The Vergecast

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted to having a relationship with a woman named Alice Huang (no relation). Was she a business partner, or was she a spy sent by the Chinese government to steal secrets from the most powerful person in AI? The Verge’s Liz Lopatto explains everything we know about the scandal, what a spy might want from Nvidia, and what could happen next for both Huangs.

Further reading:

⁠The future of AI hinges on… Jensen Huang’s sex life?⁠

⁠What could China get from Jensen Huang?⁠

⁠Here’s what Trump said he knew about Jensen Huang⁠

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All around the internet, groups of media fans are hunting for and curating some of the best movie, music, and TV collections anywhere. And they're doing it all via BitTorrent. Verge contributor and Lowpass writer Janko Roettgers takes us into the world of private torrent trackers, where some people are saving culture and some people are just in it for the flicks.Torrent Underground

We’re also on video! Check us out on YouTube. 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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

0:00 Torrents Return01:20 Private Trackers Explained04:04 Rules Ratios And Leechers05:56 The Prestige Ladder10:00 Bounties And Salinger12:55 Piracy Ethics Today17:16 Streaming Backlash19:45 What Private Really Means22:12 Anti Piracy Crackdowns25:44 Why People Do It27:14 Is BitTorrent Growing28:45 Curation Beats Algorithms31:51 Enough Phone Kickstarter33:50 Phone Prices
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2026 midterm elections in the US ended in a sweeping win for Democrats — and several dozen sweeping losses for the AI industry. Nilay and David dig into what the results will mean for data centers, Big Tech, and even the future of X. Then, they try to figure out whether anyone's making any money in AI — not so much, it turns out — and whether the touchscreen MacBook is worth the price.

Further reading:

⁠The fight for tech accountability starts now ⁠

⁠Tech is about to get hammered in Congress⁠

Forbes: ⁠Elon Musk Deletes Midterm Posts After Stunning Election Losses⁠

⁠Data centers lost the midterms ⁠

⁠Democrats leaned into Big Tech and AI opposition this cycle. ⁠

⁠Not even $200 million could help Elon Musk buy Texas ⁠

⁠OpenAI says ChatGPT is catching up to Google in search ⁠

⁠Google hasn’t figured out how to make AI pay like its search engine ⁠

⁠Uber only fulfilled 4 rides from AI agents last quarter ⁠⁠

⁠DoorDash's CEO: Don't be 'delusional' after just a few hundred AI agent orders⁠

⁠Apple is reportedly lowering AI usage budgets.⁠

⁠Brendan Carr plans to let prisons jam cellphone signals⁠

⁠SpaceX could buy Boost Mobile as part of its big mobile carrier plans ⁠

⁠Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display review: a touchscreen winner⁠

⁠Sam Altman addresses RAM comments: People should ‘put as much as they want in their computers⁠

⁠⁠Sam Altman says it’s better for RAM to be in a data center than on your desk ⁠⁠

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

0:00 Bezos Hair Transplant Hoax

01:15 Midterms Shockwave Begins

02:00 Corruption And Data Center Backlash

06:53 AI Products Not Worth It

09:26 What Democrats Can Do Now

11:15 Congress Investigations Lawyer Up

13:15 Hype Reels Take Over Politics

15:42 X Bubble Versus Real Life

22:47 Microblogging Decline And AI Regulation

23:56 Ossoff Speech And AI Doomerism

27:35 Google Then Versus OpenAI Now

33:35 Back From Break

33:42 OpenAI Search Claims

35:19 Google Moat Erodes

38:02 Monetizing AI Overviews

42:52 Ads Break Trust

45:49 Google Zero Spiral

47:43 Agents Reality Check

50:41 Token Spending Pullback

52:50 Muse Novelty Wears Off

01:00:16 Brendan Carr is a Dummy

01:02:00 FCC Heat On Carr

01:07:04 MacBook Pro Touchscreen

01:09:09 Touchscreen Love Hate

01:10:25 Dynamic Island Reality Check

01:11:17 Best Touch Use Cases

01:11:58 App Support And Optimization

01:14:10 MacBook Pro Verdict

01:14:27 Speakers And Trade Ins

01:15:42 Sales And Upgrade Timing

01:17:11 SpaceX Boost Mobile Drama

01:22:05 Ram Altman Cloud Take

01:29:31 AI Photo Editing Panic

01:37:13 Wrap Up And Plugs
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Morgann Book reads a lot of books. And, as a literary creator and podcaster, makes a lot of content about books. She joins the show to explain why BookTok loves all things romance and romantasy, why physical books are an important balance to digital life, and why she's not worried at all about the future of reading.

Further reading:

Bookish Media

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Film director and camera nerd Rian Johnson sits down with Vergecast guest host and camera nerd David Imel for an unapologetically nerdy conversation about cameras. They chat about cinematography, Rian's viral Chromagraph Camera app, and check out David's vast collection of quirky equipment. (As of recording, Rian is still waiting for his to be delivered.)

Further reading:

⁠Rian Johnson explains why he had to build his own iPhone camera 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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Election Day in the United States, and data centers have become a core issue in some of the country's most important midterm races. The Verge's Adi Robertson explains why people are uniting against data centers, why they've become a proxy for all kinds of other fights, and how this year's results might change the AI industry going forward.

Further reading:

Apple is all in on AI — its own and everyone else’s | The Verge

OpenAI is quietly renaming data centers ‘compute campuses’ | The Verge

GTA VI’s download will need up to 212GB of hard drive space | The Verge

Midterm elections 2026: all the news

The Verge's investigative series: The Center Will Not Hold

The 2026 iPad Mini is a terrific tiny tablet — for a big price

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

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

Streaming all your video games seems like such a good, simple idea. All your games, everywhere, on any screen you like — it's the dream! The Verge's Sean Hollister explains how the tech works now (which might be better than you think), why it'll take a huge amount of work to make it even a little bit better, and why games like Grand Theft Auto VI probably can't just live in the cloud.

Further reading:

SpaceX could buy Boost Mobile as part of its big mobile carrier plans | The Verge

Anthropic’s updated S-1 has even more eye-popping numbers. | The Verge

More European supermarkets are getting their freezers hacked | The Verge

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nilay is going to buy the new touchscreen MacBook. But not for the touchscreen. He and David talk through Apple's new laptop, and what it means for Apple's other devices, including the tablet that used to be the future of everything. Then the hosts talk about Instagram's push into long-form video and its battle with AI content. Finally, it's time for Brendan Carr, Anthropic's S-1, robot vacuums, and the rest of the lightning round.

Further reading:

Apple finally combined a toaster and a refrigerator

Hands-on with the new OLED iPad Mini

Instagram doesn’t have a plan to pay long-form video creators

Adam Mosseri says negativity around AI is ‘going to get worse’

Invasion of the Sexy A.I. Joke Thieves

Brendan Carr plans to let prisons jam cellphone signals

Five weird details from Anthropic’s IPO filing

Microsoft is ending Copilot support on smart TVs

Google says its investments in AI are driving more searches

Palmer Luckey’s Anduril is getting into laptops — and claims they’ll be American-made 

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

0:00 ProLED Cold Open

01:04 Touchscreen Mac Arrives

02:39 Why Apple Did Touch

05:27 App Store Pressure

07:54 Touch Is Just Enough

09:49 Influencer Event Demos

13:56 iPad Squeezed Middle

18:34 Luxury Hardware Bet

22:37 Duo Reality Check

28:18 Instagram Going Through It

29:07 AI Agents vs Ads

32:18 Zuck Escapes iPhone

32:41 Instagram Becomes TV

33:23 Slop Meme Deepfakes

36:09 Mosseri AI Crisis

42:58 Longform Video Push

44:34 Creators Demand Revshare

48:19 Loop Closing Arms Race

49:34 Reddit Versus Google Zero

53:22 AI Kills The Web

01:00:20 Brendan Carr is a Dummy

01:02:22 Spectrum Auction Plan

01:03:35 NOAA Weather Spectrum Fight

01:04:29 700 MHz Auction History

01:05:38 FCC Spectrum Power Grab

01:06:09 Privatizing Weather Data

01:09:27 Anthropic S1 Reality Check

01:12:34 AI Products Beat Models

01:16:55 Claude Goes Sentient

01:17:55 Copilot Leaves Smart TVs

01:21:16 Quiet Robot Vacuum Thoughts

01:25:03 Palmer Luckey Laptop Fight

01:30:10 X Replies and Racism

01:32:32 Wrap Up and Next Week
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steve Jobs once said touchscreen laptops were a terrible idea. Now Apple is shipping one. The Verge's Antonio Di Benedetto tells us all about the new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR, how MacOS is changing for touch, why a laptop user might want a touchscreen, and whether MacBook and iPad are destined to become one.

Further reading:

Hands-on with Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro

Apple finally combined a toaster and a refrigerator

DoorDash is acquiring Instacart for $17 billion

Google says its investments in AI are driving more searches

Samsung’s expecting the RAM shortage to last until at least 2028.

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon's product launch spree continues, this time with a bunch of new Alexa-powered Echo devices. The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy explains what the new Echo Show 16 finally got right, why a digital photo frame could be Amazon's next big Alexa hit, and whether this new way of thinking about smart home gadgets might help Amazon defeat the HomeView and win a space in your kitchen.

Further reading:

Apple announces its first touchscreen MacBook Pro

Amazon’s new Echo line is here: the 6 biggest updates

Here’s Virgin Galactic’s new Apeiron spaceship

Amazon’s new Echo line is here: the 6 biggest updates

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin Roose's new book, The AGI Chronicles, tells the story of the AI revolution. He joins the show to explain its earliest beginnings: the researchers who discovered what language models could do, the people who debated whether humans or computers should are more special, and the executives who started the companies that currently rule our economy. What do they want, and what are they building?

Further reading:

Kevin Roose is AGI-pilled. Why aren’t you?

Machine Gods

The AGI Chronicles

Apple refreshes the iMac with M6 chips

Apple updates the MacBook Pro with M6 chips

Palmer Luckey’s Anduril is getting into laptops — and claims they’ll be American-made

OpenAI announces three big science discoveries and a new way to work with academics

Data center backlash is uniting America

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We talk a lot about where the computer is, and where your stuff is. Paul Ford, a co-founder of Aboard and longtime tech blogger, recently built a tool called TinyLittleOffice that puts all the stuff in an unexpected place: the URL. Paul joins the show to explain how the web and the cloud have become powerful development tools, what it means to store a document in its domain, and why tiny, disposable software could make a comeback in the age of AI.

Further reading:

A YouTuber dissected an iPhone Duo and thinks he found the cause of crackgate

Anthropic’s IPO filing lays out a plan to ‘revolutionize every area of human endeavor’ with AI

Apple updates the iPad Mini with a larger OLED display

Tiny Little Office

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We gave the iPhone Duo a 7 /10. But that wasn’t always the score we planned, and it might not be the right score forever. Such are the challenges of reviewing — and assessing — a big, new idea about the most popular smartphone in history.

On this episode of The Vergecast, David and Nilay debate whether the Duo deserved the score it got, and try to work through how this device might change over time.

After that, the hosts talk about the huge PHP cybersecurity flaw that rocked the web this week, the ongoing increase in AI shopping, an impending reboot inside of Netflix, and some very confusing Gemini news. Also, Brendan Carr is a Dummy.

Further reading:

The iPhone Duo is a messy, expensive, good time

All the news about the iPhone Duo

Daring Fireball: The iPhone Duo

PHP: The three little letters wreaking havoc across the web

AI agents are ready to shop. Some retailers are wary

Walmart is inviting AI agents to shop for you

10 million people have already set up Muse agents.

Netflix is telling investors not to worry, even though you’re watching less and less

Google’s more personalized Gemini AI is heading to your car

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

0:00 No Sevens Pact

01:03 Show Agenda Setup

01:46 Duo Score Debate

03:08 App Optimization Phases

07:47 Two Thousand Dollar Problem

10:44 iPad Not iPhone

14:41 Outer Screen Compromises

18:04 Developer Badges Future

20:34 Early Adopter Reality

30:19 Handoff eSIM Limitations

34:49 PHP Shell Chaos

36:17 PHP Under the Hood

37:46 AI Finds the Exploit

40:46 Disclosure Panic Fallout

42:44 Patch Now or Go Dark

45:58 Autonomous Defense Arms Race

48:42 Agents Break the Web

53:04 Muse Adoption Shopping Stats

54:11 Bots Buying Movie Tickets

01:01:05 Instagram Deepfake Crisis

01:07:30 Brendan Carr is a Dummy

01:10:06 FCC Threatens Poll Coverage

01:17:44 FCC Free Speech Alarm

01:20:20 The Lightning Round

01:20:49 Arc Browser Shutdown

01:23:12 AI Browsers Future

01:27:14 Meta Terms Backlash

01:34:04 Netflix Identity Crisis

01:43:16 Gemini Confusion Car

01:49:12 Wrap Up And Awards

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

Tesla recently showed off a new version of its Roadster. Well, a new version of its old version of the Roadster, anyway. But this one flies! The Verge's Andy Hawkins joins the show to explain the last decade of the Roadster saga, make sense of the flying and kickflipping new vehicle, and cast out into the future of Tesla's cars for humans. If there even is one.

Further reading:

The incredible flying Tesla Roadster is just for show

The Tesla Roadster flew, drove upside down, and hit 60mph in under a second

Trump says Sundar Pichai talked him out of renaming the Atlantic Ocean

1Password lets AI agents use your passwords without seeing them

The world’s first triple 200-megapixel cameraphone is great

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

iPhone Duo reviews are out today and... it's complicated. David Pierce, Nilay Patel and senior smart phone reviewer Allison Johnson talk through The Verge's review and answer your questions LIVE.

Further reading:

The iPhone Duo is a messy, expensive, good time

iPhone Duo review: messy, expensive fun

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over the last several months, the AI industry has set its sights on some of the problems that have stymied mathematicians for years. In some cases, AI models have made huge progress — though exactly how much isn't always obvious. The Verge's Robert Hart explains what OpenAI and others have actually accomplished, the disastrously bad ways the companies have interacted with researchers, and whether there's a future left for human mathematics.

Further reading:

⁠Spotify pulls 50 million AI slop and spam tracks from its recommendations⁠

⁠Adobe Lightroom mobile can now open closed eyes in photos with a simple tap⁠

⁠Wii Sports is back on the Switch 2, and it rules⁠

⁠All the drama around AI’s takeover of mathematics | The Verge⁠

⁠OpenAI keeps bulldozing mathematicians | The Verge⁠⁠

⁠OpenAI just wants to win | The Verge⁠⁠

⁠The AI takeover of mathematics has begun | The Verge⁠⁠

⁠‘Pure insanity’: Mathematicians will need years to make sense of OpenAI’s latest drop | The Verge⁠⁠

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Creator life involves using a lot of software. Bad software. Stephen Robles is one of the creators who decided to build something better, for himself and for his community. He tells David how he thinks about his responsibility as a developer, how he makes apps, and how AI is changing the way he builds things for his audience.

Further reading:

Apple teases MacBook Pro event next week

You Can See Everything has the biggest opening weekend for a doc in 20 years

TikTok says ban of Musk documentary account was ‘an error’

Video game ownership bill introduced in Congress

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Well, it's been a couple of days, and David and Nilay have some more information — and a bunch of new questions — about the Apple HomeView. They also talk about the latest Gemini model, and whether building the best model matters if you can't build the best products around them. They then debate the merits of returning to X, why none of the supposed Twitter replacements worked, the latest in Brendan Carr nonsense, and more.

Further reading:

HomeView doesn’t natively support any video apps yet — not even Apple’s

Apple’s new Find My-compatible remote will also work with your old Apple TV

The AI race is back on

Google finally releases Gemini 4 Argon

Google brings its AI coding platform to its Gemini app on Mac.

Google makes it easier to launch your vibe-coded apps

OpenAI employee arrested for allegedly planting a bug in a conference room

OpenAI claims an ex-employee took its product plans and presented them to Apple

Now that Character.AI is going bankrupt, what happens to all of its users’ data?

Daring Fireball: X Once Again Marks the Spot

Platformer: Does intelligence need a hard cap?

SpaceX announces plan to become a ‘major mobile carrier’

JPMorgan Chase is keeping AI agents out.

Xbox is officially embracing the chaos of AI-powered game ports

Global smartphone sales just hit a 14-year low.

Silicon Valley is falling in line with Trump’s attempt to rename AI

The US government launched a “Super Intelligence” website.

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

0:00 CarPlay Banter01:36 HomeView App Confusion03:40 CarPlay as Home OS08:31 Apple Hardware Software Bet13:28 Should It Just Be an iPad?14:31 Gemini 4 Returns16:18 Meta Muse Strategy19:54 Google Product Dilemma26:28 OpenAI Bugging Scandal29:49 Character AI Bankruptcy32:31 Bankrupt Data Goldmine33:00 Privacy After Shutdown36:55 Why People Return to X39:35 Threads Fumbled It40:49 X Owns AI Talk49:17 Who Should Use X49:57 Reporters And Sources53:00 Video Platforms Win54:44 Gruber Gets It Wrong01:01:29 Brendan Carr is a Dummy01:02:40 Execution Livestream Fallout01:07:21 Sprint Merger Fallout01:08:48 Dish Spectrum to SpaceX01:09:44 Can Starlink Compete01:11:30 SpaceX Phone Rumors01:13:55 Smartphone Sales Slump01:18:37 Agents vs Websites01:24:21 Why UI Still Matters01:26:43 Super Intelligence Rebrand01:30:37 AI Game Decompiling01:36:35 Wrap Up and Plugs

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

Meta just shipped a pair of smart glasses with no camera — a change that both David and The Verge's Victoria Song are excited about. But these glasses, like the new product from Amazon Bee and seemingly everything else now, are still ready and willing to record the world around you at all times. What do we do in a world where everything, everywhere, might be recording? And can tech companies figure out a way to make us feel better about it?

You have until Thursday to vote for us in the Signal Awards!

Vote Decoder: Best Business Podcast

Vote Vergecast: Best Technology Podcast

Vote Version History: Best History Podcast

Further reading:

Prep your cart before iPhone Duo preorders open tomorrow

OpenAI agrees not to use trade secrets it allegedly took from Apple

Your secrets aren’t safe with this cute robot toy — they’re on Chinese servers ready to be hacked

I don’t miss the camera on the Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses

Amazon’s always-listening Bee wearable can now help you buy stuff

We can’t just change the definition of ‘recording’

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A man named Mike Smith was recently sentenced to 18 months in prison, and a fine in excess of $8 million, for creating an AI system that faked billions of streams and earned him millions in royalties. Wired's Kate Knibbs explains how Smith pulled it off, how he got caught, and what this case means for the internet's growing slop problems.

Vote for us in the Signal Awards!

⁠Vote Vergecast: Best Technology Podcast⁠

⁠Vote Version History: Best History Podcast⁠

⁠Vote Decoder: Best Business Podcast⁠

Further reading:

⁠Apple’s HomeView ad is confusing to everyone except parents | The Verge⁠

⁠Ocarina of Time’s Switch 2 remake feels modern — and terrifying | The Verge⁠

⁠We might not have to wait 13 years for the next GTA | The Verge⁠

⁠Epic is bringing Fortnite to Linux | The Verge⁠

⁠JPMorgan Chase is keeping AI agents out. | The Verge⁠

⁠Wired: Spotify Confirms Streaming Fraud After Kalshi Trader Cries Foul⁠

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple just announced its long-rumored HomeView smart home hub. But that's not all... there are cameras, thermostats and a door lock co-developed with LG and Schneider Electric, refreshed HomePod Minis, even a new Apple TV 4K. The Verge's senior smart home reviewer Jennifer Pattinson Tuohy joined Nilay Patel and David Pierce LIVE to discuss and take your questions about Apple's massive play to take over your house.

You have until Thursday to vote for us in the Signal Awards!

Vote Decoder: Best Business Podcast

Vote Vergecast: Best Technology Podcast

Vote Version History: Best History Podcast

Further reading:

Apple launches HomeView, its first smart display for the home

The new Apple Home Collection includes a video doorbell, smart lock, and more

Apple announces the HomePod Mini 2, but it isn’t ready for Siri AI at launch

The new Apple TV 4K has built-in microphones so you can talk to Siri AI

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's gadget season. More specifically, it's apparently "new computer for your new AI" season. David and Nilay talk through a slew of announcements — Amazon's Alexa Tablets, Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra, the new Googlebooks, and Apple's upcoming smart home launch — to figure out if anyone has the right idea about the future of computing, and where the AI is supposed to live. After that, it's time for Brendan Carr is a Dummy, our thoughts on the Paramount / Warner / Skydance merger, and much more.

Please vote for The Verge's podcasts in the Signal listener's choice awards!

Vote Vergecast: Best Technology Podcast

Vote Version History: Best History Podcast

Vote Decoder: Best Business Podcast

We’re also on video! Check us out on YouTube.

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

Read more about the topics discussed in today's 1 hour, 41 minute podcast:

⁠Amazon’s Alexa Tablets are powerful, impressive, and designed to take on iPad ⁠

⁠Hands-on with Amazon’s Alexa Tablet 12 Pro and its wild new matte display  ⁠

⁠Amazon is phasing out Fire Tablets because they weren’t ‘giving customers what they were asking for⁠’

⁠Amazon’s new Kids Tablets let parents manage access to the Google Play store

⁠Apple announces surprise ‘Welcome home’ launch event⁠

⁠Apple and LG team up on new smart home gear, starting with a lock, doorbell, and thermostat⁠

⁠New leaks provide our first look at Apple and LG’s smart home devices

⁠Everything announced at Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra event ⁠

⁠The Surface Laptop Ultra finally has a release date — and a starting price of $2,599⁠

⁠Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra has built-in magnetic USB-C charging ⁠

⁠How Microsoft built its MacBook Pro competitor ⁠

⁠Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is available for preorder for $5,999 ⁠

⁠The first Nvidia RTX Spark laptops cost up to $7,000 ⁠

⁠Microsoft is giving Copilot more control over Windows and your files

Our first five impressions of Googlebooks — exciting but underbaked 

Android’s physical navigation buttons are back on Googlebooks, but not the way you think

Google admits not every Android app runs great on Intel Googlebooks 

Politico: ‘Head on a guillotine’: ABC says Trump’s threats are already swaying coverage

ChatGPT’s ‘Intelligent UI’ update fills its responses with pictures, charts, and buttons

Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery complete $110 billion media megamerger 

HBO Max and Paramount Plus will merge into a single streamer under Skydance 

CNN’s boss will remain as Paramount and WBD merge into Skydance 

Skydance is merging Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery’s games teams.

Sam Altman says ‘some bad things’ will happen, but AI is totally worth it

0:00 Cold Open
00:37 David’s back!
01:10 Parenting Chaos Update
02:49 Gadget News Rundown
03:47 New Amazon Alexa Tablets
05:15 Panos Strategy Shift
06:31 Play Store Bet
11:17 Default Android Tablet
13:18 Ads and Pricing Fears
15:30 Amazon Great Products
21:20 Matte Display Debate
25:01 Apple Smart Home Tease
26:12 Siri AI Reality Check
29:08 Smart Home Too Complex
33:37 Candy Crush Question
34:56 iPad Multiuser Problem
39:04 Microsoft AI Surface Push
40:35 Local AI Computing Shift
47:22 Magnetic USB C Charging
48:37 Google Book Laptop Confusion
54:20 AI Agents Need A Surface
58:50 Skepticism About Agents
01:07:46 Brendan Carr is a Dummy
01:09:23 ABC License Chilling Effect
01:11:24 Brendan Carr Ownership Cap
01:12:30 Cable Companies Sue Back
01:14:44 SXSW Corruption Game
01:15:50 Skydance Mega Merger
01:18:04 Debt Layoffs Streamer Cuts
01:22:58 Go90 Scale Returns
01:24:02 Netflix Loses Its Edge
01:30:44 ChatGPT Interactive UI
01:37:47 Sam Altman Tradeoffs
01:44:49 Wrap Up And Plugs
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon is determined to turn Alexa Plus into a do-everything AI assistant that can compete with Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and the rest. But after a year of testing, The Verge's Jen Tuohy has mixed feelings on how it's all going. And on whether a new tablet is the right way to fix it.

Further reading:

It appears .agent and .agi are about to be the hot new domains

GTA VI leaks continue with a lengthy (and very nude) gameplay video

GTA VI will have in-game podcasts and at least six radio stations

Joe Rogan and Spotify renew massive podcast deal

Alexa Plus is better at running my home, but it’s not ready to run my life

Hands-on with Amazon’s Alexa Tablet 12 Pro and its wild new matte display

Amazon is phasing out Fire Tablets because they weren’t ‘giving customers what they were asking for’

The Vergecast has been nominated for a Signal Award! You can vote to help us win 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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bose, Sony, Beats, and seemingly every other headphone maker has recently released a new and excellent set of cans. Or buds. Or both. The Verge's John Higgins explains why the headphone market is suddenly so great, how the companies are competing now, and which new pair is the right one for you.

Vote for us in the Signal Awards!

Vote Vergecast: Best Technology Podcast

Vote Version History: Best History Podcast

Vote Decoder: Best Business Podcast

Further reading:

The Sonos Ace Ultra are the headphones Sonos should have made the first time

Nothing’s new flagship Headphone 1 Pro put you in the studio

The Beats 360 are what I’d bring to the gym if I hated earbuds

The premium AirPods 5 are the best open-ear earbuds Apple has made

Six years later, Sony revisits its legendary XM4 headphones

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The next big thing in AI, at least if you ask the tech companies, is assistant agents. David and The Verge's Allison Johnson have both been testing products like Meta's Muse, OpenAI's Dots, and startups like Instinct, in an effort to find out how much you can really get done by messaging with an AI tool – and whether the productivity is worth the tradeoffs.

Further reading:

Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery complete $110 billion media megamerger

Amazon reportedly pays $120 million to stream the Emmys for free

New leaks reveal more details about the Fitbit Edge including its price

A Trump Mobile breach may have exposed data of more than 3,600 people

OpenAI’s Dot agent can help you work and order dinner

Meta’s Muse AI agent is an effective helper and great at spending money

The Vergecast has been nominated for a Signal Award! You can vote to help us win 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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Bear Lair!* (No, it’s nothing like that other show.) As we continue to explore the world of AI tools and vibe coding, we invited a few enterprising Vergecast fans to share their projects — and we invited The Verge’s Hayden Field to judge them with us. We’ll see what people are working on, and whether any of them will make us fabulously wealthy.*We came up with this name before we became aware that someone else thought of it first... no relation to the APTNtv show Bears' Lair!

Further reading:

⁠Google admits not every Android app runs great on Intel Googlebooks⁠

⁠The Pixel 10A now costs $100 more.⁠

⁠Samsung raised prices on the Galaxy S26 by $100⁠

⁠Huawei says RAMageddon has increased its smartphone costs by $200.⁠

⁠2GB Raspberry Pis are getting pricier.⁠

⁠Nvidia’s Shield TV Pro just got a $100 price hike⁠

⁠Star Wars: Galactic Racer is my childhood podracing dream come true⁠

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is the key to turning around public opinion on AI just to make it cuter? Nilay Patel, Jake Kastrenakes and David Imel talk about the latest adorable agents that want access to all your data, then discuss whether this week's White House AI accord is worth the paper it's written on.

Plus: Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets! We speculate on Apple's rumored October 13 announcement, drool over Huawei's camera for your cameraphone, and herald the return of physical buttons in the new Kindle cases.

We wrap things up with the usual Brendan Carr is a Dummy and a lightning round full of Cybercabs, data centers, 'Old Reddit' and government chatbots.

Vote for us in the Signal Awards!

Vote Vergecast: Best Technology Podcast

Vote Version History: Best History Podcast

Vote Decoder: Best Business Podcast

Further reading:

OpenAI launches Dots, its Muse competitor

OpenAI plans to bring Dots to consumers, too.

Meta’s Muse AI sent a YouTuber’s address to a stranger

Maybe don’t let Muse run your Facebook Marketplace account.

Sam Altman says OpenAI won’t go public until its models are safe

Google announces Gemini 4 and says it’s so capable that only ‘trusted cyber defenders’ can have it right now

AI researchers put out videos saying superintelligence is ‘exactly as dangerous as it sounds’

Here’s how tech leaders will self-police AI safety under Trump’s deal

Here’s what AI leaders are saying about Trump’s new safety plan

Trump: “You’re going to see — data centers are going to be very popular.”

Trump orders US government to call AI ‘Super Intelligence’

Huawei made a whole camera to attach to its latest phone

Amazon is launching colorful new Kindles — and a case with physical page-turn buttons

Apple’s ‘HomePad’ will reportedly launch on October 13th

NBC News: FCC head says government-funded Trump ads are ‘normal’ and ‘don’t raise any red flags’

The People of Utah vs. Kevin O’Leary

Tesla’s Cybercab robotaxi rollout: the biggest news and announcements

The White House launched an AI chatbot for government-related questions.

Reddit says it has to cut back access to ‘Old Reddit’ because of AI bots

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

0:00 Welcome

00:52 Awards and Listener Voting

01:36 Week Ahead Preview

01:52 OpenAI Dots vs Meta Muse

06:09 Living as Tasks

19:47 Business Models and Privacy

23:41 Bot Traffic and Web Friction

27:48 Trump Superintelligence Accord

37:46 Gadget Segment Kickoff

38:26 Huawei Screw On Lens Camera

41:33 Why Phone Camera Hybrids Fail

44:09 Pricey Phone Lens Debate

45:31 Kindle Lineup Upgrades

48:49 Apple Smart Home Display Rumors

01:02:58 Brendan Carr is a Dummy

01:08:27 America Gov Chatbot

01:14:54 Old Reddit Bot Crackdown

01:19:30 Utah Data Center Blowup

01:25:17 Cybercab Ride Report

01:27:31 Wrap Up And Plugs
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this hotline episode, guest host David Imel answers your questions about digital cameras, iPods, E Ink phones, and the TI-84 graphing calculator being iced out of the Version History Hall of Fame.

Further reading:

Amazon is launching colorful new Kindles — and a case with physical page-turn buttons

NYC is now the first city in America that bans sketchy subscriptions

HP’s answer to the MacBook Neo is thinner, lighter, and comes with OLED

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jolly's got new competition: OpenAI just launched its competitor to Muse and Grok Bot. It's called Dots, and the headline feature is that it's also cute, with fuzzy lil triangles and clouds and hearts that you can give access to your personal accounts to do things for you. The Verge's senior AI reporter Hayden Field joins guest host David Imel from San Francisco right after OpenAI's DevDay presentation.

Further reading:

OpenAI DevDay 2026: The biggest news and announcements

The Vergecast has been nominated for a Signal Award! You can vote to help us win 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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices