At any given moment, I’m always juggling way too many productivity apps. It involves a lot of switching accounts and hopping between services just to get basic things done. Some tools were great initially, but then they just became clutter to manage, especially as new apps come into my rotation, whether for user testing or just as a productivity enthusiast. Most of them also run on the cloud, so all my data is scattered across different servers I have no control over.

You flip on your VPN, reload the page, and instead of getting in, you get a polite but firm message telling you to go away. I've had this happen while logging into a financial account from a hotel Wi-Fi when I was traveling abroad. I was apparently too suspicious to access my account.

Just like gaming PC hardware, the peripherals are getting faster every year. For example, gaming keyboards and mice have already moved beyond the 1KHz polling rate. Now, 8KHz is slowly becoming a common headlining feature even on mid-range wireless options.

There's a comfortable lie a lot of productivity-minded people tell themselves: that one app can do it all. Notion is often cast in that role. It’s a wiki, task manager, database, and light project hub. To be fair, it earns a lot of that reputation. But Notion's design philosophy has always been a page-first, block-based workspace. It's built for knowledge management, not business systems. When your team starts needing conditional workflows, multiple data sources, or fine-grained access control, Notion starts to show its seams.

The Leitzphone has just launched internationally alongside a regular version of the 17 Ultra. Xiaomi and Leica's long-running phone partnership just got a little closer. Alongside the new international release of its 17 Ultra flagship, Xiaomi has been entrusted with manufacturing a separate version that is the first Leica Leitzphone to release outside of Japan, following three Sharp-made models exclusive to the country.In truth, the Leitzphone is a 17 Ultra with Leica branding and a rotatable camera ring, and apart from a few design tweaks, it's mostly the same as the Leica Edition of that phone already available in China. But the branding is a big deal: Leica hasn't let Xiaomi use its red dot logo on hardware until now, even thoug …Read the full story at The Verge.

Home networks are so much more than an ISP connection and a router, today. They need to keep your online existence alive and kicking, enable remote work, and give your smart devices the very ability that affords them the Smart tag. Given the significance of internet at home, I'm frequently appalled by the sheer nonchalance with which the average user treats their internet connection. Most of them set it up using a five-minute YouTube video as a guide, and phone the ISP at the slightest inconvenience.

The Xiaomi 17 and 17 Ultra are launching together, but there’s no sign of the Pro. Xiaomi has just given a global launch to two of its latest flagship phones, the Xiaomi 17 and 17 Ultra, along with a Leica-branded Leitzphone edition of the Ultra. There's no sign, however, of the 17 Pro, which launched in China with an additional display mounted next to the rear cameras.The 17 and 17 Ultra will apparently be available soon in the UK, Europe, and select other markets. The 17 - pitched as a rival to the likes of the iPhone 17 and Samsung Galaxy S26 - will cost £899 / €999 (about $1,200), while the larger and more capable Ultra starts from £1,299 / €1,499 ($1,750). The limited-edition Leitzphone will be substantially more ex …Read the full story at The Verge.

It might be World War III, but at least I won $20. | Image: Polymarket / The Verge Polymarket has been allowing people to bet on when the US would strike Iran next. Obviously, now that it's actually happened and people have died, the prediction betting market is feeling some pressure. The site has been at the center of controversy before, including suspicions of insider trading on the Super Bowl halftime show and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.In a statement posted on its site, Polymarket defended its decision to allow betting on the potential start of a war, saying that it was an "invaluable" source of news and answers, before taking shots at traditional media and Elon Musk's X. The statement reads: …Read the full story at The Verge.

Welcome to the weekend, friends! While the rest of our team was checking out Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy S26 lineup and prepping for Apple’s “special experience” next week, we’ve been sifting through Woot’s “Video Games for All” sale and a truly weird slate of deals that, frankly, don’t have a throughline. (Some of us have also spent the last week unpacking what Huel is, but that’s neither here nor there.)Here’s what we can tell you. If you’re thinking of picking up the Galaxy S26 Ultra at launch, putting in your preorder now isn’t a bad idea. It’s also a great time to pick up the midrange QuietComfort Headphones and what many of us at The Verge consider to be the game of 2024: Astro Bot. And who doesn’t want to save on a slick handheld vac?Now let’s get to it.If you’re craving a little peace and quiet, Bose’s QuietComfort Headphones are currently on sale at Amazon in multiple colors for $199 ($150 off), which is the best price we’ve seen this year.The standard QC Headphones are essentially a refresh of the last-gen QC45s with some new software tricks, including the ability to adjust noise cancellation levels and set custom listening modes. That being the case, you still get up to 24 hours of battery life, excellent comfort, and multipoint support, making it easy to switch between Bluetooth devices on the fly. They lack Bose’s immersive audio mode and the higher-quality Bluetooth found in the newer QC Ultras, though, as well as support for lossless audio over USB-C. Then again, that probably shouldn’t come as a surprise given they’re retailing for $250 less.Bose QuietComfort HeadphonesWhere to Buy: $359 $199 at Amazon $359 $229 at Best Buy $359 $229 at WalmartAs we alluded to earlier, Samsung announced its Galaxy S26 lineup this week. There are already plenty of preorder deals to consider, but one of the best comes courtesy of Amazon, which is throwing in a $200 gift card alongside a free storage upgrade when you preorder the 512GB Galaxy S26 Ultra starting at $1,299.99. Other retailers are also running promos ahead of the phone’s March 11th release date, mind you, though they’re not as impressive; Best Buy is only providing a free storage upgrade, while Samsung is offering a mere $150 in credit.While the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus both feel like underwhelming, iterative updates, the 6.9-inch Galaxy S26 Ultra actually impressed our resident phone reviewer, Allison Johnson. That’s largely because of the new Privacy Display, which can help shield your screen from people sitting near you (if desired), and a more powerful camera array that should improve low-light performance. Plus, like the rest of the S26 lineup, the Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which supports more advanced generative AI tools and a souped-up version of Gemini that can carry out certain tasks in third-party apps on your behalf. No one likes calling an Uber themselves, anyway.Read our S26 Ultra hands-on impressions.Samsung Galaxy S26 UltraWhere to Buy: $1299.99 at Samsung (256GB, with $150 credit) $1499.99 $1299.99 at Amazon (512GB, with $200 gift card) $1499.99 $1299.99 at Best Buy (512GB)You can still grab a physical copy of Astro Bot at Walmart for $32.99 ($27 off), an all-time low. The fantastic PlayStation 5 exclusive — which won Game of the Year at the 2024 Game Awards — has players take on the role of Astro, a lovable robot who sets off on a space adventure after his crew is lost in a sudden attack. Despite the prior game being a pack-in title for the PS5, Team Asobi’s full-sized sequel brims with inventive platforming, whimsical power-ups, and a kind of lighthearted fun that recalls the best of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. Thankfully, it never feels outdated, even if ‘90s vibes are totally there.Read our Astro Bot review.Astro BotWhere to Buy: $59.99 $32.99 at WalmartIf you’re looking for a relatively compact handheld vacuum that can reach into car crevices and suck up crumbs on your desk, Fanttik’s foldable Fold V10 Apex is still on sale at Amazon for $85.49 (about $65 off), matching its best price to date.Fanttik’s 17,000Pa vac features an extendable nozzle that pivots up to 210 degrees, along with a built-in LED light to help illuminate the dark corners of your vehicle. An onboard display, meanwhile, indicates the remaining battery life and suction mode, as well as the status of the washable filter. It also comes with a range of useful add-ons, including an upholstery tool, two brush heads, and an extendable hose with a crevice tool for hard-to-reach areas. It even charges via USB-C, making it easy to juice after the battery runs out in about 30 minutes or so.Read our recent profile on Fanttik.Fanttik Fold V10 Apex Foldable Car VacuumWhere to Buy: $149.99 $85.49 at Amazon $149.99 $94.99 at Fanttik (with code V10APEX)More ways to save this weekendYou can pick up five second-gen AirTags for $99.99 ($24 off) at Costco, though non-members will have to pay a $5 surcharge. That’s the first discount we’ve seen on Apple’s latest location tracker, which builds upon its predecessor with an upgraded ultra-wideband chip and extended range, allowing for more precise tracking from up to 50 percent farther away. It’s also better at locating items in multi-story homes, and the built-in speaker is up to 50 percent louder, making it easier to hear. Read our review.AOC’s 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor (Q27G41ZDF) is on sale for $379.99 ($170 off) at Best Buy, which is its lowest price to date. The 1440p display is a great entry-level OLED, with a sharp 16:9 panel and a speedy 240Hz refresh rate. As a QD-OLED monitor, it delivers the deep blacks and vibrant colors the technology is known for, along with G-Sync compatibility to help reduce screen tearing. It also includes a three-year warranty for added peace of mind.You can snag the Sharge Pixel 100 from Amazon (with Prime) and Sharge for $69.90 ($30 off) right now, which is its lowest price to date. The small, retro-inspired GaN charger delivers up to 140W of power, which is enough to charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro to 50 percent in about 25 minutes. It also features three USB-C ports for powering multiple devices, along with a customizable dot-matrix display that shows the real-time wattage for each port.

After 12 years of working together, KaOS rocked the open-source world by announcing that it was getting rid of KDE Plasma, citing issues with being tied to Systemd. Since then, people have pointed out that KDE Plasma doesn't need Systemd, and that only the login manager requires it, which can be worked around easily. The discourse was so big that the KDE team itself stepped in to clear up which parts of Plasma depend on Systemd.

The Xiaomi Tag is a bit larger than Apple’s second-gen AirTags. | Image: Xiaomi Xiaomi has announced its first Bluetooth tracker, and while the Xiaomi Tag has a more elongated design than the Apple AirTag, that lets you use it in more places right out of the box. On one end of the tracker you'll find an integrated metal loop that can be attached to a keyring or clipped to a carabiner without the need for an extra case.The Xiaomi Tag is compatible with both Apple's Find My and Google's Find Hub tracking networks and mobile apps, but not at the same time. You'll need to choose one or the other during setup. Like Apple's AirTag, the Xiaomi Tag is powered by a replaceable CR2032 coin cell battery good for up to a year of …Read the full story at The Verge.

That’s coming on a little strong, maybe. | Image: Vera C. Rubin Observatory The Vera C. Rubin Observatory's automated alert system is online and already bombarding astronomers with things to look at in the night sky. The system went live publicly on Tuesday, February 24th, and on the first night dropped some 800,000 alerts about asteroids, supernovas, and feasting black holes. And that number is only expected to climb to the multiple millions per night.The observatory released the first images taken with its car-sized Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera in June of last year. But researchers and stargazers have been eagerly anticipating the launch of this system. Every night, the camera captures about 1,0 …Read the full story at The Verge.