ricken, everyone fits into one of five YouTypes: The Coward, The Warrior, The Dove, The Scribe, and The Vestal. This mirrors the idea behind Lumon’s Compliance Manual. According to Kier Eagan, there are four “tempers,” Woe, Frolic, Dread, and Malice, and everyone else are defined by the ratio of each within themselves. Kier’s ponderous religiosity and Rickens’ brain-dead aphorisms seem like two sides of the same coin.

In the show, when the “powers that be” at Lumon discover the book has inspired the innies to revolt, their reaction isn’t to ban or discredit The You You Are. Instead, they approach Ricken with an offer to write a new version of the book, specifically for innies. Ricken, ever the egotist and attention seeker, is eager to go ahead with the project so at least someone will take his book seriously. Lumon’s plan is no doubt to coopt the (unintentionally) subversive ideas in Ricken’s book and twist them to support the Lumon status quo. It’s not a heavy lift, given the book contains passages like, “A society with festering workers cannot flourish, just as a man with rotting toes cannot skip.”

This is all a sly commentary on how revolutionary ideas are routinely manipulated and co-opted to serve the ruling class, and how easily people can be tricked into feeling like they’re “sticking it to the Man,” even when the Man is at once profiting and protecting itself by taking the teeth out of dangerous ideas. Think Wal-Mart selling Che Guevara t-shirts, or one of the richest corporations in the world making a TV show about the dehumanization and misery of corporate drudgery.

YouTube’s Android app is cluttered, slow, and full of ads. Even worse: It tracks every video you watch. NewPipe is a free and open source Android alternative interface for YouTube that’s fully private and doesn’t show ads. We’ve talked about ways to watch ad-free YouTube videos, and NewPipe is arguably the best one for Android users.

Even better: NewPipe plays the audio from videos in the background, making it perfect for multitasking. You can listen to music, podcasts, or video essays on YouTube while doing chores, all without the need to keep the screen on. It also offers picture-in-picture mode, so you can watch videos while using another app, and downloads videos so you can watch them offline. These are features you’d otherwise need a paid YouTube Premium subscription for to get in an app.

Credit: Justin Pot

There are a few potential downsides. You can’t sign into your Google account, meaning your subscriptions won’t be in the application. There also isn’t an algorithm. This is inevitable for any app built around privacy but is worth thinking about.

The good news is that you can add subscriptions inside the application, allowing you to build a steady stream of videos from creators you trust. There’s also a bookmarking feature, allowing you to mark playlists or videos you’d like to watch later. In short, you’re going to have the opportunity to be a little more proactive about which videos you want to watch. There is support for exporting and importing your subscriptions and playlists, which is useful when switching devices.

Another potential downside is that you can’t get in Google Play—you’ll need to either install the .apk file from the website, which is going to require that you allow your device to install software from “unknown” sources. An alternative, which would also make installing updates easier, is to install NewPipe using F-Droid, which is a dedicated app store for open source Android publications.

When the Nintendo Switch 2 was officially announced, it was hard to feel like it wasn’t just more of the same. With no weird 3D gimmicks and no absurd naming scheme, did it even really feel like a new Nintendo device? But eagle-eyed viewers picked up on something else—Nintendo, it turns out, might be the first console maker to build a mouse right into its default controller.

At about 1:01 into the announcement trailer, you can see what looks like an optical sensor pop up on the side of one of the Switch 2’s Joy-Con controllers (or whatever they end up being called), and just a few seconds later, those same two controllers glide along a desk on their side, as if they’re being used like mice. 

The moment followed weeks of rumors and supposed leaks, but nothing concrete had surfaced…until now. 

In a patent filed on August 1 of last year and published on Feb. 6, Nintendo describes an “input device” that looks and sounds a lot like a Switch 2 Joy-Con (that’s what I’m going to call it for now) being held on its side and includes a “sensor for mouse operation.” Finally, it seems like Nintendo’s Switch 2 might not be so boring after all.

Credit: Nintendo via World Intellectual Property Organization

In a diagram included with the patent, a hand seems to be using the Joy-Con’s shoulder and trigger buttons as mouse buttons, and perhaps using the thumbstick as a scroll wheel. A button does seem to be missing from the Joy-Con in the diagram, the mysterious new C button seen in the Switch 2 trailer from the end of last month, but aside from that, everything seems to be depicted exactly as expected.

Technically, Nintendo isn’t the first to have this idea. A similar feature, albeit with slightly clunkier implementation, is already available on the Lenovo Legion Go, with that device’s “FPS mode.” But with Nintendo giving mouse control to its entire user base, developers will likely feel much more comfortable supporting the control scheme.

So, what could a mouse on the Switch 2 mean? Well, more natural PC ports and easier aiming in shooting games, for sure. But I’ve got a slightly more out-there theory.

I think Nintendo wants to bring DS games to the TV for the first time since the Wii U’s virtual console. The company recently added Game Boy Advance games to an upgraded tier of the Switch Online library, but with a mouse, Nintendo could easily bring over DS games to the Switch 2 as well. Yes, technically, the Joy-Con’s motion controls could mimic a touchscreen stylus to a degree, but a mouse will much more easily provide the speed and precision needed for DS classics like The World Ends With You, which has never really translated well to any other systems (despite multiple attempts from Square Enix). Finally, there will be a good official method for playing these games that doesn’t involve actually breaking out the old DS Lite (or, yes, a 3DS).

But even if I’m wrong and the mouse just becomes an optional control feature for certain games, it is funny to imagine a future where the Nintendo Switch has better support for shooters than the Xbox.

Bluesky is setting itself up to be a social media jack of all trades. There’s the main experience, of course, which replaces something like X or Threads. But it’s not all about the text posts: Soon, you’ll be able to use an app like Flashes to transform Bluesky into a kind of Instagram. Before that drops, however, you can use a different app to turn Bluesky into TikTok. It’s not quite there yet, but it’s a fascinating look into a unique kind of social media client—an app that turns one platform into something else entirely.

Introducing Bluescreen for Bluesky

Bluescreen is a Bluesky client with one singular purpose: It identifies the videos from your Bluesky feed and delivers them to you in a TikTok-style endless scrolling interface. You don’t interact with text-based posts, nor do you see still images. It’s as if Bluesky offered a “video only” feed. But, since they don’t, Bluescreen exists.

It’s a cool idea, and it’s also the idea behind Flashes. Instead of isolating the videos in your Bluesky feed, Flashes isolates the images, which lets you turn Bluesky into an Instagram alternative. If you’re surprised to hear two different Bluesky clients using the same strategy to achieve two similar outcomes, that’s because they’re both developed by the same person: Sebastian Vogelsang.

Vogelsang announced Flashes before Bluescreen, but released the video app ahead of the photo app. While we wait for the Instagram of Bluesky to get here, we can try out the TikTok of Bluesky instead.

Using Bluescreen to watch videos on Bluesky

Credit: Lifehacker

In execution, Bluescreen does it what’s it’s supposed to, though there is definitely some room to grow. Once you connect your Bluesky account to the client, you’ll be presented with a video—just as you are when opening an app like TikTok, or when using Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. As with these services, there are multiple options to interact with the video: Tapping the heart button gives the video a like, without having to leave the video feed itself. If you tap on the comment button, however, Bluescreen leaves the video feed, and shows you the comments in a different window. You can tap the button with the two arrows to repost the video, and the three dots icon to access additional controls, like Translate, Share, and Report. There’s also a general mute button available in the bottom right corner.

If you tap the video itself, you’ll pull up the standard iOS video control menu. From here, you can play and pause, rewind or jump ahead, AirPlay, or control the volume of the video, if you’d rather not mess with your iPhone’s general volume setting. Speaking of volume, that is my one main criticism of Bluescreen as it exists right now: Each video is muted by default, even though the mute button says the volume should be on. You have to tap this mute button twice; once to mute the video, then again to unmute it, before it starts playing. You need to do this for each video you swipe through. Oddly, this is only a problem when watching through your phone’s speakers: Connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones, and the videos sound off as they should. I imagine this is a bug that Vogelsang will work out in due time.

At the top of the page, you can choose which feed to pull videos from. The App Store page says you can choose from thousands of feeds, but if that sounds overwhelming, you can stick with video from your main feeds, such as the Following or Discover tabs, or any of your pinned feeds. It’s neat to choose the Astronomy feed I follow, for example, and see videos specifically about this topic. (It also shows me I might need to drop some of my pinned feeds, due to low-quality content.) You can also use the search icon in the top right to search for whatever content you like, in addition to finding trending topics. Again, if you’ve used a social media platform before, you’ll be familiar with this.

In theory, this could be an awesome experience. If you curate your Bluesky feeds well enough, you could have a varied filter of all short-form videos posted to the platform. It’s still an early concept, so the UI isn’t quite as fluid or polished as established video apps, but I can totally see the potential here.

Uploading your own videos via Bluescreen

This isn’t just a passive experience, however: You can use Bluescreen to upload videos to Bluesky. If you hit the (+) on the bottom of the screen, you can choose a video from your library to post on Bluesky via Bluescreen. You can access light editing tools along the way, add a caption for your video, choose who can reply to the post, and the language of the post before publishing. Remember: You’re not posting on Bluescreen; rather, Bluesky. While it’ll look like you’re posting on a new platform, all you’re really doing is posting a video to your existing Bluesky account.

Credit: Lifehacker

Have you ever been scrolling along, minding your own business, when an ad suddenly hijacks your page with a full-screen warning about a computer virus or account insecurity? These are invariably scams, but to the untrained eye, they could look like a genuine pop-up from a firewall. That’s why Microsoft Edge is using AI to help users spot when someone’s trying to frighten them into downloading malware or giving up sensitive information.

Available now to all users via a preview, the browser’s new “Scareware blocker” is an AI-based tool for dismissing and navigating away from these troublesome interruptions. While Edge’s built-in Defender SmartScreen tool already blocks known scams, the idea is for Scareware blocker to help address new threats.

The tool uses a local AI model to detect when your browser enters full screen mode, a staple of scareware pop-ups, and then examines what you’re looking at to see if it resembles a scam. It’s been trained on “thousands of sample scams that the scam-fighting community shared” with Microsoft, and supposedly doesn’t save images or send them to the cloud at any point.

While users can manually hold the ESC key to exit full screen mode at any point, the model will do this for you, taking a screenshot of the site and moving you over to a page that warns you that it looks suspicious. You’ll then have the option to either close the page or continue.

In addition to helping protect users susceptible to scams, Scareware blocker also sets out to reduce some of the panic of coming across one of these ads, as they’ll often also play loud noises and hide the mouse cursor. By quickly closing them out and taking you to a warning page, the feature aims to help you regain your senses.

Credit: Microsoft

While I have encountered these ads before, I wasn’t able to summon one up while trying to test out the feature, but it’s easy enough to enable. Simply navigate to Settings > Privacy Search and Services and scroll down a bit until you see the Scareware blocker toggle. Switch it on, and you’ll be prepared the next time a scammer tries to scare you into selling yourself out.

If you don’t see the toggle, it’s possible you might need to update Edge (in Settings > About Microsoft Edge) or restart the browser.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

The Apple community has been finding their lost keys since 2021 with the AirTag, but Tile has been helping both Android and Apple users locate their missing devices since 2013. Over a decade later, their latest tracker (after being acquired by Life360), the Tile Mate, is just $16.95 (originally $27.99) for a single tracker, $33.99 (originally $44.99) for a two-pack, and $55.99 (originally $79.99) for a four-pack, the lowest prices, according to price-tracking tools. If you’re an Android user, this is a good opportunity to stock up.

(If you’re an Apple user, you can use Tiles, but you’re better off waiting for the AirTags to drop to $19 to stock up, or get the 4-pack for $69.99 right now; they’re much better than Tile’s tracker.)

Batteries: Yes, Number of Batteries: 1 Lithium Metal Battery, Material: Plastic

Tile by Life360 Mate 2024 Bluetooth Tracker (1-Pack)

$16.95
at Amazon

$27.99
Save $11.04

Get Deal

Get Deal

$16.95
at Amazon

$27.99
Save $11.04

Batteries: Yes, Number of Batteries: 2 Lithium Metal Battery, Material: Plastic

Tile by Life360 Mate (2024) Bluetooth Tracker, Keys Finder and Item Locator for Keys, Bags and More. Phone Finder. Both iOS and Android Compatible. 2-Pack (Black/White)

$33.99
at Amazon

$44.99
Save $11.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$33.99
at Amazon

$44.99
Save $11.00

Batteries: Yes, Number of Batteries: 4 Lithium Metal Battery, Material: Plastic

Tile by Life360 Mate (2024) Bluetooth Tracker, Keys Finder and Item Locator for Keys, Bags and More. Phone Finder. Both iOS and Android Compatible. 4-Pack (Black)

$55.99
at Amazon

$79.99
Save $24.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$55.99
at Amazon

$79.99
Save $24.00

SEE 0 MORE

The concept of Tile trackers is the same as AirTags and their usefulness extends to your creativity. Most people use them to find purses, keys, and travel bags, but you can use them to train your dog or as a device to know if people are near a specific spot you want to keep tabs on. (Anyone else want to keep tabs on their abandoned cabin in the woods?)

Once the Tile tracker is outside of Bluetooth range (up to 350 feet in direct line-of-sight conditions, but PCMag’s review says it realistically gets about 30 feet), the device uses the Tile community of about 20 million people (according to Tile) to update the location of the tracker by using their phone’s Bluetooth. (Apple’s community is much larger, with about a billion users, according to Apple).

The back of the Tile Mate has a QR code that people can scan to notify you when they find it. There is a sealed battery inside that is not replaceable that Tile says will last about three years. There is an optional premium subscription that starts at $2.99 per month for more features, if you’re interested in that.

Thanks to a tight market, sky-high prices, and elevated interest rates, the path to home ownership is more littered with obstacles than ever, but buying property remains a key goal for most Americans—nearly 70% of us still consider it part of the American Dream.

But as much as you might think you want it, it’s important to weigh all the financial and emotional factors that go into buying a huge. While it sounds impossible, considering the size of the commitment, it’s surprisingly easy to get so focused on the anxiety of never being able to find the right house that you buy the wrong house for the wrong reasons. If you don’t want to wind up with a money pit or a house that simply doesn’t serve your needs (or your budget), it’s essential to take a step back from the brink and really examine your reasons for buying a particular property. If it’s one of the five listed below, you should reconsider.

The view

Some homes offer spectacular views—of nature, of a city skyline, or maybe the ocean. But buying a home for the view it offers is generally a bad idea, for several reasons:

• Cost. Homes that offer attractive views almost always come at a premium, meaning you’ll spend more for the same amount of house you could buy in the same area without the spectacular view. And some views come with even more additional costs, like a house with an ocean view that comes with a flood insurance premium.

• Impermanence. While some views are unlikely to change, you often can’t guarantee that someone won’t build something to obstruct your view in the future, or that other changes to the environment around your house won’t conspire to ruin your view.

• Imperfections. Amazing views can be distracting—if you focus too much on the incredible skyline, you might overlook other problems with the home or things that aren’t going to work with your lifestyle just so you have a nice view while sipping coffee in the morning.

Because “it’s time”

It’s easy to compare yourself to other people around your age, and if those folks are all buying houses, you might feel pressure to catch up. Or maybe you suddenly realize you’re the only person in your group of friends who’s still renting. Or just you’ve more or less arbitrarily made home ownership a box to check on your list of accomplishments.

But buying a house before you’re financially and emotionally ready for it can be a disaster. Buying a house isn’t just about coming up with a down payment and calculating a monthly mortgage—there are a lot of financial factors you need to consider, including whether you’re ready to make hard choices if find yourself facing an unexpected repair bill. You’ll also need to think about your readiness to tackle the truly endless home maintenance tasks a home requires—or to pay someone else to do them for you.

To save on rent

It used to be a golden rule: Paying a mortgage is cheaper than renting—or, if it’s about the same cost, at least you’re not throwing money into a hole every month, but building equity in an investment. The equity part is true enough—your mortgage buys you more and more direct ownership of your property, while rent merely buys you one more month living in that space.

But thanks to elevated prices and higher interest rates, the cost part isn’t true anymore, generally speaking: While you might find a specific house in a specific area that’s cheaper to buy than the local rents (particular if it’s in a larger city with a hot rental market), nationwide averages show that renting is cheaper than home ownership, and will probably stay that way for the immediate future. Plus, there are those pesky insurance and maintenance costs, as well. If you’re buying a house because you think it will save you money, forget it.

You’re betting on the neighborhood to improve

Homes in neighborhoods with a lack of services, high crime rates, or lots of unmaintained houses are generally cheaper, and if you have reason to believe that robust improvements are coming to the area, it can be tempting to buy low and then celebrate as your property values rise and rise. The problem with this plan, of course, is that nothing is guaranteed: Whether it’s business investment, a government-sponsored redevelopment plan, or you think you see the signs of simple gentrification, any number of factors—canceled contracts, local elections, stalled construction projects, a faltering economy—can change the course of events and leave you holding the bag.

Relying on a neighborhood turnaround also comes with plenty of other downsides:

• Time. Until your hoped-for revitalization comes to pass, you’ll be living in a crappy area and dealing with all the associated downsides, which might include higher crime, nastier neighbors, and worse schools.

• Taxes. If your property values go up, so do your taxes (eventually).

• Fewer options. If your life takes a turn you might have trouble selling that house or finding reliable renters due to its location. And if it’s cheap to buy, your equity in it will be relatively low until things pick up (if they pick up), meaning you’ll have limited resources for improvements and repairs.

It’s a fixer-upper

If you’re buying a house because it’s a “fixer-upper” at a bargain price, think twice. If you have experience in home renovation and construction and you have a solid plan for renovating the place, that’s one thing. But if you’re buying a run-down place with a vague idea that you’ll fix it up over time, there are a lot of reasons to hesitate:

• The unknowns. You really have no idea how bad that house is, why it’s been priced so attractively, and how much it will really cost to fix up until you get in there and start opening walls and floors. Your budget? Fiction until you actually see the wiring, plumbing, foundation, and other essential aspects of the house.

• Living in a construction zone. Whole-house renovations can take as long as a year to complete, and that’s if you’re working nonstop and don’t encounter any soul-chilling problems once you dig into the property. If you’re going to do it piecemeal, the renovation could stretch on for years, and you’ll be dealing with dust in your cereal bowl and splinters everywhere during the entire experience.

• Price uncertainty. You can buy a cheap house and put quality work into it, but that doesn’t mean the market will cooperate and raise your home’s value enough for you to get the return on that investment you’re hoping for. Keep in mind that the money you spend fixing up a house is part of the total cost of ownership; if you buy a bargain for $200,000 and spend $100,000 fixing it, you really spent $300,000 on that house—not counting mortgage interest, insurance premiums, and other incidental costs. Adding it all up can transform a bargain into a non-bargain pretty fast.

Only you can decide if buying a house is the right move—but if your reasons appear anywhere above, you owe it toy ourself to think again.