IT General

If you don’t want to pay a subscription, you can now get Microsoft Office for life for under $100

Mashable - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 23:00

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office for life on sale now for $99.97.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office 2024 Home & Business for Mac or PC Lifetime License $99.97
$249.99 Save $150.02   Get Deal

You don’t need a Microsoft 365 subscription to get apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint anymore. Microsoft is finally letting users get lifetime access to recent versions of apps that are usually only available through a subscription. Right now, you can get a Microsoft Office Home and Business Lifetime License on sale for $99.97 (reg. $249.99).

Office 2024 Home and Business comes with:

  • Word

  • Excel

  • PowerPoint

  • Outlook

  • Onenote

You install the apps locally, so you can keep working on documents, spreadsheets, and decks even when you are offline.

Compared with Office 2021, this version focuses on faster performance and smoother workflows. Excel handles large workbooks more efficiently and adds tools like dynamic arrays and AI-driven data insights to make analysis and charting less tedious. Word includes Focus Mode to hide extra toolbars and Smart Compose to suggest text as you type, which can help you draft faster and stay on task.

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PowerPoint gets more flexible presentation tools, including the ability to record slides with voice, video, and closed captions, which works well for remote meetings or classes. Across the suite, the Fluent Design interface keeps the look consistent, so switching between apps is less jarring and easier to learn.

Office 2024 also brings updates on the security and accessibility side. Outlook improves search and adds an updated accessibility checker that flags unclear formatting or language, while Excel adds stronger protection around XLL add-ins.

Don’t waste your money on a Microsoft 365 subscription. Get a Microsoft Office 2024 Lifetime License on sale for $99.97. Sale ends Jan. 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Categories: IT General, Technology

2016 is on our minds—these cars hit our social media feeds that year

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 21:00

2026 is the new 2016, a throwback to what some are fondly remembering as the carefree internet. That seemingly more simple time before everyone was an influencer, before AI and algorithms were everywhere, and before everything got so expensive. Those were the days.

Categories: IT General, Technology

11 Vim tips that will save you hours of editing time

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 20:30

Want to take your Vim game to the next level? From my time using Vim, I've learned many neat tips and tricks that have saved me tons of time and headaches while editing with Vim. I'm sharing some of my top tips in this guide so you can incorporate them into your workflow.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Upgradable RAM is overrated: Why I finally made peace with soldered memory

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 20:30

There's one spec that unifies most laptop users: soldered RAM. Hate it or love it, it's present in many laptops, sometimes making them impossible to upgrade in any meaningful way.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Stop leaving hard drives in a drawer: Why 'Bit Rot' is destroying your data

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 20:30

Cloud storage can get costly, so an alternative for many people is to just grab any important memories and store them in a hard drive to revisit in the future.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Stop winter from killing your MPG with these simple tips

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 20:00

No matter what type of vehicle you drive, be it a beautiful luxury sedan or some fangled hoopty, your engine has to work harder during the winter. Data from the U.S. Department of Energy shows that fuel economy drops in line with the outside temperature, with quick trips, defined as three to four miles, seeing the greatest decreases.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Steam Deck is finally getting official mod support from Nexus Mods

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 19:48

Nexus Mods has confirmed that its popular mod manager, Vortex, is officially coming to SteamOS in 2026. This brings streamlined mod support directly to the Steam Deck and Steam Machine hardware. This is massive news for the modding community and will be big for anyone who owns a Deck.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Google debuts Me Meme feature in Google Photos app

Mashable - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 19:33

Google is leaning harder into generative AI inside its photo ecosystem with the launch of Me Meme, a new feature rolling out in the U.S. that lets users turn themselves into custom memes directly inside Google Photos.

Announced by the Google Photos team this week, Me Meme uses generative AI to insert your likeness into meme-style images using preset templates or user-uploaded visuals. The process is intentionally simple: pick a template, select a photo of yourself, and let the tool generate a meme-ready image that can be saved, regenerated, or shared across platforms.

SEE ALSO: Researchers say they convinced Gemini to leak Google Calendar data (updated)

Unlike third-party meme apps, Me Meme lives entirely within Google Photos, positioning it as less of a novelty add-on and more of an extension of Google’s broader push to make Photos a creative hub, not just a storage locker. It also builds on Google’s growing suite of AI-powered creation tools, which already include photo-to-video effects, AI stickers, and smart editing features.

The feature appears aimed squarely at casual users rather than professional creators. There are no advanced controls, captions, or formatting tools here. Instead, Me Meme focuses on quick, shareable results that require minimal effort. First-time users are guided through a brief intro flow, reinforcing the idea that this is meant to be approachable, not intimidating.

As with most Google Photos features, Me Meme is rolling out gradually, so not everyone will see it immediately. For those who do, it’s a low-stakes way to experiment with generative AI without leaving an app they already use daily.

Categories: IT General, Technology

3 apps to turn your old smartphone into a dashcam

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 19:30

I used to spend a lot of time commuting, but these days I’m lucky enough to work remotely. My wife isn’t. She drives about 20 miles each way on busy highways, and like a lot of people, I worry about her every time she pulls out of the driveway. Late last year, I bought her a dashcam. It’s nothing fancy, just something recording in the background, but she really likes it and says it gives her peace of mind. That alone made it feel worth it to me.

Categories: IT General, Technology

This is the missing automation designer that Home Assistant needs

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 19:00

Home Assistant is arguably the best choice for anyone looking to start a smart home, but this is especially true for power users. If you want unhindered freedom to decide how your smart home functions and you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty, there’s no better choice.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Need more cargo space? This mid-size family SUV has you covered

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 18:30

If your current vehicle feels cramped when packing for trips, hauling gear, or managing daily family duties, one of 2026’s most spacious midsize SUVs may solve that problem. The 2026 Grand Highlander is engineered with cargo capacity and versatility in mind, offering more room behind the rear seats and a flexible interior layout that easily adapts to passengers, luggage, and everything in between. For families who need space without sacrificing comfort or refinement, it’s a standout option.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Winter storm snowfall videos: Social media reveals how hard the storm is hitting

Mashable - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 18:11

A monster winter storm is currently barreling through roughly two-thirds of the United States, stretching across a massive swath of the country from Amarillo, Texas, to familiar winter hotspots like Boston, Massachusetts, and Buffalo, New York. Reports from outlets like CNN indicate that cities like Boston could see more than 36 inches of snow over the course of the weekend, while areas south of the snow line, including Charlotte and Atlanta, are expected to see less snow and more ice, a combination that makes road conditions especially dangerous.

The scale of the storm has also driven a surge of activity on social media in the days leading up to its arrival. Across the country, residents have been clearing store shelves in preparation for being snowed or iced in, posting photos of empty aisles and last-minute supply runs.

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At the same time, users online are fixated on the novelty of places like the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex seeing significant snowfall, a spectacle that tends to be fun for a few hours until the ice sets in and the state’s fragile power grid starts to strain.

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Or you could be in Florida and not see any snow, with cities like Orlando currently predicted to reach a high of 86°F on Sunday.

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Going all the way back up north, Minnesota, it's so cold that a user posted a video of pasta frozen in mid-air. As former Fox 9 meteorologist Jennifer McDermed writes on X, Minneapolis hit a low of -21°F on Friday, with wind chills around -45°F.

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This article will continue to be updated as more posts and news emerge throughout the storm.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The 6 greatest Netflix Originals nobody seems to remember

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 18:00

Netflix pioneered the idea of streaming services making their own original content, exclusive to each platform. In general, this has worked well, and shows like Stranger Things have become major tentpole hits.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Why the "Synology tax" is still worth paying in 2026

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 17:30

Synology has faced a lot of hate over the past year for various reasons—some of which are very founded. However, a longstanding gripe of the brand’s customers is how expensive its hardware is. Here’s why I think that it’s still worth paying the Synology tax in 2026.

Categories: IT General, Technology

I changed this hidden setting and instantly improved YouTube Music's audio quality

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 17:15

High fidelity is almost never the default setting in the digital streaming world today. Most platforms, including YouTube Music, prioritize keeping your playback smooth and saving your data over giving you pure audio quality. This trade-off is silently ruining your listening experience.

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to send text messages without Wi-Fi or cell service on a Google Pixel

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 17:00

Imagine yourself lost in the wilderness, miles from civilization, with no cell signal or Wi-Fi. Your phone is pretty much a useless brick. But what if you could still send a text? While it's not always possible to text without any connection, your Google Pixel has a few tricks up its sleeve for when you're truly off the grid.

Categories: IT General, Technology

4 reasons why Zigbee is more popular than Z-Wave in the smart home

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 17:00

Home Assistant is arguably the best choice for anyone looking to start a smart home, but this is especially true for power users. If you want unhindered freedom to decide how your smart home functions and you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty, there’s no better choice.

Categories: IT General, Technology

I stopped using the Linux start menu: This "fuzzy" launcher is so much faster

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 16:30

I used to treat my Linux app menu like a forgotten drawer. I rarely opened it, only to switch to my terminal a bit later. Then I found Ulauncher. It quietly replaced my start menu, app grid, and desktop shortcuts. Once I got used to it, I wondered why I ever clicked through menus in the first place.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Microsoft’s AI dream is a user’s nightmare: 3 ways an "Agentic OS" fails

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 16:15

With Microsoft's long-term vision aiming for Windows to become an agentic OS, you may think about switching away. I don't blame you because it sounds like a horrible idea, and one that I believe will end in disaster—I have three reasons why.

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to use the REDUCE function in Microsoft Excel

How-To Geek - Sat, 01/24/2026 - 16:00

VBA used to be the only way to handle iterative, multistep logic in Microsoft Excel. Not anymore. REDUCE brings the power of functional programming directly into your cells, allowing you to condense complex, messy data into single, clean results.

Categories: IT General, Technology
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