‘The You You Are’ From Severance Is Real, and I Read It

Fans of Apple TV+’s Severance, your day is about to be improved: Apple has released eight chapters of The You You Are, the fictional self-help book by Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale that is central to the plot of the show. If you want to read it, you can even download it for free, or listen to the audiobook version, narrated by Ricken himself (actor Michael Chernus).

The brief excerpts from The You You Are that have appeared in Severance are among the funniest bits in the show, but the book as released isn’t just for laughs: It’s also a great representation of how propaganda works, both in the Severance universe and in real life.

In the “outie” world of the show, The You You Are is a joke, a pretentious self-help book only fools take seriously. But in the world of the innies, an ill-gotten copy of The You You Are is seen as a work of towering genius with the power to change lives and change the world. This is only because the sole other book in the Lumon office is The Compliance Handbook, a ponderous, quasi-religious text that exists only so Lumon can keep control of its employees. The innies’ reaction to Ricken’s work reminds me of those people who read half a book (or a single headline) and suddenly think they know everything about a complex topic, and who hasn’t met a few of them?

What is The You You Are about?

Ricken’s book excerpt is hilarious and in keeping with the show’s darkly comic style. It opens with, “It’s said that as a child, Wolfgang Mozart killed another boy by slamming his head in a piano. Don’t worry. My research for this book has proven the claim untrue,” and continues in that vein.

Ricken’s book purports to be a practical guide to self-improvement, where readers are meant to gain self-knowledge by following a series of steps:

Figure out your YouType (more on that below), write it on a piece of paper and affix it to your vanity.
Write your name on another post-it and tape it next to your YouType.
Choose a theology and add a “totem” of it to your YouShrine. “This could be a Christianman’s cross, an An-Ra Scarab, or a Masonic square and compass,” Ricken writes, also suggesting you can “use a photo or etching of me.”
Add something you consider sexy. As the author puts it: “Something that whispers to your nethers in a voice only they can hear. This may be a pinup photo from wartimes of yore, a beloved undergarment, or a still life of a sinewy gourd.” Ricken also suggest you can use a picture of him for this step.
Think of an insult you’ve heard. Write an acrostic poem using the letter of each word of the insult and add it to your vanity. Ricken goes with “Everyone laughs at you the second you walk out of the fucking room,” which was once said to him by Severance main character Mark S.
Print out a copy of a poem that Ricken wrote and paste it to your vanity.
“Conceive and found a charitable organization based on a cause that you hold dear…Whether you wish to curtail bear populations, bathe the infirm, or send bottled water to astronauts, stay the course until the organization is procedurally viable. Then, once your licensing paperwork comes in, affix it to the vanity amongst your other totems.”

This is where the excerpt ends. Too bad; I hear page 197 slaps.

Does The You You Are include any clues about the plot of Severance?

In Chapter 3, Ricken mentions going to a theater to see “an American religious satire film which I consider to be the most over-celebrated piece of commercial cinema ever produced,” a film we know as Sister Act. There’s other evidence in the show, but the Sister Act bit confirms that Severance takes place somewhere around now in something like our world, despite the ancient computers and everyone driving cars from the ’80s and ’90s.

The You You Are also gives us a ton of backstory about Ricken’s character and history. For instance, he was conceived and born as part of a “nine-month performance art piece originated by [his] parents titled ‘Smells Like Afterbirth, F**ker.’”

There’s no information about how, exactly, Ricken has enough money to afford his relatively lavish lifestyle. It certainly isn’t from sales of his books, and his parents were performance artists, so it’s not likely to be family money either—unless, as some have theorized online, that Ricken is actually a black sheep member of the Eagan clan.

Maybe the most important thing in The You You Are are the passages where we learn about Ricken’s feelings toward Mark’s (maybe) dead wife Gemma. When Ricken writes about Gemma, he seems to be in love with her. This could be a red herring, but as Severance unfolds, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ricken’s feelings toward Gemma become a major plot point.

The deeper meaning of The You You Are within the Severance universe

The “big idea” behind Ricken’s book is the “YouType,” the kind of made-up psychological concept common to self-help books, pseudo science, and cults—think “love languages,” the Myers-Briggs personality inventory, and Scientology’s “emotional tone scale.”

According to Ricken, everyone fits into one of five YouTypes: The Coward, The Warrior, The Dove, The Scribe, and The Vestal. This mirrors the idea behind Lumon’s Compliance Manual. According to Kier Eagan, there are four “tempers,” Woe, Frolic, Dread, and Malice, and everyone else are defined by the ratio of each within themselves. Kier’s ponderous religiosity and Rickens’ brain-dead aphorisms seem like two sides of the same coin.

In the show, when the “powers that be” at Lumon discover the book has inspired the innies to revolt, their reaction isn’t to ban or discredit The You You Are. Instead, they approach Ricken with an offer to write a new version of the book, specifically for innies. Ricken, ever the egotist and attention seeker, is eager to go ahead with the project so at least someone will take his book seriously. Lumon’s plan is no doubt to coopt the (unintentionally) subversive ideas in Ricken’s book and twist them to support the Lumon status quo. It’s not a heavy lift, given the book contains passages like, “A society with festering workers cannot flourish, just as a man with rotting toes cannot skip.”

This is all a sly commentary on how revolutionary ideas are routinely manipulated and co-opted to serve the ruling class, and how easily people can be tricked into feeling like they’re “sticking it to the Man,” even when the Man is at once profiting and protecting itself by taking the teeth out of dangerous ideas. Think Wal-Mart selling Che Guevara t-shirts, or one of the richest corporations in the world making a TV show about the dehumanization and misery of corporate drudgery.

NewPipe Is an Ad-Free, Privacy-Respecting YouTube App for Android

YouTube’s Android app is cluttered, slow, and full of ads. Even worse: It tracks every video you watch. NewPipe is a free and open source Android alternative interface for YouTube that’s fully private and doesn’t show ads. We’ve talked about ways to watch ad-free YouTube videos, and NewPipe is arguably the best one for Android users.

Even better: NewPipe plays the audio from videos in the background, making it perfect for multitasking. You can listen to music, podcasts, or video essays on YouTube while doing chores, all without the need to keep the screen on. It also offers picture-in-picture mode, so you can watch videos while using another app, and downloads videos so you can watch them offline. These are features you’d otherwise need a paid YouTube Premium subscription for to get in an app.

A picture-in-picture video of a DJ shown over the Lifehacker homepage.

Credit: Justin Pot

There are a few potential downsides. You can’t sign into your Google account, meaning your subscriptions won’t be in the application. There also isn’t an algorithm. This is inevitable for any app built around privacy but is worth thinking about.

The good news is that you can add subscriptions inside the application, allowing you to build a steady stream of videos from creators you trust. There’s also a bookmarking feature, allowing you to mark playlists or videos you’d like to watch later. In short, you’re going to have the opportunity to be a little more proactive about which videos you want to watch. There is support for exporting and importing your subscriptions and playlists, which is useful when switching devices.

Another potential downside is that you can’t get in Google Play—you’ll need to either install the .apk file from the website, which is going to require that you allow your device to install software from “unknown” sources. An alternative, which would also make installing updates easier, is to install NewPipe using F-Droid, which is a dedicated app store for open source Android publications.

It Looks Like Rumors About the Switch 2’s ‘Mouse Mode’ Might Be True

When the Nintendo Switch 2 was officially announced, it was hard to feel like it wasn’t just more of the same. With no weird 3D gimmicks and no absurd naming scheme, did it even really feel like a new Nintendo device? But eagle-eyed viewers picked up on something else—Nintendo, it turns out, might be the first console maker to build a mouse right into its default controller.

At about 1:01 into the announcement trailer, you can see what looks like an optical sensor pop up on the side of one of the Switch 2’s Joy-Con controllers (or whatever they end up being called), and just a few seconds later, those same two controllers glide along a desk on their side, as if they’re being used like mice.

The moment followed weeks of rumors and supposed leaks, but nothing concrete had surfaced…until now.

In a patent filed on August 1 of last year and published on Feb. 6, Nintendo describes an “input device” that looks and sounds a lot like a Switch 2 Joy-Con (that’s what I’m going to call it for now) being held on its side and includes a “sensor for mouse operation.” Finally, it seems like Nintendo’s Switch 2 might not be so boring after all.

Credit: Nintendo via World Intellectual Property Organization

In a diagram included with the patent, a hand seems to be using the Joy-Con’s shoulder and trigger buttons as mouse buttons, and perhaps using the thumbstick as a scroll wheel. A button does seem to be missing from the Joy-Con in the diagram, the mysterious new C button seen in the Switch 2 trailer from the end of last month, but aside from that, everything seems to be depicted exactly as expected.

Technically, Nintendo isn’t the first to have this idea. A similar feature, albeit with slightly clunkier implementation, is already available on the Lenovo Legion Go, with that device’s “FPS mode.” But with Nintendo giving mouse control to its entire user base, developers will likely feel much more comfortable supporting the control scheme.

So, what could a mouse on the Switch 2 mean? Well, more natural PC ports and easier aiming in shooting games, for sure. But I’ve got a slightly more out-there theory.

I think Nintendo wants to bring DS games to the TV for the first time since the Wii U’s virtual console. The company recently added Game Boy Advance games to an upgraded tier of the Switch Online library, but with a mouse, Nintendo could easily bring over DS games to the Switch 2 as well. Yes, technically, the Joy-Con’s motion controls could mimic a touchscreen stylus to a degree, but a mouse will much more easily provide the speed and precision needed for DS classics like The World Ends With You, which has never really translated well to any other systems (despite multiple attempts from Square Enix). Finally, there will be a good official method for playing these games that doesn’t involve actually breaking out the old DS Lite (or, yes, a 3DS).

But even if I’m wrong and the mouse just becomes an optional control feature for certain games, it is funny to imagine a future where the Nintendo Switch has better support for shooters than the Xbox.

Bluesky Now Has Its Own Version of TikTok

Bluesky is setting itself up to be a social media jack of all trades. There’s the main experience, of course, which replaces something like X or Threads. But it’s not all about the text posts: Soon, you’ll be able to use an app like Flashes to transform Bluesky into a kind of Instagram. Before that drops, however, you can use a different app to turn Bluesky into TikTok. It’s not quite there yet, but it’s a fascinating look into a unique kind of social media client—an app that turns one platform into something else entirely.

Introducing Bluescreen for Bluesky

Bluescreen is a Bluesky client with one singular purpose: It identifies the videos from your Bluesky feed and delivers them to you in a TikTok-style endless scrolling interface. You don’t interact with text-based posts, nor do you see still images. It’s as if Bluesky offered a “video only” feed. But, since they don’t, Bluescreen exists.

It’s a cool idea, and it’s also the idea behind Flashes. Instead of isolating the videos in your Bluesky feed, Flashes isolates the images, which lets you turn Bluesky into an Instagram alternative. If you’re surprised to hear two different Bluesky clients using the same strategy to achieve two similar outcomes, that’s because they’re both developed by the same person: Sebastian Vogelsang.

Vogelsang announced Flashes before Bluescreen, but released the video app ahead of the photo app. While we wait for the Instagram of Bluesky to get here, we can try out the TikTok of Bluesky instead.

Using Bluescreen to watch videos on Bluesky

Credit: Lifehacker

In execution, Bluescreen does it what’s it’s supposed to, though there is definitely some room to grow. Once you connect your Bluesky account to the client, you’ll be presented with a video—just as you are when opening an app like TikTok, or when using Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. As with these services, there are multiple options to interact with the video: Tapping the heart button gives the video a like, without having to leave the video feed itself. If you tap on the comment button, however, Bluescreen leaves the video feed, and shows you the comments in a different window. You can tap the button with the two arrows to repost the video, and the three dots icon to access additional controls, like Translate, Share, and Report. There’s also a general mute button available in the bottom right corner.

If you tap the video itself, you’ll pull up the standard iOS video control menu. From here, you can play and pause, rewind or jump ahead, AirPlay, or control the volume of the video, if you’d rather not mess with your iPhone’s general volume setting. Speaking of volume, that is my one main criticism of Bluescreen as it exists right now: Each video is muted by default, even though the mute button says the volume should be on. You have to tap this mute button twice; once to mute the video, then again to unmute it, before it starts playing. You need to do this for each video you swipe through. Oddly, this is only a problem when watching through your phone’s speakers: Connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones, and the videos sound off as they should. I imagine this is a bug that Vogelsang will work out in due time.

At the top of the page, you can choose which feed to pull videos from. The App Store page says you can choose from thousands of feeds, but if that sounds overwhelming, you can stick with video from your main feeds, such as the Following or Discover tabs, or any of your pinned feeds. It’s neat to choose the Astronomy feed I follow, for example, and see videos specifically about this topic. (It also shows me I might need to drop some of my pinned feeds, due to low-quality content.) You can also use the search icon in the top right to search for whatever content you like, in addition to finding trending topics. Again, if you’ve used a social media platform before, you’ll be familiar with this.

In theory, this could be an awesome experience. If you curate your Bluesky feeds well enough, you could have a varied filter of all short-form videos posted to the platform. It’s still an early concept, so the UI isn’t quite as fluid or polished as established video apps, but I can totally see the potential here.

Uploading your own videos via Bluescreen

This isn’t just a passive experience, however: You can use Bluescreen to upload videos to Bluesky. If you hit the (+) on the bottom of the screen, you can choose a video from your library to post on Bluesky via Bluescreen. You can access light editing tools along the way, add a caption for your video, choose who can reply to the post, and the language of the post before publishing. Remember: You’re not posting on Bluescreen; rather, Bluesky. While it’ll look like you’re posting on a new platform, all you’re really doing is posting a video to your existing Bluesky account.

Credit: Lifehacker

Microsoft Edge Can Now Block Annoying Full Screen Pop-Ups

Have you ever been scrolling along, minding your own business, when an ad suddenly hijacks your page with a full-screen warning about a computer virus or account insecurity? These are invariably scams, but to the untrained eye, they could look like a genuine pop-up from a firewall. That’s why Microsoft Edge is using AI to help users spot when someone’s trying to frighten them into downloading malware or giving up sensitive information.

Available now to all users via a preview, the browser’s new “Scareware blocker” is an AI-based tool for dismissing and navigating away from these troublesome interruptions. While Edge’s built-in Defender SmartScreen tool already blocks known scams, the idea is for Scareware blocker to help address new threats.

The tool uses a local AI model to detect when your browser enters full screen mode, a staple of scareware pop-ups, and then examines what you’re looking at to see if it resembles a scam. It’s been trained on “thousands of sample scams that the scam-fighting community shared” with Microsoft, and supposedly doesn’t save images or send them to the cloud at any point.

While users can manually hold the ESC key to exit full screen mode at any point, the model will do this for you, taking a screenshot of the site and moving you over to a page that warns you that it looks suspicious. You’ll then have the option to either close the page or continue.

In addition to helping protect users susceptible to scams, Scareware blocker also sets out to reduce some of the panic of coming across one of these ads, as they’ll often also play loud noises and hide the mouse cursor. By quickly closing them out and taking you to a warning page, the feature aims to help you regain your senses.

How to enable Microsoft Edge Scareware blocker

Credit: Microsoft

While I have encountered these ads before, I wasn’t able to summon one up while trying to test out the feature, but it’s easy enough to enable. Simply navigate to Settings > Privacy Search and Services and scroll down a bit until you see the Scareware blocker toggle. Switch it on, and you’ll be prepared the next time a scammer tries to scare you into selling yourself out.

If you don’t see the toggle, it’s possible you might need to update Edge (in Settings > About Microsoft Edge) or restart the browser.

These Tile Bluetooth Trackers Are Just $17 Right Now

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The Apple community has been finding their lost keys since 2021 with the AirTag, but Tile has been helping both Android and Apple users locate their missing devices since 2013. Over a decade later, their latest tracker (after being acquired by Life360), the Tile Mate, is just $16.95 (originally $27.99) for a single tracker, $33.99 (originally $44.99) for a two-pack, and $55.99 (originally $79.99) for a four-pack, the lowest prices, according to price-tracking tools. If you’re an Android user, this is a good opportunity to stock up.

(If you’re an Apple user, you can use Tiles, but you’re better off waiting for the AirTags to drop to $19 to stock up, or get the 4-pack for $69.99 right now; they’re much better than Tile’s tracker.)

Batteries: Yes, Number of Batteries: 1 Lithium Metal Battery, Material: Plastic

Tile by Life360 Mate 2024 Bluetooth Tracker (1-Pack)

Batteries: Yes, Number of Batteries: 2 Lithium Metal Battery, Material: Plastic

Tile by Life360 Mate (2024) Bluetooth Tracker, Keys Finder and Item Locator for Keys, Bags and More. Phone Finder. Both iOS and Android Compatible. 2-Pack (Black/White)

Batteries: Yes, Number of Batteries: 4 Lithium Metal Battery, Material: Plastic

Tile by Life360 Mate (2024) Bluetooth Tracker, Keys Finder and Item Locator for Keys, Bags and More. Phone Finder. Both iOS and Android Compatible. 4-Pack (Black)

The concept of Tile trackers is the same as AirTags and their usefulness extends to your creativity. Most people use them to find purses, keys, and travel bags, but you can use them to train your dog or as a device to know if people are near a specific spot you want to keep tabs on. (Anyone else want to keep tabs on their abandoned cabin in the woods?)

Once the Tile tracker is outside of Bluetooth range (up to 350 feet in direct line-of-sight conditions, but PCMag’s review says it realistically gets about 30 feet), the device uses the Tile community of about 20 million people (according to Tile) to update the location of the tracker by using their phone’s Bluetooth. (Apple’s community is much larger, with about a billion users, according to Apple).

The back of the Tile Mate has a QR code that people can scan to notify you when they find it. There is a sealed battery inside that is not replaceable that Tile says will last about three years. There is an optional premium subscription that starts at $2.99 per month for more features, if you’re interested in that.

The Five Worst Reasons to Buy a House

Thanks to a tight market, sky-high prices, and elevated interest rates, the path to home ownership is more littered with obstacles than ever, but buying property remains a key goal for most Americans—nearly 70% of us still consider it part of the American Dream.

But as much as you might think you want it, it’s important to weigh all the financial and emotional factors that go into buying a huge. While it sounds impossible, considering the size of the commitment, it’s surprisingly easy to get so focused on the anxiety of never being able to find the right house that you buy the wrong house for the wrong reasons. If you don’t want to wind up with a money pit or a house that simply doesn’t serve your needs (or your budget), it’s essential to take a step back from the brink and really examine your reasons for buying a particular property. If it’s one of the five listed below, you should reconsider.

The view

Some homes offer spectacular views—of nature, of a city skyline, or maybe the ocean. But buying a home for the view it offers is generally a bad idea, for several reasons:

Cost. Homes that offer attractive views almost always come at a premium, meaning you’ll spend more for the same amount of house you could buy in the same area without the spectacular view. And some views come with even more additional costs, like a house with an ocean view that comes with a flood insurance premium.
Impermanence. While some views are unlikely to change, you often can’t guarantee that someone won’t build something to obstruct your view in the future, or that other changes to the environment around your house won’t conspire to ruin your view.
Imperfections. Amazing views can be distracting—if you focus too much on the incredible skyline, you might overlook other problems with the home or things that aren’t going to work with your lifestyle just so you have a nice view while sipping coffee in the morning.

Because “it’s time”

It’s easy to compare yourself to other people around your age, and if those folks are all buying houses, you might feel pressure to catch up. Or maybe you suddenly realize you’re the only person in your group of friends who’s still renting. Or just you’ve more or less arbitrarily made home ownership a box to check on your list of accomplishments.

But buying a house before you’re financially and emotionally ready for it can be a disaster. Buying a house isn’t just about coming up with a down payment and calculating a monthly mortgage—there are a lot of financial factors you need to consider, including whether you’re ready to make hard choices if find yourself facing an unexpected repair bill. You’ll also need to think about your readiness to tackle the truly endless home maintenance tasks a home requires—or to pay someone else to do them for you.

To save on rent

It used to be a golden rule: Paying a mortgage is cheaper than renting—or, if it’s about the same cost, at least you’re not throwing money into a hole every month, but building equity in an investment. The equity part is true enough—your mortgage buys you more and more direct ownership of your property, while rent merely buys you one more month living in that space.

But thanks to elevated prices and higher interest rates, the cost part isn’t true anymore, generally speaking: While you might find a specific house in a specific area that’s cheaper to buy than the local rents (particular if it’s in a larger city with a hot rental market), nationwide averages show that renting is cheaper than home ownership, and will probably stay that way for the immediate future. Plus, there are those pesky insurance and maintenance costs, as well. If you’re buying a house because you think it will save you money, forget it.

You’re betting on the neighborhood to improve

Homes in neighborhoods with a lack of services, high crime rates, or lots of unmaintained houses are generally cheaper, and if you have reason to believe that robust improvements are coming to the area, it can be tempting to buy low and then celebrate as your property values rise and rise. The problem with this plan, of course, is that nothing is guaranteed: Whether it’s business investment, a government-sponsored redevelopment plan, or you think you see the signs of simple gentrification, any number of factors—canceled contracts, local elections, stalled construction projects, a faltering economy—can change the course of events and leave you holding the bag.

Relying on a neighborhood turnaround also comes with plenty of other downsides:

Time. Until your hoped-for revitalization comes to pass, you’ll be living in a crappy area and dealing with all the associated downsides, which might include higher crime, nastier neighbors, and worse schools.
Taxes. If your property values go up, so do your taxes (eventually).
Fewer options. If your life takes a turn you might have trouble selling that house or finding reliable renters due to its location. And if it’s cheap to buy, your equity in it will be relatively low until things pick up (if they pick up), meaning you’ll have limited resources for improvements and repairs.

It’s a fixer-upper

If you’re buying a house because it’s a “fixer-upper” at a bargain price, think twice. If you have experience in home renovation and construction and you have a solid plan for renovating the place, that’s one thing. But if you’re buying a run-down place with a vague idea that you’ll fix it up over time, there are a lot of reasons to hesitate:

The unknowns. You really have no idea how bad that house is, why it’s been priced so attractively, and how much it will really cost to fix up until you get in there and start opening walls and floors. Your budget? Fiction until you actually see the wiring, plumbing, foundation, and other essential aspects of the house.
Living in a construction zone. Whole-house renovations can take as long as a year to complete, and that’s if you’re working nonstop and don’t encounter any soul-chilling problems once you dig into the property. If you’re going to do it piecemeal, the renovation could stretch on for years, and you’ll be dealing with dust in your cereal bowl and splinters everywhere during the entire experience.
Price uncertainty. You can buy a cheap house and put quality work into it, but that doesn’t mean the market will cooperate and raise your home’s value enough for you to get the return on that investment you’re hoping for. Keep in mind that the money you spend fixing up a house is part of the total cost of ownership; if you buy a bargain for $200,000 and spend $100,000 fixing it, you really spent $300,000 on that house—not counting mortgage interest, insurance premiums, and other incidental costs. Adding it all up can transform a bargain into a non-bargain pretty fast.

Only you can decide if buying a house is the right move—but if your reasons appear anywhere above, you owe it toy ourself to think again.

USDA Applauds Mexico’s Action Towards Resolving USMCA Dispute on GE Corn

Washington, D.C., Feb. 6, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released the following statement commending Mexico’s action to declare ineffective measures concerning genetically engineered (GE) corn that the United States successfully challenged in the USMCA dispute. Today’s action safeguards approximately $5.6 billion in U.S. corn exports to Mexico. USDA, in coordination with USTR, will continue to monitor Mexico’s compliance with its USMCA commitments.

The Two Biggest Mistakes Beginners Make on the Rowing Machine

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When someone experienced uses a rowing machine, it’s almost a thing of beauty—a continuous rhythm, their entire body continuously moving back and forth as the numbers on the screen rise higher and higher. So why, when you get on, does using it immediately feel impossible, and also your back hurts? You probably have the settings wrong, and chances are your technique sucks too. Let’s fix both of those.

There is a learning curve to the rowing machine (also called an erg), but you can master it—probably more quickly than you think. It’s also common to note the damper setting and assume it works the same way as the resistance setting on any other cardio machine, but that’s not exactly the case. Once you’ve fixed your technique and learned where to set the damper, and soon you’ll be sliding along rhythmically yourself.

Concept2 RowErg Model D Indoor Rowing Machine – PM5 Monitor, Device Holder, Adjustable Air Resistance, Easy Storage with Black Sweat Towel

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at Amazon

The only “resistance” setting you need is #4

On other cardio machines, you usually have a control that makes your workout harder, like the resistance knob on a bike, or the speed and incline controls on a treadmill. So you look at the rowing machine, see the damper that has settings from 1 to 10, and figure that you must want to crank this up to get a harder workout. If you think you’re a tough guy, you’ll set it to 10.

But please don’t. You’re best off setting it to number 4 (out of 10) and leaving it there, no matter the workout. That’s because the damper is not really a resistance setting, even though a lot of people mistake it for one. It makes more sense to think of it as being like the resistance of the water if you were in a real rowboat or rowing shell. You don’t get a harder workout by moving your boat to a lake made of, I don’t know, mercury. You stay on the water and you either row faster or push harder.

At the highest settings, like 10, it’s hard to get the flywheel spinning, and the flywheel also slows down more before the next stroke. Rowing machine maker Concept2 compares rowing at a high damper setting (above 5 or so) to rowing a clunky rowboat: you need to push harder, and can’t easily get into a continuous rhythm. You can do it if you want a more strength-based workout, in the same way that runners can focus on strength by doing sprints up a steep hill. But it’s not the way you would expect to do most of your training.

To drive the point home, Concept2 surveyed Olympic rowers on what settings they actually use. Rather than damper number, serious rowers tend to look up their “drag factor” (which you can find from the little screen on the rowing machine) and adjust the damper as needed to get the drag factor they want. But the settings they described typically correlate to a damper setting of around 3 to 5, so 4 is a safe bet.

Push with your legs, then pull with your arms

The biggest technique mistake most of us make is to grab the handle and immediately yoink with our arms. After all, the point is to row it toward us, right? Not really. The first thing you need to do, after you’ve gotten the handle in your hands, is to push with your legs. This is the part of the movement where you need to apply the most force, and conveniently, your legs are home to your biggest muscles. You power into the stroke by treating this initial phase almost like a squat.

Then you can get your upper body into it. Once your legs are mostly straight, lean back from the hips; only then should you pull with your arms. So the sequence goes:

Push with the legs
Lean back a little
Pull with the arms

If you’re used to doing cable rows or barbell rows in your strength training, that pulling motion is similar to the last step here. You can use your usual cues, but only after completing the first two steps.

Once you’ve done all three parts of the stroke, you’ll be leaning back with legs straight and the handle at your chest. What now? Just reverse the movement:

Allow your arms to straighten out
Return your torso to its upright position
Bend the legs and slide your butt back to the starting position.

Just repeat to yourself: “Legs-back-arms, arms-back-legs.” Once you get that basic rhythm, you can look up videos on the finer points of technique, like these from Concept2.

Five of My Favorite Cheap Storage Solutions

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I recommend a lot of organizational tools around here, from high-quality shelves to renter-friendly options. While having a bunch of designated storage space is crucial for maintaining the decluttering and organizational principles that keep a home in order, some of the products on the market are a little spendy. Sometimes, sure, you need to drop some significant cash on something that will really help you whip a space into shape, but most of the time, there are inexpensive options that get the job done just as well. Here are some of my favorite organizing staples, all of which cost me less than or around $25.

Storage carts save money and space

First up, I got a new storage cart this week. You might not think that something so small—it’s just 15 inches deep and under five inches wide—would be useful, but it absolutely is. A few notes: It was outrageously easy to build. The pieces were simple, they all snapped into place in a logical way, and I didn’t even need any tools. It took me about two and a half minutes to do. It came with six different hooks, which really expands the potential it has for storage beyond its three tiered shelves. Crucially, it also came with wheels, but unlike the ones I’ve seen on a lot of build-it-yourself furniture, these actually work. The little casters don’t get tangled or messed up. They’re not sticky. They just… roll. Best of all? I got it for $16.71 after watching its price fluctuate between $17 and $21 while it was sitting in my Amazon cart.

I am in love.
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

As I’ve admired this over the past few hours, I’ve been stuck on what I want to do with it. It might be small, but it has a lot of potential. I’m tempted to make a new cleaning cart, which requires a rolling contraption such as this, but I’m also tempted to slide it next to my toilet for extra bathroom storage. Then again, it could fit easily in my closet, too, where it could help me with all the accessory organizing I struggle with—shoes and bags could go on the shelves while scarves, necklaces, and belts drape from the hooks. At this price point and knowing how versatile and simple it is, I’m thinking I should buy three more right now and just do it all.

Under-cabinet storage is key (and cheap)

On second thought, I probably won’t create a cleaning cart out of my wonderful, tiered organizer—but only because I have finally organized my cleaning supplies just how I like them (and for under $25, again). I have an under-cabinet storage unit similar to this, but this product actually is better because you get two for $21.99.

2 Pack Pull-Out Storage Organizers

$21.99
at Amazon

ukeetap 2 Pack Multi-Purpose Pull-Out Storage Organizers, Under Sink Organizers and Storage for Bathroom & Kitchen, Under Cabinet Organizers and storage, 12.8 Inch, Pink

$21.99
at Amazon

I only got one before, but it was around $17. Even though I just have the one, it’s made a world of difference in keeping my cleaning supplies organized, mostly because of the bottom shelf’s ability to slide out, which means I don’t have to dig through a bunch of carefully stacked items to reach what I need. Again, there are hooks on the side, which are perfect for rags, so everything stays together.

Acrylic organizers for existing shelves

I’ve mentioned this before, but acrylic organizers have done wonders for organizing my shelving. You can get wooden ones, too, but acrylic tends to be cheaper. Look for anything with tiered, tiny steps built in, like this:

Large Acrylic Display Risers

I use little risers like this all over my apartment: They store my makeup, my perfume, and, in some cases, smaller knick-knacks like candles and little decorations. Beyond the fact that they’re just ridiculously cheap, the tiers make them perfect for holding delicate objects, since I don’t have to disrupt any of the items in front to get to what’s in the back and they don’t touch or rub on each other. I can see and reach what I have and everything stays safe. (If you’re worried about knocking things over on these delicate little units, though, pick up some museum gel, which is a sticky substance you can place under items on flat surfaces to keep them in place.)

Cube shelving for creating subdivisions

I am, I believe, in my 12th year as a cube-shelving enthusiast. I’ve evangelized about these before, but I really stand by it for a few reasons. First, the shelves being broken up into square compartments makes it very easy to organize your possessions by niche categories. With longer shelves or drawers, you may only have one to dedicate to “shirts,” but shirts can refer to long-sleeved tops, t-shirts, going-out tops, camis, button-ups, sweaters, and a whole slew of other types. With cube storage, you can drill down on more refined categories, keeping everything in better order and making it easier to find what you need when you need it.

Furinno Pasir 3-Tier No Tool Assembly Open Shelf Bookcase, White

The second reason is that they’re cheap—most of the time. Yes, you can find larger versions that retail up into the $80 or $90 range, but my apartment is stocked up with these three-cube types, which are usually around $25. (I know the one linked above is $25.92, so not under $25, but according to price-tracking tool CamelCamelCamel, it’s been down to $17.99 before and that’s close to the price I remember purchasing these at most often. It’s a waiting game, that’s all.) I have them in my closet behind my hanging garments, in my kitchen (doubling as extra work space, with their flat tops), in my bathroom, and in my living room. They’re compact and buying them in smaller configurations makes them more versatile and adaptable, especially when you’re living in a smaller space. Cube shelves forever!

I remain obsessed with my storage lamp (though its price fluctuates)

Finally, since buying a storage lamp during October Prime Day, I’ve been consistently impressed with how useful it is—but the price has gone up recently. I cannot tell you this is something you can get for below or around $25, though it pains me to admit it. The one I have was in the $33 range in the fall, but is now $51.09. Kind of despicable, if you ask me, but I’m lucky I got it when I did because I use one level to hold lotions and cozy items, another for my gaming stuff, and the top one as a display area to take pictures of things I want to sell online, since the lighting from up top illuminates my goods just right. Plus, it’s just a damn useful lamp in its own right, with or without the storage shelves underneath.

The good news is that competing brands and products are available in the lower range, for about $29. Again, it’s not $25, but it’s still close and if you’re looking for classy storage that doubles as functional decor, this is what I recommend.