The holidays are over, a new year is here, and along with all the various upheavals that we are facing (including some possible changes in tax law), most of us have to deal with our annual income taxes. Sorry about that.
Tax day this year falls, for most of us, on the traditional April 15th. There are exceptions: for example, if you live in California and in an area thatâs been affected by wildfires, you are eligible for tax relief and an extended deadline of October 15th.
Despite the stress that many of us feel at the thought of tackling our yearly taxes, try not to worry â weâre going to list some resources that are available so that you can prepare your taxes. As always, it might not be a bad idea to start working on those taxes as soon as possible to avoid any last-minute panic. And whether youâre a full-time worker dealing with a single W-2 or a freelancer / gig worker getting a series of 1099s, the fastest way to pay the piper these days is to do it online.
On the positive side of the ledger, if you live and work in one of 25 states, thereâs now a new way to figure out your taxes: via the IRSâs own Direct File program. Weâll get to that in a moment.
We’ve got several parents on our staff, and as members of The Verge, they are also into gadgets. Put the two together, and you’ve got some really interesting stuff that can be used to keep your infant, toddler, or child safe, happy, educated, and / or out of trouble.
Here are some of the devices that the folks here use to help be better — and happier — parents.
Infants
The Yogasleep Hushh is a small, portable white noise machine. That’s it, and that’s why it’s great.
It’s not a smart device and doesn’t require any sort of subscription. It has physical buttons. It has three different white noise options. It can run on battery for up to 24 hours, and you can charge it with a USB-C cable. It even comes with a ring to attach it to things.
My wife and I turn on the Hushh every time we put our baby down to sleep. If you’re looking for a simple white noise machine that just works, this is the one to buy. – Jay Peters, news editor
I think Vava has one of the only no-gimmicks baby monitors right now that has the few things I wanted: a big screen, good battery life, zero internet features, and USB-C charging. When my wife and I had our first child just over a year ago, it felt like our short wishlist was impossible to find in the market, regardless of price. It has never failed to connect even at the furthest point of our home and has taken many tumbles without breaking. We tried the Panasonic KX-HN4101W that had a built-in sound machine and charged with Micro USB, but it would not turn on after a few months of use. It did have a very sensitive motion detection feature that was only useful enough to feed into my anxieties as a new parent. – Umar Shakir, news writer
Much like Umar’s pick above, the Infant Optics DXR-8 Pro my wife and I opted for is a no-fuss 720p video monitor requiring no internet connection. One of its advantages is you can buy a cheap wide-angle lens for it that easily gives you a full view of a crib or bassinet. That lens was clutch at family get-togethers, where we had to set up the little one to nap in a spare bedroom with cramped spacing. My only gripes are the use of barrel plugs instead of USB-C and that you can only crop into the center of the frame when you have those moments of illogical worry and want to make sure the baby is breathing.
I think the separation these non-connected monitors offer, compared to cloud-connected ones, can be a healthy one. It may not be for everyone, but if one parent is home with the baby while the other is out grocery shopping or actually socializing, it not only prevents judgy snooping but also helps them be present where they are outside the house. – Antonio G. Di Benedetto, reviewer
CRKD’s Atom is not a baby toy at all, but this wireless mini controller is certainly baby-sized. I don’t want to force my interests onto my kid, but even before her first birthday, the little one has already taken to picking up some of our various game controllers around the house and fidgeting with the buttons and sticks. We’ve since designated a couple of older gamepads for baby plaything duty, prompting me to try putting the tiny Atom in her hands. Along with some Xbox and PlayStation controllers, the Atom is now in rotation for her to carry around and press its satisfyingly clicky D-pad and buttons.
I imagine this little gamepad could be an accessible on-ramp to baby’s first video games, and I even put it to the test one day. I fired up Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved on the TV (via a docked Steam Deck), customized the controls to just use the D-pad, and watched her gently move around and shoot onscreen. She didn’t have much of an idea of what was going on, but she enjoyed the bright colors and identified that she was controlling it before enemies blew her up in seconds. (I need an invincibility mode for her.) Then my self-awareness and “Oh shit, is this bad parenting?” senses kicked in, and I turned off the game. Maybe I’ll just stick to her mimicking dad and mom playing on her unpaired controller for now. – Antonio G. Di Benedetto, reviewer
When you have a kid, you’re not just gaining another human. You’re also gaining all of the hardware needed to care, feed, and even transport them. The GB Pockit Air won’t fit all of your stroller needs since it’s only designed for kids ages six months and up, but for those times when you’re trying to travel light, you’ll appreciate its clever engineering. It weighs just 10.1 pounds and folds down small enough to fit in a backpack or shoulder bag, and it’s airplane hand luggage-compliant. Despite its lightweight design, the Pockit Air still features eight wheels for stability, padded shoulder straps, and a mesh pocket on the bottom for carrying other kid necessities. – Andrew Liszewski, senior reporter, news
The Snoo is a smart bassinet that plays white noise and rocks your baby, ramping up the intensity if your baby keeps crying. I have heard from friends that it does not work for every baby, but when it works, it really works — and you have truly magical moments when it successfully puts your baby to sleep. You can control the intensity manually and get nice sleep logs in their proprietary app — though Snoo’s parent company, Happiest Baby, has come under fire for introducing a new subscription fee of $19.99 / month for the main app functionality after nine months. While infuriating, I was so desperate for sleep, I would still have bought a Snoo. Also look out for return policies; some parents prefer to buy their Snoos from Amazon to avoid Happiest Baby’s steep $199 restocking fee. – Helen Havlak, publisher
These have been my son’s favorites — music, in particular, is a big hit with him. Any musical toy may eventually drive you insane, but these cycle through enough tunes that I am still dancing along to them with my son. The Fisher-Price Flap & Wobble Penguin is a musical penguin toy that cycles through surprisingly boppy remixes. It flaps its wings with high-contrast black-and-white spots that will mesmerize your baby. Meanwhile, the Take Along Tunes Musical Toy is a great cheap little teether and music-maker that has amused my baby for hours. And at less than $10, it is a good deal. – Helen Havlak, publisher
If you plan to pump or to formula feed, it’s nice to have an easy way to warm bottles. Our baby will drink room-temperature bottles, but he definitely prefers nicely warmed milk (who wouldn’t?). This warmer sits on our counter, looks reasonably nice, and works well. – Helen Havlak, publisher
Toddlers and kids
Before my kid’s hands were large enough to hold a Nintendo Switch controller, this kid-sized handheld satisfied their gaming curiosity. What’s unique about the LeapFrog RockIt Twist is that it can be held four different ways, with each side of the handheld featuring unique control mechanisms like dials, a slider, spinners, various buttons, and a more traditional D-pad. It comes with 12 preloaded games that utilize the unique controls while also covertly teaching skills like math, problem-solving, and literacy so you’ll feel slightly less guilty about all the screen time. – Andrew Liszewski, senior reporter, news
When screen time is over, there’s no building toy, not even Lego, that holds my kid’s attention better than GraviTrax. It lets you build complicated marble runs using myriad components including ramps, risers, bridges, switches, and launchers — and that’s just the starter set. There are several expansions that add motorized components that can keep marbles rolling indefinitely if assembled correctly, and it’s one of those toys that adults will enjoy just as much as kids do. For younger kids, there’s also now a GraviTrax Junior line with simpler components and larger marbles. – Andrew Liszewski, senior reporter, news
Over the holidays, we gave several tech-y gifts to our four-year-old daughter, including walkie-talkies, a camera, and a piano (really for me). But the gift she loves the most is the MUID Benson Lying Flat Duck Night Light, which is exactly as it’s titled: a lamp in the shape of a duck lying flat. But this lamp is squishy, entertaining to look at, and has an option to stay on for only 30 minutes. This is perfect for us, and for her, because it gives her some autonomy at bedtime when we turn off the other lights, letting her have 30 minutes to draw or play in her bed before going to sleep. – William Joel, senior creative director
My toddler is obsessed with music and is always bopping along to whatever is playing. My husband bought her a Yoto Player, which is like a speaker cube with dials that kids can adjust on their own to change volume and scroll through songs, and it’s become our most-used kid gadget. There’s a low-fi screen on the front that depicts simple images to coincide with the song (or story) that’s playing. You can control it through an app, which, honestly, I never downloaded, or through analog cards that kids can pop into the Yoto slot themselves. Cards come in several different languages for a range of ages and applications, like bedtime songs or classic folktales, and it chills her out on car rides and when she’s getting ready for bed. – Kristen Radtke, creative director
When TikTok went off the air (to use a very old-fashioned phrase), there was a scramble to find an alternative to its shortform video feed â and a similar scramble by various social networks to provide that alternative. (In fact, while I was writing this, Tumblr launched its new Tumblr TV feature.) The question is: how successful are they?
Most certainly operate like TikTok. You scroll up to see the next short video, and you can like videos, follow their creators, or leave a comment. There are sometimes minor differences across services â for example, while most automatically repeat a video until you swipe away, Xâs video feed automatically moves to the next one. But because most of these new and new-ish services are trying so hard to be the next TikTok, most arenât offering anything innovative to make them stand apart.
On the other hand, the types of videos youâll find on each service will vary, at least somewhat. If you have a history with a service â for example, if youâve been on Facebook or Instagram for a while â that may be used to determine which videos you see.
What follows is what I found when I tried out the TikTok-ish options included with some well …
First, TikTok was banned. Then, on Saturday evening, January 18th, it disappeared. Then, the next day, it reappeared. It may be back for good, but any time things get this uncertain, it’s always a good idea to make sure you have backups of all your content — just in case.
While the app offers instructions on how to download single videos, TikTok apparently doesn’t like the idea of allowing its creators to bulk download their videos. You can also download — in TXT or JSON format — a certain amount of your data, which, according to the support page, “may include but is not limited to your username, watch video history, comment history, and privacy settings.” When I tried it, it did not include my videos.
You can also share individual videos — the same way you can any file — but if you’ve got a library of a couple of hundred or more TikTok videos, that’s going to be quite a job. In that case, it’s a lot better to have a bulk download strategy.
To find out how to do that, I went into TikTok and waded through a group of videos offering different methods for downloading your content. I tried several of the methods and found three that worked relatively painlessly. (All, incidentally, need to be done on a computer rather than a phone.)
A caveat before I begin: not being an actual TikTok creator, I only had two published TikTok videos on my account, which I had made as an experiment some time ago. As a result, it didn’t take much time for me to download them using any of the methods. If you’re a true TikTok creator, expect downloads and conversions to take some time.
The easy way: use Repurpose.io
Several people recommended an app called Repurpose.io. This is not a free app — it costs $35 a month or $349 a year. For a short time, Repurpose.io was offering free downloads from TikTok to Google Drive and Dropbox but had to withdraw the offer “due to high demand.” However, you still get to download 10 videos for free over 14 days, so you can try it out first.
Repurpose.io lets you distribute your content on different platforms: you simply tell it where to upload the videos (besides TikTok, it will pull data from Instagram, YouTube, Zoom, and a number of other services) and where you want it to send them (besides Instagram and other services, you can save them to Dropbox, SoundCloud, Google Drive, and other apps). You can schedule regular transfers, repurpose only future content or all existing content, and even create clips (if, for example, you are sending YouTube videos to TikTok).
Screenshot: Repurpose.io
The Repurpose.io app is not free but does make it easy to transfer your TikTok videos to another platform.
When I tried it, Repurpose.io easily picked up my two TikTok videos and transferred them to my Google Drive in a couple of minutes. While it should take a lot longer if you have, say, several hundred videos, the interface keeps you up to date on which videos have been transferred and how many are left.
The paid app allows you to transfer an unlimited number of published videos to up to five different accounts. It could make a lot of sense if you are a dedicated TikTok video creator and are thinking of moving your videos to another service.
The interesting way: use the DevTools console
If you don’t mind playing a little with code, there’s a free way to do it as well. A consultant named Joanne Moxam has published a handy step-by-step YouTube video on how to use Chrome’s browser console to save all your links in one fell swoop, move the data to a spreadsheet, and then use an online tool to bulk download your videos.
Below, I’ve summarized the steps that Moxam suggests (which I successfully tried). She strongly recommends that you do this by using the Chrome browser.
Go to your Profile page (by clicking on your personal icon in the top-right corner).
Bring up the browser console by hitting the F12 key. (If you’re on a Mac, you may need to use Fn-F12.) You’ll see a window open on the right filled with code; if you’re not used to that, don’t let it bother you — you won’t have to deal too much with it. Just make sure that the menu at the very top (which will say Elements / Console / Sources) has Console underlined.
At the bottom of the console, where there is a single >, paste in the following:
let goToBottom = setInterval(() => window.scrollBy(0, 400), 1000);
According to Moxam, this scrolls all your videos down to the bottom, making them part of a single window so they can be selected.
Screenshot: TikTok
At the bottom of the console (at right) is a space where you can paste your code.
Note: you may see a warning not to paste code into the console that you don’t understand; you’ll be asked to type “allow pasting” and hit Enter first. Go ahead; I used both of these codes without an issue.
Now enter the second code, which will automatically select and download a CSV file of your links to all the videos in your profile to your computer. It’s a bit long: here’s a link to Moxam’s code.
The resulting file will be called my_data.csv.
Import the CSV file to a spreadsheet.
Now you can use the links to do a bulk download of your videos. Moxam recommends a free online service called TOKdownload, which is what I used.
Copy the links from the spreadsheet and paste them into the designated field. (Note: since I was only downloading a couple of videos, I had no problems; as Moxam suggests, if you’re dealing with large numbers, you may want to download in batches of 50 or so in order to not overwhelm the app.)
Click the Download button.
Screenshot: TOKdownload
The online TOKdownload app can download your videos in MP4 format.
The app will download and process the links both as the videos and covers. It could take a while.
Once it’s done, you’ll get buttons to Download All Videos and Download All Covers. Click on the former, and you will get a zip file containing MP4 files of your videos.
If you’re still unsure of yourself, you can go through Moxam’s video — she’s slow and careful in her instructions. And make sure to also check her associated webpage for any updates.
The roundabout way: use a Chrome extension
There are also a number of browser extensions that can help you download your content. This particular method is courtesy of TikToker bari.cait — it involves using a free Chrome app in a somewhat roundabout but effective way. You can find the directions in bari.cait’s TikTok video; I tried it and it worked nicely on my two posts.
First, if you’re planning to download your own videos, you’re going to need a “burner” TikTok account — in other words, an account that is not your original one. Why? Because the app that you’ll use only lets you download videos you favorite or videos from people you follow (and you can’t exactly follow yourself). If you have any trouble creating a second account, perhaps see if you can borrow a friend’s — or have a friend download your videos for you.
Open your new TikTok account on the web and follow your own regular account (the one with all your videos in it).
Download the Chrome app myfaveTT from the Chrome Web Store and install it. You’ll have to give it access to your files.
Go back to your TikTok page and click on the myfaveTT icon, which should now be in your extensions list. If you don’t see it, click on the extension icon in the upper right of your Chrome browser — it looks like a file folder — which provides a drop-down list of your extensions. Make sure myfaveTT is activated.
Reload your TikTok page. You should now have the myfaveTT sidebar on the left side of your window.
Screenshot: myfaveTT / TikTok
You can use a second TikTok account to download your videos from your “real” account.
The app gives you the choice of downloading all your likes, your Favorites, or the people you follow. Select the last. You’ll get a list of all the people that your new account is following; make sure yours is the only one chosen.
You’ll then be asked to select a folder to save the videos to (if this is the first time you’re using the app, it will ask you to create a new empty folder). Then go ahead and hit Next.
The app will download the videos associated with that account. How long it will take will depend on how many videos there are to download. When it’s done, the app will let you know. The MP4 videos will be in your new folder under data > Following > [number] > videos.
Backups are always a good idea
There are actually a number of browser and mobile apps available that will let you download and save your TikTok videos. If you don’t have access to a computer and must use your phone, you may find the mobile apps useful, but I tried a couple and found them awkward to use, usually limited to one video at a time, and (unless you were willing to pay) ad-heavy.
However you do it — and even if there should be some kind of last-minute reprieve for TikTok — it is always a good idea to back up your online videos, especially if they are either personally significant to you or represent creative work that you will want to hold on to and look back on in the years to come.
Update, January 19th, 2025: This article was originally published on January 15th and has been updated since to add the method using myfaveTT and to note that TikTok was temporarily down and has been restored for now.
The following instructions are for the web version of Facebook, but you can follow pretty much the same sequence on the mobile app.
Download your archives
Your Facebook archives contain just about all of the pertinent information related to your account, including your photos, active sessions, chat history, IP addresses, facial recognition data, and which ads you clicked. That’s personal information you should save.
Click on your personal icon in the upper-right corner.
Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings.
Click on the Accounts Center box on the left.
Screenshot: Meta
The Accounts Center is where you can both download your info and delete your account.
Go to Your information and permissions on the left, and then Download Your Information > Download or transfer information.
You can choose to transfer information from your Facebook or Instagram account (or both).
As I write this, there are a lot of social network users who are wondering if they should look for a new home. Over at X, Elon Musk has essentially become part of the incoming Trump administration, while various changes have made the formerly popular social network a dark and forbidding forest for many of its former inhabitants.
Meanwhile, Meta’s announcement that it was abandoning third-party fact-checkers and moving its trust and safety teams from California to Texas is making some Facebook and Instagram members nervous. So nervous, in fact, that while we previously included Meta’s Threads social network in this article as a possible alternative to X, we’ve pulled it — at least for now.
So, if you’re no longer feeling safe at your current social network, where do you go?
We’ve been looking into the various possibilities and have put together what is admittedly an incomplete list of some of the current alternatives to X, Facebook, and Instagram that you may want to check out if you’re thinking about leaving your current hangout.
Probably nothing will become the combined news / gossip / conversation / spam source that Twitter once was, and it may be difficult to leave the kind...
As a special holiday treat, on December 25th, the social media app Bluesky announced that it has added a new feature to its mobile app: a list of Trending topics that lets you know what subjects are popular among its users.
Screenshot: Bluesky
Bluesky now shows you its current Trends below the search bar.
The new feature can be found by selecting the search icon (the magnifying glass), which appears at the bottom of the screen on the mobile app and on the left sidebar on the web. Lists of Trending and Recommended subjects now appear below the search bar. Tap on any topic, and you will be able to access the associated posts. When I tried it, choices among the top five included Christmas and Nosferatu (not an unexpected selection of topics but an interesting juxtaposition).
If you’d rather not see the list, you can get rid of it via a small “x” in the upper right corner, or go to Settings > Content & Media and toggle off Enable trending topics.
According to the announcement, the new feature is “V1” (it is marked as a Beta on the app) and “we will be iterating with your feedback.” So if you have any objections to Trends appearing under your Bluesky search bar, let them know.
There has been some initial pushback on it. A photographer on Threads complained that “there will be a small watermark-like credit on the photo, but there won’t be a link back to your account.”
Curious, I tried out the new feature, went to see if there was indeed no link back to the original post, and followed bryanhansel’s instructions for turning it off. Here’s what happened, and how you can use and adjust Threads’ new feature. (All of these instructions have been followed using the mobile app.)
To share images alone
Long-press on the image you want to share. A menu will pop up at the bottom of the screen.
To share just the image, tap on Use media.
The image will appear as a new thread, with space above it to add your own comment. Select Post when you’re ready.
The new post will indeed have the image with only your comment and without the previous...
I was driving home the other day and wanted to call my partner and let him know that I was stuck in traffic. (Not an unusual event on Brooklyn’s Belt Parkway.) I’ve got a relatively old car (it’s a 2007 model, so we’re talking no real smarts), and so I depend on my phone rather than any built-in intelligence to deal with calls, music, etc. Usually, there’s no problem, but this time, when I called out, “Hey Google — call Jim on his mobile!” my phone informed me — in a very long-winded paragraph — that Gemini doesn’t do that:
I am a large language model and I am able to communicate and generate human-like text in response to a wide range of prompts and questions, but my knowledge about this person is limited.
Oh, right. Gemini.
I had recently installed Google’s new AI virtual assistant to try it out. This meant that Google Assistant, the usual voice-activated service, had been automatically shut down, and that Gemini, which is brand new and not really fully baked, was still missing a lot of the usability of Google Assistant — including, much to my irritation, making phone calls and sending texts.
However, there is a workaround — or rather, a way to increase Gemini’s features. You...
While we’re always being told how to simplify our cramped living spaces and get rid of all the stuff we’re no longer using or wearing, it’s often hard to figure out just how to do it responsibly without adding to the world’s excess trash.
Because just dumping them isn’t an option, reusing and recycling old and unneeded stuff has become an important aspect of the push to preserve the world’s environment. Many states and urban areas have mandated the recycling of tech, metals, paper goods, or other substances, but even if you live in an area where the law doesn’t require it, you probably still want to do the right thing.
The problem is finding how and where you can get rid of your stuff with the greatest advantage to you and the least amount of damage to the environment. This may have been more difficult than usual over the past few years because many resources for recycling were suspended during the covid-19 pandemic, and some were slow to come back — or never did. However, there are still a number of online services that can help you figure out how to responsibly get rid of things — and possibly make some money in the process.
Here are some resources to check out, depending on...
One of the more popular end-of-year items is music service recaps, and one of the best known is Spotify Wrapped. The company puts together a roundup of everything you listened to that year in various statistical formats, wrapped up (well, that’s what it’s called, right?) in bright, swirling graphics. For 2024, you’ll be shown what music categories you followed, how your listening habits changed over the year, get a list of your top 10 songs and artists, check out your top artist of the year, and even see a short video interview with one of the featured artists.
This year’s Wrapped also lets you access separate segments, such as a personalized podcast with two AI “hosts” (compliments of Google’s NotebookLM) who chat about your listening habits.
It’s easy to find Spotify Wrapped on your mobile app. (Interestingly, while 2023’s Wrapped was available on the Spotify website as well, this year, you can only find it on the Android or iOS app.)
The simplest way is to just open the app and look at the top menu — you should find a button labeled “Wrapped” that will lead you straight to a Wrapped homepage. From there, you can watch your Wrapped timeline (by tapping the “Let’s go” button)...
Because everyone loves an electric screwdriver. | Image: Hoto
Whenever Verge staffers are asked to describe their favorite games, smart tech, desktop accessories, or whatever, they are free to talk about things they recently bought, things they picked up 10 years ago, or things they’ve had sitting around their house for decades. Unsurprisingly, many of those items are on sale for Cyber Monday. Good news!
Deep-sea strategy board game
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, reviewer
Finding a board game that will entertain a 13-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy, my partner, and me is a challenge. We’ve cycled through all the classics as well as newer options — Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Catan, and more. While these are all great, inevitably one of the group develops a passionate dislike for a game (usually...
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Screenshot: Repurpose.io
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Screenshot: TikTok
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Screenshot: TOKdownload
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Screenshot: myfaveTT / TikTok
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Screenshot: Bluesky
