The simple joy of gadgets — that’s what “Today I’m Toying With” is all about.
It’s our video series where we try to encapsulate that joy of playing with technology, sharing what it’s like to experience gadgets that not all of us get to touch! Like a 3D printer that prints delicious chocolate, or the realized dream of a Transformers toy that actually transforms into a walking, talking robot, or a dual-screen handheld game system like nothing the world has ever seen. Sometimes even simple, handy stuff you might not be aware of, like USB-C cables with tricks up their sleeves, or delightful novelties like tiny TVs.
We’re always looking for new gadgets to toy with... particularly exclusive first-looks! If you’ve got a worthy product, hit me up at sean@theverge.com with “Today I’m toying with” in your subject line.
And if you want to win some of the gadgets in my videos, we’re giving them away to US readers!
- Today I’m Toying With giveaway #15.
Remember when I said I’d just given away the biggest Today I’m Toying With giveaway prize yet? The winner seems pretty happy! A new giveaway just started today, as it does every Wednesday while supplies last. Here’s how to enter TITW Giveaway #15.
- Here’s the magnetic USB-C port that Microsoft built.
What if we had an incredibly easy to snap-on and snap-off magnetic USB-C port? It’s a joy in person. It might still be proprietary, though: Microsoft is patenting the thing and isn’t quite saying whether it’ll let other manufacturers use it. Either way, you can plug any ol’ USB-C cable into the laptop’s female port.
This toolless modular lever-action wallet is the coolest I’ve stuck to my phone
The OhSnap Wallet 2. Photo by Sean Hollister / The VergeThis toolless modular lever-action wallet is the coolest I’ve stuck to my phone.
Remember when I tested the ultra-thin and convenient OhSnap Snap Grip Stand and liked it so much I bought my own? Now, OhSnap has a magnetic lever-action card wallet that can stack with that stand. It’s the coolest wallet I’ve ever stuck to my phone.
Read Article >- Today I’m toying with the coolest wallet I’ve ever stuck to a phone.
Ever seen a lever-action card wallet with modular and magnetic parts you can easily swap without tools? It’s the OhSnap Wallet 2, it’s on Kickstarter now, and I love its compliant mechanism. I enjoyed using it as my wallet for a few weeks, but my phone does feel a lot lighter with it off! (I did buy the stand, though.)
- It’s time to win the gadgets we can’t keep.
I just finished editing a new Today I’m Toying With video — and later today, I’ll pack up our biggest giveaway prize yet for one lucky winner. We don’t keep the gadgets we review, and I’m experimentally giving away the ones from my videos every Wednesday! Here’s how to enter TITW Giveaway #14.
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge - “A very happy Vergemas was had by all.”
One of the latest Today I’m Toying With giveaway winners had this to say:
Everyone in my family wanted at least one thing from the prize box, so a very happy Vergemas™ was had by all. I’m sure running a giveaway like this is a lot of extra busywork, so know it brought us a little joy in the middle of our week. Thank you!
We’re now on Giveaway #13!
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge - Somebody just won an exoskeleton.
Want to win the gadgets I call in for my Today I’m Toying With videos? I boxed up the latest three winners’ items yesterday, and we’re now on TITW Giveaway #12! If you’re in the US you can enter to win right here anytime before 9AM ET Wednesday, or via our email entry option.
Boxes tilted to hide a logo and protect our journalistic ethics — I’m not promoting any of the brands whose products I’m giving away. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge - See what it’s like to use the Steam Frame.
Did you think the Steam Frame was a VR headset? As I explain in my review, it does a lot more. Here, step into the lenses with me and I’ll show you. (Also on YouTube, if you’d rather!)
- While you wait for Apple… enter to win free gadgets?
I give away gadgets we can’t keep every Wednesday — just in the US, mind — and today marks TITW Giveaway #11. These are items I actually called in for my Today I’m Toying With videos! No new video this week, though, because I’ve been burning the midnight oil working on something special...
- What if your 14-inch laptop literally stretched to become a 17-inch Netflix machine?
Lenovo’s Project Swan has a screen that literally unrolls. The prototype could use better speakers and some weight balancing, but I love watching it in motion!
- This is Project Aeroblade.
Remember Frore and its fan-replacing AirJet cooling tech? Sure looks like Lenovo is taking it seriously!
- The tenth TITW gadget giveaway has ten entries so far.
That’s how many realized they could enter to win before this weekly reminder! See, I give away gadgets every Wednesday, but you’ve got to enter each time. You can use email — see the official rules — as long as the subject line’s right. It’s not “Email Entry,” but rather “Today I’m Toying With Giveaway #10” this time.
Image: Gleam.io The amazing USB-C gadgets that play old Nintendo cartridges
Photo by Sean Hollister / The VergeLast week, I powered on a 26-year-old copy of Pokémon Pinball, one of the best Game Boy games ever made. My save file was no more. The Charmander I’d caught for my daughter, the high scores we’d set together… gone. Before flash memory, Nintendo cartridges used tiny watch batteries to save their games, and those batteries were never meant to last this long.
But it’s not a huge deal, because I saved my family’s save file months ago. I backed it up with an Epilogue Operator, a device that connects your real Nintendo cartridges to Windows PCs, MacBooks, even a Steam Machine.
Read Article >- See SNES carts in an Xbox Ally and Doom on a Canon PowerShot, hear hot handheld news.
I guest-starred on the Expedition: Handheld podcast this week and brought LOTS of show-and-tell. It’s almost like an extended version of Today I’m Toying With, though it’s on audio podcast platforms as well! Let me know what you think?
- I’m having way too much fun.
Ever seen an Xbox handheld play real Super Nintendo cartridges? Today I’m toying with the $60 SN Operator and $50 GB Operator, which turn your PC, Mac, and Linux devices into classic cart-playing consoles and backup your old games and saves. I’ll have a bigger writeup in the next few days!
- Giveaway nine!
The ninth Today I’m Toying With giveaway is live. Each week, I give away gadgets from my TITW videos, because I can’t ethically keep them! You can enter each new giveaway at theverge.com/TITW (or by email, see the rules) starting 9AM each Wednesday; I draw a winner a week later.
Some of the actual items in the giveaway. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge - What’s in the box?
It’s the prize for my previous Today I’m Toying With giveaway! The winner says: “I’m kind of speechless. A big thanks from one very happy gadget nerd!” You can enter the weekly giveaway at theverge.com/TITW (or by email, see the rules) starting 9AM each Wednesday. We’re on Giveaway #8 now!
Me dropping off a package at my local FedEx. I finally found a magnetic phone grip I never want to remove
The OhSnap Snap Grip Stand, in black and silver. Photo by Sean Hollister / The VergeI told myself I wouldn’t buy an OhSnap accessory for my phone. Every one I’d tested was nice, but felt overpriced and slightly flawed. After I weighed in on the $40 Snap Grip 5 last year, I wound up sticking with my $25 Syncwire instead. But OhSnap’s $50 Snap Grip Stand finally got me. To have a truly useful vertical stand and grip always attached to my phone, ready at a moment’s notice? Heck yes.
I started testing the Snap Grip Stand months ago, and soon discovered that I never took it off. So I bought my own.
Read Article >- It’s Wednesday and that means free gadgets.
The seventh Today I’m Toying With giveaway is live. Each week, I give away gadgets from my TITW videos, because I can’t ethically keep them! You can enter each new giveaway at theverge.com/TITW (or by email, see the rules) starting 9AM each Wednesday; I draw a winner a week later.
Some of the actual items in the giveaway. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Werewolf transformed my old gadgets into USB-C powered ones
Photo by Sean Hollister / The VergeWhen I haul my 27-inch desktop monitor into the garage to film fun gadget videos… or want to play Japanese SNES games with friends… or lose the AC adapter for my old external hard disk… I can now power them with a USB battery instead.
None of them came with USB-C ports; the entire USB protocol was barely a twinkle in its creator’s eye when Nintendo shipped the Super Famicom in 1990! But a tiny programmable dongle, from a company called Werewolf, can transform old power ports to accept USB-C electricity. I’m so impressed, I just bought a second kit for a friend’s birthday.
Read Article >- Go-go-gadget-giveaway.
I recently revealed our weekly Today I’m Toying With giveaway technically goes live at 9AM ET each Wednesday… someone was paying attention, because they’ve already entered this week’s! Join them for a chance at LOTS more gadgets we can’t ethically keep. The biggest prizes are still available, and there’s an email entry option in the official rules.
We’re giving away these things and a whole lot more. With Switch 2, iPhone, and laptop tricks, the Sharge Disk Pro 2 is finally a worthy EDC
The Sharge Disk Pro 2. Photo by Sean Hollister / The VergeSharge, the company that makes delightful retro Mac-shaped chargers and see-inside batteries, is finally impressing me with a portable SSD. I couldn’t recommend the Sharge Disk, Disk Plus, or even the Disk Pro, but I’d be happy to own the new Disk Pro 2 Ultra.
This isn’t just a drive. It’s a 4K HDMI dock and a USB-C hub too. It’s a veritable USB-C Swiss Army Knife for all your main gadgets: laptop, tablet, phone, Steam Deck, even the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
Read Article >- Today I’m toying with a USB-C HDMI SSD multitool.
At $75 early bird Kickstarter or $90 retail, the Sharge Disk Pro 2 Ultra is a magnetic USB-C hub that doubles as a Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 dock, triples as a bring-your-own-SSD, and unlocks speedy ProRes storage for iPhone. Update: Here’s my full hands-on preview.
- Giveaway five is live.
The fifth Today I’m Toying With giveaway, that is. Technically, I set them live each Wednesday at 9AM ET. I recently heard back from the second winner, who says he loves the mystery gadgets he received — if you want to join him, you can enter every week!
Some of the actual items in the giveaway. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge - Why pick between SD and microSD when your laptop slot could do both?
I forgot to bring my USB-C SD adapters to CES last year — but now that the $25 BaseQi lives inside my notebook, that won’t be a problem!
