If you or someone on your gift list wants to learn a new instrument, you can get Skoove Premium piano lessons on sale for $149.99 right now (reg. $1,198). The app comes with over 400 lessons and thousands of instructional videos from experienced Skoove music instructors, and it also provides real-time feedback so you can improve every step of the way. It was an App Store Editors Choice with 4.5 out of 5 stars, and includes a wide range of music–from fundamental pianists like Bach and Beethoven, to more modern artists like John Legend and Adele. And whenever you are struggling or have doubts, Skoove also comes with one-on-one support options.

The app is compatible with all pianos and keyboards, both USB/MIDI or acoustic, and since there’s obviously no shipping, it can make a great last-minute present.

You can get a lifetime subscription to Skoove Premium piano lessons on sale for $149.99 right now (reg. $1,198), though prices can change at any time.

Take a look in your email’s spam folder, and you’ll find a sea of obvious, pathetic, sometimes hilarious phishing attempts. Occasionally, however, scammers get a bit clever and figure out how to scare you into sharing your most important information.

The latest Instagram phishing scam wants your backup codes

In this latest case, as reported by Trustwave, scammers are impersonating Meta, warning users their accounts are “infringing copyrights.” To make matters worse, they’ll emphasize that if you do not appeal this decision, Meta will delete your account within 12 hours. That’d be pretty awkward if you saw this email the following day, with a perfectly intact Instagram account.

To the trained eye, this initial message may be an obvious scam. While they get the Meta logo right, you might not fall for an intro that reads “Hi! Dear [Your Name],” or a direction that says “Click ‘Go to Form’,” when the button actually reads “Go to appeal form.” Meta also would never delete an account 12 hours after sending a warning email unless you “appeal” the decision first. If you dig deeper, the email address isn’t from Meta: It’s from “contact-helpchannelcopyrights[.]com,” and the URL to the appeal form goes to a Google Notification link, not a Meta URL. Suspicious…

However, many won’t see these red flags, and may click the appeal button as soon as possible to avoid losing their Instagram account. If you do, you’ll be taken to a fake Meta “Violation Status Central Portal,” where you can begin your “appeal.” Once you click through to another site to begin the process, the site asks you for your Instagram username and password (of course). But what the phishers are actually after comes next: They’ll ask if your account has two-factor authentication. If it does (as it should for maximum security), you will be asked to provide one of your backup codes for “protection.”

Let’s take a step back. Two-factor authentication (or 2FA) sends a code to a trusted device whenever you try to log into your account. It’s meant to keep intruders who know your username and password out, and is why you should never share your code with anyone. However, if you don’t have access to your trusted device, some services like Instagram use backup codes. These are pre-established codes that you can use on a one-time basis that act like 2FA. That way, even if you don’t have access to the text message with your 2FA code, you can use a backup code to authenticate yourself.

The scammers want you to provide one of your backup codes, following your username and password, so they can use it all to log into your account on their end. Once they do, they can reset both the password and the codes, locking you out of your account. Again, you should never hand out your 2FA or backup codes to anyone. Only use them when you are directly attempting to log into your account and are prompted to do so.

How to protect yourself from phishing scams

Scammers aren’t going to stop scamming, but you can make it harder for them to succeed. At this point, we should all stop checking our email. But, if you must, follow these general tips:

• Always check the domain of the sender. Often, a scammer will replace their name with the name of the company they’re impersonating (Meta, in this case), but if you click the name in your email app, you’ll see the full domain. It’s likely bogus.

• Be extremely cautious with links in messages. Before clicking, hover your mouse over the link and read the URL preview that appears. If the link is official, it should take you to a familiar domain (something related to Meta or Instagram). If it’s a jumble of nonsense, or a company name that has nothing to do with the email, that’s an issue.

• Be mindful of spelling, grammar, and formatting issues. These billion dollar companies don’t send out emails with mistakes: If the copy is poorly written, or if the formatting seems amateur, that’s because it is. It’s giving “graphic design is my passion.”

• If you do click a link and regret it, just close out of the window. Do not download anything or give any information away. False sites love to ask you to “sign in,” all the while recording your username, password, and other valuable information like your 2FA codes.

• If in doubt, reach out to the sender directly. If “Instagram” wants you to log in, log in from Instagram’s site yourself. If your boss wants you to wire money, call them directly. (Although I promise you, they don’t want you to.)

Source: LifeHacker – Don’t Fall for This Instagram Copyright Infringement Scam

You’ve heard that money doesn’t buy happiness, but you probably haven’t heard of the wealth-happiness nexus. While money alone doesn’t buy happiness, it definitely makes you feel more secure—and can empower you to buy things that facilitate happiness, too. The idea of the wealth-happiness nexus takes things a step further, exploring not only how wealth can or cannot make us happy, but how happiness can positively impact our bottom line.

What is the wealth-happiness nexus?

Lots of research has shown that there’s a link between overall satisfaction and economic growth. While you don’t need a bunch of scientists to tell you that you feel happier when you have a robust checking account, it’s worth considering these conclusions: The relationship, it turns out, is bi-directional, meaning happiness not only comes from economic growth, but can “be an engine” for it, too. Happiness can help you make more money. Again, even on a common-sense level, this makes sense. When you feel happy and like your needs are met, you are less stressed and can get more done. 

What else plays into this nexus?

Having money doesn’t automatically make you happy, of course. Like any emotion, happiness is subjective and depends on all kinds of personal factors within you. Just like there’s research on the link between happiness and money overall, there’s also been research on the little elements at play.

In this research, it wasn’t income that seemed to impact a person’s wellbeing so much as the following two concepts: subjective socioeconomic status and something called “Comsim.” Subjective socioeconomic status is an individual’s perception of their own social and economic standing, which isn’t determined by income, education, or job, but rather that person’s own feelings and beliefs about how they compare to others around them. Comsim is the practice of comparing your current socioeconomic situation with individuals from similar backgrounds, based on the idea that it’s easier to draw comparisons with someone who had the same upbringing you did than it is with your immediate peers. Both of these factors seem to be significant predictors of subjective wellbeing, and if you focus on them too much, you can reduce your own happiness, no matter how much money you actually have.

The objective, then, is to focus more on personal goals, progress, and accomplishments. Avoid comparing yourself to others and instead consider your financial position in a purely personal way. Consider whether you have enough for the budget you’re setting for the new year, not whether you have enough to compete with your childhood best friend. Celebrate any financial gains you make and don’t think about the ones you see other people make. 

To start, assess your finances using a checklist before the year is over, then set a resolution to make more if you want, but also to celebrate your successes and spend money on things you enjoy. Your goal isn’t actually to be rich and happy, but self-satisfied and above the urge to compete with everyone else. There’s the real wealth-happiness nexus.

Source: LifeHacker – How the ‘Wealth-Happiness Nexus’ Could Change the Way You Think About Money

Every year the holiday season seems to get longer. By the time Christmas actually arrives, you’ve heard more than your fair share of Christmas music—it’s practically inescapable. And every holiday playlist looks nearly the same as the next; if you search for “Christmas music” on any platform you’ll get similar results—including a bunch of songs that have become closely associated with the holiday but aren’t actually Christmas songs except by association.

Sometimes these non-Christmas Christmas songs make sense, because their lyrical imagery is all wintry and it’s easy to see the holidays implied within them. But if you pause for a moment to really think about those lyrics, it’s usually pretty obvious what is and isn’t an actual, bona-fide Christmas song. Here are eleven that snuck into the holiday season under false pretenses.

“Winter Wonderland”

If you feel pressured to work even after you’re technically off the clock, you’re not alone. But did you know that people in your situation report that this actually makes them feel less productive overall? It’s counterintuitive but true. Here’s what you need to know about why you should call it a day at the end of the day. 

Working beyond your work hours makes you feel burned out

It’s common sense that if you work too much, you’ll start to feel overwhelmed and burned out, but Slack’s latest survey of about 10,000 desk workers shows how bad it really is out there. Of their respondents, two out of five said they regularly work after hours and 50% of those say it’s because they feel pressured to, not because they choose to. What’s really interesting, though, is that those who feel pressured report 20% less productivity throughout the day, which Slack attributed to a “focus on quantity over quality across many aspects of work.” In other words, when you’re working more than you should be, feeling more stressed about it all and not taking time for yourself, overall work quality can decline, not just the quality of whatever you’re doing in your off time.

The most common reason these workers give for why they work so much is that they don’t have enough time during their day to get their work done. One in four respondents say they spend too much time in meetings and the same amount say they spend too much time focusing on email. 

How to stop working overtime

So, it seems pretty clear that working outside your regular working hours isn’t a great idea for a variety of reasons. But how you do stop? There are a few things you can do to combat these feelings of not having enough time to work, therefore pushing yourself to work beyond your time on the clock. 

First, you need to figure out what you’re doing with all your emails. You have some options for inbox management, like the 4D method of quickly deciding whether you’ll delete, do, delegate, or defer any incoming message, or the LIFO method of going through your inbox at a scheduled time, starting from the top and working down. 

Next, start timeboxing, or scheduling, every little second of your day and making these blocks of time visible on your work calendar. Whichever email management system you choose, make sure you only use it during an allocated time. Try a half hour in the morning and 20 minutes after lunch, then 10 minutes just before you leave for the day. Put these clearly defined boxes in your schedule, plus every other thing you need to do in a day. If you’re having a hard time deciding how long each task will take, spend a week or two tracking your time with an app to figure out exactly how much of a commitment all of your responsibilities require. 

Finally, if you have any say in whether you have meetings or not, try implementing a policy of one day for meetings per week. Research has shown that getting pulled into too many meetings sucks and makes you less productive, so do what you can to minimize the amount you have to be in and consolidate the necessary ones on a single day. Then, do what you can to make the essential meetings actually useful and efficient.

Remember that your productivity needs breaks. Working too much just isn’t good for you, so prioritize getting off work and staying off work. Employ the methods above to get more done during the regular day so you can leave without feeling pressured to do more, then go out and enjoy your off hours.

Source: LifeHacker – Why Working Too Much Might Actually Make You Less Productive