What's New

Nintendo has sold a lot of Switches in the last year thanks to the console's unique ability to play games on a TV and on the go, but also thanks to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. Though they came from 30+ year-old franchises, both games helped millions fall in love with them all over again. In 2018, Nintendo is setting its sights in a direction it hasn't aimed at before: the do-it yourself crowd. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Growing up, my black and faux woodgrain GE Digital Alarm Clock Radio was essential. I trusted it to tell me the time and make sure I wake up each and every morning—regardless of how many times I pressed its 9 minute snooze. Time has not been kind to that, now-vintage alarm clock. Somehow, it still does what it was designed to do, but in the last decade, my phone has taken all of its responsibilities. It now sits under my nightstand, wrapped in its own power cord like a straitjacket. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In the crowded Las Vegas airport on my way home from CES 2018, I wedged myself into an empty spot of wall next to an outlet. The outlet didn’t work. For a half-hour, I watched people wander up hopefully, charging block in hand, try it, and shuffle away, defeated. “It doesn’t work,” I said. “Sorry, it doesn’t work,” I’d say again. Over and over and over. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For a species that’s conquered Earth and traveled through space and invented the Slapchop, we humans sure are insecure when it comes to technology. Our greatest fear: the singularity, when the abilities of AI and robots surpass those of humans, growing so advanced that civilization is forced to reboot as humanity spirals into existential dread. Or worse, the machines turn us into batteries, à la The Matrix. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

My test kitchen tends to be a pretty happy place to work. Case in point? I got to make fried chicken the other day. For it, I put the bird parts in a salty buttermilk bath for the afternoon, then cooked them using the brand new One Top from Tasty. I'd tell you more about that first batch of chicken, but in the frenzy, my notes were obliterated by hot sauce and the grease on my fingers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Suffice to say the Nintendo Switch is a hit beyond what anyone could have expected. The versatile, modular console sold more than 10 million units in its first 10 months, and became the fastest-selling console in US history. That's all the more impressive given Switches were nearly impossible to find in the console's early months, as Nintendo (like everyone else) seriously underestimated its appeal. For Nintendo, then, 2018 becomes a year of doubling down. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A Mustang and an Explorer wheel into a Detroit factory. This is not, tragically, the beginning of a joke. Rather, it’s a new (and weirdly ‘80s themed?) Ford promo video. Lightning flashes, synthesizers synthesize, and we behold the carmaker's next great machine, to debut in 2020: an all-electric SUV, good for 300 miles of driving between charges, called the Mach 1. Well, we behold a glowing sign that reads "Mach 1"—Ford has yet to debut the car, even as a concept or prototype. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As I sit down in Nissan’s simulator, I prepare myself for the fact that a cohort of researchers could scrutinize my skills as a wheelman with more rigor than the most aggravating backseat driver. And, I accept that this process involves wearing what looks like a too-small, sideways bicycle helmet, which holds 11 electrodes poking through my hair. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

First released last year for a bevy of other platforms, Furi is all boss fights. With pounding synth-heavy music and a visual style riffing off of anime and cyberpunk, it's an unending stream of big-bad showdowns, the sort of challenging, mano a mano fights usually served up as level or quest climaxes in other games. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

One might think that rumors out of the galaxy far, far away would subside once Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit theaters. One would be wrong. Even as director Rian Johnson's film continues to get headlines for its costume choices, box office hauls, and lost scenes, gossip about the future of the franchise was spreading throughout the internet. Just what's going on with the next film coming out of the Star Wars universe? Read on. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices