It's been a wild week for Apple. After announcing a slew of new hardware, the company capped things off with its cheapest laptop ever: the $599 MacBook Neo. It's low on specs, but high on character and value. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham dive into the MacBook Neo, as well as the refreshed MacBook Air M5, MacBook Pro M5 Pro/Max and iPad Air M4. 

Also, Devindra chats with Spencer Ackerman, author of The Forever Wars and recent Iron Man comics, about the ongoing battle between Anthropic and the Department of Defense. It turns out the DOD still used Claude for attacks on Iran, after banning Anthropic'/s AI last week. And really, what do these AI companies expect to happen when they jump at military contracts?

Apple announces a the MacBook Neo priced at $599 and it’s shockingly great – 0:53

MacBook Air got the M5, MacBook Pro got the M5 Pro and M5 Max, and who needs the new iPad Air now? – 22:31

Anthropic vs. DoD with Spencer Ackerman, author of The Forever Wars – 30:34

Gemini encouraged a man to end his own life to be with his ‘AI wife’ – 58:53

Polymarket nixes bets on nuclear detonation after public outcry – 1:01:55

No Yōtei on PC: Sony closes down first party titles outside of PS5 – 1:03:56

Wildlight Studios’ Highguard shuts down after 46 days live – 1:08:23

Working on: Dell’s XPS 14 will be great when the keyboard fix coms through – 1:15:09

Pop culture picks – 1:15:58

This week, we're diving into the big changes at Xbox and what it all means for Microsoft's gaming future. Phil Spencer, the longtime face of Xbox, announced he's retiring last week. He'll be replaced by Microsoft's former CoreAI CEO Asha Sharma, instead of his longtime deputy Sarah Bond, who plans to leave the company. Will this change actually help the beleaguered Xbox division, or is it another example of Microsoft shoving AI into everything? 

Also, Samsung held its latest Galaxy Unpacked event this week to announce its new Galaxy S26 family. They look pretty much the same as last year, but the Ultra model includes a unique privacy feature that can instantly make the screen unreadable to bystanders. It's one of those features we expect to see in every phone eventually.

Xbox leadership falls apart. what happens next with Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond out? – 1:53

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked: Privacy display on the S26 Ultra looks amazing – 27:27

U.S. Defense leadership gives Anthropic a Friday deadline to let it use Claude as it sees fit – 42:38

MrBeast editor accused of insider trading on Kalshi – 50:40

Discord delays age verification program after user revolt – 54:09

Around Engadget – 1:04:04

Working on – 1:05:16

Pop culture picks – 1:08:21

This week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in a landmark social media trial, claiming the company only wanted to make Instagram "useful" and not addictive. In this episode, we chat about Zuck's testimony and the potential implications of this trial for social media companies. Also, we dive into the latest effects of the RAMaggedon RAM shortage, including a potential PlayStation 6 delay and a dire future for practically every consumer electronics company.

Mark Zuckerberg testifies that Instagram was meant to be ‘useful’, not addictive in social media addiction trial – 1:27

Meta reportedly plans to launch a smartwatch later this year – 13:23

The RAMageddon will likely kill some small consumer electronics companies – 15:54

Apple could unveil a MacBook, new M5 Pro chip, and iPhone 17e at March 4th event – 26:26

Google’s Pixel 10a arrives on March 5 – 32:17

Email leaked to 404 media suggests Ring had plans to use its Search Party function for wider surveillance – 34:48

Listener Mail – 45:14

Working on – 48:40

Pop culture picks – 49:04 

If you haven't heard, there's now a social network for AI: Moltbook, a site that purportedly features AI agents talking to each other. That includes OpenClaw, a personal AI agent (formerly called Clawdbot and Moltbot) that's open source and free for anyone to run on their systems. In this episode, Devindra and Senior Reporter Karissa Bell discuss the rise of these services, and the potential future that AI agents may have for all of us.
 

What is Moltbook and OpenClaw? – 1:31

Anthropic reinforces its commitment against ads with Super Bowl ad spots – 19:32

SpaceX acquires xAI and plans for a mega IPO – 27:08

Alexa + rolls out free for all Amazon Prime subscribers – 33:36

Around Engadget: Reviews of the New AirTag and Switch Virtual Boy – 44:12

Working on – 46:34

Pop culture picks – 49:24

Somehow, we live in a world where people can bet on practically anything using sites like Polymarket and Kalshi. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget Senior Reporter Karissa Bell dive into the world of betting markets. How did we get here? And is endless betting having an effect on the real world? Also, we chat about the new American version of TikTok, which stumbled during its first weekend with a litany of errors and reported censorship.

Who’s going to buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Tri-fold for $2900? – 1:18

Tesla is killing off the Model X and S lines to focus on its Optimus robot moonshot – 6:46

Amazon plans to cut 16,000 jobs and close its grocery stores in another round of restructuring – 10:45

Most of the UK will lose access to Pornhub in a fight over age verification and privacy – 21:16

Internal messages from Meta about Instagram being ‘a drug’ for teens could be bombshell evidence at trial – 26:59

What are prediction markets and why are they suddenly so popular? – 32:11

As TikTok US stumbles, users ask ‘is it server problems or censorship?’ – 46:55

Around Engadget – 59:11

Pop culture picks – 1:01:23 

Apple is reportedly working on an AI pin of its very own to compete with OpenAI's non-existent pin. No, it doesn't really make much sense to us, either. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget Managing Editor Cherlynn Low discuss why Apple might be quick to jump on the AI pin trend, even before it jumps into smart rings. 

TCL is taking over Sony’s Bravia TV business in a new joint venture – 0:58

Last week’s Verizon outage was resolved after 10 hours, no official word on what caused it – 8:39

Youtube CEO promises more AI video tools for creators while also denouncing deepfakes – 12:19

The FTC isn’t giving up on its Meta antitrust case – 14:22

Trump family earnings from crypto may total $1.4B in 2025, but likely much more – 19:00

Adobe Acrobat can now generate presentations and podcasts from your documents – 21:12

Why the heck would Apple make an AI pin?? – 25:15

Around Engadget: Sony LinkBuds Clip review, Volvo EX60 and Canon EOS R6 III reviews – 43:14

Pop culture picks – 46:34 

Apple's next-gen Siri is still far off, but this week the company announced that it'll be using Google's Gemini AI for its new foundation models. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget's Igor Bonifacic discuss why Apple teamed up with Google again, instead of OpenAI or Anthropic. Also, they chat about Meta's Reality Lab layoffs, which is refocusing the company on AI hardware like its smart glasses.
 

Meta announces 1000+ layoffs, closes 3 VR studios as it shifts focus to AI hardware – 2:12

Gemini can now pull context from the rest of your Google apps including photos and Youtube history – 12:31

Framework raises the price of its desktop by $460 because of the global RAM shortage – 18:36

NVIDIA may revive the RTX 3060 and kill off 5070 Ti due to its VRAM demands – 21:57

Apple creates a subscription bundle for Pro creative apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic, and others – 23:00

Tesla’s Full Self Driving is also going subscription only, a year costs $999 – 29:15

Matthew McConaughey trademarks himself to fight unauthorized AI likenesses – 33:27

Apple announces that its long delayed ’smarter Siri’ will be powered by Google Gemini – 35:15

X finally responds to Grok’s CSAM and nudity generation with limits – 51:46

Cursor claims their AI agents wrote 1M+ lines of code to make a web browser from scratch, are developers cooked? – 57:52   

That’s a wrap for CES 2026! In this episode, Devindra and Cherlynn chat about their favorite aspects of the show, as well as Engadget’s best of CES awards lineup. Also, Cherlynn chats with Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky about his Pebble smartwatch revival, as well as an intriguing new AI ring that’s built entirely around notetaking.

TVs at CES 2026: all eyes on Micro RGB and LG’s super thin OLED – 1:48

L'Oréal debuts LED/Infrared face masks seem cool but needs some development – 5:46

Engadget’s official Best of CES 2026: Lego’s Smart Brick, Lenovo’s rollable laptop screen, a super quiet leafblower and more – 9:55  

Health Tech at CES 2026: Eyebot’s 30-second vision exam, Wheelmove makes manual wheelchairs motorized –  11:41

Interview with Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky – 20:43

We're halfway through CES 2026, and one of our biggest takeaways is that it's going to be a rough year for the PC industry. In this episode, Devindra chats with Engadget's Daniel Cooper about Intel, AMD, NVIDIA and the sad state of the PC industry. We've got some new CPUs, but the volatile RAM market will likely make everything expensive this year. Also, they dive into Dell's revival of the XPS brand, as well as iPolish's smart nails and Subtle's AI-powered VoiceBuds.

Topics

• The state of the PC industry in 2026 -- 02:22
• Intel's new Core Ultra Series 3 chips --  12:41
• Dell's XPS lineup is back -- 17:41
• Our favorite products from  CES: 26:36

We’re gearing up for CES 2026! Engadget will be on the ground, once again, to dive into the latest TVs, wearables and other wild tech from the world’s biggest consumer electronics show. In this episode, we chat about some new products we expect to see, like MicroRGB LED TVs and AI devices, and peer into what’s ahead for the rest of 2026.

Over the past two years, the Nex Playground has carved out a niche for itself with kids and parents alike. It's a small box that sits in front of your TV and uses a camera, along with computer vision AI processing, to track your movement for interactive games. Think of it like a simplified version of Microsoft's Kinect (RIP), with a bit of the local multiplayer we see from the original Wii. In this bonus episode, we chat with David Lee, Nex's CEO and co-founder, about how he went from building a basketball tracking app to one of the most intriguing gaming console alternatives on the market. (The Nex Playground even managed to outsell Xbox in November!)