How to Optimize Your Life in 2026: Productivity Tips, Deepfakes, and More | EP 172

Quick Overview

Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, hosts of Hard Fork, shared their New Year's tech resolutions for 2026, which included Kevin committing to short-form video experimentation and being more present, while Casey resolved to stick with his established productivity system in the app Capacities for the entire year, following a review of their previous year's resolutions.

Key Points: Casey Newton declared his 2025 resolution to use AI for meditation a "major flop" because the instinct to meditate never became a habit, despite feeling good afterward. Kevin Roose judged his 2025 resolution to 'be the poster I wished to see in the world' as only a 'medium good job,' succeeding by posting more freely without worrying about objections. Kevin Roose's 2026 resolution is to get good at short-form video, exploring how to create high-value, journalistic content without catering to trending gimmicks. Casey Newton's 2026 resolution is to make no meaningful change to his productivity system, committing to using his setup in the app Capacities for the entire year. Casey's Capacities system includes a daily journal, lightweight task management, and a feature using live queries to randomly select five 'blips' (notes on narrative threads like an AI bubble) daily for spaced repetition research. The hosts discussed listener questions, including the ethical use of deepfaking Santa into home security footage (which they ultimately endorsed as a funny gag) and the legal jurisdiction of space data centers (governed by the Outer Space Treaty). The hosts explained that the podcast name 'Hardfork' is a crypto term signifying a break, originally pitched as 'NGMI' (Not Going To Make It) before legal concerns intervened.

Context: Tech columnists Kevin Roose of The New York Times and Casey Newton of Platformer hosted their annual New Year's tech resolutions segment on their podcast, Hard Fork, setting goals for 2026 after reviewing the success or failure of their 2025 commitments. The episode also featured listener mailbag questions covering topics ranging from corporate IT failures and space data center legality to the ethics of using AI for holiday hoaxes and which AI models the hosts choose to cover.