After months of anticipation, President Biden finally signed the TikTok divestment into law this week. It will force ByteDance to either sell TikTok to another company within a year, or see the app banned from US app stores. Is this a wise move to rid control of the social app from the Chinese government, or is it government overreach before TikTok has done anything wrong? Engadget Senior Editor Karissa Bell joins Cherlynn and Devindra to dive into what's next for TikTok. The US TikTok ban is signed into law, what happens now? – 0:57 Devindra and Cherlynn’s take on whether bad product reviews hurt tech companies – 20:42 Meta opening QuestOS to third party hardware developers – 31:39 Apple ‘Let Loose’ virtual event scheduled for May 5 – 33:48 Leading AI companies pledge to keep kids safe (though harm is already evident) – 41:48 Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses add multimodal AI – 43:58 X is allegedly working on a smart TV app – 47:01 Working on – 48:02 Pop culture picks – 56:29 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The latest batch of rumors make it pretty clear that a PlayStation 5 Pro is coming this year, but will anyone really care about slightly better 4K graphics? This week, Engadget Senior Editor Jessica Conditt joins Cherlynn and Devindra to chat about the PS5 Pro, as well as her piece on the PlayDate two years after its release. You could say the Playdate is pretty much the opposite of another expensive high-end console. In other news, we discuss the death of Boston Dynamic's hydraulic Atlas robot, and the birth of an all-new digital model. We also chat about the abrupt closure of Possibility Space, an ambitious indie game studio. Jess Conditt on Playstation 5 Pro rumors – 0:48 Jess’ thoughts on Panic’s innovative handheld, the Playdate, 2 years later – 14:24 Indie game studio Possibility Space announces closure, CEO blames media leaks – 27:29 Other News: Boston Dynamics unveils new, all electric Atlas robot – 35:39 Menteebot is a human-sized, GPT-powered robot you can command with natural language – 39:52 NASA confirms Florida man’s house was hit by space junk – 44:06 Sony (finally) changes its confusing product names – 46:05 Working on – 50:35 Pop culture picks – 56:35 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Humane’s hyped up AI Pin is finally here and, unfortunately, it stinks. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra are joined by Michael Fisher (AKA MrMobile) and Wired Reviews Editor Julian Chokkattu to chat about the AI Pin and the many ways it fails. It’s often inaccurate, it takes crummy photos, and it gets way too hot. Not so great for something you’re supposed to wear all day! Is there any hope for AI-dependent gadgets? Also, Washington Post columnist Christopher Velazco joins to discuss Apple’s approval of used iPhone components for repairs.  Too much heat, too few features: Humane’s AI pin doesn’t live up to the hype – 1:09 Other News: Apple will allow devices to be repaired with secondhand parts soon – 44:08 Google’s Next 24 event announces AI video generation tool, ARM-based CPU for data centers, and Google Photos tools for all subscribers – 53:10 Working on – 1:00:59 Pop culture picks – 1:05:40 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Google has gone from being the go-to search engine to something people are paying to avoid entirely. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with 404 Media co-founder Jason Koebler about his experience moving away from Google and towards Kagi, a $10 a month search engine without ads or data tracking. Funny enough, Kagi is still relying on Google’s index, so it’s a lot like using that site before the onslaught of ads, sponsored posts and AI results. Also, we discuss the company’s lies around Chrome’s incognito mode, as well as the news that it would be deleting user data collected in that mode. Why Jason Koebler moved from Google to Kagi's paid search engine – 0:45 Google says it will destroy data collected from users using Incognito mode – 15:01 Gurman report: Apple is working on personal home robots – 24:55 Amazon just walked out on its self check-out tech – 30:43 FCC set to vote to restore Net Neutrality – 43:00 Apple adds Spatial Personas to make the Vision Pro experience less lonely – 45:09 Proposed California state law would give tech workers the “right to disconnect” – 47:17 Tekken director responds to fighting game fans’ request for a Waffle House stage – 49:57 Around Engadget – 51:22 Working on – 54:31 Pop culture picks – 59:13 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, it’s all about cars and Lucy Liu in VR. Devindra chats with Senior Writer Sam Rutherford about his visit to the New York International Auto Show, where he saw the Polestar 4, a unique new EV without a rear window. Also, Cherlynn pops in to chat with Lucy Liu about her new VR game, The Pirate Queen. We also explore the issues around Florida’s bill banning young kids from social media sites, and Sam tells us why he likes Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation. Sam Rutherford on what’s new in EVs and car tech from the New York Auto Show – 0:57 Cherlynn Low interviews Lucy Liu about her new VR game The Pirate Queen – 34:39 Florida Governor signs bill banning young children from social media – 54:55 Intel confirms Copilot will eventually run locally – 58:33 There’s finally a version of Chrome that runs well on ARM-based Windows machines – 1:02:43 Canadian researchers have created a camera that takes 156.3 trillion frames per second – 1:05:06 Working on – 1:07:08 Pop culture picks – 1:12:44 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Microsoft finally announced the Surface Pro 10 and Laptop 6 today, but you won’t find them in any retail stores. You can only buy them on Microsoft’s website and through enterprise resellers. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss why Microsoft is positioning these computers for businesses, and what it could mean for the future of the Surface lineup. The company is hinting that it’ll have consumer devices soon – likely the Pro 10 and Laptop 6 without as much corporate baggage. But there may also be room for an entirely new form of Surface. Perhaps it’s time for a true Surface foldable? (Or maybe not, after seeing how the Duo performed.) Microsoft announces Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, but you won’t find them in stores – 0:34 U.S. Justice Department files antitrust suit aimed at Apple’s “walled garden” ecosystem – 14:13 Report: Apple may tap Google for Gemini AI on iPhones – 25:01 NVIDIA claims its new Blackwell chip will power through AI workloads 30x faster using 25x less power – 33:07 Microsoft hires Deepmind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman to lead AI division – 38:00 YouTube reveals new rules for realistic AI video – 43:16 Check your Glassdoor account – real names accidentally tied to some anonymous company reviews – 44:31 Cherlynn finds the tech angle on the Kate Middleton photo debacle. Look at the metadata! – 47:03 Around Engadget – 56:05 Pop culture picks – 59:52 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Another week, another concerted effort to ban TikTok in the US – except this time, it could actually happen. In this episode, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget Senior Editor Karissa Bell around the latest TikTok drama. The House passed a bill that could ultimately ban the company if ByteDance doesn’t sell it off within six months. It may face a tougher fight in the Senate, but if it’s approved there President Biden has said he’s willing to sign it into law.  Is this a justified fight against the Chinese-owned social media company, or is it the sum of our political fears against all things China? (Maybe it’s a bit of both?) We discuss why this potential ban could be a huge civil rights violation, as well as the need for true data privacy laws in the US, which would apply to all social networks.  U.S. House passes bill that would give Bytedance 6 months to sell TikTok – 0:47 Microsoft’s Surface and AI event preview – 17:04 Apple will allow EU users to download some apps from websites – 27:38 Five Tesla execs earned $2.5B over the last five years while the company paid no income tax – 34:53 Around Engadget – 44:57 Working on – 48:31 Pop culture picks – 50:17 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apple's refreshed MacBook Air laptops are finally here, and they're toting shiny new M3 chips. This week, Cherlynn chats with Devindra about his review of the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air M3. They're faster, as we expected, but they're also not a huge leap over the M2 MacBook Air, which now starts at $999. (And we're sure you'll find some excellent refurbished and used deals soon.) No matter which one you pick, though, you're getting one of the most stunning ultraportable notebooks around. In other news, we discuss Apple's nearly $2 billion fine from the EU, Microsoft's upcoming Surface AI event and the death of Android apps on Windows 11. Finally, the MacBook Air gets an M3 update – 0:41 EU fines Apple nearly $2 billion for “blocking” competing music apps – 15:27 iOS 17.4 brings third party app stores to the EU, podcast transcription for everyone – 20:18 Microsoft announces a Surface and AI event for later in March – 22:02 No more (Amazon App Store) Android apps in Windows – 27:49 Developer of Switch emulator Yuzu fined $2.4 million to settle suit with Nintendo – 39:19 Around Engadget: Sam Rutherford’s Nothing Phone 2 review – 46:17 Working on – 50:30 Pop culture picks – 57:47 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss some of the editorial changes happening at Engadget. We’ve lost some amazing colleagues, but we’re still here aiming to deliver the best tech coverage possible. As for this week’s news, we chat about the reported death of Apple’s “Project Titan” EV car project. It never felt quite real, but it still would have been fun to see.  Here’s a hot take: Maybe the Apple Car felt redundant since Tesla basically built it already. Say what you will about Elon Musk today, but Tesla certainly disrupted the car industry in all of the ways we’d expect Apple to. Agree? Disagree? Let us know what you think at podcast@engadget.com. Topics: What happened with Engadget last week: layoffs and our continued commitment to tech journalism – 0:31 RIP Apple Car 2014-2024 – 9:11 Nintendo’s successor to the Switch delayed to 2025 – 21:53 Microsoft opens more Xbox exclusives to PS5 and Switch – 25:24 Google renames AI suite, ends up in hot water over image generation – 33:47 Pop culture picks – 43:21 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We still can’t stop thinking about the Apple Vision Pro. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with CNET’s Scott Stein about our post-review impressions of Apple’s headset. We’ve got further thoughts about using it in public (maybe don’t), the isolation of being sealed off from the world, and the way falling asleep with the Vision Pro on can make you lose your sense of reality. We also discuss Mark Zuckerberg’s impression of the headset, and why he thinks the Quest 3 is ultimately a better product. (We agree, with caveats.) In other news, we explore how Arc’s ad-stripped AI mobile search app may be good for its users, but ultimately bad for web creators. Last thoughts on Apple’s Vision Pro with CNet’s Scott Stein – 1:11 Arc Browser AI summaries prompts the question “Who makes money when AI reads the internet for us?” – 38:06 Waymo self-driving car attacked and set on fire during Lunar New Year celebration – 49:22 Stealth piracy app Kimi briefly passed Netflix on Apple’s App Store charts – 52:48 Lyft stock spikes after typo in earnings report – 55:12 Around Engadget – 56:53 Working on – 59:04 Pop culture picks – 59:38 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’ve spent the last week with the Apple Vision Pro and we have thoughts! This week, Senior Writer Sam Rutherford and Podcast Producer Ben Ellman join Devindra to chat about his Vision Pro review, as well as their first impressions of the headset. It’s far from a slam dunk, but it’s also one of the most fascinating devices we’ve ever seen. We dive into Apple’s impressive 3D Immersive Videos, the elegant simplicity of the Vision Pro’s eye tracking and hand gestures, and the trouble with wearing such a heavy headset. Devindra Hardawar’s Apple Vision Pro review: Beta testing the future – 0:49 Microsoft’s gaming division is expected to announce former exclusive games going multiplatform – 51:06 Maliciously edited video of President Biden is allowed to stay by Facebook’s oversight board – 54:30 Add Taylor Swift to the list of celebrities who don’t want their jets tracked – 57:35 Working on – 1:00:10 Pop culture picks – 1:00:50 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 phones are all about AI, but how do they compare against Google’s AI tech? This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss what works and doesn’t about Samsung’s ambitious new smartphones, and why it may be a good thing for the Korean giant to directly compete with Google. Also, Senior Editor Karissa Bell joins to discuss the social media CEO Senate hearing, which, unsurprisingly, doesn’t really amount to much. Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Ultra reviews: AI with mixed results – 0:47 Senate gathers social media CEOs over online child safety – 15:15 Graphic images of Taylor Swift on X prompts U.S. bill to let people sue over sexual deepfakes – 28:11 Universal Music Group pulls songs from TikTok during talks on a new music rights deal – 33:05 Delaware court denies Elon Musk’s “unfathomable” Tesla payday – 38:31 Neuralink claims to have implanted its first chip in a human test subject – 40:32 Google reveals new text-to-image generative AI tool, ImageFX – 41:46 Working on – 47:00 Pop culture picks – 51:29 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apple’s Mac just turned 40 years old! This week, Devindra chats with Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham about his Mac retrospective. We focus on how much has changed since Apple’s disastrous 2016 lineup, why the Apple Silicon chips feel so revolutionary, and look back at our earliest Mac experiences. Also, we review the Framework Laptop 16, a wonderfully modular miracle of a laptop, but one that we wish had more graphics power for gaming. (But hey, at least you can replace the GPU eventually!). Framework Laptop 16 review: Amazingly modular, but not so great at gaming – 1:17 The Mac turns 40 – 19:27 More tech layoffs at Blizzard/Activision, Riot, eBay and others – 49:58 Apple’s Car concept is allegedly still alive – 52:44 Apple overhauls App Store rules in response to European Union regulation – 58:25 Working on – 1:09:30 Pop culture picks – 1:13:40 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The tech world isn’t taking any breaks after CES! This week, Cherlynn and Devindra are joined by Senior Writer Sam Rutherford to discuss Samsung’s latest Galaxy Unpacked event, where it debuted the Galaxy S24 smartphone line. They don’t look very different from last year, but they’re packing a load of AI smarts. Also, Cherlynn finally got to try out the Apple Vision Pro and tells us all about her spatial computing journey. While it was a mostly eye-opening experience, the headset also hurt Cherlynn’s head and forced her to confront one of nature’s most terrifying creatures: A butterfly. Samsung’s Galaxy AI event: S24 line, 7 years of support for new phones, and a Galaxy Ring teaser – 1:05 Cherlynn’s Apple Vision Pro hands-on experience – 34:42 Apple is selling Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 again with blood oxygen feature disabled – 1:03:05 Apple finally allows links to third party websites for purchases – 1:04:57 Google throws support behind right to repair bill – 1:06:19 OpenAI laid out its misinformation strategy for a busy 2024 election year – 1:07:58 Cold temperatures in Chicago led to a lot of dead Teslas – 1:09:44 Pop culture picks – 1:16:50 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Just as we expected, AI was the running theme throughout CES 2024. In this episode, Devindra and Producer Ben Ellman chat with co-host Cherlynn Low, who’s on the ground in Las Vegas with the Engadget team. We dive into AI popping into almost every product category, new standalone AI hardware, and a surprising amount of “shush” tech. In geekier news, we dive into Micron’s new RAM format for laptops, which has the potential to reshape the notebook industry, and discuss why we all may want a rolling house robot like Samsung’s Ballie. And on a sad note, we discuss the wave of tech layoffs from Google, Amazon and others. Transparent OLED TVs, assistive gloves, and a Sony car: What’s hot at CES with Cherlynn Low – 1:09 AMD and Intel announce new chips – 28:22  Micron’s replacement for SODIMM laptop RAM is a bigger deal than you think – 38:01 Humane and Rabbit show off standalone AI devices – 45:49 New gaming laptops from ASUS, Alienware, and Razer – 53:36 Samsung’s Ballie robot could be a great multimedia companion for kids – 1:00:54 Layoffs at Amazon: Twitch to lay off 35% of its workforce – 1:16:50 Google lays off “several hundred” workers in an effort to reorganize hardware divisions – 1:18:14 Pop culture picks – 1:22:09 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s the week before CES officially kicks off in Las Vegas, but our fingers are already tired from typing up a ton of early news. In this episode, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss the big topics they expect to see at CES 2024 (AI PCs will be huge, we swear!), as well as some of the stories that have already landed, like Dell’s revamped XPS line. Also, we explore some of 2023’s biggest winners and losers (just take a guess where Twitter ends up), and we chat about Apple Fitness+ highlighting Super Bowl halftime performers. And for a bit of fun conjecture, we explore the viability of Apple purchasing Peloton to bolster its health ambitions. AI PCs, fun robots and weird healthtech: What we’re looking forward to at CES 2024 – 1:07 Samsung announces Odyssey 240hz OLED gaming monitors ahead of CES – 22:18 Dell unveils new line of XPS laptops – 23:23 GE’s indoor smoker brings (smokeless) BBQ inside – 27:08 Engadget’s Best and Worst of 2023 lists – 33:42 Samsung’s first Unpacked of 2024 scheduled for January 17 – 50:29 13-year-old becomes the first (recorded) person to reach the NES Tetris kill screen – 52:37 Pop culture picks – 57:26 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Right as we’re heading into Christmas, Apple has been forced to stop sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the US, due to an ongoing patent dispute with Masimo over pulse oximeters. To break down what’s going on, Devindra and Ben chat with Christina Farr, a health tech investor at OMERS Ventures and author of the newsletter Second Opinion. It turns out Apple has made a habit of tempting people away from competing companies, and that includes Masimo’s former chief medical officer. Did Apple really steal trade secrets? Or does it just look very guilty since it had the means and motive to copy Masimo’s technology? Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 sales ban chat with Chrissy Farr – 1:49 Generative image model LAION-5B has over 1000 CSAM images in its dataset – 20:07 PS5 outsold Xbox 3 to 1 in 2023, lifetime PS5 sales hit 50 million – 24:00 Hackers release footage from Insomniac’s Wolverine after 1.67TB data breach – 34:35 Working on – 37:24 Pop culture picks – 38:07 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

So long E3, we knew you weren’t long for this world. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra are joined by Engadget Senior Editor Jessica Conditt to talk about the death of E3 and what it means for the gaming industry. We also explore some of the highlights (and low points) of last week’s Game Awards, which couldn’t quite balance celebrating video games and functioning as a marketing tool. We’re particularly excited for Light No Fire, the next ambitious game from the folks behind No Man’s Sky, as well as Arkane Lyon’s Blade. We mourn E3 and break down everything announced at the Game Awards with Jess Conditt – 00:40 Beeper Mini, Sunbird, and the endless quest to spoof iMessage – 37:57 Apple ads theft protection in iOS 17.2 beta – 54:12 EU set to hand Apple a huge loss in its legal fight with Spotify – 58:04 Google loses antitrust trial against Epic games – 59:30 Executives fired after Sports Illustrated tries to publish generative AI articles (with fake writers behind them) – 1:06:32 Netflix engagement report reveals its most popular shows and movies of the first half of 2023 – 1:07:23 Working on – 1:09:25 Pop culture picks – 1:10:24 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We made it to 200 episodes, folks! This week, Cherlynn, Devindra, Producer Ben Ellman and Senior Writer Sam Rutherford dive into some of the biggest tech developments since we rebooted the podcast in 2019. Remember, that was a pre-pandemic, pre-generative AI world! We also highlight a few guest interviews worth revisiting, like our chats with Bill Nye and Ann Druyan.  As for recent news, we quickly recap the OpenAI drama around Sam Altman’s ouster, discuss Google’s new Gemini AI platform, and chat about the revelation that governments are spying on our push notifications. Cherlynn also details her experience with Apple’s Personal Voice feature for iPhones and gives us a demo of her AI-generated digital voice. Topics: It’s our 200th episode! We look back on what’s changed in tech since the show relaunched – 1:02 Sam Altman sacked and reinstated, a recap of the OpenAI drama – 44:29 Google announces Gemini AI, its answer to GPT-4 – 50:04 Microsoft upgrades Copilot with OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo and DALL-E 3 – 54:23 Governments are spying on push notifications, Google and Apple can’t do anything about it – 55:41 Mark Gurman reports Apple is working on revamped iPad Pros and an M3 MacBook Air – 58:02 Cherlynn’s experience with the new iOS accessibility feature Personal Voice – 58:58 Pop culture picks – 1:05:01 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sony’s next “PSP,” the PlayStation Portal, is one odd little device. It can only stream games from your PlayStation 5 – beyond that, it’s a $200 doorstop. In this episode, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with CNET’s Scott Stein about the Portal and the many ways it baffles us. While it does manage to stream games from the PS5 just fine, it’s also expensive, clunky and lacks basic features like Bluetooth audio support. It’s really only meant for the most diehard PS5 owners (and even they should probably wait for a sale). What was Sony thinking with the Playstation Portal? (With CNET’s Scott Stein) – 0:54 Microsoft rebrands Bing Chat to Copilot – 27:34 Qi 2 wireless charging standard will bring Magsafe’s satisfying magnetic click to all supported phones – 34:03 Nothing Phone 2 is getting iMessage...sort of – 47:40 Late breaking: Apple confirms RCS is coming to iPhones next year – 52:15 WhatsApp free storage on Google Drive is coming to an end – 53:53 Working on – 1:06:52 Pop culture picks – 1:07:34 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.