This week, Cherlynn and Devindra are joined by Engadget’s Jessica Conditt to dive into the latest controversy around Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, he was well aware of sexual misconduct allegations at the company, and he deliberately kept Activision’s board in the dark. Also, we chat about what Apple’s self service program means for you, as well as a new accessibility gadget that brings eye tracking to the iPad.
New report says Activision/Blizzard CEO protected abusers at the studio – 1:20
Apple announces new program to repair products at home – 19:20
Google Cloud outage takes down Spotify, Snapchat, Etsy, and other sites – 24:40
TD Pilot will let people with disabilities control an iPad with their eyes – 30:02
Halo Infinite free multiplayer beta is available now – 36:13
Paramount+ Pulls Star Trek: Discovery from Netflix before new season – 37:37
StreamLabs was accused of plagiarism, drops “OBS” from its name – 41:15
Rep. Paul Gosar retweets Attack on Titan edit about killing AOC right after being censured for doing it the first time – 44:19
LA’s Staples Center is now the Crypto.com arena – 45:59
Gucci made a $10K Xbox + case – 49:02
Working on – 52:57
Picks – 55:57

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The storm around Activision Blizzard’s CEO

A weekly news show where your favorite Engadget editors tear themselves away from their crippling technology addiction, to discuss our collective crippling technology addiction.

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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

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PS5 Pro rumors, Playdate 2 years later, and the sad death of Possibility Space

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

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Does Humane’s AI Pin live up to the hype?

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.

Why pay $10 a month to get away from Google search?

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.

NY Auto Show and the state of EVs + Lucy Liu interview

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.

The storm around Activision Blizzard’s CEO

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