The Vergecast

On this episode of The Vergecast, we’re going to dive deep into why accessible design is universal design. First, guest host Victoria Song will chat with Jason Valley, a visually impaired Verge reader. Jason initially reached out to Victoria after her Live AI hands-on, challenging the notion that the feature was a “solution looking for a problem to solve.” Jason shares how the tech has helped him live a more independent life, what he’s hoping to see improve, and how the blind and low-vision community has enthusiastically embraced the technology.

After that, Victoria sits down with Be My Eyes CEO Mike Buckley. Be My Eyes is an app that pairs blind and low-vision users with sighted volunteers to help them go about their day. Buckley gives his thoughts about how accessible tech design benefits everyone, why smart glasses and AI are a natural combo, and what challenges and opportunities in this space remain.

And finally, we have features reporter Mia Sato on to answer a spicy question about smart glasses from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected]). Specifically, do smart glasses belong in the bedroom?

Further reading:

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Summer phone season kicks off with Samsung’s latest launch. Jake, Vee, and Allison talk about Samsung’s new lineup of foldables, including the very thin new Z Fold 7 and Allison’s disdain for the Z Flip 7 FE. Vee has impressions of Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 8 lineup and its squircle-y new redesign. Then, it’s time to talk Big Tech shakeups. Apple’s COO is leaving, Zuckerberg is buying himself an AI dream team, X’s CEO is out — and its chatbot Grok is on a rampage. Finally, big things are in store for the Lightning Round… which shall henceforth be known as the THUNDER ROUND. Lots to talk about, including Lorde’s CD problems, Apple’s Liquid Glass changes, and HBO Max finally becoming HBO Max again.

Further reading:

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On this episode of The Vergecast, we kick off Hot Girl Vergecast Summer with a classic Vergecast segment: the mic test. Guest host Victoria Song is joined by Vergecast producers Andru Marino and Erick Gomez to see how the Nothing Headphone 1, Sony WH-1000XM6, Apple AirPods Max, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra hold up against what’s possibly the noisiest street in Brooklyn.

After that, Victoria is joined by Ladder CEO Greg Stewart to talk about what it takes to build a successful strength training app — especially for people just starting out. As it turns out, it’s quite challenging, between curating playlists, accommodating users’ different access to equipment, skill levels, and preferences for coaching styles. (And maybe, some occasional beef with Peloton?)

Lastly, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected]) about AI fitness summaries, whether people actually like them, what’s frustrating about them, and what scenarios they might actually be useful for.

Want to learn more about the topics in this episode? Here are some handy dandy links for your reference:

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One way to think about the tech industry is just as a series of people trying to build stuff they saw in movies and on TV. Some of that tech is great, some of it is deeply dystopian, and most of it would make the world a very different place if it suddenly existed. In this episode, a bunch of us try to figure out which tech we actually want to use. David is joined by The Verge’s Allison Johnson, Jennifer Pattison-Tuohy, Mia Sato, and Victoria Song — aka the hosts of Hot Girl Vergecast Summer — to draft their way through the movie, show, and game tech they’d want to make real. Some of the picks you’ll expect, and some we bet has never crossed your mind. And some big-name tech goes undrafted!

Once you've finished the show, make sure you take the poll and tell us who won: https://forms.gle/Q1wFhpzCdM3B5bqj9

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It's already the heat of summer, and the news keeps coming. Nilay, David, and Jake start the show with a bunch of tech news, including the latest on Tesla's robotaxi launch, some updates on the Trump Phone, new devices from Fairphone and Unihertz, and Meta's shifting strategy for face computers. After that, The Verge's Adi Roberston joins the show to talk about two important AI lawsuits that were both decided this week — one involving Anthropic and the other involving Meta — and what this particular battle means for who will win the AI war. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for another round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, some huge news in the HDMI world, and the end of the Blue Screen of Death.

Further reading:

Tesla’s robotaxis are operating in a regulatory vacuum 

Here’s a running list of all of Tesla’s robotaxi mishaps so far

The Trump Phone no longer promises it’s made in America 

The smaller Fairphone 6 introduces swappable accessories

The Titan 2 is a modern BlackBerry with 5G, Android, and two screens 

A week in Xbox VR with Microsoft and Meta’s new $399 headset 

Meta announces Oakley smart glasses that shoot 3K video 

Anthropic wins a major fair use victory for AI — but it’s still in trouble for stealing books

Meta’s AI copyright win comes with a warning about fair use

Senate confirms Trump’s FCC pick, Olivia Trusty

FCC Seeks Public Comments on Changing Broadcast Ownership Rules

Trump’s FTC agrees to Omnicom merger — with a gift to X 

Paramount Plus with Showtime is getting a rebrand 

Paramount delays $35M settlement with Trump as media giant fears bribery backlash: sources

The Paramount Risk in Settling Trump’s Lawsuit: ‘Bribery’?

The HDMI 2.2 specification supports 16K video at 60Hz

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Tesla is famous for throwing caution to the wind in the name of rolling out cool technology, so it was somewhat surprising to see its robotaxi service launch over the weekend in somewhat muted fashion. The Verge's Andy Hawkins joins the show to explain what, exactly, Elon Musk and co. launched, and what it says about the state of the self-driving revolution. After that, The Verge's Allison Johnson takes us through the history of MVNOs, and why they might just be the best deal in wireless carriers. We talk about Trump Mobile, Ryan Reynolds, e-SIMs, and what it would mean to make it easier to switch service. Finally, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline about how to free up storage on your iPhone. It's harder than it should be, but hopefully easier than you think.

Further reading:

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Starting a wireless carrier is easier than you might think. So is building a half-decent Android phone! But doing all the things Trump Mobile promises, at the price and on the schedule it says, seems awfully close to impossible. While Nilay's out, David and Jake chat with The Verge's Dominic Preston about what we know about Trump Mobile and the T1 Phone, why everyone wants to be a wireless carrier, and what it would actually take for this to work out. After that, David and Jake talk through some big news in the TV world, and the streaming takeover that appears to be happening faster all the time. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for some brief FCC news, a check on the state of Siri, big questions about the ad-rich future of WhatsApp, a look at the new fediverse feed in Threads, and some thoughts on the Framework Laptop 12.

Further reading:

Trump Mobile launches $47 service and a gold phone 

Who is really behind the Trump Mobile T1 phone? 

Trump Mobile is a bad deal 

What is the deal with the Trump Mobile T1 Phone? 

What do Alabama, California, and Florida have in common?

How Donald Trump and Ryan Reynolds can easily sell you phone plans 

Even Klarna is launching a mobile phone service now

SmartLess Mobile | Don't get outsmarted. Get SmartLess Mobile.

Trump is giving TikTok another ban extension 

Streaming is eating cable and broadcast TV’s lunch. | The Verge

From Nieman Lab: For the first time, social media overtakes TV as Americans’ top news source

Max will show autoplaying video previews suggested by AI 

Senate confirms Trump’s FCC pick, Olivia Trusty 

Apple’s upgraded Siri might not arrive until next spring 

WhatsApp is officially getting ads 

WhatsApp’s rollout of ads will change the app forever 

Signal says it won’t add AI or ads like WhatsApp. | The Verge

Reddit will help advertisers turn ‘positive’ posts into ads 

Senate passes GENIUS stablecoin bill in a win for the crypto industry 

Threads is adding fediverse content and search to its feeds 

Framework Laptop 12 review: plastic fantastic | The Verge

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It's a small miracle that a bunch of us managed to get our heads out of Mario Kart World long enough to make a show about the Switch 2. But that's what we did! First, we chat with The Verge's Andrew Webster about his review, and why it feels like the Switch 2 is both everything we wanted and somehow still a little underwhelming. (Or at least just... whelming.) After that, The Verge's Ash Parrish tells us about her adventures traveling with the Switch 2, plus her recent time with the new Asus ROG Xbox Ally, and what she's learning about the future of consoles. Finally, The Verge's Sean Hollister helps us answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline all about console prices: why they keep going up, and whether they'll continue to be worth it.

Further reading:

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

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There's a lot of news this week, so today's episode turned into a whole bunch of lightning rounds. Nilay, David, and The Verge's Jake Kastrenakes talk through all the vibes and news at WWDC, and why F1 seemed to outshine everything else. We also talk about the Switch 2 launch, and the news this week that Microsoft and Asus are building Xbox handhelds in both clever and confusing ways. After that, we run through for a bunch of AI news, including the ongoing decline of Google traffic to the web, the new Dia browser, and Sam Altman's ideas about how much water ChatGPT uses. Finally, it's time for another edition of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, followed by the news of Warner Bros. Discovery breaking up, some very fast flash drives, and a new Meta messaging app.

Further reading:

Craig Federighi confirms Apple’s first attempt at an AI Siri wasn’t good enough

Ars: Apple’s Craig Federighi on the long road to the iPad’s Mac-like multitasking

Nintendo’s Switch 2 is the fastest-selling game console of all time 

Nintendo says your bad Switch 2 battery life might be a bug

Microsoft and Asus announce two Xbox Ally handhelds with new Xbox full-screen experience

This is how Microsoft is combining Windows and Xbox for handheld PCs 

Xbox’s new handheld is a surprisingly comfortable way to play Gears of War 

Microsoft just teased its next-gen Xbox console, and nobody noticed

The Nothing Phone 3 is coming to the US, and not in beta.

HP reveals $24,999 hardware created just for Google Beam 

Online publishers are facing a chatbot calamity. 

Disney and Universal sue Midjourney for making AI ripoffs of their biggest characters 

Taboola’s clickbaity chumbox is evolving into an AI chatbot 

Alexa Plus now has a million users and could be coming to you this summer 

Amazon is about to be flooded with AI-generated video ads

Dia, the AI browser from the makers of Arc, is now available in beta 

Sam Altman claims an average ChatGPT query uses ‘roughly one fifteenth of a teaspoon’ of water

FCC’s last Democratic commissioner doesn’t know why Trump hasn’t fired her yet

Republicans are barreling toward remaking the internet 

Trump-fired FTC commissioner resigns. 

Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting into two companies

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Apple spent 90 minutes talking about the future of its software, and we're pretty sure only said the word "Siri" once. Nilay and David are joined by The Verge's Victoria Song and Allison Johnson, both of whom were with Nilay at the keynote, to talk about all the news of the day. They talk about the Liquid Glass design language, and why Apple decided to redesign all its software. They talk about Spotlight on the Mac, the new multitasking features on the iPad, the typing indicators on the iPhone, Workout Buddy on the Watch, personas on the Vision Pro, and everything else that Apple announced — or, in a few cases, pointedly didn't announce — on stage. We're just starting to try out some of this software, and it's all likely to change a lot before it hits your devices this fall. And we'll have lots of thoughts along the way.

Further reading:

Apple renames its operating systems 

Apple’s new design language is Liquid Glass 

Apple’s Liquid Glass redesign doesn’t look like much 

Apple’s ChatGPT integration makes it easier to search for more context on images and shop for things they see.

Apple Intelligence takes on language barriers in messages and phone calls. 

Apple announces macOS Tahoe 26 with new design and revamped search features 

Apple’s Spotlight upgrades in macOS Tahoe have power users in mind 

Apple launches iPadOS 26 with a new look and way better multitasking 

Apple announces watchOS 26 with a wrist flick gesture and AI ‘Workout Buddy’ 

Apple’s visionOS 26 adds PSVR2 controller support and spatial widgets 

Apple’s AirPods update adds camera controls and more 

Apple’s new Games app lets you challenge your friends

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