IRL: The Polaroid Cube is a tiny camera that leaves you wanting more

Gone are the days when you had to carry a hefty camera to capture life's best moments. For the most part, we have smartphone makers to thank for that, aided by steady improvements to imaging sensors. At the same time, though, a number of other manufacturers have made it their mission to build ever-smaller cameras -- all to make snapping photos and taking videos a much easier feat than it was before.

It's been 30 years since Britain's first mobile phone call

Exactly 30 years ago today, two men made history by completing the first mobile phone call in the UK. As everyone celebrated the opening seconds of 1985, Michael Harrison, the son of former Vodafone chairman Sir Ernest Harrison, rang his father from Parliament Square in London. The call was supposed to be a surprise; Michael had snuck away from his family's New Year's Eve party in Surrey and driven up to the capital earlier that evening.

IRL: Why I got my mom a Nexus 9 for Christmas

My dad called me up a few weeks ago saying he wanted to get mom a tablet for Christmas, one that might be good enough to replace the laptop she hated. It wasn't the hardware causing angst; it was the software: Windows 8. She's pretty comfortable with technology, but migrating from the familiar world of Windows' past was tricky and she wasn't alone -- I didn't find it easy either. While no tablet could completely replace a laptop, for general internet use, it's all she really needed.

Why sitting will kill you (and what to do about it)

If you work anywhere in or around technology, chances are you've either witnessed or are a member of the standing-desk craze, the natural offshoot of the increasing medical research suggesting sitting in your Herman Miller Aeron chair will actually kill you faster than smoking. But standing's the tip of the iceberg. Treadmill desks, work-walking, whatever you want to call it -- more and more people aren't just standing while they work; they're clocking in 10 slow miles a day on the job. With treadmill desks popping up everywhere from home offices to the cube farms of Google to the open newsrooms ofThe New York Times, the definition of what it means to be "at work" is changing more than ever before.

The stories that defined 2014

It was the year of wearables, VR and 4K. It was the year of ridiculous IPOs and massive security breaches. It was also the year Engadget took a step back and took in the big picture. 2014 was full of great advancements and big setbacks and we were here to tell you about them. Herewith, the stories that defined us and the wild world of technology in the year that was.