Not all of The Verge’s staff live in the US. For example, news editor Dominic Preston is based in London and is, as he says, “responsible for keeping our news coverage ticking over in UK mornings before the US team comes online.” He also curates our new Verge Daily newsletter and covers Android phones, especially all the models that don’t launch in the US. 

And outside of work? “I’m a bit of a food obsessive,” he says, “and run a newsletter called Braise where I review London restaurants and cookbooks, and occasionally try my own hand at recipe writing. That means I spend most of my free time cooking, eating, or thinking about food, and so also a decent amount of time in the gym trying to make up for that.” 

Where is your workspace located?

This is an office that I share with my partner in our flat in London. It used to be a second bedroom, but now we’ve kitted it out with two desks and a sofa bed for the occasional times we actually have guests to stay. My partner is a PhD student, so her working hours are a bit unpredictable, and split between here and school — which means that 90 percent of the time I’ve got the office to myself.

Could you tell us about your desk(s)?

We both have standing desks. Mine is an Autonomous SmartDesk 2 that’s electronic and automatic, hers an old pneumatic model by Bakker Elkhuizen that they don’t make anymore, which annoys her because it requires a bit of effort to shift up and down. They’re both decorated with self-healing cutting mats, which are still occasionally used for arts and crafts (or as the backdrop for my product photos) but mostly double as giant mouse mats.

You have both a chair and a walking station. What are they, and how well do they work for you?

The chair is a secondhand Herman Miller. It actually used to be my partner’s, while I sat in a big Duelhawk Jet Black PU gaming chair (also no longer available), until we each realized we preferred the other’s seat and swapped. I’m old enough, and sore enough, to be willing to invest a little in the chair I’ll be using every day anyway.

The walking pad is a pretty cheap one from Mobvoi. I actually bought it immediately after reading a piece by my colleague Victoria Song on a different Mobvoi model, and following her advice I’ve made no attempt to touch its smart features or track my workouts; so far it’s served me well. I just use it as slow as it goes, and try to spend as much of every morning walking on it as possible — on a good day I’ll rack up two or three hours of steady walking time; on a bad day I’ll keep putting it off until the coffee hits and never quite get going. Either way, I let myself sit down for the afternoon, which is more likely to be concentrated writing time — I find it hard to do anything too creative or complicated while walking at the same time.

(I know, I know, my cable management isn’t great. I tend to be very tidy, but cables are one of the few things I absolutely don’t have the patience to organize. Sadly, having a standing desk really lays bare those sins, so I may have to force myself to get better about it.)

Here’s the long one: tell us about the various tech devices you’re using. 

My current setup is slightly awkwardly trapped between my work and personal computers, though I have some plans in the works to improve it.

My work machine is an M2 MacBook Air, which lives propped up on a Ugreen laptop stand. It’s connected to the monitor on the right, a cheap 24-inch QHD Philips model that I bought in 2020. 

The confusing part of my setup is that second monitor, an embarrassingly old Acer one. That’s because I’ve also got a desktop PC that I use outside of work, and that connects to both monitors. At the end of the work day I can flip the MacBook shut, and my personal setup is good to go. It’s all unnecessarily cluttered, though, especially since the MacBook can’t support both external monitors at once, so this year’s big upgrade will probably be a 32-inch 4K monitor to replace the pair of them. I’ll happily take any recommendations from the comments!

My keyboard is the Logitech MX Keys S, which I love. I’m as much of a sucker for a good mechanical board as the next guy, but I love low-profile, full-size keyboards, and good mechanical options in that space are few and far between. I used to use a Hexgears Venture, but I ran it into the ground eventually, and this has served me well since.

The mouse is also Logitech, though it isn’t my usual one. I picked up this MX Anywhere 3S a while back to use when I’m traveling to trade shows and product launches, and usually have the larger MX Master 3S on my desk. Sadly the left button on that has given up the ghost, and I’m holding off on replacing it in the hopes that the long-rumored MX Master 4 is about to launch.

Continuing the Logitech theme (I’m just now realizing quite how much of my desk setup was built by them), I have an old Z337 2.1 speaker system that just barely fits on the desk right now (another reason I need to switch to a single monitor), and a Brio 500 webcam that I mostly like for how easy it is to flip the built-in privacy shutter.

Everything connects up through an Anker Prime USB hub that’s almost certainly more powerful than I need it to be, but has lots of front-facing USB ports for charging my array of phones, helped by a Xiaomi 50W wireless charging stand, which made more sense when I was using a Xiaomi 14 Ultra as my main phone, but is slightly wasted now — other phones don’t hit that max charging speed.

I tend to have a rotating cast of phones floating around my desk, though this is relatively tidy for me — on messy days I can have up to five or six handsets taking up space. Beyond the Vivo X200 Ultra I used to take these photos, you can see the Fairphone 6 and Huawei Pura X, the two phones I’ve most recently been testing for reviews. 

Tell us about your camera collection.

I decided I wanted to try out film photography back in 2019, because I was spending a lot more time writing about cameras as part of my phone reviews and using cameras as part of my job. I figured film would be a good way to make myself learn more about the core principles. 

I picked up this Canon EF on eBay. It’s a ’70s SLR with a metal body, which means it’s heavy but is built like a tank — I suspect it will outlast me. It came with a Canon 50mm lens, and I’ve gradually picked up a few cheap options to go with it: a 28mm wide-angle, a 35-70mm for when I want flexibility, and a 70-210mm telephoto I bought specifically for a safari in Kenya a couple years back. I always tell myself I’ll buy better-quality lenses when I’m a good enough photographer to get the most out of them, but I’ll probably just have to bite the bullet eventually.

The microphone living alongside them all is the Rode NT-USB, which I use for podcasts and videos, though I’d like to get a boom arm for it so I can store it around the desk.

You’ve got a lot of toys and games on those shelves! How long have you been collecting them?

This is a really motley assortment of things I’ve collected over the years — some bought, some gifted, some acquired from an old office clearout. There’s more dotted around the rest of my apartment, though my girlfriend is on an (understandable) mission to concentrate it all in the office.

Do you have any favorites?

I’m an absolute Alien obsessive, and I actually have two full-size facehuggers, one plushie and one vinyl, which I adore. There’s also a (sadly not full-size) power loader from Aliens, which I can’t get enough of. Elsewhere in the apartment I have a few original ’90s Street Sharks and Small Soldiers action figures, which are still waiting for the right shelf to display them on.

The board game collection is small but steadily growing. I’ve been playing a lot of Gloomhaven over the last year or so, though Betrayal at House on the Hill is probably the game that gets broken out most often. I’ve also got a healthy collection of D&D 5e and Alien RPG sourcebooks — I can strongly recommend the latter, and that’s not just the fanboy in me speaking!

Okay, tell us about that beautiful cat.

That’s Noodle, one of our two cats (the other is Loaf, and yes, of course they have an Instagram account).

She’s actually a recent addition to my desk. We’ve had the cats for a couple of years, but in the last few months Noodle has decided she really wants to hang out with me while I work, and will happily lie down on my keyboard to do so. We set her up with a little blanket bed instead, which she now sleeps in about half the day, though she still isn’t above a keyboard nap when the mood strikes. The biggest surprise to me is that she doesn’t seem to mind the standing desk going up or down while she’s on it, which I expected would cause a bit of panic.

Photographs by Dominic Preston / The Verge

Cath Virginia is the senior designer here at The Verge, who creates illustrations and collages for our articles. However, she also has “dabbled” (as she puts it) in feature designs for articles such as 2004 was the first year of the future (which won the 2025 ASME Award for Best News and Entertainment Design), How the Stream Deck rose from the ashes of a legendary keyboard, and The Lurker. “I also designed the branding for Notepad by Tom Warren and recently refreshed the look of Verge Deals,” she explains.

When not doing this impressive work, Cath sews. A lot. And so, when I asked her what one of her favorite gadgets was, she said it was her Brother 1034D Serger. If you’re not quite sure what a serger is (I certainly wasn’t), read on.

What exactly is a thread serger?

A serger, also known as an overlocker, is a type of sewing machine generally used in apparel making. It has two needles and uses up to four strands of thread at a time to create the loops and finished edge you see on the inside of most knitwear, like T-shirts and leggings. It also has a knife that cuts the edge of your fabric at the same time, so the finished product looks clean and professional.

When did you buy this one, and what went into the decision?

I bought this one this past March as a birthday and tax return present. I’ve been wanting one for a while, because I sew a lot of clothes. I’m picky about style and, being fat, have a hard time finding clothes I like that actually fit me. I also love wearing knits because they’re comfortable, and traditional sewing machines aren’t intended primarily to sew knit garments, which need to have stretchy seams. You can use a zigzag stitch to achieve a stretch in your seam, but the serger sews and cuts all at once, as well as finishes the inside edges, so it saves a lot of time. 

In choosing a serger, I wanted one that was easy to thread, had an adjustable free arm for sewing cuffs and sleeves, and could sew multiple layers of fabric at a time. I watched a bunch of YouTube reviews of sergers and found this one to be pretty affordable — and it checked my boxes. It also got better reviews than its cheaper sibling, the DX. I was intimidated by it at first because four spools of thread is kind of scary. But it has clearly labeled and color-coded instructions for threading and comes with a manual, so I learned it and had it down in under half an hour.

What do you usually create with it?

So far, I have hemmed a couple shirts and made a maxi skirt (with pockets!) and a crop top. That was after a long and frustrating period trying to learn how to use it. I also dulled two different knives, learning that you can’t sew over pins with a serger because there is a big metal knife chopping your seam off.

What do you like about it?

Sometimes when you’re sewing knits on a traditional (lockstitch) machine, the edges become unintentionally ruffle-y (due to its one measly feed dog, which is the moveable plate that pulls the material through from stitch to stitch). This can make your piece look pretty weird and bad. Another great thing about this serger is that it has something called differential feed, which uses two feed dogs to sew your fabric together. It can be adjusted to feed one piece of fabric faster or slower, so it will flatten out your wobbly knitted seams or can be used to create a lettuce hem. It also comes with a gathering foot, which can be used to gather and sew (intentional) ruffles!

Is there anything about it that you dislike or that you think could be improved?

This is actually on me for not doing quite enough research, but when I bought it, I was excited to finally be able to do the coveted two-thread coverstitch you see on the hems of T-shirts and other knit stuff, only to find out you actually need a whole other machine that literally only does that one thing. That was disappointing to find out, but to compensate, the serger does actually come with a blind hem foot that you can use to do an okay impression of one. It’s kind of a finicky stitch to get right, though, because you’re sewing from the wrong side of the fabric, and I had to do quite a few samples to test it out before I used it on any garments. 

Who would you recommend it to?

If you sew a lot of knitwear clothing, it can be a really useful tool for leveling up your garments and being a bit more efficient! It’s not a total replacement for a lockstitch sewing machine but I’m really liking it so far. Don’t be too intimidated by the four threads: they are your friends. And don’t try to sew over any of your pins. 

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I find something weirdly captivating about tech products that come with transparent cases that let you see the works inside. We all know that there are all sorts of chips and wires in there that make the product do what it does, but unless we plan to break the thing open (and void the warranty), those items are usually hidden. If you also find this kind of thing fascinating, then Sharge’s charging gear might be right up your alley — and you may want to try out the Shargeek 170 Power Bank, which is currently available from Amazon (for Prime members) and Sharge for $99, a savings of a $100.

The Shargeek 170 doesn’t just look good, either. It features a 24,000mAh battery, 170W maximum output, and can charge three devices simultaneously via a pair of 140W USB-C ports and a single USB-A port. Meanwhile, a smart display keeps you up to date on recharging time and percentage, along with the Shargeek’s current output and input. The Verge’s Sean Hollister saw it at CES last year, and thought it looked “pretty sweet.” You might, too.

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More sales to play and clean with

• A real classic, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is now available, and if you’ve always wanted to try out the 20-year-old game — but were reluctant to use an old game on new tech — now is your chance. The remastered version features overhauled graphics optimized for modern hardware and includes both the Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles expansions. And it’s on sale at Fanatical: you can get the Standard PC version for $41.49 (about $9 off), while the Deluxe edition — which comes with new quests, a digital artbook, and a soundtrack app —  can be had for $49.79 ($10 off).
• Let me be really honest here: I tend to eat at my desk a lot. That’s why my keyboard — and desktop — is often littered with crumbs, and why I could probably use something like the Hoto Compressed Air Capsule. The handheld vacuum cleaner provides 15,000Pa of suction power and includes five attachments, allowing it to handle crumbs, dust, and other detritus in tight corners. It can even be used to clean your coffee grinder! It’s now on sale at Amazon for $57.99 ($52 off), which, although not as low as its recent price of $31, is still a reasonable drop.
• If you’re in the market for the latest iPad with Apple’s A16 chip, the 11-inch base configuration is matching its all-time low of $319.99 at Amazon in blue and yellow, down around $29 from its usual price of $349. If color is important to you, you can also get it in silver for $327 and in pink for $339. Read our review.