The Vergecast

Trump's confusing crusade against Big Tech


Listen Later

Starlink is in the White House, Siri is still bad, Pebble is back, up is down, everything is chaos. In this episode, Nilay and David start the show by running through some big gadget news, from a Siri-related shakeup at Apple to the new Google Pixel 9A. After that, The Verge's Lauren Feiner talks us through some of the latest in tech regulation: Trump's illegal firings at the FTC, the confusing state of the TikTok ban, OpenAI and Google arguing their case for free-for-all AI, and more. Finally, in the lightning round, Nilay and David talk about the latest Tesla recall, the hugely popular book about Meta, some exciting ActivityPub news, and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos gently zinging Apple TV Plus.


Further reading:


  • From Bloomberg: Apple Shuffles AI Executive Ranks in Bid to Turn Around Siri
  • The first new Pebble smartwatches are coming later this year
  • Europe is trying to get non-Apple smartwatches to work better with iPhones
  • Google’s Pixel 9A gets a bigger screen and beefier water resistance
  • Google briefly delays Pixel 9A release to investigate ‘component quality issue’ 
  • Huawei’s new flip phone is weirdly wide
  • Nvidia says ‘the age of generalist robotics is here’
  • Nvidia’s cute ‘Digits’ AI desktop is coming this summer with a new name and a big brother
  • Nvidia announces Blackwell Ultra GB300 and Vera Rubin, its next AI ‘superchips’

    • Musk’s Starlink gets deployed at the White House
    • Federal rural broadband program loses head
    • Oracle is reportedly in the lead to save TikTok from US ban
    • A”high-level” deal to save TikTok can probably happen by the April 5th deadline, Vance says.
    • Democratic FTC commissioners say they were ‘illegally fired’ by Trump
    • Fired FTC commissioner warns of the ‘corrupting influence of billionaires’
    • Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks will resign this spring
    • WBEZ, 12 other public media stations under investigation 
    • CTIA Announces Ajit Pai as New CEO and President
    • OpenAI and Google ask the government to let them train AI on content they don’t own
    • Hundreds of celebrities warn against letting OpenAI and Google ‘freely exploit’ Hollywood
    • Google Search charged with breaking EU antitrust rules
    • DHS’s airport panopticon is getting people deported and detained
    • Space science is under threat from the anti-DEI purge
    • DOGE stranded USAID workers with laptops full of sensitive data
    • They’re removing webpages about Black soldiers by adding ‘DEI’ to the URL.
    • ‘Tesla Takedown’ protesters planning ‘biggest day of action’
    • 

      • Tesla recalls more than 46,000 Cybertrucks after trim starts falling off
      • From NYMag: Elon Musk Has Become Too Toxic for YouTube
      • ‘Careless People’ debuts at the top of the NYT best sellers list.
      • Threads finally lets you set the following feed as default
      • Ghost connects its newsletters to the open web
      • Netflix’s CEO talks Apple TV, Amazon, and the NFL

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

        Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

        View all episodesView all episodes
        Download on the App Store

        The VergecastBy The Verge

        • 4.4
        • 4.4
        • 4.4
        • 4.4
        • 4.4

        4.4

        3,581 ratings


        More shows like The Vergecast

        View all
        MacBreak Weekly (Audio) by TWiT

        MacBreak Weekly (Audio)

        8 Listeners

        Uncanny Valley | WIRED by WIRED

        Uncanny Valley | WIRED

        295 Listeners

        The Talk Show With John Gruber by Daring Fireball / John Gruber

        The Talk Show With John Gruber

        3,116 Listeners

        Accidental Tech Podcast by Marco Arment, Casey Liss, John Siracusa

        Accidental Tech Podcast

        2,089 Listeners

        9to5Mac Happy Hour by 9to5Mac

        9to5Mac Happy Hour

        696 Listeners

        Connected by Relay FM

        Connected

        568 Listeners

        Upgrade by Relay

        Upgrade

        1,194 Listeners

        Gastropod by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

        Gastropod

        3,551 Listeners

        Switched on Pop by Vulture

        Switched on Pop

        2,596 Listeners

        AppleInsider Podcast by AppleInsider

        AppleInsider Podcast

        939 Listeners

        Decoder with Nilay Patel by The Verge

        Decoder with Nilay Patel

        3,132 Listeners

        Explain It to Me by Vox

        Explain It to Me

        7,826 Listeners

        Pivot by New York Magazine

        Pivot

        8,326 Listeners

        The Gray Area with Sean Illing by Vox

        The Gray Area with Sean Illing

        10,652 Listeners

        The Engadget Podcast by Engadget

        The Engadget Podcast

        139 Listeners

        Good One: A Podcast About Jokes by Vulture

        Good One: A Podcast About Jokes

        1,453 Listeners

        Apple Bitz XL w/ Brian Tong by Brian Tong

        Apple Bitz XL w/ Brian Tong

        1,288 Listeners

        The Cut by Vox Media Podcast Network

        The Cut

        1,586 Listeners

        Future Perfect by Vox

        Future Perfect

        585 Listeners

        Land of the Giants by Vulture

        Land of the Giants

        2,144 Listeners

        Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast by Vox Media Podcast Network

        Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast

        5,912 Listeners

        Unlocking Us with Brené Brown by Vox Media Podcast Network

        Unlocking Us with Brené Brown

        23,640 Listeners

        The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway by Vox Media Podcast Network

        The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway

        4,740 Listeners

        A Touch More with Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe by Vox Media Podcast Network

        A Touch More with Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe

        557 Listeners

        Hard Fork by The New York Times

        Hard Fork

        5,377 Listeners

        Celebrity Memoir Book Club by celebritymemoirbookclub@gmail.com

        Celebrity Memoir Book Club

        6,213 Listeners

        Genius Bar by Audioboom

        Genius Bar

        1,024 Listeners

        Unexplainable by Vox

        Unexplainable

        2,097 Listeners

        Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast by Vox Media Podcast Network

        Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast

        5,912 Listeners

        The MacRumors Show by The MacRumors Show

        The MacRumors Show

        223 Listeners

        Not Just Football with Cam Heyward by Cam Heyward

        Not Just Football with Cam Heyward

        138 Listeners

        Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF by Vivian Tu

        Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF

        1,672 Listeners

        Served with Andy Roddick by Served with Andy Roddick

        Served with Andy Roddick

        857 Listeners

        Prof G Markets by Vox Media Podcast Network

        Prof G Markets

        749 Listeners