The Vergecast

By The VergeNews Technology Tech News

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37 min
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The Vergecast episodes

November 05, 2024Alexa at 10: Amazon's assistant is a winner and a failure
November 6th marks 10 years to the day since Amazon surprise-launched a new, cylindrical device called the Echo. It introduced the world to smart speakers, and to the idea that you might be able to get stuff done just by shouting aloud in your living room. But a decade in, what has Alexa really accomplished? The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins the show to talk through the history of Alexa, Amazon's struggles to improve and extend its voice assistant, and the promise of a language model overhaul that might in theory make Alexa far more useful. There's a chance Alexa's second decade might be even more interesting than the first.
Further reading:
Amazon just surprised everyone with a crazy speaker that talks to you
Amazon Echo review: listen up
Alexa, where’s my Star Trek Computer?
Alexa, thank you for the music
The Alexa Skills revolution that wasn’t
The Amazon Echo graveyard
Amazon’s supercharged Alexa won’t arrive this year

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1 hr 14 min
November 03, 2024Your favorite musician's favorite TikTok show
For the first episode in our three-part miniseries on the future of music, we tell the story of Track Star, a music game show that has become a viral hit on TikTok and Instagram. Jack Coyne, the show's friendly host, tells us how Track Star came to be, why the format works so well, and why A-list celebrities like Olivia Rodrigo, Ed Sheeran, and Kamala Harris are all clamoring to be on the show. Coyne also tells us where Track Star might go next — and why the future of music content might look a lot like the past.
Further reading:
Track Star on TikTok
Jack Coyne on Instagram
The Olivia Rodrigo episode
The "Every Track Star Song" playlist
The Malcolm Todd episode
Public Opinion

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52 min
November 01, 2024The AI garage door mystery
Nilay and David discuss a big week in AI news, including the new web search features in ChatGPT and the reporting that Meta is working on something very similar. They also briefly talk about this quarter's tech earnings, and what they say about the ways AI is really being used. Then, Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern joins the show to talk about Apple Intelligence, Apple's week of Mac launches, and why Siri still can't open her garage. Finally, in the lightning round, the hosts talk about Netflix's gentle push into social features, Tony Fadell's AI thoughts, and our endorsement of Kamala Harris.
Further reading:
OpenAI’s search engine is now live in ChatGPT
Meta is reportedly working on its own AI-powered search engine, too
Microsoft’s gaming revenue keeps going up, even though hardware sales are down
Reddit is profitable for the first time ever, with nearly 100 million daily users
Snap Inc. - Financials - Quarterly Results
Apple’s Mac week: everything announced
Apple announces redesigned Mac Mini with M4 chip — and it’s so damn small
Watch Apple show off the M4 Mac Mini in its reveal video - The Verge
Apple’s new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad have USB-C
Apple put the Magic Mouse’s charging port on the bottom again
Apple updates the MacBook Pro with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips
Apple updates the iMac with new colors and an M4 chip
Apple’s first smart home display could pay homage to a classic iMac
Apple Intelligence is out
WSJ: Apple’s Craig Federighi Explains Apple Intelligence Delays, Siri’s Future and More
Netflix is making it easier to bookmark and share your favorite parts of a show
Tony Fadell calls out Sam Altman
Tim Walz and AOC are going to play Madden together on Twitch
The Verge’s guide to the 2024 presidential election
Tech leaders line up to flatter Trump’s ego
Jeff Bezos is no longer relentlessly focused on customer satisfaction
“You have a Washington Post problem.”
From The New York Times: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and the Billions of Ways to Influence an Election

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1 hr 49 min
October 29, 2024Two possible futures for AI
Kylie Robison joins the show to talk about the recent dueling AI blog posts from OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei. What do these CEOs think the future of AI looks like? Then, Will Poor tells us the story of ShakeAlert, an earthquake alert system that has huge potential and some surprising challenges. On The Vergecast Hotline, Allison Johnson joins Will to figure out whether the iPhone's new Camera Control is really as fast as advertised.
Further reading:
Sam Altman: The Intelligence Age
Dario Amodei: Machines of Loving Grace
Anthropic’s CEO thinks AI will lead to a utopia — he just needs a few billion dollars first
OpenAI plans Orion AI model release for December
ShakeAlert
If you live on the West Coast and you have an iPhone, here's how to turn on the "Local Awareness" feature that speeds up WEA messages:
Download the MyShake app on for iOS
or for Android
Ready.gov's earthquake advice:
About emergency and government alerts on iPhone
Apple iPhone 16 and 16 Plus review: all caught up

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1 hr 34 min
October 25, 2024The confusing state of Apple Intelligence
Nilay, David, and Richard Lawler talk about all of the coming Apple gadgets and software, from the new iPad Mini to the upcoming week of Mac announcements to the many flavors of iOS and Apple Intelligence heading to a device near you soon. Then they talk about the other news in AI, from Anthropic's new computer-using model to the growing set of lawsuits against AI companies. In the lightning round, they discuss the Boox Palma 2, T-Mobile's "lifetime" deals, and the battle over FTC's click-to-cancel rule.
Further reading:
Apple iPad Mini 2024 review: missing pieces
iOS 18.2 will let everyone set new default phone and messaging apps
Apple’s first iOS 18.2 beta adds more AI features and ChatGPT integration
Apple teases ‘week’ of Mac announcements starting Monday
Apple is preparing an M4 MacBook Air update for early next year
Tim Cook says he uses every Apple product every day — how does that work?
Tim Cook on Why Apple’s Huge Bets Will Pay Off
Anthropic’s latest AI update can use a computer on its own
Humane slashes the price of its AI Pin after weak sales
Apple is ‘concerned’ about AI turning real photos into ‘fantasy’
News Corp sues Perplexity for ripping off WSJ and New York Post
Kevin Bacon, Kate McKinnon, and other creatives warn of ‘unjust’ AI threat
Industry groups are suing the FTC to stop its click to cancel rule
The Boox Palma 2 has a faster processor and adds a fingerprint reader
Seniors are PISSED that T-Mobile won’t honor its “lifetime” price guarantee.

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1 hr 31 min
October 22, 2024AirPods are good for your (hearing) health
The Verge's Victoria Song joins the show to talk about her year of testing smart rings, and which of the many new options is the one you should buy. Then Chris Welch takes us through his testing of the new hearing health features for Apple's AirPods, including the surprisingly intense hearing test you can take right on your phone. Finally, Andrew Webster helps us answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline: why doesn't Apple buy Nintendo, and what would happen if it did?
Further reading:
We tested six smart rings, and there’s a clear winner
Oura Ring 4 review: still on top — for now
Apple’s AirPods Pro hearing health features are as good as they sound
Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 could forever change how people access hearing aids
Super Mario Run hands-on: like Mario, just simpler
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer says acquiring Nintendo would be ‘a career moment’

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1 hr 20 min
October 20, 2024The tech YouTuber who opened a coffee shop
For the last eight months, David Cogen has been living a double life. By day: a YouTuber and creator, the face of the TheUnlockr channel, reviewing phones and testing ebikes and explaining how food smokers really work. By night and morning and every single other available in-between moment: a coffee shop entrepreneur, working to get a Brooklyn spot called Coffee Check up and running. In this episode, the second in the two-part miniseries that we’re calling How To Make It In The Future, Cogen tells the story of how a YouTuber becomes a coffee shop owner — and how to bring those two things together without ruining them both.
Further reading:
TheUnlockr on YouTube
David’s Coffee Check announcement
Coffee Check’s website
Another fun YouTuber story: Me, Myself, and iJustine

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45 min
October 18, 2024The future of the Kindle with Panos Panay
Nilay and David talk about the week in gadget news, after scoring their predictions on last week's Tesla event. (Spoiler alert: nobody did very well.) They talk about the new iPad Mini, the new Sonos Ace Ultra soundbar, and the new Analogue N64 emulator. Then Amazon's Panos Panay joins the show to discuss this week's big Kindle news, and where he thinks the future of e-readers is headed. Finally, Nilay and David do a lightning round, with a lot of Google org chart news and just a little bit of Trump news.
Further reading:
The Optimus robots at Tesla’s Cybercab event were humans in disguise
The Tesla Cybercab is a cool-looking prototype that needed to be much more than that
Tesla’s Robovan is the surprise of the night
Apple just announced a new, faster iPad Mini
AMD and Intel are teaming up to fend off ARM chips
Sonos announces ‘breakthrough’ Arc Ultra soundbar and Sub 4
Analogue’s 4K Nintendo 64 launches next year for $249
Amazon’s new Kindle family includes the first color Kindle
Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition hands-on: color E Ink looks pretty good
Amazon Kindle Scribe 2024: a new design and AI tools for note takers
Amazon’s new Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite are faster and brighter
Amazon discontinues the last Kindle with physical buttons
Google is replacing the exec in charge of Search and ads
Here’s a bunch of bananas shit Trump said today about breaking up Google
Trump says Tim Cook called him to complain about the European Union
Anthropic’s CEO thinks AI will lead to a utopia — he just needs a few billion dollars first
The New York Times warns AI search engine Perplexity to stop using its content

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1 hr 56 min
October 15, 2024They're called "Podcasts"
Before a podcast was a “podcast,” it was… well, it wasn’t really much of anything. It was in 2004, though, that many of the earliest names in on-demand audio began to smush “iPod” and “broadcast” into the word we’ve come to know as the way we all download and listen to shows now. In this episode, we go back two decades to the first days of the podcast. Then we hit the skip button to today and look at where podcasts are headed next.
Further reading:
From PodNews: The history of the word 'Podcast'
From The Guardian: Audible revolution
From Wired: The First Podcast: an Oral History
From The New York Times: An MTV Host Moves to Radio, Giving Voice to Audible Blogs

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1 hr 8 min
October 13, 2024The putt-putt champions of the internet
Danny and Steven Sanicki are twins, competitive golfers, and suddenly the biggest names in online mini golf. They started making mini golf content on TikTok about a year ago, and it took off; since then they've been trying to ride the viral wave and also turn it into something that lasts. For this episode, the first in a miniseries we're calling How To Make It In The Future, we talk to the Sanickis about their journey to turn putt-putt into their life's work — without killing the fun in the process.
Further reading:
@dannysanicki on TikTok
Twin Tour Golf on Instagram
Twin Tour Golf on YouTube
From Golf Digest: How college golf twins and some friends with time to kill accidentally created a viral mini-golf sensation

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52 min

About The Vergecast

From the publisher's feed

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…