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2026-01-16 23:32:47

Verizon is offering a very small mea culpa after Wednesday's massive outage, which drew more than 1.5 million reports on Downdetector and lasted hours. Initially, the carrier posted on X that it will offer a $20 credit, but customers must redeem it in the myVerizon app. The company then said the credit could be claimed though customer service (via phone or chat), but our editors’ attempts to do so via chat were met with a message to wait for a text with further instructions.

Engadget editors began receiving the texts this morning (Jan 16) with a link to redeem. From there, you need to log into your account and visit the Account Overview section. Up top, there should be a Take Action or Mobile Actions button with a red notification circle. Click that and you’ll see a pop-up about the credit and a Redeem Now button. After you click that, you’re done, and Verizon says you should see the credit in one or two billing cycles. Of course, you’ll want to keep an eye out that it actually happens and contact the company if it doesn’t show up.

"This credit isn’t meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can," the company wrote. "But it’s a way of acknowledging your time and showing that this matters to us." Incensed customers have largely replied with incredulity, both at the miniscule amount, and that it isn't being applied automatically. The entire redemption process takes a few clicks and about a minute to complete, which makes it even more frustrating that it can’t be automatically applied to every customer’s bill.

Update, January 15 2026, 11:57 PM ET: Verizon says the credit can be claimed through customer service via phone, chat and online in addition to the myVerizon app. 

Update, January 16 2026, 10:29 AM ET: This story has been updated with detailed info about the redemption process which Verizon now says is completed with a link that will be texted to customers.

2026-01-16 23:00:00

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.

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Topics

• 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   

Credits

Host: Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Igor Bonafacic
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

2026-01-16 22:45:36

The holiday season is fully in the rear view mirror and real life is here to stay. But that doesn't mean the time for gifts is over — especially ones for yourself. You can still take advantage of great January sales on some awesome tech products.

Take the Apple Mac mini M4, which is down to $500 from $599. The 17 percent discount gives you 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD for only about $20 more than the computer's Black Friday sale. Its beefier models are also on sale: opting for 512GB of SSD will cost you $690, down from $799, while also upping your RAM to 24GB is available for $890, dropping from $999.

We gave the Apple Mac mini M4 a 90 in our review thanks in large part to its powerful chip. The M4 works very fast despite being in such a small device. It also offers front-facing headphone and USB-C ports. You can further upgrade to the Apple M4 Pro chip for $1,270, down from $1,399 — a nine percent discount. The Pro model also has Thunderbolt 5 support. 

Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

2026-01-16 22:15:36

Now that the winter holidays are well and truly past, now's the perfect time to take stock of your tech setup. If you were gifted (or gifted yourself) some new gear in December, make sure that you've got the proper accessories to keep that gear performing at its best. If a new way to power all those batteries would be a benefit, Amazon's currently running a discount on an excellent wireless charging pad. The UGREEN MagFlow Qi2 3-in-1 Charger Station 25W is on sale for $95. That's only a little bit above the lowest price we've ever seen for the product (which was $90), and it's still a 32 percent discount off its usual cost.

This is our top pick for a 3-in-1 charging pad thanks to its versatility. The UGREEN can work equally well as a permanent fixture in your home or act as a portable charging station. It boasts a foldable design and has smart little design details to keep it feeling like a premium product.

The Qi2 25W charging works across a range of iPhone models and accessories, such as AirPods. There's also a dedicated part of the pad's design for an Apple Watch, which uses a proprietary charging standard, to power up too. Just note that you'll need a newer model of phone and the latest iOS 26 in order to take full advantage of the 25W charging capability. The wireless pad also comes with both a charging plug and a cable. We felt this UGREEN model was a great value at $140, so being able to snag one for a third of the usual price is an even better deal.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

2026-01-16 22:12:23

The fate of Warner Bros. Discovery remains the biggest story in Hollywood, with Paramount Skydance refusing to back down from its rival bid to the proposed Netflix acquisition of the company. If the Netflix deal does go through, the company’s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, has attempted to ease concerns around what that could mean for theaters.

In an interview with The New York Times, Sarandos responded to a question about his company’s commitment to the theatrical business by insisting that he has no interest in bringing a swift end to it. "We will run that business largely like it is today, with 45-day windows," he said. "I’m giving you a hard number. If we’re going to be in the theatrical business, and we are, we’re competitive people — we want to win. I want to win opening weekend. I want to win box office."

Prior to this new NYT interview’s publication, Deadline reported that it had been told by sources that Netflix was supportive of a 17-day window, which would obviously be far more damaging to theaters. This came after the Stranger Things finale reportedly banked north of $25m during its brief theatrical run over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Sarandos was also asked if he regretted saying the theatrical business as we know it today is an "outmoded" idea. He told the NYT: "You have to listen to that quote again. I said 'outmoded for some.' I mean, like the town that 'Sinners' is supposed to be set in does not have a movie theater there. For those folks, it’s certainly outmoded. You’re not going to get in the car and go to the next town to go see a movie." (Movies are actually nascent technology in Sinners, which is set in the 1930s. Bad example, Ted!) He went on to explain that for someone like his daughter, who lives in Manhattan and has a number of theaters within walking distance of her home, the term does not apply in the same way.

The Netflix co-chief exec’s latest comments seem to be designed to appease theater owners as much as the movie-going public, after a number of chains opposed the proposed WBD sale. "Such an acquisition will further consolidate control over production and distribution of motion pictures in the hands of a single, dominant, global streaming platform in a market that is already highly concentrated," said trade organization Cinema United in a statement to Congress.

2026-01-16 22:00:00

Meta is killing the standalone Workrooms app on February 16, 2026. The company presented Workrooms as a virtual reality space where teams can meet and collaborate in an immersive environment when it launched the product. Now Meta says its Horizon platform has evolved enough to support “a wide range of productivity apps and tools,” so it “made the decision to discontinue Workrooms as a standalone app.”

The company recently slashed its spending on the metaverse and started the process to lay off more than 1,000 employees from its Reality Labs division. Due to those layoffs and organizational changes, it closed three of its VR studios. Reality Labs had lost more than $70 billion since 2021, and Meta told Engadget that it had decided to shift some of its investments from the metaverse towards wearables, such as its AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses. The company is also discontinuing Horizon managed services, its subscription service that helps organizations manage their Quest headsets, in February.

Users will no longer be able to access the Workrooms app or any of their data in it starting on February 16. Meta is allowing people to download their data if they need it until that date.