The Rabbit R1 is finally here, and it's yet another useless AI gadget. Sure, at $199 with no monthly fee, it's a lot cheaper than the $699 Humane AI Pin. But the R1 is slow, hard to use, and doesn't actually do much. The much-promised "Large Action Model" mostly powers things you can easily do on your phone. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget's Sam Rutherford chat with CNET's Lisa Eadacicco about the Rabbit R1 and whether AI devices are necessary at all. Just like cameras, the best AI device is the one you always have with you: your smartphone.Rabbit R1 review: appealing design, underwhelming performance – 0:49Tesla lays off Supercharger development team leaving future of the network unclear – 25:28FCC fines U.S. wireless carriers $200m for selling customer location data – 30:05 Razer will refund all Zephyr mask purchases over false N95 filtering claims – 32:52 Drake deletes track featuring an AI clone of Tupac Shakur’s voice – 35:16Working on – 36:23Pop culture picks – 40:18

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? – 0:57Devindra and Cherlynn’s take on whether bad product reviews hurt tech companies – 20:42Meta opening QuestOS to third party hardware developers – 31:39Apple ‘Let Loose’ virtual event scheduled for May 5 – 33:48Leading AI companies pledge to keep kids safe (though harm is already evident) – 41:48Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses add multimodal AI – 43:58X is allegedly working on a smart TV app – 47:01Working on – 48:02Pop culture picks – 56:29

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 – 0:48Jess’ thoughts on Panic’s innovative handheld, the Playdate, 2 years later – 14:24Indie game studio Possibility Space announces closure, CEO blames media leaks – 27:29Other News: Boston Dynamics unveils new, all electric Atlas robot – 35:39Menteebot is a human-sized, GPT-powered robot you can command with natural language – 39:52NASA confirms Florida man’s house was hit by space junk – 44:06Sony (finally) changes its confusing product names – 46:05Working on – 50:35Pop culture picks – 56:35

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 – 1:09Other 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

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 – 0:45Google says it will destroy data collected from users using Incognito mode – 15:01Gurman report: Apple is working on personal home robots – 24:55Amazon just walked out on its self check-out tech – 30:43FCC set to vote to restore Net Neutrality – 43:00Apple adds Spatial Personas to make the Vision Pro experience less lonely – 45:09Proposed California state law would give tech workers the “right to disconnect” – 47:17Tekken director responds to fighting game fans’ request for a Waffle House stage – 49:57Around Engadget – 51:22Working on – 54:31Pop culture picks – 59:13

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 – 0:57Cherlynn 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 – 1:02:43Canadian researchers have created a camera that takes 156.3 trillion frames per second – 1:05:06 Working on – 1:07:08Pop culture picks – 1:12:44

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 – 0:34U.S. Justice Department files antitrust suit aimed at Apple’s “walled garden” ecosystem – 14:13Report: Apple may tap Google for Gemini AI on iPhones – 25:01NVIDIA claims its new Blackwell chip will power through AI workloads 30x faster using 25x less power – 33:07Microsoft hires Deepmind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman to lead AI division – 38:00YouTube reveals new rules for realistic AI video – 43:16Check your Glassdoor account – real names accidentally tied to some anonymous company reviews – 44:31Cherlynn finds the tech angle on the Kate Middleton photo debacle. Look at the metadata! – 47:03Around Engadget – 56:05Pop culture picks – 59:52

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 – 0:47Microsoft’s Surface and AI event preview – 17:04 Apple will allow EU users to download some apps from websites – 27:38Five 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

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 – 0:41EU fines Apple nearly $2 billion for “blocking” competing music apps – 15:27iOS 17.4 brings third party app stores to the EU, podcast transcription for everyone – 20:18Microsoft announces a Surface and AI event for later in March – 22:02No more (Amazon App Store) Android apps in Windows – 27:49Developer of Switch emulator Yuzu fined $2.4 million to settle suit with Nintendo – 39:19Around Engadget: Sam Rutherford’s Nothing Phone 2 review – 46:17Working on – 50:30Pop culture picks – 57:47

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 – 0:31RIP Apple Car 2014-2024 – 9:11Nintendo’s successor to the Switch delayed to 2025 – 21:53Microsoft opens more Xbox exclusives to PS5 and Switch – 25:24Google renames AI suite, ends up in hot water over image generation – 33:47Pop culture picks – 43:21