What's New on Disney+ in February 2025

Pixar fans have an emotional February to look forward to on Disney+. The eight-episode miniseries Win or Lose, premiering Feb. 19, tells the stories of eight connected characters as they get ready for a championship softball game.

The first two installments feature Laurie (voiced by Rosie Foss), a 12-year-old player struggling with insecurity, and Frank (voiced by Josh Thompson), a teacher and league umpire, navigating their unique emotions. Additional episodes will premiere on subsequent Wednesdays.

Also on the lineup is the premiere of Harlem Ice (Feb. 12), a five-part documentary about the girls of Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH), and The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl (Feb. 7), an immersive concert to celebrate the classic film's 30th anniversary.

Finally, there are 12 new episodes of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (Feb. 28), the 2000s comedy spinoff that premiered back in October, and additional installments of Marvel Animation’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on Wednesdays through Feb. 19.

Disney Plus series with new episodes weekly in February 2025

  • Marvel Animation’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man—new episodes weekly on Wednesdays through Feb. 19

  • Win or Lose—new episodes weekly on Wednesdays beginning Feb. 19

Movies and complete series/seasons coming to Disney Plus in February 2025

Arriving February 5

  • Kindergarten: The Musical (S1, 5 episodes)

  • My Best Friend’s An Animal (S1, 6 episodes)

Arriving February 7

  • Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (S2, 10 episodes)

  • The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl

Arriving February 10

  • Cheerleader Generation (S1, 10 episodes)

  • The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders

Arriving February 12

  • Pupstruction (S2, 6 episodes)

  • Harlem Ice

Arriving February 13

  • Shuffle of Love: A Descendants Short Story

  • SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) *available through February 22

Arriving February 17

  • Adam Eats the 80s (S1, 10 episodes)

  • Magic of Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point

Arriving February 19

  • Mickey Mouse Funhouse (S3, 5 episodes)

Arriving February 21

  • Theme Song Takeover (S3, 6 episodes)

Arriving February 22

  • Fur Babies (S1, 4 episodes)

Arriving February 24

  • Find My Country House (S1, 10 episodes)

  • Kim of Queens (S1, 12 episodes)

  • No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski (S1, 6 episodes)

  • Outrageous Love with Nene Leakes (S1, 10 episodes)

Arriving February 28

  • Chibi Tiny Tales: Shorts (S6, 5 episodes)

  • Wizards Beyond Waverly Place

Hulu + ESPN content coming to Disney+ in February 2025

Disney+ subscribers will also be able to stream select content from Hulu and ESPN in February as well as live events like day one of the WM Phoenix Open, the NHL 4 National Face-Off, and women's college basketball and softball games. Here are a few of the titles available:

  • American Horror Stories

  • Scandal

  • Tell Me Lies

  • Archer

  • Snowfall

  • 500 Days of Summer

  • The Bob’s Burgers Movie

  • The Proposal

  • Kinds of Kindness

  • White Men Can’t Jump (2023)

  • Basketball College GameDay

  • Pardon the Interruption

  • The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny

  • In the Arena: Serena Williams

  • Rhythm Masters: A Mickey Hart Experience

  • Black Girls Play



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These Are My Favorite Air Fryer Recipes

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Your kitchen should have the right tools. Welcome to A Guide to Gearing Up Your Kitchen, a series where I help you outfit the space with all the small appliances you need (and ditch the ones you don’t).

The air fryer has blessed us all with quick convection heating at affordable prices, and the unparalleled reheating of leftover fried food. What more could a girl ask for? Compared to a microwave or stand mixer, it’s an appliance I haven’t lived with for very long, but I can’t imagine living without it now. Whether it’s your first time using an air fryer or your 500th, you’ll love these fool-proof dishes. Here are some of my favorite air fryer recipes to date. 

Easy mushroom chips

Air fryers bring speed, ease, and efficiency to our kitchens and there is no recipe that honors this cooking appliance more than these mushroom chips. It's a two-ingredient recipe that requires hardly any preparation and you are rewarded with a savory, crunchy snack. These mushroom chips can be eaten on their own or as a crunchy topping for soups, salads, or casseroles. They're also naturally gluten-free and vegan.

A pile of mushroom chips on a white plate.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Air-fried pierogies

There are few things more satisfying than a soft pasta pocket full of potatoes, meat, or vegetables. But a crispy-shelled pasta pocket might be just the thing. These air-fried pierogies are easy, thanks to the frozen food section in the grocery store, but make sure you follow my tips here so you end up with a light and shattering shell.

A plate of air-fried pierogies, with one broken open in front.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Meatball shots

Prepackaged supermarket meatballs make quick and easy work of these cheese-filled meat bites. I enjoy them particularly as a Super Bowl snack, but let's be honest: Sometimes there are no sports on but a savory craving hits nonetheless. These are the three-ingredient snack for you. Simply hollow out the center of a meatball and fill it before crisping up the edges in your air fryer. Read here for the full recipe.

A plate of meatball shots filled with soft cheese.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Stuffed mushrooms

Stuffed mushrooms are easily in my top three favorite snacks. They're satisfying, bursting with umami and extremely quick to make in the air fryer. My recipe uses sausage, spices, and a bit of cream cheese to bind it all together but you can easily replace the meat with a different filling of your choice. Once they're in the air fryer, they only take about 10 minutes to cook—a fraction of the time they would take in the conventional oven.

A plate full of stuffed mushrooms.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Scotch eggs

Scotch eggs are like breakfast baseballs. A hard-boiled egg is encased in a thick shell of sausage, breaded, and deep fried. This air fryer recipe breaks with tradition, but only just. Instead of using a deep fryer to cook the protein ball, a light spritz of oil and the whipping winds of the air fryer take care of the cooking. The outside crisps up while the sausage remains juicy and the egg doesn’t overcook. 

Scotch eggs on a plate.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Juicy air fryer steak bites

One of my favorite snacks when I’m eating a high-protein diet (and when I can afford it) is a bowl of steak bites. The air fryer makes quick work of these “popcorn” steak nibbles but beware, the average recipe will have you overcooking them in minutes. Follow my recipe instead and use the freezer to keep your expensive snack juicy and flavorful.

Steak bites in a bowl.
Credit: from my point of view / Shutterstock.com

You’re not late to the air fryer trend, you’re right on time:


Potato-crusted chicken fingers

When you’re after a crisp crust on your chicken fingers, starch is your best friend. It turns out, dried potato flakes are loaded with the stuff. They’re easy to work with, and can even make for a delicious gluten-free “breading.” All you need are a few ingredients to make this recipe, and you’ll have an irresistible batch of potato-crusted chicken fingers of your own. 

Chicken fingers on a plate
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Bacon-wrapped banana bites

I always suggest this recipe to folks open to giving new combinations a chance. If you’re OK with salty peanut butter on a slice of banana, you’re probably just one flavor adventure away from enjoying these bacon-wrapped banana bites. The recipe couldn’t be easier and the payoff is sensational.

Bacon-wrapped banana bites on a plate.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Stuffed shishito pepper poppers

The air fryer makes perfectly blistered roasted veggies in a fraction of the time the conventional oven takes, and that means you can have these shishito pepper poppers ready in less than 10 minutes. Since you can eat the seeds and ribs in a shishito, there’s not much more preparation you have to do than split them and swipe a bit of cheese mixture inside. 

Shishito peppers stuffed with cheese on a plate.
Credit: Claire Lower, Ian Moore

Frico gratin p

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The Best New Movies to Stream This Week

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Looking to settle in with a good movie? Me too. That's why I've pored over release schedules to bring you the best original and new-to-streaming movies you can watch on Netflix, Prime, Max, Hulu, and other streaming platforms this week.

This week most notable release is Back in Action, an action comedy powered-by Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz. Meanwhile, on Prime, Jennifer Lopez stars in inspirational sports movie Unstoppable.

Back in Action

In Back in Action, the star power is turned up past 11. This action-comedy stars Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz as CIA agents who left the undercover life to raise a family together. But when their cover is blown, these seemingly normal parents come out of retirement to kick ass, take names, and make jokes. It's been over a decade since Diaz has appeared in a feature, so expect something special.

Where to stream: Netflix

Unstoppable

Jennifer Lopez anchors this inspiring story based on the real life of one-legged wrestler Anthony Robles, played by Jharrel Jerome. In Unstoppable, Lopez plays Anthony's mother Judy, one of those devoted movie moms who will not let her son give up on his dream of becoming a college wrestling champion, no matter how many sacrifices she has to make. Man, isn't the human spirit something?

Where to stream: Prime

A Different Man (2024)

If you like your comedy pitch black and shot through with absurdity and social commentary, A Different Man is the movie for you. Sebastian Stan plays Edward, a struggling actor with an extreme facial deformity. A medical procedure transforms him into a handsome dude—a different man—but he's only pretty on the outside. Edward soon learns that beauty is skin deep, but ugliness can go right down to the marrow. Like just about everything released by A24, A Different Man received well-deserved raves from critics.

Where to stream: Max

Henry Danger: The Movie

Henry Danger returns to TV in this straight-to-streaming-and-basic-cable feature. It's been five years since the final season of Nickelodeon's Henry Danger TV show, and you gotta wonder if the show's original audience aged out of fandom. Whatever, though: there will always be kids and tweens into a superhero that isn't dark and broody. Here, Danger teams up with a superfan to explore an alternative dimension which could trap the pair forever.

Where to stream: Paramount+

Hereditary (2018)

I love horror movies, and Hereditary is the best one that been made in the last decade, at least. Ari Aster's masterpiece is not a movie for the faint of heart. It's legitimately disturbing in a primal way, a carefully paced, slow burn of dread that becomes builds to a shocking conclusion. The cast is amazing, but Toni Collette's portrayal of a mother struggling with mental illness stands out as one of the most unsettling performances in horror movie history.

Where to stream: Netflix

Last week's picks

Flow (2024)

If you're anything like me, you missed French film Flow at Cannes and during its limited theatrical run in 2024. We should both be ashamed of ourselves. This breathtakingly beautiful animated adventure story about animals who must work together is exactly the kind of movie we both like. We're not alone, either: Flow earned a 97% positive critical rating and 99% positive audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So let's treat ourselves better in the future, and start with watching Flow, all right?

Where to stream: VOD

Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action

If you wanted to pinpoint the moment Western Culture fell off the cliff that led to (gesturing vaguely at everything) this, the popularity of The Jerry Springer Show is a solid contender. Through interviews with the people responsible and plenty of footage from the show, Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action takes viewers behind-the-scenes of the Chicago-based talk show that built an empire on fistfights and scandals, both in front of and behind the camera.

Where to stream: Netflix

Stopmotion (2023)

A tortured artist whose most disturbing creations become real isn't the most original plot in horror movie history, but if it ain't broke, why fix it? The art in this case is stop-motion animation, the creepiest kind of animation, and the creation that comes to life, The Ash Man, is a stop motion figure made of raw steak and roadkill, so it's going to get grisly. Stopmotion was written and directed by acclaimed stop motion animator Robert Morgan, so the details are spot-on.

Where to stream: Hulu

Look Into My Eyes

I'm inclined to think of "psychics" as cynical ghouls who exploit grief for profit, but Look into My Eyes' director Lana Wilson has a more nuanced view of the craft. Her documentary examines the relationship between small-time, New York psychics and their clients without weighing in on whether the mediums' claims are true. Instead of exploitation, Wilson finds healing, faith, and human connection. No matter how skeptical you are, it's a fascinating take on the subject.

Where to stream: Max



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What the Leaks Got Right About the Switch 2

Early this morning, Nintendo finally revealed the Nintendo Switch 2 in a surprise video announcement. That itself wasn't necessarily that much of a surprise: Recent rumors had suggested the company would do as much, and sooner rather than later. But in a slightly unexpected move, Nintendo dropped the video on YouTube without much fanfare or hype. Aside from a complimentary post on X, the company basically said, "Well, here you go."

Perhaps it's due to the fact the Switch 2 itself has been leaked to death that the company is taking less pleasure in the announcement. After all, accessory maker Genki essentially showed the tech world the Switch 2's design at CES last week (though Nintendo says Genki's products were based on unofficial hardware, so it's possible Nintendo felt a drawn-out reveal wasn't necessary. Regardless, it you're really interested in the Switch 2, chances are you knew a lot about it already. Now, you've seen it for real.

This is the Switch 2

In the video announcement, Nintendo gives us a direct comparison between the original Switch (not the Switch OLED) and the new console. You can see how much larger the Switch 2's display and hardware is, as well as some subtle tweaks in I/O. The kickstand design is much different, and much more flexible, as you can bend the console back to a steeper degree.

But the biggest changes, at least aesthetically, seem to be to the Joy-Cons. Nintendo opted to make them larger, slightly change their shape, and bump up the size of the shoulder buttons. The company has also flipped the color scheme: Colorful Joy-Cons on the OG Switch had black accents on the rails, but the new Joy-Cons are almost entirely black, with the colors added as accents to the rails and under the joysticks. As expected, the Joy-Cons connect to the new Switch magnetically, instead of aligning the rails with the console and clicking into place.

The reveal doesn't offer a super close look at the dock, but it does appear similar to the Switch OLED's, but in black—save, of course, for the large "2" next to the Switch logo. The same goes for the Joy-Con grip: It looks like a larger, more refined version of the OG Switch's grip, though Nintendo did display how you can "pop" the Joy-Con out to the side, showing off its magnetic connection.

Did we get any news of Switch 2 exclusive games?

Yes! Although we don't know many details yet. In the trailer, we appear to get a glimpse of a new Mario Kart, as the character designs are definitely not the same as those in Mario Kart 8: Deluxe.

Mario Kart on Switch 2
Credit: Nintendo of America/YouTube

Aside from that, there's no word on actual titles, available at launch or otherwise. However, Nintendo said Switch 2 will play both exclusive and original Switch games, and both physical and digital copies, so your existing cartridges should work with the new console. That said, some Switch games may not be supported by or fully compatible with Switch 2. Nintendo doesn't elaborate further, but this might be a situation where it makes sense to hold onto your original Switch, instead of trading it in for the new console.

Did the Switch 2 reveal include anything else?

Not really! Nintendo being Nintendo, this is just a sneak peak more or less confirming the massive amount of leaks and rumors we've already sifted through. Nintendo has longed promised a Switch 2 reveal in Q1 2025, and we got that. Now we wait for more information.

Nintendo points customers to a page on its website for more details about Switch 2, but as of this article, it's just hosting a link to the reveal video. Perhaps they'll update the site with more information over time. For now, this is the Switch 2. It may not be surprising, but after so much time and so many leaks, it's hard to believe it's finally official.



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This Ultra-Portable JBL Speaker Is $25 Right Now

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If you’re looking for a compact Bluetooth speaker that’s as tough as it is portable, the JBL Go 3 (available in blue and camouflage), might be worth a look. Currently available on Woot for $24.95 (down from $49.95), this little speaker packs a surprising punch for its size. It also comes with a 90-day Woot limited warranty, with free shipping for Prime members. This deal lasts 19 days or until it sells out. That said, it doesn’t ship to Alaska, Hawaii, or PO boxes.

At just 2.7 by 3.4 by 1.6 inches and weighing 7.4 ounces, the Go 3 is small enough to toss into a bag (or even a pocket). Its rugged design, including a sporty lanyard and a cloth grille exterior, feels durable and ready for adventure. Additionally, its IP67 rating means it’s waterproof and dust-proof, so whether it’s by the pool or in the shower, you won’t have to worry about water damage. For controls, you’ve got the basics: buttons for play/pause, volume, power, and Bluetooth pairing. Double-tapping the play button skips forward a track, though you’ll miss having a backtrack option. There’s also no speakerphone functionality—a letdown, but forgivable at this price.

As for sound, the Go 3 is surprisingly well-rounded. It won’t shake the room with bass, but its mono 1.5-inch driver delivers clear mids and highs and avoids distortion even at high volumes, according to this PCMag review. Battery life is decent at around five hours, but your mileage may vary depending on volume levels.



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How To Make Sure People Can’t Find You on Social Media

Even when on social media, you might not feel like being particularly sociable—even with family and friends who you're actually quite fond of. Maybe you don't want parents (or kids) snooping on your activities. Perhaps you'd rather not have long-lost school friends looking you up. Or maybe you just want to keep an online space that's separate from your offline life.

For these reasons and any others, you can make your social media profiles less discoverable than they would otherwise be. The big networks give you control over who can find you and who can't, so you're less likely to pop up in the "people you may know" feed of your uncle or your neighbor from down the street. Here are some tips for making yourself less findable on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites.

General tips for any social media network

Facebook options
Most social networks give you visibility options. Credit: Lifehacker

Generally speaking, there are a few rules you can follow on whatever social platform you're on—though obviously you'll need to work within the platform's policies on user ID verification. First, when you sign up, offer up as little accurate personal information as you can get away with: You might want to use an alternative name, for example, and an alternative profile picture that's something other than your face.

Social networks often suggest connections based on who's in your phone contacts, so if you can avoid giving your phone number, do so (or use an alternative number, if you have one). You'll almost certainly need to supply an email address, but you can enter a secondary one that no one else has, or use one of the many burner email address services that are now available (such as Apple's Hide my Email).

Decline any prompts to find connections and contacts when you sign up, and don't give the app permission to scan your phone's contact lists. If you have to choose a handle, avoid your real name or anything that would identify you. What's more, on most networks, there's nothing to stop you creating a second account, if you want to. If you've already got a "real" account in place, then add an extra one with different personal details that you can use on the down low.

How to stay hidden on Instagram

Instagram options
You can make your Instagram account private. Credit: Lifehacker

You can of course make your Instagram private—so zero other people can see your posts unless you approve their request to connect. You can choose the private option during account setup, or switch to it later in the app by switching to your profile tab, tapping the menu button (three lines, top right), then choosing Account privacy > Private account.

On the same screen there's an Allow profile picture expansion toggle switch: Turn this off to prevent other users taking a closer look at your profile picture. Back on the main menu, you can choose Tags and mentions to control who else is allowed to tag and mention you on the platform. You're able to disable this entirely, restrict it to only people you follow, and switch on manual tag reviewing if you want.

There's another option to talk about, but it's not in the mobile apps—you have to head to Instagram on the web to find it. Click Profile, then Edit Profile, and you'll find a toggle switch labeled Show account suggestions on profiles. Turn this off, and other accounts won't be recommended from your profile, and you won't be recommended on anyone else's profile either.

How to stay hidden on X (formerly Twitter)

X options
X gives you plenty of options for discoverability. Credit: Lifehacker

Since we last wrote about stopping people finding you on Twitter, the site has changed its name to X and Elon Musk has started running the show—but a lot of the same settings are still in place. As with Instagram, you can make your profile private (for approved connections only). This can be done either during setup or through the app by tapping your profile picture (top left), then Settings & Support > Settings and privacy > Privacy and safety > Audience and tagging > Protect your posts.

From the Privacy and safety menu you can also choose Discoverability and contacts. There are three key features you can turn off on the next screen: Allowing other people to find you via your email address, allowing other people to find you via your phone number, and syncing your phone contacts with X to suggest connections. Disable all of them and you'll be much harder to find.

It's also a good idea to head into Direct messages from Privacy and safety, and get everything here set up as you want it. The X platform gives you plenty of control when it comes to who's allowed to message you and call you, and you can shut down these features entirely if needed. It's another precaution that reduces the chance of someone you don't want to speak to getting in touch.

How to stay hidden on Facebook

Facebook options
Facebook lets you choose who can find you on the platform. Credit: Lifehacker

You can't make your Facebook profile as private as you can on Instagram and X, but you still have options. From the mobile app, tap the menu button (three lines), then choose Settings & privacy > Settings > How people can find and contact you. There are a whole host of options here, covering what's visible on your profile, who can message you, whether or not you appear in searches, and more.

If you're looking to stay hidden from people who know you, use the People with your email address and People with your phone number options: Here you can control who sees you as a friend suggestion, from no one at all, to friends of friends with your contact details. There's also a Who can send you friend requests option, which lets you limit the people who can try and connect with you.

Beyond that comprehensive page of contact options, you can also take granular control over what's visible on your profile (so people might be able to find you, but won't be able to see your photos or friends). Tap Profile details and Posts from the Settings screen to lock down the information you're sharing, so it isn't visible to anyone who isn't already your friend.



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You Can Connect Two Bluetooth Headsets to Your Mac Simultaneously

Want to watch a movie with a friend on your Mac? Perhaps you're stuck on a long flight, or like me, your MacBook Air speakers went bust. Either way, you'll be happy to know that the Mac has a built-in feature that can merge multiple different sound outputs—no third-party app needed. You can easily use two sets of Bluetooth headphones to listen to the same audio, without any noticeable audio drift or lag.

First, connect both devices to Bluetooth

The first step is to connect both devices to your Mac using Bluetooth. You can do this by going to Control Center > Bluetooth.

Connect two Bluetooth devices to the Mac.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If your devices aren't yet paired, you won't see them there. In that case, go to System Settings > Bluetooth and pair the headphones to your Mac first.

Merge two audio outputs

To start the process, open the Audio MIDI Setup app. You'll find this in Applications/Utilities in the Finder app. Or you can use Spotlight Search or Launchpad to find and open the app.

Click the Plus button in the bottom-left corner of the window, and choose the Create Multi-Output Device option.

Create Multi Output Device in Audio MIDI app.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

You'll see all the connected devices here. Choose the two devices that you want to use for media playback. You are free to choose one of the devices as the Primary Device at the top. Automatically, the app will enable the Drift Correction feature for the secondary device to make sure that audio is synced perfectly for both devices.

Choosing two headphones from all available outputs
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Next, double-click the Multi-Output Device name from the sidebar to rename it to something you'll easily remember. To test this out now, control-click this group and choose the Use This Device for Sound Output option. The audio output will instantly switch to the headphones pair.

Rename the group and choose it as an audio output.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

But there is a better way to switch to the headphones pair, by using the Sound menu in Control Center.

Click the Control Center icon in the menu bar, and click the Devices menu from the Sound option (you can drag the Sound menu to the menu bar for easier access).

Opening the Sound menu in Control Center for Mac.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Here, choose the newly created audio pair. If you're doing this for the first time, choose the Multi-Output Device option. It will now be updated with your custom group name, making it much easier to choose the output the next time around.

Choose Multi Output Device from Sound menu in Control Center.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The next time you're ready to listen in the same configuration, remember to first connect the two devices individually from the Bluetooth menu, and then select them as a pair from the Sound menu (they won't be listed as a pair directly in the Bluetooth menu, for some reason).



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What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: How the LA Fires Started

On Jan. 7, a deadly combination of dry conditions and unusually strong winds caused a series of wildfires in Los Angeles. The fires then ignited a cultural wildfire of internet ignorance, conspiracy theories, and misinformation that has been burning out of control online. It's been over a week, and neither the fires nor the fake news have been contained.

Much of the mythology around the LA fires revolves around who or what started the deadly conflagrations. It's an understandable question, but there are no useful answers more specific than "the weather" right now.

People are not patient enough to wait for investigations to conclude and lawsuits to be resolved—they can't even wait for the flames to die down— so they're filling in the gaps by casting blame on the groups or things they hate the most.

"The people I don't like set the fires"

The list of culprits is long and peculiar. Here are only some of the people and things being erroneously or prematurely blamed for starting the LA fires.

The Jews: Fan-favorite conspiracy theory "The Jews did it" made an early appearance after the fire. This was posted on Facebook on Jan. 8:

"Just dew it" is a reference to "directed energy weapons," aka Jewish space lasers. But alas, this Facebook post contains a photo from a different fire from 2018, so it doesn't prove anything. That some trees didn't burn doesn't prove it was lasers either. The ancillary theory that homes with blue roofs and/or blue bins aren't targeted by Jewish space lasers isn't true either, but just in case, make sure you recycle.

To be fair, it's not impossible to use "directed energy" to start a fire—you can do it yourself with a magnifying glass—but there's no evidence that this was the cause of the LA fires. A book of matches would be more efficient tool anyway.

Woke people/Democrats: There are a lot of conspiracy theories that blame the fires on the general wokeness of California's government. That these are cheap attempts to politicize a tragedy seems obvious to me, but I'm not the target audience for claims like these. Anyway, California didn't turn away 40 firetrucks from Oregon for not meeting emissions standards. It's also not true that LA sent its firefighting equipment to Ukraine. Donald Trump claimed California governor Gavin Newsom failed to sign a "water restoration declaration," but that isn't actually a thing. James Woods, Elon Musk, and many others claim that the LAFD's diversity program is to blame for a less-than-adequate response to the fire, which is maybe a matter of opinion, but there's no evidence to back it up.

I'm not discounting the possibility that governmental mismanagement or bad public policy affected the response to the fires—nobody's perfect, right?—but it's too early to tell what, if anything, went wrong, and who, if anyone, screwed the pooch. There will be years of lawsuits to straighten it all out, rest assured.

MAGA Republicans: A post on Threads (archived here) from Jan. 8 claims that the LAPD are "looking for three 'persons of interest,' all tied to a MAGA website and who were spotted at the source of all three major LA fires." This is not true. Like it's fully made-up.

Illegal immigrants: This one is at least plausible. In the days after the fire, LA police arrested a homeless citizen of Mexico who was carrying a blowtorch. But whether the blowtorch was used to set fires hasn't been determined. Could it have been understandably nervous local residents mistaking a drug-smoking blowtorch for a fire-starting blowtorch? Maybe. In any case, ICE is looking into it, and if this undocumented dude was really was starting fires, rest assured, we will never, ever stop hearing about it.

Kids smoking weed: 24-year-old hiker Beni Oren posted a series of harrowing videos of himself and his friends running from the Palisades fire shortly after it began, leading to widespread comment section speculation that those kids were smoking weed up there, and that's what started the fire. Many helpful X users also pointed out that "Oren" is a Jewish name. There is no evidence that Oren or his friends were anything but hikers caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. That could change, of course, but for now, that's all we know.

Unspecified people (who are probably the Jews): During a Fox News interview, actor Mel Gibson claimed that "there were people ready and willing and able to start fires and are they commissioned to do so." Because he's Mel Gibson, I assume he's talking about the Jews, but you never know.

Global warming: Global climate change is definitely real, but whether this specific fire (or any fire) was "caused" by climate change is complex question. On one hand, there were wildfires in California before there were humans on earth, but on the other, wildfires are more destructive and more frequent now than they were even 30 years ago. Climate change probably amplified the weather conditions that made this fire so devastating, but does that mean global warming "caused" the fire? I guess it depends on what you mean by "caused."

Enthusiastic urban planners: According to this poster on X, "by 2028, LA is poised to be a fully operational AI based 'Smart City,'" and the fire was set to drive away people so the AI could take over.

Similar "concerns" were voiced by Fox News host Laura Ingram, who said, "There's already talk—and we played a couple of sound bites—of reimagining the way rebuilding occurs, and obviously there's a great need for high-density housing in California and across the country, that's a big push by the climate folks, and you're already hearing rumblings of that in this case. Like, goodbye single-family homes, hello high-density housing."

Ingram doesn't specify who "the climate folks" nor does she detail the "rumblings" she heard. She seems purposefully vague about the details so viewers can fill in the blanks themselves. No one can really say she's wrong exactly, but the insinuation is that some shadowy group purposefully set the fires to achieve their nefarious goal of available affordable housing.

Diddy: According to this conspiracy theory, someone set the LA fires to cover up evidence of crimes connected to P. Diddy. Among the proponents of the "Diddy did it" theory is Catherine Austin Fitts, who served as the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under George H.W. Bush. While this is possible, a huge fire seems like a wildly ineffective tool for evidence destruction.

So what really caused the LA fires?

In a broad sense, the LA fires were the result of unprecedented high winds and dry conditions. The Santa Ana winds are a semi-annual event, and high winds in California usually result in fires. Small blazes that would be quickly extinguished on a normal day become huge wildfires when it gets windy enough.

To be fair to Nature, most of those small blazes are caused by people. Human activity is directly responsible for 85% of wildfires, whether it's electric lines being blown down or arson. As for the current fires: There's some evidence that the Palisades Fire was caused when the remnants of an older blaze reignited, and the Eaton Fire could have been set off by an electric company's equipment, but until The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finishes its investigation and releases its findings, we have no solid evidence of who or what caused the fires.



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I'm a Certified Personal Trainer, and These Are My Favorite Health and Fitness Apps

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I’ve tested tons of health and fitness apps over the years—some to write about, some because I was curious, and some because they are genuinely useful to me. Here is my Fitness App Hall of Fame: the fitness apps that I use the most, and the ones that I think are the most useful for everybody. All of these apps are available on both iOS and Android.

The best apps for tracking nutrition: Cronometer and Macrofactor

Cronometer screenshots
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/Cronometer

I’m including two apps here because one (Macrofactor) only works if you pay for a subscription. I’m a happy subscriber, but for those looking for a free option, I can wholeheartedly recommend Cronometer. 

Cronometer is a nutrition tracker that, unlike certain more popular apps (coughMFPcough), just does its job and stays out of your way. Don’t want to see a calorie goal on your main screen? You can hide it. Want to scan the barcodes on food packages? That’s a free feature. (There’s a premium tier that gives you even more features, of course, but none of the essentials are hidden behind it.)

By the way: Make sure to either follow my link or to check the spelling if you’re typing the name into the app store. There is at least one other app with a confusingly similar name.

MacroFactor screenshots
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/MacroFactor

MacroFactor is a nutrition tracker, but it also does a clever thing that is incredibly valuable, yet underrated in the fitness world: It notices how many calories you’ve been eating lately, and whether your weight has been changing. Based on that, it estimates your total daily calorie burn, without you having to log any exercise or worry about how accurate your wearable is. If you’re eating 2,300 calories and your weight is steady, you know that your body burns 2,300 calories per day. 

MacroFactor costs $11.99 per month, or about $71.99 for a year. I learned a ton from tracking my calorie burn with MacroFactor, and I highly recommend it if you are OK with calorie tracking and are interested in gaining weight, losing weight, or fueling appropriately for exercise. 

The best app for tracking your runs: Strava

Strava screenshots
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/Strava

If you have a wearable you like, the matching app is probably the best one for the nuts and bolts of daily workout tracking. (That would be Garmin Connect if you have a Garmin watch, Fitbit if you have a Fitbit or a Pixel watch, and so on.) But Strava collects the data from any wearable (or none at all—you can enter runs manually) and shows you maps and statistics, plus lets you know what your friends have been up to. 

This recommendation comes with a caveat: If you want to maintain your privacy—and especially if you run in places where there aren’t many other runners—you’ll want to be aware of Strava’s privacy issues and lock down your settings if you aren’t comfortable with the defaults. Even with those caveats, Strava is still my pick for the best running app. There is a premium tier with extra mapping tools for planning your running routes, and extra analysis tools to see how much and how fast you've run. It costs $11.99/month or $79.99/year

The best app to keep you from getting bored on your runs: Nike Run Club

Nike Run Club screenshots
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/Nike Run Club

There are lots of ways to find workouts to follow along with, including getting workouts from a wearable like a Garmin, or subscribing to a service like Apple Fitness+ or Peloton. But the standout in this category is one that is simple, free, and well-produced. It is the venerable Nike Run Club, which doesn’t even require you to wear a watch. You just start a run from your phone, and soon you have Coach Bennett or one of the other friendly voices guiding you through. I love this app, and I’d gladly recommend it to anyone who is getting bored with their runs. 

The best app to track strength training: Hevy

Hevy screenshots
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/Hevy

My caveat for this recommendation is that I don’t use a strength training app on the regular. I get workouts from my real-life coach through a coaching app that my gym uses, and I keep track of all the important stuff in a paper training journal. But I’ve experimented with enough strength training apps that I know which ones are out there, and I definitely have a favorite: It’s Hevy. 

When I tested the fitness-tracking abilities of the Pixel Watch 3, I found that the Hevy watch app was miles better than any of the watch’s native strength-training features. It won’t track your heart rate, which is a good thing. But it does give you a wrist-based interface to track the lifts you’re doing, and the watch app updates the phone app and vice versa. Hevy also works with the iPhone and Apple Watch, and of course you can use it just on a phone. 

Hevy lets you plan out your routine. It can time your rests, if you like. It will keep track of your progress and show you how you’ve gotten stronger over time. There’s even a desktop version so you can see your workouts on a computer screen for more detailed planning. 

The best app for monitoring injuries and health issues: Bearable

Bearable screenshots
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/Bearable

Everybody hurts sometimes, as the philosophers R.E.M. once told us. Sometimes we get hurt while working out, or sometimes we get aches and pains out of nowhere and have to work around them when we exercise. In some cases, especially with back pain, how we feel may be dependent on all kinds of things in our daily life. Maybe your back pain is better on days you exercise, for example, and worse on days you have a lot of stress at work.

Keeping track of those factors in your head can be difficult, but I’ve found Bearable to be helpful. You can decide what you’d like to track each day—like how stressed you are, and whether you did your physical therapy exercises—and rate how much that sore back (or whatever) is bothering you. Patterns quickly emerge. When I was using it, I found it really encouraging to see that my pain wasn’t always so bad, and that there really were things in my control that helped me to feel better. It's not limited to injuries, either—you can use it to track chronic health issues or even mental health.



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This Case Turns Your iPhone Into a Retro Console

Retro game emulators are finally on the App Store, and they're thriving. Apps like Delta and RetroArch let users play old retro Nintendo and console games with ease. The software side of retro gaming is surprisingly mature; the hardware side, however, has some catching up to do.

Playing retro games using touchscreen controls leaves a lot to be desired, and you can't always carry a game controller with you everywhere you go. This is where Bitmo Lab's new Gamebaby controller case comes in.

It's an iPhone case that's split in two. The bottom part is a game controller with support for Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and NES games. According to Gamebaby, the layout supports more than 7000 games that use the Game Boy button layout. (This only works when you're playing games in the vertical orientation.) The case features a D-pad, A/B buttons, Start, Select, and shoulder buttons for more advanced games.

Gamebaby case design.
Credit: Gamebaby

You first mount it as a regular iPhone case. The bottom part, which emulates the Game Boy controller, slides off with ease. It can then be flipped and mounted to the front of the iPhone, and is secured with a satisfying snap.

This is purely a mechanical case: There is no Bluetooth support, no wifi, no charging cable. On the back of the buttons you'll find those squishy silicone pads that will press the touchscreen buttons for you. All the magic happens via Delta's custom skins for Game Boy controllers. The touchscreen button placement is taken care of automatically.

Because these aren't real, electronic buttons, don't expect super-fast response times or huge tactical feedback. (When you're playing old Pokémon games, that's not really the feel you're going for, anyway.)

Currently, the case is available only in one color, and is designed only for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 16 Pro Max (hopefully other smaller iPhones will be supported soon). Gamebaby is available to pre-order at an early bird price of $24.99; when it officially launches, it will retail for $39.99. You can order Gamebaby directly from their website, and they plan to release the product in the first half of 2025.

Gamebaby isn't the only exciting game controller coming out this year. At CES 2025, Lifehacker's Michelle Ehrhardt got to play around with MCON, a MagSafe-compatible slide-out controller case for iPhone and other smartphones. MCON will be the first case available in this slim form factor, and a full controller, along with D-pad and joysticks.



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This New Text Scam Tries to Get You to Disable an iPhone Security Feature

Modern-day smartphones come with a whole host of proactive security features built right in. Scammers and hackers will often try to trick you into disabling or bypassing these safety measures—which is exactly what a newly discovered text phishing con tries to get you to do.

As reported by BleepingComputer, the SMS-based ruse can be recognized by the way it tries to get you to reply with a "Y" to enable a link embedded in the text. The message might also get you to copy and paste the link into Safari.

Replying to the message or moving the link elsewhere gets around a key security measure in iOS: Links from senders who are not in your contacts list are disabled by default. The feature is so critical to iPhone security that you can't toggle it on or off—it's a built-in part of the Messages app you can't change.

Replying with a "Y" (or any other response) makes iOS think you know the sender, and once you restart the Messages app (as the scam text will tell you to do), the link will be tappable—and take you to some kind of fraudulent, credential-stealing website.

According to the fine folks at BleepingComputer, there has been a surge in these types of messages since the middle of last year. Texts purporting to come from courier companies and demands for road toll payments are a couple of the scam messages that have been spotted in that time.

How to keep yourself safe

One member of the Lifehacker team has recently seen a message fitting this description, demanding payment for an outstanding toll bill. The familiar trick of pushing the message recipient to act quickly—in this case to avoid paying even more—is used.

It's worth bearing in mind (and reminding family and friends) that even in the best-case scenarios, you should be very wary of following links that arrive over messaging apps and email. Ideally, you only want to respond to links you're expecting: To track a delivery you've ordered, for example, or to confirm your email address for a new account.

Even messages that appear to come from trusted contacts can be faked—maybe an account impersonating them has been created, or maybe hackers have managed to get access to their accounts, for example. If you get a link from someone you know, double-check with them that it's genuine before following it.

Note that there are two parts to scams like this: The first is getting you to follow the link, and the second is getting you to enter sensitive information (like credit card details or an account password) on a fraudulent website. Even if you are tricked into following a dodgy link, as long as you're able to spot a spoofed webpage, you're okay: Look for weird formatting, a URL that doesn't make sense, and other inconsistencies.

Today's operating systems and web browsers have plenty of built-in protection against phishing sites, so—as always—make sure all of your software is kept up-to-date to minimize the risk of getting caught out. And always avoid responding to any message from an unknown and unverified sender, whether it's with "Y" or with "STOP" to supposedly stop future messages. That just identifies you as a potential future target.



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Mark Down These Eight Tax Dates and Deadlines Now

Tax season is upon us, which means now is the time to kick your preparation into gear. The sooner you file, the sooner you get your refund—or the more time you have to collect the cash for an outstanding balance. The IRS will begin accepting returns later this month, and while the biggest deadline for most taxpayers is April 15, there are other important dates you need to know in 2025.

January 15: Estimated tax payment for Q4 2024

The first deadline in 2025 is actually the final estimated tax payment for 2024. Anyone who is self-employed—contractors and freelancers, for example—or who makes estimated tax payments throughout the year should plan to submit for any income earned in Q4 of last year (for tax purposes, this is Sept. 1–Dec. 31). Failure to make estimated payments, or paying too little, may result in penalties. Note that if you file your return and pay your tax bill by Jan. 31, you can skip the Jan. 15 payment.

January 27: Tax filing opens

The IRS just announced that it will begin accepting 2024 tax returns on Jan. 27. Many taxpayers are eligible for free filing either through IRS Free File—which can be prepared now and held until the filing period begins—or IRS Direct File, which was piloted last year and is now available in 25 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

While you can submit your tax return beginning on Jan. 27, business have until Jan. 31 to finalize and send out 1099 forms. Make sure you have all of your documents before filing.

March 17: Business filing deadline

March 17 is the filing deadline for businesses taxed as partnerships or S corporations. This is also the deadline for electing to be treated as an S corp for 2025.

April 15: Tax filing and retirement contribution deadline

The biggest date of the year is Tax Day. There are a handful of important deadlines that fall on April 15:

  • Tax returns and payments are due for individuals and corporations. Unless you file for an extension, you must submit your return and pay any taxes owed to avoid penalties and interest. If you aren't able to cover your tax bill by the deadline, don't avoid the issue. Look into IRS payment plans.

  • Request an extension. If you do need an extension (which gives you until Oct. 15 to submit your return), request it by the April filing deadline. Extensions do not apply to outstanding tax liability, which still must be paid by April 15.

  • Make your estimated tax payment for Q1. Unfortunately, the first estimated tax payment for 2025 must also be paid on April 15. This covers income earned in January, February, and March.

  • Finalize contributions to your IRA and/or HSA. You have until the tax filing deadline to make contributions to your IRA and HSA and apply them to the previous tax year. If you haven't hit the contribution limit for 2024 and have extra funds, you can consider paying into these tax-advantaged accounts.

There are a few exceptions to this filing deadline. Those in disaster areas are granted extensions, which vary depending on the location. For 2024 returns (and payments), the IRS has already extended the deadline to May 1 for residents of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, as well as those in parts of Alaska, New Mexico, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The IRS has not yet announced extensions for California residents affected by the wildfires, but you can find the most updated information on the agency's website.

June 16: Estimated tax payment for Q2

The second estimated tax payment for 2025 income falls on June 16 and covers income earned from April 1 to May 30.

September 15: Estimated tax payment for Q3

The third estimated tax payment for 2025 income falls on Sept. 15 and covers income earned from June 1 to Aug. 31.

October 15: Extended tax filing deadline

If you requested an extension for filing your return, it is due on Oct. 15.

January 15, 2026: Estimated tax payment for Q4

The final estimated tax payment for 2025 income falls on Jan. 15, 2026 and covers income earned from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31.



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What's New on Disney+ in February 2025

Pixar fans have an emotional February to look forward to on Disney+. The eight-episode miniseries Win or Lose, premiering Feb. 19, tells th...