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Zone 2 training is still having a moment—even if no one can agree on what it actually means. Legend has it that your easy, conversational-pace cardio—aka your Zone 2 heart rate—is the secret to unlocking everything from a bigger aerobic engine, to faster race times, and even to a longer life.

Whether Zone 2 deserves quite this much hype is debatable, but still, there are plenty of good reasons to master heart rate training more broadly. To train by heart rate, you aim to keep your heart rate in the "zone" that gives you your desired workout. Even if you believe every word of the Zone 2 gospel, it's completely pointless if your watch has the wrong idea of what your Zone 2 is. If you train with a Garmin watch, here’s how—and why—you should reset your heart rate zones now (and periodically).

How Garmin determines your heart rate zones

When you first set up your Garmin, it asked for your age, weight, and a few other details. From there it generated heart rate zones, often using a default formula based on a maximum heart rate estimated from your age (typically some version of 220 minus your age). But these formulas are often wrong, since they give a single number for everybody at the same age, while real maximum heart rates vary from person to person. 

Plus, there isn’t one universally agreed-upon heart rate zone system. So if your watch assumed a max of 180 and yours is actually 195, every zone it gave you is shifted. Your "Zone 2" might really, for you, be Zone 1 (AKA a pace so easy it barely feels like a workout). Or your "Zone 2" might actually be a moderate-to-hard effort that's digging you into a hole, while you think you're taking it easy. At every step of the way, there’s a different formula and definition that determines what heart rate zone shows up on your watchface. 

To complicate things further, Garmin gives multiple options to set up your zones:

  • Percent of max heart rate. This is the simplest approach. You enter (or let the watch estimate) your max, and each zone is a slice of that number. It's only as good as your max heart rate figure, which, as noted above, is often a guess.

  • Percent of heart rate reserve (HRR). This method factors in both your max and your resting heart rate, so zones are based on the range your heart works across rather than just the top of it. It tends to produce more personalized zones, but it means your resting heart rate needs to be current, too.

  • Percent of lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR). Here, your zones are anchored to the effort level where your body starts producing lactate faster than it can clear it, a point that's closely tied to how you actually perform. Many coaches consider this the most meaningful anchor, because it reflects your real physiology rather than a formula.

That third option raises its own question: Where does your lactate threshold number come from?

Do you need to take Garmin’s lactate test?

In the past, getting a lactate threshold estimate from a Garmin meant wearing a compatible chest strap and doing a guided test, which involved a structured, hard run on your part. On newer models, however, that's no longer the case. Garmin has been rolling out an updated lactate threshold detection that works from the wrist's optical heart rate sensor, with no chest strap and no dedicated test. Instead, the watch estimates your threshold automatically from regular outdoor runs. This feature is typically on by default and generally requires a baseline VO2 max estimate and a run or trail run recorded with heart rate. If you'd rather not leave it up to the algorithm, you can turn auto-detection off and enter your own lactate threshold heart rate manually in the heart rate zone settings. Which watches have this varies by model, so check your specific device. 

Why you need to reset your Garmin’s heart rate zones

Even if you set your zones carefully once, they don't stay accurate forever. Several things change over time:

  • Your fitness changes. As you get fitter, your resting heart rate often drops, and your lactate threshold heart rate can shift. Zones based on where you were a year or two ago may not reflect where you are now.

  • You age. Your maximum heart rate tends to decline gradually over the years.

  • You change sports. Running, cycling, and swimming each have different heart rate behavior, and Garmin lets you set sport-specific zones for exactly this reason. If you've never touched them, you may be using running-based numbers on the bike, or vice versa.

  • You switched watches or imported old data. Zones can carry over from a previous device or a profile you set up years ago.

  • Your resting heart rate has changed. An outdated resting number could be throwing things off.

None of these have dramatic consequences, but if you’re focused on heart rate training, it’s worth trying to be as accurate and up-to-date as possible. If your zones are set too high, you may not be getting the aerobic stimulus you think you are. You'll also underestimate how hard your harder sessions really are, and your training load and recovery metrics can end up skewed.

On the flip side, if your zones are set too low, your "easy" runs could actually become the classic trap of training in the gray zone: too hard to recover from well, too easy to drive big gains. And because Garmin's training status, recovery time, and load features lean on your heart rate data, bad zones can quietly nudge those numbers off as well.

How to update your Garmin heart rate zones

The good news is that fixing all this should take less than 10 minutes. First, decide whether you want zones based on max heart rate, heart rate reserve, or lactate threshold. There’s a good chance you can trust the lactate threshold your watch gives you, or you can find your actual max heart rate. 

The informal way is to just notice what number you see on your watch when you can no longer speak comfortably; the more formal way is this treadmill test. You can also look through your recent hard efforts, like races, hill repeats, or all-out intervals, and see the highest sustained heart rate you've recorded. If you want a more deliberate test, a coach or a structured max-effort protocol can help, but only attempt hard testing if you're healthy and your doctor is comfortable with it. Also keep in mind that reading from a wrist-based sensor can also spike unreliably, so a chest strap gives more trustworthy numbers when accuracy matters.

Next, check your recent average resting heart rate in Garmin Connect and make sure the number your zones are using is current.

In your watch's user profile or in Garmin Connect, find the heart rate zone settings. From there you can adjust your max, change how zones are calculated, and set different zones for different sports. 

Finally, put these new zones to the test. Go for an easy run or ride at what your watch calls Zone 2. Can you hold a conversation, breathing comfortably in full sentences? Does it feel sustainable for a long time? If it feels either laughably easy or surprisingly taxing, your zones probably need another look.

The bottom line

Maybe Zone 2 is the cornerstone of your training, or maybe you think it's completely overrated. Either way, the principle is the same: You should be able to train by feel, and your watch can only help you do that if the numbers behind it are right.

Garmin gives you more ways to set your zones than most brands do. Spend 10 minutes figuring out which method your zones are using, confirming the number behind it is current, and updating it in your settings. It’ll make every easy run, hard interval, and recovery metric on your wrist more useful.


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The original A Different World was a groundbreaking sitcom in its era, spending six seasons highlighting Black academic drive among a cast of characters so indelible that we're now checking in on them decades later. Spearheaded by Queen Sugar's Felicia Pride, the update has been a critical and ratings hit for Netflix, earning the rarest prize of all in streaming television: a quick second season renewal. While you're waiting for season two, here are some other smart coming-of-age shows that blend heart and humor with realistic drama.

Grown-ish (2018 – 2024)

An easy pairing with A Different World, this show follows Black-ish's Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi) as she leaves home to attend a (fictional) California liberal arts college (the last couple of post-graduation seasons shift the focus to her brother Andre, played by Marcus Scribner). The emphasis is on driven young people who are capable of making big mistakes on the path to adulthood. A true comedy-drama, Grown-ish feels real(-ish) in a way that few other college shows have managed. Stream Grown-ish on Hulu.

Dear White People (2017 – 2021)

Adapted from and expanding upon the 2014 movie, this show takes us to a (fictional) Ivy League school for a comedy-drama that tackles campus life and politics from a rather different perspective than that of Rooster. Logan Browning leads the ensemble cast as Sam White, who kind of inadvertently starts the titular radio show following a racially charged incident on campus. Far from the racial screed that some bad-faith YouTubers seem to find it, it's never shy about confronting the complicated and occasionally silly contradictions of campus activism, with each episode approaching life at Winchester University from a different character's perspective. Stream Dear White People on Netflix.

The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021 – 2025)

Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) is an endlessly naïve scholarship student; Bela (Amrit Kaur) is an aspiring comedy writer on the make for the hottest guys; Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) is an overachieving athlete and senator’s daughter; and Leighton (Reneé Rapp) is a closeted sorority girl. They're all randomly assigned to room together as freshmen at the fictional Essex College in Vermont. Created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, this comedy-drama isn't nearly as salacious as its title suggests. There's sex for sure, but mostly it's a funny, queer-friendly show that's a little less about one overarching romance than it is about growing up, and the value of female friendship. Stream The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max.

Boarders (2024 – 2026)

Even though we're backing up a couple of years to follow teens in their high school years, this British import's setting is a decent match, finding its students living away from home and family for the first time in their lives. At the fictional prestigious boarding school St. Gilbert’s, five Black teens are newly attending on scholarships, but their integration into the existing cliques is less than smooth—especially given that they're there largely as a PR stunt. Boarders blends teen romance, coming-of-age drama, and a delightful willingness to take the piss when it comes to the whole "rich private school" thing. Stream Boarders on Tubi.

Bel-Air (2022 – 2025)

Another modern take on a beloved '80s/'90s sitcom, this one's a bit different, serving as a total reimagining with no narrative connection to the original. And while A Different World is a comedy with dramatic heft, this one's more of a straight drama. It’s jarring for fans of the beloved original to tune in to find a serious show with the same premise as the Will Smith original—one that often leans into heavy realism. Jabari Banks plays, er, Will Smith, a 16-year-old from West Philadelphia who moves in with his auntie and uncle in Bel-Air following a gun charge and a run-in with a Philly drug lord. Banks is charismatic and believable, bringing a ton of personality to a show that occasionally veers down dark alleys. Stream Bel-Air on Peacock.

Overcompensating (2025 – )

Comedian Benito Skinner plays himself, kinda, in this buzzy comedy that sees a former high school jock facing his freshman year in college while desperately trying to convince himself and everyone else that he's as straight as they come (relatable, except for the jock part). Much of the appeal is in its deft blending of tones: It's both a frequently raunchy college comedy and a sweet coming-of-age story about accepting yourself without worrying about what everyone else thinks. The cast includes Adam DiMarco (The White Lotus) and Rish Shah (Ms. Marvel), and, though it's more a story of one young man's coming of age, there's a strong ensemble backing him up. Stream Overcompensating on Prime Video.

All American (2018 – 2026)

The heart of All American (for most of its run) is Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), based on real-life NFL linebacker Spencer Paysinger. A star player for his high school team in Crenshaw, he's recruited by the coach (Taye Diggs) of a team in Beverly Hills to come and play for them, forcing Spencer to navigate two very different worlds while trying to build a life and potential career. Stream All American on Netflix.

Never Have I Ever (2020 – 2023)

Following a family tragedy, the already awkward 15-year-old Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) has a pretty terrible freshman year of high school, and decides that she’s going to turn things around the following year, hoping that a nearly academic study of sex will get her the boyfriend(s) her raging hormones have begun to demand. It works, to a point—but getting a surprise yes to sex from her crush leads her to question what she’s really ready for. More about burgeoning sexuality than sex specifically, this Mindy Kaling-produced series is both honest and charming. Stream Never Have I Ever on Netflix.

Deaf U (2020)

For realism in a show about the college experience, you could do a lot worse than this docuseries following several students at Gallaudet University, a school for deaf and hard-of-hearing young adults. In one sense, it's a specific setting where perspectives on deafness vary wildly, even in Gallaudet's self-contained world (aside from being a show about academically driven and horny college students, this is also a great primer for hearing people about some of the issues). But even for all of that, the challenges in building a life and future away from home are pretty universally relatable. Stream Deaf U on Netflix.

A Different World (1987 – 1993)

There's a reason A Different World has returned in 2026, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that there was nothing else on TV quite like it back in the late '80s and early '90s. For all of its sitcom sensibilities, the show tried hard (especially after multi-hyphenate creator Debbie Allen arrived to rework things after its first season) to paint a realistic picture of college life and an HBCU. Of the few shows on TV with largely Black casts, almost none would go so far as to highlight achievement and excellence; A Different World managed to do so while building a cast of characters so memorable that we're more than willing to catch up with them nearly forty years later. Stream A Different World on Netflix.


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Anker released the noise-cancelling Soundcore Space One headphones a few years ago, and while they were a more budget-friendly alternative to premium models from Bose and Sony, their performance and fit still fell short in several areas. The brand’s updated Soundcore Space 2 headphones are a major upgrade across the board: They’re comfier, have better ANC, and are currently 18% off at $106.49 (originally $129.99), a rare price cut for a still-new release from a popular brand.

Battery life is one of the Soundcore Space 2’s most attractive features: They last up to 50 hours with ANC on and 70 hours with ANC off, and a five-minute charge gives you up to four extra hours. The noise cancellation is strong for the price, blocking out lower-frequency sounds well. Comfort is also a major upgrade from its sparser predecessor, with roomier, more plush memory foam earcups and a padded headband. They’re also travel-friendly, as the earcups rotate and fold.

The Soundcore app allows you to customize EQ and sound presets, giving you added flexibility if you don’t like the default tuning. Instead of touch-sensitive panels, these headphones use conventional buttons, which help prevent accidental commands while adjusting the earcups and are easy to operate. Along with supporting Bluetooth 6.1, they also have a wired-cable option, which isn’t always the case with modern wireless headphones. That said, they don’t support USB-C audio.

If you want over-ear noise-canceling headphones that perform well but don’t have $200 to shell out for a more expensive model, the Anker Soundcore Space 2 headphones are a comfortable, effective, and long-lasting alternative that hover around $100 at the current discounted price.

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You Can See Everything, the new documentary about Theranos founder (and accomplished con artist) Elizabeth Holmes from filmmakers Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, is breaking records (and brains). Not only is it raking it in at the box office in a way that few documentaries can manage, it’s also dominating the pop culture chat right now thanks to genre-defying techniques; a huge, rule-breaking twist (that I won't spoil); and its unrepentant and inexplicably mesmerizing subject.

While some might argue that you should head into this incredible film experience fresh, if you’re unfamiliar with any of the three major figures involved, you will benefit from a little prep work before you head in—and if you've already seen it, you're no doubt eager to dive even deeper into this truly remarkable (in every sense of the word) story. Here’s what you should watch, read, and listen to before or after You Can See Everything.

Films, shows, podcasts, and books to check out before you watch You Can See Everything

To put it simply: There’s a lot going on here. To ensure you can appreciate the film, you should make sure you know at least the basics about three things: Elizabeth Holmes (and why she’s infamous), and the work of both Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim. Here’s the crash course.

Podcasts

The 2019 podcast The Dropout is one of the most efficient ways to get the background on Holmes and Theranos. In the style of a true crime podcast, this show from ABC and journalist Rebecca Jarvis offers a deep dive into Holmes and her crimes that will give you all the background you’ll need.

Books

John Carreyrou is the journalist who broke the Holmes story wide open, and his award-winning book Bad Blood offers a more journalistic and less sensational investigation than other accounts, providing a close-up look at Holmes in her CEO persona—an alternately terrifying and charismatic person who comes across as a “character” Holmes is playing. The book will inform your viewing of the documentary in important ways.

Films

While Nathan Fielder is getting most of the attention for You Can See Everything, co-director Lance Oppenheim brings his signature technique to the film—it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting without his visual sensibility and framing.

Oppenheim has helmed several notable films, as he’s made a name for himself as a brilliant documentarian over the last few years, but to get ready for You Can See Everything, check out Spermworld, his 2024 exploration of unregulated sperm donations (you read that right). The doc deals with people who are as reality-challenged, manipulative, and possibly delusional as Holmes, and it will prep you for his visual style of extreme close-ups and excessive coverage that seems almost impossible in a normal documentary setting. You can stream Spermworld on Hulu.

TV shows

If you’re unfamiliar with Nathan Fielder’s work, you need to strap in, because he’s unlike any other comedian or documentarian you’ve ever encountered.

  • To get a sense of his style, start with Nathan for You, a comedy-documentary-reality TV hybrid in which Fielder—as a version of himself—tries to use his business experience to help struggling people and small businesses. Presented as totally sincere, Fielder’s ideas are nevertheless increasingly elaborate and, in a word, unhinged. This show will familiarize you with Fielder’s persona and approach, but if you only have time to cram one episode, check out the series finale, “Finding Frances.” It follows Fielder’s attempts to reunite one of his earlier clients with his long-lost love, and it is a nearly perfect encapsulation of his style and approach. You can stream Nathan for You on Hoopla or Paramount Plus, or rent it episode-by-episode on Prime Video.

  • You should also watch at least some of Fielder’s other series, The Rehearsal. Here, Fielder (again, portraying a version of himself) attempts to help people prepare for difficult conversations utilizing increasingly outlandish techniques and scenarios that spiral into comedic insanity, including building sets, hiring actors, and immersing himself and his subjects in an alternate reality of sorts—an approach that will prepare you for some of You Can See Everything’s swerves. If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, just check out the first episode, “Orange Juice, No Pulp.” It’s a self-contained chapter and will give you the basics. You can stream The Rehearsal on Apple TV or HBO Max, or rent episodes on Prime Video.

Films, shows, podcasts, and books to check out after seeing You Can See Everything

Have more bandwidth before watching You Can See Everything, or want a deeper dive after the documentary has melted your brain? Here’s what else you can check out.

Podcasts

The companion podcast to Carreyrou’s book, Bad Blood: The Final Chapter, is well worth a listen. Hearing the journalist’s perspective about his investigation and work during and after Holmes’ trial offers additional insight into her personality and methods that will really resonate after watching her in Fielder and Oppenheim’s doc.

Films

Once you’ve noodled on You Can See Everything for a moment, there are two more movies you should check out.

  • For more on Holmes’s specific grift and how she pulled it off, Alex Gibney’s excellent The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley is the way to go, especially if you didn’t follow the Theranos story closely at the time and your main visual guide to Holmes is the new documentary. Gibney’s film is more traditional, but offers a wealth of insight into Holmes and her bubble. You can stream The Inventor on HBO Max or rent it on Prime VIdeo.

  • If you more from co-director Lance Oppenheim, watch Some Kind of Heaven, his 2020 breakout documentary about The Villages retirement community in Florida. It’s the film that put Oppenheim on the map, and offers hints of the same detached observational style that makes You Can See Everything so arresting. You can stream Some Kind of Heaven on Kanopy or Hoopla, or rent it on Prime Video.

  • Speaking of which, if you loved the visual style and “enhanced” reality of You Can See Everything and want to see more of that, catch the Robert Pattinson-starring Primetime, still in theaters. It’s Oppenheim's narrative film directorial debut, and combines his hyperstyled visual flair with thriller pacing and a narrative based on a true story.

TV shows

  • The Curse, Fielder’s 2023 TV series, is his first work of fiction, and it offers some fascinating insights. It follows a newly married couple (played by Fielder and Emma Stone) who struggle to get an HGTV-style show off the ground as things get excruciatingly awkward (and, eventually, kind of surreal). After watching You Can See Everything, it will be interesting to see how Fielder views the power of editing, the ethics of reality TV, and working with a name actor to get the results that he wants. Plus, similarly to the film, The Curse swerves into a final act that will melt your brain. You can stream The Curse on Apple TV or rent it on Prime Video.

  • You should also definitely watch The Dropout, the 2022 Hulu series starring Amanda Seyfried. It’s a well-made film, and Seyfried’s performance was rightly praised for capturing the weirdness of Holmes' public persona. You can stream The Dropout on Hulu.


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If you're like me, you've spent years ignoring most of Siri's functionality. Sure, it's great for setting timers, making calls, and sending a text. But that's kind of it—Apple's promise of an "always-on" digital assistant never truly delivered.

But that's finally changed with the recent launch of Siri AI. Fifteen years after debuting the app on the iPhone 4S and four years after the release of ChatGPT, Apple has taken the time to build out its own private Apple Foundation Models (with little help from Google) that work both on-device and on Apple's servers to give quick responses to your queries. Siri AI's answers are short, to the point, and actually useful. However, the conversational side isn't the only new thing about Siri AI. In fact, once you scratch the surface, you'll find Siri AI features embedded across the entire iOS and macOS ecosystem. Here's how to get the most out of Apple's new, enhanced digital assistant.

Use Silent Response to make sure Siri always answers silently

Siri Silent Responses.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Siri AI is already tuned for brevity. Compared to Gemini or Claude, its responses are short and to the point. But still, if you ask something with your voice, it responds using voice as well. I personally prefer to quickly read through Siri responses. If you’re like me, you can enable a hidden setting that makes sure that Siri always answers silently, no matter if you’re writing to it or using your voice. Go to Settings > Siri > Responses and switch to the Silent Response option.

Make Siri AI sound more natural using Expressive Voice

Siri AI Expressive Voices
Credit: Apple

On the other hand, if you prefer to listen to Siri's responses, it's worth it to spend some time fine-tuning them. If you have an iPhone that’s under two years old, you have access to a more expressive Siri voice. Siri AI has an Expressive Voice feature that works on iPhone 17 Pro and higher, iPhone Air, and Macs with an M3 processor or higher (at least 12GB RAM).

To find this feature, go to Settings > Siri > Voice. Here, you can change the Pace to make Siri faster or slower. The big feature is the Expressivity slider; you can use it to make Siri sound brighter and more enthusiastic, rather than flat. You also have several voice options at the top (color-coded).

Use Visual Intelligence to have Siri take action on anything on your screen

Visual Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 27 and macOS 27, and it turns anything on your screen into a source that Siri AI can act upon. It can search anything on your screen, and even take action on things it finds out. You can highlight any text on an iPhone, tap and hold, and choose the Ask Siri option. On the Mac, Ask Siri is the first option in the right-click menu. Choose a file, select text, and get started talking to Siri.

But it goes further. Just pull up Siri AI on your iPhone or Mac and start asking questions about what you’re seeing on screen. If you’re seeing a photo of a cafe on Instagram, ask where it is, or ask Siri to open it in Maps. If you’re watching a scene from a movie or a TV show, ask Siri where it’s from.

Use Apple’s Cloud Photos Cleanup feature to reliably remove objects from your photos

High Quality option for Clean Up in Photos app.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Clean Up was part of Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18, but it wasn’t great. It used on-device models to remove objects, and the results were lacking. Now that Apple runs its own Apple Foundation Models in Private Cloud Compute, it can securely process images on its servers, and the Clean Up process is much better. It now removes objects from photos very reliably, and even accounts for shadows. But to use this, you have to make sure to use the High Quality feature (instead of the default Auto mode).

Tap the Edit button in a photo, go to Tools > Clean Up, and from the top, switch to the High Quality option. Now brush over or tap an object you want to remove. Then, tap Clean Up and wait for a while until Apple’s servers complete the process. Tap Done to save the changes.

Add multiple calendar events to the Calendar app at once using Siri Visual Intelligence

Add multiple events together in Apple Calendar app using Siri AI.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

One of the most tedious parts of using the Calendar app is manually entering multiple events from a complicated schedule—say, for a season's worth of your kid’s soccer practices, or your college course's weekly lecture schedule. With Visual Intelligence in iOS 27, this is now table stakes: You can point your iPhone camera towards a schedule or take a screenshot of one, then tap the Add to Calendar button. Siri will recognize all the events, and you’ll get an option to add them to the calendar individually or all at once.

Use the Mail app integration to archive, triage, and manage emails

Inteacting with Mail app via Siri AI.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Siri AI's Mail integration is a hidden gem. Once your iPhone or Mac is done indexing your local data from Mail, you can use Siri AI to triage and manage your Mail without even opening the Mail app. In my testing, it works really well, especially because Siri AI understands the context of an email. This means you don't need to remember the exact details about the sender or the subject. You can just ask something like, "Find all emails about my flights from last week and send them to my accountant." You can also ask it to do things for you. For example, you can say, "Archive all the emails from Walmart from last month," and it will give you a one-button option to do just that.

Use this hidden setting to automatically send messages without confirmation

When you start using the new Siri AI more often, you'll realize that it asks for confirmation way too often. For things like deleting mail, that's useful. But for sending messages, less so. There is a hidden setting that removes the extra step when it comes to sending messages via Siri. Go to Settings > Siri > Responses and enable Automatically Send Messages.

Use the Camera Control gesture to manage Siri AI’s camera features

Siri AI mode in Camera in iOS 27
Credit: Apple

After the Siri AI upgrade in iOS 27, I find myself using the Camera Control often, and you should try it too. Just press and hold the Camera Control button to launch the camera's Siri mode. Point towards anything you want to find out more about and tap the big Siri icon. In a second or two, you will get the Siri response at the top, along with relevant actions based on what you're looking at. This feature is genuinely useful, and if you don't like using the Camera Control (or don't have access to it on your iPhone), you can also add the Siri AI shortcut to the lock screen, Control Center, or the Action button.

Ask Siri AI to create custom Shortcuts for you

Describe a shortcut feature in Apple Shortcuts app.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

While Shortcuts has been one of Apple's most powerful features, it's also one of the hardest to use. Making an automation requires setting up steps, selecting variables, and thinking about chronology, and more. With Siri AI, Apple is trying to reduce that burden. And when it comes to simpler stuff that an everyday iPhone user needs, it works.

For example, you can open Shortcuts, create a new shortcut, and use the Describe a shortcut feature to talk about a Shortcut you want to build in natural language. You can ask Siri to create a daily morning Shortcut that shows you the day's weather, upcoming calendar events, and the to-do list for the day. You can also ask it to create a Shortcut that converts images in batches and creates new notes with a pre-made template.

Talk to ChatGPT using this hidden gesture

Switch to ChatGPT in the Siri AI app.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

While Apple is now using its own Apple Foundation Models for the new Siri AI, ChatGPT isn’t technically gone. If you have a complex question, or if Siri AI’s answer isn’t doing the trick, you can still summon ChatGPT from the Siri AI app (no need to go to the ChatGPT app for this). Tap on the text field in the Siri app, choose the Ask option and then switch to the ChatGPT service. Siri AI is quite intelligent at routing, so if ChatGPT can’t answer, it will route you back to Siri AI’s own models.


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If horror films have taught me anything, it's that nothing good ever comes out of the fog, but the haze-filled thriller Below has definitely earned record ratings and enthusiastic audiences for Netflix—it's the top debut for a Canadian show in the streamer's history, as it happens. In its wake, consider these 10 other series that take you to isolated and evocative landscapes filled with horrors both human and monstrous.

Midnight Mass (2021)

Claustrophobic, mysterious, and perpetually misty (seriously, you can't see shit in any of these towns), Midnight Mass is very much about the monsters within being no less frightening than those without. It may or may not be the best of Mike Flanagan's Netflix work, but it's certainly the most emotionally devastating. Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) returns to the tiny, isolated community of Crockett Island, his arrival coinciding with that of Catholic priest Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater). Riley is wrestling with his justifiable guilt over a drunk-driving death for which he was responsible, while the charismatic priest is reviving the town's once-flagging religious fervor while exacerbating local tensions. The brewing conflict, involving the limits of both faith and guilt, is fascinating, while the inseparably horrific elements are terrifying. Stream Midnight Mass on Netflix.

Katla (2021)

Running to the darker end of the spectrum, the often devastating Katla moves slowly until it doesn't, deliberately picking up speed as it builds to an emotional climax. Set in Iceland, the show takes place one year following the eruption of the real-life Katla volcano, which buries the nearby town of Vik in choking ash. The few people who've elected to remain are surprised, to say the least, when soot-covered figures from the past start arriving, including the dead son of the volcanologist studying the meteorite in the nearby glacier. Stream Katla on Netflix.

The Terror (2018 – )

Each season of The Terror is distinct, but all converge on the idea that real life is far, far more horrifying than the supernatural stuff going on in the background. Season one, adapted from the Dan Simmons novel, is our focus here, involving as it does the true story of two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, searching for the Northwest Passage before becoming trapped in a field of ice. Starvation, madness, and monsters ensue. While set in the 1840s (and in an ice field), the vibe isn't wildly dissimilar to Below. Stream The Terror on AMC+ and Shudder.

The Third Day (2020)

This weird, ambitious slice of folk horror finds Jude Law's Sam arriving on Osea Island while grieving his murdered son and trying to save his failing business. After he intervenes when he sees a young woman attempting to hang herself, Sam is caught up in some wildly atmospheric creepiness around the town. Later, Naomie Harris' Helen arrives on the island with her daughters only to discover that everything's gone to hell, and that the causeway that connects the island to the mainland is gone. In between the two halves of the miniseries, the creators produced an immersive 12-hour, single-camera livestream capturing a day in the life of the island, a wild bit of innovation. Admittedly, it's all a bit more vibes than plot, but the vibes are genuinely disturbing. Stream The Third Day on HBO Max.

True Detective: Night Country (2024)

One of the better creepy-stuff-in-an-isolated location narratives of recent years, moving away from the schvitzy bro energy of earlier seasons in favor of a darker (literally) and frostier mystery involving missing scientists at a research station near a tiny and necessarily remote Alaskan town, where the dark and the cold are practically characters themselves. The resulting case ties together veteran Chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), two women with complicated pasts and screwed-up present family lives. Stream True Detective: Night Country on HBO Max.

Gyeongseong Creature (2023 – )

Set in 1945 Gyeongseong (modern-day Seoul), and during the Japanese occupation of Korea, this series finds the title's monster arising out of human experimentation conducted in secret by the Japanese army. The scars of occupation have been justifiably fertile ground for storytelling in the last few years (see also Apple’s Pachinko), and Gyeongseong adds science fiction to that mix. The second season moves the action to the present day, with a third season renewal looking likely. If Below's monster is a primary draw, South Korean import Gyeongseong is about as good a follow-up as you're likely to find. Stream Gyeongseong Creature on Netflix.

Curon (2020)

Set near the real-life Lago di Resia in northern Italy, this show was inspired by the lake's singular view: the bell tower of a 14th century chapel rising above the water, the only visible remains of a village submerged by a dam in the 1950s. That eerie setting is home to Anna Raina (Valeria Bilello); it was, anyway, until she fled while pregnant with her twin daughters following her mother's tragic and mysterious death. The twins are now teenagers, and the three of them have returned—except nobody seems to want them around. They come to learn that Anna's been having dreams about her mother's death in which she's the killer, and then she herself disappears. It all ties back to that lake and the creepy bell tower—more about family mystery and vaguely supernatural menace than monsters, but the evocative setting ties this and Below together. Stream Curon on Netflix.

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 literally cursed 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 seems to be on to something with his crackpot theories. The show is frequently funny, but also legitimately scary, with an everything-and-the-kitchen sink approach to the horror genre. Stream Widow's Bay on Apple TV.

The Rig (2023 – 2025)

As we in the real world well know, monsters can be tiny at least as easily as they can be large. This import finds us on a Scottish oil rig (obvi) in the North Sea, abruptly cut off by a mysterious fog (never a good thing) just as the facility is beginning to experience catastrophic system and structural failures. The mysterious haze is more than just a weather phenomenon, though, as there seems to be a microorganism carried within it that causes dramatic behavioral changes, and that may have a relationship to every mass extinction event in Earth's history. But hey—anything to push down the price of oil, amirite? Stream The Rig on Prime Video.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023 – )

The tone is wildly different, but so many of the shows here are included on the basis of their claustrophobic, mist-shrouded settings and similarly hazy human motivations, so it's only fair to give you some actual monsters, and no show has more creatures than this Godzilla spin-off. Monarch does a surprisingly effective job of telling its own story within the universe of all those American Godzilla movies of the past decade or so, bringing the narrative back down to Earth while building out an entire monster-verse mythology in the process. Anna Sawai stars as a young teacher searching for her father, missing since Godzilla's attack on San Francisco (depicted in the 2014 film), and finds herself drawn into the past and present of a secret government agency. Wyatt and Kurt Russell play the past and present incarnations of the Army colonel who helped set the whole thing in motion. Kong and Godzilla make appearances alongside the whole Toho monster stable. Stream Monarch on Apple TV.


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