The Engadget Podcast

This week, Cherlynn dives into her review of the new screen-less FitbIt Air, Google's new wearable meant to take on Whoop's popular bands. Also, we dive into Pope Leo's first Encyclical, which is focused on reining in AI and Big Tech's dominance and prioritizing humanity instead. We also chat with "Padre" Fr. Robert Ballecer, who's seen the Encyclical and the ideas around it take shape for years at the Vatican.

Cherlynn’s Fitbit Air Review: health tracking for the AI generation with a form that competes with Whoop – 1:31 
Pope Leo criticizes AI in his first Encyclical – 26:45
We asked Jesuit Priest (and huge techie) Father Robert Ballecer to break down Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence – 38:38
Steam Deck price goes up by $300 (almost 50%) for the 1TB model – 54:50 
Trump Mobile finally releases phones, immediately leaks customer data – 1:01:10 
Meta has paid tiers for Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp Now – 1:05:48 
Around Engadget – 1:09:39 
Working on – 1:11:11 
Pop culture picks – 1:11:29 

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It’s a good weekend to think about buying a new TV! In this episode, Devindra is joined by Dipin Sehdev, the founder of CECritic, to discuss the new RGB TVs and how they compare to OLED, the previous high-end TV technology of choice. Is RGB tech actually worth the premium, especially when OLED TVs have come way down in price? We also offer up a few tips for choosing the best TV today.

RGB gets added to the TV alphabet soup, Dipin Sehdev from CECritic explains where it sits in the landscape – 1:10  
Elon Musk loses OpenAI lawsuit, plus he owes a lot of xAI employees $420 for their tax returns – 30:50 
SpaceX IPO date set for June 12 – 35:02 
Alexa+ now makes “”podcasts”” – 37:26 
Firefox lets you turn off all AI features with one tap on mobile – 41:32
Around Engadget – 49:06
Working on – 50:41 
Pop culture picks – 50:51

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In this bonus episode, Devindra and Executive Editor Cherlynn Low break down all of the major news from Google's I/O 2026 developer conference. And yes, you guessed it, it's pretty much all about AI. We dive into the new Gemini Omni model, the massive AI integration with Google Search, the usefulness of agentic personal assistants like Spark and our impressions of the first Android XR glasses.

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As usual, Google delivered much of its consumer-focused news this week during the Android Show, ahead of its I/O developer conference next week. We've gotten a closer look at Android 17, which will sport a slew of new Gemini AI integrations, including some new agentic upgrades. The company also officially announced Googlebooks, its latest line of laptops built around AI features and Android interoperability. It looks like a major evolution on the concept of Chromebooks, though Google says those won't be going anywhere. 
What’s new at The Android Show: Googlebooks, Gemini Intelligence, and file sharing with iOS – 1:25
eBay rejects Gamestop’s offer as “not credible or attractive” – 32:18 
U.S. cell carriers form a joint venture to fix service dead spots – 33:41 
OpenAI sued by spouse of FSU shooting victim, who used ChatGPT to plan shooting spree – 38:44
Apple is making the iOS Camera app more customizable – 44:06 
RIP Rufus, we hardly knew ye: Amazon dubs Alexa its new shopping assistant – 44:58
Around Engadget – 47:14 
Working on – 49:26 
Pop culture picks – 51:15

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Can a meme stock buy a real company? This week, Gamestop proposed a $56 billion takeover of eBay, despite seemingly not being able to afford such a deal. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget's Daniel Cooper discuss what the heck is going on (and why this deal most likely won't happen). Also, Dan chats about his review of the reMarkable Paper Pure, the company's latest stab at a relatively affordable e-paper tablet.

Gamestop submits an unsolicited $56 billion offer to buy eBay. How serious are they? – 1:33
Dan Cooper’s reMarkable Paper Pure review: beautiful, but missing a few crucial features – 21:15 
Fitbit’s Air band takes aim at Whoop for no-screen fitness tracker dominance – 39:49 
Apple ordered to pay $250M to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 users over smarter Siri misfire – 40:33  
Anthropic makes a deal with SpaceX’s mega-polluting Memphis data center to increase Claude rate limit – 44:05 
Pornhub unblocks UK users who verify ID with Apple – 46:51
Starfox 64 remake coming to the Switch 2 – 50:42 
Working on – 52:28 
Pop culture picks – 53:06

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