Life Hacks – Spoken Edition

Commutes are frustrating because they make us feel like we don’t have any control. You’re either trapped on a bus or train, or trapped in a car crawling along the freeway. But if you focus on what you can control, your time heading to and from work can become the best, most enriching parts of your day.

Massaging your dog sounds a little crazy, sure—but if you want to pamper your pet, there may be real benefits to giving your dog the spa treatment. If your dog likes being petted, then they’ll probably enjoy a massage. The two main benefits are stress relief (being a dog is hard!) and building a stronger connection with your pup. Massage sessions relax both of you and give you special time to bond together in a calm environment.

You’ve probably seen king oyster mushrooms, also often called king trumpet mushrooms, before at your local asian grocery, but you might not know exactly what they’re good for. If you’re getting your grill out for spring, now is the perfect time to try out these under-appreciated mushrooms. For starters, these mushrooms are excellent for grilling, I’d say even better than portobellos because they don’t shrink as much or expel as much water during the grilling process.

Ever get epic ideas while you’re in the car? If so, you’ve probably struggled to figure out how to jot down those ideas without swerving into oncoming traffic. It can be a distraction for sure, but one Redditor has a useful suggestion that involves one of our favorite tools: IFTTT. If This, Then That is an incredible tool that lets you connect two apps and automate certain tasks between them. Want to automatically turn your calendar events into Todoist tasks? IFTTT can help with that.

A while back we showed off a little trick to enable YouTube’s secret dark mode. Now, there’s an official way to opt into the new look. How to Enable YouTube's Secret Dark Mode in Chrome How to Enable YouTube's Secret Dark Mode in Chrome How to Enable YouTube's Secret Dark Mode in Chrome If you’re running Google Chrome 57 or above, it turns out there’s a hidden dark mode. Reddit user… Read more Read more The new look isn’t just about the dark mode.

Juicy burgers that melt in your mouth are one of life’s greatest pleasures. If your patties often turn out tough and dry, this clever method might fix the problem. According to Master Chef judge Graham Elliot, the secret to super juicy burgers is a plain ol’ ice cube. He explained why to Fox News a while back: “Make your patties, then put your little ice cube in there and then when you grill it, it keeps it moist and keeps it from getting dried out.

Ever needed to hand your phone to a kid? Even if you don’t want to, sometimes you’re trying to keep them quiet at a restaurant, or calm them down at the doctor’s. But handing over an unlocked phone is just asking for the kid to delete all your home screen shortcuts (or, worse, work emails). Fortunately there’s a way to fix this. The feature is called screen pinning, and it’s been hiding in Android’s settings menu since Lollipop.

Ladybugs eat aphids. So if aphids are eating your potato plants, you might be tempted to mail-order a ton of ladybugs (yes, this is a thing you can do) to solve your garden woes. There’s a flaw in that plan, though: when you release ladybugs, they fly away. I learned the truth about ladybugs, which really should have been obvious from the start, thanks to this video.

It’s just common sense that in order to keep peace in your household, chores should be split evenly between the people who live there. Whether you share chores with roommates, a partner, or both, this two prong approach will get them to do more chores without a fight. The first prong is to take a look at the chores that each person is supposed to do and evaluate if they’re similar in effort or time needed to complete them.

If you’re one of the millions of Americans that downs coffee or other caffeinated beverages to get through the work day, here’s some good news. A new scientific review on the safety of caffeine says drinking up to four cups of coffee, or about 400 milligrams of caffeine, is pretty safe. Good Coffee for Lazy People Good Coffee for Lazy People Good Coffee for Lazy People I love coffee. I drink it every day. I love trying new brewing methods at home.

We’re not encouraging anyone to do drugs, but we’re also not going to pretend that our readers don’t do any. If you do and have to, say, take a drug test for a job, it may be helpful to know how long certain drugs stay in the places they’re most likely to check: your urine, blood, and hair follicles.

Cats don’t just like small spaces, they love them. From Amazon boxes to grocery bags to the tiny gap between the bottom of your couch and the floor. They’ll even curl up in a square of tape on the floor! But why is your cat so attracted to these small spaces? The answer has to do with the security and protection that these places offer, and regardless of if they’re truly safe or not, it’s about how they make your cat feel.

Raising kids is tough, and if you have a partner helping you, it’s good to be on the same page. Of course, it’s not possible to discuss every little thing before you start having kids, so if you’re a parent, what do you wish you’d talked about with your partner before you had kids? Even if your kids are grown or you’re not with the other biological parent of your kid anymore, you might have advice that could help other soon-to-be parents talk about what matters.

Windows/Mac/Linux: When it comes to notes apps, you have a seemingly endless trail of options, but it’s rare to find one that’s cross-platform, supports the Evernote-style of rich notes, and works without needing an account somewhere. Collate is just that. The idea behind Collate is pretty easy to get behind. It uses an the now standard “big notes app” organization methods of notebooks with individual notes inside.

If you’re not sure exactly where you want to go on your next vacation, or you know where but are flexible on when you go, this interactive map uses 10+ years of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data to show you what the weather will be like. This first step in travel planning makes sure you’ll have good weather for your trip.