CES 2025: Sony Just Revealed When 'The Last of Us' Season Two Is Dropping

Sony may have won CES as far as I’m concerned—and the expo hasn’t even officially started. 

The company made a number of announcements during its big CES media event, including pricing and availability information for its highly anticipated AFEELA car (a joint partnership with Honda). But it was the last announcement of the night that particularly caught my attention and excitement. 

Sony surprised us all by welcoming Neil Druckmann, studio head of Naughty Dog, to the stage. Druckmann mentioned the studio’s upcoming space adventure game, The Intergalactic, but then revealed the company had one small announcement to make. 

Credit: Jake Peterson

The Last of Us season two drops in April

As you might expect after a CES introduction from Neil Druckmann, Sony presented a new teaser for The Last of Us season two. Of course, there's fresh footage we didn't see in the season's first trailer, as well as intriguing snippets of performances from Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Kaitlyn Dever, and Gabriel Luna. I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who hasn't played The Last of Us Part II, but if you're a fan of season one, you're in for a ride.

All that said, the teaser closed with the most important announcement of all CES: Season two kicks off in April. 

Sony hasn’t given an exact date for this April release, but it’s more information than we’ve had before, and I’m here for it. I’ll be watching this teaser on repeat until the show aires. 

Sony is turning more of its games into shows and movies

In addition to The Last of Us’ second season, Sony also announced a Ghost of Tsushima anime, a movie adaptation of Helldivers 2, as well as a Horizon Zero Dawn feature film, however the latter is only in the early stages of development. 

Sony is clearly all-in on adapting its IP, and I don't blame them. The company touted the box office success of its Uncharted movie, and noted that it was proud of other adaptations like Grand Turismo, Twisted Metal, and, of course, The Last of Us. The company also reminded the audience of its upcoming film adaptation of Until Dawn, showing off a spot filmed with actor Peter Stormare to promote it.

CES 2025: This Beach Umbrella Can Charge Your Phone

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

If what you enjoy most about the beach is sitting in the shade, sipping a cold beverage, and scrolling on your phone, have I got exciting news for you: Today at CES, Anker Solix announced the immanent release of a new Solar Beach Umbrella, as well as an electric cooler, the EverFrost 2. When used together, these devices can quite literally work to keep you cool this summer. 

Outdoor umbrellas with solar panels aren’t entirely new, and the options currently on the market typically have a small solar-capturing panel that can power lights built into the frame. However, Anker is approaching solar integration in its outdoor furniture differently. The panels span the entire crown of the umbrella, offering 100W of maximum solar input, which is the same as a standard solar panel. They seem wildly efficient at producing energy, too—Anker promises 200% solar generation in low light (20,000lux), and 130% in bright light intensity (50,000lux). This means the umbrella will create a generous amount of solar driven energy even when it is overcast. 

Credit: Anker Solix

What will you do with all that energy? Probably recharge your phone, or perhaps a speaker. But Anker thinks you might also want to plug in any of the many power stations it sells, to get even more juice for your devices. Maybe you'll plug it directly into the EverFrost 2, to keep food and drinks frosty? (Though fully charged, the cooler will last 52 hours using only the onboard battery, so you’d only need the umbrella to power if you're planning to spend a long time at the beach.) The umbrella has XT-60 and USB-C ports, and the battery on the cooler also acts as a power bank, offering 60W USB-C and 12W USB-A charging. 

The umbrella is 84 inches tall and 74 inches in diameter, enough to keep a few people shaded during the day.  The solar panels are waterproof (rated IP67) and use sunshade fabric to reduce heat under the umbrella. Anker hasn't indicated what the cooler or umbrella weigh, an important omission given hauling these things to the beach might be a lot of work, what with all that battery power onboard. It's more likely you'll keep the umbrella on your patio, where it will become an additional source of power in your yard.

Anker Solix is solidly a battery company. They make terrific backup batteries, from tiny portables to whole home backups. They have a whole line of solar generators, and the solar panels to go with them.  While solar power was for years relegated to powering outdoor goods that you didn’t have electricity for, and was generally unreliable, these days I actively choose solar over batteries because the technology has improved phenomenally. The solar panels on my outdoor security cameras perform astoundingly, even through weeks of overcast weather.  While umbrella and cooler companies have previously tred to bring solar into their products, the results haven't always been reliable, and the part they struggled with—the solar panels—is precisely the tech that Anker Solix is known for. 

But more importantly, I think this speaks to where solar is headed. Consider what smart plugs can tell us: For years inside the home, we have been able to install smart plugs to turn common items into “smart” devices. Eventually, that connectivity made its way to the devices themselves. By bringing solar panels to devices themselves, Anker Solix is reducing the need for its own power stations. Imagine a future where you don't need to lug around a giant power bank, but only the devices you want to use, all of which will all have onboard solar power. It will be interesting to see how Anker leverages solar moving forward to build out other experiences. Why not patio furniture that heats in winter or cools in summer?

The Anker Solix Beach Umbrella will be available this summe, with pricing to be announced. The Everfrost 2 will be available Feb. 21 in three sizes, starting at $699.

CES 2025: Switchbot's New Robot Vacuum Is Actually a Multitasking Household Assistant

Earlier this year, Switchbot announced the S10, a robot vacuum and mop that could pull clean water directly from your home’s water line to not only mop your floors, but to also shuttle the water to a separate humidifier. Today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Switchbot announced the K20+ Pro, a robot vacuum cleaner that can transport drinks, fans, air purifiers (and more) around the house on a special platform. Switchbot is calling both of these robots their “Multitasking Household Robots.” 

If you have a robot vacuum, you understand that they become a very visible presence in your home. The dock takes up space, and in most cases, the robot does its job vacuuming while your family is using the home. The idea that these machines can do more than one job is intriguing and, given how expensive they often are, economical. 

The K20+ Pro is an update to the K10+, a “mini” robot vacuum that I adore, and the new version only improved on the original. The K20+ Pro is a powerful robot vacuum, running 15,000Pa suction—and it's only the size of your hand. With that small stature, it can get around chair legs and into corners more easily. What makes this new version unique is that the robot can connect to a larger platform—the "FusionPlatform"—and you can use that stage to shuttle drinks or other items around the house.

The FusionPlatform has a number of holes, ports, and plugs so that other items can be attached, plugged in, or stowed on it. Switchbot will sell a fan, a security camera, and an air purifier with a small table on top that can dock and then move around the house. Switchbot even encourages you to 3D-print your own parts for the FusionPlatform, creating a world of possible accessories and uses. (The platform can hold up to 18 pounds.) 

Now, there are some drawbacks. First, the robot can’t vacuum when the FusionPlatform is attached; it has to undock to do so, and Switchbot was unclear on whether you could abandon the platform anywhere or if it has to return it to the dock first. Also, the extensions like the fan and air purifier don’t work while the robot is moving, only when it has stopped. 

Credit: Switchbot

Second, while having a robot drive an air purifier around the house is neat, I’m not entirely sure how useful it actually is. Perhaps the most utilitarian use is the K20+ Pro Mobile Stand, which will effectively turn the K20+ Pro into one of those tablet robots the height of a person that can be remotely controlled. 

The third drawback: As you add more and more accessories to the FusionPlatform, they have to get stored someplace. And, well, they really can start to pile up. 

Credit: Switchbot

Lastly, the K20+ Pro and the S10 don’t interact, meaning the two whole-household robots don’t acknowledge each other or work together in any way, which feels like a real miss. For what it’s worth, Switchbot is releasing an update to the S10 and the S20 Pro this week with a number of improvements to what I already considered two competent vacuum/mop combos.

Still, the point that’s worth focusing on if you’re a real robot nerd like me is that Switchbot has imagined an entire ecosystem of devices their robots can work with, and a future where robots don’t have one singular gig but are more deeply tied into your household. 

The K20+ Pro is expect to be available in late March; there is no pricing information as of now.

CES 2025: Bird Buddy's New Nature Cam Will Let Your Plants Tell You What Kind of Day They Had

Before particularly rough storms, I have been known to go outside and give my plants a pep talk. I'm not sure how I'd feel about receiving distress messages from my garden (“I need help!” from Bob the fig tree, etc.). But you can bet I’m going to sign up for this parasocial experiment, because today at CES, Bird Buddy announced Petal, a new AI-enabled camera to help you engage with the outside world. 

Petal is a solar-powered camera that you can clamp onto a raised bed or planter, stick into a bed, or wrap around a tree limb. It will work anywhere as long as there’s wifi and sunlight. Like the bird-watching cameras that Bird Buddy is famous for, these cameras will give you extremely high-resolution, up-close video and photo of birds, bugs, and the plants they perch on. The cameras will then use an AI layer that can identify what’s going on outside, from a flower blooming to birds hatching or a tomato ready to be plucked. 

As with most Bird Buddy cameras, you can do an awful lot without a subscription, but with a subscription, you can name individual birds, as well as the flowers, bugs, and plants in your yard. I can’t decide if this is charming or insane, but I’m 100% in for the ride this summer. 

Bird Buddy hopes that you’ll buy Petal in multiples and place them around your yard. They’ll even have interchangeable lenses: You can go with a wide angle or change it to a macro for great depth of field. You can capture time lapse, and still get notified with your favorite artichoke plant gets visited by a bee or bug, or when it is affected by weather. 

Though announced today, Petal will be officially introduced in a Kickstarter this summer with Bird Buddy’s other release, WonderBlocks, a modular planter system for outdoors that includes mason-bee hotels, bug hotels, and self-watering planters.  Bird Buddy will also offer planting blocks impregnated with native plants and pollinators local to your geography. All these parts are meant to work together, and seem to imply that Bird Buddy is moving away from a singular focus on birds, and towards bird watching being part of your connection to the outside. Pricing has not been announced for either Petal or WonderBlocks.

CES 2025: The 7 Coolest Things I Saw at CES Unveiled

I saw a lot of tech at this year's CES Unveiled. The event is filled with row after row of AI-powered, motorized, holographic, shape-shifting technology, and is only a fraction of the amount there is to see at CES in total.

While there were plenty of cool, interesting, wacky, and weird things on display, seven products in particular caught my eye. In fact, some of my favorites are not necessarily products you'd be able to pickup and buy. But I appreciate both the concepts behind some of these things, as well as where the tech could go in the future.

ColdSnap

This poor ColdSnap unit, with its "faulty pod" warning, was not the machine that served me ice cream. Credit: Jake Peterson

I saw ColdSnap at least year's CES, and it was equally fun both times I visited the booth. ColdSnap acts like a Keurig machine for ice cream: You use a single-serve pod—a particular flavor, of course—but instead of coffee, out comes ice cream.

Last year, I assumed ColdSnap's deserts wouldn't impress. An interesting concept, sure, but I imagined the single-serve design, in execution, would not be more compelling than buying a pint of ice cream from the store.

Truth be told, ColdSnap makes excellent ice cream. Last year, I got the bourbon flavor, and I don't know if it was just the bourbon talking, but I really enjoyed it. (I made the same joke last time.) This year, I tried their coffee flavor, and I was impressed once again. Better yet, the rep tells me all their flavors are gluten free, and use certified gluten free oats. As someone with celiac disease, I appreciate that, and appreciate more being able to safely test taste food at a mega convention like CES. It almost takes the sting out of the $3,000 price tag.

LOOI

Credit: Jake Peterson

There were a number of robots to see at Unveiled. Many companies seem keen on not only making a robot, but one with an anthropomorphic face. Most of them don't interest me all that much; some, in fact, creep me out.

However, LOOI caught my eye. It's a robot with a WALL-E-like face, which in and of itself isn't necessarily groundbreaking. But what I found particularly interesting is you don't buy LOOI's face: You only buy the robot's body, and provide the face with your own smartphone.

Your iPhone or Android sticks to LOOI and, through the app, turns it into a robot you can interact with. LOOI responds to hand gestures, so you can "push" the bot back by moving your hand towards it. (This doesn't always seem to work—or, at least, not under CES Unveiled's indoor lights.) You can also talk to LOOI: The rep asked LOOI to introduce itself to me, and it did, complete with a virtual microphone to speak into.

Because LOOI operates from your smartphone's display, it can display other things besides its face. It can show text when "talking" to you; graphics, like a digital microphone or even a cheeseburger it can "eat;" or a camera view if taking a selfie. I don't think LOOI is necessarily practical, and I'm not sure what I'd actually do with one. But it's a unique concept I certainly haven't seen before.

E-SKIMO

Credit: Jake Peterson

If you've ever ridden an e-bike, you know how cool an experience it is. When you're used to relying on just your own momentum to move a bike, the boost from an e-bike's motor is really something else.

That's how I imagine electric skis would be. E-SKIMO is working on just that: a motorized ski, that can offer a boost whether you're skiing downhill or cross-country. Trying to move on skis across long stretches of flat land is always a low-point of any ski day, so I totally welcome motorized skis (or e-skis).

In addition to the motor, E-SKIMO has sensors built into the skis to collect data as you complete your runs. If you're someone who likes to track their performance and look for ways to improve, that's an enticing concept.

Concept is the key word here: The product E-SKIMO showed off at CES isn't available commercially, and isn't aimed at consumers; rather, the company is looking to sell the tech to brands to integrate into their own skis. I hope it works out, so I can look forward to power-assisted skiing in my future.

Electric Salt Spoon

Credit: Jake Peterson

This one drew a crowd, and for good reason: "Electric Salt Spoon," developed by Kirin, claims to be able to make low sodium food taste salty. The spoon, according to Kirin, adds a "mild electrical current" through the food in your mouth, which supposedly stimulates Na+ ions that would otherwise be lost to your taste buds.

To use the spoon, you scoop up your food, then press the button to trigger the electricity flow. There are four intensity levels to choose from (Kirin recommends first-time users start with the lowest setting). Then, you hit the button, and eat. The light on the spoon will turn white while you're eating, and the company advises you try to make each bite count—about half a second per bite.

I did not test the spoon, so I cannot personally attest to its powers. But it's a wild idea: Can you save yourself some added salt by using an electric spoon?

LISSOME R1

Credit: Jake Peterson

I spent many years living in small apartments without dishwasher—and I hated it. I actively avoided cooking because I could not stand having to hand wash every plate, bowl, or utensil I used. That's why LISSOME R1 piqued my interest. To be honest, I couldn't care less about its "AI wash features," or that it dries dishes in 15 minutes (even if that would be convenient). It's a low-profile portable dish washer that I would have loved having in my small kitchens. I hope this one lives up to my personal hype.

Aurzen ZIP

Credit: Jake Peterson

Aurzen's portable projector doesn't have the highest resolution at 720p. It also only lasts 90 minutes, so it's probably not excellent for most movie nights. However, its folding design is really cool: When fully folded up, it looks like a Game Boy Advance SP, which speaks to me directly. But as you unfold it, you're able to customize how you want it to project. One orientation lets you project on the wall, while another lets you project on the ceiling.

I could live with the resolution on a product like this, actually. It's so portable, that if the battery life could be extended just a bit, it could make for an excellent movie machine on the go. As it is now, it's probably better for portable presentations, or movie and shows that are 90 minutes or less.

Bodyfriend

Credit: Jake Peterson

I'd be remiss not to mention the transformer massage chair. Bodyfriend was impossible to miss, since it looked like Bumblebee retired from fighting Decepticons to become a masseuse. Aside from moving around like a giant robot, it offers a slew of different zones for massages. I'm not sure I see catching on in the average household, but it was very fun to watch in action.

CES 2025: Govee’s New Pixel Light Will Remind You of a Lite Brite

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Govee is debuting a series of new light products, and while previous endeavors like lamps and holiday lights have focused on function, today’s releases are all about fun. Govee has also leaned in hard to a retro theme, debuting a set of digital tablets that display pixelated images or gifs: They're giving a real Lite Brite vibe.  

The Pixel Light looks a lot like a gaming console, so much that I spent some time trying to figure out if that was a feature I could unlock. Instead, it is a large pixel display, and you can use Govee’s app to change what it displays.  

While it’s not the touch screen I’d have liked for my 2025 Lite Brite fever dream, it does offer the same feel through the app, which does allow you to hand draw what you’d like to see on the screen using the DIY feature. You can select colors, shapes, and drawing tools, and when you're done, you tap “apply,” and the image is sent to your display. 

Credit: Amanda Blum

There are also lots of presets, from nature to sports to food. This is perhaps the best use of the tablet, because these images are well-refined already and there are many animated gifs you can use. You can display livestreams of information, from weather to sports scores to Bitcoin values. There are patterns that will move to any music you play, and some patterns play 8-bit music. 

Now, if you’re looking at a wildly pixelated image alongside 8-bit music, and early Nintendo games don’t come to mind, you’re playing in a different technological bubble, because it is all I could think of. And while the console did come with static images of arcade games you could display, it didn’t have any animated gifs, and I thought that was a real miss. If this tablet showed Frogger or Super Mario Bros. or Donkey Kong incessantly, I’d let it play until it burned itself out. 

You can upload an image of your own and have it sent, in wildly pixelated format, to the display. This wasn’t fantastic, if you ask me, but it was an interesting experiment. 

And that is how pointillism works. Credit: Amanda Blum

There is an AI engine you can ask to generate images for the tablet, and experiences will vary. For instance, I asked a number of times for Rainbow Brite or Super Mario Bros. (I was determined), and in both cases, the AI engine had no idea what I was talking about. But if you ask for a rainbow, you get one. 

Credit: Amanda Blum

The last thing is that you can, actually, create an animated gif of your own. However, it’s unlikely you would from your phone, which is where my issues with the Pixel Light lie. All of the DIY and drawing tools are touch screen but are absurdly small. Too small to reasonably use the tip of your finger in drawing. It’s very clumsy, perhaps intentionally so (so you lean into the “fun” aspect), but I can’t imagine spending the time to create an animated gif because of the frustration with the touch screen size. 

The Pixel Light comes in two sizes: 5.75 x 7” and 5.75x 10". It comes with mounts for the wall or a shelf. It’s expected to be released for sale in early summer, with a target price of $100-$200.

CES 2025: Belkin Finally Made a Tripod for Its TikTok Creator Stand

Last year, frequent Apple collaborator Belkin released what might be the most over-the-top phone stand of all time, doubling as a cameraperson to track and record you as you move. The catch? It didn’t come with a tripod—until now.

The Belkin Auto-Tracking Stand Pro is a $150 motorized MagSafe phone charger that, in addition to providing standard 15W wireless charging, also works with Apple’s DockKit framework to rotate 360 degrees and tilt 90 degrees so that it can always keep you in frame. It’s intended for livestreamers and vloggers and can automatically follow you around as you present or act out a skit, making it easier to shoot while solo. (That said, you can also use it casually, say to make a FaceTime call).

But at just under nine inches tall, its usability out of the box was severely limited. It’s great for shooting from a desk, but if your videos require you to stand up or get further away from your phone’s microphones, it can be a bit trickier to place. That made it difficult to sell to its core influencer audience.

You could get around this using third-party solutions, since the stand comes with a standard tripod screw hole on the bottom, but now Belkin is offering a more official answer. Announced during this year’s CES, the Belkin Stage Creator Bundle adds on to the Auto-Tracking Stand Pro with a 5.6-foot tripod and a pair of wearable clip-on microphones. It also comes with a magnetic phone mount, so technically, you could still use the bundle without the tracking stand as well, assuming you don’t need your phone’s camera to follow you around.

Credit: Belkin

There’s still no word on Android support, although it’s probably not likely, given the tracking stand’s reliance on DockKit. Even if you put a MagSage sticker on your Android phone, it just won’t play well with its software.

Pricing is MIA for the moment, as are specs for those clip-on microphones, as the bundle’s release is a bit far out. (It's currently set for May.) Still, even if it’ll have to compete with third-party alternatives (tripods and wireless mics aren’t exactly new), the bundle will go a long way towards making Belkin’s motorized stand feel like a more complete product.

Credit: Belkin

Also set for May is the Stage PowerGrip, which is similarly still waiting on a price. This is a bit more of a novelty product, as it’s a MagSafe power bank that also makes your phone look a bit more like an instant camera. Completing the aesthetic (yes, it does come in multiple colors) is a grip for lining up your shots as well as a button for taking them, but where a camera viewfinder would be, you’ll instead find a small screen depicting the bank’s remaining battery percentage. Like some other MagSafe Belkin power banks, you can also stand up the PowerGrip vertically to use it as a sort of phone kickstand as well, and it has a built-in USB-C cable for wired charging.

Credit: Belkin

Belkin does also have some CES 2025 products with pricing already announced. In addition to a new BoostCharge Compact USB-C wall charger and new BoostCharge Power Bank with 20,000 mAh of capacity and an integrated USB-C cable, the BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Wireless Charging Pad is a small wireless charging puck that should be great for travel. This small circular charger connects to the back of your phone using MagSafe (or a MagSafe style sticker) and is about as thick as a power bank, but takes up much less space overall. Because of its integrated kickstand, the idea is you can easily use it as your phone charger while on-the-go, propping your phone up overnight so it can work like an alarm clock. The only catch? You’ll still need to plug its 6.6-foot USB-C cable into some kind of power source. Luckily, you can get a power supply with the unit, or forgo one for a supply already have, so you at least have options there.

The BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Wireless Charging Pad will release in the U.S. in April and will run you $20 without a power supply and $30 with one. If you do want to provide your own power supply, the BoostCharge Compact USB-C charger will work for that, and will release in March for $30, coming with 45W of max capacity and one USB-C port. A 65W version of the BoostCharge Compact will also start selling in March for $40, while the BoostCharge Power Bank with 20,000 mAh capacity and an integrated cable hits shelves in April for $50. The USB-powered products should work with any product that charges via a compatible port, while the BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Wireless Charging Pad will work with any Qi2 compatible device.

CES 2025: Mammotion Just Released Two Mini Robot Lawnmowers

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Last week, in advance of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), I said, “I would love to see a fleet of small robot lawnmowers, perfect for tiny lawns, and for them to be sold at tiny prices.” Mammotion and I must be on the same wavelength because today at CES, they announced a miniature version of their two exceptional robot mowers: the LUBA and the YUKA. The idea of a mini robot lawnmower is brilliant— there are plenty of people with smaller lawns, and a smaller mower means accessibility and removal of unnecessary labor without having to stow or pay for a big machine.

I found myself thinking a lot about the Switchbot K10+, a mini robot vacuum that I am a huge fan of. The charm of the K10+ isn’t that it's for smaller spaces—it actually handles a whole house better than most—but that the diminutive size allows it to fit into spaces bigger robots can’t, and get a tighter radius around objects. The Luba and Yuka Mini should do the same. They can access lawns through smaller pathways, and navigate around obstacles like planters and lawn lights with more ease. They won’t tear up your lawn when making a turn, since their wheels should be smaller and the robot should be lighter. 

The Mammotion Luba 2 was the first robot lawnmower I tested, and I assumed all other mowers would live up to it, but I was sadly mistaken. Despite testing many mowers over last summer, it wasn’t even close. The Luba is highly competent, navigating any terrain without blinking, reliably starting and returning to the base when it should and sticking to the areas it is plotted to. 

The Yuka came at the end of the summer, and it is akin to a little sister to the Luba. A bit smaller, more agile, and with a hopper to automatically collect and then dump leaves, trimmings, or debris where you want it to. The Yuka can handle more mowing areas than the Luba, but the Luba is unperturbed by any landscaping you throw at it; it easily traverses a large rock wash in my neighbor's lawn.

The Luba mini will weigh just 33 lbs., which is dramatically lighter than the original; the Yuka mini clocks in at 22 lbs. 

One of the key things that sets robot lawnmowers apart from one another is how easy they are to set up. The Mammotion mowers are exceptional because you simply walk them around your yard using the remote control on your phone app, and once they have the area mapped, they navigate the interior of the space flawlessly. The  AI used in this auto mapping will be present on the minis. 

The Luba mini starts at $1,499, and the Yuka mini starts at $799; both are available for pre-order on the Mammotion website now and are expected to ship before April.

CES 2025: This New Robot Vacuum Has an Arm That Picks Stuff Up

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Over the past week, I’ve gotten a sneak peek at tons of smart tech being released at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). But the only tech that made me jump up and clap in excitement was the Roborock Saros Z70: specifically, the moment when the top of the Z70 opened up and a long robotic arm emerged. This arm can gently pick up a shoe, sock, or toy in the robot's path, and then gracefully deposit it in a location of your choosing.

For the past 18 months, I have not been coy about how much I like Roborock robot vacuums and mops, if you choose the top of the line models like the S8 MaxV Ultra and the QRevo MaxV or QRevo Curv. Among the reason for my devotion: Roborocks are more autonomous than other robot vacuum cleaners—they don’t get clogged or lost or stranded as often as other brands. Also, they seem to get the floor cleaner. 

Yes, Roborock has a lot of models, but the company is aiming to streamline the confusion a little bit with a brand-new naming convention: Saros. Roborock has already released two robots under this new naming convention—the Saros 10 and 10R—but the Z70 will be the flagship.

The arm (officially called the OmniGrip) will be able to pick up six or so different items at a time, from socks to toys, and then, depending on what the AI identifies the object as, will drop it in a pre-designated spot. While it already recognizes 108 objects, the open-source AI model will let users identify and name 50 additional objects. In other words, the Roborock can now pick up after your family. You can ask the Saros where it last saw your kid’s missing sneaker. 

If the idea of a robot arm emerging from your vacuum cleaner freaks you out, it won’t work until you set it up. One of the nice aspects about the arm is that future improvements to the arm are mere software updates. I asked if the arm would be able to help free the robot from a stuck spot, like it would on an excavator; while it can’t currently, future updates might make that possible. 

As exciting as that is, it’s not the only upgrade in the Z70. Every brand I spoke to this week insisted that their vacuum would have “the highest suction power in the industry” but Roborock is going to win that battle, with 22,000Pa. To put it in perspective, plenty of robots I tested in the last year did an admirable job at less than 10,000Pa. There’s a question to be asked about how much we gain from this continued escalation of suction power—does it actually help debris, particularly large debris, move through the rollers so it will not get stuck? 

The Z70 leverages the technology that we saw in the QRevo Curv, where the chassis can lift its front end to surmount obstacles like cords and rolled rug ends, but it will now use that same tech to exert more pressure on the robot’s back end, where the spinning mop brushes are located. That pressure is what has been missing from any robot vacuums released so far, and I, for one, could not be more excited. This could mean finally getting into depressions on tile, grout lines or getting rid of general griminess. 

With Saros, Roborock is making a deliberate move away from LiDAR, which has been a navigation standard for the last year or two. LiDAR uses light to measure distance, but requires a “tower” on top of the robot, which is why most robots you see these days have a circular “button” on top of the machine to house the LiDAR. Roborock is moving towards AI-assisted cameras to navigate—specifically, the Starsight Autonomous System 2.0. The Saros is equipped with cameras on the robot and the OmniGrip, and those cameras measure the distance between where the robot is and the space in front of it, both vertical and horizontal. LiDAR “guesses” the distance, so it is less accurate. This new navigation includes Vertibeam, a lateral obstacle avoidance so the robot can vacuum around obstacles like power cords. 

The Saros Z70 is also very thin, a smidge over three inches tall, so it will slide under your furniture, and includes all the features I love from previous Roborocks: hefty water tanks on the dock, a place for cleaning fluid in the dock, and very fast-charging (only 2.5 hours for a full charge). In news I’m less enthused about, Rocky, the on-board voice assistant, will continue to be present. I don’t find Rocky to be all that evolved yet, and he tends to respond to random phrases from my TV a lot, while not listening to me at all. 

The Saros Z70 is expected to be released in the first half of 2025; there’s no pricing information yet.

This Free Fill-in-the-Bubble Calendar Makes Tracking My Workouts so Satisfying

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

The new year is a great time for nerds like me. If you’re a sucker for the joy of a new training journal, the fresh promise of a program you’ll check off one day at a time, or even (admit it) the kid who really loved filling in bubbles with a number two pencil, you’ll enjoy this bubble-style calendar that a generous Redditor posts each year. 

Here is the 2025 version, available in two sizes, and with the week beginning with either Sunday or Monday, according to your preference. The user who posts it every year goes by u/Propelissa, so check their profile next January when you’ve filled up this one. 

The two sizes are 8.5"x 11", best for printing on a standard letter-sized American printer, and 8" x 10", best for submitting as a “photo” to any photo printing service. 

How to use the bubble calendar

Honestly, it’s just a sheet of paper with circles on it, so you can use it any way you like. But it was inspired by this poster, apparently issued by Saucony and Fleet Feet in 2019, which invited you to fill in one of the bubbles every time you went for a run. 

If you print the 8" x 10" version through a photo service, you’ll probably want to use a Sharpie to fill in the bubbles. But if you have access to a regular paper printer, you’ll get a grade-school thrill out of being able to fill in the bubbles with a nice Ticonderoga pencil.

Last year, I decided to use the bubble calendar to track my cardio. (It’s easy for me to keep up with strength training, less so with cardio.) If I did a bike ride, a run, or any other kind of purposeful cardio workout, I filled in that day’s bubble. If I went for a walk, I drew an X in the bubble to give myself partial credit. Toward the beginning of the year, most of my cardio workouts were power zone bike workouts; in the summer and fall, they were usually runs. 

How you use the calendar is up to you. You could log any type of workout. You could use different colors for different types or lengths of workout. Or you could use the calendar to track how often you floss your teeth, or eat your vegetables, or make it to bed on time. Go ahead, it’s all yours. 

The Best TV Series to Stream This Week

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

If you're looking for a new show to watch this week, I got your back. I've scoured the schedules of Netflix, Prime, Max, Hulu, and other streaming platforms to bring you the best and most notable shows streaming this week.

My "don't miss" choice this week is Going Dutch, a clash-of-cultures comedy that stars Denis Leary and is streaming on Hulu. But that, as they say, is not all; read on for more new shows you might enjoy.

Going Dutch

In this clash-of-military-cultures comedy series from Fox, Denis Leary stars as Patrick Quinn, an outspoken, by-the-books colonel banished to a chaotic, unimportant military base in the Netherlands and asked to bring discipline back to the installation. The show also stars Danny Pudi as Quinn's righthand man and Taylor Misiak as his estranged daughter. If you're looking for an update of Gomer Pyle, USMC, this might be the show for you.

Where to stream: Hulu

Missing You

Missing You is a mystery-thriller from novelist Harlan Coben, so expect plot twists that will leave you saying "whoah." Rosalind Eleazar plays detective Kat Donovan whose fiancé Josh, played by Ashley Walters, disappeared years before. When she sees his face on a dating app, Donovan tries to get to the bottom of a mystery that spins in wildly unexpected directions. If you're looking for a potboiler-mystery series, check out Missing You.

Where to stream: Netflix

Lockerbie: A Search for Truth

Based on real events surrounding the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, Peacock's original limited series Lockerbie: A Search For Truth tells the story of Dr. Jim Swire (Colin Firth) whose daughter was among the 259 dead on the flight. After being nominated spokesperson for the UK victims’ families, Swire sets off on a quest for truth and justice, but his journey upends his family and leads to a quagmire of political issues that shake Swire's faith in the justice system.

Where to stream: Peacock

Last week's picks

Squid Game, Season 2

Netflix's big Christmas present is coming a day late with the Dec. 26 release of season two of Korean dystopian sci-fi drama Squid Game. Season two was written, directed, and produced by Hwang Dong-hyuk, the genius behind season one, and Lee Jung-jae will return as Player 456, who's re-entering the game to tear it apart from the inside. Season one cast members Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo are coming back too, where they'll join a fresh crop of competitors, so everyone can play a new bunch of deadly games. Can't wait.

Where to stream: Netflix

Landman

In Landman, Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton stars as Tommy Norris, a "crisis executive" (aka fixer) for a major oil company. Created by Yellowstone auteur Taylor Sheridan and set in the boomtowns of West Texas, Landman dramatizes the ethical quandaries and moral gray areas that are inextricably linked to the juice we use to power everything in our lives.

Where to stream: Paramount+

The Secret Lives of Animals

Apple TV+ and the BBC teamed up for The Secret Lives of Animals, a for-the-whole-family documentary series that takes us deep into the worlds of bears, birds, monkeys, and other critters as they leave home, look for food, find mates, and generally do their animal things. If you have smaller kids, rest assured this is not one of those traumatizing nature documentaries in which the strong prey upon the weak and death is all around.

Where to stream: Apple TV+

The Best New Movies to Stream This Week

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Looking to settle in with a good movie? Me too. That's why I've pored over release schedules to bring you the best original and new-to-streaming movies you can watch on Netflix, Prime, Max, Hulu, and other streaming platforms this week.

My pick of the week is Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, a claymation movie that takes absurdity, chaos, and British humor to new heights. Speaking of funny Brits, don't miss Cunk on Life a BBC-produced mockumentary that I guarantee will crack you up.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

The beloved stop-motion characters created by Aardman Animations are back in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, in which Gromit (he's the dog) becomes concerned with his master's overreliance on technology. Wallace has invented a high-tech garden gnome, but it turns evil, forcing an absurd showdown. The roller coaster pace and precise comic timing raise the chaos high enough to earn Vengeance Most Fowl a rare 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Where to stream: Netflix

Cunk on Life

Cunk on Life (an offshoot of the "documentary" series Cunk on Earth) illustrates what would happen if the BBC hired the dumbest person on Earth to host a sweeping documentary that examines the meaning of life. Philomena Cunk, played by comedian Diane Morgan, travels the world to interview real academics, philosophers, and other very smart people, ostensibly to ask big, important questions, but really to test their patience with her deadpan, stupid persona. If you like comedy that's actually funny, don't miss Cunk on Life.

Where to stream: Netflix

The Rig

The Rig has a perfect set up for a horror-thriller: A mysterious fog rolls over an offshore oil rig, cutting off all communication. Paranoia, claustrophobia, and terror rise as the tension becomes unbearable. Then the crew learns that the fog besetting the oil rig leads to something unnatural and unspeakable, forcing desperate men to work together to survive.

Where to stream: Prime

Interstellar (2014)

Christopher Nolan directed this science fiction story about a group of astronauts who fly through a wormhole in search of a new home planet for humans to crap up. With a cast that includes Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine, thoughtful ideas about down-to-earth values, and a heavy dose of Nolan's unique cinematic style, Interstellar is required viewing. After an IMAX rerelease earlier this year, people who missed it the first time around are finally appreciating it as a new sci-fi classic.

Where to stream: Netflix

A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)

This prequel to A Quiet Place brings us back to the start of the series, the day the blind, noise-averse aliens invaded earth and killed almost everyone in the world. Lupita Nyong'o stars as Sammy, a terminally ill woman whose journey to New York City for a slice of pizza is interrupted by the end of the world. A film that’s equal parts horror and character study, A Quiet Place: Day One is a great choice for fans of horror movies with a sci-fi bent.

Where to stream: Prime

Paddington (2014)

Universally admired family flick Paddington proves that CGI characters can be lovable and memorable and that children's movies can be emotionally affecting without being mawkish and sentimental. Nailing the tone in a movie about a bear in a red hat in the modern world is a hell of a balancing act, but Paddington pulls it off without seeming to break a sweat. A true classic you should revisit before the three-quel arrives in theaters in February.

Where to stream: Hulu

Don't Die: the Man Who Wants to Live Forever

Sorry for spoiling this Netflix original documentary, but its subject, entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, is not going to live forever. He's not going to achieve his more modest goal of living to 200 either. That foreknowledge adds to the poignancy and ridiculousness of Johnson's pursuit—dude is spending millions per year to forestall Death, and Death just does not care. While you and I are probably not going to that level, we're all doing something (even if it's just fretting) and Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever asks some interesting questions about our relationship to the end of life.

Where to stream: Netflix

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Rapper Boots Riley's cinema debut is a fearless provocation that's hilarious, surreal, and crammed with pointed social commentary. Atlanta's Lakeith Stanfield plays Cassius “Cash” Green, a telemarketer who's stuck in the boiler room until he learns to "talk white." Cash's new vocals (provided by a voiceover from comedian David Cross) open up a new world of money and power that only costs your soul to enter.

Where to stream: Hulu

The Front Room

The directorial debut of Max and Sam Eggers, half-brothers of Nosferatu director Robert Eggers, The Front Room is a surrealist domestic horror story in which the worst mother-in-law imaginable moves in to "help" her pregnant daughter-in-law and her son. Despite the seriousness of the trailer, The Front Room is leavened by dark humor throughout. Solange, played by Kathryn Hunter, is a true nightmare, and will do anything to drive a wedge between her son Norman, played by Andrew Burnap, and his wife Belinda, played by Brandy Norwood.

Where to stream: Max

2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

This year's winners of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Musical Excellence Award were Jimmy Buffett and The MC5, and inductees included A Tribe Called Quest and Ozzy Osbourne, proving that the words "rock and roll" don't actually describe anything. But whatever; it's still cool to see performances from the likes of Cher and Dua Lipa, who perform a duet of Cher's "Believe"; The Roots backing up Robert “Kool” Bell for a medley of Kool and the Gang classics; and Demi Lovato and Slash playing classic rock from Foreigner.

Where to stream: Hulu

The Leopard Man (1943)

Just as Leopard Man producer Val Lewton's most famous film, Cat People, didn't have any cat people in it, Leopard Man is not about a leopard man. Lewton spent most of his career as the head of B-movie production company RKO's horror department, where studio heads dictated their movie's titles, but let Lewton actually film whatever he wanted. Lewton chose to make Leopard Man an atmospheric, creepy, surprisingly progressive examination of misogyny and violence, rather than a cheesy monster flick. Leopard Man is arguably the first movie about a serial killer, and remains among of the best examples of the genre ever made.

Where to stream: Max

Last week's picks

Between the Temples (2024)

This quirky screwball comedy casts Jason Schwartzman as a grieving cantor and Carol Kane as his former music teacher. She wants to have an adult bat mitzvah; he wants his voice back; so you know they're going to form an unusual bond. As film critic Isaac Feldberg puts it, Between the Temples "revels in capturing the alchemical, off-kilter chaos of oddballs in proximity." Sign me up!

Where to stream: Netflix

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

In Judas and the Black Messiah, Daniel Kaluuya turns in a mesmerizing performance as Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party. LaKeith Stanfield plays William O’Neal, aka Judas, an informant who has Hampton in his crosshairs because the FBI is dangling a pardon in front of him. Based on a true story, Judas and the Black Messiah has a 96% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a 95% "fresh" rating from viewers, so if you haven't seen it, now's your chance.

Where to stream: Paramount+

ChiefsAholic: A Wolf in Chief’s Clothing

You don't have to be a football fan to watch documentary ChiefsAholic: A Wolf in Chief’s Clothing. It's not about the team; it's about their biggest fan, Xaviar Babudar. Babudar's character, ChiefsAholic, was fan-famous for showing up at every Chief's game in a wolf costume. But NFL tickets aren't cheap, and it turns out that the "-aholic" part of ChiefsAholic wasn't a lie. Dude was robbing banks to pay for his Chiefs addiction—and his gambling addiction.

Where to stream: Prime

Telegram Has a New Verification Strategy to Cut Down on Scams

Misinformation and scams are an unfortunate reality of the internet in 2024. That "news" account might really be pushing falsehoods and lies, while that outreach from "Google" likely isn't from the company at all. You really need to be on guard at all times when processing the information that passes through your social feeds, which is why it helps when apps and platforms take action to protect users from untrustworthy sources.

Telegram has a new verification system

That seems to be the motivation behind recent updates from Telegram. The messaging platform has an existing verification system built into the service, where companies and public figures can register themselves with Telegram and receive a blue badge of honor. That way, when you see content from a notable person or an organization, you can rest assured those words being share are actually from that source. Many platforms (but not all) offer this type of service, of course. Even Google is thinking about rolling out badges for search.

But Telegram has a new addition to how it conducts verification: Once an organization is verified, it can then apply to become a "third-party verifier," which lets them verify other accounts and chats it deems official, too. These verification badges will differ from the blue checkmarks, and will instead look like blue emojis or icons. Any account or chat verified in this way will have a banner in its profile that explains which third party verified it and why.

I'm all for this type of verification process, and hope it catches on. It puts trust in accounts that already have proven their authority to Telegram, and, over time, will help users quickly parse which accounts and chats are legit, and which might be best to avoid. In the future, you might see a post from an account or chat, and since it doesn't have that badge, think twice about the message it's trying to get out.

Other new Telegram features

Credit: Telegram

In addition to third-party verification, Telegram announced a series of other features and changes coming to the platform:

• Message search filters: When searching, you'll now see an option in the "Chats" tab to sort your messages by "All Chats," "Private Chats," "Group Chats," or "Channels," to help you find the messages you're looking for.

• Folder names gets custom emojis: If you subscribe to Premium, you can add custom emoji to the names of your chat folders. You can even replace the text that would normally appear here with whatever emoji you want.

• In-app QR code scanner: When using the in-app camera on either iOS or Android, you'll also be able to scan QR codes.

• Collectible gifts: Telegram "gifts" are small tokens of artwork you can share with friends and display on your profile. Now, you can upgrade a gift to make it a "collectible." This will add a new look made by a Telegram artist, as well as a unique background, icon, and number. You can share collectibles with other users, or, if you're so inclined, auction it as an NFT. Right now, 20 gifts can be upgraded to collectibles, with over 1,400 unique appearances.

• Service message reactions: Service messages are those alerts you get whenever someone joins a group, begins a video call, or sends you a gift. Telegram now lets you react to these alerts, which adds a fun layer to these previously informative-only messages.

I Made This Anime Convention Scavenger Hunt for My Family (and You Can Use It for Free)

When I bought tickets for Anime NYC, I worried that the chaos would be overwhelming for my daughters' first convention. I started my own con-going tradition a decade ago with New York Comic Con, and I've attended countless conventions since, but Anime NYC was my twin 15-year-old daughters' first time going to an event so massive. To help, I planned to download a scavenger hunt to help guide them through the convention hall, but I couldn't find one anywhere online. So I stayed up late the night before Anime NYC, and I made an anime convention scavenger hunt myself.

Credit: Jordan Calhoun / Anime NYC

Like New York Comic Con, Anime NYC is held at the Javits Center, a 3.3 million square foot convention hall. Anime NYC was filled with over 100,000 people in 2024, the largest crowd yet in its seven-year history, and if you've been to a con before, you know how overwhelming and exhausting they can be: Countless events, panels, booths, and advertisements compete for your attention as you walk for miles through crowds. They're not beginner-friendly experiences, and Anime NYC was no exception.

My goal for the scavenger hunt was to give our exploration more focus and to distract from the fatigue, and it worked. It made the experience much less overwhelming for my family—and a lot more fun. I might never do another convention without one.

Customize this comic convention scavenger hunt

You can download this comic and anime convention scavenger hunt for free to use at your next convention, or use it as inspiration to make your own. The scavenger hunt is broken down into three sections:

• The first section has easier searches worth one point each. With a few bonuses involved, there are a maximum of 15 points possible in the first section of the scavenger hunt.

• The second section has challenges that are more involved or need more social interaction with strangers, and are worth two points each. With bonuses, there are a possible 20 points in the second section.

• And the last section involves taking videos of group members more actively engaging with the community, each worth 5 points. With bonuses, this section is worth up to 25 points.

The scavenger hunt format is malleable to most comic, anime, and gaming conventions, so you should customize it for your group and interests. For example, you may want to swap in other comic or video game characters, or raise or lower the difficulty levels based on age (or nerdiness). My family is Black and likes to notice such characters in anime, so one of our options included asking strangers if they can name five Black anime characters.

How long does the scavenger hunt take?

For adults, you can expect the convention scavenger hunt to take around 4-6 hours to finish. With kids, you can expect the search to be slower depending on how much walking they can handle. My family spent around six hours at Anime NYC, and out of a total possible 60 points, the winning team scored 48 points against the losing team's 47.

Credit: Jordan Calhoun / Lifehacker

How to make your own convention scavenger hunt

Of course, you can make your own scavenger hunt to be as unique as you want. The simplest scavenger hunts just need a list of items to find or tasks to accomplish, along with some basic rules around teams, time limits, and prizes. If your group is competitive, a few common questions to consider include:

• Whether teams can make alliances

• Whether teams can sabotage each other

• Whether teams can spend money for clues (This was a particular point of contention during my family's scavenger hunt, as my team paid for an autograph from an anime voice actor for a bonus point.)

• And a pre-agreed tie breaker

Scavenger hunts are a great way to organize conventions

One of my favorite productivity quotes is, “There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time." It reminds me that any large accomplishment can be made less daunting and more manageable by breaking into smaller tasks. I try to keep "one bite at a time" in mind whether training for a marathon, writing a book, or convincing my daughters to love conventions as much as I do: If I organize your tasks and focus on the one in front of me, the goal will happen along the way. Ultimately, a scavenger hunt can function as a great task management tool—essentially a checklist, but disguised for fun—and I plan to use them more often for events like vacations, museums, and trips. And when I can't find a good one online, I hope to find time to keep building them on my own.

11 Hidden Features in Apple Music Every User Should Know About

Apple Music (previously iTunes) is a behemoth of a music manager app for macOS and Windows—and it has changed and developed so much since its launch in 2001 that you may well have not come across everything this piece of software has to offer. It has evolved almost as rapidly as the digital music industry.

Whether you turn to Apple Music as your default audio player or you're wondering if it's worth switching to, these lesser-known features should give you a better idea of what the application is capable of—beyond the basics of streaming music from the web and playing local files.

(The guide below describes the features as they're found in Apple Music for macOS. The same features are all available in the Windows version, but might not be in exactly the same place or on the same menu.)

Build a radio station based on your favorite song

If you've got a track you're particularly taken with in Apple Music, you can build an entire radio station mix around it—as long as you're a subscriber to the Apple Music streaming service. With a particular song selected in the app, open the Song menu and choose Create Station. It's a really good way of discovering new artists similar to your favorites.

Switch to the mini player

Apple Music comes with a useful mini player. To access it, open the Window menu and choose Mini Player to see it (click and drag on it to move it around). Via Music > Settings > Advanced you can find a checkbox to keep it on top of other program windows on macOS, so you always have access to key playback controls.

You can specify when songs start and stop. Credit: Lifehacker

Cut out intros and outros

You can set timestamps for individual songs in Apple Music that tell the app where to start and stop playback whenever the song is played on any device—so you can cut out a lengthy intro or outro, for example. Right-click on a track, then choose Get Info and switch to the Options tab, where you'll find Start and Stop fields. Click OK to confirm.

Tweak your recommendations

Not every track in your library will be a five-star anthem, and you don't necessarily want the tracks that you like less to influence the recommendations you see across Apple Music—even if you keep the tracks themselves around. To make a song have less of an influence over recommended music, right-click on it and choose Suggest Less.

Use Suggest Less to tweak your recommendations. Credit: Lifehacker

Clear out the duplicates

You don't want your playlists and your Mac storage getting unnecessarily cluttered with duplicate files, which can be a problem for both local and streamed music. Open the File menu, then choose Library and Show Duplicate Items. You can then see all the tracks that are in your library more than once, and remove the extra copies you don't need.

Switch to lossless audio

The Apple Music streaming service supports lossless audio now—that's up to 24-bit/192 kHz in quality across the entire catalog—and you can switch to the higher resolution sound if you don't mind the extra demands on your bandwidth and file download sizes. To enable or disable the lossless audio feature in the app, head to Music > Settings > Playback.

Add comments to tracks

You can add comments to any of the tracks in your library. Just right-click on a song, then choose Get Info and head to the Details tab. You can use the comments field to label songs in any way you like—as instrumentals, or favorite songs, or upbeat songs, or golden oldies—and then set up smart playlists to pick out tracks using the comments data.

Sound Check will level out the volume levels. Credit: Lifehacker

Normalize the volume

It can be jarring when different songs have been recorded at different volume levels, which leaves you continually searching for the volume slider when a new track starts. To stop this from happening, open the Music menu, choose Settings, then head to the Playback tab and enable the Sound Check feature. Apple Music then makes adjustments automatically.

Skip songs when shuffling

Many of us turn to the shuffle feature to save having to queue up albums and songs manually, but not all songs lend themselves to a shuffled selection—you might want to cut out those lengthy post-rock tracks or spoken word skits, for example. To do this, right-click on a song, then choose Get Info: On the Options tab, check the Skip when shuffling box, then click OK.

Playlists can be made collaborative. Credit: Lifehacker

Create collaborative playlists

This is a newer feature that may have slipped under your radar: You can now work on playlists with other people in Apple Music, which is perfect for parties or road trips for example. With a playlist on screen, click the invite people button on the right (it's an icon of a head and shoulders), then choose Start Collaborating to pick your collaborators.

Customize the layout

Apple Music offers more flexibility in terms of its layout than you might have realized. If you've got a playlist on screen, you can open the View menu to choose between different groupings for your tracks (including Songs and Albums). You can also select how the tracks on screen are sorted and filtered (by artist name or number of plays, for example).

What Garmin's 'Recovery Time' Estimate Actually Means

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

As I sit here typing, my Garmin watch tells me that I have 21 hours until I’ve fully recovered from the workout I did earlier today. It wasn’t even a hard workout, but I’ve come to expect long recovery estimates from Garmin—and I won't let this number stop me from going on an easy run in the morning. The recovery time doesn’t mean what you might think it mean. 

What is the recovery time feature, and where can you see it? 

Most Garmin sport watches calculate a recovery time after each workout. You’ll see this number in the end-of-workout summary that you get right after you finish. It’s also available from the Training Status glance if you have that, or the Training Readiness tile in the Garmin Connect app if you have that. On my Forerunner 265S, I can even set it as one of the little complications on my main watch face. 

Garmin Forerunner 265S Running Smartwatch (Black/Yellow)

$422.00 at Amazon

$449.99 Save $27.99

$422.00 at Amazon

$449.99 Save $27.99

Garmin defines recovery time as “an estimate on how long it will take for you to fully recover and be ready for your next workout of the same intensity.” Note that phrase, fully recover. No athlete is fully recovered at the start of every training session; sometimes you carry a little fatigue from one session to the next. This number is just giving you a sense of how long you’ll be feeling the effects of this workout. 

The recovery time feature is available on most Enduro, Epix, Fenix, Forerunner, Instinct, Venu, and Vivoactive watches, among others (Garmin has a full list here). 

Do you have to wait until the recovery time hits zero before working out again? 

No! This is probably the biggest misconception about the feature (and it explains why the recovery times can be so long—up to four days). The idea isn’t that you have to rot in bed until the timer is up. It’s just that, between now and when the timer hits zero, you’ll be operating with at least a little more fatigue than usual. 

You can read Garmin’s explanation here. They say: “When your timer hits zero, it means you are ready to gain the maximum benefit from your next hard fitness-improving (i.e., training effect: 3.0+) type workout.”

So if I get a 38-hour recovery time after a hard workout, that’s just a signal that I won’t be in tip-top shape tomorrow. If I were planning the hardest workout of my week for tomorrow, I might want to consider delaying that workout so I can do it later on fresh legs. But if I’m planning on going for a recovery run instead, there’s no need to change my plans. 

Should you ignore Garmin’s recovery time? 

I mean, there’s an argument for ignoring any metric a watch gives you, at least some of the time. You don’t need to let Garmin’s recovery time run your life. If you still want to get your workout in, and you feel up to it, feel free to ignore the recovery numbers.

That said, I do find the recovery time useful as a gut check. If I get a long recovery time, that’s a reminder that I did actually work pretty hard, and I should make sure my efforts are balanced over time with easy and hard days. Any good training program will keep that in mind, anyway—with or without a watch putting a number on it.

Why does my recovery time keep changing?

Garmin is constantly updating its estimate of how far away you are from full recovery. If you do another workout before the timer hits zero, the number will go up again because you’ve given yourself more work to recover from. 

On the flip side, if you got a good night’s sleep, you may find that the number shrank more than expected during the night. Again, you don’t want to read too much into this number; it’s just an estimate, after all. But it’s a good sign if you find you’re recovering quickly from your hard workouts.