The Engadget Podcast

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