The Engadget Podcast

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!)

This week, Engadget Managing Editor Cherlynn Low joins us to look back at some of the highlights (and lowlights) of 2025. We dive into our favorite gadgets of the year, the many ways Big Tech bowed to Trump, the disappointment of AI PCs and the rise of smart glasses. Our favorite gadgets of 2025: Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, Airpods Pro 3, bluetooth lav mics and more – 2:26Favorite Media of 2025: Andor, self-improvement via podcast, and a shoutout to your library – 34:30iRobot declares bankruptcy – 47:29Warner Bros. Discovery board rejects Paramount’s hostile bid, shareholders yet to vote  – 53:47The Oscars will air on Youtube starting in 2029 – 56:05Ford to turn its F-150 Lightining into a gas generator EV – 57:41Around Engadget: smart glasses had a great run in 2025, against social media age verification – 58:20 

Last week, Netflix surprised us all when it announced plans for an $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros., a move that would fundamentally reshape the world of streaming video and Hollywood. But Paramount isn't giving up on WB -- this week it launched a $108 billion hostile takeover effort. In this episode, we discuss why everyone is fighting for WB, and why Netflix may be the best worst option for the storied movie studio.What the Netflix bid for Warner Bros. means for at-home streamers and moviegoers – 1:55Disney characters are coming to Sora after OpenAI struck a deal – 32:59Meta may be giving up on open source for Llama – 43:53  Google CEO says we’re just going to have to grin and bear societal disruption via AI – 46:46Around Engadget: The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is good, but is it $630 good? – 49:06The best trailers and announcements from The Game Awards’ Day of the Devs stream – 51:28Here’s why projectors won in 2025 – 54:31Working on – 56:15  Pop culture picks – 57:33

RAM prices have gone wild, mostly thanks to AI. In this episode, Devindra chats with Will Smith (Brad and Will Made a Tech Pod) about the state of the RAM industry, as well as other hardware we expect to get more expensive. (SSD prices are definitely creeping up too!). Also, we discuss Meta poaching Alan Dye, one of Apple's design executives, and what this could mean for Meta's upcoming devices. And yes, whatever they have next will likely revolve around AI. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, plans deep cuts to his company’s metaverse development – 1:09Longtime Apple UI designer Alan Dye to join Meta’s AI division – 7:08US DOT cuts fuel efficiency standards, doubles down on gas cars – 25:40Waymo autonomous cars recently started driving more aggressively – 31:30Amazon halts its anime dub beta because it sounded terrible – 38:00WTF, RAM?? Will Smith joins to talk about why RAM prices are spiraling upward – 44:05Around Engadget: Metroid Prime 4 is a return to form after 18 years on ice – 1:04:42Working on – 1:07:36Pop culture picks – 1:08:32

So it turns out Meta isn't a monopoly, at least according to a federal judge. In this episode, we dive into Meta's victory in the FTC's antitrust case, which it seems to have won mainly thanks to TikTok's existence. Also, we chat about the Cloudflare issue that took down a huge portion of the web this week, as well as Roblox's plan to collect kids' selfies for age verification. We also carve out some time to chat with the audience and answer your pressing tech questions. Meta won its antitrust case, will keep control of Instagram and WhatsApp – 2:30Chat with the Livestream: Flickr’s repository of aughts memories and who uses Facebook anymore – 23:59The Cloudflare issue that took down a lot of the web? It was a database error – 32:49Google’s new Gemini 3 model is now available – 34:57Roblox wants tens of millions of kids to send them a selfie for age verification – 38:27TikTok’s screen time management function now includes an…affirmation journal? – 41:30Around Engadget – 43:47Working on – 50:36Pop culture picks – 52:27