off duty – The News Desk

My Secret to Running in the Winter Isn’t Cheap—but It Keeps Me Motivated

29Dec

By adminNo Comments

Technology

My Secret to Running in the Winter Isn’t Cheap—but It Keeps Me Motivated

RUNNING IN temperate seasons like spring and fall is easy. The discipline gets harder in the summer, when just being outside causes sticky sweat to fill my body’s nooks and crannies, but it’s not impossible. You just have to force yourself out of bed earlier.Come December and into January, however, I find jogging through winter’s chilling winds, under the straitjacket of wan gray skies, truly punishing. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Your Desktop, Phone Screen and Inbox Are a Mess. 6 Tips for Digital Decluttering.

26Dec

By adminNo Comments

Technology

Your Desktop, Phone Screen and Inbox Are a Mess. 6 Tips for Digital Decluttering.

EVERY DAY AROUND 3 p.m. when my attention wanes and deadlines loom large, I self-soothe by filtering my Gmail for messages larger than one megabyte and deleting them. Yet, my inbox still brims with unsolicited PDFs, unread newsletters and virtual webinar invites.A more streamlined digital life is possible, say several professional organizers I consulted. Their main advice? Digital decluttering takes time. Stormy Perez, who specializes in creating organization systems for people that hire her on TaskRabbit in New York, recommends trying to do one digital cleanup chore each week (or even month). Here, six strategies you can undertake to start your year off right.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

It’s Not Just You: Email Search Is Terrible. Here’s How to Do It Smarter.

14Dec

By adminNo Comments

Technology

It’s Not Just You: Email Search Is Terrible. Here’s How to Do It Smarter.

Q: Finding specific messages in my Gmail app seems harder than it should be. Am I doing something wrong?A: You’d think that Google, with its near-complete monopoly on helping us find things online, would produce an easily searchable inbox. Alas, I’m all too familiar with this issue, and I’ve received the same query from fed-up people who use Outlook and Apple’s Mail app, so the problem isn’t limited to Gmail. One factor: The apps tend to prioritize email search results based on the recency of messages, rather than their relevance. This isn’t helpful.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

The Difference Between a Good Ski Day and a Bad One? Two Inches.

14Dec

By adminNo Comments

Technology

The Difference Between a Good Ski Day and a Bad One? Two Inches.

WHEN THE first recreational skiers began to fly downhill in the mid-19th century, they had one choice for skis: skinny, straight, wood boards. Two or 3 inches wide, they could get you down the mountain, but it wasn’t always pretty. As the sport began to evolve in earnest in the next century and resorts opened around the world, ski design also changed. Soon, you could get a ski for any type of skiing. By the early 2000s, when euphoric descents of fresh, fluffy snow dominated ski media and advertising, the most glamorous releases from ski manufacturers ballooned in width to almost 5 inches underfoot. These skis, with carbon fiber or titanal metal layers, shorter cambers and long, shovel-like tips, float over these perfect conditions with ease.Unfortunately these days, powder is elusive. As ...

A Disney World Survival Kit: 7 Gadgets to Make Your Trip Cheaper and More Comfortable

10Dec

By adminNo Comments

Technology

A Disney World Survival Kit: 7 Gadgets to Make Your Trip Cheaper and More Comfortable

HERE I AM on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom—again. Neither I nor my wife long for this place. During our first family trip to Disney World in 2018, she had to swallow vats of Dramamine to stomach the rides. And I resented getting taken on the proverbial ones—being forced to pay $5 for a stale churro offends me. But when my in-laws decided to go this fall, we felt obliged to take our daughter with the rest of her cousins.Rob Daniel, 47, is well aware that parents need help braving Disney trips. For Ear Scouts, the YouTube channel he co-owns, the Celebration, Fla.-based web developer documents his weekly visits to the theme parks, reviews new attractions and compiles guides on how to get the most out of a visit. Armed with his advice and my own hard-won knowledge, I packed quite different...

Travelers Can Still Find the Magic of ‘Old Hollywood’—If They Know Where to Look

8Dec

By adminNo Comments

World

Travelers Can Still Find the Magic of ‘Old Hollywood’—If They Know Where to Look

“YOU WANT to touch the Hollywood Sign?” asked Jeff Zarrinnam, chairman of the Hollywood Sign Trust, the organization that oversees its preservation, with a laugh. “I think we can arrange that.” This was my pop-culture holy grail. Like many travelers to Los Angeles, I have hiked the public trail in Griffith Park to the top of Mt. Lee, which offers a distant vision of the famous letters’ backside. It’s a deservedly iconic view, but this felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for more. I followed Zarrinnam as he unlocked a private security gate in the Hollywood Hills, about 100 feet above the letters, and handed me a rope to hold on to for the scramble down a slippery hillside. “I’m going down first,” he declared with an Indiana Jones flourish. “Wait till I give you the signal!” Copyrigh...

3 Reasons You Should Buy a Stick Vacuum—And 3 Reasons They Suck

7Dec

By adminNo Comments

Technology

3 Reasons You Should Buy a Stick Vacuum—And 3 Reasons They Suck

JILL KOCH, 39, bought her first cordless vacuum because it was pink. “I didn’t look at the brand, I didn’t look at the price. I saw the color and was like, ‘I have to have it,’” said the Cincinnati-based home organization and cleaning blogger. Koch, who owns almost a dozen vacuums, says her newest cordless stick, the Shark Wandvac, gets the most use. She finds its motor powerful enough to handle most tasks. But more important, because of its sleek look, “it’s not even weird to store it in plain sight,” she said. Whenever she sees something that needs cleaning, that vacuum is within reach. She can clear the mess, dump out its dustbin into a trash can, and re-dock the vacuum in a minute or two.Cordless stick vacuums aren’t new—British manufacturer Dyson released its first cordless stick vac...

The Best Winter Golf Vacations: A Sun Seeker’s Guide to Must-Visit Courses

29Nov

By adminNo Comments

World

The Best Winter Golf Vacations: A Sun Seeker’s Guide to Must-Visit Courses

STUBBORN GOLFERS might soldier on until snow blankets the local fairways, when they repair to their simulators to play virtual Pebble Beach in their pajamas. But in-the-know devotees of the game pack up the clubs and head to where golf is a year-round pastime. Some courses to consider:Aces in ArizonaAfter the triple-digit temps of summer, the Phoenix-Scottsdale area, with more than 200 courses, enters prime time. Thanks to dynamic pricing, high-season fees rise as the mercury drops, but using a booking app like GolfNow or TeeOff can yield the odd bargain. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Got $1,350? Spend a Night in a Space Observatory. Here’s What It’s Like.

28Nov

By adminNo Comments

World

Got $1,350? Spend a Night in a Space Observatory. Here’s What It’s Like.

FROM THE TOP of Kitt Peak National Observatory, just 50 miles from downtown Tucson, the autumn night sky blazed; the Milky Way was so dense with stars it looked like a luminescent cloud. Jupiter shone like a beacon—so bright I wondered how I’d never noticed it before. And that was before we were directed to the telescopes. After lifetimes in cities where urban lights blot out the night sky, my wife, Deb, and I have sought out stargazing opportunities. Count us among the many who have popularized so-called dark-sky tourism, in which star seekers travel to find better viewing conditions. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

27Nov

By adminNo Comments

World

9 Best Gadget Gifts for 2023 to Impress

A LOT OF extremely expensive gadgets were released in 2023—from smarter robot vacuums to calorie-zapping fitness suits. While a VR headset with an Apple logo might make for a welcome gift, giving someone a $1,600 automated maid might imply you think they’re feckless and sloppy. Instead, get your giftees more thoughtful, more fun and more valuable tech and gear gifts that won’t clear out your wallet. Here, our picks.A Small, But Mighty Camp LanternThe diminutive Hozuki LED camping light has an alluring globular shape and emits a soft, candle-like glow. But it will satisfy outdoorsy sorts who demand more than aesthetics: Its hook can be clipped to the hook inside a tent or used to comfortably carry the lamp to the campsite showers. For those who fear the great outdoors, it could double as a...