Amanda Blum

Oregon, Portland

Writer at Lifehacker

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Articles

Seedtime Is the Only Gardening App I Need

1 week ago | lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum |Gina Trapani |Jordan Calhoun

While gardening is a great pastime to take up if you want to unplug from all of your devices and reconnect with the natural world, there are ironically a whole host of tech tools that can make you more successful at it, from calendars and spreadsheets to countless apps. But one of the latter, Seedtime, has become the only gardening app I use, replacing all of my other digital calendars, spreadsheets, and layout tools—and even some of my non-tech tools like notebooks and journals.
Are 8K TVs Worth It in 2025?

1 week ago | au.lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum

Buying a television in 2025 is a surprisingly complicated experience. The sheer number of models combined with the various ways companies describe similar technologies (OLED versus QLED, microLED versus miniLED) is enough to make your head spin. One of the most important decisions you'll likely make regarding a television is the image quality. Right now, that means choosing between 4K and 8K.
This Robot Vacuum Says It Can Pick Up Your Dirty Socks (It Can't)

1 week ago | au.lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum

A compact but luxurious towerRoborock took care while designing the Saros line to create a robot/tower combo that looks appropriately premium, and like the Saros 10 and 10R before it, the Z70 and its tower succeed at that. With controls hidden behind a mirrored black front panel, the tower also comes across as surprisingly compact compared to its contemporaries, including the aforementioned models. That is important, because generally, towers are getting larger, not smaller.
Which Is Better: The Eureka J15 Pro Ultra vs. the Dreame L40 Ultra

1 week ago | lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum

Size and design The J15 on the left, vs. the L40 on the right Credit: Amanda Blum You could choose between these models on looks alone. The Eureka J15 tower is small and curvy, made of molded black plastic. The J15 robot is a chonkster, taller than the average robot and eschewing the traditional round shape for a square with tapered corners. The Dreame L40 tower rises almost two feet, though narrow, and won't fit in all the spaces that the J15 will.
Ecovacs Deebot X9 Pro Omni Review

2 weeks ago | lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum

A gorgeously designed tower and robotThe first thing you'll notice about the X9 Pro Omni is how beautifully designed the robot and its included tower are. During unpacking, I found myself gasping at how luxuriously detailed the robot is—the brushed metal and rose gold surfaces immediately stand out, and even the design of the handles on the water tanks is thoughtful. Sure, it's just cosmetic, but if this thing is going to be constantly driving across your floors, looking good isn't a bad thing.
How to Create a Perfectly Laid-Out Garden

2 weeks ago | au.lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum

There isn't one ideal way to lay out your garden. Gardeners can opt for a chaos garden, where everything grows wildly together, or a companion-planted garden, where many different kinds of vegetables and flowers intersperse. Some people, though, want a perfectly laid out, symmetrical garden, with straight lines of vegetables spaced perfectly in rows. For those people, here are two ways to achieve that.
Why I Buy Bare Root Plants Instead of Pretty Flowering Plants

2 weeks ago | au.lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum

Your local garden center can be full of inspiration with its aisles and aisles of abundant, flowering plants in the prime of their lives. It certainly makes sense that when purchasing a plant, you'd gravitate toward one full of blooms and, possibly, fruit. However, bare root plants are actually a better way to go. What are bare root plants? Plenty of plants can either be cut back each year and still grow, or die back naturally. The roots, however, are where all the energy for the plant are stored.
These Smart Tech Gadgets Make Great Father’s Day Gifts

3 weeks ago | au.lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum

Father’s day is around the corner, and this year, I think you should be smart about what you get him. With all the wifi and app enabled tech on the market, your gifts can do more than offer dad a quick laugh or another tie or coffee mug he won't get much use out ofThese nine smart tech gifts can free up more time he can spend with family, and inspire his inner nerd, sports geek or home brewer. This robot lawnmowerThere is no better gift than removing a chore from dad’s to-do list.
I Ranked This Tiny, Cheap Robot Vacuum Higher Than a Dyson That Costs Three Times More

3 weeks ago | au.lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum

If you’re looking for a robot vacuum, you’ve likely considered the Dyson 360 Vis Nav, a premium vacuum-only robot. I’d like to suggest that, instead, you consider the Switchbot K10+ Pro, a zippy little vacuum that is on sale for $299.99 (50% off) right now, compared to the Dyson's $999.99 price tag. I frequently read Reddit forums for people shopping for robot vacuums, and I’m generally surprised by two things.
Everything I'm Seeding in June

3 weeks ago | au.lifehacker.com | Amanda Blum

June is a cusp month in gardening: All the seedlings you’ve nurtured all spring, from tomatoes to onions, have finally left the nest and are going into the ground. After you breathe the sigh of relief at the end of May to simply enjoy the landscape for a moment, it is time to pick up the seed box again. All the mid-summer vegetables need to be seeded, and in some cases, you can luck out and direct sow outside.