No one really wants to make a New Year's resolution, so this year we recommend choosing a tech resolution instead. These friendlier commitments aren't about self-improvement, giving up indulgences, or hitting the gyms—instead, they're small projects that will help fortify you against the looming threat of January. And best of all, they all involve technology.
We polled the Ny Breaking team and our many contributors to find out what tech resolutions they'll be making for 2024 – and the results are below. The ideas vary wildly, from a deep plan to get back into making Blu-rays to another writer's promise to restore the old family photos with Photoshop.
For every laudable commitment to rediscovering comics on tablets or becoming a board game super nerd, there are also wiser resolutions – including one writer's explanation of how they finally solved their password nightmare, plus another's plan to Save money in 2024 with some handy Chrome extensions.
Whatever part of your tech life needs some attention or a dash of New Year's enthusiasm, below you'll find valuable advice and ideas on how to fix it. And when it all goes wrong, you can always blame the gadgets…
1. 2024 is the year I power my OLED TV with 4K Blu-rays, and you should too
Yes, the best streaming services are convenient, easy to use, and sometimes offer impressive picture quality. But they still have notable weaknesses – and we're not just talking about movies disappearing from catalogs or downloads disappearing from your account.
Find out why Ny Breaking's Matt Bolton (Managing Editor, Entertainment) has decided to bring 4K Blu-Rays back into his life in 2024 – and why you should consider doing the same, especially considering how easy it is to find used bargains.
- Read the full story: 2024 is the year I power my OLED TV with 4K Blu-rays, and you should too
Passwords are no fun – in fact, they're now downright annoying if you don't have them under control.
Ny Breaking contributor Darren Allen has finally come up with a grand plan to tame them by 2024. You can benefit from his wisdom and research in this overview, which covers everything from his picks of the best password managers to his plan to embrace biometrics.
Photo editing software has become ridiculously good in the age of generative AI – and one of the benefits is how easy it now is to recover old photos that are low resolution, damaged, have no color, or a combination of the above.
In this guide, Ny Breaking contributor Chris Rowlands gives you a step-by-step tour of restoring those old family photos, covering everything from scanning them with your phone to retouching those imperfections. If you don't have a subscription to Photoshop, here are also some tips on how to do it for free using online tools.
Sometimes it feels like you're trapped in a feedback loop of the same movie, TV, and music recommendations, all unimaginatively served up by a seemingly omniscient algorithm. How do you get loose and go off-piste?
Ny Breaking contributor David Nield has been wondering the same thing and created this plan to explore the untrodden streaming worlds that Netflix and Spotify often ignore. Learn about the podcasts, newsletters, subreddits, iPad magazines and more that can help you join him in 2024.
The Internet loves nothing more than to tell you how far behind you are falling by not using ChatGPT. But what if you've been very busy with other things in 2023?
Don't worry: if your New Year's resolution is to get started with AI chatbots, we've found the perfect place for you to start. Our beginner's guide to ChatGPT tells you how to write more effective prompts, create custom prompts, and much more.
Ny Breaking contributor and former What Hi Fi? contributor, Verity Burns has been a loyal Spotify subscriber for almost 15 years. So why is her technical intention to switch to Tidal in 2024?
Like any long-term relationship, it's complicated – but you can discover why Tidal has such appeal to music fans now, and why it might make sense to switch, in this useful overview of music streaming in 2024.
After an eight year hiatus from him X Men And Spider-Man addiction, Ny Breaking's Senior Staff Writer Hamish Hector rekindles his long-held love of comics in 2024 – with the help of a cheap, reliable Lenovo tablet.
Learn how Marvel Unlimited will meet its comics needs in 2024 and why the broader lesson of his project is that technology doesn't have to be perfect, just perfect for you.
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that only that new piece of impossibly expensive mirrorless glass can take your photography to new heights. But these days, second-hand lenses offer incredible value – and in this guide we'll show you how to navigate the minefield to snag bargains.
Whether you prefer wide-angle, telephoto or zoom lenses, our guide will walk you through the best places to buy used lenses, the important things to check and which lenses are currently particularly beneficial for fans of Canon, Nikon and Sony.
It will be another financially difficult year for many of us. But instead of staring mournfully at the ever-increasing bills, Ny Breaking contributor Darren Allen has decided to find ways to claw back some money – and one of those things is harnessing the power of Chrome extensions.
Sure, they might not make you a millionaire, but the many shopping assistants, voucher finders and price checking tools now available can certainly help you make some decent savings – and this guide summarizes some of the best Chrome extensions to do just that.
The Apple Watch is probably best known for its fitness tracking, but did you also know about its impressive array of other life-support skills?
Ny Breaking contributor and Apple expert Lloyd Coombes does just that – and he's written about the apps he'll use, maintain good habits and keep his life running smoothly in 2024. If you got an Apple Watch for Christmas, this is an excellent introduction to some of the lesser-known talents of smartwatches.
In our book, a New Year's resolution can be as simple as finding a way to get through the harsh realities of January—and there are few better ways to do that than by pretending the Christmas holidays aren't over yet with a few brilliant board games.
Some call it denial, others a completely necessary response to the least fun month of the year – and Ny Breaking's Hamish Hector (our board game fanatic) is firmly in the latter camp. Join him as he takes you on an uplifting tour of the best board games you can buy right now.
If board games aren't your thing, there are other emergency ways to help you survive January. Ny Breaking contributor and author Becca Caddy, who literally wrote the book on how to live peacefully with your technology (see Screen time), explains how she will use gadgets to 'romanticize' her life in 2024.
Whether you fancy starting a digital journal, experimenting with soundscapes or enjoying finely tuned smart lights, set aside some time to browse her ideas – before heading out for a phone-free stroll through a bunch.
Sometimes your New Year's resolution is best spent on your favorite piece of technology. So if your own life is perfectly tuned and singing beautifully (if so, tell us how), then it's time to make sure your home theater does the same in 2024 with these handy tips.
Ny Breaking contributor and former What Hi Fi? contributor Verity Burns tells you how to do everything from perfecting your TV settings (including which modes to avoid), fine-tuning your speaker placement, and arranging your room for the best audio and visual experience . What a way to start the new year.
While some Ny Breaking writers are ditching Spotify for Tidal, others are going the other way and fully embracing Spotify's music discovery capabilities. Ny Breaking editorial staffer and student writer Rowan Davies is doing just that and has revealed his seven-step plan for breaking out of musical echo chambers and finding hidden gems in 2024.
Rowan has the Spotify Wrapped stats to back up his credentials: 48,650 listening minutes in 2023, including 1,633 artists across 71 genres. We're also talking about a Beyonce top 0.01%er and a former music editor here – so if you want to become a Spotify power user in 2024, this is the place to start.