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The isolation of the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 shoulder-checked lots of people into new and unexpected hobbies (Dutch oven bread baking, anyone?). The particular locker that the pandemic stuffed me inside was color-changing lighting. My tumble led me down the Philips Hue smart-lighting hole. It began with light bars and expanded into light strips , and within a couple of years most of the light bulbs in my home were connected to Wi-Fi. It became a real problem, though, once I realized that my ambient-lighting fixations could converge with my home theater obsession. And that’s when I bought my first active TV backlight kit. Active TV backlighting sounds patently absurd: You attach a strip of colored LEDs to the back of your television to blast the wall behind it with colored lighting synced to whatever it is you’re watching. On paper, it’s a classic solution in search of a problem. In practice, though, I’ve found that it’s one of the coolest, most immersive things you can add to y...

Listen to and follow The Wirecutter Show . Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadio | Other platforms In this episode, we’re revisiting our interview with Suleika Jaouad, author of The Book of Alchemy and creator of The Isolation Journals Substack . We delve into how journaling can help you unlock creative potential and navigate life’s challenges–particularly helpful if you’re partaking in year-end reflection. Jaouad shares her personal journey with journaling as a lifeline during her battle with leukemia and a pathway to “creative alchemy” — transforming difficult experiences into meaningful expression. She highlights the benefits of journaling on mental health, and how it has changed her life. The discussion also explores practical aspects of journaling, from overcoming the fear of a blank page to maintaining consistency through accountability and prompts. And Jaouad shares her preferred tools — a fountain pen and quality paper — and the rituals tha...

You know what lives rent-free in my head? That fact that when Aretha Franklin was interviewed about her greatest challenge, she didn’t talk about developing an almost-four-octave vocal range, or about carrying the torch for R&B music, feminism, and even the civil-rights movement over a six-decade career. Instead, she said it was “trying to figure out what to cook for dinner.” If that’s how the Queen of Soul felt, what chance do we mere mortals have? And as one of those mortals, I can tell you that this persistent conundrum prompts a bit of boredom and sweaty anxiety, especially when it’s posed by one of my hangry children when I’m trying to finish work, the dog needs a walk, and I could really use a nap. So I get why meal kits are popular. By delivering a set number of recipes each week, with the exact amount of ingredients needed to execute them, they can ease the Sisyphean task of figuring out dinner. Over the years, to find the best meal kits, we have cooked over 200 meals ...

In an ideal world, you’d clean your floors every day, staying ahead of dust and grime and watching your home transform into a spotless, sparkling palace. We live in the real world, though, where a host of other household responsibilities and chores vie for our attention. The newest robot mop-vacuum combos are designed to bridge the gap. And as long as you set your expectations accordingly (these things aren’t miracle workers ), a good robot mop-vac combo can handle day-to-day floor cleaning with consistency and aplomb. After testing a range of models priced between $400 and $1,600, we think the Narwal Freo Pro offers the best combination of performance and value. from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/CBLAFVm via IFTTT

Need a handy place to stash drinks, leftovers, and other best-kept-chilled snacks? Consider a mini fridge. After filling more than a dozen of these pint-size appliances to capacity and assessing how well they keep their cool, we found that most of them work just fine. But the cube-shaped Magic Chef MCR170 stood out for its usability. And if you need something a bit bigger, we recommend the taller Frigidaire EFR376 . Top pick The best mini fridge Magic Chef MCR170 This mini fridge is compact enough to fit under a desk or in a tight space. It has a small freezer compartment, and its in-door storage holds cans and milk cartons securely. $150 from Walmart $150 from The Home Depot The 1.7-cubic-foot Magic Chef MCR170 is a compact companion that can tuck under an office desk or beside a bedroom table. This model has particularly secure in-door storage (so cans or cartons won’t fly out as often when you open the door), and it has a small, fully contained freez...

For any budding DIYer, re-caulking a bathtub or sink is a rite of passage. Unfortunately, so is the sloppy, sticky cleanup after the first few botched attempts. A few hours into a project, many novices eventually settle for a lumpy, smeared-on bead with the texture of an Impressionist painting and all the charm of a motel bathroom. And I was one of them, until I picked up a $5 caulking tool . If you’re like me, and you caulk only once or twice a year, a silicone-tipped spreader, like the Anvil 4-in-1 Sliding Caulk Tool , will probably save you some time and trouble on your way to better-looking, better-sealed results. I still don’t have a craftsman’s touch, but this silicone-tipped plastic stick covers up my clumsy technique, and it has bailed me out of more than a few rookie mistakes. A handy caulking tool Anvil 4-in-1 Sliding Caulk Tool This tool’s silicone spreaders can bail you out of common caulking mistakes, so it’s much easier to get smooth, neat, water-tight re...

Listen and follow The Wirecutter Show : Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadio | Other platforms We’re re-running one of our favorite episodes from this past year. Wirecutter’s staff tests thousands of products annually, and among that mountain of items, a few always stick out as the best of the best. To close out 2025, we asked our experts to share the things they loved most — and the things that they think would make great holiday gifts. Whether you’re still finishing up your holiday shopping or you’re just here to soak up some end-of-year delight, this roundup is full of recommendations straight from the people who test stuff for a living. If you’d like to receive handpicked gift recommendations right in your inbox, subscribe to Wirecutter’s gifting newsletter, The Gift ! from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/coaF6qr via IFTTT

Your bed should be a haven, a place of rejuvenation to renew your body after the toils of the day. If it’s not — and particularly if you wake up in the morning experiencing more back pain than you went to bed with — you may need to switch up your mattress. There’s no one kind of back pain, and it can happen whether you sleep on your back , stomach , or side . While the traditional guidance for back pain was an ultra-firm slab, the experts we spoke with actually recommended a medium-firm mattress, which should provide support while also cushioning your joints. We recommend five mattresses for back pain, all pulled from our guides to the best memory-foam mattresses , the best hybrid mattresses , the best innerspring mattresses , the best cheap mattresses , and our overall guide to the best mattresses . from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/W8DQUzp via IFTTT

I look at my phone entirely too much. You can add my screen time to the list of things that would send a Victorian child into a coma . But I’m not alone. To address this common complaint, tech companies like Meta, Google, Samsung, and others are exploring powerful smart glasses that promise to help people leave their phones behind. The latest versions of these glasses have tiny screens embedded in their lenses, which can display messages, maps, and more. They also have built-in camera lenses for shooting photos and videos. I decided to buy a pair, the new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses , in the hopes that they could be the solution to my smartphone addiction. from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/Kyo43dJ via IFTTT

A good-tasting chicken broth can help ensure a better result in your cooking, even when broth is just a bit player in a recipe. And when broth is the star ingredient, as it is in soup, it can make or break the final dish. But store-bought chicken broths range widely in quality and flavor. And if you’re staring at an aisle’s worth of options in the supermarket, deciding which one is the best can be daunting: Labels and ingredient lists can tell you only so much , and a higher price doesn’t necessarily translate to better flavor. from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/UJWkR7x via IFTTT

Last month I arrived home from Spiel Essen — the world’s largest tabletop-gaming expo — to find my email and social inboxes filled to the brim with messages from friends and colleagues asking me what I thought about a new gadget that had popped up in their Instagram feed. That gadget was the austere-sounding Board , a 24-inch touchscreen display that attempts to fuse the digital and tabletop gaming hobbies. The Board aims to bring more face-to-face interactions to the home, using the screen to facilitate a more communal game experience than you might get with a video game and a more expansive experience than you might get with a tabletop game. “For video games, the screen is the entertainment,” Seth Sivak, Board’s chief creative officer, told me. “For [the Board] the screen is definitely enabling the entertainment, but you have the pieces and looking across at the people.” The Board launched in October with 11 preloaded games, plus an arcade mode that rotates through four of those....

A rolling pin is such a simple tool that we wondered if there could be much difference among models. But after nearly 20 hours of research and a dozen conversations with bakers and cooks — both professional and amateur — we learned that small variations matter. When we tested 12 carefully selected rolling pins (out of nearly 30 we considered) on three types of dough, the timeless maple 23-inch  Whetstone Woodenware French Rolling Pin proved to be a superior tool and a great value. It’s more agile than a handled pin, doesn’t stick to the dough as much as cheaper models, and has just enough heft to do some of the work for you without smashing fragile dough. It’s also one of the easiest to clean. from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/9VCdktw via IFTTT

Buying a USB-C cable might seem like a simple task, but behind this universal connector lies an array of complex options. The best phone-charging cable, for instance, may not be the best choice for backing up data to a hard drive, and the fastest cables for data transfer may be overkill for connecting an external monitor. Newer connectivity interfaces such as Thunderbolt 5 and USB4 only complicate matters further. We’ve tested dozens of USB-C cables and adapters to find the best options for every scenario and to rule out those that don’t work or are unsafe. Whether you’re replacing a lost USB-C cable or looking to get the best performance from your chargers and peripherals, these are the best cables to consider. from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/xQJqzGF via IFTTT

I have hiked to the highest peaks of the Alps to taste mountain cheeses made from some of the most pristine milk in the world. Hugged the copper vats that birth the extra-special reserve Parmigiano-Reggiano that is so celebrated, Italians won’t even export it. And studied under master cheese tasters to decipher the difference between washed rinds and bloomy ones. So trust me when I tell you that a really good American cheese — yes, I mean those processed squares prized mostly for their shelf life — can rank among the greatest dairy pleasures. When you need a slice that’s silky and molten, or a midnight snack eaten by the refrigerator’s dim light, they’re simply the best. It’s true that not all American cheeses are delightful. We tasted 21 nationally available varieties, some of which were icky and sticky, droopy and wan. But we found four favorites that are surprisingly creamy and alluring, with flavors that hold hints of real cheddar, and in one instance, a mild and savory Swiss. ...

If you’ll excuse the pun, touchscreen gloves can be a handy addition to any winter arsenal. Although no pair is likely to keep your digits quite as toasty as regular gloves—or let you type as well as you would with bare fingers—a good pair successfully prevents your hands from getting too cold while you dash off a text, rather than a “txtjnZ.” We’ve tested 80 models and found that the knit Moshi Digits Touchscreen Gloves 3.0 were the warmest and performed the most accurately in typing tests; plus, they comfortably fit a wide range of hand sizes. We also recommend a pair of fleece liner gloves , lightweight gloves for better dexterity , and—if you prefer a different look and feel—two classic and stylish leather options. from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/XNl2bhH via IFTTT

Burning a scented candle is an effortless way to create a cozy, luxurious, or tranquil mood in any room. After spending about 50 hours researching more than 80 candles and testing 53, we’ve found our favorites for all of your olfactory endeavors. Whether you want your home to smell like a Provençal perfumery or you just need to mask some persistent pet odors, we’ve got you covered. from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://ift.tt/friGDpb via IFTTT