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The Verge

The Vergecast is the flagship podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, hosts Nilay Patel and David Pierce hang out and make sense of the week’s most important technology news. And every Tuesday, 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.

The Vergecast

This week, everything is a HomePod. And has ads. The Verge’s Jen Pattison-Tuohy joins the show to talk about all of Amazon’s new hardware, the current state of Alexa Plus, and whether the new Kindle Scribe is the one we’ve been waiting for. Then, The Verge’s Emma Roth tells Jen and David about her experience with Telly, the TV that ships to your house for free in exchange for showing you ads all the time. Telly may not be for everyone. Finally, in the lightning round, the gang talks about a handy new Spotify feature, Emma’s first Waymo ride, and the glory that is Chunk.

Further reading:

 
Amazon’s 2025 hardware event: the 8 biggest announcements

 Here’s where to preorder all of Amazon’s new Alexa devices and when they arrive

 
Amazon finally did the damn hardware right

 
Amazon’s new Echo Dot Max smart speaker bumps up the bass

 
Alexa Plus is smarter — but it’s not yet smart enough

 Alexa Plus on the TV is made to save you from your phone 

 
Alexa Plus is smarter — but it’s not yet smart enough

 Alexa Plus on the TV is made to save you from your phone 

 
Amazon sticks two cameras together for the 180-degree Blink Arc

 
The new Google Home Speaker is built for Gemini

 
Hey Google, meet Gemini: the new voice of your smart home | The Verge

 
I spent three months with Telly, the free TV that’s always showing ads

 OpenAI made a TikTok for deepfakes, and it’s getting hard to tell what’s real

 
Spotify now lets you exclude specific songs from your algorithm

 
All hail the new Fat Bear Champion

 Ring launches upgraded cameras with ‘Retinal Vision’ 4K recording

 
Microsoft is giving Copilot AI faces you can chat with

 Waymo adds YouTube Music

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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The real price of a free TV

Sure, you could drive to the grocery store and to school. But wouldn’t you rather grab a few hundred of your friends and bike-bus everywhere? The Verge’s Andy Hawkins joins the show to tell us all about his adventures with electric cargo bikes, and why he thinks they’re the ride of the future. After that, Lauren Feiner calls in from just outside a courthouse in Virginia, where she’s watching the remedies trial in Google’s adtech monopoly case. Google already lost the case; what happens next is still anyone’s guess. Finally, David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about how to feel about summarizing YouTube videos with AI. The short version: you should feel a lot of things.

Further reading:

 
Why your next car should be an electric cargo bike

 
Electric cargo bikes are rewiring cities

 
Can Google be trusted without a break up?

 
US v. Google redux: all the news from the ad tech trial

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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My other car is a cargo bike

After more than five years of backing and forthing, secret meetings and loud screeds, it appears the fate of TikTok in the US has finally been decided. Maybe. There are still a lot of unknowns, but we're pretty sure we know the bones of the deal — and we know which of President Trump's allies stand to benefit the most. Before we get to all that, though, David and Jake run through some big news in future gadgets, including the long-awaited-and-maybe-happening combination of Android and ChromeOS and the possibilities for a touchscreen MacBook. Then, The Verge's Liz Lopatto joins to talk TikTok. And Trump. Then, in the lightning round, the three hosts talk through Jimmy Kimmel's return, Nvidia's money problems, a surprising AmEx perk, and much more.

Further reading:

 Google’s Android for PC: ‘I’ve seen it, it is incredible’ 

 Our biggest questions about ChromeOS and Android merging

 The foldable iPhone might look like two iPhone Airs stuck together 

 The touchscreen MacBook rumors are never ending 

 OpenAI might also be developing AI glasses, a voice recorder, and a pin 

 Trump claims the US is about to get a tremendous fee for taking TikTok out of China

 Trump signs executive order approving TikTok deal

 Some details of the TikTok deal have been worked out.

 What Trump Wants from a TikTok Deal with China

 American Investors Will License and Oversee TikTok’s U.S. Version, White House Says

 TikTok Deal Could Make Oracle Founder Larry Ellison a New Kind of Media Mogul

 Anker’s party speaker projector hits Kickstarter with a sizable discount. 

 Montblanc is getting into the digital notepad game 

 Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro can be easily scratched 

 It costs $895 per year to get American Express’ premium app theme

 Nvidia is partnering up with OpenAI to offer compute and cash 

 Kimmel returns to television to mock FCC Chair Brendan Carr 

 Sinclair won’t air Kimmel. 

 Trump on Truth Social

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

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Tick Tock, TikTok

In all the tech news and world news last week, YouTube's Made On event got a little lost. So we circled back: The Verge's Mia Sato explains why YouTube is suddenly all-in on livestreaming, why it seems to be rapidly turning into a shopping mall, and whether all these AI features will improve YouTube or destroy it. After that, it's time for a second round of David's Summer Takes, in which he subjects The Verge's Jake Kastrenakes and Hayden Field to his thoughts on Threads, podcasts, and social media. Finally, Hayden sticks around to answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about the words we use when we talk AI.

Further reading:

 YouTube makes it easier and more lucrative to go live

 YouTube is inching closer to becoming a shopping channel

 YouTube is going all in on AI

 New YouTube AI tools help creators give viewers what they want

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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YouTube wants you to go live

There’s a lot of gadget news this week! But we begin the show in an unprecedented way: with a bit of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, America’s favorite podcast within a podcast. Nilay pops on the show to discuss what happened to Jimmy Kimmel, why the FCC’s assault on speech is so dangerous, and why a couple of broadcast TV companies matter so much to the story. After that, Jake Kastrenakes and Richard Lawler join to talk about all of Meta’s new smart glasses, including the company’s first pair with a built-in display. Finally, in the lightning round, we talk about Reddit’s new AI deal with Google, Nvidia’s new chip deal with Intel, and Samsung’s terrible plan to put ads on your fridge.

Further reading:

 Here’s the Jimmy Kimmel clip that got him pulled off the air 

 Jimmy Kimmel Live pulled after FCC threat over Charlie Kirk joke 

 Republicans are honoring Charlie Kirk’s memory by declaring war on the First Amendment 

 Charlie Kirk’s death got complicated by “extremely online” culture 

 The right wing is creating a society of snitches

 Meta Ray-Ban Display hands-on: the best smart glasses I’ve ever tried 

 Oakley Meta Vanguard hands-on: what athletes actually want

 Meta’s new Ray-Ban smart glasses have twice the battery life

 Conversation focus is the first new feature on deck.

 I sat down with Mark Zuckerberg to try Meta’s impressive new Ray-Ban Display glasses

 Meta is opening up its smart glasses to developers | The Verge

 Snap OS 2.0 is a small step towards AR glasses you might actually wear

 Android’s next flagship processor is the ‘Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5’ 

 Nothing wants you to talk to your earbuds’ charging case 

 Nvidia invests $5 billion into Intel to jointly develop PC and data center chips 

 The US and China might finally have a TikTok deal 

 U.S. Investors, Trump Close In on TikTok Deal With China

 Samsung brings ads to US refrigerators

 Reddit wants a better AI deal with Google: users in exchange for content

 YouTube is inching closer to becoming a shopping channel 

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Meta's quest to own your face

It's been a busy week for The Verge's product reviewers! We've got three new phones, three new watches, and a set of earbuds on the docket, and the team is ready to talk about (almost) all of it. First, Allison Johnson and Jake Kastrenakes join to talk about their experiences with the iPhone Air, iPhone 17, and iPhone 17 Pro. One is fabulous with some compromises, one is just a down-the-middle excellent phone, and the other is for camera nerds. After that, Victoria Song talks about the AirPods Pro 3, which are also a stellar upgrade, and then helps us make sense of the new lineup of Apple Watches. There's the SE 3, the Series 11, and the Ultra 3, but there's only one clear winner for most people. Finally, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about Apple's up-and-down focus on AI

Further reading:

 ⁠The iPhone 17 is the one to get this year⁠

 Apple iPhone Air review: statement piece

 Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro is a bold redesign but a basic upgrade

 AirPods Pro 3 review: tripling down on a good thing

 The Apple Watch SE 3 is the one to buy

 Apple Watch Series 11 review: stuck in the middle

 The unbearable sameness of Liquid Glass

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Who is the iPhone Air really for?

One thing you should know about the iPhone launch is that there’s... not usually a lot of other tech news around the iPhone launch. So David and Jake start this episode with some more information about the iPhone launch, including some controversial details we missed about the AirPods Pro 3 and the argument in favor of the crossbody strap. After that, with David back on the mic, it’s time for a round of AI-focused hot takes with The Verge’s Hayden Field. The gang talks ChatGPT, Claude, money, more money, and what counts as a real friend. (And money.) Finally, in the lightning round — yes, once again the LIGHTNING ROUND — the three co-hosts talk about Canon’s confusing new camera, the future of Reddit, Claude’s spreadsheet-y future, and much more.

Further reading:

 Apple isn’t packing a charging cable in with the AirPods Pro 3 

 Apple’s misunderstood crossbody iPhone strap might be the best I’ve seen 

 Apple says the iPhone 17 comes with a massive security upgrade 

 New Beats earbuds leak hours before Apple’s big event 

 Nothing’s Ear 3 earbuds have a microphone and ‘talk’ button on their charging case

 Google pulls the Pixel 10’s Daily Hub to ‘enhance its performance’

 David Zaslav thinks HBO Max is ‘way underpriced’

 Exclusive | Paramount Skydance Prepares Ellison-Backed Bid for Warner

 Reddit is dropping subscriber counts on subreddits 

 Reddit is testing a way to read articles without leaving the app 

 Canon is bringing back a point-and-shoot from 2016 with fewer features and a higher price (it’s viral

 Spotify adds lossless streaming after 8 years of teasing

 Anthropic’s Claude can now make you a spreadsheet or slide deck.

 The MechaHitler defense contract is raising red flags

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Our hottest takes on AI's wild summer

Fresh off a day filled with new Apple products, The Verge’s ground team reports back on everything they’ve seen — and touched. Allison Johnson walks us through the new iPhone Air, iPhone 17, and iPhone 17 Pro lineups, making sense of all the new camera features and wondering just how thin a phone really can be. After that, Victoria Song talks about why the AirPods Pro 3 may have been the big hit of the day, plus all the details on the three new models of Apple Watch. Finally, Jake Kastrenakes tells us about his first experience live at an Apple event, explains the appeal of a crossbody strap, and has a theory about why an orange phone is such a big deal.

Further reading:

 The eight biggest announcements during Apple’s iPhone Air event | The Verge

 All the news from Apple’s iPhone 17 event | The Verge

 Apple announces the ultra-slim iPhone Air | The Verge

 iPhone Air hands-on | The Verge

 Apple iPhone 17 hands-on | The Verge

 Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro has the biggest battery of any iPhone | The Verge

 Apple’s iPhone 17 drops the Plus, but gains a bigger, faster display | The Verge

 iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max: our initial hands-on impressions | The Verge

 The 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max costs $1,999. | The Verge

 The iPhone 17 comes with Apple’s new in-house networking chip | The Verge

 Apple’s new iPhone Air accessories include a slim MagSafe battery, TechWoven case, and crossbody strap

 Apple’s new MagSafe battery is only designed for the new iPhone Air | The Verge

 All right, what new Apple stuff are we buying? | The Verge

 The new iPhones all have Center Stage front-facing cameras | The Verge

 Apple announces AirPods Pro 3 with ‘world’s best ANC’ and heart rate sensing | The Verge

 The Apple Watch Ultra 3 has 42 hours of battery life and satellite connectivity | The Verge

 Apple announces new entry-level $249 Apple Watch SE 3 with always-on display | The Verge

 The iPhone Air’s battery pack is slim, but not as slim as the iPhone Air

 Apple’s new MagSafe battery is only designed for the new iPhone Air

 
Phone 17 Pro “clear” case that is MOSTLY NOT CLEAR 

 Apple barely talked about AI at its big iPhone 17 event | The Verge

 iOS 26 is out on September 15th | The Verge

 Apple’s macOS Tahoe 26 update releases September 15th | The Verge

 Apple reveals iPadOS 26 release date | The Verge

 Apple will launch watchOS 26 on September 15th | The Verge

 Apple’s using more recycled materials in its iPhones and watches

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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The orange iPhone stole the show

It's a big week for the smart home. Jake, Vee, and Jen sit down to chat about all the new tech out of IFA, from robots that carry robot vacuums up stairs to upgrades that turn 10-year-old Hue bulbs into motion sensors. Then, Lauren joins the show to talk about the Google antitrust remedies ruling and what Google is going to have to do to allow more competition in the search market. Finally, the Thunder Round is back and better than ever. We're talking $2,000 smart watches, Amazon yanking a major Prime perk, the Pixel 10 Pro's 100x AI zoom, Instagram for iPad, and drama at the FTC.

Further reading:

 
Eufy built a stairlift for its robovacs

 
Inside Philips Hue’s plans to make all your lights motion sensors

 
Philips Hue responds to cheaper competitors with major product overhaul

 
SwitchBot has ambitions to be the AI that powers your smart home

 
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 FE and Tab S11 are thinner, lighter, and otherwise about the same

 
Google gets to keep Chrome, judge rules in search antitrust case

 
Google critics think the search remedies ruling is a total whiff

 
Here’s what Google and the DOJ had to say about the search remedies ruling

 
The tech antitrust renaissance may already be over

 
Garmin’s Fenix 8 Pro series finally lets you leave your phone at home — sort of

 
Instagram is coming to iPad, 15 years later

 
Amazon ends shared Prime free shipping outside your home

 
Ousted Democratic FTC commissioner can return (again) for now

 
Here’s how the Pixel’s AI zoom compares to a real 100x lens

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

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Your robot is about to get its own robot

Hooked on LinkedIn’s Queens? Gotta extend your Wordle streak in the New York Times games app before you start your day? You’re in good company on today’s Vergecast episode. Allison Johnson is joined by Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe, world-class puzzle champs and hosts of the delightful Cracking the Cryptic, a YouTube channel where they solve a puzzle on camera every single day.

They specialize in Sudoku — and not just the classic number games you might be familiar with. Simon and Mark tackle mind-bending, seemingly impossible puzzles, working through it all in realtime, sometimes over the course of several hours. What happens when you get stuck? How can you tell the difference between a puzzle made by a human and a computer-generated one? Why are we addicted to puzzle games all of a sudden? They help us crack the clues.

Then Allison sits down with Marc Levoy, one of the pioneers of computational photography, to talk about his new camera app: Project Indigo. Levoy is known for his earlier work on the Pixel camera, and was a driving force in shaping phone photography into what it is now. We last caught up with him in 2020 when he left Google for Adobe, so we got up to speed on what the heck he’s been doing for the last five years — and the important difference between HDR and an HDR-ish photo.

Finally, Allison takes a hotline question from someone who is not particular about their phone camera’s image quality, but does have a beef with camera bumps.

 Cracking the Cryptic — YouTube

 This 25-minute video is the most riveting sudoku puzzle you will ever watch

 The Atlantic is making a big push into games

 I regret to inform you that LinkedIn’s games are very fun

 The mastermind of Google’s Pixel camera quietly left the company in March

 The brain behind the Google Pixel camera is building a universal camera app for Adobe

 Marc Levoy on the balance of camera hardware, software, and artistic expression

 Adobe launches a new ‘computational photography’ camera app for iPhones

 Adobe’s new camera app is making me rethink phone photography

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Why are online puzzle games having a moment?

For the second episode in our two-part 2025 preview, Nilay and David are once again joined by Wall Street Journal columnist (and friend of The Verge) Joanna Stern to talk about what will, and won't, happen in tech next year. This time, David joins us after a quick jaunt to the end of next year, and relays a bunch of things that happened in tech in 2025. But some of them are lies. Joanna and Nilay have to decide which things really will happen next year, and which won't. As always, the hosts get points for good guesses and negative points for bad ones. And once we're all in late 2025, we'll declare a winner.
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Tech in 2025: who's in and who's out

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