The Engadget Podcast

This week, we're looking back at our hellish 2024 and trying to figure out where to go from here. We began the year with enormous hype around artificial intelligence, but that's cooled off after seeing how useless many AI features have been. It's also clear that many companies, including Microsoft and Apple, are trying to push half-baked AI concepts onto users. Looking forward, we're expecting a rough few years for the tech industry (not to mention the world as a whole).

2024 in review: AI hype hasn’t led to much and the social media vibes are in flux – 1:12

What we’re looking forward to in 2025 – 21:43

Tiktok appeals its ban all the way to the US Supreme Court – 29:53

TP-Link routers are being investigated by US authorities – 32:39

Quick thoughts from last week’s Game Awards – 35:35

Working on – 38:26

Pop culture picks – 39:17

Interview with Tim Miller and Dave Wilson of Prime’s Secret Level – 49:20

At long last, iPhone users have access to Apple's AI image generation tools, Genmoji (for customized emoji) and Image Playground. But based on our testing, these Apple Intelligence features aren't fully baked. In this episode, Devindra and Cherlynn discuss why these AI tools aren't very useful and dive into some of Apple's most egregious image generation fails.

iOS 18.2 AI image generation arrives half baked. Genmoji are fun, but weird – 1:13

OpenAI’s Sora video generation model was finally released – 37:17

GM kills its Cruise robotaxi project – 45:43

Google’s Gemini 2.0 is now available for preview – 49:51

Tiktok is running out of options to avoid a ban in the U.S. – 57:36

Working on – 1:00:04

Pop culture picks – 1:02:20

Our review-in-progress of the Kindle Scribe 2 is live, and this week on the Engadget Podcast our host Cherlynn Low talks about Amazon’s latest writing tablet with noted ereader aficionado Alex Cranz. The pair are joined by Engadget’s own ereader expert Valentina Palladino, and they all get deep on the state of reading on books, tablets and phones. Our hosts also dive into what’s happening at Intel, as well as modern cars and personal listening habits.

Kindle Scribe 2, Kobo, Boox and more: the state of ereaders in 2024 – 2:12

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger retires – 45:13

Intel claims its $250 Battlemage Arc GPU can top the NVIDIA RTX 4060  – 50:57

MSI’s upcoming Claw 8 AI+ and 7 AI+ are faster than ever, but you still need to navigate Windows with joysticks – 52:18

Jaguar’s strange concept EV doesn’t even have a rear window – 57:26

It’s music streaming recap season! How do you feel about yours? – 1:04:33

Working on / Around Engadget – 1:09:13

Pop culture picks – 1:11:20  

Senior reporter Jess Conditt joins host Cherlynn Low and producer Ben Ellman on a quiet news week to talk about the latest developments at Sony, Threads, TikTok and more. We also take a look at some gadget announcements and discuss the impact that social media and technology have had on the way we work and how we think of celebrity and success.

A chill Thanksgiving week chat: Social media and how it affects all of us – 1:07

Gaming news with Jess: Sony is reportedly working on a new portable console – 21:18

PlayStation’s head of indie games Shuhei Yoshida is leaving Sony after 30 years – 28:34

Obsidian’s Avowed looks like a great reason to pick up an Xbox controller – 31:53

FTC warns that most connected devices aren’t supported for very long – 37:08

Working on – 41:14

Pop culture picks – 42:17

Well, the rumors were true: this week the DOJ argued that Google should sell off Chrome to make up for its monopolistic search practices. On top of that, the US government also suggested a potential sale of Android if it can't stop prioritizing its own search on Android smartphones. In this episode, Devindra and Producer Ben discuss why neither outcome seems likely under the upcoming Trump 2.0 administration, which will likely focus on defanging any sort of regulation.

U.S. regulators want Google to sell its Chrome division (and why that probably won’t happen) – 1:05

Comcast spins off Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, and a handful of cable networks into their own company – 22:23

Sony is in talks to buy Kadokawa, Japanese publisher behind FromSoft games and Kill la Kill – 24:38

German authorities suspect Baltic Sea data cables between Lithuania and Sweden were sabotaged – 26:21

Pokémon Go devs Niantic reveal plans to create a Large Geospatial Model to power future AR and robots – 32:26

Working on – 45:49

Pop culture picks – 51:38