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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

The AI vibes continue to find all-time lows. David and Nilay open the show by talking through the absurd Allbirds pivot to AI, the attacks on Sam Altman, and the increasing divide between what AI companies say is inevitable and what people actually want. Then, the Hype Desk crew talks Coachella and RAMageddon, before David and Nilay catch up on the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly suit and the increasing price of everything. In the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a dummy, satellite internet, brain-computer interfaces, and the Trump Phone.

Further reading:

 Allbirds announced a switch from shoes to AI and its stock jumped 600 percent 

 The Allbirds pivot to… meme stock? 

 The attacks on Sam Altman are a warning for the AI world 

 Sam Altman reportedly targeted in second attack 

 Altman attack suspect proposed “Luigi’ing some tech CEOs.” 

 Stanford’s AI study

 NYT: Half of Gen Z Uses AI, but Their Feelings Are Souring, Study Shows

 Reese Witherspoon on Threads on AI

 Ticketmaster is an illegal monopoly, jury finds 

 
A jury is about to decide the fate of Ticketmaster 

 Microsoft counters the MacBook Neo with freebies for students

 YouTube Premium is getting pricier 

 RAMageddon has come for Microsoft’s Surface Pro and Surface Laptop 

 Meta blames RAM shortage for $100 Quest 3 price hike

 FCC’s Brendan Carr again blasts deals between NFL and streaming services

 The FCC just saved Netgear from its router ban for no obvious reason 

 Netgear and the FCC have not responded to our emails. 

 Did Neuralink make the wrong bet?

 Apple and Amazon are teaming up to challenge Starlink’s smartphone ambitions 

 Point, Musk. 

 Amazon’s Starlink competitor now has an airplane antenna. 

 Amazon’s Starlink competitor Leo gets a new date 

 The new Trump Phone design is here 

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.

--EPISODE RUNDOWN--

(Timestamps are approximate.)

00:00:00 Allbirds Goes AI

00:06:00 From Shoes to Tech Hype

00:09:00 Altman Attacks and Backlash

00:13:00 Why AI Feels Threatening

00:18:00 Gen Z Polls and Trust Gap

00:29:00 Reese Witherspoon AI Pushback

00:35:00 Hype Desk Returns

00:36:00 RAM Apocalypse and Wikifeet

00:39:00 Coachella Livestream Era

00:43:00 Ticketmaster Monopoly Verdict

00:47:00 MacBook Neo Spurs Microsoft

00:49:00 OpenAI Clouds and Copilot Backlash

00:51:00 Windows vs Mac Value Shift

00:54:00 The Pricing Apocalypse Hits

00:55:00 Why YouTube Premium Costs More

01:02:00 Lightning Round

01:03:00 Brendan Carr is a Dummy

01:07:00 NFL Antitrust Exemption Fight

01:15:00 Amazon Buys Globalstar

01:22:00 FCC Router Ban Chaos

01:27:00 Trump Phone Gets Realer

01:31:00 Neuralink Bet

01:32:00 Wrap Up
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The 'AI is inevitable' trap

During the height of the cryptocurrency craze a few years ago, the actor Ben McKenzie found himself wondering why no one else was seeing what he was seeing. He joins the show to explain his yearslong attempt to understand Bitcoin and the crypto world, all of which is in his new documentary Everyone Is Lying to You For Money. (You can probably guess how he feels.) After that, The Verge's Victoria Song tells us about her testing of continuous glucose monitors, which have gone from medical device to influencer trend in some worrying ways. Finally, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about why all our gadgets seem the same these days.

Vote for The Vergecast in the Webby Awards! A vote for The Vergecast is a vote that Brendan Carr is a dummy, that buttons are good, and that party speakers rule the world. Voting is open until April 16. https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/technology

Further reading:

 Everyone is Lying to You for Money

 
Low interest rates and loneliness: the origins of the pandemic crypto boom

 
Continuous glucose monitoring made me continuously crazy

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.

(Timestamps are approximate.)

00:00:00 Sprinkler Duty Intro

00:03:00 Ben McKenzie Crypto Journey

00:04:00 Is Crypto Really Money

00:09:00 El Salvador Reality Check

00:11:00 Could Crypto Ever Work

00:14:00 Crypto Culture

00:19:00 Casino Capitalism And Crime

00:23:00 Why Bitcoin Keeps Rising

00:30:00 CGMs Explained

00:32:00 FDA OTC And Wellness Boom

00:33:00 Government Push For Wearables

00:39:00 Longevity Wearables Boom

00:41:00 Why Try CGMs

00:44:00 Scary Readings Doctor Visit

00:47:00 Living in the Data

00:48:00 Apps Scores Calibration

00:51:00 Disordered Eating Spiral

00:54:00 No Consensus for Non Diabetics

00:57:00 Medication Tradeoffs

01:00:00 Wellness vs Medical Regulation

01:04:00 Using CGMs Thoughtfully

01:10:00 Vergecast hotline

01:11:00 Why Gadgets Got Bland

01:22:00 Final Thoughts
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Ben McKenzie vs. crypto

In a week filled with important news about important people, David and Nilay start the show with the biggest news of all: their silly tech projects. After some updates on iMac repurposing and vibe-coded productivity tools, the hosts turn to the state of OpenAI, and the big story from The New Yorker about whether we should trust CEO Sam Altman with the future of AI. After that, it's time for the lightning round, with the latest Brendan Carr is a Dummy shenanigans, and the New York Times' latest attempt to identify Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Is it, in fact, Adam Back? And does it even matter?

Vote for The Vergecast in the Webby Awards! A vote for The Vergecast is a vote that Brendan Carr is a dummy, that buttons are good, and that party speakers rule the world. Voting is open until April 16. ⁠https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/technology⁠

Further reading:

 ⁠First photos of solar eclipse from Artemis II crew look almost too good to be real ⁠

 ⁠Artemis II astronauts break a record, name a crater ⁠

 ⁠Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? | The New Yorker⁠

 ⁠The vibes are off at OpenAI ⁠

 ⁠Sam Altman is “unconstrained by truth.” ⁠

 ⁠OpenAI’s AGI boss is taking a leave of absence ⁠

 ⁠OpenAI made economic proposals — here’s what DC thinks of them⁠

 ⁠CNN Defends Authenticity Of Iranian “Victory” Statement After Donald Trump Posts Irate Claim It Was A “Fraud”⁠

 From The New York Times: ⁠Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto? My Quest to Unmask Bitcoin’s Creator⁠

 ⁠The latest Satoshi Nakamoto unmasking. ⁠

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fear and loathing at OpenAI

Cookie banners — those pop-ups that appear on practically every webpage demanding you accept their tracking systems — are one of the most consistent low-grade annoyances of life online. But Kate Klonick, a professor and writer, argues they're actually much worse than that, and the only plausible solution is to get rid of them entirely. After that, The Verge's Allison Johnson tells us about her AI-enhanced Google Maps experience, and why the new Ask Maps feature has the potential to be both incredibly cool and incredibly creepy. Then, she helps David answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email ⁠vergecast@theverge.com⁠!) about whether E Ink phones might solve all our problems.

Vote for The Vergecast in the Webby Awards! A vote for The Vergecast is a vote that Brendan Carr is a dummy, that buttons are good, and that party speakers rule the world. Voting is open until April 16. ⁠https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/technology⁠

Further reading:

 ⁠Ban Cookie Banners: A Case Study in Tech Regulation by Kate Klonick⁠

 ⁠Kate’s website⁠

 ⁠Google Maps is getting AI-powered ‘Ask Maps’ feature and more immersive navigation ⁠

 ⁠I let Gemini in Google Maps plan my day and it went surprisingly well ⁠

 ⁠TCL’s new Nxtpaper phones have a dedicated button for maximum monochrome ⁠

 ⁠Boox Palma 2 Pro review: one step forward, one step back ⁠

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The case for banning cookie banners

We love a ranking here on The Vergecast, and it’s time for the hardest one yet: David and Nilay compare notes on the 50 best products Apple has ever made, and see how their answers stack up to the many, many voters on The Verge this week. Before that, though, it’s time for a bit of AI news — surprise, it’s enterprise software! — and the comeback of the Hype Desk. After all that, and after the rankings, we do a round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, talk about the fediverse, and repurpose our old iMacs.

Vote for The Vergecast in the Webby Awards! A vote for The Vergecast is a vote that Brendan Carr is a dummy, that buttons are good, and that party speakers rule the world. Voting is open until April 16. ⁠https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/technology⁠

Further reading:

 ⁠OpenAI’s big numbers: $122 billion funding round, 900 million weekly ChatGPT users. ⁠

 ⁠Why OpenAI killed Sora ⁠

 ⁠I think Google is taking a couple digs at OpenAI about Sora. ⁠

 ⁠Apple’s third-party Siri Extensions could lead to an AI App Store. ⁠

 ⁠Microsoft’s new ‘superintelligence’ game plan is all about business⁠

 ⁠OpenAI acquires TBPN | OpenAI⁠

 ⁠Apple turns 50: celebrating five decades of the tech giant ⁠

 ⁠Everything is iPhone now ⁠

 ⁠Steve Jobs and the greatest run of products in tech history ⁠

 ⁠How the invention of QuickTime changed computers forever ⁠

 ⁠The triumphs and failures of Apple without Steve Jobs ⁠

 ⁠The Apple product that really changed the industry: the MacBook Air ⁠

 ⁠Apple at 50: a visual history ⁠

 ⁠The origin story of Apple’s long-running relationship with Foxconn ⁠

 ⁠Apple’s long, bitter App Store antitrust war ⁠

 ⁠Snazzy Labs' iMac - Studio Display Mod Guide⁠

 ⁠Flipboard Surf launches social websites combining Bluesky, Mastodon, RSS, and more⁠

 ⁠These Raspberry Pi price hikes are no joke ⁠

 ⁠Today is the final day to save up to $150 on a PS5 before the price goes up ⁠

 ⁠Sony temporarily suspends memory card sales due to shortages ⁠

 ⁠The White House has an app now, and Trump wants you to report people to ICE on it ⁠

 ⁠What’s inside the White House app? ⁠

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.

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

Apple's best product ever

It's Apple 50 week, so we've got an Apple-filled podcast. First, longtime Apple journalist Jason Snell joins the show to talk about the state of the company as a hardware maker, a software maker, a force for good in the world, and more. Then, blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash explains why he's worried about the rise of video podcasts, and the role Apple could play to make it better. Finally, The Verge's Allison Johnson helps answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about swapping your phone for a watch. And a tablet. And some other things.

Further reading:

 Rank the 50 best Apple Products⁠

 ⁠Apple in 2025: The Six Colors report card⁠

 ⁠Apple turns 50: celebrating five decades of the tech giant⁠

 ⁠Apple II Forever!⁠

 “Wherever you get your podcasts” is a radical statement.

 Why Apple’s move to video could endanger podcasting's greatest power

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple at 50: the good and the bad

We start with some important business: Nilay has a flight to catch, and is very worried he won't catch it. Also, it's Apple's 50th anniversary next week, and we're going to spend the week debating which Apple products are the best Apple products. (Head to the ad-free Vergecast feed to hear our selection show!) But mostly, this episode is about social media. In two key trials this week, juries found social platforms liable not for the content they display but for the actual structure and features of the platform. That could change the way social media companies act, and how users fight back. After that, it's time for the silliness of the router ban, the latest in the chatbot wars, and an update on what's happening with Grammarly's Expert Voices feature.

Further reading:

 Rank your top 50 Apple products 

 Verge subscribers, here’s how to set up ad-free podcasts 

 The TSA is broken — is privatization next? 

 What is ICE actually doing at American airports? 

 Meta misled users about its products’ safety, jury decides 

 Meta and YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction case 

 Social media on trial: tech giants face lawsuits over addiction, safety, and mental health

 What it was like to watch grieving parents stare down Mark Zuckerberg in court 

 A bombshell child safety leak changed Meta — for the worse 

 Internal chats show how social media companies discussed teen engagement 

 2026 is the year of social media’s legal reckoning 

 The US government just banned consumer routers made outside the US 

 The United States router ban, explained

 FCC green-lights Nexstar's $6.2B merger with rival TV station owner Tegna

 Cox Communications not liable for pirated music, Supreme Court rules 

 Confronting the CEO of the AI company that impersonated me 

 North Carolina man pleads guilty to AI music streaming fraud. 

 Apple is testing a standalone app for its overhauled Siri 

 OpenAI is planning a desktop ‘superapp’ 

 This is Microsoft’s plan to fix Windows 11 

 OpenAI just gave up on Sora and its billion-dollar Disney deal

 The age of piracy ended with LimeWire | Version History

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta's court losses could be just the beginning

David is bored with his iPhone. Over the last few months, he has been testing every other phone he could get his hands on, from the Pixel to the Razr to the Unihertz Titan. And at the end of it all... David bought another iPhone. The Verge's Allison Johnson joins the show to recount some of her own phone-testing experiences, to litigate the quality of foldable and flippable phones, to debate Android vs. iOS, and ultimately to help David decide whether he actually bought the right phone. After all that, David answers a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about whether AI can help us figure out how to use our devices better. Or maybe just use them for us. Devices are too complicated.

Further reading:

 Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) review: looking sharp

 Google Pixel 10 review: perfectly fine

 Apple iPhone 17 review: the one to get

 The iPhone Air makes a strong statement

 Why flip phones should be the future of smartphones

 Who needs a laptop when you have a folding phone?

 Gemini’s task automation is here and it’s wild

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welp, I bought an iPhone again

David and Nilay start the show by exploring the increasing disconnect between the people who make AI products, and the people who keep saying they don't want them. (Or, at least, don't want to pay for them.) The AI industry is starting to retrench to a business-first approach, because there's simply no killer app for it yet. Speaking of no killer apps! Allison Johnson then joins the show to talk about the shockingly short life of the Samsung TriFold, and her bizarre journey to try and review the now-dead foldable. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a Dummy, the fate of the metaverse, and some important internet debunking.

Further reading:

 ⁠OpenAI cuts back on “side quests.” ⁠

 ⁠OpenAI’s adult mode will reportedly be smutty, not pornographic ⁠

 NYMag: ⁠Should You Be Able to Have Sex With ChatGPT?⁠

 ⁠I think VCs are starting to panic about the lack of *broad* consumer | TikTok⁠

 ⁠For the second time this week we have VCs vocalizing their frustration | TikTok⁠

 ⁠Poll: Majority of voters say risks of AI outweigh the benefits⁠

 ⁠How Americans View AI and Its Impact on Human Abilities, Society | Pew Research Center⁠

 ⁠Samsung discontinues its Galaxy Z TriFold after just three months ⁠

 ⁠Oppo’s nearly creaseless foldable isn’t launching in Europe after all ⁠

 From last year: ⁠Just look at Huawei’s trifold phone⁠

 ⁠This is not a fly uploaded to a computer⁠

 ⁠ChatGPT did not cure a dog’s cancer⁠

 ⁠Meta is actually keeping its VR metaverse running, for now⁠

 ⁠Nvidia just announced DLSS 5 and Digital Foundry already has a video. ⁠

 ⁠Jensen Huang, on the critical reaction to DLSS 5: “Well, first of all, they’re completely wrong.”⁠

 ⁠DLSS 5 looks like a real-time generative AI filter for video games ⁠

 ⁠Nvidia has lost the plot with gamers ⁠

We're hiring a new podcast producer. Come work with us!

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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Why people really hate AI

A new era of software development is upon us. Career coders are no longer writing code, but rather managing teams of agents that do the work on their behalf. You can Claude Code your way through seemingly just about any problem. So what does that mean for the software we use, and the people who make it? Paul Ford, a writer and technologist who both writes about code and manages a team of coders, joins the show to explain his somewhat conflicted excitement about the new crop of AI tools, and his worries about what they’ll do to the world. After that, The Verge’s Dominic Preston helps answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email ⁠vergecast@theverge.com⁠!) about the differences between the US phone market and the global phone market, and whether US buyers are missing anything important.

Further reading:

 ⁠The A.I. Disruption Has Arrived, and It Sure Is Fun⁠

 ⁠Claude has been having a moment — can it keep it up?⁠

 ⁠How the creator of Claude Code sees the future of AI⁠

 ⁠Ftrain⁠

 From Bloomberg: ⁠What Is Code?⁠

 ⁠Xiaomi, unlike Google and Samsung, thinks camera hardware comes first⁠

 ⁠Oppo’s new foldable isn’t quite creaseless, but it’s pretty damn close⁠

 ⁠Honor’s Robot Phone is a bad robot, interesting camera, maybe a friend⁠

 ⁠Vivo and Oppo’s telephoto extender comes to iPhone⁠

⁠Subscribe to The Verge⁠ for unlimited access to ⁠theverge.com⁠, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ⁠ad-free podcast feed⁠.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to ⁠vergecast@theverge.com⁠ or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The future of code is exciting and terrifying

Nilay Patel talks with The Verge's Adi Robertson, Casey Newton, and Nicole Wetsman about Apple and Google announcing a system for tracking the spread of the new coronavirus, allowing users to share data through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transmissions and approved apps from health organizations.
Links:

Apple and Google are building a coronavirus tracking system into iOS and Android

What is contact tracing?

Why Bluetooth apps are bad at discovering new cases of COVID-19

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Apple and Google are building a coronavirus tracking system into iOS and Android

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