Engadget News + Next

Latest Episodes:

Meta's Oversight Board is fine with leaving manipulated content on Facebook, Qualcomm revealed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, and FoloToy's AI teddy bear is back on sale following its brief foray into BDSM Nov 26, 2025

Show notes

-Apparently misleading protest videos are welcome to stay on Facebook now. Meta's Oversight Board has ruled that the company was right to leave up a manipulated video that made footage of a Serbian protest look like it took place in Holland and was in support of Rodrigo Duterte, former president of the Philippines.

-Qualcomm just revealed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, the appropriately-named second member of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 line. This follows the Gen 5 Elite, which was first revealed back in September. The standard Gen 5 is still a powerful mobile system-on-a-chip with a top clock speed of 3.8GHz.

-The infamous "Kumma" children's AI teddy bear, once an expert in BDSM and knife-fetching, is back on sale. The company claims the toy now has stronger child safety protections in place. The Singapore-based FoloToy suspended sales of Kumma last week after a research group published an eyebrow-raising report.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The best big tech gifts for $100 or less Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

Even the big guys have affordable gadgets that make great gifts.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anthropic's Opus 4.5 model is here to conquer Microsoft Excel, Trump's Genesis Mission aims to build a centralized AI platform, and OpenAI can't use the term 'Cameo' in Sora Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

-Now at version 4.5, the new system offers state-of-the-art performance in coding, computer use and office tasks.

-President Donald Trump has issued a new Executive Order that launches the “Genesis Mission,” an AI-focused initiative that will be led by the Department of Energy. It will “harness the current AI and advanced computing revolution to double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade,” the DOE explained.

-Cameo, the app that allows people to buy short videos from celebrities, has won an important victory in its legal battle against OpenAI. On Monday, a federal judge granted the company a temporary restraining order against OpenAI.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

iOS 27 will reportedly focus on performance improvements and AI upgrades Nov 24, 2025

Show notes

Apple is taking the Snow Leopard approach, according to Mark Gurman.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

YouTube is the most popular social media platform among US adults, Microsoft isn't releasing a diversity report, and a decision about breaking up Google's adtech monopoly is on the horizon Nov 24, 2025

Show notes

-In a 2025 report that looks at social media usage with American adults, the data-driven think tank revealed some nitty-gritty details like year-to-year changes, age gaps and most importantly, frequency of use. At the number one spot, YouTube holds a dominant position.

-Microsoft will not release a diversity and inclusion report for 2025 like it has been doing every year since 2019, Stephen Totilo from Game File has reported. Totilo asked the company if it was skipping this year after it failed to publish a report from October to early November like it had done so the previous years.

-Google made its final arguments in a longstanding case against the US Department of Justice on whether it has to split up its ad tech practices.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Warner signs AI music licensing deal with Udio Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

Udio's upcoming subscription service will use the label's catalog for AI-generated songs and remixes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk blames 'adversarial prompting' after Grok spewed embarrassing, sycophantic praise, sales of a teddy bear were suspended because of its sexually explicit AI, and ChatGPT group chats roll out to everyone Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

-At some point in the last couple days, Grok began to offer extremely over the top opinions about Musk. The bot claimed that Musk is the "undisputed pinnacle of holistic fitness" and that he is more fitter than LeBron James, smarter than Albert Einstein, better fighter than Mike Tyson, morally superior to Jesus, and a better communist than Joseph Stalin.

-FoloToy, a company selling AI-enabled toys, suspended sales of its products after a consumer safety report showed there were few restrictions around what its toys would talk about.

-After what was apparently a successful testing period, OpenAI has announced that it is rolling out group chats in ChatGPT to "all logged-in users on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans globally over the coming days."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cloudflare outage was not caused by a cyber attack Nov 20, 2025

Show notes

Matthew Prince, the company's CEO, explained the problem that took major websites offline.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spotify's SongDNA will show you which songs are sampled on a track, Google Maps using AI to predict if EV chargers availability, and European policymakers want to ease AI and privacy laws Nov 20, 2025

Show notes

-Spotify has unveiled an upcoming interactive feature called SongDNA designed to show you the samples, collaborators and covers included in a given track, the company announced. As part of that update, Spotify also revealed that it has acquired WhoSampled, the company behind the SongDNA technology.

-Google is rolling out an update to Maps that brings some new tools to the table, including the ability to check on EV charger availability. The app already showed the location of EV chargers, but not if they were available or not. In other words, it was entirely possible to roll up to a charging station only to find a line of EVs waiting for juice.

-European policymakers have proposed sweeping changes to the way the EU regulates the tech industry. In just the last few months, the likes of Meta and Google have questioned strict EU policies relating to privacy and AI expansion, but if the European Commission’s new package of proposals are passed, a number of big tech roadblocks will be removed. Or at least lifted up a bit.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google's new Gemini 3 model arrives in AI Mode and the Gemini app Nov 19, 2025

Show notes

It's also available to developers and enterprise customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected