Tim Stevens is a veteran editor, analyst, and expert in the tech and automotive industries. He helmed CNET's automotive coverage for nine years and acted as Vice President of Content. Prior to that, Tim served as Editor-in-Chief of this very website and even led a previous life as an enterprise software architect.
- Engadget
The 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe adds edge to a comfortable family cruiser
Hyundai is on a design roll these days, and the 2024 Santa Fe is another fresh and interesting model.
- Engadget
Hyundai's Ioniq 5 N doubles the power and the fun
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is already one of the best EVs on the market. It's comfortable, it's practical, it looks great and, with 320 horsepower, it's pretty quick, too. If that's not quick enough for you, Hyundai has a solution: The Ioniq 5 N.
- Engadget
Chevy’s first hybrid Corvette isn’t what you think it is
It’s hard to imagine that anyone in the world was demanding a hybrid Corvette, but those crazy engineers at Chevrolet went and did it anyway. Meet the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, but if you’re already angry at the concept, you shouldn't be.
- Engadget
Porsche's electric Macan will be the one to get
The Porsche Taycan is one of the most desirable EVs on the market, but it's not exactly a mainstream car. The company's next EV might get a little closer: Meet the electric Macan.
- Engadget
Mercedes take the wheel: Testing Drive Pilot L3 autonomy in traffic
Drive Pilot is the first proper SAE Level 3 autonomy system on the road, meaning when the car is driving itself you, the driver, aren't even liable for the car's behavior. That's an impressive feat, but it's one that comes with a lot of caveats.
- Engadget
The Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA Class mixes big range and big style
This is the Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA Class. It inherits a lot of learnings from the extremely slippery Vision EQXX, but brings it to a car that’s a lot more ready for production. Also a lot more affordable. The current CLA is one of the most affordable Mercedes-Benz cars you can buy in the U.S., and with any luck this future one won’t break the bank, either.
- Engadget
The Lotus Emeya brings electric supercar performance for four
While the Eletre SUV was something of a first big departure for the company, the Emeya is a quick second-act. The Emeya is a four-door sedan with a swoopy, coupe-like profile, comfortably seating four and, Lotus says, offering somewhere around 300 miles of range from a 102kWh battery pack.
- Engadget
BMW's 'Vision Neue Klasse' concept teases high-efficiency EVs
The latest concept design makes its debut at the IAA Mobility 2023 International Motor Show.
- Engadget
The Mini Cooper Electric gets a brand new look and up to 250 miles of range
It can go up to 250 miles on a single charge.
- Engadget
The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class puts TikTok on the road
For the 2024 E-Class, Mercedes-Benz hasn't radically reinvented this stoic sedan, giving it a refreshed look and some new, more efficient engines with hybrid power. But more interestingly, the new E is loaded with interesting tech tricks and toys that, for now at least, are only found on Mercedes' mid-tier option.
- Engadget
Lotus' Eletre SUV shows the company has finally grown up
We all need to mature someday, and for Lotus, that time is now. Welcome to the Eletre, the company's first production SUV. An electric one at that, with comfortable seating for four or een five. Lotus has been historically known for producing cars that typified the bare minimum needed for enjoyable driving.
- Engadget
All Good Things
I still remember the comments on my welcome letter when I took over the site on a sunny day in early 2011. It was beautiful outside and here I was sweating bullets in a tiny NYC hotel room, watching the reaction in comments and elsewhere. Needless to say there was more than a little hate, but there was so much warmth and optimism and welcome it really powered me through what ultimately became a very long, very good day. That support carried me past more than two incredibly challenging, hugely rewarding years. And so it's with heavy heart that I say that I'm stepping away. Those early days in 2011 were an incredible challenge, and if I'm frank it never really got any easier, with the dawn of new competition and an incredible evolution in the quality of tech journalism over the past few years. We've always had our work cut out for us at Engadget, and I'm hugely proud of how our team rose to the challenge, recently winning numerous awards for content, video and design and, most importantly, maintaining the respect of the Engadget brand. It goes without saying that I had a great opportunity to shape Engadget and I always strove to turn it into a site that everyone, on both sides of the aisle, respected. Respect is the most important thing for me, and those who worked under me at Engadget have earned my eternal respect. I hope you'll give them the same. In the end, I look forward to reading all the comments that this post elicits. I won't be able to reply to them all, but do know that I am so incredibly thankful for your support over the years, even to the haters. Without your hard licks I, and the entire Engadget team, wouldn't have been as driven to exceed as we have always been. As for me? Well, I don't have any specific plans for the moment, but let's just say I'm looking forward to taking a little break before dealing the next hand. The sky's the limit. You can find me on Twitter as @Tim_Stevens.
- Engadget
Editor's Letter: The mobile megapixel wars go thermonuclear
In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news. Nokia has been teasing a zoomable Windows Phone smartphone for what seems like ages now, and finally it has been revealed. It's the Nokia Lumia 1020, stepping up another 100 over the 920 thanks to the addition of a 41-megapixel, backside-illuminated sensor sitting behind a six-element Zeiss lens. Video capture is 1080p and the cameraphone intriguingly offers full manual control, but it's basically a Lumia 920 beyond that, with a 4.5-inch, 1,280 x 768 display and a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. So, naturally, the draw is that camera, and while we've seen some promising early results from stills and videos, we're obviously going to have to spend more time with the thing to see if it's worth the considerable dent it will make in your pocket. Admittedly, it's far more pocketable than Samsung's Galaxy S4 Zoom, but it remains to be seen whether megapixels can really sell phones. We'll find out on July 26th, when the phone will be available at AT&T for $300. %Gallery-193609%
- Engadget
Google Latitude shuts down August 9, but Google+ location sharing will go on (and on)
Checking in to your favorite places is a great way to let people know when you're somewhere important, but there are plenty of in-between times when you might want close acquaintances to know where you are so they can tell when you got stuck in traffic or got home safely. That's when Latitude comes in -- or, perhaps we should say, came in. As part of its Maps redesign, Google is sending its Latitude service the way of Google Reader. Latitude gets lost on August 9th, less than a month from now, and all of its various location-centric APIs will wander offline at the same time. Additionally, Google is removing check-in functionality from Maps, asking that you use Google+ instead, which is also where you'll have to turn if you want to share your location with friends -- a feature not currently enabled in the iOS version of the app. Google promises that functionality is "coming soon," so in the interim please tell your significant other the same when they ask what time you'll getting home from work.
- Engadget
Editor's Letter: More than a point release
In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news. This week is Microsoft's time to shine. Its Build conference, typically held later in the year, kicked off on Wednesday and along with it came a lot more about Windows 8.1 -- which we thought we already knew plenty about, honestly. But there was more to learn, including a new milestone for the Windows Store: 100,000 apps. Well, almost 100,000 apps. Steve Ballmer said the store was "approaching" that number and has racked up "hundreds of millions" of downloads. A bit of a far cry from Apple's 50 billion, but hey, it's early days yet. More interesting to me is the inclusion of native 3D-printing support in Windows 8.1. Good 'ol 2D printers were certainly common before the traditional driver came into standard practice, but that market didn't really take off until they effectively became plug and play. One could say it's perhaps a bit early for that kind of native support to be needed in Windows for a 3D printer, but better too soon than too late.
- Engadget
Editor's Letter: Microsoft backtracks. Is the Xbox One better for it?
In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news. It's not too often that we call a tech news story stunning, but that seems like an apt description for our reaction when Microsoft decided to pull an abrupt about-face and nix its controversial rights management for the Xbox One. We learned at the Seattle launch event that the system would have to call home once every 24 hours or every game installed from a disc would be disabled -- even if you had the disc in the drive -- and quickly the rumblings from the gamers started. They grew louder at E3 when Microsoft detailed the system's DRM, a stream of complaints that quickly reached deafening levels on online forums and the like. Yet, through all that, Microsoft stayed true to the party line, that the advantages of this system (being able to digitally share games, being able to change games without having to swap discs, etc.) outweighed the overwhelmingly negative reaction brewing among online gamers. That corporate message seemed to get bitter at times, weary at others, but never showed a sign of changing. Until, suddenly, a complete about-face this week.
- Engadget
Father's Day special edition gift guide
Dad's been good to you. Very good to you. Why, without him you quite literally wouldn't be on this earth, and that's something to be thankful for. If he's anything like you, he probably has a bit of a passion for the latest and greatest in tech. But, it can be very hard to know what to buy in this dynamically changing world. Lucky for you, dear reader, we've put together this handy list of great gadgets and last-minute shopping ideas for dear 'ol dad.
- Engadget
Editor's Letter: E3 vs. WWDC
In each issue of Distro, Editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news. One major press event going on means we need to get our game faces on. Two happening simultaneously? Hoo boy, that raises the stakes. This year we had full teams on the ground in both San Francisco and Los Angeles for the dueling media extravaganzas that were E3 and WWDC. In one, we learned a lot about two incredible new gaming systems and saw dozens of fantastic new games. In the other? Two new important operating systems, one new laptop and a new desktop that even Mac haters will have to admit is quite a thing. We'll start with WWDC, since I was actually there for that one, and the biggest news of the day was the long-awaited unveiling of iOS 7. Apple reps were merciless in their ire toward the former versions' skeuomorphic tendencies, poking fun at the green velvet, the mock stitching and the faux surfaces that previously played such a big part of the iPhone and iPad experience. Now things are rather simpler -- and a bit more abstract.
- Engadget
MacBook Air review (13-inch, mid-2013)
We can't lie: we were hoping for a Retina MacBook Air last year when Apple rolled out the thinner, faster MacBook Pros with their pixel-packed displays and optical drive-free chassis. The Air, sadly, got left out of that particular party, but when we reviewed it we found a perfectly fine machine. This year, then, would surely be the year of major updates to Apple's venerable thin-and-light machine? As it turns out, no, it wouldn't be. From the outside, the mid-2013 MacBook Air refresh is again a very minor one indeed, with no new display and (virtually) no exterior modifications. On the inside, though, bigger changes are afoot. New, faster SSDs and a selection of power-sipping Haswell CPUs from Intel have created a device that's all but identical to its predecessor yet is, in many ways, vastly improved. Is this wedge-like, 13-inch paradox worth your $1,099, and can it really live up to Apple's promised 12-hour battery life? Let's find out.%Gallery-190960%