This Is My Next: a buying guide for the future

If you’re shopping for a gaming headset in 2022, you have a lot of options. While there are some great headsets out there, it’s easy to pay too much, to accidentally purchase a headset that doesn’t work with your desired console or platform, or to get one that’s uncomfortable after a few hours of use. Knowing a thing or two about headphones might aid in your search, but gaming headsets have only gotten more complicated to shop for — especially the wireless ones.

For instance, wireless headsets made for Xbox operate via Microsoft’s proprietary wireless protocol. They’ll only work on Xbox consoles or a PC that has one of Microsoft’s Xbox Wireless Adapters plugged in, in most cases. Conversely, if you get a multiplatform wireless headset that includes a 2.4GHz wireless USB dongle, it’ll likely work on the likes of the PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch (when plugged into the console’s TV dock), and PC — but not Xbox. In short, it’s best to buy the headset that mentions support for your preferred platform(s) explicitly (or just buy a wired gaming headset instead).

Calendar apps have a tough job. Everyone needs one, but everyone is looking for something different out of them. I want a concise look at the day ahead, but you might want a spaced-out view of your week, and someone else might want a super-dense look at their entire month.

The best calendar apps do a good job presenting your schedule no matter how you want to view it. They make it easy to understand your day and to plan out the weeks and months ahead.

A good universal remote can completely change your living room experience. Instead of juggling a bunch of different remotes for your TV, cable box, game console, streaming box, or whatever else, a good universal remote can clean up your end table and let you go from watching nothing to watching something with a single press of a button.

A good remote controls anything you might have today and anything you might buy in the future. It’s easy to program and can turn on multiple devices in the right sequence. It can control devices that have traditional IR systems, but also can control newer ones that rely on Bluetooth. It’s also accessible and easy to learn, so anyone in your household can just pick up the remote and watch something.

If you’re taking pictures, chances are you’re using a smartphone. Smartphones are great portable cameras because they generally take decent photos and are always in our pockets. But they aren’t particularly capable photographic tools and can really struggle in difficult lighting situations or when capturing fast-moving subjects. When your smartphone just can’t seem to do the job, you’re going to want something more. That something more is a mirrorless camera.

There are a lot of mirrorless cameras available to buy at all kinds of prices. A mirrorless camera is one that has interchangeable lenses, but doesn’t have the mirror system of a traditional single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. That makes them smaller and often less expensive than SLR cameras, while still providing excellent image quality and performance. Mirrorless cameras come in a variety of shapes and designs, ranging from those that mimic SLRs to sleeker, more modern-looking options.

Action cameras — those blocky little cameras you use when you want to record all kinds of intense moments, such as skydiving, white water rafting, high-speed go karting, and more — have been around for a while now. In the past few years, action cameras have developed from niche curiosities into really popular devices that can capture amazing footage. But every year it’s still the same story: market-leader GoPro releases a new camera, and other companies desperately try to catch up. Some companies have come close to making one as good as its best, but as soon as they do, GoPro releases a new one.

This time around, however, GoPro’s releases were aimed at the low end. That means all of its competitors had a year to catch up to the company’s two standard bearers: the Hero 4 Black and the Hero 4 Silver.

Is it going to rain today? Should I bring a jacket with me? Is it safe to plan a trip to the beach this weekend? Just a couple of years ago, answering any of those questions required watching your local news or tuning in to The Weather Channel to get a vague forecast that will probably change before you get where you’re going. But with smartphones, we can have insanely accurate weather reporting and predictions at our fingertips everywhere we go. Weather apps are a huge part of my daily routine — I consult them every day to determine where I’ll go and what I’ll wear.

Google Now on Android phones puts the current weather conditions and forecast a simple voice command away. But if you’re looking for more than just basic temperature and the upcoming forecast, there are plenty of great weather apps out there for Android. The best apps can accurately tell you the forecast in your notification bar or in a desktop widget, are easy to use, fun to look at, and don’t have ugly ads ruining the experience. And they offer everything from short and long term forecasts to radar maps and severe weather alerts.

Weather apps are an essential part of my daily workflow: I check the weather on my phone every day to help determine what I’ll wear and where I’ll go. If you’re like me and looking for more than just your basic temperature and upcoming forecast, there is a wealth of great weather apps out there. In addition to offering things like pinpoint location accuracy, animated radar maps, and detailed minute-by-minute forecasts, today’s weather apps are the playground for cutting-edge app design. (Apple even awarded Yahoo Weather its prestigious design award in 2013.) Weather seems like a pretty mundane topic, so it may come as a surprise to some that the best weather apps are fun to play with and pretty to look at.

You can spend days — and a lot of money — looking for the best weather app for your iPhone. We’ve done the hard work, testing out dozens of weather apps, and have found the best weather apps that are both fun to use and functional. It’s okay to love a weather app, just make sure your heart is devoted to one of these.

For the vast majority of people, the compact camera is dead. Today’s smartphones take good enough pictures, easily fit in our pockets, and are always with us. But there are situations where the fixed lens on a smartphone just doesn’t cut it.

If you’re looking for a camera that can do more than a smartphone, you have a number of options — including some good ones under $250. The right camera should cover the basics: it should be compact enough to fit in your pocket or the bag you’re already carrying around. As the old adage goes, the best camera is the one you have with you. Second, it should have a long zoom lens, since there’s no point in carrying around a camera that doesn’t offer significantly more reach than your smartphone. Finally, it should be fast and easy to use. If a camera isn’t fast enough or you have to fumble with awkward controls, you’ll often miss the shots you’re trying to get.

If you write about technology, work in technology, or just spend regular time near technology, the questions come early and they come often. Which laptop should I buy? Do I want an iPhone or an Android? I need something for checking my email on rainy Thursdays at approximately 6,000 feet above sea level — what do I get? Technology is now an inextricable part of our lives, and it’s more important than ever to make sure we get the right thing. The best thing.

Welcome to This Is My Next, which is all about the best things. This Is My Next is a one-stop answer to the question “which one should I buy?” It’s Let Me Google That For You for gadgets, apps, and everything else we’re going to need to live in the future. Each Wednesday starting today, we will seek to answer that question for some product or category. When you want to know what to buy, we’ll always have the answer.