With Black Friday and Cyber Monday right around the corner, you’re sure to be entering your credit card info online a heck of a lot more than usual. As you do so, how can you be sure you’re not opening yourself up to credit card fraud and other kinds of identity theft? Having your identity stolen can be a nightmare that damages your finances and credit score. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help protect yourself.

How to protect your finances from identity theft

Monitor your accounts

Carefully monitor all of your financial accounts on a regular basis. This is good advice all year, but especially during the holidays. Watch for any suspicious activity, such as purchases you don’t recognize.

If you see something suspicious, contact your payment method’s fraud department immediately. Here’s our guide to when you might need to dispute a credit card charge versus file a fraud complaint.

It’s a good idea to review your credit card and bank statements thoroughly each month, and to check your credit report at least once a year for accounts you don’t recognize. On that note…

Check your credit report

Get a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once per year. You can do this at any time at no cost through Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Scan the reports for any accounts you don’t recognize as your own. This helps you catch fraudulent activity in your name faster.

Set up alerts

Many banks and credit card companies allow you to set up alerts to notify you of certain account activity. For example, you can be alerted for any charges over a certain amount or when a withdrawal is made. These alerts allow you to take quick action if fraudulent activity occurs.

Use strong passwords

Create unique, strong passwords for all your financial accounts. Avoid common or easily guessed passwords that identity thieves could crack. Use a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols. And if you upgrade your passwords to be as random (aka strong) as possible, you don’t have to worry about constantly changing them.

Still, changing your passwords is especially important if you receive word your information has been compromised in a data breach, Make sure change your password at any sites where you use the same login information—and stop reusing passwords already!

Freeze your credit

If you suspect fraud, placing a freeze on your credit prevents new accounts from being opened in your name without the freeze being lifted. This makes it harder for thieves to open fraudulent accounts. Just remember to lift the freeze when applying for legitimate new credit.

Be wary of scams

Don’t fall for phone calls, emails or texts asking for your personal information. Banks and financial institutions will not contact you asking for sensitive data like passwords or social security numbers. Avoid clicking links or downloading attachments from sources you don’t know. And yes, even in the digital age, ATM card skimming still happens. For more, read up on all the ways your credit card information can be stolen.

Being proactive is the best way to thwart scammers and other bad actors. Monitoring your accounts, using strong passwords, and checking your credit are essential steps. With proper precautions, you can help secure your finances. For more, stay up-to-date with Lifehacker’s scam coverage here.

Source: LifeHacker – How to Protect Your Finances From Identity Theft

It’s the end of the Thanksgiving meal. Looming over the kitchen clean-up crew is the turkey carcass, while stacks of plates are being hauled towards the counters by “helpful” dinner guests—as are serving dishes, glasses and tableware ephemera. At this point in the meal, you usually want to throw everything at the wall, but you need to keep it together long enough to dispense with leftovers and start the dishes rolling. Allow me to make your life easier by solving one problem quickly: We’re going to make turkey noodle soup that is so good, you will find yourself making it again next month—and it actually saves you work. 

How to make the best turkey soup

At the end of the meal, have one person assigned to removing any turkey left on the carcass. The goal isn’t slices; just get it off the bird as best you can—the larger the pieces, the better—and throw it in a resealable plastic storage bag. Have a large, empty stockpot waiting on the stove and toss the carcass in there, as well as any bones that made it back from the table. It’s fine if there’s leftover meat on the bones; it’ll help flavor the broth, too. If there happens to be vegetables lying around from appetizers or prep (raw or cooked carrots, onions, garlic, celery, fennel, or mushrooms), toss those in too. In fact, you can save carrot and garlic peels, onion trimming, and other vegetable ends during meal prep to toss in at the end of the night. Fill the pot with enough cold water to cover the carcass, then put that pot in the oven and turn it on to the lowest setting, usually 180-200°F, and ignore it until the next morning. 

In the morning, remove the pot and allow it cool just enough to pour it through a colander, so the soup ends up in a smaller pot, and then throw away whatever remains in the colander; you should be left with a nice, clear, golden broth. Turkey has very little fat, so you don’t need to strain it again. 

Next, chop up celery, carrots, and mushrooms, toss them into the pot, and heat it up over medium heat to a simmer. Allow it to simmer for thirty minutes, taste it, and adjust with salt and pepper, then toss in your egg noodles. Allow them to simmer for five to 10 minutes, and if you feel so inclined, throw some chopped parsley in.  It is great as is, but a minute or so before you serve it, you can toss in some leftover shredded turkey meat, just long enough to heat through. 

This soup makes the best of a bird that is often only so-so. The bones have been roasted, so they offer depth to the broth. Turkey broth, it turns out, is far tastier than the turkey itself. Mostly, though, you’ve managed to delay dealing with the carcass until the next day, and you ended up with an entirely separate meal that is fantastically easy to reheat.

Post-Thanksgiving turkey noodle soup

Ingredients:

• 1 turkey carcass

• Cold water to cover

• 16 ounces of carrots, chopped

• 1 whole stalk of celery, chopped

• 8 ounces of mushrooms, chopped

• 12 ounces of egg noodles

• 2-3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

• Leftover shredded turkey meat (optional)

1. Add carcass and leftover vegetables to a stockpot, cover in cold water and place in oven. Turn oven to lowest setting, and leave on overnight.

2. Remove pot, cool enough to handle, and pour entire contents through colander into a smaller pot. Discard whatever is in the colander; the broth should be golden and clear.

3. Put pot on medium heat, add chopped celery, carrots, and mushrooms. Allow to simmer for thirty minutes, season to taste, and add the egg noodles. Simmer for five to 10 minutes, until noodles are cooked. Add shredded turkey back in, if desired.

4. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired, and serve.

Source: LifeHacker – Turn Your Thanksgiving Turkey Carcass Into a Killer Soup Overnight

Despite all of Amazon’s bad practices, the company makes some fantastic e-readers, especially when it comes to the Kindle Paperwhite. However, if the Paperwhite is a little too small for you, or you want something that can take notes, too, the larger, more expensive Kindle Scribe might be worth looking into. It may be more expensive than the Paperwhite, but that price tag is worth it, especially if you like to read comics, manga, or write.

A Kindle by any other name

If you put the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Scribe side-by-side, you’re going to see a lot of similarities. The two devices are almost identical, in fact, aside from the larger size of the Scribe’s display. Both devices offer a fantastic e-ink display, which makes reading in any brightness exceptionally easy and enjoyable. 

So, what makes the Kindle Scribe so special? If you’re looking for something to read normal books with, then the Paperwhite is everything you need to do that, at an exceptional price. However, the Scribe is there for people like me, who want to read things like comics—something that will be appreciated by many once Amazon completes the merging of the Kindle Store and Comixology app. 

The 10.2-inch display is great at rendering both the e-ink of the books, as well as the pages of various comics and manga. While the Scribe might be a bit more unwieldy compared to the smaller Paperwhite, the extra size makes it feel more like a book to me. It also allows me to have more text on-screen, without having to move the font down to something almost illegible.

Add in a stylus and everything is better

The Scribe takes some pointers from other big-screen e-readers like the ReMarkable 2 by adding in a stylus or “pen” that you can use with it. When you’re done reading, you can create Notebooks, which you can then write in. 

It’s perfect for easily jotting down anything that comes to mind, such as notes about a story you’re working on, or things you want to remember from specific books. You can also draw using the notebook system, though it isn’t nearly as good as an actual drawing tablet, so I wouldn’t recommend buying it just for that purpose.

The “pen,” as Amazon calls it, is just a stylus with replaceable tips, but the company offers both a Basic and a Premium option—the latter of which comes with a clickable button to trigger certain actions. I wasn’t really expecting a lot from the pen, to be honest, but I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to write with it. It made taking notes on the Scribe exceptionally easy and enjoyable, and it’s quickly helped the device become my main note-taking option, saving me money on paper and sticky notes.

The system also allows some more advanced tools beyond just writing and jotting things down, though. You can also convert any handwritten notes to text, and then easily share them via email to various contacts. There’s also a lasso tool, which allows you to resize, move, and copy or paste the notes from the notebook or books you’re working in. You can make notes within the various notebooks, or if you want to jot something important down while reading a book, you can create notes within your books at any point, and revisit them later. You can also easily organize all of your notes into folders and subfolders for future reference.

When you reading in landscape mode, you can see two pages of a book side by side, creating the illusion that the Scribe is a real book. It’s a nice feature that makes my reading time each day feel even more immersive, and I’m happy with the decision to move from the smaller Paperwhite to the Scribe.

An expensive upgrade

But all of these pros don’t change the fact that the Kindle Scribe is a very expensive upgrade, especially if you already have a Kindle Paperwhite from the past few years. Not only are the newer Paperwhites cheaper, but they also have something going for them that the Scribe doesn’t: They’re waterproof. As such, it’s hard to recommend the Scribe over the Paperwhite for every individual.

Still, that doesn’t change that the Scribe is a fantastic way to read, and easily one of the best Kindle revisions that Amazon has released thus far. There is a lot going for the device that justifies the baseline $339.99 price point (for the cheapest 16GB option), and you can often find it on sale. In fact, it’s on sale right now: Amazon has it 29% off for Black Friday, making it just $239.99 for the 16GB Kindle Scribe.

If you’re looking for a great e-reader with more screen real estate, while offering the same readability and access to Amazon’s Kindle store to the Paperwhite, then the Scribe is an option well worth checking out.

Source: LifeHacker – The Kindle Scribe Is One of the Best E-Readers You Can Buy

Paramount+’s December lineup includes the streaming premiere of the crime thriller Finestkind starring Jenna Ortega, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Tommy Lee Jones. The film, coming Dec. 15, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and follows two brothers’ involvement with a Boston crime syndicate. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the animated, kid-friendly film Baby Shark’s Big Movie (doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo) coming Dec. 8, starring voice acting from Ashley Tisdale, Cardi B, and Lance Bass.

I’m just here to disrupt your traditional turkey holiday, and today I bring you the refreshing idea of throwing some kraut on that turkey sammo. Sure, it feels natural if you’ve made the turkey pastrami we recommended early this month, but you’re going to have turkey long after the stuffing and taters are gone, and some bright, umami rich kraut is going to make that turkey feel fresh and new. Packed with texture and a little spice, it can turn a a so-so sandwich into a winner. The added probiotics are a nice side benefit after a few days of cream, butter, pie, and more pie. 

Have you even had real sauerkraut?

Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage, but if you’ve only ever had the stuff in the jars at the store, you’ve never really had sauerkraut—not the stuff purists approve of, that is. The real thing still has some bite left in it, with a fizzy, deep taste, slightly salty but never overpowering, and a lot of spice. It’s a live ferment, unlike what you can buy from a store.

Core the cabbage

This is a fast sauerkraut, and we’re not making a ton of it, so it’ll come together fast. Take your head of cabbage and slice it in half, bisecting the core (the white stump you’ll see somewhere on the head).  Now use your knife to cut a v-shaped notch out of the cabbage halves, just to remove that tough core. All that’s left is the cabbage. Place the flat side of the cabbage half on a cutting board and now make slices the short way (perpendicular to the core), never thicker than ¼ inch. This is a fine chiffonade, so to speak, that’s going to make a light but crunchy sauerkraut. 

Now for the brine

Put an empty bowl on a scale and press the tare button so the scale zeros out. Now add your cabbage and take note of how much it weighs. We’re going to add 2% salt to it, so take that number, and multiply it by .02. That’s how much salt you need. Weigh out the salt and then sprinkle it onto the cabbage. Now, here’s the most important part: massage it into the leaves. Get in there with your clean hands and really make sure the salt is mixed through the cabbage and actually rub it into those leaves. Let the bowl sit on the counter for an hour, covered by a tea towel. I also like to add some caraway seed to my sauerkraut, but fennel seed, celery seed, and coriander are also popular. 

Pack it in

When you uncover the bowl, you’re going to notice that the cabbage has released a lot of water, which is exactly what we want. Now we need to find a vessel to ferment in. Jars are ideal for this, but a covered glass storage container will do. Make sure that the vessel is very clean; straight out of the dishwasher is always a good way to go. If you don’t have a dishwasher, you can hand-wash the vessel, then swirl some vinegar inside it for good measure. Alternatively, you can use a vacuum bag for this purpose, since it will pull out all the oxygen.

Using your clean hands, start packing the cabbage in. You want to place it in the vessel and actually pack it down, making sure there are no air bubbles. Use your fist to smash it in there, if you have to. Even as you’re doing this, the cabbage will release more liquid, which we want! At the end, take all the liquid from the bowl and pour it over the cabbage in the vessel. 

An important note: so long as every piece of cabbage is under the brine (the liquid), you’re good. But cabbage floats, which is why some people use fermentation weights. If you don’t have those, you can place a zippered plastic back into the vessel (make sure this, too, is super clean). Use your hands to make sure the bottom of the bag fills up the empty space in the jar, with the top of the bag extending over the top of the jar. Close the bag’s zipper most of the way, leaving an inch or two open. Pour water into the bag’s top opening, which should fill the leftover space in the jar and push the cabbage beneath the brine. Close the zipper. Et voila, a homemade fermentation weight.

Go to a dark place

Now place the vessel in a dark place between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Check your new creation daily; you’re looking for some bubbling to take place and for the brine to get cloudy. This can happen in as soon as three to four days, but it can take longer in colder climates. If you are using a covered vessel, it is important to “burp” the vessel every day. (To do this, just open it and close it back up again so it can release any carbon dioxide.) If you’re using a vacuum bag, the bag will inflate. When the bag inflates to the point you’re worried about it popping, cut the end, release the air inside, and reseal.

The final kraut-down

You decide when the sauerkraut is ready. That may sound intimidating, but it’s not. Simply taste the sauerkraut with a clean fork (never double dipping) and when you think the sauerkraut is ready, it is. There is no perfect amount of doneness. Sauerkraut continues to ferment unless it is placed in the fridge, which will slow fermentation down. Some people enjoy a more fermented sauerkraut and some people enjoy a less fermented version. This is about what you like. 

Layer that sauerkraut on your sandwich, add some cranberry sauce or Russian dressing, and enjoy!

Fast Cabbage Sauerkraut Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cabbage

• 2% of the cabbage’s weight in salt

• 1 tablespoon of seeds (fennel, caraway, celery, or coriander)

1. Core the cabbage and then slice into 1/4″ slices the short way, resulting in lots of long, thin strands of cabbage.

2. Weigh the cabbage, and multiply the weight by .02 to get the salt measurement.

3. Weigh out that calculated amount of salt and then add it to the cabbage. Spend 10 minutes massaging the salt into the cabbage.

4. Cover the cabbage with a tea towel and leave for an hour.

5. Add seasonings to the cabbage, including any seeds like fennel, coriander, caraway, or celery seed. Use one tablespoon per head of cabbage of any seed you enjoy, and then mix into the cabbage.

6. Pack the cabbage into a clean glass container.

7. Burp the sauerkraut, checking it daily for fermentation. Taste every day starting on day five, and when ready, place in refrigerator.

Source: LifeHacker – Use This Sauerkraut Recipe for Your Thanksgiving Leftovers Sandwiches

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is one of the best Android tablets you can buy right now. And if you’re thinking about picking one up, you’re in luck, as Samsung has cut the price of its tablet by quite a bit. Released last year, this high-end Android tablet typically lists for $1,099.99. However, Samsung is taking $400 off that price for Black Friday, meaning you can get the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra for $699.99.

This Black Friday deal will score you an Android tablet with a 14.6-inch display, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal memory. The tablet is only available in Graphite and can be purchased via one-time payment, monthly payments, or four installments paid out every two weeks.

If you’re in the market for an Android tablet, the Tab S8 is one of the best high-end options on the market. Our friends at PCMag were impressed with the base model of the Galaxy Tab S8, and the Ultra adds even more bang for your buck, especially at this discounted price.

As with most Black Friday deals, there’s no guarantee on how long these savings will last. The sale price is active at the time of writing, but you’ll want to act quickly if you don’t want to miss out.

Source: LifeHacker – Samsung Has a Great Deal on the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra Right Now

Thanksgiving is here, which means you’re probably already cleaning your house and prepping the meal. It’s a lot of work…but then you get to enjoy the eating. Yay! But then you have to focus on cleaning again. Boo!

The trouble with Thanksgiving is that it involves so many delicious foods that also happen to be super stainers. Here’s how to get stains left by the most common traditional Thanksgiving foods, drinks, and miscellaneous messmakers out of your fabrics.

How to tackle the most common Thanksgiving food stains

The food is what makes Thanksgiving the holiday that it is, but also the messy horror that it can be. Here’s how to remove the stains of the most common fare.

Remove cranberry sauce stains

This delicious treat is bizarrely really only enjoyed once per year—maybe because it leaves such horrific stains? To battle any that gets on your clothes or tablecloth, mix one tablespoon of white vinegar with ⅔ cups of rubbing alcohol, then using a clean cloth to sponge the stain. Keep blotting until the stain is absorbed and wash the item as normal.

Remove gravy stains

The drippiness is what makes it so good and so messy. Per Clorox, scrape off any excess with a dull knife before blotting with a paper towel or cloth, then cover the stain with cornstarch to suck up the grease. Brush the residue off and follow with a blotting of cold water and dish detergent. Rinse (and repeat the blotting if necessary) and you’re done.

Remove butter and other grease stains

For greasy stains, first try dish soap, which is literally designed to clean up grease. Apply it directly to the stain. Rub it in gently until you’ve saturated the area, and let it sit for a few minutes. Then, wash your clothes as you normally would, or use a clean, wet cloth to dab up the detergent. You can also try white chalk. Rub it over the stain to pull up that grease, then toss the stained item into the washing machine.

Remove pumpkin stains

To get pumpkin out of fabrics, scrape off any solid bits lingering on the material, then run it under cold water to loosen the stain and make sure it doesn’t spread. Pre-treat it with a little laundry soap or stain remover, then throw it in your washer on the hottest setting. Add bleach if it’s safe for the fabric.

Remove sweet potato stains

These stains are similar to pumpkin stains, but they’re really bright, so you want to act on them fast. Mix one tablespoon of liquid dishwashing soap with two cups of cool water, then use a clean white cloth to sponge the stain out. Keep repeating the process until the stain is gone, then follow up with a clean cloth dipped in cold water to blot out the detergent.

Remove stains from mashed potatoes

The severity of the stain (and the kind of removal you’ll need to undertake) depend largely on what your potatoes are mixed with. If there’s butter in there, use the cornstarch method mentioned earlier to pull out the grease first. If there is other dairy, like cream, in the mix, be sure to avoid setting the stain with hot water and opt for cold water instead. Next, scrape the solid potato off your fabric and then you can turn it inside out and run it under cold water. Rub a small amount of dishwashing liquid into the fabric and rinse it again. Pretreat with a liquid enzyme laundry detergent for at least half an hour before tossing it in the wash on the hottest setting.

How to clean up Thanksgiving drink stains

What’s a good meal without some good drink? Not much! And the best drinks stain, so let’s get after it.

Remove red wine stains

To battle red wine, your first option is using a high-proof, clear alcohol like vodka or gin. Pour it over the fresh stain and soak up whatever you can with a rag. Repeat as necessary. Your second option is to bring enough milk to cover the stain to a near boil, but take it off the stove before it actually boils. Then soak your stained item in the liquid for 30 minutes before rinsing with cold water and tossing it in the washing machine.

Remove white wine stains

This is a little easier than red wine because it’s, well, not red. Use plain, warm water to dab at the stain, but if it’s set in or stubborn, add a small squirt of dish detergent to your water and blot. Wash as normal after that.

How to deal with other Thanksgiving stains

Some of the things that can stain your fabrics on this special day aren’t food or beverages at all. Don’t stress, though. They, too, have solutions.

How to get out candle wax stains

Candles can drip on your tablecloth and leave ugly marks. To remove wax, you can try either a hot or a cold technique. If you opt for cold, put ice or an ice pack on the wax to freeze it, then scrape it off with a thin object like a credit card. If you go for heat, your approach will depend on the surface the wax is on. If it’s a hard surface, use a hair dryer to melt it, then rub it off with a cloth. If it’s on the carpet, set a paper bag on top of it, iron over it, and press down until the melted wax is transferred to the bag. The same process works for fabrics like tablecloths: Sandwich the fabric with paper bags or newspaper, then iron on medium heat until the wax has transferred from the fabric to the paper.

How to remove lipstick stains

A fancy dinner calls for a fancy look, so you can expect guests to wear lipstick to your house—and probably get it on your nice napkins. Mix equal parts lemon juice and baking soda to create a paste, spread it over the stain, and let it sit for 30 minutes. Wipe it away with a clean cloth and wash the fabric on a high temp. If the lipstick was of the liquid variety, try dabbing it with rubbing alcohol instead of the lemon and baking soda.

Source: LifeHacker – Common Thanksgiving Stains (and How to Remove Them)

Thanksgiving dinner tests the mettle of even the most stalwart host or hostess. Don’t make these common mistakes.

Source: LifeHacker – The Seven Deadly Sins of Hosting a Big Thanksgiving Dinner

Banks mistakenly “drill” safe deposit boxes more often than you think. Here’s what to do if it happens to you.

Source: LifeHacker – Your Safe Deposit Box Isn’t the Impenetrable Vault You Think It Is

Get the Meta Quest 2 for $100 off, along with a free $50 Amazon gift card, with this Black Friday deal.

Source: LifeHacker – This Is the Cheapest the Meta Quest 2 Has Ever Been

If you’re seeing a slowdown when loading YouTube videos in Firefox or Edge, here’s a fix.

Source: LifeHacker – How to Stop Google From Artificially Slowing Down YouTube

From three-ingredient classics to weirdo hot takes, these Thanksgiving potato sides dishes are sure to steal the show.

Source: LifeHacker – These Are the Best Last-Minute Thanksgiving Potato Side Dishes

Should you rinse the turkey? Can you put leftovers in the fridge while they’re still hot? We answer these and more.

Source: LifeHacker – All The Food Safety Questions You’ll Have On Thanksgiving Day, Answered

Get extra storage for your laptop or gaming console with these portable SSDs—at their lowest prices ever.

Source: LifeHacker – These Portable SSDs Are up to 60% Off

Your tires lose air pressure in cold weather, so it’s important to check them regularly.

Source: LifeHacker – Why You Should Check Your Tire Pressure Every Month This Winter

Stream new comedy, Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” and the end of “The Crown.”

Source: LifeHacker – What’s New on Netflix in December 2023

You can finally sign into WhatsApp from anywhere, even if you don’t have a cell signal.

Source: LifeHacker – You Can Now Log Into WhatsApp With Your Email Address

Vents aren’t the prettiest feature in your home, but it’s easy to hide them, or at least make them look a little nicer.

Source: LifeHacker – How to Hide (or Beautify) Your Home’s Vents

Ditch the canned soup—this charred green bean and orange beurre blanc dish with deep fried shallots is going to change your life (or at least your Thanksgiving).

Source: LifeHacker – A Green Bean Casserole Recipe for People Who Hate Green Bean Casserole