One of the many modern-day annoyances that we all seem to accept is the fact that calendars and to-dos live in their own separate silos. Sure, you can link your calendar to a to-do app, but it’s not the same. When you’re planning your day, something analogous to a day planner that can show you your calendar appointments, along with related to-dos, would be much better for most of us.

Fortunately, there's an app that has managed to merge both these features in an intuitive day planner interface. If the app jumping is getting to you, it might be time to try the Structured app, which works seamlessly between iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Android. 

Merging calendar events and tasks with Structured 

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The Structured app's approach is to add a task with a time frame in mind. Let's say you need to finish an email today. Great. Before, you'd write that task down in an app, and then forget about it. Instead, in Structured, you can say, I need to write an email to my HR head, and I'll work on it between 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM. It then shows up on your timeline, and it helps you visually block your time. Planning a day like this, you're much more likely to finish the tasks, as they are now anchored to a time block. Plus, you can be mindful about spacing them out so that they aren't overlapping (something the app will alert you about).

Structured starts you off with a visual timeline of all your tasks. When you first set up the app, it will ask you when you wake up, and when you sleep. 

You can add tasks in two different ways. If you don’t know when exactly you’re doing something, go to the Inbox to add a task that won’t show up in your timeline. When you’re ready, you can move the task to the timeline. 

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

To make the most out of the app, you should add tasks directly to the timeline. Tap the Plus button, give the task a name, and Structured will automatically give it an emoji icon. You are free to change the color (this helps differentiate personal tasks from work tasks), Then you can choose when the task will start, and how long it will take. Structured shows you preset time frames (anywhere from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours, which you can edit or customize).

You can then choose to make it a repeat task if you like, or you can set a reminder. The free version of the app only gives you a single notification, but if you’re on the Pro plan, you can create multiple reminder notifications. Lastly, you can add sub notes, meeting links, or any notes that you want. 

Once the task is created, it shows up on your timeline, which itself is quite malleable. You can simply tap and hold on a task, and move it up or down to change the time frame (as we all know, things can change quickly). Structured does a good job of showing you visually how much time has passed by coloring the timeline itself. As you finish the tasks on the calendar, you can check them off, which is immensely satisfying.

Structured Pro makes things a bit better

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

One of the strengths of the app is that it works well even on the free tier (a rarity these days for productivity apps). You can use the free tier to add tasks, move it around on the timeline, and to get reminders just before the event. 

Structured Pro takes things up a notch. First of all, you can enable Reminders and Calendar integration so that your reminders and calendar events (ones that you make, or your invites) will automatically show up in Structured, saving you the time. The Pro plan also lets you set multiple reminders, so you can choose to be notified 30 minutes before the event as well. 

A new thing, though, is Structured Assistant, which is still in beta—and works like it is still in beta. It uses ChatGPT to convert plain text into a schedule. You can use your keyboard or your voice (much easier), to tell the app what you plan to do in a day, and after a bit of processing, it will show you your schedule, which you can then approve to add to your timeline. That extra step is useful because, in my experience, Structured Assistant doesn’t always get things right. 

That said, it works more than half of the time, and if you’re going to be dictating things like, “today I’m picking up my kids from soccer practice at 9 AM, then I will work from 11 AM to 4 PM, and I will cook dinner from 6 PM to 7:30 PM”, it will work fine. Though, after testing the app for a couple of weeks now, I’ve found myself reverting back to the good old ways of manual task entry—that way I know for sure that it’s going to work.

Overall, I would recommend trying out the Structured app for yourself. Don’t worry about the Pro until you really feel you need it. Structured Pro costs $2.99 per month, $9.99 per year, and $29.99 for a lifetime license.

TikTok, in addition to its Chinese parent company ByteDance, is suing to block the so-called "TikTok ban" President Biden signed into law two weeks ago. Both companies filed the lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday, claiming the law is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment.

It's not a surprise move by any means: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew previously said the company would fight the law in court. Chew and and the company believe U.S. law is on their side, and that Congress' law won't stand up in court. Congress, however, worked with the Department of Justice on the law in the first place, so lawmakers are confident it will stand up to scrutiny.

The "TikTok ban" gives parent company ByteDance nine months to sell the app to a company not based in China. If ByteDance shows it is trying to sell, or is in the middle of a sale, President Biden can extend the timeline by 90 days. That means, at most, ByteDance has until April 2025 to find someone to take the app of their hands.

For TikTok's U.S. operations, however, this fight is existential, as ByteDance says it won't sell the app. If the company sticks to its word, TikTok will be removed from app stores in the U.S. by January, unless it can win in court.

Why does the U.S. government want to ban TikTok?

Lawmakers in Congress have been worried about TikTok for years. There are two key concerns: The app is owned by a Chinese company, which is bound by law to disclose user data to the Chinese government if requested. Lawmakers see that as a potential security risk for American users, as the Chinese government could possibly gather their personal data.

The other side of the coin concerns the content Americans see on the app: Lawmakers worry the Chinese government could manipulate the videos that TikTok delivers to U.S. users in a way that benefits China. The government already has a heavy hand in the content shown on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. TikTok says it does not give U.S. user data to the Chinese government, and denies the claim the government has a hand in the content Americans see.

While the concerns are mostly hypothetical, there have been instances that have proven Congress' concerns valid: ByteDance employees were able to obtain the IP addresses of American journalists from their TikTok accounts, and in July, we learned some American user data was indeed stored in China, contradicting TikTok's claims.

While Congress doesn't have the best reputation for their tech savviness, TikTok has done little to assuage their concerns. In fact, when they called upon their user base to flood Congress with messages of disdain for the TikTok ban, lawmakers only saw more reason than ever to pass the bill.

For a complete timeline of the U.S. government's fight against TikTok, check out our explainer here.

When you think about streaming music, it's quite likely that Spotify is the first name that comes to mind. Spotify has a massive library, a great music recommendation algorithm, and several useful features worth paying for. Spotify Premium is the paid version of the world’s most popular music streaming service. If you can't afford it, or don't want to pay for Spotify, you can still use its free tier. Free Spotify has some annoying limitations, though, such as a limited number of song skips and plenty of ads, and it doesn't let you see time-synced lyrics, either. You also miss out on the highest quality audio and lose the ability to download music for offline listening. Although you can block Spotify ads on some platforms, the rest are dealbreakers for a lot of people.

How much is Spotify Premium?

Spotify Premium has four paid plans. If you’re buying it for yourself, you’ll want Premium Individual, which costs $10.99 per month. For those who want to share music with one other person in their household, Premium Duo at $14.99 per month is the best plan. For families or larger groups who want Spotify Premium, there’s the Premium Family plan at $16.99 per month. This plan allows up to six people to sign up for one sub, but all of them should be living at the same address.

If you’re a student attending an accredited higher education institution, you can sign up for the Premium Student plan, which costs $5.99/month. This plan also lets you access Hulu (with ads).

How to get discounts on Spotify Premium

The best way to save on Spotify Premium is to sign up for an annual plan using a gift card. You can get these gift cards from Amazon or Best Buy at $99 for an annual plan. If you’re sure you’ll use Spotify all year, then you end up saving $33 when compared to paying month-to-month.

Of course, you can also take advantage of Spotify Premium’s free trials. The duration of these free trials keeps changing over time, but one thing remains the same—it only works if you've never used Spotify Premium before. You're free to create a fresh account and keep signing up for free trials for as long as you can get away with it, but remember that you'll lose your listening history and playlists each time you create a new account. At the time of writing, Spotify was offering a three-month free trial on its website. You may also periodically come across promotions that offer longer free trials. At the time of publication, Spotify and Tinder had a collaboration to let you sign up for four months of Premium for free. PayPal also offers a three-month Spotify Premium free trial.

Your employer may also offer Spotify Premium for free. (Starbucks is one of these employers.)

You can sign up for Spotify Premium from another region that has lower pricing. For example, Spotify Premium in India starts from as little as INR 7 per day ($0.08); the most affordable monthly plan costs INR 119 per month ($1.43). You’ll have to use a VPN to periodically sign in from the region you choose. Know, however, that streaming deals vary by region so some artists available on Spotify USA may be missing when you sign up from other regions.