Our 2026 Tech Resolutions + We Answer Your Questions

🎙️ The Voices & The Context

• The Format: This host-driven banter session blends personal tech confessions with listener Q&A, tying casual reflections on 2025 to forward-looking 2026 resolutions amid rapid AI evolution. Reflective yet playful.
• The Format: A casual chat between hosts with a producer-led mailbag segment.
• The Key Players:
• If Just Hosts: Kevin Roose (NYT tech columnist) and Casey Newton (Platformer) share sharp, self-deprecating chemistry—witty jabs at each other's habits fuel banter on burnout, social media fears, and AI hype, centered on tech journalism's highs and lows.

🗝️ Key Themes & Topics

The episode mixes hosts' intimate tech-life resets with crowd-sourced queries on AI quirks, ethics, and futures, capturing Hard Fork's signature blend of humor, skepticism, and optimism.

• Topic 1: New Year's Tech Resolutions. Hosts review 2025 flops—Casey's AI meditation habit fizzled despite Claude's guidance, replaced by purpose rediscovery (via conferences, vacations); Kevin's "post freely" pledge hit medium success by embracing niche rants on X amid goblin chaos. For 2026: Kevin vows short-form video mastery to counter low-quality viral slop and "be present" sans phone multitasking; Casey commits to monogamous productivity in Capacities app.
• Topic 2: Productivity & Presence Hacks. Deep dive into Casey's "cracked" sys