Category: Technologies

When Apple unveiled iOS 17 at its WWDC event in June, the Journal app drew a lot of attention. And while Apple didn’t release the app with iOS 17 on Sept. 18 or with the iPhone 15 series, the tech giant did release the new app on Monday with iOS 17.2.

Journaling has been linked with many mental health benefits, including help managing anxiety, reducing stress and coping with depression. However, some people might have a difficult time remembering to journal or figuring out what to write. Apple’s Journal app makes it easy to jot down a few thoughts when you’re on your phone, and it provides you with writing prompts and other reminders about what you’ve done in a day.

Here’s what you should know about Journal and how it works.

What is Journal?

Journal is an app developed by Apple to help users write journal entries and easily insert pictures, videos and other content. Your entries are stored locally on your iPhone, and you can have backups on iCloud.

Journal provides prompts, called Reflections, that you can write about. Some Reflections the app gave me included, “Think about something you love to do and why it brings you joy,” and “Describe someone in your life who you really appreciate but forget to thank.”

The app can also access certain data and give you suggestions about what to write based on that data. For example, on my first weekend with Journal, it suggested I write about a coffee shop and park that I visited. You can control what types of data and other apps Journal can access to create these suggestions.

How do you get Journal?

Apple included Journal in the iOS 17.2 update, so if you’ve downloaded the update, you should see the app on your home screen.

How secure is Journal?

According to Apple, the app has end-to-end encryption between your device and iCloud, and it uses on-device processes to create journaling suggestions including Reflections. That means the data it uses stays on your iPhone.

“No one but you can access your journal — not even Apple,” the company wrote online.

Beyond that, you can require the app to ask for your FaceID or passcode after it’s been inactive for 1, 5 or 15 minutes. If you don’t want to take any chances, you can set it to immediately lock when you switch apps or your iPhone goes to sleep — you know, in case of snooping siblings or roommates.

How do you write an entry in Journal?

On the Journal homepage, you’ll see your recent journal entries and a plus (+) sign across the bottom of your screen. Tap the plus sign and you’ll be taken to a new menu.

In this new menu, you’ll see suggested Reflections as well as moments from your day that you can write about, like a picture you took or a Podcast you listened to. Tap any of these for a short overview of the suggestion, and then tap Start Writing. You’ll be taken to a new page that looks similar to a new note in the Notes app, but the suggestion will show across the top of the screen. You can write your entry on this page, and you can add other content like photos, videos or voice notes.

You can also just write an entry without a suggestion. After tapping the plus sign on the Journal homepage, there is an option across the top of the new menu that reads New Entry. Tap this, and you can jot down any thoughts or feelings you’re having at the moment, or you can add your own content here.

Once you’re finished, tap Done in the top-right corner and the entry will be saved to the Journal homepage. You can also edit or update entries once they’ve been saved to the homepage. Tap the three dots (…) in the bottom-right corner of the entry you want to edit, then tap Edit.

What if I need help keeping a journaling schedule?

Have no fear: You can set the app to remind you to journal. A splash screen in Journal asks you to set a schedule the first time you open the app.

If you don’t see this splash screen, or you want to change your schedule, go to Settings > Journal > Journaling Schedule and tap the switch next to Schedule. A menu will appear below Schedule that will allow you to set a reminder to journal every day — or certain days — at a certain time.

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features and Settings on Your iPhone

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For more Apple news, check out what other features are included in iOS 17.2, what was new in iOS 17.1 and our iOS 17 cheat sheet.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are great ways to listen to music, podcasts and more while driving. You can do it safely and hands-free, but only if your car has the required hardware. You’re going to need a big touchscreen, but don’t worry if your car doesn’t have one — Stack Social has the answer.

Today Stack Social will sell you a 10-inch touchscreen with CarPlay and Android Autio support for just $110, a price that is a full 45% off the usual asking price. But be quick if you don’t want to miss out because this deal is going to expire soon.

This deal gets you a large 10-inch display that supports both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay with full support for all of the media playback, mapping software and other features these systems have become so well-known for. The whole thing works wirelessly as well, so no need to connect any cables to your phone to get the system up and running. The display supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the box includes all of the mounting accessories needed to get up and running.

Other features include support for multimedia playback including audio and video file formats via the 64GB of built-in storage. The whole thing is powered by Android 12, and a 12-month warranty is included for good measure. Looking for a different CarPlay setup? There are plenty of CarPlay head unit options out there, and be sure to check out our collection of the best iPhone deals if you need a new handset to go with it.

One of the most common specs used to compare projectors is a measure of how bright each model is: lumens. This is because, in theory, a 1,000-lumen projector will be brighter than a 500-lumen projector. With projectors, the brightness not only determines how bright and easy to see the image will be, but also how large the image can be. A brighter projector can create a larger image without being too dim to watch.

Frustratingly, it’s a lot more complex than that. If you’re interested only in the broad strokes of how many lumens you need in a projector, the sections below will cover that. If you’re interested in digging a little deeper, including why the numbers can only ever be used as broad guidelines, further sections will, ahem, illuminate the subject more.

Read more: What are Nits, and Why are They Important?

Under 500 lumens

The smallest and cheapest projectors typically have 500 or fewer lumens. These often-battery-powered pico projectors aren’t designed to create huge images, despite what their marketing claims. A TV-size image will be watchably bright, but a 100-inch image will be very dim. Watchable in a totally dark room? Technically, yes, but it won’t look great.

For reference, the hand-holdable AAXA P8 pico projector is rated at 430 lumens. During our testing, it was able to create an image that was roughly 25 nits on a 100-inch screen. For comparison, many 65-inch TVs can create over 1,000 nits. Even if you make the AAXA’s image 65 inches, it’s still only creating an image that’s roughly 61 nits. Other portable projectors, especially the ultra-cheap variety, are even dimmer than the P8.

Now, for their size and convenience, this is all totally fine and expected. Just don’t believe the marketing of wall-size, TV-bright images from something the size of a book and cheaper than a cellphone.

Around 1,000 lumens

The next step up from the tiny portable projectors are typically still “portable” but are somewhere between the pocket-size picos and the backpack-carriable home theater projectors. Overall, this class of projectors is typically designed for occasional movie night use and usually use LEDs or lasers as their light source. Take, for instance, the Epson Epson EpiqVision Mini EF12 shown above. It has a claimed 1,000 lumens.

Creating a 100-inch image is still a bit of a stretch for something rated at 1,000 lumens. They are certainly not as dim as the low-lumen picos, and in fact the Epson EF12 is capable of roughly 3x the light output of the AAXA P8 for instance, but for their price and size, these types of projectors are more about convenience and form factor than outright performance.

Some ultra high-end projectors are in this lumen range as well. However, they’re designed for light-controlled rooms and usually have extremely high contrast ratios that make their images look more punchy and lifelike than is possible with brightness-first projectors.

Around 2,000 lumens

For many years, 2,000 lumens was considered a lot for a home projector. Now, it’s so common, it’s practically the baseline — take, for instance, the Editor’s Choice-winning BenQ HT2060. It’s rated at 2,200 lumens, which creates an extremely watchable 100-inch image, though you’ll still want a light controlled room. This is the perfect range for a traditional “home theater” projector, even if home theater just means your living room.

Shrinking the image down to 65 inches to compare with a standard TV size, the HT2060 could create around 262 nits in our testing (which is color and color temperature accurate, unlike many manufacturer measurements).

As long as you can control the light in your room or are willing to buy an ambient light-rejecting screen, anything over 2,000 lumens will work for screens around 100 inches. You could create a 150-inch image, though it will be fairly dim, less than half as bright as the same projector creating a 100-inch image.

Over 3,000 lumens

Increasingly, there have been more and more — and more affordable — projectors with over 3,000 lumens. For instance, the $500 Epson CO-FH02 is rated at 3,000 lumens and is the brightest projector we’ve ever tested. It can produce over 500 nits creating a 65-inch image. Its contrast was quite poor, however, so despite its brightness, it didn’t look great. At the other end of the performance scale, the BenQ TK860i (review coming soon), is rated at 3,300 lumens and looks really good.

On one hand, I’ve never reviewed a projector that was too bright. All of them, when creating a 100-inch image, will be dimmer than even a cheap TV. They also create an image way bigger than any TV, which is the point, and it’s awesome. So the advice of “get the brightest projector you can afford” isn’t wrong per se, but it’s incomplete. Brightness is just one aspect of performance. A crucial one with projectors, for sure, but if you put Epson CO-FH02 next to the 1,500-lumen Sony VPL-VW325ES we reviewed a few years ago, no one would say the Epson looks “better,” just brighter.

A comparison could be made to cars. Is the fastest car in the world the “best” car? Of course not, because the best car in the world is the Mazda Miata, and if it was a projector it’d barely be rated at 1,500 lumens.

Which is to say, once you get above 2,000 lumens there’s a lot more at play than just brightness. A 3,000 lumen projector might not look as good as a 2,000 lumen projector, it will just be brighter. Maybe that’s what you need or want, but not always. Then there’s the fact that no matter what a projector is rated, its actual light output will be far lower. Which brings us to…

Actual Lumens (ANSI, ISO and CVIA)

All projector manufacturers inflate their lumen ratings. Some by a little, some by a lot. In the most general sense, a 3,000 projector is probably brighter than a 1,000 lumen projector, but 1,200- and 1,300-lumen projectors are probably indistinguishable when it comes to brightness.

Worse, comparing lumen ratings between different companies is even more difficult, as they are probably differently different, if that makes sense. One might be 10% wrong, the other 30% wrong, for example. Also, if you set up a projector correctly, in terms of picture mode and color temperature, the actual brightness on screen will be even lower than what’s claimed, since a manufacturer is going to use the brightest settings for the basis of their numbers, not the settings that produce the best image.

Some companies use ANSI or ISO lumens. These are different methods of measuring brightness. Each has specific rules for how the measurements should be taken. Theoretically, these are a more accurate measurement and are more comparable to other ANSI or ISO measurements (though not perfectly and not against each other). There are still a number of variables that make the exact comparison difficult, least of all a company outright lying and saying their lumens are ANSI when they’re not.

Occasionally, you’ll see CVIA lumens, or Chinese Video Industry Association, which developed its own way of measuring lumens. It’s similar to ANSI but makes the color temperature more variable. As such, CVIA lumen ratings are likely higher than ANSI ratings (and in my opinion, less accurate). Like all lumen ratings, you can make general assumptions about CVIA ratings across different companies, but not against non-CVIA lumen ratings. As in, a 3,000-CVIA lumen projector might be a bit brighter than a 2,500-CVIA lumen projector, but it might be the same as a 2,500-ANSI lumen projector. They might all be brighter than a 3,000 non-CVIA, non-ANSI lumen projector, or they might be dimmer. It’s impossible to say without a third party measuring it.

We measure the brightness of all the projectors we review, along with other aspects of performance, so at the very least you can compare our brightness numbers.

As well as covering TV and other display tech, Geoff does photo tours of things like cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips and more. Check out Tech Treks for all his tours and adventures.

He wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines and also Budget Travel for Dummies. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.

Google Play Movies & TV won’t be available on Android TV devices and the Google Play website for much longer. Google last week announced a final cutoff date along with alternate ways to buy movies and shows through Google and access your previous purchases.

Google has already done much to move away from Google Play Movies & TV. In 2022, the company announced that Google TV would become the default destination for buying, renting and watching titles on Android mobile devices and tablets instead of Movies & TV in the Google Play app. In September, Google said that the Shop tab would similarly fulfill the role of the Google Play Movies & TV app on Android TV devices starting Oct. 5.

In a recent blog post, Google said over the next few weeks, Google Play Movies & TV will wrap up its run on the Google Play website and Android TV devices (given you have had access since Oct. 5). But you’ll still be able to view your purchases and active rentals on Android TV or Google TV devices, YouTube and the Google TV mobile app for Android and iOS. When you lose access to Google Play Movies & TV depends on your country and location, according to Google.

Where to find your purchases

Beginning Jan. 17, If you have a TV or streaming device powered by Android TV, the Shop tab will be the main way to buy, rent and find previously purchased titles. Your purchases will appear in the “Your Library” row in the tab. If you have a cable box or set-top box powered by Android TV, you can buy, rent and locate your purchased titles through the YouTube app, per Google.

Once movies and shows are removed for good from the Play Store, YouTube is also where you’ll need to go on a web browser (https://www.youtube.com/feed/storefront) rather than the Google Play website (play.google.com/movies).

In other Google news, here are the company’s future hopes for Android and new features coming to Pixel phones.

Apple typically adds new health-oriented features to the Apple Watch. Temperature sensing arrived with last year’s Apple Watch Series 8, for instance, and blood oxygen measurements debuted on the 2020-era Series 6.

But in 2023, Apple is taking a different approach. Instead of adding more sensors, it’s aiming to make finding and logging health data easier on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2. A new update launching on Monday will bring the ability to ask Siri for health data points from the watch for the first time, a seemingly minor change but one that could make Apple’s smartwatch a more capable health tracker.

The update was announced in September and was previously available in beta, but it’s now officially rolling out to the Series 9 and Ultra 2. It’s exclusive to these two watches because they’re both powered by Apple’s new S9 chip, which enables them to process certain Siri requests locally rather than the requests being sent to the cloud.

The update shows that Siri is evolving at a time when there’s been unprecedented attention on AI and virtual assistants thanks to the rise of generative AI, or AI that can create conversational (though not always accurate) answers in response to prompts. Siri has been criticized for falling behind competitors like Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant over the past decade, but the update indicates Apple is thinking about new uses for its digital helper. Above all else, Siri’s new health smarts could solve a big problem. Even in 2023, the myriad health statistics our wearables gather can still be difficult to parse.

Read more: Best Smartwatches of 2023

“A big part of our focus is making health data accessible,” said Deidre Caldbeck, Apple’s senior director of product marketing for its Apple Watch and Health divisions. “And so we think this feature certainly brings us more and more closer to that goal.”

Siri will initially be able to answer requests for 20 different health data types on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, based on data from the past week. That includes questions about progress on your Activity Rings, your step count, nightly respiratory rate, how many flights of stairs you’ve climbed, last night’s sleep and more. It can also answer questions about third-party health devices connected to the health app, such as glucose and blood pressure monitors. When it comes to logging data, you’ll be able to ask Siri to register statistics like your weight, whether your period has started and your medications.

According to Caldbeck, Siri support for health-related queries on the watch has been a highly requested feature. But the company waited for the Series 9 and Ultra 2 because it wanted to make sure such requests could be processed locally with low latency. That means data doesn’t have to leave your watch for the request to be fulfilled.

Katie Skinner, senior manager for user privacy engineering at Apple, said the company’s health products are designed with four privacy principles in mind: data minimization; on-device processing; transparency; and control and security. These principles are broad enough to apply to new and updated products as the industry changes, as evidenced by Apple’s decision to wait until the Apple Watch could process Siri requests locally before supporting health requests.

“What’s really changed is how we apply them, the technologies that we’re able to apply mitigations with, and the threat landscape,” she said of the privacy principles. Skinner shared that when applying a principle like data minimization to its products, Apple looks at places where data may be exposed as different threats arise over time, whether it’s on-device or over the network.

The Siri update has the potential to make the almost dizzying number of health metrics your Apple Watch gathers more palatable. And that’s important, because for some Apple users, finding health data points hasn’t been as easy as it should be. Reddit threads detail user complaints about the Health app being hard to navigate and clunky.

It took four taps on my iPhone to find my average daily exercise minutes, for example. But with the update, that type of data should be available on Series 9 almost instantly. Being able to find bits of information without having to tap, type or swipe is particularly useful on screens as small as the Apple Watch’s.

“But really never before have users been able to access this data without even tapping their screen,” Caldbeck said.

Siri’s upgrade comes at a time when both AI assistants and health apps are getting smarter and more sophisticated. Fitbit, one of Apple’s oldest competitors in the fitness tracking space, will start using generative AI to answer certain questions and produce specific custom charts, as part of its Fitbit Labs program next year.

Google, which owns Fitbit, is also infusing the tech behind its Bard chatbot into the Google Assistant, enabling it to perform tasks like writing social media posts for photos and summarizing important emails. Samsung also recently announced Galaxy AI, likely an umbrella term for new AI-powered features coming to future Samsung devices.

Apple hasn’t said anything about bringing generative AI to Siri; it typically avoids linking its products directly to larger industry-wide trends and competing products. But Siri’s ability to address health-related queries could go a long way in making the Apple Watch a smarter health tracker, provided it works the way Apple intends. It feels like a step toward a more sophisticated health assistant, like the one that Bloomberg reports Apple could be working on.

Apple never discusses future products before announcing them. But Caldbeck says Apple will keep investing in Siri’s health capabilities.

“We’re always looking for ways to improve and enhance our features,” Caldbeck said when asked whether Apple plans to add support for more types of health metrics. “So we will certainly continue to explore adding additional data types and offering more accessibility to our health features through Siri.”

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to help create some stories. For more, see this post.

In the latest chapter of blue bubbles versus green bubbles, Apple has blocked access to iMessage from credentials masquerading as Apple to protect its customers, the company told CNET on Saturday evening. This comes after companies like Beeper and Nothing released Android apps that provided a workaround.

The iPhone maker said that it can’t verify messages sent via unauthorized means that were posing as valid Apple credentials. Messages sent over iMessage have end-to-end encryption to ensure that no one but the sender and recipient has access. Apple said it blocked these “fake credentials”to protect its customers.

The move comes less than a week after Beeper reversed-engineered iMessage access so people using Android or Windows could use the service and send iMessages from non-Apple devices. Messages sent to an iPhone owner that would normally show up as green bubbles from an Android user over SMS showed up as blue if sent from the Beeper Mini Android app or Beeper Cloud, the original version of the service that routed iMessage through a Mac.

Read more: I Ditched My Android for an iPhone, and I Don’t Regret It

“At Apple, we build our products and services with industry-leading privacy and security technologies designed to give users control of their data and keep personal information safe,” Apple said in a statement provided to CNET. “We took steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage.”

To maintain end-to-end encryption, Apple can’t verify these messages sent through masquerading apps as having valid credentials.

“These techniques posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential for metadata exposure and enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks,” Apple said. “We will continue to make updates in the future to protect our users.”

Beeper Mini users took to Reddit on Friday to share that they couldn’t send or receive messages using the app.

“It’s mind-boggling to read that Beeper Mini is, in some way, making those communications less secure and less private, because that’s the opposite of what’s happening,” Beeper co-founder Eric Migicovsky told CNET Saturday night. “What we did was make those conversations encrypted. And it’s shocking to see a statement that’s almost the polar opposite of what exactly happened.”

Messages sent via SMS between Android and iPhone users are unencrypted. But for three days last week, the Beeper Mini app allowed Android and iPhone owners to communicate securely with end-to-end encryption. Migicovsky said that Apple hasn’t reached out to him or his company directly. He said that Friday’s outage started at 11:30 a.m. and knocked out Beeper Mini and Beeper Cloud but that his team got Beeper Cloud up and running again within 23 hours.

“We got Beeper Cloud up and running. So whatever the statement Apple said, it’s not entirely correct. Or whatever they mean by it isn’t,” Migicovsky said. “As of today, as of right now, it’s working great.”

On Sunday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren posted on X calling on Apple to offer more interoperability between Android users and iMessage, saying “chatting between different platforms should be easy and secure.” It’s a sign that this issue is becoming more than just a green bubble versus blue bubble debate and is now coming under scrutiny from politicians, adding another to a growing list of concerns Congress has with platforms owned by tech giants.

What’s next? All this follows Apple’s statement last month that it would adopt the RCS texting standard in 2024, but that doesn’t account for Beeper.

“If anyone doubts the security and privacy of our app, we’re more than happy to provide the source code of it to a mutually agreed-upon third party and let them be the arbiters of this,” Migicovsky said. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

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Apple has dropped iOS 17.2 for the iPhone, and it comes with one of the most eagerly awaited apps in recent memory: Journal.
Have you noticed that our iPhones have been trying to fix us? This little gadget in our pocket keeps track of so many aspects of our life, including our schedules, communication, money and health. It’s smart enough to suggest how to optimize our time spent using the device, remind us when our music is too loud, or point out how much time we spend looking at its pretty screen while scrolling through TikTok.

Now Apple has another major selling point: Your iPhone can help you be a better you. Its new Journal app is designed to help you reflect and practice gratitude by writing about moments of your day. I’ve been using it for the past month, and there are aspects of the app that aren’t what I expected.

Apple announced Journal back in June at WWDC. It’s part of iOS 17, but unlike other features, it needed more time to bake and wasn’t included in the September release of the new iPhone software.

I’ve been testing it for a month, with the public beta version of iOS 17.2, and the Journal app is far more than just a place to jot down thoughts on blank pages. I have plenty of blank journals that I never write in (even though I keep buying them). Obviously, when I’m burnt out after a long day, I don’t grab my paisley Moleskine.

Instead, I do what any sane person does: scroll on my iPhone while in bed — so it makes sense to journal at night on my phone. I open the Journal app and click to make a post. There are personalized suggestions, called Moments, that give me something to write about. And when I say personalized, these suggestions from my iPhone get real detailed.

Reflections, suggestions, and that time I went to Wendy’s

Journal pulls from my recent activity, showing photos I took, people I texted, places I visited and music I’ve listened to. If I ever actually logged a workout on my Apple Watch, it would show me that, too. It also weaves in photo memories from years ago. There are also Reflections that present prompts, ideas and questions. The prompts aren’t cheesy, and I find them interesting, which is, of course, the idea. These thought exercises help me zoom out to see the bigger picture.

Scrolling through my suggestions, there’s one of a Friday night hangout with friends, a photo of my son when he was little from three years ago, a question prompt, and a photo of my family picking out a Christmas tree from this past weekend. I see photos of my dad visiting New York in 2018, and I get a reminder that I ate at a Wendy’s last week. So not every moment is worthy of a post, but the suggestions give you little flashbacks that jolt your brain into replaying memories.

Some suggestions can be strange. Journal knows that I went to a specific Wendy’s and wants me to write about it — clearly iPhone knows a lot about my life and burger consumption habits. Apple says all of this is being done while protecting your privacy. The suggested posts from your activities stay inside your iPhone, and Apple can’t see them. The same limits apply to any third-party journal apps that use Apple’s journal suggestion tool API in their software.

Apple says no one but you can access your Journal. Even if your phone is unlocked and you hand it to someone, they can’t get into the app, because you can lock your Journal. I set it to unlock with Face ID. If you sync it to iCloud, it’s stored with end-to-end encryption.

My Journal always hits me with photo memories of my kids, trying to give me a dopamine hit with nostalgia. Like, “Hey, remember this cute moment?” My problems today aren’t so big if I think about nice stuff that happened in the past. It’s like having a therapist guide you to reset your perspectives.

Imperfect memories and limits

There are some hiccups. For example, once I got my nails done early in the morning and the app assumed I was having breakfast at a restaurant next door. I suppose it’s OK if it’s not perfect since it’s just meant to be a starting point for your dear-diary moment. You don’t have to write a post for every suggestion.

Journal lets you add photos, audio or video to your entries, but there are limits. For instance, video files need to be under 500 megabytes, so I couldn’t add a two-minute video that I shot in 4K. Since your entries are stored locally on your iPhone, limiting the size of your media files in Journal helps save space.

On the surface all this makes sense: “Yeah, you got a fancy digital diary!” So what I’m about to say next may sound weird. There’s no way to share any of these posts. And it isn’t just no sharing, it’s no searching. I can’t go, “Oh yeah, I remember that nice Halloween post I made, let me pull that photo up and share it.” Nothing is shareable. You’re crafting what look like classic Facebook posts, but they’re just for you. No one will know about them.

Too many years being on social media have messed me up, so I can’t fathom making content that no one else will see. I realize I have to rethink a few things about the value of writing about my memories.

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features and Settings on Your iPhone

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The lack of a search tool in the Journal app is a bummer, too. Searching is just scrolling back. The best you can do is bookmark some of your favorite posts, because then you can narrow down entries by filtering what’s bookmarked, or having it show you just photos, audio posts or locations. I guess scrolling is kind of like flipping through the pages of an actual handwritten journal. But then what’s the point of journaling digitally?

There’s also another wrinkle that took me a while to realize. Journal is just another way to lock you into iOS and the Apple ecosystem. Imagine that a year goes by and you made hundreds of posts, all of which are stored on your iPhone. Would you just throw away that diary and switch to Android?

I’m not the only CNET staffer who’s been testing out Journal in beta. Patrick Holland, CNET managing editor and iPhone reviewer, has also been playing with it. Here are his first impressions:

Journal’s secret sauce is triggering your emotions

Like Bridget, I’ve enjoyed the Journal app so far. But sadly, I haven’t had any prompts to relive that great Frosty-and-fries experience I had at Wendy’s. What surprises me about Journal is how un-Apple it is. The star of the app is the suggestions feature, and how easily a suggestion can trigger a memory or make me relive a moment that at the time seemed mundane, but now prompts a bunch of feelings.

Using Journal reminds me of the analog experiences I’ve had doing creative writing exercises or following the book The Artist’s Way.

What Journal does best is gives me a space for my feelings and a way to organize my thoughts. The suggestions are very personal and private. One made me exit the app and call my family, while another made me wish I still could talk to someone who had died.

Final thoughts on Journal

I agree with Patrick and think Journal is worth trying out. Sure, there are things that could be tweaked, like adding a way to search for a post. But if the job of Journal is to help our mental health and fix some of the busy-brain problems we have in this day and age, it does that. It made me think about what really matters and offered a way to quickly switch my mindset. I don’t use Journal every night, but even opening the app and looking back helps put time into perspective.

CNET’s Patrick Holland contributed to this report.

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Choosing the perfect stocking stuffer can add some unexpected trickiness to your holiday shopping. It’s sometimes a lot easier to settle on the bigger-ticket items, but the little goodies are the icing on the proverbial cake. If you’re sticking to a budget, finding the best trinket or doodad can get even more challenging. To lend a hand (foot?), we’ve compiled a list of the best cheap stocking stuffers, for all tastes and preferences. So, scroll on! (And if you find a few treats for yourself, consider that an added bonus.)

Stocking stuffers for adults

• Apple AirTag: $27
• Hershel RFID card case wallet $13 (save $12)
• CeraVe AM facial moisturizing lotion: $15 (save $5)
• Goodful travel mug: $13
• MyQ Smart Garage Control: $23 (save $7)

• ColorCoral cleaning gel dust cleaner: $7 (save $5)
• GE Cync outdoor smart plug: $30 (save $10)

• Universal car headrest hooks (4-pack): $6 (save $1)

• Heeta hair shampoo brush: $8 (save $3)

• UpNature Calm essential oil roll on blend: $10 (Save $3)
• Renpho smart jump rope: $20 (save $10)

Stocking stuffers for kids

• Fingerlings interactive baby monkeys: $15
• Yeti Rambler Jr. 12-ounce kids bottle: $25 (save $5)
• Fashionable Angels ridiculously cute stickers: $5 (save $4)
• Nerf Weather Blitz foam football: $15

• TeeTurtle plushie: $10 (save $5)

• National Geographic rocks & fossils kit: $25

• Rubik’s Cube: $9 (save $1)
• Mudpuppy New York mini puzzle: $5

• The First Years Stack N Count cups: $7

• Carson BugView quick-release bug magnifier tool: $12
• Pokemon TCG: 3 booster packs and 1 random foil card: $13

Stocking stuffers for teens and tweens

• R-Fun AirPods case cover with keychain: $5
• Anker wireless charger stand: $16 (save $4)
• Logitech high-performance gaming mouse: $40 (save $40)
• Pillow slippers: $20
• BedShelfie wooded bedside shelf: $47
• Taylor Swift-inspired friendship bracelets: $10 (save $4)

• Starbucks $10 gift cards (4-pack): $40
• My Cinema Lightbox: $20 (save $2)

• Anker Soundcore Mini Bluetooth speaker: $25

Stocking stuffers for pets

• Chuckit! indoor dog toy: $7 (save $2) (or three for the price of two)
• Pet Zone Play-n-Squeak Mousehunter cat toy: $8 (save $1)
• AmazinglyCat flopping fish interactive cat toy: $28

• Original Snuggle Puppy heartbeat stuffed toy for dogs: $40
• ARCA pet first aid kit: $20 (save $2)

• Malier 6-pack cat Christmas toys: $12 (save $3)

• Custom dog bandana: $7 (save $7)
• Hunger For Words talking pet doorbell for dogs: $7 (save $3)

• Pawscout pet tag: $17 (save $3)

Samsung focused on practical upgrades in the Galaxy S23, like longer battery life, adding more base storage to the pricier models and bringing a sharper camera sensor to the Ultra model. But the Galaxy S24 may be more than just a hardware refresh if Samsung’s Galaxy AI features end up being worthwhile.

That said, flashy new AI capabilities alone aren’t enough to make a smartphone worth recommending. Basics like battery life, screen quality and camera performance still matter more when it comes to general usability. But as generative AI becomes a bigger part of the apps and services we use everyday, that could change.

Read more: Best Android Phone of 2023

Here’s a look at what I’m hoping to see from the Galaxy S24, which is expected to launch early next year.

Useful AI features

Samsung may not have been as vocal about its AI ambitions in 2023 as companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft. But it’s clearly been thinking about how the technology can potentially improve the way we use our phones. Bixby Text Call, which combines the experience of a text message and a phone call for times when it may not be ideal to answer the phone verbally, is an example of that.

But based on Samsung’s recent announcements, it sounds like AI will be front and center in the Galaxy S24 series, similar to Google’s approach with the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Samsung recently announced Gauss, a new generative AI model that spans language, images and code, and Galaxy AI, an “experience” likely coming to the S24. Details on Gauss and Galaxy AI are scarce. So far, Samsung has said Gauss will be able to handle tasks like composing emails and summarizing documents, while Galaxy AI can translate phone calls.

There’s also an opportunity for AI to expand S Pen functionality on the next Ultra model. For instance, I could imagine AI being used to improve handwriting recognition or to enable new features that let you merge hand-drawn sketches with AI-generated art. But that’s just my own speculation; we’ll have to wait to see what Samsung has in store.

One of my biggest criticisms of Samsung’s smartphone software is that it lacks the additional handy features you get with Pixel phones, like Google Recorder for transcribing recordings in real time and Google’s suite of phone call assistance features and photo editing tools. Generative AI could be just what Samsung needs to catch up. The trick, however, is that these features will have to walk a fine line between being useful without going overboard. As my colleague Sareena Dayaram has written in the past, some of the Pixel 8’s new image editing features raise big questions about the authenticity of images we encounter online.

Faster charging

The Galaxy S23 lineup offers the same charging speeds as the phones’ predecessors: You get 25-watt charging on the regular S23 and 45 watts on the Plus and Ultra variants.

This lags behind some competing phones. The Lenovo ThinkPhone, for example, offers 68-watt charging that can take it from empty to 92% in 30 minutes. The Motorola Edge Plus, which also has 68-watt charging, replenished its battery from 3% to 80% in 30 minutes during CNET’s testing. Both of those beat the Galaxy S23 Plus’ 45-watt charging, which only 11% to 72% in the same amount of time.

While faster charging isn’t a deal breaker, it’s a practical upgrade that would make the S24 appealing to those who find themselves with only a few minutes to power up their devices.

More storage in the base Galaxy S24

Given all the apps, photos and videos we store on our devices, it’s easy to run out of space. Most phone makers stopped including a microSD card slot that allows you to add extra space as you need it a long time ago, meaning you now have to rely on your phone’s built-in storage and the cloud.

Samsung increased the amount of storage in the cheapest version of the Galaxy S23 Plus and Ultra from 128GB up to 256GB, but the regular S23 still only includes 128GB of space. It would be great to see Samsung upgrade the base S24’s storage capacity to match the rest of the lineup moving forward. Doing so would also help the S24 further compete against Google’s Pixel 8 lineup and provide another differentiating factor that separates it from the $600 Galaxy S23 FE.

More years of Android updates

Samsung was the leader when it came to Android version support for flagship phones, but Google recently surpassed it. While Samsung guarantees four generations of Android version updates, Google’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will get seven years of software updates. That’s a big deal because it means Pixel 8 owners will continue to get major platform-wide updates until 2030. I’m hoping this motivates Samsung to at least match Google, especially since Samsung’s premium phones usually cost $1,000 or more.

Overall, the ideal smartphone upgrade includes a combination of practical improvements — like better battery life or faster charging — and new features that make it feel meaningfully different from its predecessor. When it comes to the Galaxy S24, I’d like to see that manifest in storage and charging upgrades along with creative AI-powered tools that are helpful rather than gimmicky.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to help create some stories. For more, see this post.

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