Liam McCabe

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Liam McCabe

When I go outside, I’m not as diligent as I ought to be about applying the right protective smears and sprays. What can I say — sometimes it’s hard to fight the urge to leave the house in a hurry and just live a little. I won’t mess around with ticks, though. Tick-borne diseases are on the rise, and I’ve had family members and friends who have been laid out or almost killed by some of these infections. My wife, daughter, and I have somehow avoided any bites (that we know of) up until this year.

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Liam McCabe

It’s been almost 25 years since the first robot vacuum cleaners rolled into homes, smacked into dining room tables, and got tangled up on socks. But the days of endearingly dumb Roombas are a fading memory. New bots have improved rapidly in the past few years, and it almost seems like they’re on the cusp of a real Rosey the Robot housekeeper — at least for floors.

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Liam McCabe

This month, the Trump administration proposed several plans to roll back the federal government’s role in regulating and promoting the purchase of energy- and water-saving home appliances. First, Environmental Protection Agency officials reportedly planned to shut down Energy Star, a popular certification program for high-efficiency products that save more energy and water than required by law.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Liam McCabe

Look, I have no trouble moving heavy stuff, okay? But I can’t hoist a dresser straight off the ground and balance it on my fingertips while I also try to get it to sit level on my old crooked floors. Shortly after I finished failing to align a pair of new IKEA Vihals dressers, the TikTok algorithm started taunting me with clips of people using a simple tool, which looked like a mini blood-pressure cuff, to effortlessly prop up furniture and appliances.

3 weeks ago | energysage.com | Liam McCabe

Based on hundreds of real-world quotes for heat pump installation through the EnergySage Marketplace, the median cost to install a new heat pump in 2023 was $16,025 afterincentives. That includes ducted heat pumps and ductless mini-splits. We’ve seen huge retrofits that cost as much as $66,000, and some tiny projects with no out of pocket costs (thanks to really generous incentives in one city). But the vast majority of heat pump installations cost between $7,120 and $36,000.