Andy Orin
Lifehacker
New York, NY, United States
Contact Andy
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Past articles by Andy:
Two Ways to Get Your iPhone to Stop 'Ducking' Around
Because you never actually mean to write about ducks, probably. → Read More
We're Gianna Toboni and Isobel Yeung, Correspondents for VICE on HBO, and This Is How We Work
Some journalists spend their careers behind a desk. That’s a fine way to work, depending on the beat, but it’s not for everyone. It’s not for Gianna Toboni and Isobel Yeung, who travel the world as correspondents for VICE on HBO. → Read More
I'm Aurelia Moser, Community Lead at Mozilla, and This Is How I Work
Aurelia Moser is a developer, teacher, author, and also a bit of a cartographer. She works at the Mozilla Science Lab with researchers to collaborate on open source projects and is also a mentor at Girls Develop It. → Read More
Why Conspiracy Theories Are So Appealing
Put on your tin-foil hat, cover your webcam with a piece of tape, and wait for the imminent arrival of the lizard people because it’s time for some conspiracy theories. Over half of American adults believe in at least one wacky theory, but why are these absurd and complex ideas are so appealing? → Read More
Google Home Now Supports Multiple Users and Can Recognize Your Voice
One of the biggest limitations of Google Home, Google’s voice-controlled speakerbot, was that it couldn’t tell anyone apart so all your requests were centered on one Google account. But thanks to an update today, now it can recognize up to six people. → Read More
Leaked NSA Malware Reminds Us to Keep Windows Up-to-Date
Last week, a group calling themselves the ShadowBrokers leaked malware that was used by the NSA to target computers running Windows. It was a striking data dump that potentially put millions of Windows users at risk. Luckily, Microsoft says they’ve already patched the vulnerabilities. → Read More
Goodbye, Windows Vista
This week, Microsoft ended support of Windows Vista, ten years after it arrived on our computers in frosted-glass splendor. Was it bloated? Perhaps. The demands of the interface were unforgiving on old hardware. But it felt like a glimpse of the future. → Read More
I'm Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit, and This Is How I Work
Brad Smith knows karate. Not “business karate” or any overwrought metaphor about teamwork; he literally teaches karate. Or at least he used to before he became chairman and CEO of Intuit. → Read More
All the Coolest New Features in the Windows 10 Creators Update
Microsoft is doing their best to drum up excitement for the relatively mundane experience of updating Windows. Today’s release—the Creators Update—is a little more fun than the usual system tweaks, though. Is it worth its cheerful name? Maybe, if you’re a fan of MS Paint. → Read More
Misconceptions About VPNs, the Virtues of Boxed Wine, the Inevitability of Summer Ticks, and More in This Week’s Highlights
This week we took a hard look at VPNs to see if they’re really the perfect privacy saviors (they aren’t), learned some meticulous ways to sharpen you pencils, and thought outside the box while enjoying some high-quality boxed wine. Here’s a look back. → Read More
Tell Us Your Questions for Planned Parenthood
Next week on our podcast we’ll be talking with Planned Parenthood to learn all about women’s health, how you can take advantage of their services, and what you can do to show support and take part in activism. Let us know what questions you’d like us to ask! → Read More
How to Download the Windows 10 Creators Update Right Now
Microsoft’s latest update to Windows 10 brings a bunch of cool features that range from legit improvements to interesting novelties, and it will begin beaming down from the mothership next week. But you can actually download it today. → Read More
Netflix Gets Offline Playback on Windows
Great news if you’re the sort of person who just wants to kick back and watch movies on your laptop when you’re flying. The Netflix app for Windows 10 now supports offline playback, meaning you can download shows and movies and save them for when you don’t have Wi-Fi. → Read More
The Laziest Way to Use a VPN, a Tortuous Alarm Clock, and More in This Week's Top Downloads
Every week, we share a number of downloads for all platforms to help you get things done. Here were the top downloads from this week. → Read More
What to Do When You Get Stuck in a Twitter Reply-Allpocalypse
Twitter just added a new feature that let’s you add a seemingly infinite number of people to a conversation without affecting the 140 character limit. You can, essentially, @ everyone at once. It’s fine when it’s just a few people tweeting back and forth, but more annoying tweeters can take advantage of the feature and blow up your notifications. → Read More
You Can Now Beg for Money on Facebook
One of the most dystopian trends in recent years is the crowdsourcing of emergency expenses online. People need surgery, can’t afford it, and are tasked with fundraising their own medical bills. Now you can ask for money directly on Facebook. → Read More
Google Calendar Is Now Optimized for the iPad
If you’re the sort of person that’s ditched clunky laptops in favor of a svelte tablet lifestyle, you’ll be happy to hear that Google has finally optimized their calendar app just for the iPad. → Read More
How Twitter's New Filters Can Keep Out the Trolls and Rotten Eggs
I love Twitter even though my replies are filled with people calling me an idiot. I use it to follow the news and make stupid jokes, but I can barely tweet about politics without an army of anonymous trolls spamming my notifications. Now Twitter is finally giving users some new tools to keep the trolls our of your mentions. → Read More
Microsoft Excel Finally Gets Real-Time Co-Authoring
If you use an online app like Google Docs then you’ve long been accustomed to having multiple people collaborate on the same document or spreadsheet at once. Microsoft Excel is finally taking a step into this brave new world of simultaneous editing and adding the ability to co-author spreadsheets. → Read More
BlackBerry Wants to Protect Your Phone From Prying Eyes
Do you ever feel like the person next to you on the subway is staring at your phone and reading your texts? Of course you do, because we all glance at other people’s phones and tablets during our boring commutes. I do, anyway. BlackBerry has a solution. → Read More