Hello! This is The Vergecast, the flagship podcast of The Verge... and your life. Every Friday, Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn make sense of the week's tech news with help from our wide-ranging staff. Join us every week for a fun, deeply nerdy, often off-the-rails conversation about what's happening now (and next) in technology and gadgets.
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The best laptops for school, tablets for reading, and routers for home
The Verge answers questions from The Vergecast Hotline. We hear from David Pierce on balancing privacy and modern conveniences for digital journaling, Alex Cranz on tablets for reading, Dan Seifert and Allison Johnson on tech reviews at The Verge, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on smart home routers and doorbells, and Monica Chin on laptops for college. Further reading: The best iPad to buy in 2023 Ethics Statement - The Verge Nest Wifi Pro review: better, faster, shinier Eero Pro 6E review: faster Wi-Fi but flakier performance Aqara Video Doorbell G4 review: this battery-powered buzzer needs to go back to basics The FTC wants to ban those tough-to-cancel gym and cable subscriptions Best laptop 2023: 15 best laptops you can buy 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
TikTok goes to Washington
The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce are joined by policy reporter Makena Kelly, who is on the ground in Washington for the House Energy and Commerce Committee's hearing on TikTok. Later, we dive into all the other news from this week, from Google's release of Bard to OpenAI's rapid expansion of ChatGPT. It was a big week. Further reading: TikTok ban hearing: all the news on the US’s crackdown on the video platform TikTok bans deepfakes of nonpublic figures and fake endorsements in rule refresh Google opens early access to its ChatGPT rival Bard — here are our first impressions Google says its Bard chatbot isn't a search engine — so what is it? Testing Google Bard: the chatbot doesn’t love me, but it’s still pretty weird Google and Microsoft’s chatbots are already citing one another in a misinformation shitshow Sundar Pichai expects that ‘things will go wrong’ with Bard Can AI generate a way to pay for itself? GitHub Copilot gets a new ChatGPT-like assistant to help developers write and fix code Mozilla.ai is a new startup created to build more open and trustworthy AI OpenAI is massively expanding ChatGPT’s capabilities to let it browse the web and more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How to buy an iPad, hike 2,600 miles, and watch free TV
Today on the flagship podcast of over-the-air interactive television: David Pierce is joined by Alex Cranz and Janko Roettgers to talk about ATSC 3.0, the new standard for over-the-air broadcasting. The future of TV is up in the air Mitchell Clark joins the show to discuss his next endeavor. Mitchell's gear list Dan Seifert explains which iPad you should buy and how to make the iPad work better for writing by hand. The best iPad to buy in 2023 Yes, paper-feel screen protectors for the iPad are good This Apple Pencil clone provides 80 percent of the experience for a quarter of the price Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Solo Acts: Marco Arment and his podcast app Overcast
For the final episode of our Solo Acts mini series, Ashley Esqueda talks with Marco Arment about being a solo app developer, going from Tumblr to Instapaper to his own podcast app Overcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
GPT-4 is coming for your work tools — and your job
The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, David Pierce, and James Vincent discuss OpenAI announcing GPT-4, the next generation of its AI language model. Further reading: The night sky is always getting faked Samsung responds to fake Moon controversy Samsung’s fake Moon photos aren’t a giant leap for mobile photography OpenAI announces GPT-4 — the next generation of its AI language model The Bing AI bot has been secretly running GPT-4 OpenAI co-founder on company’s past approach to openly sharing research: ‘We were wrong’ What’s new with GPT-4 — from processing pictures to acing tests Microsoft Business Chat is like the Bing AI bot but as a personal assistant Microsoft spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a ChatGPT supercomputer Google announces AI features in Gmail, Docs, and more to rival Microsoft Google opens up its AI language model PaLM to challenge OpenAI and GPT-3 Google-backed Anthropic launches Claude, an AI chatbot that’s easier to talk to How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Lost the A.I. Race The BlackBerry trailer shows the rise and fall of the keyboard phone Biden administration reportedly demanding that TikTok sell or face a ban T-Mobile is buying Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile for up to $1.35 billion Belkin’s smart home brand Wemo is backing away from Matter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Samsung's fake moon photos and Silicon Valley Bank's collapse
The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss Samsung faking photos of the moon on its phones, what happened with Silicon Valley Bank, and hottest topic of the season: ChatGPT and AI. This episode was recorded live at SXSW 2023. Further reading: Samsung caught faking zoom photos of the Moon Silicon Valley Bank has failed The tech industry moved fast and broke its most prestigious bank Bing, Bard, and ChatGPT: AI chatbots are rewriting the internet Email us at vergeast@theverge.com or call us on the Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Solo Acts: Tinymakesthings' custom keycaps
On today's episode of our Solo Acts mini series, Ashley Esqueda talks with Tiny of tinymakesthings, who makes artisan keycaps for mechanical keyboards. Tiny explains how she got started making her projects on Twitch, the process for designing the keycaps, and the community she built with her art. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spotify's redesign, streaming boxes suck, and Gigi Sohn withdraws from FCC nomination
The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Richard Lawler discuss Spotify's changes within its app, what happening this week at Twitter, Gigi Sohn withdrawing her nomination for FCC commissioner, and a whole lot more. Further reading: The Cybertruck wiper does not appear to extend Spotify’s new design is part TikTok, part Instagram, and part YouTube Spotify is going big on video podcasts After layoffs, SiriusXM looks to star-studded podcasts Apple will launch its standalone classical music app on March 28th All the streaming boxes suck now How a single engineer brought down Twitter Twitter just let its privacy- and security-protecting Tor service expire The FTC’s Twitter privacy investigations have ramped up since Elon Musk’s takeover Hey, where’s the Twitter Blue revenue sharing Elon Musk promised a month ago? Tesla under investigation after Model Y steering wheels fall off Congress rolls out new bill allowing nationwide TikTok ban Gigi Sohn withdraws her nomination for President Joe Biden’s FCC Now the Florida GOP wants political bloggers to register with the government Dish CEO says data was stolen in cyberattack that’s kept systems down for days Dish Network’s internal systems are so broken some employees haven’t worked in over a day Microsoft Bing hits 100 million active users in bid to grab share from Googlet Is buzzy startup Humane’s big idea a wearable camera? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Giles Martin and Sonos CEO Patrick Spence on the new Era 100 and Era 300 speakers
Today, Sonos announced a new line of speakers — the Era 100 and the Era 300 — with the latter finally taking on this format that has been a hit-or-miss experience for music lovers, supporting Amazon Music and Apple Music’s spatial audio. Though spatial format Dolby Atmos has been supported on the Sonos Arc soundbar, the Era 300 signals a music-first approach to its speakers supporting 3D soundscapes. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence believes this is the right time to do it. “We didn’t know that, in 2022, 85 of the top Billboard 100 artists would actually release Atmos tracks, but they did,” Spence says. “We feel like we’re at an inflection point.” On board with Sonos for this shift in music listening is record producer Giles Martin, who mixed the first-ever spatial audio album (a remix of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles album that his father, George Martin, originally produced) and several albums and live experiences in Dolby Atmos since. Martin is also the senior vice president of sound experience at Sonos and was involved in the development of the speaker. “When you’re building a product which has multi sort of use and orientations, you do prioritize ... in a way of, what’s the wow factor?” Martin explains. “The wow factor, which I think is truly extraordinary out of the 300, is the fact that it does spatial out of a single box. And it’s really compelling.” Both Patrick and Giles joined Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel for The Vergecast to talk about the new speakers, supporting spatial audio, and why this is the time to do it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Solo Acts: Madison Karrh on her adventure puzzle game 'Birth'
On episode three of our Solo Acts miniseries, Ashley Esqueda chats with Madison Karrh, an indie game developer who launched her most recent game Birth a few weeks ago. Birth is an adventure puzzle game about constructing a creature from spare bones & organs found around the city in order to quell your loneliness. Madison explains the challenges of making an entire game on your own and why that path is so important to her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MWC 2023 gadgets, Meta's AR / VR roadmap, and TikTok's Bold Glamour filter
The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and Richard Lawler discuss the phones and laptops announced at Mobile World Congress, Meta's AR and VR hardware roadmap for the next few years, Tesla's "Master Plan", and more of this week's tech news. Further reading: MWC 2023 was a preview of what future phones could (and should) look like HMD's latest Nokia phone is designed to be repaired in minutes The Xiaomi 13 Pro is going global Realme’s ridiculous 240W fast-charging phone is getting an international release Motorola’s new Razr foldable is arriving this year Lenovo’s rollable laptop and smartphone are a compelling, unfinished pitch for the future This is Meta’s AR / VR hardware roadmap for the next four years Elon Musk says Twitter employees will receive ‘very significant’ stock awards on March 24th Twitter shut off its internal Slack, and now ‘everyone is barely working’ Twitter Blue head Esther Crawford is out at Twitter Elon Musk's 'lab leak' tweets could be an issue for Tesla's plans in China Tesla’s new ‘Master Plan’ is coming — let’s grade the first two Elon Musk unveils a new Master Plan, a path to sustainable energy future, no new cars Why won’t TikTok confirm the Bold Glamour filter is AI? OpenAI announces an API for ChatGPT and its Whisper speech-to-text tech Microsoft now lets you change Bing’s chatbot personality to be more entertaining Microsoft’s Phone Link app now lets you use iMessage from your PC Sony announces 2023 TV lineup: better late than never Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call our Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apple glucose monitor rumors, Marvel fatigue, and podcast misinformation
Today on the flagship podcast of hyper specific wearable sensors: 01:19 - Victoria Song joins Alex Cranz to talk about the latest rumors around Apple’s big progress in blood glucose monitoring. Apple Makes Major Progress on No-Prick Blood Glucose Tracking for Its Watch Continuous glucose monitor startups still have to prove their worth Apple is looking at opportunities to do great things in health in India: Sumbul Desai 17:14 - Ariel Shapiro talks with Valerie Wirtschafter, a data analyst at the Brookings Institution, about how often podcasts spread political misinformation, and what that means for the medium. Audible reckoning: How top political podcasters spread unsubstantiated and false claims Policy recommendations for addressing content moderation in podcasts 43:57 - Alex and Charles Pulliam-Moore chat about the latest episode of The Last of Us and all the Marvel movie fatigue that has cropped up since Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came out. [Warning: Spoiler alert] HBO’s The Last of Us is pushing all the right buttons by telling new stories HBO’s The Last of Us is wisely skipping to the cutscenes Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania review: this is your brain on Kangs Email us at vergecast@theverge.com, or call the Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Solo Acts: McRib Locator's Alan Klein
In this next episode of our Vergecast Solo Acts mini series, Ashley Esqueda talks with Alan Klein, the creator of the McRib Locator, a website that helps people track and submit where McDonald's BBQ pork sandwich is available in stores. Alan shares what drove him to make this free tool for people back in 2009, what he does with the data he's collected, what's next for the site after the McRib's "farewell tour" this past fall, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Supreme Court hears Section 230 arguments, Sam Bankman-Fried's latest woes
The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, T.C. Sottek, and Adi Robertson discuss the Supreme Court cases that could reshape the future of the internet. Later, Verge policy reporter Makena Kelly joins the show to discuss new charges against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Further reading: The Supreme Court hears arguments for two cases that could reshape the future of the internet Thomas starts talking about pagers for some reason Google: it’s not helpful when states make their own decisions that affect us A Signal group is at the center of Bankman-Fried’s latest woes Spotify’s new AI-powered DJ builds and commentates on custom playlists Microsoft recruited Nintendo and Nvidia to help fight Sony over the Activision deal Tesla announces new engineering headquarters in California Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
PSVR 2 review, and the best multiroom audio gadgets
Today on the flagship podcast of not-yet-announced Sonos speakers: Adi Robertson and Sean Hollister discuss their review of the PSVR2, and how it ranks among the other VR options today, along with its predecessor. PSVR 2 review: love on a leash We plugged the PSVR2 into a PC, and here’s what it does Meta is improving Quest hand tracking so you can touch buttons and type on virtual keyboards Alex Cranz, Chris Welch, Chris Person, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy discuss the world of multi-room audio devices to play music. How do smart speakers like Sonos, Amazon Echo, and Google Home compare to audiophile gadgets like the WiiM Mini and the Raspberry Pi? WiiM’s Mini and Pro are the Chromecast Audio’s real replacement Exclusive: these are the new Sonos Era speakers Amazon’s Alexa app gets more Sonos-y with new multiroom audio controls How to set up multiroom music playback with Google Home speakers Email us at vergecast@theverge.com, or call the Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices