Spoilers follow for Joy to the World. If theres one thing Steven Moffatt loves to do with Doctor Who , its to find a monster buried in the mundane. Hes made statues, shadows, lost children and even the idea of silence into some of the shows most terrifying villains. Sadly, the mysterious extra door you often find in older hotel rooms isnt as universal a concern, but its still a rich seam for him to mine. Thats the inspiration for Joy to the World, Doctor Who s 2024 Christmas Special. Which is li

The holiday season has barely begun, but some of us are already getting ready for CES 2025. Shortly after New Years Day, many from the Engadget team will be packing our bags to fly to Las Vegas, where well be covering techs biggest annual conference. As usual, our inboxes are already flooded with pitches from companies that are planning to be there, and our calendars are filling up with appointments for briefings and demos. Based on our experience, as well as observation of recent industry trend

If you received a bunch of gift cards for the holidays, consider it a blessing. Whoever gave them to you likely wanted to give you a gift you'd actually use, and rather assume (incorrectly), they wanted to ensure you'd get their money's worth on something you actually like. Maybe there's nothing on your wish list at the moment, but you're keen to spend that gift card on something that will make your commute easier or your home feel more cozy. Below are some of our favorite items that are well wo

A million different online multiplayer games seem to arrive each week, but good games you can play on the couch with a buddy arent as common. If youre looking for a suggestion, weve rounded up a selection of our favorite couch co-op games below, from 2D platformers and lengthy RPGs to chill puzzlers and intense shooters. Just be aware that weve limited our selection to genuine co-op experiences, not games like Mario Kart or a Jackbox Party Pack that may be playable on one machine but are largely

Android phones have been the first to feature a bunch of notable standards. They were the first to support 4G , 5G , USB-C (way back in 2015 no less) and in-screen fingerprint sensors. And when it comes to wireless charging, you can trace that lineage all the way back to the Samsung Galaxy S3 from 2012 (though the webOS-poweered Palm Pre and its Touchstone charger is the true OG). Unfortunately, when it came to adding support for the Qi2 wireless charging standard to devices in 2024, it feels li

The Russian government has banned crypto mining in ten regions for a period of six years, according to reporting by the state-owned news agency Tass . Russia has cited the industrys high power consumption rates as the primary reason behind the ban. Crypto is particularly power-hungry, as mining operations already account for nearly 2.5 percent of US energy use . This ban takes effect on January 1 and lasts until March 15, 2031. The countrys Council of Ministers has also stated that additional ba

Lilium, a company working on flying taxis that can take off and land vertically, has ceased operations. As TechCrunch notes, German media Grnderszene was the first publication to report that it laid off 1,000 workers a few days ago after it failed to secure more financing to continue its technology's development. Patrick Nathen, the company's co-founder, has announced that the company has stopped all operations on LinkedIn . Tagging his co-founders, he said that they can no longer continue worki

No game this year captured the imagination of the Engadget crew quite like Balatro did, and when it came time for each staff member to pitch their favorite games of 2024 , everyone and I mean everyone wanted to write about Balatro . In the end, rather than forcing everyone to fight for the chance to write about their love of the game, we instead decided to ask the team to write their own individual take on Balatro . My Steam Deck is a Balatro machine and I love it My Steam Deck is a Balatro ma

This year may not have been as jam packed as 2023 was for gaming, but there were still plenty of amazing new releases. Whether you love a good indie or a big-budget production, this year had you covered. All you needed to do was look a bit deeper than you might have in 2023. Animal Well The core of Animal Well isnt that structurally complicated: Its a lock-and-key Metroidvania. You go to places to unlock other places and abilities. There are puzzle bits. Platforming bits. Bosses. A sense of prog

If you're traveling for the holidays today, I hope you're not flying on American Airlines. As of this morning, the airline said on X that all of its flights were currently grounded, with no current time table for when flights will resume. As The Verge notes, a notice posted by the Federal Aviation Administration confirms that there is a ationwide groundstop for all AA flights; it also says that this stoppage is at company request. We're currently experiencing a technical issue with all American

Hyundai is offering select EV buyers a free CCS to NACS (North American Charging Standard) adapter so that they can charge current models at Tesla's Supercharger stations. That will allow owners to charge CCS-port Hyundai models at Tesla's 20,000 strong Supercharger network, once shipping starts in Q1 2025. Hyundai is offering the free adapter to owners of 2024 and earlier Kona Electric, Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and Ioniq hatchback models, along with 2025 Ioniq 6, Ioniq 5N, Kona Electric Genesis

Honda and Nissan have officially confirmed the rumors that they're pursuing a merger. Both would still operate under their brands but with a new joint holding company as parent. If Nissan-controlled Mitsubishi also came on board, the combined group would become the world's third-largest automaker by sales volume, with a net worth of up to $50 billion. Nissan and Honda previously announced plans to work together on EV development, but the joint company would be far more integrated. Accord

Are you tired of feeling safe and happy all the time? Is your daily life overrun by feelings of security, contentment and peace? Do you want an escape from all of the oppressive niceness around you? Well, look no further these are the games for you. Here, weve collected more than a dozen of the most evocative and disturbing horror games in recent memory. These selections cover a wide range of genres and styles, but each one comes with at least a tinge of unsettling terror. So take a peek, find

PC gamers have almost too many options when it comes to titles to play, which is a great problem to have. With decades of games to choose from (and the first port of call for most indie titles, too), the options are endless. You also get the perks of (nearly always flawless) backward compatibility and console-beating graphical performance if you've got the coin for it when youre building your perfect kit or picking up a high-powered gaming laptop . The whole idea of what a gaming PC is and wher

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has started a probe into Chinas semiconductor industry, looking for anti-competitive trade practices. According to a White House statement , the USTR is looking into China for acts, policies and practices that reduced or eliminated competition in the marketplace for semiconductors. The probe is being conducted through Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 to examine trade practices for foundational semiconductors that are used by the automotive,

If you've found your TV to be too slow to stream its built-in apps, here's a decent deal that can help fix things on the cheap: The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is once again on sale for $29. This offer has been available for much of the holiday season, and it's not an all-time low the dongle previously fell to $25 toward the end of 2023 but it does match the largest discount we've tracked this year. For reference, Roku normally sells the device for $50, though in recent months it's often retailed

A group of talented fans have made a native PC port of Star Fox 64 , which they are calling Starship . Even better? Its technically legal. Harbour Masters, the team behind the project, used a tool that converts the original game ROM into PC executable code, so it doesnt actually use any proprietary Nintendo code. This is the same method used to create the native PC port of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time , and that ones still available for download . Members of this crew also ported Majoras Mas

It looks like Meta is preparing to add displays to its popular line of Ray-Ban smart glasses, according to a report by Financial Times . These screens could show up in a future iteration of the device as early as next year. The likely release window is the second half of 2025. According to folks familiar with Metas plans, the screens will be on the smaller side and will likely be used to display notifications or responses from Metas AI virtual assistant. Its highly unlikely that the company is p

There are way too many online services and subscriptions to keep track of these days, but the flip side is theres a tool for just about everything. Time is just about up to get a physical gift shipped in time for the holidays, so below weve pulled together some of our favorite digital gifts and subscriptions, including time-tested video, music and gaming services as well as tools to clear your mental space and learn new skills. There are also a few subscriptions that provide ongoing, IRL deliver

Honda and Nissan have officially confirmed rumors that they're pursuing a merger, the companies wrote in a joint press release . Each would continue to operate under its own brand, but with a new joint holding company as parent. If Nissan-controlled Mitsubishi also came on board, the combined group would become the world's third largest automaker by sales volume and have a net worth of up to $50 billion. Today marks a pivotal moment as we begin discussions on business integration that ha

Infinity Nikki is my favorite new release of 2024. It's a cotton candy confection of an open-world game that offers a lot more depth and variety than I expected to find. I enjoy the fabulous wardrobe, the low-key puzzles and the charming side quests. But the most surprising thing about Infinity Nikki was something that I've been ignoring in games for years: the photo mode. I didn't expect this to become a highlight of the Infinity Nikki experience. In fact, when it came up in the lon

Elon Musk's X has hiked prices for its ad-free Premium+ subscription service to $22 a month, up from $16 before ($168 to $229 annually), TechCrunch reported. That represents a 37.5 percent increase, the largest since Elon Musk purchased the platform previously known as Twitter back in 2022. One stated reason for the hike is that Premium+ is now completely ads-free, with X claiming that it's a significant enhancement to the previous ad-free experience. It also promised a few other feature

Around the world, government organizations are calling out Google for monopolistic practices. The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) will reportedly announce Google is in violation of the country's antitrust laws in regards to its search engine, Chrome, and issue a cease and desist letter, Nikkei Asia reported . The watchdog started an investigation into Google's practices last October. The JFTC reportedly accuses Google of requiring smartphone manufacturers to sign a contract stating Ch

Apple is working on the next generation of AirPods Pro, and they may have some new health features , according to Bloomberg s Mark Gurman although its a rumor we heard before, back in 2021. The company has reportedly started testing features like temperature sensing and heart rate monitoring for the earbuds. Apple has found that the Apple Watch still does the latter better, but the AirPods arent terribly far off in their readings. The company may have also revived its idea of putting cameras in

The shipping deadlines have passed and time has (almost) run out for us procrastinators to get gifts for our friends and family. But fear not: its never been easier to send a gift to someone, including an e-gift card to a store or for a service you know they use. If youre looking for more creative digital gift ideas , weve got you covered. But for those hard-to-shop-for folks in your life, a gift card could do the trick. These are the gift cards that are the most helpful to send as last-minute g

Im a longtime lover of pen and paper, so E Ink tablets have been intriguing to me ever since they started becoming more widely available. After having hundreds of half-filled notebooks over the years, I, at some point, turned to digital tools instead because it was just easier to store everything on my phone or laptop so I always had my most important information at my fingertips. E-Ink tablets seem to provide the best of both worlds: the tactile satisfaction of regular notebooks with many of th