“Systems!” My friends and Marie Kondo’s internet shout. “All you need is a system. As long as you always put your things down in the same place, you’ll never lose anything again,” they say, as I stagger in the door carrying children’s backpacks, a bag of dirty laundry, my fanny pack, and dog food. Like […]
The millennial generation’s discretionary cash isn’t being mashed into avocado toast. It’s being spent on cell phones, smartwatches, wireless headphones, and Netflix subscriptions. Senior reviewer Adrienne So says we pay this much for little things because the big things are broken. If we can’t fix health care, rid ourselves of student loan debt, or compete […]
When I first moved to Portland, Oregon, I worried about how I’d survive the endless, gray, rainy winters. A friend advised me to find a way to get warm—really warm—at least once a day. I don’t have regular access to a sauna or a hot tub, so I take a hot shower every morning to […]
At WIRED, we often have microplastics on our minds. But in between debating whether to carry bamboo or stainless steel utensils to reduce waste or comparing the merits of different travel mugs, we often overlook an important source of microplastic waste: Our clothes. Photograph: Houdini Sportswear That’s right. Every time you throw your fashionable, functional […]
Growing up, anytime I brought home something to my Indian parents—whether it was new clothes, a gadget, or even food—they usually told me off. They’d tell me it was flimsily made, too expensive, or lacking proper flavor. Recently, I brought them the Chime chai machine I was testing. I expected them to tell me just […]
It wasn’t long ago that robot vacuums were something of a joke, more a statement of affluence or potential cat car than a convenient household tool. However, both the hardware and software have improved enormously in the past few years. Innovations like smart maps and self-emptying dust bins have made robovacs more useful and more […]
The only thing I dislike about the Beats Solo Pro—the company’s new noise-canceling on-ear headphones—is how they require a lightning cable to charge. That’s a big deal, not because this Android user keeps forgetting the proprietary cable, but because it’s a critique that would have been buried in most other Beats reviews I’ve ever written. […]
Parenting involves more than a little magical thinking. If I go anywhere that parents gather, sooner or later a desperate mom or dad will ask me for the one thing that will make it easier to travel with a baby or small children. I can’t make a 4-year-old avert a meltdown at an airport gate, […]
The category of “mom” encompasses a tremendous amount of variety. There are 60-year-old working moms who are obsessed with PC gaming, new moms who are barely thinking beyond the next feeding, and every mom in between. I’m a mom too, and in addition to listing the things that I desperately want this holiday season, I […]
Let’s be honest: A lot of new devices are meant to stoke desire for something that you never even knew you wanted. (A tiny keyboard? Yes, please! A DNA test for your cat? Purrrr-fect!) But if you’re shopping for the best robot vacuum cleaner, it’s usually because you really, really need one. Whether you’re drowning […]