What keeping a bullet journal taught me about using to-do list apps

An example from the official Bullet Journal YouTube channel of how to lay out daily tasks. | Image: Bullet Journal

On July 6th of this year, I officially ended my three-year-long experiment with trying to organize my life using a physical bullet journal. I know the exact date because I’m looking at my discontinued notebook as I write this. Apparently, five months ago, I needed to take photos of the Corsair K70 keyboard for a then-forthcoming review and follow up with a quote I’d received to insulate my roof. I took the photos. I did not end up insulating my roof.

Since then, I’ve used the notebook for jotting down things to remember here and there, but when it comes to keeping track of daily tasks and chores, I’ve switched back to the same hodgepodge of different note-taking and to-do list apps that I used three years ago. These include Notion for...

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Playing Metroid Prime on a Steam Deck shouldn’t feel this good

Thanks to the developers of PrimeHack and EmuDeck for making it possible to play one of my favorite games on the go. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

If there were gamer commandments, not expecting too much out of Nintendo would probably be chiseled onto it. Still, I was hopeful that on November 18th, it would surprise launch a Switch version of the Metroid Prime Trilogy. Nintendo did no such thing on that day, the 20th birthday of Metroid Prime, the timeless modernization of the series that turned it into a first-person shooter. I didn’t let that get me down. After all, I own a Steam Deck, which seems to be as good at emulating non-PC games as it is at playing many PC titles.

Getting the three-game collection made for the Wii running on the Steam Deck was a surprisingly easy and fast process, and it requires very little experience dealing with emulators. Not to mention, it’s...

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Why scientists laid ‘murder’ to rest

A sample specimen of a dead northern giant hornet is shown by a pest biologist from the Washington State Department of Agriculture on July 29th, 2020. | Photo by Karen Ducey / Getty Images

What’s in an insect name? If that name happens to be “murder hornet” or “gypsy moth,” the moniker happens to be loaded withmisinformation and / or prejudice. That’s why the Entomological Society of America (ESA) has axed both names — and more changes are likely on the way.

The ESA has a project called Better Common Names that aims to put an end to insect names that might be harmful to people. This year, the group announced that it adopted the name “northern giant hornet,” refusing to accept popular colloquial titles for the invasive insect. It also changed “gypsy moth” to “spongy moth.” They’re also on the lookout for other names that need changing. Just about anybody can fill out a form, and the ESA will consider the proposal along...

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Throw Elon Musk in the trash (in Cyberpunk 2077)

Image: CD Projekt Red

Spoilers ahead for Cyberpunk 2077 .

If you’ve ever wanted to experience throwing Elon Musk down a garbage chute, there is, to my knowledge, at least one option: a side quest in Cyberpunk 2077.

For a video game about dystopian wealth disparity, AI-driven cars, and downloading your consciousness into other bodies, Cyberpunk 2077 is oddly short on Musk references. The one it does contain comes from the “Violence” side quest. In it, you meet chrome-skinned pop superstar Lizzy Wizzy, voiced by real-life singer-songwriter Grimes, who was still in a relationship with Musk at the time of the video game’s release in 2020.

Here, Lizzy Wizzy hires the protagonist, V, to surveil her boyfriend, whom she suspects of cheating. It’s a pretty bloodless...

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8 great Game Pass games for your Xbox from 2022

Micha Huigen / The Verge

By virtue of its incredible Game Pass library, the Xbox is one of the best values in gaming right now. Pay a monthly subscription fee — anywhere from $10 a month for the base plan up to $15 a month for the ultimate tier that includes online multiplayer — and get access to a library of games that you can play at no additional charge.

A lot of the available games are brand-new Xbox exclusives or games that have been around for a while and are just making their way to Game Pass. But with 400-plus games to choose from, it can get a little daunting to figure out the ones that are worth your time — especially as time is at a premium during the holidays.

Here’s a brief list of Xbox games to get you started.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Xbox...

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9 great series and movies from 2022 to stream on Hulu

Micha Huigen / The Verge

The streaming space in general was so packed with new series and movies in 2022 that it was basically impossible to catch everything that the big platforms put out. This time of year is always great for catching up on those must-see projects that you fell behind on or never got around to watching, and Hulu in particular has a sizable selection of things worth checking out — especially for those who find themselves with some time to kill during the holidays.

There’s a very solid chance that you might be one of the millions of new subscribers who signed up for Hulu this year as it became one of the pricier streaming services comparable to rivals Netflix and HBO Max. At $15 per month, Hulu’s standard ad-free subscription isn’t exactly...

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The quest to save a Stadia exclusive

Image: Q-Games

Earlier this year, Google announced that it was shutting down its game streaming service Stadia, a short three years since its launch in 2018. While it’s mostly fans of the service feeling the impact of the closure, there are a handful of developers with Stadia exclusives that will unfortunately lose their games when the service shuts down for good in January. One of those is Q-Games, makers of PixelJunk Raiders. The Verge spoke with Q-Games’ founder and CEO, Dylan Cuthbert, who explained the unique situation Q-Games is in, trying to get their exclusive off Stadia’s foundering ship and somewhere safe where people can play it.

PixelJunk Raiders is a space exploration roguelike that takes advantage of Stadia’s unique “state share” feature...

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Microsoft employee accidentally announces Notepad is getting tabs in Windows 11

Alex Castro / The Verge

A Microsoft employee appears to have accidentally announced that Windows 11’s Notepad app is getting a tabs feature. The employee, a senior product manager at Microsoft, posted a photo of a version of Notepad with tabs, enthusiastically announcing “Notepad in Windows 11 now has tabs!” with a loudspeaker emoji.

The tweet was deleted minutes later, but not before Windows Central and several Windows enthusiast Twitter accounts had spotted the mistake. The Notepad screenshot includes a Microsoft internal warning: “Confidential - Don’t discuss features or take screenshots.” That warning suggests the tabs feature is still in early internal testing at Microsoft, but that the Notepad tabs feature may arrive to Windows Insiders at some point in...

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YouTube’s testing its Queue system for its iOS and Android apps

The desktop feature is finally coming to phones. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube is starting to test out its queueing system on iOS and Android. The feature has been available on the web for years now, and shows in the YouTube apps under certain circumstances — users who control their Chromecast with their phones might recognize it, as will those who use the YouTube Music apps — but now YouTube Premium users who opt-in to the test will be able to add videos to a stack that acts like an impermanent playlist.

After you turn on the feature (which we’ll cover how to do in just a second), you’ll have access to a new “Play last in queue” button in the three vertical dot menu that appears on video thumbnails. Tapping it will add the video to the bottom of your queue — or will create a new queue if you’re currently...

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9 great games for your PlayStation from 2022

Micha Huigen / The Verge

If you just bought a PlayStation 5, there are a bunch of great games for you to play on that console. Since its release in late 2020, dozens of must-play games have appeared, including several console-exclusive games that you won’t be able to play anywhere else.

If you don’t have the cash to spend on a PS5, don’t worry. Due to the continued difficulty of finding PS5s in stock, Sony has released PS4 versions of some of its biggest 2022 titles, including God of War Ragnorök, Gran Turismo 7, and Horizon Forbidden West. However, that trend may eventually fizzle out, with Sony shifting more of its focus to the newer, more powerful console.

I suggest checking out our 2020 and 2021 lists for games to play on PlayStation if you need some extra...

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10 great shows from 2022 to stream on Netflix

Micha Huigen / The Verge

There’s more streaming competition than ever, but even still, Netflix remains on top when it comes to both breadth and scale. Put simply, there is a lot to watch on Netflix, to the point that even seemingly big-name series and films can get buried by the algorithm that’s trying to show you the latest in reality TV. So to help you out, we’ve curated 10 excellent new titles that run the gamut from zombie thrillers to stop-motion family movies to an incredible whodunit.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

With Cabinet of Curiosities, Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth) has curated a terrifying anthology of hour-long episodes from some of the most exciting folks working in horror. There’s a fun romp about...

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How Kindle novelists are using ChatGPT

Illustration: Andreion de Castro

Earlier this year, I wrote about genre-fiction authors using AI in their novels. Most wrote for Amazon’s Kindle platform, where an extremely rapid pace of publishing, as fast as a book a month, is the norm. AI helped them write quickly, but it also raised complex aesthetic and ethical questions. Would the widespread use of AI warp fiction toward the most common conventions and tropes? What parts of the writing process can be automated before the writing no longer feels like their own? Should authors have to disclose their use of AI?

With the debut of ChatGPT, many of the questions these writers were dealing with have become more urgent and mainstream. I checked back with one of the authors, Jennifer Lepp, who writes in the cozy...

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Phone manufacturers: please give us the power button back

It’s time to fight the power. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Every major phone manufacturer is guilty of a serious crime, and I won’t be quiet about it any longer: they stole the power button from us. Apple, Google, Samsung: guilty, guilty, guilty.

Long-pressing the power button used to bring up an option to turn your phone off, but then these companies decided to get cute and make this a shortcut to summon their digital assistant. This is bad and wrong, and I’m politely demanding that these companies return what they took from us.

Look, I get the logic. When phone screens got bigger, physical buttons like Apple’s home button were axed, and existing buttons had to pick up the slack. In the iPhone X, Apple re-homed the Siri function to the power button. Since then, turning your iPhone off has...

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Marvel Snap is kind of like a wild comic book story generator

Miles Morales swinging by in his Chase Conley fit. | Second Dinner

Second Dinner’s Marvel Snap may be an addictive card game, but it’s also surprisingly good at telling unpredictable superhero stories.

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Mastodon 101: how to follow (and unfollow) other accounts

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

The torrent of former tweeters streaming toward alternative social networks seems to be ongoing, and the social network that is probably gaining the most attention is Mastodon. This open-source network of independent servers (called “instances”) had jumped to 2.5 million users between October and November — and is continuing its ascent.

Admittedly, there has been a bit of confusion among the new members of the Masto-set as to how it resembles Twitter and how it differs. To go through all the various permutations of how to really use Mastodon to its full capabilities would take more than a single article, and as a matter of fact, there are a variety of resources available (a few of which I’ll list at the end of this article). So, since...

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The problem with ‘next-gen’ gadgets

The Dell XPS 13 Plus has a heck of a lot in common with the XPS 13 — but its audience is very, very different. | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

Gadgets, since time in memoriam, have worked a certain way.

You, a company, release one. It’s good, but it’s not perfect. No gadget is perfect! So you do market research and focus groups. You figure out who’s buying. You figure out what they like and what they don’t like. You refine. You fix problems.

The next year, you release a version of that device that is objectively, concretely better. This is the next-gen device, the Device 2.0. You call this device an “upgrade.” You tell your customers to recycle Device 1.0 and replace it with Device 2.0. Some of them do. “Should you upgrade?” the tech bloggers write, calculating the pros and cons of doing so.

I know, I know, this is a vast oversimplification of how consumer tech actually...

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EcoFlow Power Kit review: off-grid living made easy

A game-changing all-in-one power system for cabins and RVs that can be installed relatively quickly. Just add solar.

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Users report Google Calendar bug creating random, fake events

Google Calendar thinks you don’t have enough to do today. | Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Numerous users have reported experiencing an odd glitch in the Google Calendar mobile app over the past few days. The app appears to be creating random, nonexistent all-day events based on the content of users’ Gmail messages.

As 9to5Google(who reported the news earlier today) notes, various sorts of emails including delivery notifications, purchase receipts, and newsletters appear to be showing up as all-day calendar events. Some Verge staffers who use the Google calendar app are experiencing this glitch. “It’s like finding landmines in my calendar,” one writer (whose calendar is screenshotted below) complained.

Google has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Make sure you’re not late for your Epic Games...

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Tesla’s $300 wireless charger uses coils from a company called FreePower

That’s a lot of coils. | Image: Tesla

Tesla has opened preorders for a wireless charging mat that can accommodate up to three devices placed however you want, and that comes in a form factor “inspired by the angular design and metallic styling of Cybertruck.” The gadget is called the Wireless Charging Platform, and it costs $300. For that hefty price you get the mat, a removable magnetic stand that lets you prop the pad up at an angle or lay it flat, and some tech that we once called “the most promising AirPower alternative.”

Underneath the alcantara fabric cover, Tesla’s charger has a whopping 30 Qi charging coils, which will charge your device no matter what orientation it’s in, or where you put it on the platform. According to Tesla’s site, the device was “engineered...

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Why are Yule Logs scary this year?

A nice, peaceful fire. | Photo by Sebastian Gollnow / picture alliance via Getty Images

People who make Yule Log videos — are you okay? I’m worried about you. The standard flame-filled videos of holiday cheer seem a lot darker lately, and while I would love to know why, I’m also just generally concerned for your mental well-being.

My first sign that something was wrong was The Witcher: Fireplace on Netflix, which technically came out last year but is understandably getting re-promoted now. It’s got a nice-looking fire crackling away in the Great Hall at Kaer Morhen, but the lightly ominous music lurking in the background killed “the perfect backdrop for a cozy vibe” that Netflix promised.

Then Yellowjackets got in the game on Wednesdaywith a Yule Log that kept the logs but seems to have missed the Yule. It’s just two...

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The Keychron Q10 is a great mainstream Alice keyboard

I, for one, welcome our “let’s just do one of every layout” overlords.

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Twitter’s new view counts for tweets offer measurement without meaning

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The internet is, in many ways, built on fraudulent measurement. Measuring article and video views keep the wheels of online advertising spinning, while counting likes, faves, etc, constitute an insidious drip of “engagement” that has us all opening apps when we should know better. But some metrics are stupider than others, and Twitter’s new public view count for tweets is definitely one of them.

Twitter has long counted views for tweets, but previously chose to keep this information tucked away inside its analytics menu: a data-heavy feature beloved only by social media managers and sadists (but I repeat myself). Knowing how many views a tweet got is useful information, sure, but only if you’re running a business or a brand. For the rest...

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ElonJet is back on Twitter, but with a 24-hour delay

Jack Sweeney has created a new time-delayed version of the ElonJet tracker account after the original was banned for violating Twitter policy restrictions. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The college student who ran the now-banned @ElonJet Twitter account that used public information to track Elon Musk’s private jet has resumed his activities on Twitter under a new username. As noted by Insider, Jack Sweeney, 20, has created a new account called @ElonJetNextDay — which now tracks Musk’s private jet with a 24-hour delay to circumvent Twitter policy restrictions.

Sweeney’s original ElonJet account was suspended from the platform last week following accusations from Musk that it violated Twitter rules by revealing his live location. Twitter updated its policy to forbid publishing a person’s real-time location on the same day it suspended ElonJet. Sweeney said in an interview with Insider that he will be “posting manually”...

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Creating the warm and cozy sci-fi future of After Yang

Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith in After Yang_._ | Image: A24

Production designer Alexandra Schaller talks about building a different, greener vision of the future.

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Wearing an Apple Watch Ultra for a month convinced me to buy a Series 7

The Apple Watch Ultra shares a lot of qualities with last year’s Series 7 Edition watch. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

The Apple Watch Ultra is a very good smartwatch. It’s got loads of features, very long battery life, a titanium shell, and a distinctive design. You can read all about how good it is in my colleague Victoria Song’s review from earlier this fall. Be sure to check out the feature-length video review we recently published that does a deeper dive into Apple’s unique claims for the Ultra.

But as good as the Apple Watch Ultra is, it’s not the Apple Watch for me. I’m not an adventurous athlete and have no aspirations to be, but I am both a smartwatch devotee and an appreciator of fine mechanical watches (that, let’s be real, I won’t ever be able to afford). The Ultra should appeal to me based on those merits — after all, nobody dives with a...

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2022: A year in art on The Verge

The Verge

As 2022 comes to a close, the art team at The Verge has looked back on the past year to highlight some of our most memorable and favorite art. Throughout the year, we created a diverse array of original art, including melting ice sculptures, interactive comics, a photo shoot featuring baked goods, art for special issues such as our Homeland series, and many striking images for our reviews.

“How to replace the sky” comic

Illustration by Matt Huynh

The Verge’s first interactive comic (of many more to come!) allows users to experience the comic cinematographically. “How to replace the sky” by Matt Huynh is a look at what art-making means in a world where our tools are always changing and, with them, our expectations and...

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These were the films and TV shows that defined 2022

Illustration by Micha Huigen / The Verge

From Everything Everywhere All at Once to The Rehearsal to Goncharov and Batgirl, 2022 was an absolutely wild year for films and TV shows that has us all watching.

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Elgato Stream Deck Plus review: not dialed-in enough

The Stream Deck Plus is a slick and well-built piece of hardware that can’t realize its full potential just yet.

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Why YouTube spent the money on NFL Sunday Ticket

YouTube won the big bidding war for NFL Sunday Ticket yesterday, beating out Apple, Amazon, and ESPN with a deal worth a reported $2 billion a year. NFL fans will now be able to get the out-of-market games package as part of the YouTube TV bundle or on its own in the main YouTube app as part of the Primetime Channels feature.

It’s a big win for YouTube and Google, which have been slowly but steadily taking over the TV streaming market. And it makes sense for the NFL, which got a deal that looks a lot like the cable and satellite deals it’s used to, dressed up in an app that actually works along with some fancy streaming tricks like live stats and the ability to say “creators” and “Gen Z” while gesturing at YouTube.

I caught up with...

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Google’s alleged Pixel phone plans for the next three years have leaked

A potential peek into what Google’s cooking up. | Illustration: The Verge

Google’s plans for its Pixel phone lineup from 2023 to 2025 have been leaked, if Android Authority is to be believed. On Thursday the outlet published a timeline full of information from a source it called “anonymous but trustworthy,” saying that it’s vetted the plans and warning that some outcomes were more likely than others.

The whole thing is worth a read, but here are the top line items: Android Authority says that there’s talk within Google about moving the less expensive A-series phones to a once-every-two-years schedule, and there are plans to design a Pro Pixel for those who don’t want a massive 6.7-inch screen. The outlet is also repeating rumors that we can expect Google to finally reveal its $1,799 folding phone next spring,...

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