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.
- 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!
- Any guesses what’s inside?
It’s the prize pack I just boxed up for the second winner of our Today I’m Toying With giveaway. I’m drawing for the third winner right now, and you can enter to possibly become the fourth winner starting today! BTW, anyone need whistles? Those bags in the background are full of ‘em.
Hint: My hand is strategically blocking something. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge - It’s that time again: giveaway time.
Everyone asks Verge reviewers if we get to keep the gadgets, and the answer is no — but I can give them to you! Our third Today I’m Toying With giveaway is live, and I’m making it a regular Wednesday thing. You have to enter to win each time; I do a weekly drawing. US residents only (sorry!)
Some of the actual items in the giveaway. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge - Today I’m toying with Beni, the jumping camera robodog.
ICYMI, here’s my story, and I have new impressions indoors: Beni is… not great at tracking people inside my dim house, but obstacle avoidance works. When I held the joystick forward (after setting speed low), Beni automatically navigated my hallway. At walls, it automatically U-turned and kept going instead of getting stuck.
- Want to win the gadgets in my garage?
Our second Today I’m Toying With giveaway is live — I’m hoping to give away gadgets every week now! You have to enter to win (before July 15th), but you still don’t have to use Instagram or TikTok if you don’t want to. Find email entry instructions in the official rules.
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge This jumping $800 robot camera dog filled me with joy
The Mondo Robotics Beni. Photo by Sean Hollister / The VergeWhat if you had a drone that wasn’t a buzzy, annoying fly people wanted to swat — but rather a cute dog that runs and jumps? What if it could do tricks on command and film your tricks as well? What if it could get right back up after a nasty-looking crash, dozens of times in a row?
The first time I saw Beni on Instagram, I immediately thought it was AI video slop. Surely consumer robots aren’t that smart and agile in 2026? Then I took the real robot for a spin. Truth is, Beni does need work. But my first two-hour demo was so much fun, I badly want one for myself.
Read Article >Win cool gadgets we can’t keep because The Verge has ethics
Photo by Sean Hollister / The VergeWhen people learn I work for The Verge, they inevitably ask: “Do you get to keep the gadgets?” Now that I film Today I’m Toying With, a video series where I share the joy of tech, I get that question more than ever.
The answer is no, we don’t keep them! Our ethics policy is clear: “We don’t accept things of value from companies or from their PR firms, period.” We don’t keep them, we don’t sell them, we don’t pass them to family or friends. We try to return them, and if a company doesn’t want them back, we give them away. But now we’re going to give some of those unwanted gadgets to you.
Read Article >- Expedition: Handheld.
It’s a delightfully nerdy new handheld gaming podcast from The Full Nerd Network and Retro Game Corps… and I’m the first-ever guest! What’s that in my hand?? The episode airs Saturday at 9am PT (Update: you can watch it embedded below). I bring a future Today I’m Toying With item on the show, too!
I met Olaf — the Frozen robot who might be the future of Disney Parks
Olaf, a Disney Imagineering robot that will greet guests at Disney parks. Photo by Sean Hollister / The VergeYou know Olaf. Before KPop Demon Hunters, before the Wicked movies, it was Disney’s Frozen that blasted show tunes like “Let It Go” and “Into the Unknown” into our lives. My little girls loved belting those tunes.
So when I met Olaf, the Disney Imagineering robot, I kept thinking: I can’t wait for my kids to meet him too.
Read Article >- Today I’m toying with… WALL-E’s ancestor?
It’s the Clear Drop Soft Plastic Compactor, and it’s not exactly adorable. But it’s fun to feed unrecyclable plastic into the machine and have it spit out bricks! Justine and I teamed up for a hybrid report and review of the somewhat flawed creation. You can even see and hear what happens to the bricks.
- ICYMI: I played paper-thin Tetris built into the cover of a magazine.
It’s so thin! Watch me hit it with a huge mallet, charge it via its deconstructed USB-C port, and shine bright light though the paper to reveal the flexible circuits within. Then, go read my colleague Andrew’s story: he interviewed the creator!
- Free whistles to melt ICE.
Friends and colleagues keep asking things like: “Can I pay you for some of those 3D-printed whistles to fight fascists so I can hand them out too?” But they are free! Request free whistles right here. Also, I’ve got an extra-long Bluesky thread with more inspiring quotes.
