The Vergecast

Nilay and David talk a bit about this week’s launch of the Verge subscription, plus what’s coming next. (There’s still time to send questions for next week! 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected].) Then they talk about the streaming news of the week, and the ways streaming services are continuing to act like cable companies. Then Kylie Robison joins to talk about the lowering stakes for AGI, shipmas at OpenAI, and more. Finally, in the lighting round, it’s crypto and browsers and Intel. And more crypto.

Further reading:

• Here we go: The Verge now has a subscription
• ESPN is coming to the Disney Plus app starting today
• Max is testing always-on HBO channels
• Max is finally about to start cracking down on password sharing.
• Walmart bought Vizio 
• OpenAI’s 12 days of ‘shipmas’ include Sora and new reasoning model
• Sam Altman says AGI will “matter much less” than people expect
• Sam Altman on Elon Musk and OpenAI’s relationship with Microsoft.
• ChatGPT’s search results for news are ‘unpredictable’ and frequently inaccurate
• Stop using generative AI as a search engine
• Misinformation expert admits ChatGPT added fake details to his anti-deepfake court filing
• Bitcoin just hit $100,000 
• Dia is the The Browser Company’s AI-powered follow-up to Arc
• Threads takes an important baby step toward true fediverse integration
• Threads’ next update is a search feature that finds the post you’re looking for
• Meta says it’s mistakenly removing too many posts
• Intel’s CEO is out after only three years
• What happened to Intel?
• Trump picks two nominees who could decide the fate of Big Tech and crypto 
• Spotify Wrapped 2024 adds an AI podcast to recap your listening habits
• Apple Music’s yearly recap is finally available in the app

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The Verge's Thomas Ricker joins the show with an update on his question to live the #vanlife. He shares stories about Starlink Mini, the new Peak Design backpack everyone loves, converting a Sprinter van to a mobile apartment, and more. Then, The Verge's Andru Marino takes us through his tests on a bunch of new creator- and social-friendly microphones, which plug into your phone and promise to make everything sound better. Finally, we answer a question about web browsers on the Vergecast Hotline.

(Don't forget to send us your questions about The Verge and The Vergecast for next week's episode! Call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected] with all your most meta questions.)

Further reading:

• Starlink Mini review: space internet goes ultraportable
• Peak Design’s Outdoor Backpack is a more versatile everyday bag
• Stoke Voltaics’ portable electric cookware review
• This backpack solar generator can help you ignore nature
• This little box provides on-demand power when off the grid
• Living and working from an all-electric VW ID Buzz
• DJI’s new wireless mics skip a few features to get smaller and lighter

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2024 is almost over, somehow. So we gathered a bunch of our Verge colleagues and told them each to tell us three things from the year: the biggest story, their favorite new tech thing, and their favorite new non-tech thing. We got a collection of big stories, cool gadgets, great movies, and more good stuff from the year that was.

We're also planning a special episode for Tuesday, December 10th, all about The Verge and The Vergecast. So if you have questions about how we work, what we cover, why we talk about copyright law so much, or what Nilay is actually like to work with every day, tell us! Call 866-VERGE11, or email [email protected], and we'll answer as many as we can on the 10th. Thanks in advance!

Further reading:

Jay Peters:

• Story of the year: Google is a monopoly
• New thing of the year: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Non-tech thing of the year: XOXO Field Notes notebooks

Jake Kastrenakes:

• Story of the year: All things AI
• New thing of the year: The Wiim Ultra amp
• Non-tech thing of the year: Chronoloy

Justine Calma

• Story of the year: The US election, and the rise of nuclear power
• New thing of the year: Nurse Unseen
• Non-tech thing of the year: Sugarcane

Vjeran Pavic:

• Story of the year: The Apple Vision Pro
• New thing of the year: The Fujifilm X100VI and the Kino app
• Non-tech thing of the year: Mountain Gazette

Kylie Robison:

• Story of the year: Billionaire crybabies
• New thing of the year: Stardew Valley
• Non-tech thing of the year: Curated playlists

Barbara Krasnoff:

• Story of the year: The US election
• New thing of the year: The Elgato Stream Deck
• Non-tech thing of the year: Googly eyes

Alex Heath:

• Story of the year: The AI rat race
• New thing of the year: Granola
• Non-tech thing of the year: Shochu

Ash Parrish:

• Story of the year: Grand Theft Auto VI and the Nintendo Switch 2, and more industry layoffs
• New thing of the year: The Playstation Portal
• Non-tech thing of the year: Bucephalus the puppy

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The Verge's Lauren Feiner joins Nilay and David to talk about the US government's proposal in its search antitrust case against Google. They discuss the future of Chrome, what a white-label search engine might look like, and how a Trump administration might change the course of this case altogether. Then Nilay and David talk about the week in AI and gadget news, from the latest on Amazon's new Alexa to Google bailing on tablets all over again. Finally, in the lightning round, they discuss Comcast spinning off its cable channels and the latest in the Threads / Bluesky competition.

Further reading:

• DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open its search monopoly
• Google responds to DOJ’s ‘extreme proposal.’
• Google workers to DOJ: we need protections to make your breakup effective
• Apple fights to keep DOJ antitrust suit from reaching trial
• Amazon announces new Echo Show 21 and Echo Show 15 smart displays
• Google may be about to reboot its laptop and tablet hardware again
• Google reportedly cancels Pixel Tablet 2 and might quit the category — again
• Sonos’ smart TV plans might have found an OS
• Windows 365 Link is a $349 mini PC that streams Windows from the cloud
• Comcast is spinning off its cable TV business
• Trump names Brendan Carr as his FCC leader
• Strava closes the gates to sharing fitness data with other apps
• Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI
• Threads’ custom feeds are already rolling out
• Threads’ algorithm will focus more on the people you follow
• Bose acquires premium audio brand McIntosh

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Richard Lawler joins the show to chat about the Tyson / Paul fight, and more importantly the fact that Netflix didn't seem to be able to keep up. As live sports — and TV in general — move toward streaming, are even the biggest names in tech ready for what's coming? After that, Roland Allen, the author of The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper, tells us about the history of the notebook, and why we've been writing things down about our lives for centuries. Even in a digital world, Allen argues, you just can't beat the notebook. Finally, a question from the Vergecast Hotline sends producer Will Poor down a TikTok Shop rabbit hole.

Further reading:

• Netflix served the Tyson vs. Paul fight to 60 million households
• NFL fans worry Netflix’s bad Tyson vs. Paul stream means it can’t handle football
• Netflix adds Beyoncé to live entertainment juggernaut
• Netflix snagged global streaming rights for NFL Christmas Day games
• Roland Allen’s website
• The Notebook: a History of Thinking on Paper

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For the third episode in our series about the future of music, we talk with Ge Wang. Ge is a professor at Stanford, a co-founder of Smule, the conductor of Stanford’s laptop orchestra, and has been at the center of technology and artistry for most of his life. We talk about how humans can use AI without giving in to it, what it means to truly play with technology, and the value of art and creativity and friction when it feels like all those things are being taken away.

Further reading:

• Ge Wang’s website
• The future of computer music | Stanford University School of Engineering
• Ge’s viral TED talk: The DIY orchestra of the future
• From Wired: Behind the Scenes With the Stanford Laptop Orchestra
• Ge Wang: Human Well-Being Should Be AI Creators’ Goal

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Nilay and David talk about the future of social, in light of Bluesky's recent surge in growth. Threads is huge, Bluesky is ascendent, Mastodon is... around, but can any of them become the next Twitter? Is that even the goal? After that, Kylie Robison joins the show and the gang discusses Apple's smart home device (which is just an iPad), the AI scaling slowdown, and a new twist in the delivery wars. In the lightning round, it's all about disclosures, wireless carriers, and the sad end of Freevee.

Further reading:

• Twitter’s succession: all the news about alternative social media platforms 
• One million people have joined Bluesky in the past week.
• Bluesky adds 700,000 new users in a week
• The Guardian is quitting X.
• Remember the TikTok ban?
• Apple’s rumored six-inch ‘AI wall tablet’ could control your smart home by March 2025
• Apple is reportedly working on an Apple Home security camera 
• Anthropic co-founder Darius Amodei said we’ll have artificial general intelligence “in 2026 or 2027.”
• Just Eat is selling Grubhub to Marc Lore’s Wonder for $650M
• Boost Mobile says it’s a real wireless carrier now
• Amazon is shutting down Freevee
• Trump says Elon Musk will lead ‘DOGE’ office to cut ‘wasteful’ government spending

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On today's show: sleep gadgets, AI DJs, and sneaky TVs. Victoria Song joins the show to talk about her experiences with the Eight Sleep mattress pad, the Oura Ring 4, and other sleep gadgets. Can you really measure your way to a better night of sleep? After that, Allison Johnson gives us her take on Spotify's AI DJ, and we wonder exactly how an AI tool is supposed to help us find and listen to music. Finally, Nilay Patel comes on to answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline about the Samsung Frame TVs — and how to figure out whether you need a TV at all.

Further reading:

• Eight Sleep Pod 4 Ultra review: for sale, good night’s sleep, just $4,700
• Ozlo Sleepbuds hands-on: resurrected and I’ve slept so good
• Oura Ring 4 review: still on top — for now
• Spotify’s AI is no match for a real DJ
• Samsung’s Frame TV is finally getting the knockoffs it deserves

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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For the second episode in our three-part miniseries about the future of music, Charlie Harding, a music journalist and co-host of the Switched on Pop podcast, joins the show to tell the story of Auto-Tune. He walks us through how a simple plugin became such a recognizable sound in music, why both artists and fans gravitated to the Auto-Tune sound, and why Auto-Tune has continued to grow even through backlash in the music business. Then we look ahead to AI, and try to figure out what — if any — lessons we might be able to learn about the sound and culture of the AI era to come.

Further reading:

• Charlie Harding on X
• Switched on Pop
• From Pitchfork: How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music
• From Rick Beato: How Auto-Tune DESTROYED Popular Music
• From Gabi Belle: The Problem with Autotune on TikTok

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Nilay and David talk about the election, and how The Vergecast plans to cover and talk about the next four years of the Trump administration. But only for a minute. Then it's onto our reviews of the new Mac Mini and MacBook Pro, which reset Apple's desktop and laptop lineup in an excellent way. After that, Sean Hollister joins the show to discuss his review of the PlayStation 5 Pro, the news about backwards compatibility for the Nintendo Switch successor, and the state of Nintendo's fight against emulators. In the lightning round, we talk about really expensive domain names, oddly named smart home standards, and cloud gaming whales. Which apparently exist.

Further reading:

• Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election
• What does Trump’s election mean for EVs, Tesla, and Elon Musk? 
• All the Big Tech leaders congratulating Donald Trump 
• Google CEO says company should be ‘trusted source’ in US election
• Another Trump presidency is literally toxic — his opponents are gearing up for battle
• Here’s FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr sucking up to Donald Trump by threatening to take NBC off the air
• Apple Mac Mini M4 review: a tiny wonder
• Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2024) review: the Pro for everyone
• Amazon says it’s fixing the Kindle Colorsoft’s yellow screen
• Kindle Colorsoft owners complain of a yellow bar on the e-reader’s screen
• PS5 Pro review: how close is your TV?
• Nintendo’s next generation is off to a great start
• Nintendo says the Switch successor will be compatible with Switch games
• Why is Nintendo targeting this YouTuber?
• Did OpenAI just spend more than $10 million on a URL?
• The Matter smart home standard gains support for more devices, including heat pumps and solar panels
• Nvidia to cap game streaming hours on GeForce Now instead of raising fees

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November 6th marks 10 years to the day since Amazon surprise-launched a new, cylindrical device called the Echo. It introduced the world to smart speakers, and to the idea that you might be able to get stuff done just by shouting aloud in your living room. But a decade in, what has Alexa really accomplished? The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins the show to talk through the history of Alexa, Amazon's struggles to improve and extend its voice assistant, and the promise of a language model overhaul that might in theory make Alexa far more useful. There's a chance Alexa's second decade might be even more interesting than the first.

Further reading:

• Amazon just surprised everyone with a crazy speaker that talks to you
• Amazon Echo review: listen up
• Alexa, where’s my Star Trek Computer?
• Alexa, thank you for the music
• The Alexa Skills revolution that wasn’t
• The Amazon Echo graveyard
• Amazon’s supercharged Alexa won’t arrive this year

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For the first episode in our three-part miniseries on the future of music, we tell the story of Track Star, a music game show that has become a viral hit on TikTok and Instagram. Jack Coyne, the show's friendly host, tells us how Track Star came to be, why the format works so well, and why A-list celebrities like Olivia Rodrigo, Ed Sheeran, and Kamala Harris are all clamoring to be on the show. Coyne also tells us where Track Star might go next — and why the future of music content might look a lot like the past.

Further reading:

• Track Star on TikTok
• Jack Coyne on Instagram
• The Olivia Rodrigo episode
• The "Every Track Star Song" playlist
• The Malcolm Todd episode
• Public Opinion

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Nilay and David discuss a big week in AI news, including the new web search features in ChatGPT and the reporting that Meta is working on something very similar. They also briefly talk about this quarter's tech earnings, and what they say about the ways AI is really being used. Then, Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern joins the show to talk about Apple Intelligence, Apple's week of Mac launches, and why Siri still can't open her garage. Finally, in the lightning round, the hosts talk about Netflix's gentle push into social features, Tony Fadell's AI thoughts, and our endorsement of Kamala Harris.

Further reading:

• OpenAI’s search engine is now live in ChatGPT
• Meta is reportedly working on its own AI-powered search engine, too
• Microsoft’s gaming revenue keeps going up, even though hardware sales are down
• Reddit is profitable for the first time ever, with nearly 100 million daily users
• Snap Inc. - Financials - Quarterly Results
• Apple’s Mac week: everything announced
• Apple announces redesigned Mac Mini with M4 chip — and it’s so damn small
• Watch Apple show off the M4 Mac Mini in its reveal video - The Verge
• Apple’s new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad have USB-C
• Apple put the Magic Mouse’s charging port on the bottom again
• Apple updates the MacBook Pro with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips
• Apple updates the iMac with new colors and an M4 chip
• Apple’s first smart home display could pay homage to a classic iMac
• Apple Intelligence is out
• WSJ: Apple’s Craig Federighi Explains Apple Intelligence Delays, Siri’s Future and More
• Netflix is making it easier to bookmark and share your favorite parts of a show
• Tony Fadell calls out Sam Altman
• Tim Walz and AOC are going to play Madden together on Twitch
• The Verge’s guide to the 2024 presidential election
• Tech leaders line up to flatter Trump’s ego
• Jeff Bezos is no longer relentlessly focused on customer satisfaction
• “You have a Washington Post problem.”
• From The New York Times: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and the Billions of Ways to Influence an Election

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Kylie Robison joins the show to talk about the recent dueling AI blog posts from OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei. What do these CEOs think the future of AI looks like? Then, Will Poor tells us the story of ShakeAlert, an earthquake alert system that has huge potential and some surprising challenges. On The Vergecast Hotline, Allison Johnson joins Will to figure out whether the iPhone's new Camera Control is really as fast as advertised.

Further reading:

• Sam Altman: The Intelligence Age
• Dario Amodei: Machines of Loving Grace
• Anthropic’s CEO thinks AI will lead to a utopia — he just needs a few billion dollars first
• OpenAI plans Orion AI model release for December
• ShakeAlert
• If you live on the West Coast and you have an iPhone, here's how to turn on the "Local Awareness" feature that speeds up WEA messages:
• Download the MyShake app on for iOS
• or for Android
• Ready.gov's earthquake advice:
• About emergency and government alerts on iPhone
• Apple iPhone 16 and 16 Plus review: all caught up

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Nilay, David, and Richard Lawler talk about all of the coming Apple gadgets and software, from the new iPad Mini to the upcoming week of Mac announcements to the many flavors of iOS and Apple Intelligence heading to a device near you soon. Then they talk about the other news in AI, from Anthropic's new computer-using model to the growing set of lawsuits against AI companies. In the lightning round, they discuss the Boox Palma 2, T-Mobile's "lifetime" deals, and the battle over FTC's click-to-cancel rule.

Further reading:

• Apple iPad Mini 2024 review: missing pieces
• iOS 18.2 will let everyone set new default phone and messaging apps
• Apple’s first iOS 18.2 beta adds more AI features and ChatGPT integration
• Apple teases ‘week’ of Mac announcements starting Monday
• Apple is preparing an M4 MacBook Air update for early next year
• Tim Cook says he uses every Apple product every day — how does that work?
• Tim Cook on Why Apple’s Huge Bets Will Pay Off
• Anthropic’s latest AI update can use a computer on its own
• Humane slashes the price of its AI Pin after weak sales
• Apple is ‘concerned’ about AI turning real photos into ‘fantasy’
• News Corp sues Perplexity for ripping off WSJ and New York Post
• Kevin Bacon, Kate McKinnon, and other creatives warn of ‘unjust’ AI threat
• Industry groups are suing the FTC to stop its click to cancel rule
• The Boox Palma 2 has a faster processor and adds a fingerprint reader
• Seniors are PISSED that T-Mobile won’t honor its “lifetime” price guarantee.

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The Verge's Victoria Song joins the show to talk about her year of testing smart rings, and which of the many new options is the one you should buy. Then Chris Welch takes us through his testing of the new hearing health features for Apple's AirPods, including the surprisingly intense hearing test you can take right on your phone. Finally, Andrew Webster helps us answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline: why doesn't Apple buy Nintendo, and what would happen if it did?

Further reading:

• We tested six smart rings, and there’s a clear winner
• Oura Ring 4 review: still on top — for now
• Apple’s AirPods Pro hearing health features are as good as they sound
• Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 could forever change how people access hearing aids
• Super Mario Run hands-on: like Mario, just simpler
• Microsoft’s Phil Spencer says acquiring Nintendo would be ‘a career moment’

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For the last eight months, David Cogen has been living a double life. By day: a YouTuber and creator, the face of the TheUnlockr channel, reviewing phones and testing ebikes and explaining how food smokers really work. By night and morning and every single other available in-between moment: a coffee shop entrepreneur, working to get a Brooklyn spot called Coffee Check up and running. In this episode, the second in the two-part miniseries that we’re calling How To Make It In The Future, Cogen tells the story of how a YouTuber becomes a coffee shop owner — and how to bring those two things together without ruining them both.

Further reading:

• TheUnlockr on YouTube
• David’s Coffee Check announcement
• Coffee Check’s website
• Another fun YouTuber story: Me, Myself, and iJustine

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Nilay and David talk about the week in gadget news, after scoring their predictions on last week's Tesla event. (Spoiler alert: nobody did very well.) They talk about the new iPad Mini, the new Sonos Ace Ultra soundbar, and the new Analogue N64 emulator. Then Amazon's Panos Panay joins the show to discuss this week's big Kindle news, and where he thinks the future of e-readers is headed. Finally, Nilay and David do a lightning round, with a lot of Google org chart news and just a little bit of Trump news.

Further reading:

• The Optimus robots at Tesla’s Cybercab event were humans in disguise
• The Tesla Cybercab is a cool-looking prototype that needed to be much more than that
• Tesla’s Robovan is the surprise of the night
• Apple just announced a new, faster iPad Mini 
• AMD and Intel are teaming up to fend off ARM chips
• Sonos announces ‘breakthrough’ Arc Ultra soundbar and Sub 4 
• Analogue’s 4K Nintendo 64 launches next year for $249
• Amazon’s new Kindle family includes the first color Kindle
• Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition hands-on: color E Ink looks pretty good
• Amazon Kindle Scribe 2024: a new design and AI tools for note takers
• Amazon’s new Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite are faster and brighter
• Amazon discontinues the last Kindle with physical buttons 
• Google is replacing the exec in charge of Search and ads
• Here’s a bunch of bananas shit Trump said today about breaking up Google
• Trump says Tim Cook called him to complain about the European Union
• Anthropic’s CEO thinks AI will lead to a utopia — he just needs a few billion dollars first 
• The New York Times warns AI search engine Perplexity to stop using its content

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Before a podcast was a “podcast,” it was… well, it wasn’t really much of anything. It was in 2004, though, that many of the earliest names in on-demand audio began to smush “iPod” and “broadcast” into the word we’ve come to know as the way we all download and listen to shows now. In this episode, we go back two decades to the first days of the podcast. Then we hit the skip button to today and look at where podcasts are headed next.

Further reading:

• From PodNews: The history of the word 'Podcast'
• From The Guardian: Audible revolution
• From Wired: The First Podcast: an Oral History
• From The New York Times: An MTV Host Moves to Radio, Giving Voice to Audible Blogs

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Danny and Steven Sanicki are twins, competitive golfers, and suddenly the biggest names in online mini golf. They started making mini golf content on TikTok about a year ago, and it took off; since then they've been trying to ride the viral wave and also turn it into something that lasts. For this episode, the first in a miniseries we're calling How To Make It In The Future, we talk to the Sanickis about their journey to turn putt-putt into their life's work — without killing the fun in the process.

Further reading:

• @dannysanicki on TikTok
• Twin Tour Golf on Instagram
• Twin Tour Golf on YouTube
• From Golf Digest: How college golf twins and some friends with time to kill accidentally created a viral mini-golf sensation

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Nilay and David make some predictions about Thursday evening’s Tesla event — which you’ve already seen, but we haven’t! Then they talk about the week’s gadget news, from Nintendo’s new Alarmo alarm clock to Apple’s upcoming iPads and Macs. Then Lauren Feiner joins to talk about the latest on all fronts in Google’s antitrust fight, and how the government might be planning to break up the company altogether. Then it’s time for a lightning round about Google Docs tabs, FEMA misinformation, and Zoom AI avatars.

Further reading:

• The bill finally comes due for Elon Musk
• In the past week, 4 of Elon Musk's direct reports have announced their exits from Tesla
• All the buzz about Nintendo’s Alarmo clock
• I totally forgot we wrote about Nintendo’s sleep tracking alarm clock 10 years ago.
• Nintendo’s original alarm clock prototypes were a lot less playful
• A closer look at Nintendo’s adorable Alarmo clock
• Shrunken Mac Minis and a new iPad Mini might come in November
• Apple’s Vision Pro leader, Dan Riccio, is retiring
• A Google breakup is on the table, say DOJ lawyers
• How the DOJ wants to break up Google’s search monopoly
• Google must crack open Android for third-party stores, rules Epic judge
• The filing: Microsoft Word - FINAL - Google Remedy Framework
• Google’s response: DOJ’s radical and sweeping proposals risk hurting consumers, businesses, and developers
• Google Docs is making it much easier to organize information
• Zoom will let AI avatars talk to your team for you - The Verge
• Hurricane Milton hits tonight, and it’s past the point of evacuation. Creators are still there.
• Instagram and Threads moderation is out of control - The Verge
• FEMA adds misinformation to its list of disasters to clean up

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For this full-on “what is a photo” episode, we start by chatting with Halide developers Ben Sandofsky and Sebastiaan De With about what it means to build a camera app in 2024 — and what it means to try and accurately capture a photo. Then The Verge’s Allison Johnson joins the show to talk about her experiment going all-in on AI-ifying her photos. Finally, we answer a hotline about which gadgets to attach to your head when you go for a run.

Further reading:

• Halide
• Halide’s Process Zero feature captures photos with no AI processing
• Let’s compare Apple, Google, and Samsung’s definitions of ‘a photo’
• No one’s ready for this
• Google’s AI tool helped us add disasters and corpses to our photos
• The AI photo editing era is hare, and it’s every person for themselves
• This system can sort real pictures from AI fakes — why aren’t platforms using it?
• 
  

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Nilay, Alex, and David discuss Microsoft's new Copilot announcements, and the friendlier face the company is trying to put on its chatbot. They also wonder: what, exactly, is an AI companion supposed to do for you, and how is it supposed to do it? They then dive into OpenAI's huge funding round, before exploring all the new gadgets of the week and some deep drama in the WordPress universe. Finally, it's time for a lightning round of news about Dish and DirecTV, Progressive Web Apps, and Nintendo's fight against emulation. We also send off Alex, our sadly departing co-host, with cake and Plex servers.

Further reading:

• Microsoft gives Copilot a voice and vision in its biggest redesign yet
• Read Microsoft’s optimistic memo about the future of AI companions
• Shh, ChatGPT. That’s a Secret. - The Atlantic
• College students used Meta’s smart glasses to dox people in real time
• Sonos has a plan to earn back your trust, and here it is
• Chromebooks are getting a new button dedicated to Google’s AI
• Microsoft is discontinuing its HoloLens headsets
• Google’s Pixel Buds are now fully supported on Windows and macOS.
• Automattic demanded a cut of WP Engine’s revenue before starting WordPress battle
• DirecTV and Dish are merging
• Nintendo has reportedly shut down Ryujinx, the Switch emulator that was supposedly immune

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The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins the show to discuss a bunch of updates in the smart home world, including what's new from Google Home and in iOS 18, plus some big news in the world of smart locks and video doorbells. Then, The Verge's Chris Welch comes on to test some new earbuds, and see which pair has the best sound – and the best mic. After that, a new take on the Vergecast's chaotic wearables theory.

Further reading:

•  Ki is bringing wireless power to kitchen appliances
• The Eufy Smart Lock E30 is the company’s first Matter device
• The Ultraloq Bolt Mission from U-tec is the first smart lock with UWB
• Assa Abloy buys Level Lock to bolster its smart lock business
• TP-Link Tapo D225 Video Doorbell Camera review
• Ring’s entry-level wireless doorbell gets a head-to-toe view
• iOS 18 lets you control Matter devices without a smart home hub
• The Thread 1.4 spec is here, but it will be a while until we see any benefit
• Google TV gets a big upgrade
• Google is set to supercharge Google Home with Gemini intelligence

And on wireless earbuds:

• The best wireless earbuds to buy right now
• Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are its best earbuds yet
• Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 review: big upgrade, much smaller earbuds
• Bose’s new QuietComfort Earbuds offer top-tier ANC for under $200
• Apple AirPods 4 review: defying expectations
• Nothing’s first open-ear headphones keep you aware of your surroundings

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Michael Sayman, the creator of a viral new app called SocialAI, joins the show to discuss why he built a social network where you're the only human around. He tells us how he thinks about AI interfaces, what's next for ChatGPT and other chatbots, and why posting to a language model might be better than posting on a social network.

Further reading:

• SocialAI
• Michael Sayman on LinkedIn
• SocialAI: we tried the Twitter clone where no other humans are allowed
• From TechCrunch: Friendly Apps raises $3 million, pre-product, for apps that improve people’s well-being
• From Wired: I Stared Into the AI Void With the SocialAI App
• From New York Magazine: Does Anyone Need an AI Social Network?
• From Ars Technica: “Dead Internet theory” comes to life with new AI-powered social media app

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The Verge's Alex Heath joins Nilay, Alex, and David to talk about all the announcements coming out of Meta Connect: the impressive (and expensive) Orion glasses, the new features for the Ray-Ban Smart Glasses, and lots and lots of new AI. Then they discuss the latest executive departures at OpenAI, as the industry's foremost AI company undergoes a huge shift. In the lightning round, it's time for more AI gadgets, the PS5 Pro... and then some more AI gadgets.

Further reading:

• Meta Connect 2024: biggest news and announcements
• Hands-on with Orion, Meta’s first pair of AR glasses
• Meta’s Ray-Bans will now ‘remember’ things for you
• Why Mark Zuckerberg thinks AR glasses will replace your phone
• Meta’s VR app store is about to fill up with phone-style 2D apps
• Mark Zuckerberg: creators and publishers ‘overestimate the value’ of their work for training AI
• Meta’s AI can now talk to you in the voices of Awkwafina, John Cena, and Judi Dench
• Kristen Bell told Instagram to ‘get rid of AI’ before she became its official voice
• OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is leaving
• Just 5,000 people use the Rabbit R1 every day
• Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 review: big upgrade, much smaller earbuds
• I played the PS5 Pro, and it’s clearly better
• Inside Jony Ive’s Life After Apple and His LoveFrom Design Business

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Kylie Robison joins the show to talk about OpenAI’s new model, o1, and what this new “reasoning” model says about the state of the art in AI — and what AI companies are willing to put up with in the name of building God. Then, Gaby Del Valle and Adi Robertson talk through the latest on the TikTok ban, the Trump crypto chaos, and the ongoing adtech antitrust trial against Google. (All with as little politics-talk as possible.)

Further reading:

OpenAI releases new o1 reasoning model

OpenAI’s new model is better at reasoning and, occasionally, deceiving

TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform

TikTok oral arguments will weigh security risks against free speech

TikTok faces a skeptical panel of judges in its existential fight against the US government 

Donald Trump is hawking tokens for a crypto project he still hasn’t explained

US v. Google redux: all the news from the ad tech trial

How Google got away with charging publishers more than anyone else

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For the first episode in our new miniseries about the impact of AI in our everyday lives, we chat with Steven Johnson, a longtime author who has spent the last couple of years at Google working on an AI research and note-taking tool called NotebookLM. We talk about whether AI can really help us learn better, how Google has tried to make NotebookLM more accurate and helpful, and whether AI-generated podcasts are the future of learning. 

Further reading:

• NotebookLM
• Steven Johnson’s website / newsletter
• From Steven Johnson: Listening To The Algorithm
• Google teases Project Tailwind — a prototype AI notebook that learns from your documents
• Google’s AI-powered note-taking app is the messy beginning of something great
• Google is using AI to make fake podcasts from your notes
• 
  

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Nilay, Alex, and David are joined by Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern to talk about this year’s iPhone – and Joannabot, the AI chatbot Joanna made to help you make buying decisions. They also answer some questions about the new phones as Apple gets ready to ship them. They also talk about Snap’s new Spectacles, the future of YouTube communities, Instagram teens, and AI social networks.

Further reading:

• Our iPhone 16 Review, Brought To You By a Joanna Stern AI Chatbot
• Snap releases new Spectacles for AR developers
• Snapchat’s AI selfie feature puts your face in personalized ads — here’s how to turn it off
• Snap announces “Simple Snapchat” redesign to compete with TikTok
• Evan Spiegel explains why Snap is betting on Spectacles 
• Meta extends its Ray-Ban smart glasses deal beyond 2030 
• YouTube’s new Hype feature is a way to promote and discover smaller creators
• YouTube integrates AI for creators through Veo and the Inspiration tab
• YouTube Communities let fans and viewers chat and post with creators 
• YouTube confirms your pause screen is now fair game for ads
• YouTube is adding ‘seasons’ to make your favorite channel more like Netflix
• SocialAI: we tried the Twitter clone where no other humans are allowed
• Lionsgate signs deal to train AI model on its movies and shows

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We've finally finished testing, scoring, and reviewing Apple's new gear for the fall. On this episode we talk through our reviews of the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro, the Apple Watch 10, and the AirPods 4, to see whether they're real upgrades and whether they're worth your money. And then, on the Vergecast Hotline (866-VERGE11), we make the case for the Pixel in 2024.

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Peak Evernote was roughly a decade ago. Since then, the product has often felt stagnant (or worse), the company churned through executives and business plans, and it seemed like Evernote was slowly turning into a zombie app. Not gone, not even forgotten, just sort of... there. For the third and final installment in our series about productivity and digital life, we sit down with Federico Simionato, the Evernote product lead at Bending Spoons. We talk about the acquisition process, how he perceives Evernote in today’s landscape, what it took to start shipping new stuff again, why Bending Spoons changed the subscription price, and much more.

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Nilay, David, and Alex talk about the new PlayStation 5 Pro — why it's so expensive, why it doesn't have a disc drive, and why it made so many people feel feelings. They also talk about the fallout from this week's iPhone launch, the first days of the Google ad trial, Kamala Harris's earrings, Huawei's triple-folding phone, and much more.

Further reading:

• PS5 Pro: all the news about Sony’s next console
• Sony’s PS5 Pro has a larger GPU, advanced ray tracing, and AI upscaling
• The $700 PS5 Pro doesn’t come with a disc drive
• Sony’s new PS5 heralds the end of disc drives
• Here are all the games enhanced by PS5 Pro
• PlayStation 5 Pro comparison: What’s different from the regular PS5?
• Sony will sell you a refurbished PS5 if you don’t want to drop $700 on a Pro
• The people want disc drives.
• Microsoft lays off 650 more Xbox employees
• No, Kamala Harris wasn’t wearing these audio earrings
• These are real earrings — and also real earbuds
• Google Pixel Watch 3 review: third time’s the charm
• Huawei’s new tri-fold phone costs more than a 16-inch MacBook Pro
• Here’s a closer look at the Huawei Mate XT triple-screen foldable
• The Meta Quest 3S leaks in Meta’s own PC app
• Google and the DOJ’s ad tech fight is all about control
• Google dominates online ads, says antitrust trial witness, but publishers are feeling ‘stuck’
• WhatsApp will send messages to other apps soon — here’s how it will look
• The US finally takes aim at truck bloat
• Google is using AI to make fake podcasts from your notes
• Facebook and Instagram are making AI labels less prominent on edited content

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Apple launched the iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10, and AirPods 4 at its annual fall event in Cupertino. The devices come with some big upgrades — a new camera control on the iPhone, a new design on the Watch — but also a lot of promises about AI. Today on the show, we discuss everything that's new, everything that's missing, and all the reasons you might or might not want to upgrade your Apple gear this year.

Further reading:

• iPhone 16 event live blog: all the news from Apple’s keynote
• iPhone 16 event: all the news from Apple’s keynote
• Apple announces the iPhone 16 with a faster processor and Camera Control button
• Apple announces the iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max hands-on: don't call it a shutter button
• Apple Watch Series 10 announced with bigger screen and thinner design
• The AirPods Pro 2 will soon double as hearing aids
• iOS 18 will launch next week with new ways to customize your homescreen
• Apple announces AirPods 4 with noise cancellation and better sound 
• AirPods 4 hands-on: noise cancellation for people who hate ear tips
• Apple has a faster MagSafe charger to go with the new iPhone 16 phones 
• Apple has a faster MagSafe charger to go with the new iPhone 16s
• It sure looks like FineWoven is dead
• Apple’s Visual Intelligence is a built-in take on Google Lens
• Beats’ new iPhone 16 cases work with the Camera Control button

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss previews for the Apple event, gadgets at IFA, the latest with Snap, and a whole lot more.

Further reading:

• Apple’s iPhone 16 launch event is set for September
• Apple’s iPhone 16 event: how to watch and what to expect
• Apple’s rumored Mac Mini redesign may ditch the USB-A port
• Is our long FineWoven nightmare almost over?
• What Not to Expect at Apple Event on September 9: 'It's Glowtime'
• A new low-end Magic Keyboard may come next year.
• Apple Sports is ready for all kinds of football
• Inside Apple’s theatrical U-turn on Wolfs.
• Ted Lasso could come back for a fourth season
• Beats’ long-awaited Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds are coming in 2025
• Microsoft and Apple are arguing over cloud gaming apps again
• The Remarkable Paper Pro is as outrageous as it is luxurious
• Honor’s superthin foldable is another cool phone the US won’t get
• TCL’s new Nxtpaper phones have a dedicated button for maximum monochrome
• Our first official look at Huawei’s tri-fold.
• Acer’s first handheld gaming PC is the Nitro Blaze 
• DJI’s $199 Neo selfie drone is going to be everywhere
• Acer’s Project DualPlay concept laptop has a pop-out controller and speakers
• Acer’s 14-inch laptops claim 24 hours of battery life from Intel, Qualcomm, or AMD
• Qualcomm’s new eight-core Snapdragon X Plus makes these Windows laptops cheaper
• IFA 2024: hands-on (and off) with Lenovo’s Auto Twist AI PC concept
• Intel strikes back against Windows on Arm
• Verizon looks to expand Fios with $20 billion purchase of Frontier
• Concord was worse than bad — it was forgettable
• Sony is taking Concord offline on September 6th after disastrous launch
• Snapchat to put ads next to chats with friends
• You’ll soon be able to Sony is taking Concord offline on September 6th after disastrous launch
• Sub.club is here to help the fediverse make money

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss Telegram CEO being charged in a French criminal investigation over content moderation, Yelp suing Google for antitrust violations, a week in AI-generated nonsense, and more.

• Telegram says CEO has ‘nothing to hide’ after being arrested in France 
• French authorities arrest Telegram’s CEO
• Why the Telegram CEO’s arrest is such a big deal
• Telegram CEO charged in French criminal investigation
• Telegram CEO Pavel Durov faces court questioning in France.
• French prosecutors explain why they arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov
• How Pavel Durov, Telegram’s Founder, Went From Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg to Wanted Man
• Can Tech Executives Be Held Responsible for What Happens on Their Platforms?
• How Telegram played itself
• Yelp sues Google for antitrust violations
• TikTok must face a lawsuit for recommending the viral ‘blackout challenge’
• California State Assembly passes sweeping AI safety bill
• Mark Zuckerberg responds to GOP pressure, says Biden pushed to ‘censor’ covid post
• Google Gemini will let you create AI-generated people again
• xAI’s new Grok image generator floods X with controversial AI fakes
• X’s Grok directs to government site after sharing false election info
• Smart home company Brilliant has found a buyer
• ESPN ‘Where to Watch’ feature helps find where to stream sporting events
• Plaud’s NotePin is an AI wearable for summarizing meetings and taking voice notes
• The maker of the Palma has a new cheaper e-reader
• The Dyson Airwrap i.d. is a smarter hair curler
• Snapchat finally launched an iPad app
• Instagram adds what photos have always needed: words
• Apple’s iPhone 16 launch event is set for September

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Today on the flagship podcast of the native resonance of your smartphone: 

02:32 -The Verge’s David Pierce tries to find out if those YouTube videos promising to remove water from your phone with sounds actually work. 

32:42 - Then, David chats with The Verge’s Alex Heath about some AR glasses that are reportedly set to launch from Snap and Meta this fall.

59:16 - Later, David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about competition in the AI industry.

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You can learn a lot about somebody just by learning about how they get things done. Are they the sort of person who might have a perfectly color-coded email inbox, a flawlessly organized to-do list, and what’s that, they just sent you a calendar invite for happy hour next week? Or are they more likely to have a giant pile of sticky notes they never look at, a computer desktop with so many files you can’t even see the wallpaper, and today’s main tasks written on their arm? Neither is wrong, but they’re very different.

On this episode of The Vergecast, the second in our three-part miniseries about work and productivity and how to get more done in a digital world, we decide to get to know our colleagues in a new way: by asking them to share their own productivity systems. We didn’t give them much specific instruction or homework, other than to come ready to answer a question: how do you get stuff done? Eight Verge staffers showed up, with eight very different ideas about what being productive means and how best to pull it off. Along the way, we found some ideas to steal, a few new apps and tools to try, and a lot of new thoughts about our co-workers.

If you want to know more about the things we discuss in this episode, here are a few links to get you started:

• A Googler’s guide to getting things done
• TickTick
• Upnote
• Notion
• Google Keep
• Google Calendar
• The Rhodia #16 spiral notepad
• Papier’s productivity planners

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The Verge's David Pierce, Alex Cranz, Allison Johnson, and Richard Lawler discuss the Google Pixel 9 review and its controversial reimagine AI feature, a Chick-fil-A streaming service, Sonos app updates, and more.

Further reading:

• Google Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL review: AI all over the place
• Google’s AI tool helped us add disasters and corpses to our photos 
• This system can sort real pictures from AI fakes — why aren’t platforms using it? 
• The AI photo editing era is here
• Donald Trump posts a fake AI-generated Taylor Swift endorsement
• From Digital Trends:I tried Google's new Pixel Studio app, and it's a mess
• OpenAI exec says California’s AI safety bill might slow progress
• https://www.threads.net/@chriswelch/post/C-8wxAGOpyP
• https://www.threads.net/@chriswelch/post/C-8LGwKOlPj?xmt=AQGzGV_vvL3vxoEhZ_nM263bP8n-Pu9Dxz5Ngmib-0wzgA
• https://www.threads.net/@chriswelch/post/C-8wxAGOpyP
• A new $6 billion bid to take over Paramount could undo plans to merge with Skydance.
• I hope the next CEO of Disney is just Bob Iger with a fun mustache.
• Paramount Plus plans are 50 percent off ahead of the 2024 NFL season 
• The 2024 Olympics were a big win for TV of all kinds
• The Acolyte has been canceled
• Chick-fil-A is reportedly launching a streaming service for some reason
• Apple Podcasts now has a web app
• Spotify star Alex Cooper is jumping to a new podcast network
• JBL made its charging case touchscreen more useful with a size boost 
• Meta and Snap are about to show off their new AR glasses 
• Amazon cancels the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition’s main feature — focusing on photos

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Today on the flagship podcast of hydrogen futures: 

The Verge’s William Poor, Andrew Marino, and Alex Parkin head to California to figure out why hydrogen fuel cell technology, once a super-promising successor to gasoline, lost out to battery electric cars. They also put the embattled tech to the test with a road trip across California’s “hydrogen highway.”

Further reading: 

• Check out the interactive map of our trip here, and the video version of the story here.

• Read Andrew Hawkins’ story about the future of hydrogen fuel cell tech here.

• Read Justine Calma’s coverage of federal green hydrogen programs here.

• Go deep into California zero emission transportation policy here.

Credits:

Fact Check by Jasmine Arielle Ting

Thanks to:

Bill Elrick, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership

Michael McCurdy, California State Library

Archival footage courtesy of Global ImageWorks, LLC

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Laura Mae Martin is a big believer in the settings menu. Martin is Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor, and spends much of her time working with other Googlers on improving their productivity and communication systems — and one of the things she often recommends is taking a few minutes to poke through the options. “With your phone, with your email, your Slack, all these things, the features are there but we don’t take the time to dive into them,” she says. She even thinks you should maybe have to look at settings before you can use the app. “Like, you can’t get into the app unless you spend 10 minutes figuring out what it can do.”

On this episode of The Vergecast, the first in our three-part miniseries about all things productivity and work, we talk to Martin about how she sees things changing. Four years after the pandemic forced us all to work from home, are we finally figuring out remote and hybrid work? Are managers realizing that butts-in-seats isn’t, and maybe was never, a good metric for productivity? And is the era of the hard-charging hustle bro finally giving way to a healthier, more holistic way of thinking about being productive? Martin sees all these things from so many perspectives, and has lots of thoughts on everything from communication styles to energy flows.

We also talk about the rise in digital productivity tools like Notion and Slack, and why email is still so important — and still so terrible. One of Martin’s jobs at Google is to consult with the teams building Workspace apps like Docs and Gmail, and she has lots of thoughts on how those product works and how they could be better. We also talk about whether AI stands to change the way we get things done, and whether it’ll help us do more or just give us more to do.

Along the way, Martin offers us lots of practical tips on how to manage our digital lives a little better. Charging your phone outside the bedroom, no-tech Tuesdays, and a couple of prettier email labels might actually go a long way. And if you have too many notes in too many places, it’s time to get a Main List going.

If you want to know more on everything we talk about in this episode, here are a few links to get you started:

• Laura Mae Martin’s website
• Her book, Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing’
• The Google Workspace guide to productivity and wellbeing
• The Verge’s favorite tools to stay organized
• The best note-taking apps for collecting your thoughts and data
• All I want is one productivity app that can handle everything

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss AI tools announced at this weeks Pixel 9 event, Nilay's TV competition, tech regulatory news, and more.

Further reading:

• AI overshadowed Pixel at the Pixel event
• All the AI features coming to Google's Pixel 9 series 
• Google debuts Pixel Studio AI image-making app
• Google makes your Pixel screenshots searchable with Recall-like AI feature
• Every time Google dinged Apple during its Pixel 9 launch event
• Google Gemini’s voice chat mode is here
• Using Gemini Live was faster than Google, but also more awkward
• Google Pixel 9 launch event: all the announcements and products 
• Google's Pixel 9 lineup is a Pro show 
• The Pixel 9 Pro XL showed me the future of AI photography
• Google’s Zoom Enhance camera trick is finally available 
• Inside the competition that named the Sony A95L the best TV of 2024
• Patreon adds Apple tax to avoid getting kicked out of the App Store 
• Apple is finally going to open up iPhone tap-to-pay
• Apple relents and approves Spotify app with EU pricing 
• AltStore PAL drops its annual subscription thanks to a grant from Epic
• Epic judge says he’ll ‘tear the barriers down’ on Google’s app store monopoly
• The FTC’s fake review crackdown begins this fall
• Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP, hire lawyers to “clean up the mess”
• Flipboard is going to let you follow fediverse accounts right inside the app
• Halide’s Process Zero feature captures photos with no AI processing
• Realme’s 320W fast charging can fully charge a smartphone in four and a half minutes

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Today on the flagship podcast of the correct height-to-width ratio of a foldable phone: 

The Verge’s David Pierce, Allison Johnson, Victoria Song, and Chris Welch discuss all the new gadget announcements from Google’s Pixel event — including the Pixel 9, the Pixel Watch 3, the Pixel buds, and more.

Further reading:

• Google Pixel 9 launch event live coverage: all the news
• Google’s Pixel 9 lineup is a Pro show
• Google’s new Pixel Buds Pro 2 seem better in every way that matters
• The Pixel 9 Pro XL showed me the future of AI photography
• Google Pixel Watch 3 hands-on: a big leap forward
• The Google TV Streamer might be the Apple TV 4K rival we’ve been waiting for
• Why Google decided now’s the time to move on from Chromecast
• The Nest Learning Thermostat gets its biggest upgrade in over a decade
• Google’s Pixel Fold one year later: I can’t wait for the sequel

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Alex Heath, and Lauren Feiner discuss a federal judge ruling that Google violated US antitrust law, X suing a group of major advertisers over an “illegal boycott”, and the rest of this week's wild tech news.

Further reading:

• Judge rules that Google ‘is a monopolist’ in US antitrust case
• All the spiciest parts of the Google antitrust ruling
• X files antitrust lawsuit against advertisers over ‘illegal boycott’ 
• The Global Alliance for Responsible Media is 'discontinuing' after Elon Musk's X filed an antitrust lawsuit against it
• Disney’s password-sharing crackdown starts ‘in earnest’ this September
• Disney’s streaming business turned a profit for the first time
• The price of Disney Plus is about to go up
• Logitech’s ‘forever’ mouse isn’t happening
• Google is discontinuing the Chromecast line
• The Google TV Streamer might be the Apple TV 4K rival we’ve been waiting for
• Humane’s daily returns are outpacing sales 
• Samsung’s Frame TV is finally getting the knockoffs it deserves 
• Microsoft says Delta ignored Satya Nadella’s offer of CrowdStrike help
• Hands-on with Google’s new Nest Learning Thermostat
• OpenAI won’t watermark ChatGPT text because its users could get caught

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Today on the flagship podcast of what the future of Kindle turns out to be: 

We’re once again trying out a couple of our favorite new show formats. 

In Version History, we talk through the whole story of Quibi, from its early days as NewTV to its extremely ill-timed launch to its ultimate demise. 

• From Variety: Quibi Has Raised $1.75B After Closing $750M Round to Fund Launch
• From Variety: Jeffrey Katzenberg’s NewTV Closes $1B, Major Studios Among Investors
• Quibi’s CES 2020 launch
• Quibi app review: short-form streaming in a shifting landscape
• Steven Spielberg is writing a horror series you’ll only be able to at night
• Quibi’s Super Bowl 2020 commercial
• From The Wall Street Journal: Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman Struggle With Their Startup—and Each Other
• How Quibi imploded less than six months after launch
• 11 reasons why Quibi crashed and burned in less than a year

Next, we try out our as-yet-untitled debate show. The Verge’s Kevin Nguyen and Alex Cranz take on a surprisingly contentious topic: is the future of books print or digital? 

• The Boox Palma is an amazing gadget I didn’t even know I wanted
• Kobo’s great color e-readers are held back by lock-in
• From The Wall Street Journal: How the Kindle Became a Must-Have Accessory (Again)
• The Playdate makes a surprisingly good e-reader

Later, producer Andru Marino answers a question from The Vergecast Hotline about a very unusual shopping situation for MP3 players. 

• NW-E394 Walkman Digital Music Player 
• Mighty’s ‘iPod shuffle for Spotify’ gets upgraded battery and Bluetooth

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Allison Johnson, and Victoria Song discuss Apple iOS 18.1 beta. upcoming Pixel 9 rumors, Olympics coverage, AI deepfake regulation, and more.

Further reading:

• The best way to watch the Olympics is on TikTok
• Apple releases iOS 18.1 developer beta with the first ‘Apple Intelligence’ iPhone features 
• Apple’s iOS 18.1 developer beta adds AI call recording and transcription
• A first look at Apple Intelligence and its (slightly) smarter Siri
• Apple’s new AI features will reportedly miss the iOS 18 launch and wait for iOS 18.1. 
• Google Pixel 9 event: rumors and what to expect 
• Pixel 9’s ‘Add Me’ feature puts you in a group photo even when you’re not there  
• Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra review: if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em 
• Samsung hypes the Galaxy Z Flip as a great police bodycam
• Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber wants your next mouse to last forever
• Microsoft wants Congress to outlaw AI-generated deepfake fraud
• Google tweaks Search to help hide explicit deepfakes
• Lawmakers want to carve out intimate AI deepfakes from Section 230 immunity 
• Elon Musk posts deepfake of Kamala Harris that violates X policy
• The Copyright Office calls for a new federal law regulating deepfakes. 
• Senators will introduce the No Fakes Act to keep AI ...

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Today on the flagship podcast of dedicated streaming hardware: 

We try out a couple of show formats we’ve been planning for a while. 

In Version History, we tell the story of the Roku Netflix Player, debate its legacy, and try to decide whether this thing belongs in the Version History Hall of Fame. 

• From Fast Company: Inside Netflix’s Project Griffin: The Forgotten History Of Roku Under Reed Hastings
• From CNBC: How Roku used the Netflix playbook to rule streaming video
• From CNN: Netflix Player offers PC-free movie watching
• From Wired: Review: Roku Netflix Set Top Box Is Just Shy of Totally Amazing
• From The New York Times: Why the Roku Netflix Player Is the First Shot of the Revolution

After that, it’s time for debates. Nilay Patel and David Pierce yell at each other about who should own the screens in your car. Are CarPlay and Android Auto the answer, the solution to universally crappy automaker software?

• Car companies haven’t figured out if they’ll let Apple CarPlay take over all the screens
• The rest of the auto industry still loves CarPlay and Android Auto
• Everybody hates GM’s decision to kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs
• Rivian CEO says CarPlay isn’t going to happen
• Apple’s fancy new CarPlay will only work wirelessly

Later, David answers a question from The Vergecast Hotline about political spam texts.

• From The Washington Post: How to stop receiving spam texts
• From PCMag: Stop Robotexts: How to Block Smishing and Spam Text Messages

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On this episode of The Vergecast, we look at why TV and movie recommendations are so complicated, and whether AI might be able to make them better. If Spotify can build infinite playlists of music you’ll like, and YouTube and TikTok always seem to have the perfect thing ready to go, why can’t Netflix or Hulu or Max seem to get it right?

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are a few links to get you started:

• Movievanders
• Reelgood
• The internet is a constant recommendations machine — but it needs you to make it work
• Netflix’s Greg Peters on a new culture memo and where ads, AI, and games fit in
• From Scientific America: How Recommendation Algorithms Work—And Why They May Miss the Mark
• From Google: Multimodal prompting with a 44-minute movie

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Jake Kastrenakes discuss OpenAI's new SearchGPT product, Amazon's plan to launch a paid version of Alexa, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold review, and whole lot more.

Further reading:

• OpenAI announces SearchGPT, its AI-powered search engine
• Bing’s AI redesign shoves the usual list of search results to the side
• Reddit is now blocking major search engines and AI bots — except the ones that pay
• Google had a massive quarter thanks to Search and AI
• Amazon’s paid Alexa is coming to fill a $25 billion hole dug by Echo devices
• The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a great phone that’s out of ideas
• Asus ROG Ally X review: the best Windows gaming handheld by a mile
• Samsung Galaxy Ring review: keeping you in Samsung’s orbit
• Apple’s first foldable iPhone could arrive in 2026
• Apple Maps launches on the web to take on Google
• The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle is now available
• Rivian CEO says CarPlay isn’t going to happen
• The NBA’s new TV deals put a lot of games on Amazon’s Prime Video starting in 2025
• Reddit’s NFL, NBA deals bring more sports highlights — and ads
• Spotify CEO confirms a ‘deluxe’ version with hi-fi audio is coming soon
• Sonos CEO apologizes for disastrous rollout of new app

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Today on the flagship podcast of configuration changes:

The Verge's Tom Warren joins the show to to talk about the story and legacy of the CrowdStrike crash. 

• CrowdStrike and Microsoft: all the latest news on the global IT outage
• Major Windows BSOD issue hits banks, airlines, and TV broadcasters
• What is CrowdStrike, and what happened?
• CrowdStrike’s faulty update crashed 8.5 million Windows devices, says Microsoft
• CrowdStrike outage: Photos, videos, and tales of IT workers fixing BSODs

Then we talk with The Verge's Victoria Song and Zombies, Run creator Adrian Hon about making exercising fun without making it competitive and awful.

• Zombies, Run
• Adrian Hon’s Substack
• Finally, the Apple Watch will let you rest
• This walking app let me whack my co-workers with a baseball bat
• Ignore your fitness tracker and walk to Mordor instead

Finally, we answer a hotline question about handheld gadgets for new parents — because there's a lot of time to kill when there's a baby around.

• Backbone One review: the best mobile gaming controller yet
• Handheld consoles are the future of gaming
• Holedown

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On this episode of The Vergecast, senior producer Will Poor explores the AI-tinged worlds of Dries Depoorter. Depoorter has built all manner of quirky and provocative installations and online experiments. There’s a clock that tells you how much of your life you’ve already lived; a phone charger that only works when your eyes are closed; a mobile chat app that you can only use when your phone has less than 5% battery.

His most eyebrow-raising work, though, is around AI and surveillance. In his projects Depoorter takes publicly available webcam footage from around the world, and uses it to stalk celebrities, catch jaywalkers in the act, keep politicians honest, and generally make you wonder about your own privacy and anonymity.

We talked with Depoorter about how he creates his work, how he thinks about the future of AI, and how he responds to the people who see his art and want to turn it into commerce. It’s a wild conversation, so check it out above. To see all of Dries’ work, head over to his portfolio.

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Nilay, Alex, and David talk about what's happening on social media — and around the web — in the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Then they talk about their early impression of Apple's public betas, from the redesigned homescreens to the iPad's fancy new math abilities. After that, it's time for a bunch of gadgets all asking the same idea: is this anything? Then it's off to the lightning round, filled with 4K streams and leaky infinity pools.

Further reading:

• A custom sticker printer infuriated clients with a pro-Trump mass text message
• Shooting conspiracies trend on X as Musk endorses Trump
• Donald Trump likes TikTok, not Zuckerberg.
• The FBI said it found the Trump rally shooter’s Steam account, then took it back
• The Trump rally shooter had a Discord account, company says
• The Trump rally shooting is a cash cow for the dropshippers 
• The FBI says it has ‘gained access’ to the Trump rally shooter’s phone 
• J.D. Vance likes Lina Khan and crypto, hates ‘Big Tech’
• Elon Musk, Joe Lonsdale, and tech elites back a pro-Trump super PAC
• Apple’s public betas: all the news on iOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and more
• Apple is finally embracing Android’s chaos
• iOS 18 might help you rescue photos you thought were gone forever
• The watchOS 11 beta slowed me down, in a good way
• RCS in iOS 18: Apple’s new messaging standard almost solves the green-button problem
• Testing Math Notes and the Calculator app in iPadOS 18
• Phone mirroring on the Mac: a great way to use your iPhone, but it’s still very much in beta
• Canon’s long-awaited EOS R1 and R5 Mark II have eye-controlled autofocus
• Dyson unmasks its super customizable OnTrac headphones
• A long-delayed hands-on with Essential’s skinny Android phone
• This case turns your Apple Watch into a tiny iPod
• Google solves its Pixel 9 Pro leaks by just showing the phone early
• Leaked photos reveal Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
• Xreal Beam Pro review: an AR tablet with good ideas but not enough power
• The OnePlus Pad 2’s vibrating stylus simulates writing on paper
• Sling TV adds 4K streaming for free
• Comcast will have high bitrate, low latency 4K feeds of the Olympics
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s $27 million mansion is a ‘lemon’ with a leaky pool, lawsuit alleges

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Today on the flagship podcast of nose bridge microphones: 

03:10 - The Verge’s David Pierce enlists help from Alex Cranz and Sean Hollister to figure out the best gadget setup for his handheld gaming needs. 

• The Steam Deck wasn’t born ready, but it’s ready now
• Nintendo Switch OLED review: screentime
• Sony PlayStation Portal review: flawed but fun
• Asus ROG Ally updated review: it’s a bit better now
• This amazing knockoff GBA SP comes stuffed with software piracy

42:10 - Victoria Song joins the show to test out the microphones on a bunch of smart glasses and headsets. 

• Razer’s new Anzu smart glasses break from the pack with truly wireless audio
• The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses actually make the future look cool
• Amazon’s latest Echo Frames are more style than substance
• Meta Quest 3 review: almost the one we've been waiting for
• Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not

01:10:26 - Later, David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline.

• North Focals glasses review: a $600 smartwatch for your face

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Humans are terrible at remembering things. On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk to one of the people who has been working on this problem for a very long time: Dan Siroker, the CEO of Limitless. We talk about what it takes to build a great memory aid, how we might use them in the future, and why it’s so tricky to get right.

We also talk about the human side of it all — what does it change about our lives when we stop forgetting things? Is remembering your friend’s birthday different when it’s actually an AI model doing the remembering? And will these tools ever really work outside of work? Tools like Limitless are coming fast and improving quickly, and we’re going to have to figure out how to live with them.

Further reading:

• From The New York Times: Can’t See Pictures in Your Mind? You’re Not Alone.
• Limitless AI: a new wearable gadget, and app, for remembering your meetings
• Recall is Microsoft’s key to unlocking the future of PCs
• Microsoft’s all-knowing Recall AI feature is being delayed
• The Pixel 9’s ‘Google AI’ is like Microsoft Recall but a little less creepy
• Apple announces iOS 18 with new AI features and more customizable homescreen
• Notion AI can automatically write your notes, agendas, and blog posts for you

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss the announcements from Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event, Redbox shutting down, and more tech news from this week.

Further reading:

• Samsung Galaxy Unpacked: all the news on the Galaxy Ring, Fold, Flip, Watch, and AI
• Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 are pricier with minor updates
• Samsung’s Galaxy Ring could be the one ring to rule an ecosystem
• Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra hands-on: ultra déjà vu
• Galaxy Watch 7: price, availability, and how to preorder
• Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds are blatant AirPod clones in both form and function
• Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm are, uh, still doing that XR thing.
• Motorola’s 2024 Razr Plus is a fun and flawed flip phone
• Redbox shuts down as its parent company declares Chapter 7 bankruptcy
• Sling TV is the latest streamer to get those pesky pause ads
• Netflix’s next live event is a Joe Rogan comedy special
• Spotify is going to let you leave comments on podcast episodes
• Paramount agrees to sweetened Skydance merger deal
• Instagram is sticking to short videos, says Adam Mosseri
• Amazon’s Echo Spot is back with better sound and no camera
• Nothing’s CMF launches new supercheap earbuds and a smartwatch
• Nothing’s CMF Phone 1 is proof that gadgets can still be fun
• Early Apple tech bloggers are shocked to find their name and work have been AI-zombified
• Microsoft and Apple ditch OpenAI board seats amid regulatory scrutiny
• The developers suing over GitHub Copilot got dealt a major blow in court

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Today on the flagship podcast of corporate infighting: 

The Verge's David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and Alex Cranz roleplay as CEOs of Vergecast Inc., tasked with creating a tech company by acquiring product lines from various industry giants. They select established products ranging from smartphones and PCs to messaging and audio solutions, sourced from companies such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, Meta, and others. 

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Today on the flagship podcast of spatial computing:

The Verge’s David Pierce chats with Victoria Song and Wes Davis about using the Vision Pro for the five months that it's been available to the public. The group details what works, what doesn’t, and what’s next for the device.

• Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
• Apple announces visionOS 2 with 3D photo transformations and an ultrawide Mac display
• The Vision Pro isn’t destroying your eyes, but maybe get eye drops
• The Vision Pro is a computer for the age of walled gardens
• Apple’s Vision Pro team is reportedly focused on building a cheaper headset
• The Vision Pro will get Apple Intelligence and ‘Go Deeper’ in-store demos

David chats with the folks at Sandwich Vision, who create Vision Pro apps called Television and Theater, about why they made 3D-rendered versions of CRT TVs in virtual reality.

• Sandwich Vision

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The Verge's Nilay Patel and David Pierce chat with Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding about the RIAA lawsuit against AI music startups Udio and Suno. Later, Nilay and David discuss the rest of this week's tech and gadget news.

Further reading:

• What the RIAA lawsuits against Udio and Suno mean for AI and copyright 
• Major record labels sue AI company behind ‘BBL Drizzy’ 
• Good 4 who? How music copyright has gone too far 
• Samsung just announced a date for its next Unpacked
• Google announces surprise Pixel 9 hardware event in August
• Motorola’s 2024 Razr phones are ready to make a splash 
• Beats Pill review: much easier to swallow this time
• Ultimate Ears announces new Everboom speaker, Boom 4 with USB-C, and more 
• Ludacris Performs Free Concert With JBL Speaker: Here's Where You Can Buy One for Summer
• Apple will soon offer better support for third-party iPhone displays and batteries
• Distance Technologies augmented reality car heads-up display hands-on
• Seven things I learned about the Sony car while playing Gran Turismo inside one 
• Rivian teases five new vehicles, and I have no idea what they are
• A group of Rabbit R1 jailbreakers found a massive security flaw
• Meta is connecting Threads more deeply with the fediverse
• ChatGPT’s Mac app is here, but its flirty advanced voice mode has been delayed
• Verizon’s new V logo arrives as the lines blur between 5G, Fios, and streaming
• Supreme Court rules Biden administration’s communications with social media companies were not illegal coercion
• Tesla Cybertruck recalled again, this time over faulty wiper and trim

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Today on the flagship podcast of the many definitions of electronic paper: 

03:12 -The Verge’s David Pierce takes a look at the Boox Palma, a phone-shaped e-reader that runs Android. He also compares notes with Clockwise’s Matt Martin and writer Craig Mod. 

• The Boox Palma is an amazing gadget I didn't even know I wanted
• New Pop-up Walk, Reading Digitally in 2024 — Roden Newsletter Archive 

30:06 - The Verge’s Nathan Edwards and Tom Warren join the show to discuss their experience using Microsoft’s new Surface Copilot PCs. They also answer a question from The Vergecast Hotline.

• Surface Laptop 7th Edition review: Microsoft’s best MacBook Air competitor yet
• With Copilot Plus, the new and improved Windows PCs are here 
• Microsoft’s embarrassing Recall 
• Microsoft makes Copilot less useful on new Copilot Plus PCs 

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and Alex Heath discuss Apple's Vision Pro team reportedly refocusing on a cheaper headset, Meta launching a new "Wearables" organization, a new AI company startup from former OpenAI chief scientist, and a whole lot more tech news.

Further reading:

• Apple’s new hands-free unlocking feature won’t work with existing smart locks
• Apple’s fancy new CarPlay will only work wirelessly
• Android’s AirTag competitors are off to a poor start.
• This universal remote wants to control your smart home sans hub
• The Framework Laptop 13 is about to become one of the world’s first RISC-V laptops
• The Beats Solo Buds have a great look and an even better price
• Xreal’s new Beam Pro is an Android tablet designed to work with your AR glasses
• Apple’s Vision Pro team is reportedly focused on building a cheaper headset
• Meta forms new Wearables group and lays off some employees
• OpenAI’s former chief scientist is starting a new AI company
• Perplexity continues to piss off publishers.
• An AI video tool just launched, and it’s already copying Disney’s IP
• Anthropic has a fast new AI model — and a clever new way to interact with chatbots
• AIs are coming for social networks
• TikTok ads may soon contain AI avatars of your favorite creators
• McDonald’s will stop testing AI to take drive-thru orders, for now
• Nvidia overtakes Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company
• US sues Adobe for ‘deceiving’ subscriptions that are too hard to cancel
• Tech CEOs are hot now, so workers are hiring $500-an-hour fashion consultants

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Today on the flagship podcast of super helpful humanoid helper robots: 

05:07 - The Verge’s David Pierce and Andy Hawkins discuss the latest at Tesla: new products, new initiatives, and a payday for Elon Musk. 

• Tesla’s 2024 shareholder meeting: all the news about Elon Musk’s $50 billion payday
• Let’s speculate wildly about Tesla’s three mystery vehicles 
• Tesla shareholders approve Elon Musk’s massive pay package — was there ever any doubt?
• Whatever Elon wants, Tesla gets

40:21 - Vee Song joins the show to discuss updates to the Apple Watch, a new Samsung Galaxy Watch, and more wearable news. 

• Finally, the Apple Watch will let you rest - The Verge
• Samsung’s Galaxy Watch FE is its new entry-level smartwatch - The Verge
• The Pixel Watch 2 can now detect when you’ve been in a car crash
• Apple announces watchOS 11 with new training features and Live Activities
• Samsung sues Oura preemptively to block smart ring patent claims

1:02:54 - David and Liam James answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline about weather apps. 

• Forecast Advisor

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss takeaways from WWDC, this week's gadget news, and Elon Musk dropping his lawsuit against OpenAI.

Further reading:

• Apple and OpenAI aren’t paying each other yet, says Bloomberg
• MKBHD interviewed Tim Cook.
• Tim Cook is ‘not 100 percent’ sure Apple can stop AI hallucinations
• Can Apple Intelligence fix the iPhone’s broken notifications system?
• The AI upgrade cycle is here
• Here’s how Apple’s AI model tries to keep your data private
• The best small updates Apple didn’t mention at WWDC
• Apple IDs are becoming Apple Accounts
• Apple skipped over the best visionOS 2 updates
• iOS 18 will let you record calls — and tells everyone for their privacy
• SharePlay is coming to Apple TV, HomePods, and Bluetooth speakers 
• Finally, offline maps with turn-by-turn guidance.
• The new versions of iOS and macOS will let you rotate your Wi-Fi address to help reduce tracking.
• Xbox boss: ‘I think we should have a handheld, too’
• Microsoft announces a discless Xbox Series X console in white
• Xbox chief confirms more games are coming to other platforms
• Jabra’s earbuds are going away, but the impact they made isn’t
• The best thing about Jabra’s new earbuds is the case 
• The Light Phone 3 adds a better screen, a camera, and new ways to replace your smartphone
• The Windows on Arm chip race heats up with a challenger to Qualcomm
• Did startup Flow Computing just make CPUs 100x faster? Here’s the white paper and FAQs
• Google is putting more Android in ChromeOS
• Elon Musk drops lawsuit against OpenAI
• Elon Musk has unusual relationships with women at SpaceX, WSJ reports
• Sony buys Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
• Pew: A growing number of Americans are getting their news from TikTok

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Allison Johnson, and David Pierce discuss all the announcements from Apple's WWDC event.

Further reading:

• Apple WWDC 2024: the 13 biggest announcements 
•  Apple Intelligence: every new AI feature coming to the iPhone and Mac
•  Apple is giving Siri an AI upgrade in iOS 18 
• Apple announces iOS 18 with new AI features and more customizable homescreen
• Apple says iPhones will support RCS in 2024  
• Apple’s AI can make custom emoji and images
• iOS 18 introduces satellite capabilities to its iMessage app
• Apple announces iPadOS 18 with a built-in calculator and customizable homescreen 
• Apple made an iPad calculator app after 14 years
• The iPhone’s new Game Mode makes it faster and more responsive 
• Apple announces watchOS 11 with new training features and Live Activitie
• Apple announces macOS Sequoia at WWDC 2024 
• Apple’s standalone Passwords app syncs across iOS, iPad, Mac, and Windows 
• Apple’s AirPods are being upgraded with powerful accessibility features  
• Apple’s InSight feature for Apple TV Plus will tell you who that actor is
• Apple teases new seasons of Severance and Silo
• Apple announces visionOS 2 with 3D photo transformations and an ultrawide Mac display
• Apple is finally launching the Vision Pro outside the US
• Canon made a special lens for the Apple Vision Pro’s spatial videos 

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss what they expect to see next week at Apple's WWDC, or "dub dub" as it's more affectionately known. But first, we take you through all the gadgets previewed at Computex.

Further reading:

• This is Lunar Lake — Intel’s utterly overhauled AI laptop chip that ditches memory sticks
• Humane is reportedly trying to sell itself to HP for $1 billion
• Humane, the startup behind the AI Pin, in talks with HP, telecoms to sell 
• Humane warns AI Pin owners to ‘immediately’ stop using its charging case
• Even the Raspberry Pi is getting in on AI 
• Apple put a Thread smart home radio into its newest Macs and iPads
• Apple just corrected the M2 iPad Air’s core count 
• Samsung leak reveals a cheaper Galaxy Watch
• Meta is fixing three of the biggest Quest 3 annoyances with v66 update 
• Nothing’s Phone 3 will be all about AI apps 
• The Asus ROG Ally X is official — and I took a peek inside
• Palmer Luckey is now selling pixel-perfect ultrabright magnesium Game Boys for $199
• iOS 18 (and AI) will give Siri much more control over your apps
• Apple’s non-AI WWDC plans include Settings and Control Center revamps
• Apple might bring AI transcription to Voice Memos and Notes
• Apple’s WWDC may include AI-generated emoji and an OpenAI partnership
• Apple’s WWDC 2024 is set for June 10th
• Think inside the box
• Max raises prices across its ad-free plans
• We tested Aptoide, the first free iPhone app store alternative
• Google acquires Cameyo to integrate Windows app virtualization into ChromeOS

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Today on the flagship podcast of audio over Wi-Fi: 

03:02 - The Verge’s Chris Welch shares his review of Sonos's Ace headphones.

• Sonos Ace review: was it worth it?
• Sonos CEO Patrick Spence addresses the company’s divisive app redesign

28:58 - MoviePass, MovieCrash director Muta’Ali and MoviePass CEO Stacy Spikes discuss what went wrong with the MoviePass subscription service and how that story was documented in the film.

• MoviePass, MovieCrash review: a damning account of corporate greed
• MoviePass is using you to ruin the movies 

56:47 - Jennifer Pattison Tuohy answers a question from The Vergecast Hotline about smart home gadgets for renters. 

• Home Assistant: Setting up the Aqara FP2 Presence Sensor - Derek Seaman's Tech Blog 
• Yale launches its first retrofit smart lock — the Yale Approach with Wi-Fi 
• The new Yale Keypad Touch brings fingerprint unlocking to August smart locks
• Aqara kick-starts its first Matter-over-Thread smart lock with a promise of Home Key support 
• The new Yale Keypad Touch brings fingerprint unlocking to August smart locks

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss Google's algorithm leak, OpenAI content deals, and more tech news from this week.

Further reading:

• Google won’t comment on a potentially massive leak of its search algorithm documentation
• Google confirms the leaked Search documents are real
• An Anonymous Source Shared Thousands of Leaked Google Search API Documents with Me; Everyone in SEO Should See Them
• Secrets from the Algorithm: Google Search’s Internal Engineering Documentation Has Leaked
• Unpacking Google's massive Search documentation leak
• How SEO moves forward with the Google Content Warehouse API leak
• Google responds to leak: Documentation lacks context
• Vox Media and The Atlantic sign content deals with OpenAI
• Google scrambles to manually remove weird AI answers in search 
• Apple’s WWDC may include AI-generated emoji and an OpenAI partnership
• OpenAI CEO Cements Control as He Secures Apple Deal
• Custom GPTs open for free ChatGPT users
• OpenAI has a new safety team — it’s run by Sam Altman
• Why the OpenAI board fired Sam Altman 
• Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6 billion to fund its race against ChatGPT and all the rest
• New Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Galaxy Ring details have leaked, courtesy of the FCC
• The Fitbit Ace LTE is like a Nintendo smartwatch for kids 
• Discord’s turning the focus back to games with a new redesign
• The business behind Unnecessary Inventions’ millions of followers
• Welcome to Notepad, a newsletter on Microsoft’s era-defining bets by Tom Warren

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Today on the flagship podcast of open smart home standards: 

03:25 - Microsoft’s Pavan Davuluri, leader for Windows and Devices, joins the show to discuss the future of the AI PC and what’s next for Microsoft’s hardware

• Microsoft’s new Windows chief on the future of the OS, Surface, and those annoying ads
• Microsoft’s big bet on building a new type of AI computer 
• Microsoft Build 2024: everything announced

30:25 - The Verge’s Jen Tuohy and David Pierce discuss the latest updates in the smart home world in a segment called “Does Matter matter yet?”

• The Dyson WashG1 is the company’s first dedicated mop
• Amazon’s Matter Casting is shaping up so nicely, I want to use it everywhere
• Matter 1.3 arrives with new device type and features
• Smart lighting company Brilliant is looking for a buyer
• Google launches new Home APIs and turns Google TVs into smart home hubs 

01:13:20 - David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about AI-powered search engines. 

• Google is redesigning its search engine — and it's AI all the way down 
• Google CEO Sundar Pichai on AI-powered search and the future of the web

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On this episode of The Vergecast, the fourth and final installment of our series on the five senses of video games, we asked Polygon’s Charlie Hall to help us make sense of the current state of the art in flight simulation. Hall, who once spent more than four months in VR mapping the edge of the Milky Way galaxy in Elite: Dangerous, has more experience in a virtual cockpit than most. We wanted to know how the pros set up their simulators to get the most realistic experience and why it’s so complicated to make a virtual world look like the real one.

Further reading:

• It’s time to build the cockpit of your dreams
• Microsoft Flight Simulator’s most-needed feature is co-op
• My first kill as a Star Citizen
• If Microsoft Flight Simulator has you craving air combat, try this flight sim next

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss announcements from Microsoft Build, the OpenAI's trouble with Scarlett Johansson, new Sonos headphones, and more.

Further reading:

• Microsoft’s big bet on building a new type of AI computer 
• Recall is Microsoft’s key to unlocking the future of PCs 
• https://www.theverge.com › microsoft-surface-pro-pric...
• Here’s the eight-inch Snapdragon PC for your Windows on Arm experiments 
• How does the Microsoft Surface Laptop stack up to the MacBook Air? 
• Microsoft Build 2024: everything announced
• Windows now has AI-powered copy and paste
• Microsoft is making File Explorer more powerful with version control and 7z compression
• Here’s the eight-inch Snapdragon PC for your Windows on Arm experiments
• Microsoft Edge will translate and dub YouTube videos as you’re watching them
• Microsoft brings out a small language model that can look at pictures 
• Microsoft’s new Copilot AI agents act like virtual employees to automate tasks 
• Microsoft outage took down Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and ChatGPT search features
• OpenAI is ‘in conversations’ with Scarlett Johansson over the ChatGPT voice that sounds just like her
• OpenAI pulls its Scarlett Johansson-like voice for ChatGPT
• Lawyers say OpenAI could be in real trouble with Scarlett Johansson
• Scarlett Johansson told OpenAI not to use her voice — and she’s not happy they might have anyway
• OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show
• OpenAI Just Gave Away the Entire Game
• OpenAI’s News Corp deal licenses content from WSJ, New York Post, and more
• OpenAI strikes Reddit deal to train its AI on your posts
• The US government is trying to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster
• The Sonos Ace headphones are here, and they’re damn impressive
• Sonos CEO Patrick Spence addresses the company’s divisive app redesign
• here’s an electric salt spoon that adds umami flavor 
• Apple needs to explain that bug that resurfaced deleted photos 
• Humane is looking for a buyer after the AI Pin’s underwhelming debut 

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Today on the flagship podcast of Arm-based chipsets:

03:08 - The Verge’s Tom Warren and David Pierce discuss the announcements from Microsoft’s Surface event, including the new Arm-powered Surface Laptop, and Copilot Plus PCs.

• Microsoft’s Surface AI event: news, rumors, and lots of Qualcomm laptops 
• Microsoft announces an Arm-powered Surface Laptop
• Microsoft’s new Surface Pro gets an OLED display for the first time
• Microsoft announces Copilot Plus PCs with built-in AI hardware
• The new, faster Surface Pro is Microsoft's all-purpose AI PC 
• Recall is Microsoft’s key to unlocking the future of PCs

27:29 -Verge senior AI reporter Kylie Robison joins the show to chat about OpenAI’s GPT-4o demo and where we’re headed in the next few years of AI. 

• ChatGPT is getting a Mac app
• OpenAI’s custom GPT Store is now open to all for free
• OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a faster model that’s free for all ChatGPT users 
• ChatGPT will be able to talk to you like Scarlett Johansson in Her 
• OpenAI pulls its Scarlett Johansson-like voice for ChatGPT 
• OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving
• OpenAI researcher resigns, claiming safety has taken ‘a backseat to shiny products’
• We tried out the Project Astra demo at Google I/O which worked well un... | tech | TikTok 

57:40 - Nilay Patel answers a question about iPads for this week’s Vergecast Hotline.

• Apple iPad Pro (2024) review: the best tablet money can buy

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Today on the flagship podcast of refillable scent cartridges: 

Producer Andru Marino tries out a gadget called the Gamescent, an AI-powered scent machine that syncs with your gaming and movie watching experience. He walks David Pierce through the experience and whether integrating olfaction could be the future of gaming. 

We also hear from Nimesha Ranasinghe, an assistant professor at the University of Maine working on taste sensations and taste simulation in virtual reality experiences, which can lead to adding another sense into the world of gaming. 

Further reading:

• A Brief History of Smell-O-Vision
• “Scent of Mystery”, the First and Only Use of Smell-O-Vision
• The sights, smells, and sprays of ‘Iron Man 3’ in 4DX
• The iSmell story
• Smell-O-Vision is REAL: Linus Tech Tips
• VR pioneer Jaron Lanier on dystopia, empathy, and the future of the internet
• The sense of taste in virtual reality
• Virtual lemonade sends colour and taste to a glass of water

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss announcements from Google I/O and OpenAI's GPT4o event.

Further reading:

• Google and OpenAI race to build the feature of search
• OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a faster model that’s free for all ChatGPT users
• ChatGPT will be able to talk to you like Scarlett Johansson in Her
• ChatGPT is getting a Mac app
• OpenAI’s custom GPT Store is now open to all for free
• OpenAI’s “ChatGPT and GPT-4” Spring Update stream starts in 20 minutes
• OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leavingl
• Project Astra: the future of AI at Google is fast, multi-modal assistants like Gemini Live
• Google’s Gemini AI is getting a chatty new voice mode 
• Google will let you create personalized AI chatbots
• Google’s Gemini can build an entire vacation itinerary ‘in a matter of seconds’ 
• Google’s Circle to Search will help you with your math homework
• Google’s Gemini video search makes factual error in demo
• We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem
• Google I/O 2024: everything announced
• Google is redesigning its search engine — and it's AI all the way down 
• Google now offers ‘web’ search — and an AI opt-out button
• Gemini is about to get better at understanding what's on your phone screen 
• Google is building Gemini Nano AI right into Chrome
• Google makes its AI way faster with Gemini Flash 
• Google’s new LearnLM AI model focuses on education
• Android apps will soon let you use your face to control your cursor
• Android is getting an AI-powered scam call detection feature
• Google targets filmmakers with Veo, its new generative AI video model
• Google’s invisible AI watermark will help identify generative text and video
• Google Photos is getting its own ‘Ask Photos’ assistant this summer
• Blink and you missed it: Google has a new pair of prototype AR glasses
• We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem
• Google launches new Home APIs and turns Google TVs into smart home hubs

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Today on the flagship podcast of tandem OLEDs: 

The Verge’s David Pierce and Chris Welch discuss the new iPad Pros with an OLED screen, Sonos’ controversial new app, and Sonos’ leaked headphones. 

• Apple iPad Pro (2024) review: the best kind of overkill
• The new Apple iPad Air is great — but it's not the one to get
• The new Sonos app is missing a lot of features, and people aren’t happy
• Sonos Ace headphones will have magnetic ear cushions and 30-hour battery life

The Verge’s Will Poor buys a bunch of broken iPhones on eBay, and pits the Apple Store against independent repair techs.

• Jet City Device Repair
• iFixit’s iPhone 8 charge port repair guide
• Hugh Jeffreys’ iPhone 12 investigation
• Apple’s plan to allow used parts in iPhone repairs

David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about why some people think the iPad should be a Macbook replacement. 

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In episode two of our Five Senses of Gaming miniseries, David Pierce dives into the world of hearing with audio-only video games with Paul Bennun, who has been in this space longer than most. Years ago, Bennun and his team at Somethin’ Else made a series of games called Papa Sangre that were among the most innovative and most popular games of their kind. He explains what makes an audio game work, why the iPhone 4 was such a crucial technological achievement for these games, and more.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss Apple's iPad event, the evolution of the streaming business, updates on the Wisconsin Foxconn site, and much more tech news.

• Apple iPad event: all the news from Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ reveal 
• The 7 biggest announcements from Apple’s iPad event 
• Here's how the latest iPad Pro compares to the new iPad Air (and prior models)  
• Apple adds a 13-inch iPad Air to the mix
• The iPad Air is now heavier than the iPad Pro 
• Apple announces new iPad Pros with OLED displays and thinnest design ever 
• Apple announces its M4 chip
• Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro M4: bigger trackpad and a function row 
• Hands-on with the new iPad Pro: yeah, it's really thin 
• You can upgrade the iPad Pro’s processor now, too 
• The new Apple Pencil Pro is harder to lose and better to draw with
• Apple puts more ‘Pro’ in Final Cut and Logic Pro for the iPad 
• Apple quietly kills the old-school iPad and its headphone jack
• The new iPads are ditching physical SIM cards
• Goodbye to Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio, the best iPad Pro accessory
• People sure are pressed about Apple’s crushing iPad commercial
• A Disney, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle is on the way
• The streaming business will look “very different” in the next couple of years.
• Max nears 100 million subscribers globally.
• Max price hike incoming.
• Disney’s streaming business gets closer to becoming profitable
• ESPN is coming to the Disney Plus app
• Sony is now in play to buy Paramount.
• The Office is getting a Peacock spinoff about local newspapers
• The new Sonos app is missing a lot of features, and people aren’t happy 
• Inside Microsoft’s Xbox turmoil
• Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush the day after killing its studio
• Epic v. Apple judge seems displeased over style restrictions on iOS buttons
• The new Sonos app is missing a lot of features, and people aren’t happy 
• President Joe Biden to announce AI data center at failed Foxconn site in Wisconsin
• TikTok sues the US government over ban
• The Google Pixel 8A is a midrange phone that might go the distance 
• Google’s Pixel Tablet relaunch at $399 makes its magnetic dock optional 

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Today on the flagship podcast of enterprise certificate hacks: 

03:22 - The Verge’s David Pierce chats with Riley Testut, founder of AltStore and developer of the game emulator app Delta, about how his app finally made it into Apple’s App Store. 

• The free Delta game emulator for iPhones is live on Apple’s App Store
• Third-party iPhone app store AltStore PAL is now live in Europe
• Delta is the game emulator your iPhone has been missing

46:17 - David walks us through his experimentation with the many software and hardware solutions for “AI voice notes.” 

• Cleft Notes is an AI voice notes app that really works

1:02:02 - David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about the Rabbit R1. 

• Rabbit R1 review: nothing to see here

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We’re kicking off our “Five Senses of Gaming” miniseries today, starting with “touch.” The Verge’s William Poor explores a controller crisis in the Nintendo 64 speedrunning community, and follows one speedrunner’s quest to recreate a mythical controller he lost.

Further reading/viewing:

• How Sticks Are Sabotaging Speedrunners (Stick Crisis History)
• abney317 on Twitch
• The Quest to Beat abney317
• Mariokart64.com
• More on Beck Abney’s controller problems

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss this week's tech and gadget news.

Further reading:

• Rabbit R1 review: an unfinished, unhelpful AI gadget 
• The Rabbit R1’s first software update addresses its dismal battery life - The Verge 
• Turns out the Rabbit R1 was just an Android app all along
• TikTok and Universal Music Group end feud with new agreement 
• Microsoft’s OpenAI investment was triggered by Google fears, emails reveal
• Peloton announces new round of layoffs as CEO quits
• Elon Musk goes ‘absolutely hard core’ in another round of Tesla layoffs 
• Tesla layoffs hit Supercharger team just as it’s poised to take over EV charging
• LinkedIn is the latest company to get in on gaming 
• Pixel 8A leak reveals $499 starting price
• Beats announces Solo 4 headphones and $79.99 Solo Buds
• Beats Solo 4 review: playing both sides 
• Walmart is about to launch a 4K Chromecast that’s also a smart speaker
• SwitchBot S10 review: with plumbing hookups, this robovac and mop is actually hands-free
• iOS 17.5 beta lets you keep Find My on during iPhone repairs
• Razer made a million dollars selling a mask with RGB, and the FTC is not pleased
• Instagram’s updated algorithm prioritizes original content instead of rip-offs 
• Meta is “exploring” algorithm changes on Threads.

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Today on the flagship podcast of dedicated AI hardware: 

The Verge’s David Pierce and Allison Johnson debate whether the emergence of standalone AI gadgets like the Humane Pin and the Rabbit R1 are better off as apps or should exist as its own hardware. 

• Humane AI Pin review: not even close 
• The Humane AI Pin worked better than I expected — until it didn’t 
• A morning with the Rabbit R1: a fun, funky, unfinished AI gadget
• Can Rabbit’s R1 outsmart the smartphone assistants? Let’s find out!
• The future of AI gadgets is just phones
• The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses actually make the future look cool  

The Verge’s Alex Heath joins the show to discuss Meta’s big move into AI with its multimodal AI smart glasses and a new AI model called Llama 3. 

• Q&A: Mark Zuckerberg on winning the AI race 
• Meta wants to be the Microsoft of headsets
• Zuckerberg says it will take Meta years to make money from generative AI

Nilay Patel answers a question from The Vergecast Hotline about Microsoft and antitrust.

• Microsoft splits Teams from Office as antitrust pressure ramps up
• Microsoft and OpenAI deal may face anti-trust investigations in the EU. 

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss President Biden signing the TikTok ban bill, Apple's May 7th iPad event, Tesla's flop era, and more.

Further reading:

• Senate passes TikTok ban bill, sending it to President Biden’s desk
• Biden signs TikTok ‘ban’ bill into law, starting the clock for ByteDance to divest it
• Rabbit R1 hands-on: early tests with the $199 AI gadget 
• Apple announces May 7th event for new iPads
• What to expect at Apple’s May ‘Let Loose’ event
• The Mercedes G-Wagen, the ultimate off-road status symbol, goes electric 
• The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses have multimodal AI now 
• Kuo: Apple cuts Vision Pro shipments due to low demand
• Tesla’s in its flop era
• Tesla lays off ‘more than 10 percent’ of its workforce, loses top executives
• Tesla recalls all 3,878 Cybertrucks over faulty accelerator pedal 
• Tesla reveals a new Model 3 Performance with more horsepower and faster acceleration
• A cheaper Tesla is back on the menu
• Sonos announces redesigned app that puts everything on your homescreen
• Qualcomm announces Snapdragon X Plus and Elite processors 
• Apple might be the streaming home of soccer’s next big tournament 

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Today on the flagship podcast of forced app divestiture: 

03:07 - The Verge’s David Pierce and Lauren Fiener discuss the latest tech policy bills floating through Congress, including a privacy bill, a generative AI bill, and the TikTok divest-or-ban bill.

• TikTok ‘ban’ passes in the House again
• TikTok divest-or-ban legislation could suddenly be fast-tracked in the Senate
• Lawmakers unveil new bipartisan digital privacy bill after years of impasse 
• A real privacy law? House lawmakers are optimistic this time 
• New bill would create public datasets to train AI and incentivize innovation.

34:17 - David talks with Nikola Todorovic and Tye Sheridan about their company Wonder Dynamics, which is creating AI-powered production tools for filmmakers. 

1:09:16 - David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about messaging apps.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss third-party iPhone app stores, game emulators, Google Android and hardware team restructuring, the latest TikTok news, and more.

Further reading:

• Third-party iPhone app store AltStore PAL is now live in Europe
• The free Delta game emulator for iPhones is live on Apple’s App Store
• A new NES emulator was briefly available on the Apple App Store
• The first Apple-approved emulator for the iPhone has arrived... and been pulled
• Apple opens the App Store to retro game emulators
• Google is combining its Android and hardware teams — and it’s all about AI
• Meta’s battle with ChatGPT begins now
• AI isn't useless. But is it worth it?
• Facebook’s AI Told Parents Group It Has a Gifted, Disabled Child
• Big Papa Joe, world's biggest TouchWiz Fan - The Vergecast (clip)
• Facebook’s AI Told Parents Group It Has a Gifted, Disabled Child  
• Sony might have perfected Mini LED TVs with its new 2024 lineup
• Broadcast TV still exists, and now it’s sort of getting a built-in DVR
• TikTok Notes starts rolling out as a new rival to Instagram
• TikTok gives users more in-app ways to buy event tickets.
• TikTok divest-or-ban legislation could suddenly be fast-tracked in the Senate
• Report: ByteDance still has access to US users’ TikTok data despite Project Texas
• The president could delay a TikTok ban an extra six months under a reported House proposal.
• TikTok to restrict users who repeatedly post problematic topics from ‘For You’ feed
• Twitch’s new TikTok-style Discovery feed is rolling out to everyone soon
• Spotify is developing a remix feature to rival sped-up TikTok tunes
• Samsung shifts executives to six-day workweeks to ‘inject a sense of crisis’
• Boston Dynamics’ new electric Atlas robot is swiveling nightmare fuel

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Today on the flagship podcast of undersea cable management: 

04:10 - The Verge’s David Pierce and Josh Dzieza discuss the industry of laying and maintaining undersea cables that connect us to the internet. 

• The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

43:43 - Tom Warren and Joanna Nelius join the show to discuss the future of Arm chips on PCs and whether or not we’re about to get a huge jump in performance on most laptops. 

• Microsoft is confident Windows on Arm could finally beat Apple
• Microsoft to hold a special Windows and Surface AI event in May
• Microsoft’s first AI PCs are the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for businesses
• Qualcomm claims its Snapdragon X Elite processor will beat Apple, Intel, and AMD
• Qualcomm says most Windows games should ‘just work’ on its unannounced Arm laptops

1:11:18 - Alex Cranz answers questions from the Vergecast Hotline about e-readers and the latest Kobo devices. 

• Kobo announces its first color e-readers
• The best ebook reader to buy right now

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Piece, and Alex Cranz discuss David's review of the Humane AI Pin, Taylor Swift's music back on TikTok, a new party speaker, and much more.

Further reading:

• Humane AI Pin review: the post-smartphone future isn’t here yet
• Here’s What Reviewers Are Saying About the Humane Pin
• We now have a better look at what’s inside the Humane AI pin
• OpenAI transcribed over a million hours of YouTube videos to train GPT-4 
• Taylor Swift’s music is back on TikTok
• Apple will open the iPhone to repair with used parts
• Kobo announces its first color e-readers
• Sony’s new headphones and speakers are all about skull-rattling bass
• Official: here’s the DJI Avata 2, possibly one of the best sequels in years
• Google Vids is the latest AI-powered app in Workspace
• Meta says it’s fixing ‘HD’ photo sharing in Facebook Messenger 
• Marissa Mayer’s eternal Sunshine
• The MPA has big plans to crack down on movie piracy again

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The Verge’s David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and Alex Cranz answer questions from The Vergecast Hotline all about the TikTok ban debate and the US v Apple case. 

Further reading: 

• TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform
• US v. Apple: everything you need to know
• The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz discuss the Apple Macbook Air M3 review, Jon Stewart's take on AI, and a whole lot more of this week's tech news.

Further reading:

• Apple MacBook Air M3 review: small upgrades 
• It’s time for a hard reset on notifications
• Best printer 2024, best printer for home use, office use, printing labels, printer for school, homework printer you are a printer we are all printers 
• Microsoft is working on an Xbox AI chatbot
• Samsung says Bixby’s still not dead
• The world needs more gadgets like LG’s briefcase TV 
• Jon Stewart on AI, Lina Khan, and the other things Apple didn’t want him to say
•  A first look at Europe’s alternative iPhone app stores
• Will the Apple antitrust case lawsuit affect your phone’s security?
• How Meta’s global head of safety approaches online age verification
• Is TikTok still TikTok without the algorithm?’
• The US House banned staffers from using Microsoft Copilot
• FCC will vote on restoring net neutrality rules
• X’s ‘complimentary’ Premium push gives people blue checks they didn’t ask for
• Spotify’s price is reportedly going up again 
• AI George Carlin case settled as performers demand better protection 
• OpenAI’s voice cloning AI model only needs a 15-second sample to work
• Google Podcasts is gone — and so is my faith in Google 

Vote for us in the Webbys!! People’s Voice Technology Podcast 

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Today on the flagship podcast of alternate keyboard layouts: 

03:36 - The Verge’s David Pierce talks to Jonas Hietala about his ultra-custom keyboard he built from the ground up to fit his specific needs. 

• Jonas Hietala: The T-34 keyboard layout

30:40 - The Verge’s Tom Warren explains the next phase of Microsoft with a new leader on the Windows and Surface team. 

• Microsoft has a new Windows and Surface chief
• Microsoft’s first AI PCs are the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for businesses
• Rewind’s new feature brings ChatGPT to your personal information

57:32 - David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about tricks for Netflix recommendations. 

• How Planet Earth — and the Netflix homepage — get made

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Today we're sharing an episode of a new podcast called Power User, which explores how technology and the internet are upending our lives and the world around us, hosted by tech journalist Taylor Lorenz.

Follow Power User with Taylor Lorenz wherever you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/poweruserpod

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Today on the flagship podcast of canceled-out cricket sounds: 

03:29 - David, Andru, and Will react to prototype headphones that use AI to take noise cancellation to a whole new level. 

• Hear how the best ANC headphones handle real world and lab tests 
• We sent the top ANC headphones to a lab to test their noise-canceling abilities 
• The University of Washington’s Semantic Hearing project
• UW’s Mobile Intelligence Lab

31:30 - Michael Fisher, aka Mr. Mobile, joins the show to discuss mobile phones with physical keyboards and his latest project, “Clicks,” an iPhone case featuring an integrated keyboard.

• Clicks is a BlackBerry-style iPhone keyboard case designed for creators
• BlackBerry kills Ryan Seacrest's iPhone keyboard

56:30 - Andru Marino answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about the best microphone for recording your parents. 

• How to get great audio for podcast interviews

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The Verge's David Pierce, Alex Cranz, Lauren Feiner and Nilay Patel discuss the breaking news about the the US Department of Justice accusing Apple of operating an illegal monopoly in the smartphone market in an expansive new antitrust lawsuit.

Further reading:

• US v. Apple: everything you need to know 
• US sues Apple for illegal monopoly over smartphones
• The US Department of Justice is suing Apple — read the full lawsuit here 
• The lock-in problem at the heart of the DOJ’s case against Apple 
•  Beeper couldn’t bring iMessage to Android — but it can still make a great chat app
• What else can Humane’s AI pin do? 
• These toddler games for iPad are actually good — and that's all too rare
• YouTube TV’s multiview comes to iPhones and iPads in time for March Madness

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Today on the flagship podcast of scaled EV production:

02:50 - Verge producer Will Poor tags along with a former Uber Eats driver who ditched the delivery apps and is trying to start a one-man gig work revolution.

• This Seattle Delivery Person Is Breaking Free of the Apps
• https://tonydelivers.co/

18:54- The Verge's David Pierce and Andrew Hawkins discuss Rivian's new vehicles they announced last week, and what it will take for the company to compete with Tesla.

• Rivian R2, R3, and R3X launch event: the EV company’s more affordable SUVs are here
• Rivian’s CEO talks R2 and R3 launch, and why he has ‘complete certainty’ EVs will win 
• Rivian R2 revealed: a $45,000 electric off-roader for the masses
• Rivian owners now have access to Tesla Superchargers
• Rivian surprises with R3 and R3X electric SUVs  

54:37 - David and Allison Johnson answer a question from The Vergecast Hotline about foldable phones.

• Google Pixel Fold review: closing the gap
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 review: a little better is just good enough

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The Verge 's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss the US House of Representatives passing a bill that could ban TikTok, the streaming news of the week, a Dyson robot, and more.

Further reading:

• Lawmakers introduce bill that would punish app stores for hosting TikTok
• TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform 
• House passes bill that could ban TikTok
• TikTok’s fate now lies with the Senate after House advances path to a ban
• There might be a “TikTok Photos” app in the works to take on Instagram.
• TikTok CEO tells users to “make their voices heard” against a bill that could ban the app in the US.
• Nancy Pelosi is playing TikTok-toe.
• Donald Trump has even more to say about the TikTok ban.
• President Biden says he’ll sign a TikTok ban, if passed.
• TikTok is urging users to call Congress about a looming ban
• The TikTokers are revolting.
• Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is apparently eyeing TikTok.
• YouTube is revamping its TV app to make videos feel way more interactive 
• Spotify now has music videos 
• Neil Young’s music is back on “low res Spotify” two years after Rogan protest
• Neil Young says the MacBook Pro has ‘Fisher-Price’ audio quality
• Elon Musk cancels Don Lemon’s show on X after a ‘tense’ interview
• Linda Yaccarino on X: "X is becoming a video first platform”
• Roku hackers breach 15,000 accounts and are selling them online
• British monarchy rocked by bad Photoshop job
• The Kate Middleton photo scandal is a rare — and consequential — flub
• SpaceX successfully launches Starship in third flight test 
• Apple to allow iOS app downloads direct from websites in the EU
• Hands-on with the Dyson 360 Vis Nav robot vacuum
• Nikon is acquiring US camera manufacturer RED

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz choose their picks for The Vergecast Streaming Draft of 2024 in front of a live audience at SXSW.

Watch video version with a scoreboard on YouTube

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss Apple's upgraded MacBook Air, the EU's Digital Markets Act deadline for tech’s biggest “gatekeepers”, and a bunch of tech news from this week.

Further reading:

• Apple announces upgraded MacBook Air laptops with M3 chips
• The MacBook Air’s wedge is truly gone — and I miss it already
• Apple may not do a spring event this year
• How the EU’s DMA is changing Big Tech: all of the news and updates
• How every tech ‘gatekeeper’ is responding to the DMA 
• iOS 17.4 is here and ready for a whole new Europe 
• Apple hit with a nearly $2 billion fine following Spotify complaint 
• Spotify and Epic criticize Apple’s iOS changes as ‘a mockery of the DMA’
• Spotify will show pricing options outside its iOS app in the EU — if Apple lets it
• Apple kills Epic’s iOS game store plans over App Store criticism
• Apple is bringing sideloading and alternate app stores to the iPhone
• Apple unbanned Epic so it can make an iOS games store in the EU
• Alternative iOS app stores won’t work (for long) outside of the EU.
• Here’s the new iOS default browser nag for iPhone users in Europe.
• Apple is officially dropping iPhone support for web apps in the EU
• Apple’s decision to drop iPhone web apps comes under scrutiny in the EU
• Now Apple says it won’t disable iPhone web apps in the EU
• 
  

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Today on the flagship podcast of region locked phones: 

The Verge’s Allison Johnson and Jon Porter report back on all the tech we saw at Mobile World Congress this past week. 

• MWC 2024: all the phones, wearables, and gadgets announced in Barcelona
• Peering through Lenovo’s transparent laptop into a sci-fi future 
• What if phones actually bent to our needs? 
• The Phone 2A makes a guest appearance at Nothing’s MWC event.
• The Humane AI Pin worked better than I expected — until it didn’t 
• Samsung has big ambitions for the Galaxy Ring 
• A short gif of Infinix’s color-changing charging E Ink phone concept.
• Now there’s a 28,000mAh battery with a phone in it 
• Xiaomi’s new Watch S3 has a bezel you can swap as easily as a strap.
• Honor’s Magic 6 Pro launches internationally with AI-powered eye tracking on the way
• HMD is making a Barbie flip phone alongside a smartphone for tinkerers

Later, David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about web crawlers and AI. 

• With the rise of AI, web crawlers are suddenly controversial

The Vergecast and Decoder are live at SXSW this weekend, March 8th and 9th. SXSW attendees can see both shows live on the official Vox Media Podcast Stage at the JW Marriott, presented by Atlassian. Learn more at voxmedia.com/live.

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy has as smart a kitchen as any reasonable person possibly could; she has smart appliances, a smart sink, a smart fridge, and more voice assistants than anyone could ever talk to. And for a few days, she tried to let her kitchen do the work: telling her what to cook, getting everything set up just right, and even taking some of the cooking and cleaning load off her shoulders. Jen kept a diary during her adventures, and then joined The Vergecast to tell the tale. The fun, frustrating, exciting, harrowing tale.

Links:

• The Thermomix
• The Samsung Food app
• The Fresco app
• The GE Profile Smart Smoker
• The Smart Instapot Pro
• The Traeger Smart Wood Pellet Grill
• The Typhur Smart Air Fryer
• Tovala Smart Countertop Oven
• My favorite smart oven is toast

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The Verge's Nilay Patel and David Pierce talk through the weird and winding history of Apple's "secret" car project now that it's officially dead. And later, senior policy reporter Lauren Feiner makes her Vergecast debut to catch us up on the arguments made this week in the Supreme Court about online speech and the First Amendment.

Further reading:

• Apple’s electric car project is dead
• RIP to the Apple Car, we hardly knew ye
• Behind Apple’s Doomed Car Project: False Starts and Wrong Turns
• Supreme Court hears arguments on the future of online speech: all the news
• The Supreme Court is about to decide the future of online speech
• Why Uber and Etsy came up so much in the Supreme Court’s social media arguments
• Google CEO says Gemini AI diversity errors are 'completely unacceptable'
• TikTok is removing even more songs as music rights battle drags on
• The Humane AI Pin worked better than I expected — until it didn’t 
• Ford offers EV owners free Tesla Supercharger adapters until July
• Attention English majors: now you can add handwritten notes to Google Docs

The Vergecast and Decoder are live at SXSW this weekend, March 8th and 9th. SXSW attendees can see both shows live on the official Vox Media Podcast Stage at the JW Marriott, presented by Atlassian. Learn more at voxmedia.com/live.

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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Today on the flagship podcast of the economic theory of Dave and Busters:

02:50 - The Verge’s Mia Sato shares her experience on a new shopping app called Flip, which is filled with only videos that earn affiliate revenue. 

• Where everyone’s an influencer and everything’s for sale

35:34 - The Verge’s Vjeran Pavic and Becca Farsace chat with David Piece about the new Fuji X100VI, and why this line of cameras was a sensation on social media. 

• Fujifilm announces the X100VI, its follow-up to a TikTok sensation
• The internet's NEW favorite camera? (Fuji X100VI)
• Fujifilm X100T review

57:44 - Verge producer Will Poor answers a follow-up question about the right to repair legislation in this week’s Vergecast Hotline.

The Vergecast and Decoder are live at SXSW this weekend, March 8th and 9th. SXSW attendees can see both shows live on the official Vox Media Podcast Stage at the JW Marriott, presented by Atlassian. Learn more at voxmedia.com/live.

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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Over the next two Sundays on The Vergecast, The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison-Tuohy and David Pierce dig into the dream smart kitchen, the less-than-dreamy reality of the situation, and what it might take to make cooking, cleaning, meal-prepping, and eating more efficient and more fun.

On this episode, Jen takes us on a tour of her own smart(ish) kitchen, and explains why the kitchen often feels left behind in the overall smart home race. Then, Jen and David are joined by Ben Harris, the CEO of Fresco; and Nick Holzherr, the co-founder of Samsung Food. They tell us about the opportunities and challenges in reinventing the way we cook and eat, and explain why the AI revolution might usher in huge change.

Further reading:

• This smart oven solved my work-from-home lunchtime conundrum
• 2023 in the smart home: Matter’s broken promises
• How the smart home is finally getting out of your phone and into your home
• Appliance makers are teaming up to reduce your electricity usage — and save you cash
• This smart mixer did not make me a better baker
• Can Samsung Food usher in a new era for the smart kitchen?

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss ChatGPT and Gemini updates, Walmart acquiring Vizio, Apple's Sports app, and more.

Further reading:

• Google cut a deal with Reddit for AI training data
• Google apologizes for ‘missing the mark’ after Gemini generated racially diverse Nazis 
• Google’s open-source Gemma AI models draw from the research behind Gemini
• ChatGPT spat out gibberish for many users overnight before OpenAI fixed it
• One month with Microsoft’s AI vision of the future: Copilot Pro
• Gemini, Gemma, Goose. 
• OpenAI can’t register ‘GPT’ as a trademark — yet
• Artificial investment
• Walmart to acquire Vizio in $2.3 billion deal
• Echo Hub review: a simple, customizable smart home control panel
• Samsung details a host of audio upgrades coming to its phones, tablets, and TVs
• Apple says the iPhone 15’s battery got better — but won’t say how
• Rice is not included in Apple’s official guidance for a wet phone
• One of the last small-ish Android phones looks like it's going the way of the iPhone Mini 
• OnePlus is getting back into the smartwatch game
• The Garmin Forerunner 165 could be a great budget running watch 
• Sony’s PlayStation Portal hacked to run emulated PSP games
• Framework is selling a cheap modular laptop 
• Wyze says camera breach let 13,000 customers briefly see into other people’s homes
• Apple launches Apple Sports app with scores and betting odds 
• Apple is already defending iMessage against tomorrow’s quantum computing attacks 
• IBM quantum computing updates: System Two and Heron
• Microsoft and Intel strike a custom chip manufacturing deal
• Rivian says it is laying off 10 percent of its workforce as EV woes deepen
• Ford slashes Mustang Mach-E prices again as EV price war enters its second year

The Vergecast and Decoder are live at SXSW this weekend, March 8th and 9th. SXSW attendees can see both shows live on the official Vox Media Podcast Stage at the JW Marriott, presented by Atlassian. Learn more at voxmedia.com/live.

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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Today on the flagship podcast of sneaky gaming strategies:

03:45 - Verge producer Will Poor reports on a right-to-repair bill in Oregon and what's next in the right-to-repair movement.

• The right-to-repair movement is just getting started
• Status of Right to Repair legislation state by state, via repair.org
• iFixit explains parts pairing
• Jessa Jones’ iPad Rehab
• Apple Is Lobbying Against Right to Repair Six Months After Supporting Right to Repair
• The current draft of Oregon’s Right to Repair bill

33:13 - Tom Warren breaks down the news from Microsoft’s gaming chief about Xbox games coming to PS5 and next-gen hardware.

• Microsoft’s gaming chief on Xbox games coming to PS5, next-gen hardware, and more

1:00:49 - David Pierce and Alex Cranz answer a question from The Vergecast Hotline about the crackdown on password sharing for streaming services.

• Netflix might ruin password sharing for everyone 
• Disney Plus is finally cracking down on password sharing in the US
• Hulu is cracking down on password sharing, just like Disney Plus and Netflix

The Vergecast and Decoder are live at SXSW this weekend, March 8th and 9th. SXSW attendees can see both shows live on the official Vox Media Podcast Stage at the JW Marriott, presented by Atlassian. Learn more at voxmedia.com/live.

Email us at [email protected]m or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss Apple fans starting to return the Vision Pro, Xbox exclusive games, Super Bowl streaming troubles, and more.

Further reading:

• Apple fans are starting to return their Vision Pros
• Zuckerberg says Quest 3 is ‘the better product’ vs. Apple’s Vision Pro
• Meta’s big vision for face computers might be better than Apple’s
• Microsoft’s gaming chief on Xbox games coming to PS5, next-gen hardware, and more
• Microsoft prepares to take Xbox everywhere
• Gemini Advanced is most impressive when it’s working with Google
• Gemini 1.5: Google’s next-gen AI model is almost ready 
• Google’s Gemini assistant is fantastic and frustrating
• OpenAI introduces Sora, its text-to-video AI model
• ChatGPT’s memory gives OpenAI’s chatbot new information about you
• Can watermarks save us from deepfakes?
• Automating ableism 
• The text file that runs the internet 
• Apple won’t be forced to open up iMessage by EU
• FCC commissioner wants to investigate Apple over Beeper Mini shutdown 
• Apple appears to be breaking iPhone web apps in the EU
• Walmart might buy Vizio to win the fight over cheap TVs 
• AI at Work

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Today on the flagship podcast of video podcasts:

02:52 - The Verge's David Pierce chats with 1Password's Anna Pobletts about good password hygiene, passkeys, and the upsides of a third-party password manager.

• Passkeys: all the news and updates around passwordless sign-on support
• Biometrics? Bring it on: why Okta’s Jameeka Green Aaron wants passwords to go away
• How to use a passkey to sign in to your Google account
• 1Password’s passkeys explainer

31:56 - Victoria Song joins the show to discuss the state of wearables and why this may be the year for the smart ring.

• Fossil is quitting smartwatches
• This might be the year of the smart ring
• The best smartwatches for Android
• The best fitness trackers to buy right now

58:46 -Later, David answers a question from The Vergecast Hotline.

• Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
• Here’s how much the Vision Pro’s accessories cost

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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The Verge's David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Adi Robertson discuss sports streaming, Apple Vision Pro updates, Bluesky removing its invite system, and more.

Further reading:

• ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. are putting together a juggernaut sports streaming app
• Disney Plus will start its password-sharing crackdown this summer
• Disney invests $1.5 billion in Epic to create ‘persistent universe’ tied to Fortnite
• Apple TV+ Became HBO Before HBO Could Become Netflix
• @lucas_shaw • All these articles should be required to note that nobody watches Apple TV+. • Threads
• A new Vision Pro teardown shows Apple’s incredible pixel density
• Apple’s first Vision Pro beta lets you bring virtual items closer 
• Apple’s Vision Pro launch day photo drop captures eager customers.
• The Vision Pro’s killer app: Cybertruck clout-chasing accessory
• YouTube says a Vision Pro app is ‘on the roadmap’ 
• Vision Pro’s Personas look a little crisper after latest beta update.
• It’s been 10 hours.
• Bluesky social network drops invite-only sign ups
• The fediverse, explained: Mastodon, Threads, and the open future of social networking
• X hits number one on the Apple App Store amid second celebrity image scandal
• The FCC bans robocalls with AI-generated voices
• Ford quietly created its own ‘skunkworks’ team to develop low-cost electric vehicles
• Apple is still working on foldable iPhones and iPads

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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Today on the flagship podcast of anti-glare coatings:

03:58 - Josh Miller, CEO The Browser Company, joins the show to chat about the Arc Search mobile browser.

• Arc Search: a new iPhone app combining browser, search, and AI
• The Arc browser is the Chrome replacement I've been waiting for 

48:34 - Allison Johnson shares her review of the flagship Samsung Galaxy S24 phones.

• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review: all that and AI
• Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus review: smart choices

1:18:54- David Pierce answers a question from The Vergecast Hotline about the Apple Vision Pro.

• Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
• Meta’s Quest headsets add spatial video and pinch controls to compete with Vision Pr

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss the Apple Vision Pro review rating, changes to the TikTok app, streaming news, and more.

Further reading:

• Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
• The Vision Pro is a computer for the age of walled gardens
• Apple’s Vision Pro battery pack is hiding the final boss of Lightning cables
• Even without Netflix and YouTube, Apple’s Vision Pro has over 600 apps at launch
• TikTok loses Taylor Swift, Drake, and other major Universal Music artists
• UMG set to remove music from TikTok amid AI and payment concerns
• TikTok test automatically identifies products in videos and offers purchase links
• TikTok goes full YouTube
• Hulu is cracking down on password sharing, just like Disney Plus and Netflix
• The death of the Amazon deal could mean goodbye iRobot
• Lawmakers propose anti-nonconsensual AI porn bill after Taylor Swift controversy
• All the news from Congress’ Big Tech child safety hearing
• Snap is recalling and refunding every drone it ever sold
• TikTok’s CEO can’t catch a break from xenophobia in Congress
• Your home’s internet connection could soon be called .internal

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss Nilay's review of the Apple Vision Pro, and then answer questions from our listeners.

Further reading:

• Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
• Apple Vision Pro review (video)

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss Apple allowing alternative browser engines in the EU, Netflix getting WWE, Pixel 9 leaks, and more.

Further reading:

• Apple is bringing sideloading and alternate app stores to the iPhone
• Apple is allowing alternative browser engines in iOS 17.4 — but only in the EU
• Apple opens App Store to game streaming services
• Netflix is turning into cable TV 
• Netflix is going to take away its cheapest ad-free plan
• WWE Monday Night Raw is ditching cable for Netflix
• The Mac turns 40 — and keeps on moving
• Looking back on 40 years of Macintosh 
• The Pixel 9 leaks are already here
• Leaked pictures show a very blue Pixel 9. 
• The Vision Pro’s most important app is Safari, whether Apple likes it or not
• Vision Pro cover glass repairs will set you back $799 without AppleCare Plus
• Apple tells artists how much more money they can make with spatial audio
• Inside India’s race to cool 1.3 billion people in a warming world
• Nintendo goes after the Palworld Pokémon modder
• The Pokémon Company says it will ‘investigate’ Palworld
• This baby is covered in old flip phones and chips — and you cannot afford it

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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Today on the flagship podcast of really old computers:

03:54 - Walt Mossberg, former Verge executive editor and longtime Wall Street Journal tech columnist, joins the show to discuss forty years of the Macintosh computer.

• Mossberg - The Verge
• The Mac turns 40 — and keeps on moving
• Steve Jobs Introduces the Macintosh
• Looking back on 40 years of Macintosh

40:28 - Ali Abdaal chats about his new book "Feel Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters To You" and why overthinking your productivity system might not be such a good idea.

•  Ali Abdaal - YouTube
• Feel Good Productivity

1:06:53 - David Pierce answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about laptops.

• The best laptops you can get

Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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