The Vergecast

The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss Warner Bros. Discovery's new streaming service, Sony's mobile gaming move, and Twitter's feud with Substack.

Further reading:

• HBO and Discovery’s ‘Max’ streaming service is here
• Max is charging more money for 4K, and that means it can't suck this time 
• What we’ve learned about Sony PlayStation’s new smartphone games team
• Sony is gearing up for a new cloud gaming push amid rumors of a PlayStation handheld
• NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube starts at $249 for the 2023 season
• Google TV’s live guide is getting crammed full of over 800 free channels
• Microsoft is experimenting with a Windows gaming handheld mode for Steam Deck-like devices 
• NPR becomes first major news organization to leave Twitter 
• PBS also stops tweeting after being hit with ‘government-funded media’ label
• Is Substack Notes a ‘Twitter clone’? We asked CEO Chris Best
• Mini’s cars are getting an ‘intelligent personal assistant’ named Spike
• You can now talk to Microsoft’s Bing chatbot from your keyboard in iOS with SwiftKey
• Nvidia RTX 4070 review: a $599 RTX 3080 — kind of 

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Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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What are the best streaming services in 2023? Nilay, Alex, and David decide in the most chaotic way possible: with draft-style picks. The crew debates the best roster for the future of entertainment — from Netflix to Hulu to HBO Max to a few surprises. Who is the MVP, and who gets snubbed? Find out in our inaugural Vergecast streaming draft.

Read more: theverge.com/streaming-wars

Vote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast: http://bit.ly/3moCTDs 

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com 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 end of Twitter and the future of infotainment.

Links:

• The color quiz
• Twitter tried to hide who pays for their checkmark, but life finds a way.
• https://twitter.com/AlexBlechman/status/1641905502043926530
• Substack is getting a Twitter-like ‘Notes’ feed
• Elon Musk’s obsession with blue checks is a verified problem
• Twitter yanks the New York Times’ checkmark in verification overhaul
• Today in Twitter: where are the retweet labels, and why did Doge replace the bird?
• Spotify shuts down its Clubhouse competitor
• Spotify shows how the live audio boom has gone bust
• Everybody hates GM’s decision to kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs
• The rest of the auto industry still loves CarPlay and Android Auto
• GM is cutting off access to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its future EVs
• Could a new PlayStation handheld be built for Remote Play? I like the idea
• Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC is no April Fools’ joke
• Walmart’s redesigned website looks better than Amazon
• Donald Trump was arrested, please like and subscribe
• The Home Assistant SkyConnect is a combination Zigbee and Thread dongle for better smart home control

Vote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast!

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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Today on the flagship podcast of peer-to-peer wireless networking: 

02:31 - David Pierce talks with smart home reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy about Amazon’s network of smart home devices called Sidewalk and the state of Matter, the promised smart home standard. 

• Amazon just opened up its Sidewalk network for anyone to build connected gadgets on

32:16- Monica Chin brings six laptops to Times Square in New York City to test out the microphones.

48:47 - Tom Warren joins the show to explain how AI is being integrated into Microsoft’s products, which may be more promising than Bing’s chatbot.

• Microsoft’s new Copilot will change Office documents forever
• Microsoft Security Copilot is a new GPT-4 AI assistant for cybersecurity

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss AI image generators getting better, Apple WWDC 2023 rumors, and the other big stories in tech this week.

Further reading:

• The swagged-out pope is an AI fake — and an early glimpse of a new reality
• Another hurdle for AI image generators: unicycles
• It’s so hard to be worried about AI when the shit is so funny.
• AI-generated video is still in its “demonic phase.”
• Elon Musk and top AI researchers call for pause on ‘giant AI experiments’
• UK rejects idea of dedicated AI regulator.
• The US government is gearing up for an AI antitrust fight
• FTC should stop OpenAI from launching new GPT models, says AI policy group
• Apple’s WWDC 2023 kicks off on June 5th
• Apple staff reportedly express doubts about mixed-reality headset months ahead of launch
• Apple Pay Later is finally launching
• The ugly economics behind Apple’s new Pay Later system 
• Apple Music Classical is now available from the App Store
• Disney just laid off the guy it bought Marvel from... but that’s probably a good thing
• Elon Musk is now the most-followed person on Twitter
• Twitter is secretly boosting Elon Musk, Dril, and MrBeast for some reason 
• Google’s ADT partnership finally has a new home security product to show for it
• Sony’s new ZV-E1 camera is designed to help your vlogs suck less
• The TikTok ban is a betrayal of the open internet
• Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter?

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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The Verge answers questions from The Vergecast Hotline. 

We hear from David Pierce on balancing privacy and modern conveniences for digital journaling, Alex Cranz on tablets for reading, Dan Seifert and Allison Johnson on tech reviews at The Verge, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on smart home routers and doorbells, and Monica Chin on laptops for college.

Further reading: 

• My impossible search for the best, most powerful, most private journaling app ever
• The best iPad to buy in 2023
• Ethics Statement - The Verge 
• Nest Wifi Pro review: better, faster, shinier
• Eero Pro 6E review: faster Wi-Fi but flakier performance
• Aqara Video Doorbell G4 review: this battery-powered buzzer needs to go back to basics
• The FTC wants to ban those tough-to-cancel gym and cable subscriptions
• Best laptop 2023: 15 best laptops you can buy

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com 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 are joined by policy reporter Makena Kelly, who is on the ground in Washington for the House Energy and Commerce Committee's hearing on TikTok. Later, we dive into all the other news from this week, from Google's release of Bard to OpenAI's rapid expansion of ChatGPT. It was a big week.

Further reading:

• TikTok ban hearing: all the news on the US’s crackdown on the video platform  
• TikTok bans deepfakes of nonpublic figures and fake endorsements in rule refresh
• Google opens early access to its ChatGPT rival Bard — here are our first impressions
• Google says its Bard chatbot isn't a search engine — so what is it? 
• Testing Google Bard: the chatbot doesn’t love me, but it’s still pretty weird
• Google and Microsoft’s chatbots are already citing one another in a misinformation shitshow
• Sundar Pichai expects that ‘things will go wrong’ with Bard
• Can AI generate a way to pay for itself?
• GitHub Copilot gets a new ChatGPT-like assistant to help developers write and fix code
• Mozilla.ai is a new startup created to build more open and trustworthy AI
• OpenAI is massively expanding ChatGPT’s capabilities to let it browse the web and more

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Today on the flagship podcast of over-the-air interactive television:

David Pierce is joined by Alex Cranz and Janko Roettgers to talk about ATSC 3.0, the new standard for over-the-air broadcasting.

• The future of TV is up in the air

Mitchell Clark joins the show to discuss his next endeavor.

• Mitchell's gear list

Dan Seifert explains which iPad you should buy and how to make the iPad work better for writing by hand.

• The best iPad to buy in 2023
• Yes, paper-feel screen protectors for the iPad are good
• This Apple Pencil clone provides 80 percent of the experience for a quarter of the price

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For the final episode of our Solo Acts mini series, Ashley Esqueda talks with Marco Arment about being a solo app developer, going from Tumblr to Instapaper to his own podcast app Overcast.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, David Pierce, and James Vincent discuss OpenAI announcing GPT-4, the next generation of its AI language model.

Further reading:

• The night sky is always getting faked
• Samsung responds to fake Moon controversy
• Samsung’s fake Moon photos aren’t a giant leap for mobile photography
• OpenAI announces GPT-4 — the next generation of its AI language model
• The Bing AI bot has been secretly running GPT-4 
• OpenAI co-founder on company’s past approach to openly sharing research: ‘We were wrong’ 
• What’s new with GPT-4 — from processing pictures to acing tests
• Microsoft Business Chat is like the Bing AI bot but as a personal assistant 
• Microsoft spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a ChatGPT supercomputer 
• Google announces AI features in Gmail, Docs, and more to rival Microsoft  
• Google opens up its AI language model PaLM to challenge OpenAI and GPT-3 
• Google-backed Anthropic launches Claude, an AI chatbot that’s easier to talk to  
• How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Lost the A.I. Race
• The BlackBerry trailer shows the rise and fall of the keyboard phone
• Biden administration reportedly demanding that TikTok sell or face a ban
• T-Mobile is buying Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile for up to $1.35 billion
• Belkin’s smart home brand Wemo is backing away from Matter

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss Samsung faking photos of the moon on its phones, what happened with Silicon Valley Bank, and hottest topic of the season: ChatGPT and AI.

This episode was recorded live at SXSW 2023.

Further reading:

• Samsung caught faking zoom photos of the Moon
• Silicon Valley Bank has failed
• The tech industry moved fast and broke its most prestigious bank
• Bing, Bard, and ChatGPT: AI chatbots are rewriting the internet

Email us at vergeast@theverge.com or call us on the Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11.

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On today's episode of our Solo Acts mini series, Ashley Esqueda talks with Tiny of tinymakesthings, who makes artisan keycaps for mechanical keyboards. Tiny explains how she got started making her projects on Twitch, the process for designing the keycaps, and the community she built with her art.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Richard Lawler discuss Spotify's changes within its app, what happening this week at Twitter, Gigi Sohn withdrawing her nomination for FCC commissioner, and a whole lot more.

Further reading:

• The Cybertruck wiper does not appear to extend
• Spotify’s new design is part TikTok, part Instagram, and part YouTube 
• Spotify is going big on video podcasts
• After layoffs, SiriusXM looks to star-studded podcasts 
• Apple will launch its standalone classical music app on March 28th 
• All the streaming boxes suck now
• How a single engineer brought down Twitter
• Twitter just let its privacy- and security-protecting Tor service expire
• The FTC’s Twitter privacy investigations have ramped up since Elon Musk’s takeover
• Hey, where’s the Twitter Blue revenue sharing Elon Musk promised a month ago?
• Tesla under investigation after Model Y steering wheels fall off
• Congress rolls out new bill allowing nationwide TikTok ban
• Gigi Sohn withdraws her nomination for President Joe Biden’s FCC
• Now the Florida GOP wants political bloggers to register with the government
• Dish CEO says data was stolen in cyberattack that’s kept systems down for days
• Dish Network’s internal systems are so broken some employees haven’t worked in over a day 
• Microsoft Bing hits 100 million active users in bid to grab share from Googlet
• Is buzzy startup Humane’s big idea a wearable camera?

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Today, Sonos announced a new line of speakers — the Era 100 and the Era 300 — with the latter finally taking on this format that has been a hit-or-miss experience for music lovers, supporting Amazon Music and Apple Music’s spatial audio. Though spatial format Dolby Atmos has been supported on the Sonos Arc soundbar, the Era 300 signals a music-first approach to its speakers supporting 3D soundscapes. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence believes this is the right time to do it. “We didn’t know that, in 2022, 85 of the top Billboard 100 artists would actually release Atmos tracks, but they did,” Spence says. “We feel like we’re at an inflection point.”

On board with Sonos for this shift in music listening is record producer Giles Martin, who mixed the first-ever spatial audio album (a remix of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles album that his father, George Martin, originally produced) and several albums and live experiences in Dolby Atmos since. Martin is also the senior vice president of sound experience at Sonos and was involved in the development of the speaker. “When you’re building a product which has multi sort of use and orientations, you do prioritize ... in a way of, what’s the wow factor?” Martin explains. “The wow factor, which I think is truly extraordinary out of the 300, is the fact that it does spatial out of a single box. And it’s really compelling.”

Both Patrick and Giles joined Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel for The Vergecast to talk about the new speakers, supporting spatial audio, and why this is the time to do it.

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On episode three of our Solo Acts miniseries, Ashley Esqueda chats with Madison Karrh, an indie game developer who launched her most recent game Birth a few weeks ago. Birth is an adventure puzzle game about constructing a creature from spare bones & organs found around the city in order to quell your loneliness. Madison explains the challenges of making an entire game on your own and why that path is so important to her.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and Richard Lawler discuss the phones and laptops announced at Mobile World Congress, Meta's AR and VR hardware roadmap for the next few years, Tesla's "Master Plan", and more of this week's tech news.

Further reading:

• MWC 2023 was a preview of what future phones could (and should) look like
• HMD's latest Nokia phone is designed to be repaired in minutes 
• The Xiaomi 13 Pro is going global 
• Realme’s ridiculous 240W fast-charging phone is getting an international release 
• Motorola’s new Razr foldable is arriving this year
• Lenovo’s rollable laptop and smartphone are a compelling, unfinished pitch for the future 
• This is Meta’s AR / VR hardware roadmap for the next four years
• Elon Musk says Twitter employees will receive ‘very significant’ stock awards on March 24th
• Twitter shut off its internal Slack, and now ‘everyone is barely working’
• Twitter Blue head Esther Crawford is out at Twitter 
• Elon Musk's 'lab leak' tweets could be an issue for Tesla's plans in China
• Tesla’s new ‘Master Plan’ is coming — let’s grade the first two
• Elon Musk unveils a new Master Plan, a path to sustainable energy future, no new cars 
• Why won’t TikTok confirm the Bold Glamour filter is AI? 
• OpenAI announces an API for ChatGPT and its Whisper speech-to-text tech 
• Microsoft now lets you change Bing’s chatbot personality to be more entertaining
• Microsoft’s Phone Link app now lets you use iMessage from your PC
• Sony announces 2023 TV lineup: better late than never

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call our Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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Today on the flagship podcast of hyper specific wearable sensors: 

01:19 - Victoria Song joins Alex Cranz to talk about the latest rumors around Apple’s big progress in blood glucose monitoring. 

• Apple Makes Major Progress on No-Prick Blood Glucose Tracking for Its Watch 
• Continuous glucose monitor startups still have to prove their worth
• Apple is looking at opportunities to do great things in health in India: Sumbul Desai

17:14 - Ariel Shapiro talks with Valerie Wirtschafter, a data analyst at the Brookings Institution, about how often podcasts spread political misinformation, and what that means for the medium.

• Audible reckoning: How top political podcasters spread unsubstantiated and false claims
• Policy recommendations for addressing content moderation in podcasts

43:57 - Alex and Charles Pulliam-Moore chat about the latest episode of The Last of Us and all the Marvel movie fatigue that has cropped up since Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came out. [Warning: Spoiler alert]

• HBO’s The Last of Us is pushing all the right buttons by telling new stories
• HBO’s The Last of Us is wisely skipping to the cutscenes
• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania review: this is your brain on Kangs

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com, or call the Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11

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In this next episode of our Vergecast Solo Acts mini series, Ashley Esqueda talks with Alan Klein, the creator of the McRib Locator, a website that helps people track and submit where McDonald's BBQ pork sandwich is available in stores.

Alan shares what drove him to make this free tool for people back in 2009, what he does with the data he's collected, what's next for the site after the McRib's "farewell tour" this past fall, and more.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, T.C. Sottek, and Adi Robertson discuss the Supreme Court cases that could reshape the future of the internet.

Later, Verge policy reporter Makena Kelly joins the show to discuss new charges against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Further reading:

• The Supreme Court hears arguments for two cases that could reshape the future of the internet
• Thomas starts talking about pagers for some reason
• Google: it’s not helpful when states make their own decisions that affect us
• A Signal group is at the center of Bankman-Fried’s latest woes
• Spotify’s new AI-powered DJ builds and commentates on custom playlists
• Microsoft recruited Nintendo and Nvidia to help fight Sony over the Activision deal  
• Tesla announces new engineering headquarters in California

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Today on the flagship podcast of not-yet-announced Sonos speakers:

Adi Robertson and Sean Hollister discuss their review of the PSVR2, and how it ranks among the other VR options today, along with its predecessor. 

• PSVR 2 review: love on a leash
• We plugged the PSVR2 into a PC, and here’s what it does
• Meta is improving Quest hand tracking so you can touch buttons and type on virtual keyboards

Alex Cranz, Chris Welch, Chris Person, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy discuss the world of multi-room audio devices to play music. How do smart speakers like Sonos, Amazon Echo, and Google Home compare to audiophile gadgets like the WiiM Mini and the Raspberry Pi?

• WiiM’s Mini and Pro are the Chromecast Audio’s real replacement
• Exclusive: these are the new Sonos Era speakers 
• Amazon’s Alexa app gets more Sonos-y with new multiroom audio controls
• How to set up multiroom music playback with Google Home speakers

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com, or call the Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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This is episode one of our Vergecast mini-series "Solo Acts", which features people who are working independently to create great things on the internet, hosted by Ashley Esqueda.

Today, Ashley talks with Raluca Pop, founder of the social media app Hive Social, which was created when Raluca was only 19. Ashley and Raluca discuss the challenges of building a social media app from scratch in the world of Big Tech, what happens when you need to address problem like a mass influx of users and security issues, and working with such a small team.

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Today on the flagship podcast of wanting to smooch your laptop:

01:23 - The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Richard Lawler, Adi Robertson, and James Vincent discuss the flaws with Microsoft's Bing AI, and why it can be an "emotionally manipulative liar."

34:56 - Platformer managing editor Zoë Schiffer joins to explain why Twitter is showing everyone all of Elon Musk's tweets.

50:33 - The crew discuss YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki stepping down after nine years at the helm.

Further reading:

• Microsoft’s Bing is an emotionally manipulative liar, and people love it  
• AI search engines are not your friends
• These are Microsoft’s Bing AI secret rules and why it says it’s named Sydney
• Microsoft says talking to Bing for too long can cause it to go off the rails
• The Supreme Court could be about to decide the legal fate of AI search
• Microsoft’s Bing AI, like Google’s, also made dumb mistakes during first demo
• From Bing to Sydney (Stratechery)
• A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled (The New York Times)
• Seeing other people’s AI art is like hearing other people’s dreams
• Yes, Elon Musk created a special system for showing you all his tweets first 
• Elon Musk’s reach on Twitter is dropping — he just fired a top engineer over it 
• Twitter is just showing everyone all of Elon Musk’s tweets now
• Elon Musk says Twitter should be ready for new CEO by end of year
• YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki steps down after nine years at the helm 
• The maze is in the mouse (Praveen Seshadri)
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: practically peerless
• Razer Blade 18 review: the price is going up 
• Tesla recalls 362,758 vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving beta for ‘crash risk’
• Mazda MX-30 electric SUV review: a perfect storm of range anxiety 
• Hyundai and Kia forced to update software on millions of vehicles because of viral TikTok challenge
• Less money and more fear: what’s going on with tech
• Erase browser history: can AI reset the browser battle?

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call our Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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Today on the flagship podcast of home theater remotes: repairing broken gadgets and why you should do it. 

01:55 - David Pierce talks with Nic of Nic’s Fix, a repair service specializing in Apple’s original HomePod. 

• Nicsfix.com
• New Apple HomePod 2023 Comparison and Teardown; Is it better? Is it fixed?? 

28:15 - Alex Cranz talks with Quin at Harmony Remote Repair, who offers fixes for the discontinued universal remote from Logitech. 

• harmonyremoterepair.com
• Logitech officially discontinues its Harmony remote

47:07 - iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens joins the show to talk about the state of fixing your own stuff and what’s next in the fight for the right to repair.

• Rebble with a Cause: How Pebble Watches Were Granted an Amazing Afterlife | iFixit News 
• New York breaks the right to repair bill as it’s signed into law

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call the Vergecast hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Richard Lawler, and James Vincent discuss Microsoft's upgraded Bing search engine with ChatGPT AI. Can Microsoft beat Google at search? Is it actually an upgrade? Also: Disney layoffs, Elon's Twitter reach is dropping, and more of this week's tech news.

Further reading:

• Microsoft and Google are about to Open an AI battle
• Microsoft announces new Bing and Edge browser powered by upgraded ChatGPT AI
• Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing is open for everyone to try starting today 
• Microsoft thinks AI can beat Google at search — CEO Satya Nadella explains why 
• Google announces ChatGPT rival Bard, with wider availability in ‘coming weeks’ 
• Google shows off new AI search features, but a ChatGPT rival is still weeks away
• Google is still drip-feeding AI into search, Maps, and Translate 
• Google’s AI chatbot Bard makes factual error in first demo 
• Elon Musk’s reach on Twitter is dropping — he just fired a top engineer over it
• Disney’s laying off 7,000 as streaming boom comes to an end 
• Bob Iger wants more Zootopia, Frozen, and Toy Story sequels from Disney
• Nintendo Direct February 2023: the biggest news and trailers 
• Fox's Super Bowl LVII ads won't include any crypto companies 

Email at vergecast@theverge.com, we love to hear from you. Or call our hotline at 866-VERGE11.

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We are sharing an episode of Land of the Giants: Dating. Big tech is transforming every aspect of our world. But how? And at what cost? In this season of Land of the Giants: Dating Games, The Verge and New York Magazine's The Cut trace the evolution of the multi-billion dollar dating app industry. Hosts Sangeeta Singh Kurtz and Lakshmi Rengarajan explore the modern dating landscape forged by companies like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, and their impact on our hopes for connection. They answer the question – are the business goals of dating app companies aligned with users' romantic aspirations?

Follow Land of the Giants to hear new episodes every Wednesday. 

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Richard Lawler, Allison Johnson, and Monica Chin discuss the announcements from Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event.

Further reading:

• Samsung’s S23 and S23 Plus look a little more Ultra 
• The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is a minor update to a spec monster
• Where’s the Galaxy S23’s satellite connectivity, Samsung?
• Samsung Galaxy S23 vs. S23 Plus vs. S23 Ultra: spec comparison 
• The Galaxy Book3 Ultra is Samsung’s shot at the MacBook Pro  
• Samsung’s Galaxy Book3 gets new chips and a big display upgrade 
• Anker launches cheaper USB-C fast charging options for Samsung Galaxy phones 
• Where’s the Galaxy S23’s satellite connectivity, Samsung?
• Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro supply problems sank its holiday revenues
• Apple won’t name a new head of hardware design
• Anker finally comes clean about its Eufy security cameras
• Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is making this the ‘year of efficiency’
• White House goes after app store ‘gatekeepers’ Apple and Google
• Apple and Google face mounting pressure to remove TikTok from app stores

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Today on the flagship podcast of removable power cords:

02:14 - The Verge’s Alex Cranz, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, Chris Welch, and Nilay Patel discuss the updated version of the Apple HomePod. 

• Apple’s new HomePod plays it safe
• How to use the Apple HomePod’s temperature and humidity sensors

43:23 - Katharine Trendacosta joins the show to discuss why and how faking your death has been a common practice in online communities. 

• A Fake Death in Romancelandia
• She created a fake Twitter persona — then she killed it with COVID-19

1:05:19 - Verge senior editor Sean Hollister gives an updated review of Valve’s Steam Deck, which had a buggy start in 2022.

• The Steam Deck wasn’t born ready, but it’s ready now

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Today on the flagship podcast of staring directly down the barrel of a camera, The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Richard Lawler, and Monica Chin start the show with an inside look at our M2 MacBook Pro and Mac Mini reviews. After that, the crew breaks down the case the US Department of Justice has filed against Google's ad business and of course we try to make sense of the latest Elon Musk shenanigans.

Further reading:

• The Vergecast - YouTube
• Apple Mac Mini (2023) review: Mac Studio junior 
• Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) review: the core count grows
• Google is being sued by the US government and eight states over online advertising 
• Google plans to demo AI chatbot search as it panics about ChatGPT
• More details come out on which departments saw layoffs at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon 
• Tesla made more money in 2022 than ever before, but its future still looks rocky
• Elon Musk is theoretically sad that Tesla investors lost money because of his tweets
• Elon Musk thinks Twitter is real life
• Elon Musk’s Twitter is caving to government censorship, just like he promised 
• Elon Musk gets serious about 420 at securities fraud trial - The Verge  
• Tesla’s new $3.6 billion Nevada investment includes a ‘high-volume’ Semi factory 
• Tesla Cybertruck mass production won't start until 2024
• Microsoft Q2 2023: Windows, devices, and Xbox down as cloud holds strong
• Senators and Swifties take on Ticketmaster in Washington 
• GoldenEye 007 is coming to Nintendo Switch and Xbox on January 27th
• TikTok confirms that its own employees can decide what goes viral

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Today on the flagship podcast of zombie kisses:

• 02:02 - The Verge’s managing editor Alex Cranz chats with film & TV reporter Charles Pulliam-Moore about HBO’s The Last of Us and how it handles the video game adaptation. [Spoilers for episode 1 + 2]
• 22:40 - Historian and author of the book The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America Margaret O'Mara talks about how the lack of non-compete clauses shaped Silicon Valley.
• 38:30 - We answer your questions left on our Vergecast Hotline! Thunderbolt docks, end-to-end encryption, and smart assistants.

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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Today on the flagship podcast of automated content creation:

02:23 - The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Richard Lawler, and Alex Heath start the show with an overview of what we've learned from Elon Musk running Twitter over the past few months.

24:50 - Inside CNET’s AI-powered SEO money machine

48:34 - Apple's Mac and HomePod announcements from this week

Further reading:

• Inside Elon Musk’s “extremely hardcore” Twitter
• Twitter Blue arrives on Android for $11 a month 
• Inside CNET’s AI-powered SEO money machine
• Apple announces MacBook Pros with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips
• Apple announces a Mac Mini with the M2 and M2 Pro
• How the new MacBook Pros compare to the rest of Apple's MacBook lineup 
• Apple is reportedly working on an iPad-like smart display 
• Apple announces revamped full-size HomePod two years after discontinuing original
• Apple’s new HomePod unsurprisingly sounds close to the original
• Apple reportedly shelved its plans to release AR glasses any time soon 
• Reed Hastings is stepping down as Netflix’s co-CEO
• Microsoft announces big layoffs that will affect 10,000 employees

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call the hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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The Verge’s Alex Cranz talks with senior reviewer Monica Chin about the laptops she saw at CES this year and what it means for 2023’s computer trends. Verge reviewer Victoria Song joins the show to discuss the FDA regulations behind health tech, and whether the stuff we saw at CES will ever be available in the United States.

Further reading:

• The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i is the CES 2023 gadget I’m most excited for
• Lenovo Yoga Book 9i hands-on: the dual-screen future
• OLED plus E Ink: Lenovo’s ThinkBook Twist is halfway to my dream laptop
•  Lenovo ThinkPhone by Motorola hands-on: a ThinkPad’s best friend
• The new Asus ZenBook Pro 14 leads a line of impressively refreshed OLED laptops 
• Acer’s new Predator Helios laptops can pack a bright 250Hz Mini LED screen
• The LG Gram Style might be the prettiest laptop of 2023
• With PC sales down, laptop makers turn to services
• The HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is neat, but what's with the RGB?
• The regulatory maze behind health tech vaporware
• Withings wants you to pee on its latest device 
• How do you sell over-the-counter hearing aids when nobody knows who you are?

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The Verge's Alex Cranz, Richard Lawler, and Dan Seifert discuss the numerous Apple rumors we heard about this week, a Samsung Unpacked preview, and the latest gadget news.

Further reading:

• Apple might finally make a touchscreen Mac
• Apple is reportedly making an all-in-one cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth chip
• iPhone 16 Pro models could feature under-display Face ID 
• Apple's next custom hardware trick might be its own Micro LED screens 
• Apple’s MicroLED dream: what it means for the Apple Watch and beyond
• $99 AirPods could ship as early as next year alongside next-gen AirPods Max
• Official Samsung Galaxy S23 images leak early 
• Samsung confirms February 1st Unpacked, its first in-person event in three years 
• Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro can now record lifelike 3D audio
• HBO Max’s first price hike raises the monthly rate by $1 
• John Deere commits to letting farmers repair their own tractors (kind of) 
• At CES one company was showing off...an E-Ink headset? 
• The Pinecil is the best soldering iron for most people
• Six smart home finds from CES 2023 you may have missed 

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The Verge’s Alex Cranz, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, Chris Welch, and Andrew Hawkins discuss the best TVs, cars, and smart home gadgets they saw at CES 2023 — from a color-changing car to a vacuum suction system on an OLED TV.

Further reading:

• CES 2023: Verge Video’s best of
• Why Matter mattered at CES
• The $3,000 totally wireless Displace TV is the definition of CES absurdity
• Roku does the obvious thing and announces its own TV line 
• TCL’s 2023 TVs have new branding and are gaming powerhouses
• Samsung’s 2023 TV lineup bets everything on picture upgrades and AI tricks
• LG’s latest Signature OLED TV receives all of its audio and video wirelessly
• LG’s 2023 OLED TVs are brighter (again) and make webOS smarter
• LG wants to reinvent how you think of TV picture modes
• Sony breaks from tradition and won’t announce new TVs at CES 2023 
• Sony and Honda just announced their new electric car brand, Afeela
• The Peugeot Inception concept is an EV knife aimed straight at the future
• The BMW i Vision Dee is a future EV sports sedan that can talk back to you

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CES 2023 is in full swing! The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and Richard Lawler parse the vapor ware from the cool new tech we hope to see ship this year.

Further reading:

• Sony and Honda just announced their new electric car brand, Afeela
• The BMW i Vision Dee is a future EV sports sedan that can talk back to you
• Check out BMW’s color-changing concept car in action  
• Mercedes-Benz and ChargePoint are going to install thousands of EV fast chargers in the US
• The Ring Car Cam is now available to order for $200 
• Google’s new high-definition maps are arriving first on Volvo and Polestar electric vehicles 
• Google’s new split-screen look for Android Auto is rolling out to everyone
• LG’s latest Signature OLED TV receives all of its audio and video wirelessly
• LG wants to reinvent how you think of TV picture modes
• Sony breaks from tradition and won’t announce new TVs at CES 2023 
• Samsung takes on Apple and LG with its own 5K display for creative pros
• Dell’s new 32-inch 6K monitor gives Apple’s ProDisplay XDR some competition
• Samsung's latest Flex Hybrid is a prototype display
• LG’s 2023 OLED TVs are brighter (again) and make webOS smarter
• Samsung’s 2023 TV lineup bets everything on picture upgrades and AI tricks
• Roku does the obvious thing and announces its own TV line 
• TCL’s 2023 TVs have new branding and are gaming powerhouses
• Razer made a soundbar that tracks your head to optimize sound
• AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 mobile processors include a massive 16-core chip
• AMD promises RTX 3060 desktop graphics performance with new RDNA 3 laptop GPUs
• Lenovo’s new Yoga Book 9i laptop has a second screen above its screen
• Lenovo’s new ThinkBook has modular accessories that add LTE, a webcam light, and more
• Lenovo’s new all-in-one is all screen
• Lenovo made a Kindle Scribe
• The HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is neat, but what’s with the RGB?
• Razer's Edge 5G handheld is coming to Verizon this month for $359.99
• Delta and T-Mobile are making in-flight Wi-Fi free for all SkyMiles members
• Qi2: How Apple might finally harness MagSafe by giving it away 
• Philips Hue is getting a $130 app for TVs
• Samsung’s SmartThings Station is a smart home hub hidden in a wireless charger
• Kohler shower pods are here to turn your bathroom into a spa
• Withings wants you to pee on its latest device

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Chris Welch, and Sean Hollister celebrate the holiday season with a full show dedicated to Bluetooth.

03:57 - We play Bluetooth Jeopardy! Play along here

30:38 - The crew discuss the many codecs layered onto the Bluetooth spec, and where the standard is headed.

46:56 - Former Bluetooth SIG executive director Dr. Mike Foley joins the show to discuss his time in charge of Bluetooth.

Happy Holidays!

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and Richard Lawler break down all the news from this week.

Further reading:

• FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas
• Apple is reportedly preparing to allow third-party app stores on the iPhone
• Twitter Blue is back, letting you buy a blue checkmark again
• Elon Musk sells yet another $3.58 billion of Tesla shares - The Verge 
• Twitter suspends @ElonJet after Musk promises not to ban it - The Verge 
• Elon Musk booed at Dave Chappelle show, claims it was only like ‘10 percent boos’  
• Jack Dorsey on Musk’s Twitter files: ‘There’s nothing to hide’ - The Verge 
• https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/15/23511260/everything-ok-in-there-mr-musk-sincerely-the-ftc
• Twitter’s newsletter tool is shutting down on January 12th
• The golden age of the streaming wars has ended
• Apple is expanding Mythic Quest with a new spinoff series
• Westworld is leaving HBO Max
• Director Patty Jenkins says there was ‘nothing’ she could do to move Wonder Woman 3 forward
• Where are all the new Macs?
• iOS 16.2 arrives with improved always-on display and iCloud end-to-end encryption
• Google won’t launch ChatGPT rival because of ‘reputational risk’
• The Echo Show 15 with Fire TV: a major upgrade with a major flaw
• Google is beta testing digital state ID cards in its Android Wallet app
• How to use Instagram’s new Notes feature
• TikTok starts testing a horizontal full-screen mode
• Google Nest and Android devices are now Matter compatible — yes, right now

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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The Verge's Alex Cranz, Nilay Patel, and Charles Pulliam-Moore focus on the big streaming services — Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Peacock, Paramount Plus — and discuss which are the winners and losers are for this year.

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call the hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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In the final episode on our series about creator economies, David Pierce is joined by producer Hadley Robinson to explore the world of livestreaming and its recent popularity across every social platform. Livestreaming is certainly not a new thing though, so why does it seem to be having a moment?

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Richard Lawler, and James Vincent discuss the popularity of ChatGPT.

Also: the FTC sues Microsoft to block its Activision Blizzard purchase, Apple is adding end-to-end encryption to iCloud backups, and some gadget news.

Further reading:

• ChatGPT proves AI is finally mainstream — and things are only going to get weirder
• The FTC is suing Microsoft to block its Activision Blizzard purchase
• Microsoft reaches 10-year deal with Nintendo for Call of Duty
• EU sets December 28th, 2024, deadline for all new phones to use USB-C for wired charging
• The race to build a better Twitter
• Twitter Blue will reportedly cost more from iPhones to offset ‘hidden 30 percent tax’ 
• Apple is adding end-to-end encryption to iCloud backups  
• Apple claims a new iMessage can alert you if state-sponsored spies are eavesdropping
• Tim Cook and Joe Biden came to Arizona to announce plans for American-made chips 
• Huawei’s latest smartwatch has hidden earbuds inside
• The $949 price for Dyson’s air-purifying headphones is more absurd than the device itself 
• Coros Apex 2 and Apex 2 Pro review: slightly short of great
• Amazon Echo Auto (2nd gen) review: smaller but not smarter
• How CoinDesk’s FTX scoop left a hole in its corporate overlord
• Sonos and Ikea made a floor lamp speaker that could be perfect for surround sound

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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This week on the flagship podcast of mounting TVs way too high in the hospital room:

The Verge's David Pierce chats with Russell Brandom about the state of US broadband, and what we learned from 22,000 people’s internet bills.

David also talks with Verge managing editor Alex Cranz about the Amazon Kindle's 15th anniversary, why the Kindle has been so successful, and maybe also why it hasn’t done more. Keep listening for Alex's review of the Kindle Scribe.

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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Producer Hadley Robinson reports on the often uncertain world digital creators find themselves in trying to make a living on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Should platforms pay creators directly? Are creator funds even good? Creators and experts tell us what they have found behind the curtain and what it's like to chase the dream of making a living as a digital creator.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and Alex Heath discuss this week in Elon Musk, everything that went wrong with FTX, and the latest gadget news.

Further reading:

• Why some tech CEOs are rooting for Elon Musk 
• A Twitter executive got a court injunction to prevent Elon Musk from firing her
• Another major ad agency recommends pausing Twitter ad campaigns 
• Elon Musk is delaying Twitter’s paid verification to avoid Apple’s 30 percent cut
• Elon Musk says Apple has ‘threatened to withhold Twitter’ from the App Store
• Elon Musk says Tim Cook told him Apple ‘never considered’ removing Twitter 
• Elon Musk is dragging Apple into the culture wars 
• Elon Musk claims Neuralink is about ‘six months’ away from first human trial  
• Here’s everything that went wrong with FTX
• Sam Bankman-Fried Interview: Read the Transcript - The New York Times 
• Kensington made a new wireless version of its SlimBlade trackball mouse 
• The Genki Covert Dock Mini lets me put an entire gaming system in my purse 
• Now the Apple Watch Ultra can actually be your diving computer 
• Anker’s Eufy lied to us about the security of its security cameras  
• Canoo repurposed its bubbly electric pickup truck for the US Army

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As we spend more time in digital spaces, our avatars are becoming part of our personality. And digital creators and influencers are becoming part of our culture. Producer Gina Pollack join's The Verge's David Pierce with stories about why advertisers love digital creators, why a dancing hot dog will never leave your brain, and what the creator industry is learning from mascots. Next time you’re scrolling through your Instagram feed, keep your eyes peeled — not everyone’s as human as they look.

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Today on the flagship podcast of connected meat thermometers:

It’s Thanksgiving week, so we’re going to do something a little different. We’re going to make Thanksgiving dinner! Jen Pattison Tuohy, The Verge’s smart home reviewer and reporter, is also an excellent cook. So she’s at home in South Carolina, and she’s going to make us a meal and tell us all about the state and future of the smart home and kitchen gadgets. This episode, fair warning, will make you very hungry. I’m sorry in advance.

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Piece, Alex Cranz, and Adi Robertson discuss the Meta Quest Pro review.

Later, the crew discuss Ticketmaster crashing after Taylor Swift fans try to buy concert tickets. Also: Elon Musk's Twitter saga continues and some weekly gadget news.

Further reading:

• Meta Quest Pro review: get me out of here
• Taylor Swift crashed Ticketmaster following 'historically unprecedented demand' for tickets 
• Elon Musk ignored Twitter’s internal warnings about paid verification
• Elon Musk says he fired engineer who corrected him on Twitter
• Elon Musk is firing Twitter employees even when they criticize him in private
• Elon Musk says he doesn’t want to be CEO of Twitter, or any company
• Elon Musk demands Twitter employees commit to ‘extremely hardcore’ culture or leave
• Amazon’s Alexa Voice Remote Pro is the best streaming clicker of them all
• Elgato’s new Stream Deck Plus joins the knob mob
• Sonos plans to enter four new product categories — and the first is coming next year
• Apple and Major League Soccer will launch MLS Season Pass on February 1st 
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 leans into AI 
• Razer is upgrading the 2022 Blade 14’s two USB-C ports to USB 4
• Canon’s new ‘Pro’ webcam software subscription charges $50 annually
• The 20-year boondoggle  
• The unbearable lightness of BuzzFeed
• The scary truth about AI copyright is nobody knows what will happen next

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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Today on the flagship podcast of the difference between CMYK and RGB colors:

• 02:19 - David talks about the future of Photoshop with Adobe's Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky.
• 13:37 - Verge senior reporter James Vincent joins the show to discuss generative AI art and all its possibilities and complications.
• 43:05 - The Verge's Kristen Radtke and Jess Weatherbed chat with David about Pantone's new subscription service and what it means for artists and designers.

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

We are conducting a short audience survey to help plan for our future and hear from you. To participate, head to vox.com/podsurvey, and thank you!

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Alex Heath discuss week two of Elon Musk as CEO of Twitter and Meta announcing job cuts.

Later in the show: What's next for Binance and FTX, a stretchable screen by LG Display, and the Surface Pro 9 review.

Further reading:

• Elon Musk tells Twitter staff to prepare for ‘difficult times ahead’ and ends remote work
• Read Elon Musk’s first email to Twitter employees
• Elon Musk offloads another $3.9 billion in Tesla shares
• Elon is putting Twitter at risk for billions in fines, says internal letter
• Elon Musk’s Twitter Blue with verification is now live
• Elon Musk's response to fake verified Elon Twitter accounts: a new permanent ban policy for impersonation 
• Everyone knows you paid to be verified on Twitter 
• Mario flipped off Twitter for nearly two hours with the blessing of Musk's 'verification'  
• Twitter rolls back gray ‘official’ checks that popped up on high-profile accounts
• Twitter’s new double-check verification disappears, Elon Musk says he ‘killed it’
• Meta announces huge job cuts affecting 11,000 employees
• Binance won't bail out FTX, cites reports of 'mishandled customer funds'
• ‘I fucked up,’ says FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in public apology
• Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (Intel) review: this is the one to buy
• LG Display's 'stretchable' prototype display could attach to skin, clothing, and furniture 
• HP Pavilion Plus 14 review: a powerful, confusing OLED machine
• The Pixel Watch calorie bug is a reminder of why 'accuracy' isn't everything
• Razer made a customizable PS5 controller that — you guessed it — is very expensive

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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This week on

02:10 - The Verge's David Pierce tries out Neeva's Bias Buster, an attempt to get people out of their echo chambers and show them new information in its search engine.

20:25 - Senior reporter Adi Robertson talks about her story How America turned against the First Amendment

42:27 - Policy reporter Makena Kelly explains the CHIPS and Science Act, and how it could reshape the tech industry in America.

Further reading:

• Biden signs $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act
• Micron launches $15 billion Idaho project amid federal push for US tech manufacturing
• President Joe Biden speaks after groundbreaking for Intel’s $20 billion semiconductor plant
• Micron’s investing up to $100 billion to bring the country’s ‘largest semiconductor’ facility to New York

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

We are conducting a short audience survey to help plan for our future and hear from you. To participate, head to vox.com/podsurvey, and thank you!

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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Alex Heath discuss what has happened with Twitter since Elon Musk has taken over the company.

Then, Nilay, David and Alex discuss the first Matter-compatible devices since the launch of the smart home standard.

Further reading:

• Elon Musk wastes no time changing Twitter 
• Why Elon Musk is so desperate for Twitter to make money
• Elon Musk could enable Twitter's edit button for everyone 
• Elon Musk could cut half of Twitter’s workforce 
• Over 190 smart home devices are now Matter certified and here’s what’s coming next
• We’re getting our first look at Matter devices today, and here’s what’s coming next
• Level locks had a secret Thread radio this whole time
• Amazon announces a phased rollout of Matter to its Alexa smart home platform
• Eve’s sensors and smart plugs will be among the first Matter-compatible devices
• Nanoleaf announces the first Matter-over-Thread light bulbs
• Philips Hue Bridge is getting updated to Matter early next year
• Aqara’s Matter transition begins in December with free hub update
• Amazon Music’s library of songs and podcasts is now free for Prime subscribers 
• Apple TV 4K (2022) review: unmatched power, unrealized potential
• Netflix’s new cheaper plan with ads doesn’t work on Apple TV at launch
• Netflix’s $6.99 per month ad tier is now live
• PlayStation VR2 launches on February 22nd for $549.99
• Comcast’s big rival to Roku and the smart TV is called… Xumo 

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.

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Today we're sharing an episode of Decoder with Nilay Patel featuring an interview with Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal.

Signal is the popular messaging app that offers encrypted communication. You might recognize Meredith’s name from 2018 when she was an AI researcher at Google and one of the organizers of the Google walkout. Now she’s at Signal, which is a little different than the usual tech company: it’s operated by a nonprofit foundation and prides itself on collecting as little data as possible.

Listen to more of Decoder with Nilay Patel anywhere you get your podcasts.

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