The Vergecast - podcast cover

The Vergecast

The Vergewww.theverge.com
The Vergecast is the flagship daily podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, Nilay Patel and David Pierce hang out and make sense of the week’s most important technology news. And Monday through Thursday, 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.
Last refreshed:
Download Metacast podcast app
Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

329: Macbook Air, iPad Pro, and Mac Mini

Vergecast hosts Nilay and Dieter were able to attend Apple’s event in Brooklyn this week, so you can guess that’s what the crew talked about on this weeks show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nov 02, 20181 hr 24 minEp. 329

328: iPhone XR review, Google Home Hub and Yoga Book C390

This week on The Vergecast, Nilay, Paul, and Dieter discuss Nilay’s review of the iPhone XR as well as reviews of the Yoga Book C930 and Google’s Home Hub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oct 26, 20181 hr 24 minEp. 328

Pixel 3, Pixel Slate, and Home Hub

Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, and Dan Seifert went to Google’s Pixel 3 event this week in New York City. After the event, the trio, along with Paul Miller, got together for an early taping of The Vergecast to discuss Google’s product announcements and their first impressions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oct 11, 20181 hr 27 minEp. 326

Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff wants to reduce neighborhood crime

Ring began as a humble crowdfunded project called Doorbot — a Wi-Fi-enabled video doorbell that enabled two-way communication. In 2013, it was rejected on Shark Tank. This year, the company was acquired by Amazon for over $1 billion. Nilay sat down with Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff on this week’s Vergecast to talk about joining the Amazon family of brands, the future of security in smart homes, and how Ring product owners may (or may not) work with law enforcement to make neighborhoods safer. Learn m...

Oct 09, 201840 minEp. 325

325: Chinese spy chips, Microsoft announcements, and Pixel 3 preview

This week on The Vergecast, Nilay, Dieter, and Paul bring in experts to report on the top stories on the site this week. Reporter and host of Why’d You Push That Button Ashley Carman stops by the studio to explain the Bloomberg report detailing “Chinese spy chips” that may have been planted on servers from companies like Apple and Amazon. After that bizarre piece of news, senior editor Dan Seifert comes on the show to talk about the Microsoft hardware event he attended this week and the new prod...

Oct 05, 20181 hr 27 minEp. 325

Public Knowledge’s Meredith Rose explains the Music Modernization Act

The Music Modernization Act has passed Congress and now sits on President Trump’s desk, awaiting his signature. The bill is years in the making, a much needed solution to the complicated collision of music streaming services, licensing issues, and copyright law. For this week’s interview episode of The Vergecast, Nilay sat down with Meredith Rose, Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group. They talked about how the Music Modernization Act will help artists get paid, companies...

Oct 02, 201842 minEp. 324

324: Instagram chaos, Photokina 2018, and Elon Musk gets sued

This week, we saw the two founders of Instagram abruptly leave, so Casey Newton comes on the show to talk about all that drama and what it might mean for Facebook’s prized possession. Then, Dan Seifert joins us to talk about all of the cameras that were announced at Photokina this year, plus all the models that were announced before the show even started. Finally, Liz Lopatto comes on for an impromptu This Week In Elon to discuss the fact that the SEC has filed a lawsuit against Mr. Musk, which ...

Sep 28, 20181 hr 12 minEp. 324

Google AMP’s Malte Ubl wants to make the mobile web better

You may not have heard of Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) but you almost certainly have used it. The Google open-source project has been making waves since it launched in 2016 in an effort to make the mobile web faster to load and smoother to navigate. This week, Nilay sat down with Malte Ubl, creator and tech lead of AMP, to talk about the controversy of bifurcating the web, forming a technical steering committee to co-lead the project, and Ubl’s vision for the future of the mobile web. L...

Sep 25, 201829 minEp. 323

iPhone XS review, Apple Watch 4 review, and Amazon's surprise hardware event

This past week, Nilay reviewed the new iPhone XS and XS Max while Dieter reviewed the Apple Watch series 4. Paul, Dieter, and Nilay dedicate half the show to their review and whether it’s worth upgrading to the new model. Second half of the show, the crew tries to cover all of the insane amount of gadgets that Amazon announced this week, including a DVR for over-the-air channels. There’s a whole lot more in between that — like deputy editor Liz Lopatto’s “This week in Elon” segment — so listen t...

Sep 21, 20181 hr 37 minEp. 323

Ford Autonomous Vehicles President and CEO Sherif Marakby

Big car companies like Ford have broken themselves up to enter the market of self-driving cars and compete with Silicon Valley companies like Tesla and Uber. Ford Autonomous Vehicles hopes to become the go-to supplier of autonomous driving software, and have even set the ambitious goal of shipping a self-driving car without a steering wheel or pedals in the next few years. For this week’s interview episode of The Vergecast, Nilay and Verge transportation reporter Sean O’Kane sit down with Ford A...

Sep 18, 201849 minEp. 322

Apple iPhone XS event, iPhone XR, and Apple Watch Series 4

Vergecast hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn attended the Apple event on Wednesday, and they were able to get their hands on the new iPhones and Apple Watch that were on display. After the event, they headed to our San Francisco studio to Skype with Paul Miller to record their first impressions, a summary of the event, and lay to rest some conspiracies. That’s all you really need to know before listening! 3:11 - Apple’s AirPower charger is still a no-show, one year after it was first announced 5:...

Sep 13, 20181 hr 18 minEp. 322

Anki CEO Boris Sofman

Anki, known for creating “robots that move you,” just finished a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund their new home robot, Vector. Anki CEO Boris Sofman sat down with Nilay for this week’s interview episode of The Vergecast to talk about the new companion robot, why gendering the robots is important, and how to avoid the uncanny valley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sep 11, 201840 minEp. 321

Apple event preview, social media hearings, and monopoly week

This week on The Vergecast, Nilay, Paul, Russell, and Dieter dedicate half the show to The Verge’s monopoly week, which dives into the future of tech monopolies. They also discuss the social media hearings that happened on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. In the second half of the show, the crew updates us on what to expect for next week’s Apple event, from the mysterious third phone to the updated AirPods rumors. There’s a whole lot in between that — like a whole section dedicated to Roombas — so lis...

Sep 07, 201858 minEp. 321

Tim Wu thinks it’s time to break up Facebook

Best known for coining the phrase “net neutrality” and his book The Master Switch, Tim Wu has a new book coming out in November called The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age. In it, he argues compellingly for a return to aggressive antitrust enforcement in the style of Teddy Roosevelt, saying that Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other huge tech companies are a threat to democracy as they get bigger and bigger. Nilay sits down with Wu for this week's interview episode of The Vergecas...

Sep 04, 201846 minEp. 320

IFA 2018, Apple event announced, and iPhone/Apple watch leaks

This week, The Verge has been at IFA 2018, Europe’s big tech event. There are a lot of new gadgets, so Nilay, Dieter, and Paul go through their favorites on The Vergecast. Also, Apple announced its September event this week, and immediately following the announcement, iPhone and Apple Watch leaks surfaced. The crew discusses. And, of course, we have our fan-favorite segments: Liz’s “This week in Elon Musk” and Paul’s “Keyboard-in-the-front club: population 2” There’s a whole lot more in between ...

Aug 31, 20181 hr 1 minEp. 320

Microsoft’s president explains how Gab shutdown notice went from customer support to his desk

We're kicking off our secondary Vergecast episode of the week with an interview with Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith. In this wide-ranging interview , Smith expanded on why the company nearly shut down Gab.ai, the “free-speech” absolutist platform that’s become an alt-right favorite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aug 28, 201849 minEp. 319

App Store chaos, ray tracing, and new Macbook Air rumors

This week on The Vergecast, Paul, Nilay, and Dieter start off the show with the news that Netflix is testing a payment feature to bypass Apple’s App Store fees, which leads into a larger discussion of (as Nilay calls it) “App Store chaos.” Paul seems pretty excited about “ray tracing” — a term that Nvidia is using for its upcoming graphics cards — so the crew explains what that means and how far ahead Nvidia is compared to its competition. Competition is a general theme in this week’s episode. W...

Aug 24, 201856 minEp. 319

This week in Twitter, Elon Musk, and batteries

We’ve got a whirlwind of an episode this week on The Vergecast. Nilay, Paul, and Dieter bring back Silicon Valley Editor and host of Converge Casey Newton to discuss Twitter’s bad week and what the heck is going on with them. But before that, there’s a whole lot of other things that came up. We reviewed both the Galaxy Note 9 and Android 9 Pie this week, so Dieter runs through everything you need to know about the two launches. We’ve also got two fresh segments this this week. Deputy Editor Liz ...

Aug 17, 20181 hr 16 minEp. 318

Magic Leap, Galaxy Note 9, and Android Pie

If you’ve been reading The Verge this week, then you know Samsung announced a few products. We got our hands on the Galaxy Note 9, the Galaxy Watch, and we even got to look at that Home speaker as well. That news is covered in a big chunk of The Vergecast this week, but there was also so much other stuff that happened. Adi Robertson was able to travel down to Plantation, Florida, to check out Magic Leap’s creator edition headset. She sits down with Nilay, Paul, and Dieter to discuss her experien...

Aug 10, 20181 hr 26 minEp. 317

Surface Go, Apple earnings, and HipChat memories

In the thrilling conclusion to our three part epic miniseries, "Apple doesn't make the laptops we want," Nilay, Paul, and Dieter discuss how nothing really even matters because Apple is a phone company worth $1 trillion. Samsung, Amazon, and Tesla earnings are also discussed, along with Farhad Manjoo's "Frightful Five" thesis. Then, in "The Bezel Wars," our hosts discuss the Surface Go, iPad rumors, and the Windows 10 S life Dieter has been living. Paul's weekly segment about "Wireless Vapes" is...

Aug 03, 201853 minEp. 316

Macbook Pro review, Lenovo smart display review, and the Data Transfer Project

After a week of speculation on whether the new MacBook Pro was throttling performance under heat, Apple released a software fix to address the problem. Dieter’s review for the laptop (post software fix) published on Wednesday so Nilay, Paul, and Dieter discuss what happened with the product and how it performs. Dieter also reviewed the new Lenovo Smart Display, so there's a chunk of the show dedicated to that device, which exceeded expectations. And we’ve got another week of Elon Musk. Transport...

Jul 27, 20181 hr 17 minEp. 315

Google gets fined, Macbook Pro benchmarks, and Roku CEO Anthony Wood

We’ve got a super stuffed episode of The Vergecast this week. First, the biggest news in tech right now is the European Commission’s ruling that Google has been unfairly using Android to push Google search on users, giving it an unfair advantage. Nilay, Dieter, and Paul sit down and discuss the implications. In the second half of the show, Dieter discusses some of the new MacBook Pro benchmarks that claim the processors may throttle performance due to cooling issues. Nilay got an exclusive inter...

Jul 20, 20181 hr 27 minEp. 314

Updated Macbook Pros, Microsoft Surface Go, and this week in Elon

This week on The Vergecast, Nilay and Dieter discuss an Apple event they were invited to this week for Apple’s updated MacBook Pros. Along with Paul, they dive into how creatives are using these machines, and what these new specs are. Another laptop announcement from this week is Microsoft’s Surface Go. The crew runs through their demo with the computer and discuss how it compares to the other Surface devices. And continuing with our trend, we also have a new edition of “This week in Elon Musk,”...

Jul 13, 20181 hr 12 minEp. 313

macOS Mojave beta, Microsoft Surface USB-C dongle, and this week in Elon Musk

The Vergecast starts off this week in a traditional fashion with a talk about dongles — Microsoft’s $80 USB-C dongle to be exact. But there’s a whole bunch of little things that also happened this week that Nilay, Dieter, and Paul discuss. We’ve got Apple acknowledging the problem with its MacBook keyboards, Google demoing Duplex, and Apple releasing the Mojave public beta. Also this week, we bring you two new rotating segments on the show. First we have transportation reporter Sean O’Kane with ...

Jun 29, 20181 hr 3 minEp. 312

Recode's Kara Swisher, AT&T - Time Warner, and IGTV

Instagram announced on Wednesday a standalone app called IGTV, a place for watching long-form vertical video. Casey and Ashely — who went to Instagram’s event that announced the app — talk with Nilay, Dieter, and Paul about their initial feelings about the platform and predict how it will fit into the social mediasphere. Also, Nilay Patel sits down with Kara Swisher to talk about the recent AT&T and Time Warner merger. Kara published a book in 2003 about the AOL and Time Warner merger There ...

Jun 22, 20181 hr 26 minEp. 311

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence, E3, and net neutrality ends

In addition to our classic Nilay, Dieter, and Paul trio, we’ve added a few things this week. To give you the best coverage of E3, culture editor Laura Hudson gives us a quick rundown of the news from the expo to start off the show In the second half of the show, Nilay sits down with Sonos CEO Patrick Spence. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of other classic Vergecast — some gadget talk, Paul’s weekly segment (you know, “How big is the Moon?”), and some deep dives into net neutrality, antitrust law, a...

Jun 15, 20181 hr 44 minEp. 310
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android