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The Vergecast

The Vergewww.theverge.com
The Vergecast is the flagship podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, hosts Nilay Patel and David Pierce hang out and make sense of the week’s most important technology news. And every Tuesday, David leads a selection of The Verge’s expert staffers in an exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives – and which ones you should bring into yours.

Episodes

Meta's new smart glasses look like the future

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: b...

Sep 27, 20242 hr 45 min

They think they’re building God

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 m...

Sep 24, 20241 hr 15 min

The chatbot becomes the teacher

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 / newsle...

Sep 22, 20241 hr

You’re cute no matter what phone you have

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 ...

Sep 20, 20242 hr 35 min

Reviewing the iPhone 16

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. Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastch...

Sep 18, 20242 hr 42 min

The great Evernote reboot

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 perceiv...

Sep 15, 20241 hr

The real cost of the PS5 Pro

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...

Sep 13, 20242 hr 39 min

The iPhone 16 is here — but it's not finished

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 ...

Sep 10, 20242 hr 40 min

What’s in store for the iPhone 16

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. App...

Sep 06, 20242 hr 36 min

The problem with Telegram

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 ...

Aug 30, 20241 hr 29 min

Can a YouTube video really fix your wet phone?

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. Email us at [email protected] or ...

Aug 27, 20241 hr 11 min

What’s in a productivity system?

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 t...

Aug 25, 20241 hr 21 min

The Pixel 9 is great – and a problem

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...

Aug 23, 20241 hr 27 min

A road trip on the hydrogen highway

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 th...

Aug 20, 202458 min

A Googler’s guide to getting things done

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 ha...

Aug 18, 202457 min

Gemini is taking over Google

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 he...

Aug 16, 20242 hr 42 min

Google’s next big Pixel

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 sho...

Aug 13, 20241 hr

Google lost its first antitrust case, so what happens next?

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 'discon...

Aug 09, 20241 hr 24 min

Quibi's epic fall and the future of books

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: ...

Aug 06, 20241 hr 14 min

Apple's Intelligence beta and more AI chaos

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 reported...

Aug 02, 20242 hr 34 min

The history of Roku and the fight over CarPlay

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 off...

Jul 30, 20241 hr 5 min

In search of the perfect movie recommendation

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 r...

Jul 28, 202438 min

Search as we know it is officially over

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 Al...

Jul 26, 20242 hr 31 min

Inside the global computer crash

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 tal...

Jul 23, 20241 hr 19 min

The all-seeing AI webcam

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 pr...

Jul 21, 202441 min

Gadgets are getting weird — and so are iPhone homescreens

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...

Jul 19, 20241 hr 21 min

Picking the perfect portable console

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 t...

Jul 16, 20241 hr 19 min

Inside the AI memory machine

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...

Jul 14, 202441 min

Samsung’s new folds, flips, and Apple clones

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...

Jul 12, 20242 hr 30 min

The Vergecast builds a tech company

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

Jul 09, 20241 hr 2 min