Texas is facing a once-in-a-century storm, and unfortunately its power grid couldn’t keep up. This week, Devindra and Cherlynn chat with native Texan and techie Alex Cranz about what happened, and why Texas is so unique when it comes to power infrastructure in the US. Also, they dive into Facebook’s decision to halt new sharing in Australia, and why Lastpass decided to make its free password management a lot more complicated.
Why is Texas’ power grid so messed up? – 1:26
Other News from the tech world:
•	Facebook bans all news in Australia – 37:01
•	Lastpass makes a dubious move for paying customers – 46:24
•	Google will finally let teachers mute kids in virtual classrooms – 51:10
•	Microsoft’s new Xbox wireless headset, accessibility updates, and FPS boost – 57:14
•	Carl Pei’s Nothing buys Essential’s assets – 1:01:50
Working on (Color e-ink, Thinkpad review) – 1:05:57
Pop Culture Picks – 1:10:49

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Why did the power grid fail in Texas?

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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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




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Why TikTok will never be the same again

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.

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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.

Why did the power grid fail in Texas?

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