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 app...
Apr 11, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 216
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...
Apr 04, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 215
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 o...
Mar 29, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 214
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 al...
Mar 21, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 213
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 again...
Mar 14, 2024•56 min•Ep. 212
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...
Mar 08, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 211
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 to...
Mar 01, 2024•52 min•Ep. 210
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 produ...
Feb 16, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 209
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 s...
Feb 09, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 208
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 ...
Feb 02, 2024•59 min•Ep. 207
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!). Frame...
Jan 25, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 206
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 Cherl...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 205
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 rollin...
Jan 12, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 204
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 B...
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 203
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...
Dec 22, 2023•45 min•Ep. 202
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 wel...
Dec 14, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 201
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 ch...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 200
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 probab...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 199
Apple's new M3 MacBook Pros and iMac are here! In this episode, we dive into our full thoughts about all of Apple's new hardware alongside Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham. The big takeaway: Don't buy the base model of either computer with just 8GB of RAM. Otherwise, the M3 chips are solid upgrades across the board. Also, Senior Editor Jessica Conditt joins to tell us all about the new Steam Deck OLED. It has a slightly larger OLED screen than the original model, as well as some extra battery life....
Nov 10, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 198
Joe Hunting, the director of "We Met in Virtual Reality," is embarking on a new adventure: He's launching Painted Clouds, a studio devoted to VR filmmaking. In this episode, we chat with Hunting about the state of the VR community, the convergence of real-world and virtual filmmaking tools, and why he's so interested in telling stories set in VR. Be sure to check out We Met in Virtual Reality, which is streaming now on Max.
Nov 07, 2023•29 min
Apple’s M3 chip is here, and the company is wasting no time shoving it into new computers. This week, we dive into the new M3-equipped MacBook Pros and iMac, which offer some notable upgrades over the M2 and M1 models. Also, we find time to celebrate the death of the old 13-inch MacBook Pro, and try to determine if the cheaper 14-inch MacBook Pro is actually meant for pros with 8GB of RAM. We also chat about Apple’s healthcare plans, as well as Lenovo’s ridiculous tablet fashion campaign. Apple ...
Nov 03, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 197
It seems like just about every streaming service has raised their price this year – most recently, Apple TV+, Netflix and Disney+. In this episode, we chat with Janko Roettgers, author of the newsletter Lowpass , about the state of streaming media. Why are these companies pushing their prices up now, and what does that mean for you, the viewer? Does this mean the dream of cord cutting is over? (Spoiler: No, not really.) Also, we chat about Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon chips, adult film star Rile...
Oct 26, 2023•56 min•Ep. 196
It seems like Marc Andreessen had a lot of free time this week, as the VC wrapped up his entire pro-tech worldview in a massive tome, the Techno-Optimist Manifesto . Andreessen claims “technology is the glory of human ambition and achievement, the spearhead of progress, and the realization of our potential,” and he goes on to vilify anyone who dares to step in the way of “progress.” To break down this document, we’re joined by tech critic Paris Marx , host of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast , and...
Oct 19, 2023•56 min•Ep. 195
We still have months to wait before Dune: Part Two hits theaters, so what better time to reminisce about David Lynch's intriguing adaptation of Frank Herbert's masterpiece? Reviled at the time, Lynch's Dune has now firmly established itself as a cult sci-fi epic, a film with boundless creative energy hampered by studio interference. In this bonus episode, Devindra chats with film journalist Max Evry, author of A Masterpiece in Disarray: David Lynch's Dune . We explore why he devoted two years of...
Oct 17, 2023•38 min
The Meta Quest 3 is here, and it’s the best standalone VR headset we’ve ever seen. But is that enough to make people care about virtual reality? In this episode, Devindra and Senior Writer Sam Rutherford chat with Tested’s Norm Chan about the Quest 3 and Meta’s mixed reality future. While the company’s vision of the metaverse is pretty sterile, it’s still nice to see Meta learning from the mistakes of the Quest Pro. Sam also dives into his Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro reviews, as well as his thoughts...
Oct 12, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 194
Yes, Techtober is in full swing! This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget’s Sam Rutherford about everything from the Made by Google event. That includes the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2. We give Google credit for leaning on AI long before it was trendy, but we wonder if the Pixel 8 Pro’s temperature sensor will actually be useful. Also, we dive into Samsung’s latest FE devices, Apple’s fix for overheating iPhone 15s, and Google’s Chromebook Plus initiative. Google announces ...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 193
This week, it’s Meta’s turn to highlight AI during its device event. In this episode, Devindra and Cherlynn dive into all of the news from Meta’s Connect 2023 event, where it unveiled Meta AI and accompanying celebrity-powered chatbots. Oh yah, and it introduced the Meta Quest 3 and new Ray-Ban smart glasses, too. More so than the metaverse and VR, it’s really AI that Zuckerberg wants to push across all of Meta’s apps and devices. And in other news, we discuss why the end of the WGA strike is a ...
Sep 28, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 192
Gadget season is in full swing! This week, Cherlynn chats about her experience reviewing the iPhone 15 Pro and Apple Watch Series 9. Does a 5x camera zoom make much of a difference? Also, Devindra and Cherlynn dive into Microsoft’s big Surface event in NYC, which actually ended up being more of an AI event. The company announced Copilot, its new AI assistant for Windows and other platforms. Microsoft is basically consolidating all of the Copilot products it’s already announced for Edge, MS 365 a...
Sep 21, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 191
This week, Cherlynn gives us her on-the-ground thoughts from Apple’s iPhone 15 launch event. It turns out the iPhone 15 Pro’s titanium case is actually noticeably lighter! We’re all also intrigued by Apple’s new double-tap gesture in the Watch Series 9. (Don’t be surprised if it ends up training us how to use the Vision Pro’s gesture commands!) Also, Engadget reporter Malak Saleh joins to discuss her review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, as well as Dyson’s ridiculous Zone air filter mask/headpho...
Sep 14, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 190
Fresh off of Apple’s “Wonderlust” event, Devindra and Engadget Editor-in-Chief Dana Wollman dive into the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro and the Apple Watch Series 9. We explain why Apple’s move towards USB-C on the iPhones has been a long time coming, and why we’re excited about even more emergency satellite calling capabilities. And while the Apple Watch Series 9 looks like a worthwhile upgrade, we’re more intrigued by the new double tap finger gesture.
Sep 12, 2023•39 min•Ep. 189
