The Verge is home to a set of discussion forums and a community whose insight, passion, and knowledge blows us away daily. Check out this small sampling of what's happening right now:

• Joe Dombrowski has posted an excellent meditation called "On Design: The Philosophies of Apple and Microsoft." Read it, right now.
  Contact management on Google's services is not great, thomasrpower wonders how to fix it.
• Track your data usage lately? Chime in on mcneildd's thread to help crowdsource picking the best data plan.
• After the recent Xbox 360 Dashboard update, hiroprotagonist wonders if it's fair to call it a gaming machine anymore.
• Our CES forums are open! Get in there before the insanity gets crazy and the craziness gets insane.
• Fanchettes tries to defend the BlackBerry PlayBook, but needs to know what it wants to be when it grows up
• Debating between a MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro? So is sacratoy, join the discussion on how to choose.
• Calmlittlecenter starts a great thread on how to maximize Android battery life.

The other thing happening right now: user reviews on products. Find your favorite gadgets in our Product Database and tell the world what you think. If you're new to forums, you can check out our Community Guidelines for the rules of the road, then go ahead and jump in. Joining the Verge forums is simple, free, and gets you engaged with a smart set of humans who have already set a high standard for intelligent and fun conversations.