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AI was everywhere in 2016
At the Four Seasons hotel in South Korea, AlphaGO stunned grandmaster Lee Sodol at the complex and highly intuitive game of Go. Google's artificially intelligent system defeated the 18-time world champion in a string of games earlier this year. Backed by the company's superior machine-learning techniques, AlphaGo had processed thousands and thousands of Go moves from previous human-to-human games to develop its own ability to think strategically.
In 2016, emoji kept it 💯
In addition to everything else that happened in tech this year, something small, cute and unassuming wormed its way into your smartphone, your social network and even your MacBook keyboard. While emoji have been around a while, this was the year these pictographs firmly lodged themselves into our lives. It's become less like immature shorthand and more like another language.
Netflix never slowed down in 2016
Netflix stormed through 2016, starting with its unprecedented announcement of (nearly) worldwide availability. A slew of popular originals kept the momentum going and viewers happy, despite a midyear price hike. Now, Netflix has cemented its place as a media giant, with more customers and reach than any of its big-cable competition. These days, you can even watch Netflix on a Comcast cable box -- something that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 19: Simply the Best
In this week's episode guest host Devindra Hardawar is joined by managing editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Chris Velazco as they run through the biggest winners of 2016. While it might have been a rough year for our musical legends, it was a pretty solid one for Netflix and Tesla. Heck, even in the throes of a growing fake news crisis, Facebook managed to have more wins than loses. And, once they've finished listing off all the ways emoji are taking over the world, they'll look at some of the best gadgets of 2016.
The best games of 2016
The year is nearly over, and I don't think I'm alone in saying that I'm ready to leave behind the dark, twisted fantasy that is 2016. No matter your political persuasion, social status or country of residence, you'll have felt disquieted by events at some point this year. The sheer scale of 2016's failings allows for such blanket statements. Natural disasters, mass shootings and political events have left me buffeted by wave after wave of anxiety. Because of this never-ending cycle of unease, video games have been more important to me this year. Of course, they're always a form of escapism, but in 2016 they've had to function as a kind of digital cocoon. Gaming has been a place to retreat. A moment of respite. Whether passing the minutes on a mindless clicker or puzzle game, losing myself for hours in grand strategies and sport sims or taking a long weekend to head out on a fantastic adventure, gaming has helped me. A lot. Perhaps that's why I've been reacting to game delays with all the composure of a YouTube commenter. And, God, the delays have come thick and fast.
The best gadgets of 2016
A year ago, virtual reality felt almost like a pipe dream. But during 2016, we saw the launches of the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and Daydream, a new mobile platform from Google. VR is here, and it's very much . . . well, real. We're still waiting for more games to appear and for the price of truly immersive platforms to fall, but it's an auspicious start for a category that's sometimes felt overhyped. Of course, there was even more great stuff this year beyond VR. We've seen the steady evolution of smartphones with Google's Pixel devices, the iPhone 7 Plus and Samsung's Galaxy S7 line (with the Note 7 being the obvious exception). Both Dell and HP delivered some of the most refined laptops we've ever seen (sorry, MacBook Pro). And we can think of a few more standouts too. Find all of our favorite gadgets of 2016 in the gallery below.
NASA dominated space and social media in 2016
"We all have a thirst for wonder," American astronomer Carl Sagan wrote in his sci-fi novel Contact. "It's a deeply human quality." And it's partly thanks to this "thirst" that NASA had the space game on lock this year, even though it doesn't have access to as much money as it used to. The agency stepped into 2016 armed with $19.3 billion in government funding. Yes, that's almost a $1 billion more than what the administration originally asked for, but it's also significantly lower than NASA's budget in previous years, when adjusted for inflation.
Tesla's master plan was realized in 2016
Tesla started in 2006 as a niche electric sports car manufacturer. Its 2008 Roadster had an insane range of 244 miles and an equally bonkers price of more than $100,000. It was the first step in CEO Elon Musk's 2006 master plan to eventually bring a high-range, reasonably priced EV to the masses. Ten years later, that strategy is finally about to pay off.
This was the year of VR, until AR stole it
This was supposed to be the year of virtual reality, but barely had 2016 started when Microsoft threw a spanner in the works with the announcement of HoloLens. Rather than taking us to a virtual world, Microsoft's headset pulls virtual objects into our own. Microsoft calls these objects Holograms, much to the chagrin of hologram enthusiasts, but most people know them as tenets of mixed, or augmented, reality. It's already being touted as the next next big thing. Of course, 2016 was full of VR. With spring came the retail launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC's Valve-endorsed Vive. Both require two things: a lot of cash and a lot of power. The Rift costs $599 while the Vive is $799 (including controllers and tracking accoutrements). But then you need to factor in the price of a PC that can support the high-fidelity, high-speed visuals VR requires. A typical all-in price started from $1,500, putting it out of the range of all but the most ardent of gamers. That price has dropped and will continue to drop as cheaper, better graphics cards are released.
2016: The year in winners and losers
2016 was an interesting one, that's for sure. To celebrate its quickly approaching end, we're going to spend the next two weeks looking back at the most important story lines of the year -- starting with the biggest winners of 2016. (Don't worry, next week we'll be taking shots at the biggest losers.) Over the next six days Engadget will take stock of who is entering 2017 in a much better position than in 2016. Facebook for one, has started to really pull away from its social media competitors, despite its struggles with fake news. And, after years of being promised that VR or AR would go mainstream, 2016 finally seems to have delivered. Oh, and we also saw emoji evolve from a bunch of silly pictures into a full-fledged language of its own -- one that represents the diversity of our society. So stay tuned through December 31st as we run down the biggest winners and losers of 2016. Check out all of Engadget's year-in-review coverage right here.
