Obsidian is the Winamp of productivity tools. If you’re as ancient as I am, you might remember that the best part of that once-ubiquitous music player extension was the massive number of plugins and themes you could install to make it better, all of them built by enthusiasts.

Obsidian is a good note-taking application on its own, stuffed with all kinds of features: You can organize notes in folders, link to notes from other notes, and even use advanced options like Mermaid diagrams. But like Winamp, Obsidian truly shines once you dig into its extensive plugin ecosystem. There are over 2,000 Obsidian plugins available as of this writing, and you can use them to basically turn Obsidian into whatever you can dream up.

Many of these plugins are small in scope, granted, but not all of them. Some of the extensions are extensive enough to replace entire applications you might otherwise be using. Here’s how I used Obsidian plugins to replace four different productivity tools.

Your kanban app

My real kanban board is full of secrets so enjoy this fake one.
Credit: Justin Pot

I used to be a big fan of Trello, once a humble personal kanban planner. Fifteen years of bloat and upselling mean that application is unrecognizable today, which I’m fine with, because Obsidian works better for me than Trello ever did. I owe it all to the Obsidian Kanban plugin.

Install it, and you can create as many Kanban boards in Obsidian as you like. Every card can include as much text as you want, formatted the same way you would anything else in Obsidian. That includes links—every card can link to the pages you’re using to manage your projects.

I’m a freelance journalist who writes for a handful of publications, including the one you’re reading now. I typically write around 20 articles a month, meaning I always have multiple projects on the go. I use an Obsidian Kanban board to keep track of everything. I have columns for “Plan to write this month,” “Plan to write this week,” “Outlined,” “Submitted need edits,” “Edited not invoiced,” “Invoiced not paid,” and, finally, “Paid.” This system allows me to see everything I’m working one in one place, and track my progress on all of them. I honestly don’t know if I could manage my workflow without it. And, because I also do all of my writing directly in Obsidian, I can jump straight to a project from my dashboard.

This is just one example—I’m sure you can think of other uses. But perhaps my favorite part of this system is that every kanban board in Obsidian is, in reality, just a markdown document that combines a few lists, meaning I can export them and keep an archive, even if I stop using Obsidian.

Your journaling app

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Lifehacker has written a lot about journalling apps over the years, and I personally have extensively tested every example you can think of, multiple times. All of them have pros and cons, and I’m not going to pretend that Obsidian is the best tool for everyone. What I will say is that I use Obsidian for my personal journal, and I can’t imagine using anything else.

My colleague Kamosh has already written about using Obsidian as a journalling app, so I’ll refer you to him for more on how to get started. But I’ll add that I recommend installing the journal review plugin so that you can regularly look back at previous entries. You can also look into Obsidian’s templates feature if you want to use the same outline for your journal every day. I used it to create something similar to a bullet-journal, with questions about my day.

Your read-it-later app

Credit: Justin Pot

A few months ago, Obsidian launched Obsidian Clipper, which saves webpages to your personal “vault.” This is an extension for every major browser that allows you to save entire articles from the web. This is useful for research, but it also means you can use Obsidian as a replacement for read-it-later applications like Pocket or Instapaper. Just set up a dedicated vault for articles you want to read later, point the plugin toward that vault, and open your read-it-later vault every time you want to catch up on your backlog. You can even do things like highlight or add your own notes while you read, all without having to pay for a subscription.

Your to-do app

Credit: Obsidian Tasks

The problem with many to-do apps—and the reason Lifehacker will seemingly never stop writing about them—is that everyone has different productivity needs and no single app can serve them all. If you have never found a to-do system that’s perfect for you, that’s understandable.

But if that’s you, and you’re a fan of Obsidian generally, look into the tasks plugin. This tool goes through every single note in your vault and collects all of the markdown task lists you’ve created. It’s a perfect add-on if you already use Obsidian to outline your projects. The extension also allows you to add due dates, including recurring tasks, and set your priorities.

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GoPro is the indisputable king of small outdoor action cameras. Its latest flagship camera, the GoPro Hero13 Black came out this past September, but the older GoPro Hero12 (released in 2023) has a good bundle deal you should consider. The Black Creator Edition bundle offers the Volta pack, a media and light mod, extra battery, and carrying case all for just $55 more than the camera alone. You can get the bundle for $399 (originally $499), its lowest price yet, according to price-tracking tools.

GoPro HERO12 Black Creator Edition

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GoPro releases a new camera just about every year, so the changes aren’t always ground-breaking. There’s not much you can do with just a GoPro, since they heavily rely on their accessories, so the bundles are usually where the best offers are. That’s what makes the GoPro HERO12 Black Creator Edition a great deal in 2025. Here is what you get: HERO12 Black, Carrying Case, Enduro Battery, Curved Adhesive Mount, Mounting Buckle + Thumb Screw, USB-C Cable, Volta, USB-C Pass-Through Door, Lanyard, Media Mod, Vertical Mounting Buckle, Light Mod, Light Diffuser, and 2-Finger Adapter.

The Volta handle is arguably the most valuable item. The handle is a portable battery, has built-in buttons for easier control, lets you use the GoPro wirelessly with a remote, and doubles as a tripod. The media mod and light mod also offer useful tools, giving you a microphone with audio ports and an LED light so you can see better in the dark.

The GoPro Hero 12 Black received an “outstanding” review from PCMag upon its 2023 release, and the bundle is almost the same price as the GoPro Hero 13 Black, so it makes it a great deal for anyone looking to get a good GoPro with all the important accessories at a discounted price.

I like watching Reels and TikToks about cleaning because in addition to getting some good tips, I find them relatable. Why, yes, Algorithm, I do often find myself in a position where friends are coming over but my home isn’t exactly spotless. How did you know? One Instagram user has a suggestion for how to turn that exact situation into a cleaning win: Called the “GFD bin,” it’s gained some traction on the app as a quick decluttering method worth trying.

What is a “GFD bin?”

A “GFD bin” is a “guests for dinner” bin, according to its creator, Holly Blakey. The organizing and interior decorating guru shared this video last December explaining the idea:

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Essentially, before guests come over, you grab a big basket (or even a bag) and take it around the house, tossing anything out of place inside. Then, stash it somewhere, like a closet, committing to putting its contents away the next day. By doing this, you accomplish a few things at once: Obviously, you get your home ready for guests quickly, but you also set yourself up for cleaning success by segmenting the work into two parts.

It might seem like a cop-out to just run around and hide all the dirty parts of your home, but it draws on two techniques I really stand by. The first is the idea of segmentation, like you employ when you follow the “magic basket” approach. The magic basket, for its part, involves going around your home every night and depositing out-of-place items into said basket, then putting everything away the next day. The goal here is to space out your labor so it never gets overwhelming. You wake up the next day feeling good about the work you did do the night before, put everything away, then get motivated by that effort, creating a looping cycle instead of one longer, dread-worthy task.

The second approach the GFD bin calls on is the idea of rewarding yourself to create further cleaning motivation. You need breaks when you do anything productive or you’ll get burned out eventually, but when you’re doing a task that is especially unpleasant or tedious, like cleaning, you should also make sure those breaks are fun and enjoyable. In the same way I’ve recommended eating a favorite candy or watching a favorite show while cleaning, incorporating the arrival of friends as an enjoyable activity mid-cleaning can be motivating, too.

Rather than getting down on yourself for letting a mess pile up and being in a rush before someone gets to your place, think of this as a built-in motivational scheme. There’s no shame in hiding away the mess as long as you follow through on the commitment to putting it away the next day.

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They don’t make movie stars like they used to, but they only made a movie star like Gene Hackman once.

Born in 1930, Hackman served as a marine and studied journalism in college before dropping out to work as an actor, earning acclaim on Broadway and in television roles but not breaking out in films until his late 30s, when he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for playing Warren Beatty’s brother in the crime classic Bonnie and Clyde.

It proved to be the start of an eclectic big-screen career that would see him earn four more Oscar nominations (and two wins, for 1971’s The French Connection and 1992’s Unforgiven). With hangdog looks and an ability to project gravitas and heroism and weakness and villainy in equal measure, he gave one indelible performance after another, always bettering the films he appeared in.

To honor his recent death—and celebrate his truly remarkable career—here are 20 of his most iconic performances.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Bonnie and Clyde is best remembered today as a harbinger of the auteur era that would transform Hollywood in the 1970s. Filled with dark humor and visceral violence, and borrowing techniques from the French New Wave, Arthur Penn’s film overcame tepid early reviews to become a counter-cultural sensation and a major awards contender. Though Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are iconic as the title criminals, then-newcomer Gene Hackman made his mark (and earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination) playing Clyde Barrow’s ill-fated brother Buck. You can rent Bonnie and Clyde from Prime Video.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

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Downhill Racer (1969)

The first of a string of memorable movies in which Gene Hackman plays a coach, Downhill Racer is a quintessentially ’70s affair—a moody, heady sports drama led by one of Hollywood’s biggest stars (Robert Redford) that critic Roger Ebert called “the best movie ever made about sports—without really being about sports at all.” Redford commands the spotlight as a cocky, self-centered skiing champ, but it’s Hackman who grounds the film as the teamwork-minded coach hoping to lead his athletes to Olympic gold. You can stream Downhill Racer free with ads on Pluto TV or rent it from Prime Video.

Downhill Racer (1969)

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The French Connection (1971)

Watching The French Connection today, we recognize a certain formula: big-budget, well-choreographed shoot-outs, chases, and car crashes given gravitas by a complex and troubled lead, usually a cop. But it only became a formula because so many other films tried to copy what director William Friedkin accomplished here with Hackman in the lead. All of the action beats land because of his performance as antihero Popeye Doyle, one that landed him his single Best Actor Oscar. You can rent The French Connection from Prime Video.

The French Connection (1971)

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The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

Poseidon rests firmly in the very ‘70s disaster-movie style: an all-star cast faces doom and soapy drama, this time on a cruise ship turned upside down. These casts were always blends of older, more familiar faces and relatively younger stars, of which top-billed Hackman was representative. These movies aren’t really about the acting, but this one wasn’t received as a dumb action movie: it received multiple Academy Award nominations and earned Hackman a Best Actor BAFTA, a single award given for two performances in two very different movies. The first was his performance as earnest reverend Frank Scott in this one, and as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. Even way back in 1972 it was clear that Hackman had range. You can stream The Poseidon Adventure on Starz or rent it from Prime Video.

The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

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Scarecrow (1973)

A little-known entry in the filmographies of both Hackman and costar Al Pacino, this character drama is worth seeking out. Hackman plays a drifter and ex-con who hooks up with a simple-minded sailor (Pacino). The pair set off across the country with plans to open a business together, but get into trouble along the way and wind up doing a stint in prison—and experience that will have a profound effect on both their lives. Though it won the top award at the Cannes Film Festival, it is little discussed today, and that’s too bad—it’s not often you get to enjoy the likes of Hackman and Pacino playing opposite one another. You can rent Scarecrow from Prime Video.

Scarecrow (1973)

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The Conversation (1974)

Francis Ford Coppola’s film didn’t do much in the way of business on its initial release, but the critics and the years have been extremely kind to the film, no small accomplishment given that much of its plot hinges on 1970s-era technology. The movie’s themes about the dangers of the surveillance state and ambivalence about our need to know everything about everyone are as relevant now as ever. Hackman plays yet another iconic character in Harry Caul, brilliant at his job but also, himself, a deeply secretive and haunted man. His performance here is simply one of the finest in an era full of brilliant performances. You can stream The Conversation on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.

The Conversation (1974)

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Night Moves (1975)

An absolutely essential neo-noir, Hackman stars here as retired football player Harry Moseby, now a private investigator but with a personal life that’s crumbling around him. Like other noir films before it, the plot thread grow increasingly convoluted and dense, building toward an impressively unexpected ending, but Harry remains the glue that holds it all together. Even as a depressed and sullen character who you wouldn’t want to spend five minutes with in real life, he’s riveting. You can rent Night Moves from Prime Video.

Night Moves (1975)

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A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Though it received mixed reviews at the time, war film A Bridge Too Far was a box office hit, and stands today as the kind of epic adult drama Hollywood rarely makes anymore. With a screenplay by William Goldman, it depicts a doomed military operation in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands in 1944. Hackman is part of a stacked cast that includes James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Elliott Gould, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Ryan O’Neal, and Robert Redford. You can stream A Bridge Too Far on MGM+ or rent it from Prime Video.

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Superman (1978)

For at least a generation, Hackman was the definitive Lex Luthor in the definitive superhero movie. Director Richard Donner promised a level verisimilitude in his Super-saga, which Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder deliver. Hackman, though, is the third point on that triangle, alternately delivering comic relief and a sense of real menace—even with a full head of hair. Today’s movie supervillains are all about conquering the universe, which feels like a distraction from this movie’s more real and present threat: a ruthless real-estate mogul willing to watch millions die for a few extra bucks. You can stream Superman on Max or rent it from Prime Video.

Superman (1978)

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Hoosiers (1986)

A sleeper hit at the box office that has come to be recognized as one of the most inspiring sports movies ever made, this 1986 drama gave Hackman one of his best-loved roles. He plays Norman Dale, a teacher at a poor high school in rural Indiana who leads a team of misfits to glory on the court. Though Hackman was overlooked, Dennis Hopper earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for his turn as the town drunk who finds new purpose serving as Dale’s assistant coach. You can rent Hoosiers from Prime Video. Starting Feb. 28 you can also stream it free on Prime Video With Ads.

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No Way Out (1987)

Simultaneously smart and trashy, No Way Out pays tribute to noir movies past while steering more firmly into erotic thriller territory—not that big a leap. Hackman here plays Secretary of Defense David Brice, the type of role that’s just window dressing in many other movies. Here, though, Hackman is having a grand time playing Brice as a thoroughly nasty bit of business—duplicitous, murderous, and sharing a mistress (Sean Young) with lead Kevin Costner. It’s not Hackman’s finest performance, but it’s definitely one of his juiciest. You can stream No Way Out with ads on Pluto TV or rent it from Prime Video.

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Mississippi Burning (1988)

Though its politics don’t seem quite as progressive 37 years on, there’s no arguing the fact that Gene Hackman commands the screen in this racially charged crime thriller, set amid the 1960s civil rights movement and inspired by true events. Hackman and Willem Dafoe play FBI agents investigating the murders of three civil rights workers in a southern town that is cozy with the KKK. Hackman was nominated for Best Actor for his turn as a former good-ol’-boy sheriff turned federal agent, who knows all too well how racism and prejudice operate in the town, and is willing to bend the rules to bring the killers to justice. You can stream Mississippi Burning free with ads on Pluto TV, catch it on Prime Video, or rent it from Apple TV.

Mississippi Burning (1988)

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Unforgiven (1992)

Unforgiven was seen as a valedictory for Clint Eastwood, but the movie’s sole acting Oscar went to Hackman. He plays Sheriff Little Bill Daggett, whose rejection of vigilantism puts him at odds with Eastwood’s William Munny, in town to avenge the disfiguring of a sex worker. Munny may be the movie’s center, but Little Bill provides all the conflict, and it offers a later-career return to the types of complicated, morally grey characters of his earlier days. You can stream or rent Unforgiven from Prime Video.

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The Quick and the Dead (1995)

Everyone says Unforgiven is a revisionist western, but it looks wildly traditional next to Sam Raimi’s deliberately over-the-top take on the genre. Hackman plays John Herod, the ruthless and endlessly greedy ruler of the Old West town of Redemption. Herod arranges a round-robin style contest of champions in town, in which gunfighters are to fight for cash, win, yield, or die. This isn’t a subtle or insightful performance, but a delightfully hammy one. Even when playing a very recognizable Gene Hackman type, the actor could still be awfully fun to watch. You can stream The Quick and the Dead on Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.

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Crimson Tide (1995)

Though sometimes dismissed as a spin on The Hunt for Red October, this submarine thriller is impressively smart, pitting Hackman’s experienced sub commander against Denzel Washington as his first officer, both men in conflict over interpretation of an order to launch missiles, the outcome of which could have devastating consequences. You don’t necessarily come to a Tony Scott action thriller for the acting, but the movie is a real showcase for its leads, and a fascinating juxtaposition of two brilliant actors from different generations. You can rent Crimson Tide from Prime Video.

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Get Shorty (1995)

Gene Hackman’s range encompassed all types of characters, but he rarely seemed to be having more fun than when playing a sleazeball—something he does with gusto in this satire of mid-’90s Hollywood excess, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and based on the novel by Elmore Leonard. He plays a B-movie director in debt with the mob who gets in way over his head when he get involved with a movie-obsessed loan shark (John Travolta) in an attempt to get out a tight spot. Unsurprisingly, things don’t go smoothly. You can stream Get Shorty free with ads on the Roku Channel or rent it from Prime Video.

Get Shorty (1995)

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The Birdcage (1996)

An indisputable crowd-pleaser, The Birdcage sees Hackman as a thoroughly conservative senator (in stark contrast to the actor’s real-life politics) who heads to South Beach to meet the EXTREMELY GAY family of his daughter’s fiancée. It’s a fun villain-esque role for Hackman, one that memorably sees him in full drag for the final act. You can rent The Birdcage from Prime Video.

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Enemy of the State (1998)

This surveillance-state thriller isn’t nearly as smart as its 1970s influences, but it’s entirely entertaining in the way it approaches many of the same themes with a more action-heavy style. Opposite Will Smith, Hackman here plays Brill Lyle, a paranoid surveillance expert who has so much in common with The Conversation’s Harry Caul that you might consider Enemy of the State a blockbuster take on the earlier film. You can rent Enemy of the State from Prime Video.

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Heist (2001)

The same year Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven pulled off a box office cash grab on the backs of (almost) a dozen of Hollywood hottest stars, David Mamet built his own crime caper around a band of aging thieves. Hackman plays the leader of a gang of professional smash-and-grabbers whose face is captured by security cameras during a job, forcing him to go on the run and attracting the ire of his partners in the “business.” Hackman handles Mamet’s mouthfuls of dialogue with practiced ease, elevating what Roger Ebert described as “the kind of caper movie that was made before special effects replaced wit, construction, and intelligence.” You can rent Heist from Prime Video.

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The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Though he’d appear in a few more movies before retiring in 2004, Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums was Hackman’s last standout performance, and one of his very best. He’s hateable and irresistible in equal measure as the deeply flawed patriarch of a deeply neurotic, Salinger-inspired New York family who assembles his estranged wife (Anjelica Huston) and deeply resentful children (played by Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, and Gwyneth Paltrow) to tell them he only has weeks to live. You can rent The Royal Tenenbaums from Prime Video.

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Projectors are a great option for some evening entertainment inside and outdoors (once the weather warms up a bit), but they can be a little bulky. If you’re looking for a smaller projector you can take with you to a party or a friend’s house, consider the Nebula Capsule 3 GTV projector, currently $379.99 (originally $499.99), the lowest price it has been according to price-tracking tools.

Nebula Capsule 3 GTV Projector

Resolution: 1080p, Streaming: Google TV, Brightness: 200 lumens, Engine: DLP.

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The Nebula Capsule 3 came out this past September to an “excellent” review from PCMag. It has an 8-watt speaker, which is decent for a portable projector, but it won’t fill a room with sound. Luckily, it does have an eARC port for a home theater setup.

What sets this projector apart is its small size of 4.7 inches by 2.7 inches (height by diameter), which is about the size of a tall beer can. The image correction is fast, responsive, and works well—an important feature since you’re likely going to be moving the projector often. The auto focus will adjust to the distance and angle of whatever surface you’re casting it on.

The brightness is 200 lumens, which is not a lot. You’ll be limited to darker rooms to get a good image. The resolution is just 1080p with a maximum screen size of 120-inches, which is decent. This is enough for casual watching in a bedroom, but you won’t get the same picture quality, colors, or blacks that home projectors offer. With Google TV, you’ll be able to use Chromecast to mirror your phone on the screen, download apps, and watch free live TV.

The battery life is up to two and a half hours, long enough to watch most movies. At its current price, it’s even with the weaker Nebula Capsule Air, making it a great deal.

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While I was poking around online shopping this week, I noticed a great deal: Amazon has the Dyson V8 Plus Cordless Vacuum marked down to $349.99, a 26% discount off its normal price of $469.99. A little over a quarter off doesn’t usually move me, as far as sales go, but on something as expensive as a Dyson that’s a solid deal. The spring and summer get dusty and allergen-y, so a strong vacuum is always a smart upgrade to make before the sneezy season hits.

Dyson V8 Plus Cordless Vacuum (Silver/Nickel)

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I have loved every Dyson vacuum (and, frankly, all Dyson products) I’ve ever used and everyone I know with one feels the same, but before I recommended this sale confidently, I wanted to check around other parts of the internet to make sure I wasn’t missing something about Amazon’s markdown. I was missing something: This thing is on sale everywhere, which is great news if you have a membership or general brand loyalty to one store or another. The $349.99 price point on the Dyson V8 Plus is reflected not only on Amazon, but at the following retailers:

• Best Buy

• Walmart

• Williams Sonoma

• Chewy

• Wayfair

• Crate & Barrel

• Bloomingdale’s

• P.C. Richard & Son

Basically, wherever you’re most likely to shop, you can find the cordless vac on sale. Take it as a sign you should finally upgrade your hoover.

Dyson V8 Plus product details

Why upgrade to this one, though, beyond the fact that it’s on sale? It runs for up to 40 minutes on a single charge but is still light enough that it’s not a hassle to carry around, weighing in at 5.6 pounds. It will run for a shorter amount if you turn on MAX mode, but having access to an even more powerful suction when you’re facing a major mess is worth it. Besides being a traditional stick vacuum, it also transforms into a handheld device to reach difficult spots. It docks to your wall to charge and stay out of your way, has attachments to reach high spaces, empties out with the push of a button, and makes quick work of dust, hair, and fur. Dyson really does make a quality vacuum and this one, with its low price, is a solid entry point if you’ve been looking into getting one.

Whether or not you plan on observing the Christian season of Lent, celebrating Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday) is a great excuse to chow down on some desserts. In the past, Lent meant abstaining from indulgent foods like butter, sugar, and eggs. As Christianity spread across different parts of the globe, during a time when food spoiled relatively quickly, there was no hope in preserving these ingredients during the 40-day period of fasting. Instead of tossing it all, there was a massive clear-out feast: Everything had to go. In the wake of this food-liquidation period, many creative and indulgent treats were born. Most of them are fried. All of them are carbs. Here are nine exquisite treats with which to celebrate the fattest days of the week.

Paczki

A Polish creation now enjoyed around the world, paczki is a fluffy fried dough that is often filled with fruit jams, much like the American jelly doughnut. Paczki might even be filled and topped with chopped fruit, as fruit would also spoil over the fasting period, along with the other primary ingredients. They are made from a rich, yeast-raised dough that usually includes a splash of alcohol. They’re fried until golden, then filled or left fantastically plain and fluffy, before being finished with powdered sugar or icing.

Fastnacht

The word “fastnacht” refers to both the celebratory snack and the time for enjoying them–just before Lenten fasting. The German variety of fastnacht are pillowy, yeast-raised, deep-fried doughnuts that you can eat with a dollop of blackstrap molasses (which sounds like a lot of intense flavor for me, but I support your choices). It’s the Pennsylvania Dutch version of fastnacht that has piqued my interest. This doughnut is made from a yeast-raised potato dough with plenty of butter and sugar. This recipe repurposes mashed potatoes. I also appreciate this recipe for the helpful tips on changing out the oil, and advice on definitely not using expired yeast.

Semlor buns

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

I hate to present you with something un-fried, but these semlor buns are too wonderful to ignore. Eaten in Sweden during the weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday, the plush buns are cardamom-scented and baked. Carve the center out of the baked and cooled roll, and pipe it full of a sweetened almond filling, followed by a heap of whipped cream. Top it with the small bit of roll you took out of the center. This recipe uses a tangzhong mixture to keep the roll soft.

Haitian beignets

There are beignets, like the flour-based ones popular in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and then there are beignets, like the ones made in Haiti with a banana-based dough. There’s no need to proof the dough, and they’re shaped by simply dropping the batter into the frying oil. Check out this recipe for a straightforward mixing and frying method.

King cake

In several regions of the United States (but none as iconic as New Orleans) the days leading up to Mardi Gras must include this behemoth of a bread. The king cake is a sweet, enriched, yeast-raised treat, covered in icing and yellow, purple, and green sprinkles. It’s an explosion of sugar, color, and flavor. King cakes can be left unfilled, highlighting their soft, doughnut-like texture, or the raw dough can be filled and swirled with jams, nuts, or cinnamon and sugar. The dough is then braided, or twisted and shaped into a circle before baking. Tradition requires the baker to tuck a small token, usually a plastic baby, into the bread. Whoever gets the slice with the baby brings the king cake next time. My king cake video includes a recipe and how-to tutorial.

Hornazo de jueves lardero

Getting rid of all your perishables in one dish never looked more obvious or more enticing than in the hornazo. Hornazo de jueves lardero refers to the foods in your larder being baked together and eaten on Fat Thursday. Usually made and enjoyed in different regions of Spain, the hornazo can be made with a sweet or savory bread depending on the locality. Make the bread of your choosing, proof it, and when you’re ready to bake, tuck a raw egg, some cured sausage, and a slice or two of bacon right on top. Bake as usual. By the time the bread has fully baked, the meats and eggs will have too. You can follow this how-to video to learn how to make it.

Fritole and dolci di carnevale

Italy has no shortage of dishes for celebrating the days leading up to Lent. Among them are lasagna and ravioli, but no celebration would be complete without some sweet fried carbs. Dolci di carnevale include such fancies as the zeppole and cicerchiata, and no Venetian carnevale is complete without fritole. Fritole are yeast-raised, fried dough fritters, bolstered with a splash of booze and studded with raisins. Fry until crisp and dust with a heap of powdered sugar.

All the pancakes

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At this point, you might think “doughnut day” makes more sense as a name, but in several countries, including Great Britain and Ireland, you may hear the day before Lent referred to as Shrove Tuesday, or “pancake day.” When you think about it, if everyone’s dumping eggs, butter, sugar and flour into the bowl, then you’re getting pancakes or doughnuts, depending on the leavening agent you have remaining in your pantry. Shrove Tuesday pancakes are a bit thinner than the fluffy disks you may be accustomed to, but slightly bulkier than a French crepe. Try this recipe, which makes the batter easy to prepare with the help of a blender.

Alle belles

A traditional indulgence for Pancake Tuesday in the state of Goa, India, alle belles are crepe-like in appearance but contain no eggs. Considering the price of eggs lately, this might be the pancake for you. The filling is a stunner. Alle belles pancakes are wrapped around a filling of chopped coconut, cashews, and jaggery. The filling softens slightly as it sits in the warm pancake, delivering delicate sweetness and a harmony of textures. Try this recipe, which yields about 10 pancakes.

Setting up a free email account has never been easier. You now have many great options that promise lots of storage or convenient features, although there are a few things to keep in mind when picking one. The rule of thumb is that if you’re getting a free email service, you’re probably paying with your privacy, because the company has to make money at the end of the day. Depending on the company, it could use your emails to serve ads, track you across the web, or even use the text in your emails to train AI. However, there are exceptions to that rule, specifically when it comes to end-to-end encryption.

It’s a tough balance. In general, you’ll have to pay real money to avoid compromises—services that focus on privacy might suffer elsewhere. But if you’re not ready to pay or set up your own private email server yet, here are your best free alternatives. You’re not even limited to one option—it’s a good idea to create multiple email accounts and use them for different purposes, so you should mix and match based on your needs.

Gmail is the best email provider for most people

Credit: Pranay Parab

Gmail is the best email service for most people, hands down. It’s reliable, filters spam well, and gives you 15GB of cloud file storage for free. Plus, it’s practically unavoidable. It’s hard to be on the internet and avoid Google entirely, and at some point, you’re probably going to need a Google account. From setting up most Android phones to accessing a shared Google Doc, Gmail serves a wide range of audiences pretty well.

Your Gmail account also comes with unlimited addresses, which is a great way to check if a service sold your email ID to spammers. The biggest argument against Gmail is that it’s owned by Google, which makes money by tracking you online to help personalize the ads you see elsewhere. If you are privacy conscious, then this isn’t the right email service for you.

Pros: Ubiquitous, easy to use, feature-rich, integrates with other Google products
Cons: Lots of advertising based on mining your data

Outlook is the best Gmail alternative for most people

Credit: Pranay Parab

For those who don’t want to use Gmail, but are looking for a similar service, Microsoft’s Outlook is the best option. Just like Gmail, Outlook is backed by a tech giant and will almost certainly be around for years to come. Plus, you get up to 15GB of email storage and 5GB of additional OneDrive storage for free. It’s a reliable alternative to Gmail, but once again, it’s not the email service you want to use if privacy is your top priority.

Pros: Backed by a major tech company; a feature-rich Gmail alternative
Cons: Like Google, Microsoft doesn’t care that much about your privacy

Proton Mail is the best email service for privacy

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Proton Mail is the best free email service for privacy-conscious people. It offers 1GB of storage, a limit of 150 emails per day, and up to 10 aliases for free, which is good enough to get started. My Gmail account is over a decade old and it still uses less than 1GB of storage, so it’s possible to manage with that storage limit for quite a while. Proton Mail also gives you a fair bit more than mail, too, even if you aren’t spending a dime. You’ll get a free VPN for one device and a free password manager as well.

Proton Mail’s biggest advantage is end-to-end encryption, which means your messages cannot be intercepted or read by Proton Mail or third parties. This is a great privacy feature as long as you’re communicating with Proton Mail users or people using other end-to-end encrypted email providers, but it’s not as effective if you’re communicating with people on ad-supported email accounts. Everything could be totally private on your end, but your friend’s email service could read the contents of your email pretty easily. If you’re ready to pay, Proton Unlimited offers great value with more email addresses, more storage space, and advanced privacy features like dark web monitoring.

Pros: Great for privacy; end-to-end encryption
Cons: Only 1GB of storage and a daily sending limit

Tuta is also a great privacy-focused email provider

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If you need an encrypted email service that offers open-source desktop clients, Tuta could be one to consider. It has a free tier with 1GB storage and no ads, which is also a plus. While Tuta is end-to-end encrypted, your privacy depends on the encryption status of the people you’re emailing. Just as with Proton Mail, email encryption needs all parties onboard and if even one person is on an unencrypted service, your privacy is compromised. Tuta comes with one calendar in the free tier, but you’ll have to pay if you want to set up multiple calendars.

One good thing is that Tuta doesn’t restrict how many emails you can send or receive per day. The only limitation is storage. You also get apps for mobile use.

Pros: Encryption, privacy, and no sending limits
Cons: Just 1GB storage

Yahoo Mail is the best free email for free storage

Credit: Joel Cunningham

If you want the maximum possible storage on your free email account, believe it or not, Yahoo Mail is your best bet. The provider lets you use up to 1TB storage (yes, that’s 1,000GB) for free. The catch is that it still limits you to a maximum of 25MB of attachments per email, so you can’t start attaching 4K movies to your emails. It also comes with other useful features, such as an easy way to unsubscribe from newsletters. However, Yahoo Mail also shows you ads in your inbox and isn’t really the service you want to use if you’re concerned about privacy.

Pros: Tons of free storage
Cons: As ad-heavy and invasive as other services, plus you have to have an “@yahoo” or, worse, “@aol” email address. (Certain people will judge you, if only subconsciously.)

iCloud Mail is easiest to set up for Apple users

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For anyone who already has an Apple Account, setting up an iCloud Mail account is really easy. Go to your device’s settings and tap your name. Then, click or tap through to iCloud > Mail, and follow the on-screen instructions to set it up. Since you already have an Apple Account, you don’t need to create a new password and you can start using the service for free. iCloud Mail’s free tier offers 5GB space and it has no ads. Note that this 5GB is shared with your photos, device backups, and everything else on iCloud, so effectively, it is smaller than you might expect. However, if you’re on an Apple device, you have the added advantage of not having to install any apps to use the service, because your iPhone, iPad, and Mac ship with the Mail app pre-installed.

iCloud Mail can be accessed on Windows, Android, and the web, too. The easiest way to use iCloud Mail on non-Apple devices is via the iCloud website, although there is an iCloud for Windows app for PC. Note that you’ll still need an Apple Account for this, which you can create for free at https://account.apple.com/.

For Android, you can also easily add your iCloud Mail to your phone’s mail app. Log in to your Apple Account here and select App-specific passwords. Create a new password and save it for later. Add a new account to your favorite email app, select the IMAP option, and type your iCloud email ID and the app-specific password. This will add the email ID to your Android phone.

Apple’s Mail app gets regular updates, and you can access privacy features such as protection against email tracking even on iCloud Mail’s free tier. But while this service is great for many people, it is slightly wonky at times. I’ve failed to receive some emails on iCloud Mail at times because they got flagged as spam and never landed in my inbox. On the plus side, you can add up to three aliases to iCloud Mail, which is good if you want to protect your actual email address from being compromised.

Pros: Easy set up, three aliases for free
Cons: Occasionally buggy, just 5GB of free space (shared with iCloud Photos and your device backups)

AOL is the best free email for unlimited storage

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

Another throwback, AOL Mail, offers a lot of the same benefits as Yahoo Mail, with a similar feature set and size limits (they’re owned by the same company). AOL is user-friendly, lets you organize and personalize your inbox, and offers a spell-checker, calendar, and a to-do list feature on top of the features most email clients have. It’s compatible with Android and iOS apps and you can transfer your contact list from CSV, TXT, or LDIF files.

Pros: Unlimited free storage
Cons: You’re limited to 25 MB for your email attachments

Zoho Mail lets you use custom email address domains for free

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The biggest problem with almost every free email provider is you have no control over the domain name associated with your email address. You’ll be stuck with email addresses that end in @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @outlook.com, etc.

If you want to use your own domain name with your free email, check out Zoho Mail. Its free plan lets you add up to five users to your account and offers 5GB of free storage per user. There are no ads, but you won’t get IMAP or POP3 sync features for the mobile app, which means there may be delays in receiving mobile notifications for new emails. The service will still work pretty well on your desktop browser.

Pros: You can use a custom @
Cons: Only 5GB storage and no IMAP or POP3 syncing

Neo is the best free email for small business owners

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Small business owners, freelancers, or anyone who wants to see how their emails are performing and how many people are actually reading them can see basic email analytic tools like CTR (click-through rate) and open rates with Neo. It’s also a great alternative to Zoho, since it lets you choose a domain for free and has up to 100GB of storage. You can use an AI feature for writing emails, but you don’t get five user accounts like on Zoho. However, if you run into trouble, be warned that Neo’s support isn’t known to be the best.

Pros: See CTR and Open rates
Cons: The support isn’t very responsive

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The TP-Link Tapo C402 is $19.99 on Woot for the next two days or until it sells out. If you’re a Prime member, you get free shipping; otherwise, it’ll cost you an extra $6.

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This camera is IP65-rated, meaning it can handle rain and dust, and has a bullet-style design that makes it easy to mount. You get a 90-day Woot Limited Warranty, which isn’t long, but at this price, it’s hard to complain. It records in 1080p with a 125-degree field of view, offering sharp, color-rich daytime footage. At night, it switches between full-color video (though the colors reportedly appear a bit washed out) using built-in spotlights and black-and-white infrared video, depending on lighting conditions.

For storage, the C402 supports microSD cards up to 512GB, but you’ll need to buy one separately if you want local storage. If you’d rather store footage online, TP-Link offers a Premium Tapo Care ($3.49 monthly or $34.99 annually) plan, which includes 30 days of video history, smart sorting for recorded clips, and rich notifications. Even if you skip the subscription, you still get free intelligent alerts for people, pets, and vehicles, privacy zone controls, two-way audio, and live view through the app, notes this PCMag review. Additional controls in the app include adjusting the spotlight brightness, formatting a microSD card, manually recording a video, and enabling or disabling the built-in 94dB siren, among others.

The C402 connects via 2.4GHz wifi and works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT applets to integrate with other compatible smart home devices. It does not support Apple HomeKit. A 6,400mAh rechargeable battery powers the unit, which TP-Link claims can last up to 180 days per charge—though, in reality, that depends on usage. For those wanting a more hands-off power solution, the TP-Link Tapo SolarCam C402 Kit is available for $44.99 (down from $50.98), allowing the camera to run indefinitely on solar energy for a more set-it-and-forget-it experience.

Getting rid of stuff can be hard, even if you’re not exactly a hoarder. It’s hard enough for so many of us in our consumerist society, in fact, that scientists have studied why that is—and are always coming up with ways to overcome an aversion to decluttering our lives. Just in time for spring cleaning season, look to research published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology that suggests there’s a way to ease yourself into parting with old belongings: Instead of throwing them out all at once, banish them to purgatory first.

What it means to put clutter in “purgatory”

The researchers, Mathew S. Isaac and Poornima Vinoo, kicked off their paper by explaining that people who struggle to part with their possessions tend to jump through hoops to avoid doing it and may only manage to do so by employing “various behavioral strategies” to ease the psychological strain. One such strategy that has proven useful for some, the researchers note, is relegating unnecessary but hard-to-part-with items to “out of sight” status, in the hopes that they will then drop out of mind and can be later disposed of, minus the hand-wringing. “According to ethnographic research, one such strategy is to move products into purgatories, or temporary liminal spaces,” they write.

In other words: Before throwing out your old photos, books, receipts, mementos, or knick knacks for good, put them into a space somewhere between your everyday environment and the trash. Essentially, banish things you think you should probably get rid of to a box or a junk drawer where you won’t access them, but you’ll know they’re still around. Once you no longer have to look at them every day, you’ll hopefully realize how little you actually need them once it’s time for a major purge, and they’ll be easier to donate, sell, or trash.

Why the purgatory method helps you get rid of your junk

Isaac and Vinoo reviewed three existing studies that indicated moving items into “purgatories” helps people brace for the inevitability of disposal. However, their research uncovered a new reason it works, and it has nothing to do with a reduction of attachment. “Specifically, purgatories are shown to trigger mental simulation of the product disposal process, thereby helping product owners brace for the looming loss of their product,” they write.

In simpler terms, when you condemn an item to its purgatory, it’s a practice run for throwing it away for real. Not only will you be lessening your attachment to physical objects in a gradual way by removing them from your everyday environment, you’ll be rehearsing for the moment when you actually junk them permanently.

How to get started putting your excess stuff into purgatory

When you’re decluttering, make a separate pile of things you think you could get rid of, even if you aren’t quite ready to pull the trigger yet, in addition to the clear-cut piles of things to toss, sell, donate, and keep. You don’t have to commit to throwing them all away, but this will get you thinking about the possibility. Outdated clothes you don’t wear anymore, single-use kitchen tools you haven’t picked up in ages, and toys your kids have aged out of—basically, all the stuff you hold onto for sentimental or “just in case” reasons—can go into purgatory.

Make sure “purgatory” is someplace you won’t have to look at every day. The idea is to forget what’s in there so you can see just how inconsequential it really is. Put the box deep in a closet, down in the basement, or on a shelf in the garage. For maximum efficiency, use separate boxes for things that won’t be useful to anyone else, and things that could reasonably be donated. That way, when it’s time for them to go to their final resting place, you can bring one box to the donation center and throw one out without having to go through them again, which will reduce the likelihood of you reneging on anything that’s in there.

Challenge yourself not to venture into purgatory except to put more stuff in there—but take heart knowing the research shows you probably won’t even want to. Set a reminder in your phone for a month from now, and on that day, transport the items to their final destination, whether that’s the trash or the donation center. In the event you find you actually need to use something from the box during that month, you can consider taking it as a sign that the item was a necessary one. (That is very unlikely, by the way.)

Other ways to part with things you’re not sure about

I know better than anyone how easy it is to manufacture excuses for not getting rid of clutter. I am the reigning queen of holding on to something “just in case” I need it in the future. The thing is, though, you can make that excuse for everything you own. A purgatory box is a great way to bridge the gap between knowing something is probably trash and actually throwing it out, which is why I have a purgatory shelf for old clothes. But there are other methods designed to make it easier on you to toss things out on sight and those get even faster results than having to wait around to dispose of a box for a month.

I recommend familiarizing yourself with these decluttering questions. When you’re sorting through a closet, a cabinet, a drunk drawer, or wherever else, asking objective, reasonable questions is one of the easiest ways to disentangle from any sentimentality or excuse-making. Some of the questions include, “Would I know I had this if I needed it?” and “When was the last time I used this?” Reframing how you think of a particular item and its utility can help you part with it. I used to be all about the KonMari method, which has you ask yourself if each item you pick up “sparks joy” for you, but the issue was that I could do enough mental and emotional gymnastics to claim that everything I owned sparked joy. If you’re like me, switching over to a more rigid (and, admittedly, harsher) line of questioning can be the push you need.

If, after answering the questions about a certain item, you’re still unsure whether you can give it up, toss it into the purgatory box. Combining methods is totally fine as long as you commit to the goal of ultimately getting rid of what isn’t serving you and is, in fact, just mucking up your space.

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Noah Wiley can’t seem to escape the emergency room. After spending more than a decade on NBC’s ’90s mega-hit E.R., he’s back in scrubs for HBO’s buzzy new doctor show The Pitt. If that show hasn’t quite scratched your itch for medical drama, there are plenty of other shows to stream.

The genre’s roots can be traced back to the early ’60s, and the sexy Dr. Kildare, but it really exploded in the ’70s with shows like Medical Center, Emergency!, and Quincy, M.E., all of them fairly soapy dramas with plenty of action and occasional doses of silliness. Later in the decade, M.A.S.H. became a hit by lacing the sit-com formula with medical pathos, but it was 1982’s St. Elsewhere that gave us the template for the medical shows of today: dramatic, serious, and with a large cast of doctors and nurses whose personal lives are often in conflict with their work. That show set the standard, and inspired dozens of medical shows that followed—a bunch of which you can currently find on your favorite streaming service.

The Pitt (2025 – )

But first, a little about The Pitt if you have yet to check in for your appointment. Noah Wyle (ER) is back in scrubs as Dr. Michael “Robby” Rabinavitch, senior attending at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital’s emergency room. Robby’s mentor died during the height of COVID-19, and he’s only just recovering from his traumatic experiences. It’s gonna be a long day, though: Each episode is a single hour of his 15-hour shift. It’s relatively early days, but the show has already won critical acclaim and a renewal for a second season. You can stream The Pitt on Max.

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Watson (2025 – )

Hard to say if this new Morris Chestnut-led series will go any kind of distance, but it’s looking promising, and the premise is so wacky, it’s worth checking out either way. Chestnut plays a modern-day Dr. John Watson (yes, that Dr. Watson), who was sidekick to Sherlock Holmes before his detective pal took a header off of the Reichenbach Falls. Now he’s on his own in Pittsburgh, running clinic dedicated to helping people with mysterious ailments—ones requiring a doctor who’s also a bit of a detective. You can stream Watson on Paramount+.

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Call the Midwife (2012 – )

Set at the dawn of Britain’s National Health Service, Call the Midwife explores an era when many were receiving modern healthcare for the very first time, as the nuns of London’s Nonnatus House, who had been providing basic midwifery services for decades, are joined by secular nurses and given public funding. The show deals frankly with women’s health issues in a way that few other series have ever bothered, and its rotating cast of characters has helped it to remain a beloved favorite for over a decade, both in its native Britain and across the pond. You can stream Call the Midwife on Netflix and PBS.

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New Amsterdam (2018 – 2023)

Even the most realistic medical dramas have soapy aspects, but New Amsterdam leans into that side of things more than most. Ryan Eggold plays Dr. Maximus “Max” Goodwin, the slightly annoying new medical director at one of the oldest public hospitals in the U.S. He looking to freshen up the outdated hospital and bring down its stodgy bureaucracy, with Doctor Who’s Freema Agyeman by his side. The show occasionally sags under the weight of its subplots, but it’s still fun to watch Max fight for public health. You can stream New Amsterdam on Peacock.

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House (2004 – 2012)

Like the much more recent Watson, House showcases investigative medicine, with Hugh Laurie’s as the titular Dr. Holmes (er, House) and Robert Sean Leonard as Watson (OK, Wilson). Not only is the show tightly paced and compact, it also has the benefit of Laurie, giving a career-defining performance as one of TV’s greatest assholes, a wonderfully acerbic curmudgeon who nonetheless gets results. You can stream House on Prime Video, Hulu, and Peacock.

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Getting On (2013 – 2015)

One of the few medical shows willing to tackle aging and geriatric care, Getting On considers the trials faced by the staff at an underfunded extended care facility. The fact that it’s a frequently very dark comedy doesn’t make it any less impressive in its handling of tough topics. Laurie Metcalf, Alex Borstein, Niecy Nash, and Mel Rodriguez star. You can stream Getting On on Max.

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The Knick (2014 – 2015)

The Steven Soderbergh-directed The Knick takes us back to the glory days of American medical care—specifically, 1900 New York, and the fictional Knickerbocker Hospital, with Clive Owen’s Dr. John Thackery as the well-intentioned head of surgery who also happens to have a rather significant opium addiction. He’s joined by André Holland as Dr. Algernon C. Edwards, a Black assistant chief surgeon who runs rings around most of his colleagues but still can’t seem to get any credit for it (he’s based on a couple of real-life doctors of the era). Like the best period medical dramas, this one’s a good reminder that modern medicine ain’t so bad. You can stream The Knick on Max.

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St. Elsewhere (1982 – 1987)

Beginning life as a gritty, realistic-ish hospital drama, St. Elsewhere grew into something weirder, funnier, and far more experimental, leading to that all-time memorable series finale (iykyk). In doing so, it also created a template followed by every medical show that followed it. The cast alone is wild, made up of TV and movie greats past and present, including Norman Lloyd, William Daniels, Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon, and Alfre Woodard, among many, many others. It’s a little slower than the more frenetic shows that followed it, but still a deeply engrossing watch. You can stream St. Elsewhere on Hulu.

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E.R. (1994 – 2009)

A natural successor to St. Elsewhere, E.R. is less weird but does one better in its commitment to portraying something hospital drama that at least feels like reality. With another rotating cast that kept the show fresh over an impressive 15 seasons, E.R.’s innovation was in its willingness to drag viewers along at a breakneck pace, counting on us to keep up with the fast-paced dialogue loaded with medical jargon. At its best, the show makes you feel like you’re really catching a glimpse of life in an underfunded city emergency room. You can stream ER on Hulu and Max.

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Childrens Hospital (2008 – 2016)

A relentless, and relentlessly memeable satire of medical dramas in general, this comedy centers on the staff of the titular hospital, named for founder Arthur Childrens (motto: “I believe that Childrens is the future.”) The show can’t be bothered with continuity; instead, each episode dives into a very silly/smart brand of dark comedy defined by its commitment to randomness. The stacked cast includes creator Rob Cordry, Lake Bell, Erinn Hayes, Rob Huebel, Ken Marino, Megan Mullally, Henry Winkler, and Malin Åkerman. You can buy episodes of Childrens Hospital from Prime Video.

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Scrubs (2001 – 2010)

This scrappy sitcom was resuscitated at least once during its initial run, only finally declared dead after an impressive nine seasons, though it’s due for a revival from original creator Bill Lawrence. Zach Braff plays J.D. Dorian, who begins the show as an intern at the fictional teaching hospital, Sacred Heart. While playing with slapstick and incorporating surreal dream sequences, the show earned high marks from medical professionals, who apparently found it more accurate in depicting details of hospital life than many prestige medical dramas. You can stream Scrubs on Hulu and Peacock.

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Grey’s Anatomy (2005 – )

From Grey’s Anatomy did Shonda Rhimes’ mighty TV empire spring, yet the show that started it all is somehow still going strong in its 21st season. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompey) continues to head the team of doctors at Seattle Grace alongside Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr. Deft cast rotations have kept things relatively fresh for over two decades and more than 430 episodes. You can stream Grey’s Anatomy on Hulu and Netflix.

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This is Going to Hurt (2022)

This British miniseries, loosely adapted the memoir from comedian Adam Kay, chronicles Kay’s time as a trainee doctor in obstetrics and gynaecology circa 2006. Ben Whislaw stars as Kay, facing down daily challenges that range from the very funny to the shocking and horrific. The show makes clear that, while the contexts are very different, British doctors also struggle with chaotic working conditions and lack of institutional support, particularly at the intern level. You can stream This is Going to Hurt on AMC+.

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Transplant (2020 – 2024)

There’s much that’s familiar in this Canadian drama, but the show stands apart because of the unique perspective of its lead character (at least as far as mainstream medical dramas go). Hamza Haq plays Bashir “Bash” Hamed, a refugee of the Syrian Civil War who comes to Toronto to rebuild his life and career as an E.R. resident. He‘s unable to get a job in his chosen field until his heroic actions during the first episode garner him the right kind of attention. Even still, he faces discrimination as a doctor, and suffers the aftereffects of wartime trauma, even as his skills and experience prove extremely valuable. You can stream Transplant on Peacock.

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Nurse Jackie (2009 – 2015)

Edie Falco followed up her run on The Sopranos with this similarly lauded comedy-drama that earned her six consecutive Emmy nominations and one win. She plays the titular nurse in the Emergency Department at All Saints’ Hospital in NYC. At the outset of the series, Jackie is married but having an affair, mostly to get the various pills she’s addicted to—which gives you a sense of the messiness of Jackie’s life and work. You can buy Nurse Jackie from Apple TV.

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I’m Lifehacker’s resident marathon runner and senior finance writer. And now, I’m merging my two worlds. Running is often touted as one of the most accessible sports—just lace up and go, right? But as many runners discover, what starts as a “free” activity can quickly transform into a significant investment.

After a decade of “casually” running, I looked around at my room one day and saw dollar signs: sneakers, my second pair that year, at least $100. Medals from races, some costing $250 to register. A box of energy gels for long runs, around $30. A fancy hand-held water bottle, anti-chafing sticks, high-tech cold-weather leggings—what happened to my “lace up and go” mentality?

Here’s a glimpse at the true financial impact of running gear, from the bare essentials to premium options for those with deeper pockets.

What a minimalist approach to running would cost

Pun intended, of course. For those wanting to keep costs at an absolute minimum, running can indeed be approached with remarkable frugality. Here’s what you truly need:

Essential gear

• Running shoes: $60-100 (entry-level models on sale)

• Moisture-wicking shirts: $10-15 (basic athletic tees from discount retailers)

• Running shorts/pants: $15-20 (simple options from general sporting goods stores)

• Socks: $5-10 (multi-pack athletic socks)

Weather necessities

• Winter: Layer existing clothes (that cotton sweatshirt works—it’s just not optimal).

• Rain: A basic baseball cap ($10) and quick-drying clothes

• Summer: Stick to early morning or evening runs to avoid expensive cooling gear.

Hydration & nutrition

• Water bottle: $5-10 (basic reusable bottle)

• Nutrition: Homemade options (banana, toast with honey, etc.)

Annual cost for the minimalist runner: $150-250

If you’re a casual runner who’ll only use one pair of shoes per year, this sport shouldn’t break the bank. The minimalist approach is entirely valid—countless runners have logged thousands of miles with just the basics. I know I’ve been stubbornly minimalist through the years. In fact, this past marathon training season is the first time I really invested in some higher tech gear.

That said, I must begrudgingly report there’s often a noticeable difference in comfort and performance when you invest in purpose-built equipment.

How much a practical enthusiast might spend on running

For runners with some flexibility in their budget, strategic investments in key pieces can significantly enhance the experience without breaking the bank.

Quality essentials

• Running shoes: $120-160 (mid-tier models replaced every 300-500 miles)

• Technical shirts: $30-45 each (two to three quality moisture-wicking options)

• Running-specific shorts/tights: $40-60 each

• Performance socks: $12-18 per pair (three to four pairs)

• Sports bras (if applicable): $40-60 each (two to three quality options)

Brooks Ghost 16 GTX

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Weather-specific gear

• Winter layer: $70-150 (one quality thermal long sleeve)

• Lightweight jacket: $60-100 (wind/water resistant)

• Running gloves: $20-30

• Headwear: $20-25 (beanie or headband for cold)

For anyone training for a spring race, you quickly learn that weather-specific gear are true essentials.

Accessories

• Running belt/pouch: $25-40

• Basic GPS watch: $150-200 (entry-level Garmin or similar)

• Headlamp for night runs: $30-50

Hydration & nutrition

• Handheld water bottle: $20-30 (running-specific)

• Nutrition: $30-40 monthly (basic gels, chews, electrolyte powders)

Annual cost for the practical enthusiast: $600-1,000

This time, I assume you replace your shoes once a year and need seasonal gear additions. After all, at this level, you’re investing in gear that genuinely enhances performance and comfort. The right technical fabric in cold weather isn’t just more comfortable; it actually enables more consistent training through the seasons. And instead of the cheapest shoes available, I now swear by Brooks Ghost 16 GTX.

How much a dedicated runner might spend

For devoted runners who prioritize performance, recovery, and optimization, running becomes a more significant financial commitment. Here’s a look at just how expensive this sport can get, if you’re willing to invest.

Performance gear

• Multiple specialized shoes: $140-250 each (training, racing, trail options)

• Premium apparel: Complete seasonal wardrobes ($500-1,000+ annually)

• Compression gear: $80-150 (tights, sleeves, socks)

• High-end rain/cold protection: $150-300 (insulation jackets, premium thermal layers)

Technology & analytics

• Advanced GPS watch: $300-700 (Garmin Forerunner, COROS, etc.)

• Additional sensors: $50-100 (heart rate straps, foot pods)

• Training platforms: $60-120 annually (Strava premium, TrainingPeaks)

• Recovery tools: $200-500 (massage gun, compression boots, etc.)

Garmin Forerunner

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Nutrition & hydration systems

• Hydration vests/packs: $80-150

• Specialized nutrition: $50-100 monthly (premium gels, recovery drinks, supplements)

• Water filtration for trail running: $40-100

Professional coaching

• Gait analysis: $75-150

• Custom insoles: $200-300

• Coaching: $100-300+ monthly

Annual cost for dedicated runner: $2,000-5,000+

Depending on race schedule and gear replacement frequency, running can transform from a simple exercise into a lifestyle with its own ecosystem of products and services. The investment can be substantial, but for those deeply committed to the sport, each element serves a purpose in enhancing performance, preventing injury, and/or improving the overall experience. If you’re spending this much on running, I hope you’re getting some sponsorships and brand deals in return.

Finding your balance

The beauty of running is that you can participate meaningfully at any of these investment levels. Sometimes, a strategic upgrade in one area can make a disproportionate difference in your running experience. I find I take something of a hybrid approach. Invest in truly essential items, like good shoes and proper socks, but skip unnecessary “innovations”—not every gadget improves your running!

Another cost-saving trick: Always look for last season’s models. Unless you’re a serious racer, there’s rarely a reason to splurge on the newest, hottest watch or shoes. At the end of the day, the “right” amount to spend on running gear is highly personal. By understanding where quality truly matters versus where you can economize, you can build a running kit that supports your goals without unnecessary expense.

Stay tuned for my upcoming articles diving deeper into the specific costs of running shoes and race participation, so you can see how much it really costs to be a runner.

I’m a full-screen apps guy on my Mac. I love sending each app to its own workspace and swiping between them to use the one I need. When I’m writing, it helps me focus on the task at hand, and it’s not hard to use three and four-finger swipes on my trackpad get to my other productivity apps as I need them. However, messenger apps like WhatsApp and Slack are an exception. I need to be able to check these out at a moment’s notice, like when I’m using my browser in full-screen. Luckily, that’s where the Opera sidebar comes in. This handy tool is home to social media apps, messengers, and even some streaming services, keeping them from getting lost in separate tabs and letting me easily glance at them when I’m working on something else. It’s a lifesaver, and other browsers desperately need to adopt it.

What is the Opera sidebar?

You can think of the Opera sidebar as a way to bookmark crucial services to your Opera browser’s left pane. By default, it’ll just show icons, but clicking one will open the bookmarked tool in a small popover tab. This is ideal for tasks you want to work on without losing focus on your currently active tab. While I would normally go to a secondary tab to search the web or switch to a different app to reply to texts, this sidebar lets me stay on the current tab, attend to other tasks quickly, and then get right back to work.

How to set up Opera’s sidebar

Credit: Pranay Parab

The sidebar is enabled by default, but you should take a moment to tweak it so that your favorite services show up on it. Just click the three-dots button in the bottom-left corner of the Opera window and the sidebar settings pane will open up. Go through the sections for AI services, messengers, and special features. Just click the check box next to the services you wish to use and disable the ones you don’t need. After this, your selections will show up in the left pane and you can click them to use them in the sidebar.

You can’t add any random app to the sidebar, unfortunately, but there is a reasonably well-populated list for you to choose from. You can pick AI services such as ChatGPT, messengers (WhatsApp, Slack, etc.), or social media sites (Instagram, Bluesky, etc.). The most recent additions are Bluesky, Discord, and Slack, so at least Opera is always adding more options. The sidebar also supports music streaming services such as Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music.

Why I prefer the Opera Sidebar over tabs

I’ll admit it: I have a problem of opening too many tabs and then losing track of them. I’ve been guilty of opening the same website in multiple tabs or sometimes even running the same search query in more than one tab. With the sidebar, I’ve found a solution to these problems. When I need to reply to a message, I can open the messenger app from the sidebar and dismiss it the moment I’m done. And if I need to access it for longer, I can pin the app, which puts it in a neat split-screen view. This lets me work faster than when I have multiple open tabs, or when I need to switch between apps. 

While a Mac does let you easily place two apps side-by-side, the browser sidebar feature lets me quickly swap new apps in as I need them. This is a level of flexibility that’s otherwise hard to find. It’s also worth noting that Opera is not the only browser to offer a sidebar, but it is one of the few that runs your browser extensions within the sidebar. If my preferred browsers—Safari and Firefox—were to adopt this feature, I’d even be compelled to delete the official apps for some of these services.

I don’t see myself using Opera as my primary browser because I’m attached to the unique privacy benefits in Safari and Firefox, but the company has been doing a few interesting things as of late. It’s built a browser that can break your doomscrolling habit and its Aria AI is actually quite useful. Other companies would do well to keep up.

Pixel users will soon get an extra layer of protection against malicious calls and texts, as Google’s AI-powered, real-time scam detection is rolling out widely next month.

The Gemini Nano feature, which is coming to both Google Messages and Phone by Google, runs in the background and will alert you mid-call if it identifies “conversation patterns commonly associated with scammers.” You’ll hear a beep at the beginning of possible scam calls to indicate that the conversation is being monitored, with subsequent beeps sounding every few minutes. You’ll also see an on-screen prompt when suspicious activity has been detected, with options to “End call” or mark “Not a scam.” For messages, possible scam texts will be automatically moved to your Spam & blocked folder.

Google says that the feature works on-device only and will not save or record any call or message content.

Google rolled out live threat detection for spotting malicious apps on your Pixel late last year (the same time that Scam Detection launched in a public beta). That feature alerts you to suspicious apps—specifically, “stalkerware” that scrapes your personal data—in real time so you can evaluate and delete them if needed.

How to enable scam detection on your Pixel

Once scam detection is widely available in March, you can activate the feature for calls in your settings. Open Phone by Google Settings > Scam Detection and toggle scam detection on. To enable detection and filtering for spam texts in Google Messages, go to Messages Settings > Spam protection.

Of course, threat and scam detection features don’t absolve users of the responsibility to follow basic security best practices when it comes to calls, messages, and apps. Be wary of calls and texts from numbers you don’t know, and don’t engage with anyone requesting urgent action, such as providing sensitive information, sending money, or downloading software or apps to your devices. Don’t click links in suspicious texts or emails, and always go directly to the website for the bank or institution to locate contact information.

Do you remember a time when the internet was a more chaotically personal place? When the experience of using social media wasn’t so uniform? SkySpace seeks to recapture those days. The site transforms your Bluesky profile into a Myspace-esque page, complete with backgrounds, music, and a section for your top eight friends. I kind of love it.

“I miss when social media was more about being social and less about media,” wrote Ste Curran, who built the site, in the project’s FAQ. “I miss the personality, the ugliness, the chaos, the feeling of planting a flag in tiny part of the internet and saying ‘this is mine’.”

And SkySpace certainly delivers there, allowing you to customize basically every aspect of your profile page. Choose any image on the web as your background—including animated GIFs—and tweak the fonts, color scheme, and borders. Add a song to your profile using a Spotify, Soundcloud, or Apple Music link. List your interests. There’s even a version of MySpace “friends”—complete with an optional top eight.

You can view the SkySpace version of any Bluesky profile, but most of them are boring. To make yours interesting you need to sign in—head to the Skyspace homepage, type your Bluesky handle in the top-right corner, then click “Log In”. You will be asked by Bluesky to authorize SkySpace; do that, and you’re in. You can now click the various edit buttons to really tweak your profile.

Credit: Justin Pot

You can link to any image on the web to add it to the background, then choose how the image will be positioned. You can choose the color of each panel, and its transparency. You can choose the thickness and style of the line around each panel. You can even change the text font and color. Hit Submit, and the change will stick.

(The way this happens is pretty interesting. Your options are actually turned into a Bluesky post as a reply. SkySpace doesn’t store any of your settings on its own servers—the service just scans profiles for relevant posts and renders the page using them. As the FAQ explains it: “When you edit a section the site creates a new post tagged with #skyspace and sends it as a reply to a dead account, @skyspacenull. That effectively hides each post from your followers but SkySpace can see them, parse them and turn them into something beautiful/horrific/beautiful to you.”)

Explore the rest of your page and tweak everything you can. You can add a quote, a location, blurbs, a song, and even a list of interests. All of this will feel vary familiar to MySpace veterans, as will the friends section at the bottom:

Credit: Justin Pot

This is populated entirely from your mutuals on Bluesky—people you follow who also follow you back. You can optionally choose which eight people show up here, bringing back the most important decisions one could make on the internet in 2005: Who deserves a spot in your top eight?

This site doesn’t really return us to the friendlier, simpler internet of two decades ago—if only!—but it’s a nice reminder of the chaos and customization we once took for granted. I recommend checking it out.

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Google just announced that its “loss of pulse dectection” feature for the Pixel Watch 3 has received FDA clearance and will be available to U.S. users by the end of March. Read on for more on what this feature does, how well it works (according to one early study), and how you’ll be able to enable it.

The feature has been available in several European countries since late 2024. According to a Google help page on the feature, it’s currently available in “Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.” 

Google – Pixel Watch 3 (41mm) Smartwatch with Porcelain Band – LTE – Polished Silver

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What is “loss of pulse detection”? 

According to documents from Google, the feature is meant to sound an alarm and contact emergency services whenever the person wearing the watch loses their pulse. This could be from a heart attack, poisoning, overdose, or other cause of respiratory or circulatory failure, according to Google’s documents on what they had in mind when developing the feature. 

When the watch detects a “loss of pulse event” (it thinks you are wearing the watch but cannot detect a pulse with the regular heart rate sensor), the watch is programmed to do the following, in order: 

1. Perform additional checks (taking about 20 seconds) to be sure that it’s not detecting movement or a pulse. For example, it can use brighter lights in the optical heart rate sensor, and check for movement from accelerometers.

2. Buzz your wrist and ask if you are OK. You can tap an “I’m OK” button to clear the alert. This phase lasts for 15 seconds.

3. Play an audible alarm while displaying a 20-second countdown stating that it will place an emergency call (“No pulse detected / Calling 911 in…”)

4. Call 911 through the watch’s LTE connection, or through a connected phone, and play a recorded message to them (not audible to you or to bystanders). The message states that your watch detected a loss of pulse and that you are unresponsive, and it gives your approximate location.

5. While the call is ongoing, there is a “talk to 911” button displayed on the watch. You (or a bystander) can tap that button to interrupt the recorded message and speak to emergency services as a regular phone call.

What is (and isn’t) loss of pulse detection good for? 

The loss of pulse detection feature is promising for what are sometimes called “unwitnessed” cardiac arrests, as a group of Italian healthcare professionals wrote in the journal Resuscitation. I wasn’t able to find any real-world accounts of this feature saving someone’s life, but to be fair it’s only been available for a few months. 

Google emphasizes that the feature is not intended to provide any treatment or be expected to save your life, and definitely cannot replace medical monitoring devices that may have been prescribed or recommended to you by your provider. It can’t prevent a loss of pulse, or determine the cause of a loss of pulse, and it can’t even be sure that its emergency calls will go through. 

Importantly, the loss of pulse detection process has not been tested in a variety of real-world situations that may increase the risk of false alarms, or of missing a real event. These are some of the people who might be most interested in this feature, so it’s worth noting that the feature has not been tested for people identified as high risk for sudden cardiac death, or for people who are pregnant, under 22 years of age, who have chronic pain, poor blood flow to the wrist, peripheral nerve conditions, cognitive impairment, sickle cell disease, or who have a tattoo on their wrist that may interfere with the sensor. 

How well does loss of pulse detection work on the Pixel Watch 3?

Google has published a brief summary of the results of their testing from the watch, as part of this document that gives instructions for use. They tested the feature on 135 volunteers, including—according to a press release—stunt actors who simulated falls while wearing a tourniquet.

The sensitivity in a clinical trial was 69.3%, meaning that the feature was activated 69.3% of the time that a person had an actual loss of pulse. The other 30.7% of the time, it didn’t activate. That’s not great, but the idea seems to be that it’s a lot better than nothing. 

The other metric of accuracy, specificity, Google described as amounting to “1 false positive call over 7.75 user-years” with 131 of their users. (That would be compatible with 131 users wearing the watch for about three weeks each, resulting in one person getting a false positive, but Google didn’t release the full results so we can’t say whether that’s exactly how the study went, or how their use compared to what you might be doing with your watch over the next 7.75 years.) 

If you do get a false positive, you’ll have a few chances to cancel the alert before it gets as far as calling emergency services. If you tap that “I’m OK” button, the watch will ask if you were doing anything innocuous that may have triggered it. Sleeping on your arm is one of the options; so are a loose fit on the watch band, and not wearing the watch at all. Google also notes that other factors like ambient light, or pressure on the skin, may sometimes result in false positives.

How to enable (or disable) loss of pulse detection on the Pixel Watch 3

Once the feature is available here, it will be an option when you’re setting up a new watch. (So far it hasn’t been announced for any Fitbit models or older Pixel watches, just the Pixel Watch 3 in both sizes.) To turn on loss of pulse detection for the Pixel Watch 3 that you already have, go into the Pixel Watch app, tap Safety & Emergency, and look for Loss of Pulse Detection. There is a switch that allows you to turn the feature on or off.

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The market for earbuds can be hectic if you’re not on top of it, with many brands and new models coming out regularly. I do keep up with them, though, and can tell you which ones are worth your money. The Sennheiser Accentum earbuds are a great value right now, after a 50% discount that lowers their price to $99.95 (originally $199.95), the lowest price they’ve ever been, according to price-tracking tools.

Sennheiser Accentum Earbuds

ANC: Yes, Battery Life: 28 hours, Interface: Touch, Microphone: Dual, IP Rating: IP54.

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at Amazon

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The Sennheiser Accentum earbuds came out in the summer of 2024 with an “excellent” review from PCMag. They stand out in their bass frequency and sound quality as well as their ANC performance, and they use tap controls that are fully customizable in their companion app.

There is also a customizable EQ in case you like your sound signature to sound a certain way. If you’re not sure how to choose your EQ, there is a feature that lets you choose while you listen to different media or genres of music so you can have a set EQ profile for every scenario (like a preset for podcasts, the gym, running outdoors, etc). Combine that with the Sound Zone feature, which automatically chooses an EQ preset depending on your location, and you have yourself a sound set just for you no matter where you go (picture walking into your office and automatically blocking out noise with ANC and setting your preferred EQ automatically).

The earbuds have an IP54 rating for water- and dust-resistance, so you can take them outdoors. Just be aware that these earbuds are bigger than most (some people might find that uncomfortable). The earbuds automatically pause when you take them out of your ears, which is always a nice feature. They have Bluetooth 5.3 with Appex, AAC, and SBC codecs and you can expect about six hours of battery life and 20 hours from the carrying case.

For $100, these earbuds are a great value, and perfect for people who value ANC and like bass.

“Don’t Google yourself” is terrible advice. If there’s personal information about you floating around on the web, you should be aware of it—because, despite common misconceptions, the internet is not written in ink. If your info is popping up on Google Search, you might be able to get rid of it.

On Wednesday, Google announced its redesigned “Results about you” tool. This feature, first rolled out in 2023, looks out for your personal information on Google Search, including your name, phone number, email addresses, and home addresses. The tool then tries to remove any information it does find. Note that this doesn’t necessarily delete that information from the website in question; rather, it affects outdated info that appears in Search. For example, you requested a site take down your address, or you edited a webpage to reflect your new phone number, but that deleted data still shows up when people search your name.

Using Google’s “Results about you” tool

Here’s how the tool works. First, head to the “Results about you” website. If this is your initial experience with Results about you, click Get started. You’ll be presented with a series of pop-ups, walking you through what to expect: You share your personal info, and Google scans the web looking for that info. If Google finds that info, you can ask the company to remove it.

Click Next through each pop-up, then punch in your personal information, which includes your full name, nicknames, home address, phone number, and email. For example, I included my full name, a nickname, two recent addresses, my phone number, and three email addresses. Confirm you are indeed the person who this contact info belongs to, then hit Continue.

From here, you’ll have the option to choose how you want to receive alerts if Google finds your information on the web. You can have Google email you, send you push notifications through the Google app, or both. Once these settings are confirmed, you’re done! Google says the process usually takes a few hours, and the company will notify you when it is finished—presumably via the alert method you previously chose.

Heading back to the Results about you dashboard, you’ll find a “Results found” section, which will list any personal information Google happened to find in its search. There are two categories: “Results to review,” which lists any data Google returns, and “Reviewed,” which stores any results you’ve already checked out. Under Settings, you can change how Google notifies you with its results, as well as any of the data you want Google looking for.

When you do ask Google to remove a piece of personal information from Search, you’ll find that inquiry is added to a section beneath “Results found” called “Removal requests.” Here, you’ll see whether your requests are in progress, approved, denied, or undone (if you decide to undo a request).

You can also send a request to remove a result from the search page itself. Just click the three dots next to any given search result, and choose “Remove this result.” Then, select the reason why—likely, “It shows my personal info and I don’t want it there.”

If you’ve tried to buy or sell a house, you probably worked with a licensed real estate professional—there are more than 3 million of them in the U.S., and their advice and assistance are often invaluable. Real estate agents know the properties in their area and can help you locate them (and weed out deceptive listings) and guide you through every step of the process. A good real estate agent who has your best interests at heart is worth their commission and then some.

But not everyone who has a real estate license is a good agent—or an ethical one. Sometimes the red flags around an agent are big and obvious, but sometimes real estate pros engage in subtle little scams that aren’t obvious at all. These down-low tricks aren’t always illegal, but they’re unethical—and they can cost you big time when it comes to what’s likely the biggest financial purchase in your life. If you’re looking for a real estate pro to help you with your house hunt or sale, watch out for these subtle scams.

Sketchy referrals

One of the most subtly unethical things a real estate agent can do is push sketchy referrals on you. It’s normal for an agent to help you find a mortgage broker, a home inspector, or even a contractor to help you figure out if a house is a good fit for you. It crosses into unethical territory, though, if they try to insist you use their referrals or even push you to use them.

You can defend yourself from this simply by getting other referrals for any services you need, especially when it comes to mortgage brokers. Real estate agents sometimes have what are called “preferred lenders,” and there can be benefits to using them (like a smoother process)—but you never have to use them. Getting a few other quotes will help you figure out if the person your agent suggests is doing right by you.

Buying a listing

If you’re selling a house, you know that one of the trickiest aspects is choosing which real estate agent to work with. Agents know there’s competition for that commission, so there’s always a sales pitch. One subtle little scam some agents pull is simply telling you what you want to hear: That your house will sell for a higher price than what other property experts are telling you.

It’s called “buying a listing.” They know that if they confidently assure you that your house will sell for significantly more, you’ll be enticed to sign with them. And they know that when offers come in lower than they promised they can blame the shifting market or some aspect of the property for the discrepancy—and you will probably not be willing to walk away from an offer even if it’s not as high as you were led to expect.

A good way to avoid this trap is to do your own research. Get several estimates on what your property could sell for, and look for comparable properties in your area that have recently sold. If an agent comes back with a suggested listing price that is way out of line with the rest, be suspicious.

Steering

If you’re working with a real estate agent and you notice that they never show you homes in specific areas, or ignore your preferences and only show you homes in certain areas, you might be the victim of “steering.”

Steering is the practice of trying to steer you into a certain neighborhood or area based entirely on some attribute like race, religion, or gender. It can be very subtle—the homes you’re seeing are in your price range and match your list of must-haves, they’re just always in the same area. Steering isn’t always obvious, either—if you’re single and your agent never seems to show you a large house in a family-oriented neighborhood despite your stated preference for just that, they might be steering you toward what they think of as a more “appropriate” property, your desires be damned.

Some signs that you’re being steered include a lot of personal opinions from your agent on who should live in certain properties and a pattern of ignoring your preferences in terms of property size, type, and location.

Personal property

If your agent sweetens a deal by helping you reduce your future tax burden with a lower official price on the home, you might think you’ve found the brilliant real estate hustler of your dreams. This is usually done by suggesting that a portion of the sales price be listed as payment for “personal property” and not the house itself. This reduces the actual price of the house, which in turn will reduce future tax payments.

It’s true that it’s not uncommon to buy stuff like furniture or appliances from a seller, and these items are usually considered personal property and a separate sale. But lying about this is, of course, illegal, and opens you up to a long list of potential consequences.

Lax marketing

When you hire an agent to help sell your house, they’re not just someone to rubber-stamp paperwork and be there for open houses. They’re supposed to market your home to prospective buyers. When you sign with a real estate agent, they should detail what they’re going to do in that department—from advertising to web listings, staging, and even video brochures or virtual tours.

Some agents will promise the moon when closing you as a client, then actually do very little in terms of marketing, which saves them time and money. They might still sell your home, of course, but they won’t work as hard for that commission as you expected. Your best practice is to make the marketing plan part of the contract—and then follow up to make sure the plan is being followed.

Bait listings

If you landed with your current real estate agent because you spied a listing for a house that was absolutely perfect and much cheaper than you expected—only to be told that the house had already sold—you may have been the victim of a bait listing.

Bait listings are sometimes old listings that saw a lot of interest, so the agent leaves them up in order to attract latecomers, but they can also be deceptive listings designed to lure interest. Once the agent has you in their office or on the phone, they admit the listing is gone—but assure you they can find the right property for you regardless.

Off-market

If your real estate agent tells you that your house isn’t in prime condition and suggests you sell it off-market—without listing it publicly on the multiple listing service (MLS)—they might be setting you up for a subtle scam involving a property investor they already have a relationship with. Once you agree to sell off-market (because the agent has convinced you that sprucing the place up properly is prohibitively expensive), the investor magically appears, offering to buy the place as-is. You wind up selling at a discount, the investor does the sprucing up you could have done, and sells it for a profit—a profit that could have been yours.

Meanwhile, the agent may have gotten away with a triple commission: From you and the investor on your home’s sale, then later when the investor sells the house again. Always be skeptical of an off-market suggestion and drill down into how it helps you to have fewer potential buyers—and get your own estimates on repairs and improvements that will make your home more marketable.

The ghost buyer

Sketchy real estate agents sometimes invent phantom buyers when it serves them. There are usually two basic scenarios:

• When you’re selling your house and looking for an agent, they contact you and tell you they have an interested buyer, or your property fits the bill for someone they know of. Then they push for you to hire them as your agent. That interest buyer probably vanishes—they were just a way to get the agent’s foot in your door.

• When you’re buying a house and you’ve found a property you want to make an offer on, suddenly there’s another interested buyer, and you’re advised to improve your offer on the house to ensure you get the property. It’s entirely possible there is another buyer, of course, but it’s also an effective (if unethical) way of getting you to pay a higher price, with a higher commission.

The best way to defend against ghost buyers is to choose your listing agent according to your needs, and not just because they rang you up out of the blue, and to know at the outset how much you’re willing to pay for a house—and commit to sticking to that.

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Making homemade bread and pizza can be greatly improved with the use of a pizza stone. I’ve used one for years, and it’s the best way to get a well-browned bottom crust. I thought I had it all figured out, until the pizza steel arrived. If you’re getting serious about cooking (and reheating) pizza at home, one of these tools should be in your oven.

What’s a baking (or pizza) stone?

A pizza stone is a plank or circle of ceramic or cordierite (a type of thermal shock-resistant ceramic). They’re typically between a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch thick and can range in size from nine to 20 inches across. 

Compared to a pizza steel, ceramic stones are relatively lightweight, which makes them easy to move around and store when they’re not in use. They can stain (especially if you’ve flubbed a few pizzas like I have), but cleaning them requires little more than a good scraping once the food bits have burnt to a crisp. I use a metal bench scraper to dislodge big chunks, and then simply wipe off the smaller particles with a damp cloth. 

Unfortunately, they are susceptible to cracking or breaking. The material is very brittle, so if you drop the stone or knock it with something hard it could crack. The ceramic material is also porous, which means moisture can get absorbed (that’s why I recommend a dry scrape or damp towel only after you’re finished using it). If the stone has moisture trapped inside, when it goes into a 475°F oven it can crack as the liquid rapidly evaporates. 

Amzdeal Pizza Stone

$19.36
at Walmart

$39.99
Save $20.63

Shop Now

Shop Now

$19.36
at Walmart

$39.99
Save $20.63

Pros: 

• Lightweight

• Thermal shock resistant 

• Easy to store

• Easy to clean

Cons:

• Susceptible to cracking or breaking

• Porous and can absorb moisture

What’s a pizza steel?

Pizza steels aren’t quite as widespread in popularity, but maybe you’ve seen one before. They look like the sexier version of a pizza stone; they have the same shapes, rectangular or circular, but they begin to diverge from there. A pizza steel is made of carbon steel. It’s better at conducting heat and, since it’s more dense, better at heat retention. Which means pizza steels can be effective even when relatively thin. They can range from 3/16-inch to a half-inch thick. But don’t let the thinness fool you—they’re damn heavy. Like a cast iron pan or a heavy Dutch oven, this trade off can be worth it, but it undoubtedly makes it harder to lift, carry, or situate in a low cabinet for storage when it’s not in use. 

Unlike the fussy pizza stone, a pizza steel is robust and relatively indestructible. Water doesn’t get trapped inside, as it’s not porous, and it doesn’t give a damn about temperature shifts. Your pizza steel can last you a lifetime of pizzas if properly cared for. That is, unless it rusts.

That’s right: If you don’t ensure your pizza steel is completely dry before storing it, or if you store it with other wet things, you might be greeted with a rusty mess the next time you take it out of the cabinet. Although this sucks, it’s not the end. You can scrub off the rust with something abrasive, like steel wool, but you’ll need to re-season it with some oil. Here are other tips on getting rust off of your pizza steel. 

Otherwise, you can clean the pizza steel by scraping off the burnt bits with a strong spatula and washing off any grease with warm soapy water—just be sure to dry it completely. I usually dab off excess water with a paper towel (don’t scrub or bits of paper can get stuck) and toss it back into a warm oven to quickly evaporate any residual moisture. I’m a fan of the original Baking Steel.  

Baking Steel – The Original Ultra Conductive Pizza Stone

$129.00
at Amazon

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Shop Now

$129.00
at Amazon

Pros: 

• Durable

• Thermal shock resistant 

• Easy to clean

Cons:

• Heavy

• Susceptible to rusting

• Larger sizes can be expensive

If you’re a person who has a small kitchen, makes pizza or bread only occasionally, or has limited mobility and strength for heavy, cumbersome objects, then you might opt for a small pizza stone. If you’re okay with lifting something heavy and you know that baking pizza, bread, or burgers is something you’ll be doing weekly, then a pizza steel might be the better option for you.