Remember when Spotify was just for listening to music? It used to be the app for streaming tunes, but in 2026, the app has more of a do-it-all attitude. You can still use it to listen to just about any song you can think of, but you can also listen to podcasts and audiobooks, and DM with friends. (Really, there’s an in-app chat function.) Even after launching all of these features, Spotify’s quest to capture all of your attention isn’t over: The company has announced an effort to get you to listen to magazine articles as well.

Spotify’s new audio articles feature uses AI

Spotify announced its new “narrated articles” feature in a press release on Tuesday. According to the company, users now have access to over 650 “long-form” magazine articles to listen to through the app. Spotify says the company’s in-house team at Spotify Audiobooks is behind these audio productions, including articles from magazines like The Atlantic, Billboard, GQ, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and WIRED.

While real humans are performing some of these narrations, Spotify is, predictably, using AI to generate audio for the rest. The company told TechCrunch that any portion of an article narrated by AI will be labeled as such, so listeners know whether they’re hearing a human or a bot.

Articles are included in Premium—at the cost of your listening time

Spotify says all narrated articles are less than two hours long, which is important context, as they count towards Spotify Premium’s 15-hour monthly listening time limit. That means if you’re a Premium user and you tend to listen to audiobooks as part of your Spotify subscription, these articles will reduce the hours you have to listen to books. If an article takes an hour and a half to listen to, that counts the same as if you listened to 90 minutes of an audiobook. If you run out of time, you’ll have to purchase “top-ups” to keep listening.

Free users can still listen to articles on Spotify, but they’ll have to pay a fee per article: $1.99 for each piece, regardless of length.

Other ways to listen to articles without giving money to Spotify

If you already pay for Spotify and you don’t listen to many audiobooks through the service, this new feature might make sense for you—you can listen to quite a few articles within that 15-hour monthly time limit, and it’s likely Spotify will only continue to add to its library as time goes on. However, if you use Spotify for free, $1.99 per article will add up quickly. As someone working in digital media, I’m all for supporting journalism, but unless you’re using the feature to listen to an article only every now and then, you might end up paying as much as a full subscription to the site that published it would cost.

As such, it’s worth noting that a simple text-to-speech generator can accomplish the same thing that Spotify’s service does here, but for free—assuming you already have access to the article in question. There are a ton of generators to choose from, and chances are good your device has one built in. If you’re on a Mac or iPhone, for example, you can highlight any text, choose “Speech” (Mac) or “Speak” (iPhone), and your device will begin reading the text aloud. Depending on the program you’re using, the narration may even sound relatively natural, versus the robotic voices you might be used to from text-to-speech generators of old. (Yes, you have generative AI to thank for that.)

Using this method would free up those dollars, perhaps to be put toward subscribing to publications directly. Of course, there are ways you can get around a paywall to read many articles for free, but if you can, I encourage you to support digital media you find useful.

(Scott Township, Pa., May 26, 2026) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, along with U.S. Representative Rob Bresnahan, met with agricultural leaders today in Pennsylvania to announce U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) assistance to help producers recover from recent freeze events. Secretary Rollins signed a disaster designation for 17 counties in Pennsylvania due to damage and losses caused by below-freezing temperatures that occurred April 19 through April 21, 2026.

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There are a lot of excellent earbuds out there, but if you’re in the Apple ecosystem, few options are better than AirPods. While Apple’s earbuds offer fantastic audio quality in their own right, their real selling point is how well they work with the company’s other products. If you have one device, like an iPhone, your AirPods will instantly pair with it when you pop them in your ears; if you have multiple devices, like a Mac or an iPad, your AirPods will automatically switch between them as you start different audio sources. If you have an Apple TV, you can quickly pair your AirPods with a button press on the remote and watch movies and shows without bothering anyone else in the house. For those of us in the ecosystem, AirPods are pretty great.

There is one major downside to AirPods, however, especially for Android users coming from a competitor’s earbuds: settings and management. See, AirPods are ideal when you don’t have to tinker with the defaults. Auto-pairing, auto-switching, Conversation Awareness: The automated settings make AirPods easy to use. But once you start thinking about changing the settings, things get a bit murky. Rather than a dedicated AirPods app to manage these defaults, Apple instead spreads out your AirPods’ options throughout your device’s OS. Take iOS, for instance: You can control a number of settings from the volume slider in Control Center, including noise cancellation, Conversation Awareness, and Spatial Audio. But you won’t find other settings, especially any that have to do with customizing your AirPods. For that, you’ll need to dive into the Settings app. When paired, your AirPods should appear towards the top of the page, but if not, you might need to jump into Bluetooth settings, then tap the (i) next to your AirPods. Here, you’ll find all of the settings and features you can adjust on your AirPods, minus EQ. If you want to change that (at least for Apple Music), you’ll need to find the Music app’s settings page, then “EQ.” In short, the whole experience is a bit of a mess.

iOS 27 may improve AirPods management

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple may be improving things with its upcoming iOS 27 update. Gurman says that Apple “has heard the feedback” about the lackluster experience of managing AirPods settings, and while the company isn’t necessarily building a dedicated app, it is taking steps to update the AirPods settings menu.

The goal here is to make the menu “more functional, better organized, and more streamlined.” Details are thin, but Gurman says the overhaul should make AirPods easier to work with, and users should be able to clearly see all the features their AirPods are capable of from this new menu. Perhaps this means a more permanent placement in the Settings app, as well as a reorganized settings menu, with clearly labeled categories and explanations for all features.

Personally, I think Apple should consider adding graphics and animations in this space. Some features are too complicated for a quick text blurb: People may need to see how things work in order to learn how to use those features themselves. One of my favorite AirPods Pro perks is Adaptive Transparency, which can lower the loudness of sounds without blocking them. Teaching users how to use this feature, and even how to adjust it to make it more or less sensitive, would be an excellent use of this settings redesign.

AirPods really need a dedicated app

While this could be a step in the right direction, AirPods are in desperate need of a dedicated app. Apple can make the new settings menu as clear and easy to follow as possible, but how many people are going to go digging through their Settings app to find these options? I think new AirPods users are much more likely to try an app on their iPhones called “AirPods,” and learn about all the things their new earbuds can do for them—and how they can personalize the experience to their needs.

Plus, it’s beyond time for Apple to offer some sophisticated EQ and tuning options, which would fit perfectly in an AirPods app. While the overall sound experience is great for most users, plenty of other earbuds come with these adjustments, which let users customize the sound experience to their liking. Apple’s built-in EQ presets are far from adequate, since you can’t actually customize each. If “Bass Booster” doesn’t actually boost the bass enough for you, too bad. Apple doesn’t love customers breaking out from its core design, but when it comes to AirPods, especially AirPods Pro, I think the company should relent.

Based on Bloomberg’s reporting, it sounds like an AirPods app isn’t coming anytime soon, so I should consider myself lucky I’m getting improved AirPods settings at all with iOS 27. But if Apple wants to seriously update the AirPods management experience, I hope they consider a dedicated app for iOS 28—or even a future version of iOS 27.

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41 years ago, The Golden Girls taught us to pay attention to older people, who still have plenty to offer; that same year, Ron Howard’s Cocoon taught us about the importance of leveraging alien eggs for eternal youth. That last one is probably slightly more relevant to sci-fi thriller The Boroughs, though it does feel like it’s been a while since retirees have had the spotlight on television. The new Netflix show finds an invariably talented and thoroughly recognizable cast (Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Denis O’Hare, Clarke Peters, and Geena Davis, among others) confronting a series of freaky mysteries in their seemingly idyllic, but entirely remote, retirement community. We’re due for a senior moment. It’s rare enough lately that I wasn’t able to come up with the full list of retiree-related horror/sci-fi/mystery shows that I wanted to (and would absolutely watch), but there are still some solid vibe matches that take us to a variety of creepy little towns to, hopefully, find some older people taking care of business.

Widow’s Bay (2026 – )

Another recent addition to the atlas of regrettable vacation destinations is Widow’s Bay, an isolated New England island trying to shrug off its townie reputation in favor of becoming a tourist destination à la Martha’s Vineyard—but, alas, the timing isn’t great. Cozy and idyllic on the surface, Widow’s Bay appears to be “waking up,” according to a few of the more tuned-in locals. Mayor Tom Loftus (Matthew Rhys), a relative newcomer, is having none of it—at least until a killer clown and waterlogged lady come for him, convincing him to join forces with local eccentric Wyck (Stephen Root) who is, it would seem, on to something. The show is frequently funny, but also legitimately scary. Stream Widow’s Bay on Apple TV.

Stranger Things (2016 – 2025)

On the surface, Stranger Things and The Boroughs don’t have a ton in common beyond the sci-fi/horror angle (and the presence of The Duffer Brothers, who created the one and executive produce the other), but the vibes here are strangely aligned. Both shows have a reverence for the genre movies of the 1980s, and each owes a debt to Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard—even though one is set in the past and one in the present, both feel like they could easily exist in the universe of E.T. or Cocoon. You’re probably familiar with Stranger Things by now, but just in case: An ensemble cast of mostly kids uncover dark deeds in their small Indiana town after a mysterious girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) turns up displaying psychokinetic powers. Stream Stranger Things on Netflix.

The Midwich Cuckoos (2022)

You almost certainly know this story as Village of the Damned, the title under which it’s been adapted twice previously. This isn’t quite a perfect adaptation of John Wyndham’s darkly satirical science fiction novel, but it’s likely as close as we’ve come, capturing the novel’s eeriness if not entirely its sense of humor. A blackout in the titular English village leaves everyone unconscious for 24 hours—and everyone that could possibly be pregnant, expecting. The emotionally distant children are decidedly creepy, even more so than normal for kids, and things only get more concerning when they develop telekinetic powers. As in The Boroughs, the youth are not to be trusted. Stream The Midwich Cuckoos on AMC+.

A Man on the Inside (2024 – )

No weird aliens nor horror here, but we do get some stars-from-those-things-you-liked, a retirement community setting, and some much-needed reminders that “old” doesn’t mean “irrelevant.” Ted Danson plays Charles Nieuwendyk, a hapless retired professor and recent widower who listens to his daughter’s plea that he find something to keep him occupied. He answers an ad from a private investigator looking for someone to go undercover by moving into an elder-care facility in San Francisco in hopes of discovering who’s been stealing the residents’ jewelry. As he comes to care about the people he’s investigating (and lying to), his job only gets harder. Sally Struthers, Margaret Avery, Susan Ruttan, Veronica Cartwright, and Clyde Kusatsu are among the very recognizable supporting cast, joined in season two by Mary Steenburgen. A third season is on the way. Stream A Man on the Inside on Netflix.

Them (2021 – 2024)

Less with the generational conflict of many of these other shows, but rather the story of horror in a seemingly idyllic, made-to-order locale. Starting off in the 1950s, Them takes a stab at The Second Great Migration, when millions of Black people left the South for northern cities and suburbs; seeking opportunity and escaping overt racism in favor of … slightly more veiled racism. The Emory family (led by Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas) move from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in East Compton, each family member eventually haunted by a different ghost. The picket fences and smiling white faces concealing vicious intent are far more frightening than any of the specters. The second, and final, season moves forward to LA of 1991, by which time some things have changed while others remain hauntingly the same. Stream Them on Prime Video.

The Frog (2024)

Following his wife’s death, Yeong-ha (Kim Yoon-seok) just wants a quiet life in the secluded town where he lives, renting out the house next door as a vacation rental—though he’s not even all that enthusiastic about that. (The show gets bonus streamline points here for being headed by a grumpy loner guy who inexplicably puts himself into a situation where he’s going to have to deal with people.) It’s all going fine until a young woman shows up with her son, the same woman abruptly leaving behind blood stains and—even more disturbingly—the kid. Though it’s a bit of a spoiler, this very-slow-burn and cinematic thriller takes place in multiple time periods—a clever storytelling technique given the show’s unchanging locale. Stream The Frog on Netflix.

Castle Rock (2018 – 2019)

The short-lived series took us on a deep dive into Stephen King’s favorite location (well, maybe tied with Derry), the seemingly idyllic Castle Rock, Maine. There are multiple overlapping stories here, but Sissy Spacek’s Ruth Deaver is a major character across the first season, and takes over for the episode “The Queen,” told from the unstable perspective of Ruth, a character with worsening dementia. It was one of the best, and most existentially horrifying, things on television that year. The Boroughs plays with the idea that the young people don’t take older people seriously, even when perfectly cognizant, while Ruth’s character is one who has still has plenty of important things to say, even as her own grip on reality falters. The cast across the two seasons is stellar, and includes Bill Skarsgård, a creepy character not named Pennywise. Stream Castle Rock on Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix.

Gannibal (2022 – )

Another remote, charming town with some deep, dark secrets (the biggest of which is rather strongly hinted in the title), Gannibal stars Yuya Yagira as Daigo Agawa, a police officer from the big city who takes a job in the super cute (and, of course, remote) village of Kuge following some personal trouble. The perfectly charming Goto family runs the town, more or less, and welcome Daigo and his family. It’s all looking pretty great—until a mysterious man gives Daigo’s daughter a severed finger as a gift, and his wife Yuki finds the words “Run Away” scrawled over a door in their new home. Just a couple of reasons why I’m more of a city person. Stream Gannibal on Disney+ and Hulu.

Wayward Pines (2015 – 2016)

Based on a trilogy of Blake Crouch novels, this one stars, initially, Matt Dillon as a Secret Service agent investigating the disappearances of two fellow agents in the Idaho town of Wayward Pines. Things go awry pretty much immediately, and he wakes up from a car accident to find one of the agents (Carla Gugino), who’s also his ex, having settled down in the seemingly idyllic community—and she’s 12 years older than when he last saw her a few weeks ago. Even more dramatically, the local sheriff (Terrence Howard) enforces a strict “no one ever leaves” policy, on pain of having one’s neck slit. The mysteries pile up from there. Stream Wayward Pines on Hulu and Disney+.

Tales From the Loop (2020)

A gorgeous-looking anthology, Tales From the Loop takes place in the small town of Mercer, Ohio—a town that happens to sit upon the titular Loop, a physics lab exploring mysteries for which science has no answers. Each episode offers the story of a person or family in the town impacted by the work of the Loop (founded by Russ, played by Jonathan Pryce), in slow-burning stories about the intersection of technology and human existence. It’s based on a conceptual art book by artist Simon Stålenhag, and successfully ports over the book’s striking look and feel. The show often feels very much like a meditation on some of its sci-fi themes—it’s a bit gentler than something like Black Mirror, and not as frightening as The Boroughs, but still explores the threats that unchecked science can pose to our humanity. Stream Tales From the Loop on Prime Video.

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The Asus ROG Strix XG34WCDG packs a 34-inch QD-OLED panel with a 3440×1440 resolution, 175Hz refresh rate, and a near-instant 0.03ms response time into a monitor that can comfortably handle both high-end gaming and creative workloads. It also comes factory-calibrated, so color accuracy is already dialed in out of the box instead of requiring extra tweaking. Normally priced at $999, it’s currently down to $699—the lowest price it’s ever hit, according to price-tracking tools.

The QD-OLED panel is the main draw here. You get OLED’s perfect blacks and near-instant pixel response combined with quantum dot color performance, while the 1800R curve adds genuine wraparound immersion without making straight lines look warped. Plus, the matte coating on this panel keeps it usable when there’s ambient light in the room—a real consideration on glossy OLED panels. Asus also takes burn-in seriously, pairing a custom heatsink and graphene film cooling with a full OLED Care Pro software suite that shifts pixels, dims the screen when you walk away, and watches for static UI elements like taskbars and HUDs. It’s a lot of infrastructure for a problem that shouldn’t come up often, but it’s reassuring to have.

On the gaming side, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and G-Sync compatibility keep gameplay smooth across both AMD and NVIDIA setups, especially at the monitor’s native 175Hz refresh rate. That said, ultrawide support remains inconsistent in some games, with certain titles adding black bars or awkward UI scaling. OLED brightness is also best in controlled lighting rather than a room flooded with direct sunlight. And while the USB-C port is convenient for charging accessories or connecting lightweight devices, the 15W power delivery falls well short of what you’d want for a proper single-cable laptop setup. Still, for anyone who wants one display that can handle fast-paced gaming, immersive ultrawide experiences, and creative work without obvious compromises, $699 for this panel is a legitimate no-brainer.

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A 100-inch TV used to be the kind of purchase reserved for sports bars and people with more money than restraint. The Samsung QN80F is changing that math. Right now, the 100-inch model is down to $3,997.99 from $5,497.99—a $1,500 drop—and price trackers confirm this is a record low. That’s still a serious chunk of change, but for a Mini LED TV with four HDMI 2.1 ports all running 4K at 144Hz with full VRR support, it’s a genuinely hard number to argue with.

The QN80F is Samsung’s mid-tier Neo QLED for 2025, and an upgrade over the Q80D from 2024. Its Mini LED backlighting means better contrast and local dimming than a standard QLED, and the NQ4 AI Gen2 processor handles 4K upscaling well enough that your library of non-4K content won’t look embarrassing on a screen this size. It’s a particularly strong pick for living room gaming setups, too, with low input lag, solid format support, and a suite of gaming features that punch above this price tier.

That said, it’s not a perfect TV. Black uniformity isn’t great, so dark rooms with bright highlights will show some haloing and clouding. Motion handling at 60Hz is also a weak point, so if you’re a competitive gamer or a sports fanatic, you’ll want to look at the QN90F or a similarly spec’d Hisense/TCL before pulling the trigger. The screen is also quite reflective—it handles ambient light well, but direct glare from windows or lamps will be genuinely distracting. Also, if you’re a home theater purist, note that, while this TV supports HDR10+, it lacks Dolby Vision.

The 75-inch QN80F is also down to its lowest price yet at $1,297.99 for anyone who doesn’t quite have room for the 100-inch model. But for people who can make the larger size work, deals like this are usually the closest you get to a truly theater-sized screen without spending several thousand dollars more.

When you make a regular phone call from your mobile device, it is not guaranteed to be secure. Cellular protocols are not encrypted end-to-end, meaning that audio could be intercepted along the way, such as by carriers, law enforcement, or threat actors. You may have worked to ensure end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for your text messages using a secure messaging app or specific iOS-to-iOS and cross-platform RCS protocols, but the same consideration can be made for voice calls you want to keep private.

What is end-to-end encryption?

End-to-end encryption protects the contents of messages and calls between users. Everything is scrambled in between and can only be unlocked and accessed on the recipient’s device with the correct decryption key. This means that the data can’t be intercepted or read by anyone else, including the tech companies that own the messaging apps.

These are the best apps for encrypted calls

Many of the secure messaging apps that you use for encrypting text conversations can also be used to make private calls:

• Signal: Signal is one of the best privacy-focused messaging apps available, with E2EE for all messages and calls. By default, conversations can only be read or heard by you and the recipient.

• WhatsApp: All messages and calls within WhatsApp are also automatically encrypted end to end.

• Messenger: Facebook Messenger also has E2EE on by default for all conversations, including messages and calls. (Meta just recently removed E2EE for DMs on Instagram.)

• Discord: Discord began rolling out E2EE for voice and video calls in 2024 and has now made this the default setting for all users.

• FaceTime: iOS users can take advantage of E2EE with FaceTime voice and video calls to other Apple devices.

• Viber: Viber is a voice over IP (VoIP) platform that allows for E2EE audio and video calls.

In addition, some video conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom have options to enable end-to-end encryption for meetings and calls. Calls between Android phones on Google Fi Wireless are also E2EE.