The Upgrade by Lifehacker

Another year in life hacks come and gone! We're celebrating our favorite moments, hacks, guests and episodes of 2018 with this, our annual Best of The Upgrade episode! Whether you're a lifelong listener taking a trip down memory lane, or new listener looking to dip a toe in the magic that is The Upgrade, we're here for you. And what would an end-of-year episode be without our annual tradition of Alice and Melissa singing Auld Lang Syne? Just kidding! It's our Upgrades of the Year, of course...

Buying presents can be a stressful activity. It's often hard to know what to buy for that film buff friend, or for the brother-in-law who's really into cooking these days. Fortunately, The Upgrade is here to help—just think of it as our gift to you. Listen as seven Lifehacker staffers each share three perfect gift ideas, from artful prints to wireless gadgets to Secret Santa hacks, to help you buy the perfect present.

How do we even begin to find true love in a messy world of online dating, ghosting, and benching? Matchmaker Dr. Frankie Bashan tells us why people are using real-live intermediaries like herself to get dates. Etiquette expert Daniel Post Senning takes on the intricacies of Tinder etiquette. And Lifehacker’s food editor Claire Lower mixes up a very sexy three-ingredient cocktail...

It’s our first live recording of The Upgrade, performed in front of an audience at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY. Joining us are comedians Chris Gethard and Akilah Hughes, as well as Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings of Gimlet Media’s “The Nod.” We talk about how you can’t succeed without failure, and how to move past even the most embarrassing of screw-ups. Plus: we play a few rounds of Never Have I Ever (Upgrade-style) and a new game we’re calling “Lifehacker Saves Your Life.”

Maybe you need to bring your heart rate down after a couple of heated Thanksgiving debates, or perhaps you’re generally feeling a little anxious because of the state of the world. We all could use a little calming down, these days. So we spoke with Dr. Craig Richard, author of Brain Tingles and founder of the ASMR University. And because it’s not only adults who lose their cool, Lifehacker writer Beth Skwarecki gives us 5 ways to stop a child's temper tantrum...

It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means that many of us will find ourselves elbow to elbow with family members, some of whom may have wildly differing opinions on topics like whether cranberry sauce should be homemade or canned, and who should be president. Before things get too heated, we recommend listening to this episode...

In this episode we’re talking about how to tell the truth—and how to know when the people around you are being less than truthful.  We’ll be hearing from MSNBC host and author Lawrence O’Donnell with the story behind his book, Deadly Force—the murder of an unarmed black man and the police cover up that followed. Melissa chats with writer and semi-professional poker play Peter Alson about his former life as a bookmaker, and how to tell when someone is lying...

There are so many different ways to be a dick: from being a schoolyard bully, to not mowing your lawn, to using plastic straws, to being a dick on the road. In this episode, we’re going to talk about some of the little ways we can be good to one another, to the environment, and by extension, to ourselves.

Anne Lamott is a progressive political activist and writer, the bestselling  author of such books as Bird by Bird, Traveling Mercies, Operating Instructions, Plan B, and her latest, Almost Everything: Notes on Hope. We're such fans of Anne Lamott that we've decided to devote an entire episode of The Upgrade to her...

This week we're talking about microdosing: the use of relatively low doses of psychedelics, like LSD and psilocybin mushroom,  to improve mood, focus and productivity in daily life. We spoke with author Ayelet Waldman, whose monthlong experiment with microdosing pulled her out of suicidal depression; psychedelics advocate Paul Austin; and psychologist Dr. Ingmar Gorman, who specializes in "psychedelic psychotherapy" and substance use treatment.