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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Sonos' headphones are extremely Sonos
Today on the flagship podcast of audio over Wi-Fi: 03:02 - The Verge’s Chris Welch shares his review of Sonos's Ace headphones. Sonos Ace review: was it worth it? Sonos CEO Patrick Spence addresses the company’s divisive app redesign 28:58 - MoviePass, MovieCrash director Muta’Ali and MoviePass CEO Stacy Spikes discuss what went wrong with the MoviePass subscription service and how that story was documented in the film. MoviePass, MovieCrash review: a damning account of corporate greed MoviePass is using you to ruin the movies 56:47 - Jennifer Pattison Tuohy answers a question from The Vergecast Hotline about smart home gadgets for renters. Home Assistant: Setting up the Aqara FP2 Presence Sensor - Derek Seaman's Tech Blog Yale launches its first retrofit smart lock — the Yale Approach with Wi-Fi The new Yale Keypad Touch brings fingerprint unlocking to August smart locks Aqara kick-starts its first Matter-over-Thread smart lock with a promise of Home Key support The new Yale Keypad Touch brings fingerprint unlocking to August smart locks 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
Inside the Google algorithm
The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss Google's algorithm leak, OpenAI content deals, and more tech news from this week. Further reading: Google won’t comment on a potentially massive leak of its search algorithm documentation Google confirms the leaked Search documents are real An Anonymous Source Shared Thousands of Leaked Google Search API Documents with Me; Everyone in SEO Should See Them Secrets from the Algorithm: Google Search’s Internal Engineering Documentation Has Leaked Unpacking Google's massive Search documentation leak How SEO moves forward with the Google Content Warehouse API leak Google responds to leak: Documentation lacks context Vox Media and The Atlantic sign content deals with OpenAI Google scrambles to manually remove weird AI answers in search Apple’s WWDC may include AI-generated emoji and an OpenAI partnership OpenAI CEO Cements Control as He Secures Apple Deal Custom GPTs open for free ChatGPT users OpenAI has a new safety team — it’s run by Sam Altman Why the OpenAI board fired Sam Altman Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6 billion to fund its race against ChatGPT and all the rest New Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Galaxy Ring details have leaked, courtesy of the FCC The Fitbit Ace LTE is like a Nintendo smartwatch for kids Discord’s turning the focus back to games with a new redesign The business behind Unnecessary Inventions’ millions of followers Welcome to Notepad, a newsletter on Microsoft’s era-defining bets by Tom Warren 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
Why Microsoft bet on Surface
Today on the flagship podcast of open smart home standards: 03:25 - Microsoft’s Pavan Devaluri, leader for Windows and Devices, joins the show to discuss the future of the AI PC and what’s next for Microsoft’s hardware Microsoft’s new Windows chief on the future of the OS, Surface, and those annoying ads Microsoft’s big bet on building a new type of AI computer Microsoft Build 2024: everything announced 30:25 - The Verge’s Jen Tuohy and David Pierce discuss the latest updates in the smart home world in a segment called “Does Matter matter yet?” The Dyson WashG1 is the company’s first dedicated mop Amazon’s Matter Casting is shaping up so nicely, I want to use it everywhere Matter 1.3 arrives with new device type and features Smart lighting company Brilliant is looking for a buyer Google launches new Home APIs and turns Google TVs into smart home hubs 01:13:20 - David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about AI-powered search engines. Google is redesigning its search engine — and it's AI all the way down Google CEO Sundar Pichai on AI-powered search and the future of the web 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
Seeing the real world inside a virtual one
On this episode of The Vergecast, the fourth and final installment of our series on the five senses of video games, we asked Polygon’s Charlie Hall to help us make sense of the current state of the art in flight simulation. Hall, who once spent more than four months in VR mapping the edge of the Milky Way galaxy in Elite: Dangerous, has more experience in a virtual cockpit than most. We wanted to know how the pros set up their simulators to get the most realistic experience and why it’s so complicated to make a virtual world look like the real one. Further reading: It’s time to build the cockpit of your dreams Microsoft Flight Simulator’s most-needed feature is co-op My first kill as a Star Citizen If Microsoft Flight Simulator has you craving air combat, try this flight sim next 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
ChatGPT has a Scarlett Johansson problem
The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss announcements from Microsoft Build, the OpenAI's trouble with Scarlett Johansson, new Sonos headphones, and more. Further reading: Microsoft’s big bet on building a new type of AI computer Recall is Microsoft’s key to unlocking the future of PCs https://www.theverge.com › microsoft-surface-pro-pric... Here’s the eight-inch Snapdragon PC for your Windows on Arm experiments How does the Microsoft Surface Laptop stack up to the MacBook Air? Microsoft Build 2024: everything announced Windows now has AI-powered copy and paste Microsoft is making File Explorer more powerful with version control and 7z compression Here’s the eight-inch Snapdragon PC for your Windows on Arm experiments Microsoft Edge will translate and dub YouTube videos as you’re watching them Microsoft brings out a small language model that can look at pictures Microsoft’s new Copilot AI agents act like virtual employees to automate tasks Microsoft outage took down Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and ChatGPT search features OpenAI is ‘in conversations’ with Scarlett Johansson over the ChatGPT voice that sounds just like her OpenAI pulls its Scarlett Johansson-like voice for ChatGPT Lawyers say OpenAI could be in real trouble with Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Johansson told OpenAI not to use her voice — and she’s not happy they might have anyway OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show OpenAI Just Gave Away the Entire Game OpenAI’s News Corp deal licenses content from WSJ, New York Post, and more OpenAI strikes Reddit deal to train its AI on your posts The US government is trying to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster The Sonos Ace headphones are here, and they’re damn impressive Sonos CEO Patrick Spence addresses the company’s divisive app redesign here’s an electric salt spoon that adds umami flavor Apple needs to explain that bug that resurfaced deleted photos Humane is looking for a buyer after the AI Pin’s underwhelming debut 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
Microsoft is in its AI PC era
Today on the flagship podcast of Arm-based chipsets: 03:08 - The Verge’s Tom Warren and David Pierce discuss the announcements from Microsoft’s Surface event, including the new Arm-powered Surface Laptop, and Copilot Plus PCs. Microsoft’s Surface AI event: news, rumors, and lots of Qualcomm laptops Microsoft announces an Arm-powered Surface Laptop Microsoft’s new Surface Pro gets an OLED display for the first time Microsoft announces Copilot Plus PCs with built-in AI hardware The new, faster Surface Pro is Microsoft's all-purpose AI PC Recall is Microsoft’s key to unlocking the future of PCs 27:29 -Verge senior AI reporter Kyle Robison joins the show to chat about OpenAI’s GPT-4o demo and where we’re headed in the next few years of AI. ChatGPT is getting a Mac app OpenAI’s custom GPT Store is now open to all for free OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a faster model that’s free for all ChatGPT users ChatGPT will be able to talk to you like Scarlett Johansson in Her OpenAI pulls its Scarlett Johansson-like voice for ChatGPT OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving OpenAI researcher resigns, claiming safety has taken ‘a backseat to shiny products’ We tried out the Project Astra demo at Google I/O which worked well un... | tech | TikTok 57:40 - Nilay Patel answers a question about iPads for this week’s Vergecast Hotline. Apple iPad Pro (2024) review: the best tablet money 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
The smells and tastes of a great video game
Today on the flagship podcast of refillable scent cartridges: Producer Andru Marino tries out a gadget called the Gamescent, an AI-powered scent machine that syncs with your gaming and movie watching experience. He walks David Pierce through the experience and whether integrating olfaction could be the future of gaming. We also hear from Nimesha Ranasinghe, an assistant professor at the University of Maine working on taste sensations and taste simulation in virtual reality experiences, which can lead to adding another sense into the world of gaming. Further reading: A Brief History of Smell-O-Vision “Scent of Mystery”, the First and Only Use of Smell-O-Vision The sights, smells, and sprays of ‘Iron Man 3’ in 4DX The iSmell story Smell-O-Vision is REAL: Linus Tech Tips VR pioneer Jaron Lanier on dystopia, empathy, and the future of the internet The sense of taste in virtual reality Virtual lemonade sends colour and taste to a glass of water 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
AI assistants are so back
The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss announcements from Google I/O and OpenAI's GPT4o event. Further reading: Google and OpenAI race to build the feature of search OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a faster model that’s free for all ChatGPT users ChatGPT will be able to talk to you like Scarlett Johansson in Her ChatGPT is getting a Mac app OpenAI’s custom GPT Store is now open to all for free OpenAI’s “ChatGPT and GPT-4” Spring Update stream starts in 20 minutes OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leavingl Project Astra: the future of AI at Google is fast, multi-modal assistants like Gemini Live Google’s Gemini AI is getting a chatty new voice mode Google will let you create personalized AI chatbots Google’s Gemini can build an entire vacation itinerary ‘in a matter of seconds’ Google’s Circle to Search will help you with your math homework Google’s Gemini video search makes factual error in demo We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem Google I/O 2024: everything announced Google is redesigning its search engine — and it's AI all the way down Google now offers ‘web’ search — and an AI opt-out button Gemini is about to get better at understanding what's on your phone screen Google is building Gemini Nano AI right into Chrome Google makes its AI way faster with Gemini Flash Google’s new LearnLM AI model focuses on education Android apps will soon let you use your face to control your cursor Android is getting an AI-powered scam call detection feature Google targets filmmakers with Veo, its new generative AI video model Google’s invisible AI watermark will help identify generative text and video Google Photos is getting its own ‘Ask Photos’ assistant this summer Blink and you missed it: Google has a new pair of prototype AR glasses We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem Google launches new Home APIs and turns Google TVs into smart home hubs 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
The case for the iPad Pro
Today on the flagship podcast of tandem OLEDs: The Verge’s David Pierce and Chris Welch discuss the new iPad Pros with an OLED screen, Sonos’ controversial new app, and Sonos’ leaked headphones. Apple iPad Pro (2024) review: the best kind of overkill The new Apple iPad Air is great — but it's not the one to get The new Sonos app is missing a lot of features, and people aren’t happy Sonos Ace headphones will have magnetic ear cushions and 30-hour battery life The Verge’s Will Poor buys a bunch of broken iPhones on eBay, and pits the Apple Store against independent repair techs. Jet City Device Repair iFixit’s iPhone 8 charge port repair guide Hugh Jeffreys’ iPhone 12 investigation Apple’s plan to allow used parts in iPhone repairs David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about why some people think the iPad should be a Macbook replacement. 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
The rise of the audio-only video game
In episode two of our Five Senses of Gaming miniseries, David Pierce dives into the world of hearing with audio-only video games with Paul Bennun, who has been in this space longer than most. Years ago, Bennun and his team at Somethin’ Else made a series of games called Papa Sangre that were among the most innovative and most popular games of their kind. He explains what makes an audio game work, why the iPhone 4 was such a crucial technological achievement for these games, and more. 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
The beginning and end of the iPad
The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss Apple's iPad event, the evolution of the streaming business, updates on the Wisconsin Foxconn site, and much more tech news. Apple iPad event: all the news from Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ reveal The 7 biggest announcements from Apple’s iPad event Here's how the latest iPad Pro compares to the new iPad Air (and prior models) Apple adds a 13-inch iPad Air to the mix The iPad Air is now heavier than the iPad Pro Apple announces new iPad Pros with OLED displays and thinnest design ever Apple announces its M4 chip Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro M4: bigger trackpad and a function row Hands-on with the new iPad Pro: yeah, it's really thin You can upgrade the iPad Pro’s processor now, too The new Apple Pencil Pro is harder to lose and better to draw with Apple puts more ‘Pro’ in Final Cut and Logic Pro for the iPad Apple quietly kills the old-school iPad and its headphone jack The new iPads are ditching physical SIM cards Goodbye to Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio, the best iPad Pro accessory People sure are pressed about Apple’s crushing iPad commercial A Disney, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle is on the way The streaming business will look “very different” in the next couple of years. Max nears 100 million subscribers globally. Max price hike incoming. Disney’s streaming business gets closer to becoming profitable ESPN is coming to the Disney Plus app Sony is now in play to buy Paramount. The Office is getting a Peacock spinoff about local newspapers The new Sonos app is missing a lot of features, and people aren’t happy Inside Microsoft’s Xbox turmoil Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush the day after killing its studio Epic v. Apple judge seems displeased over style restrictions on iOS buttons The new Sonos app is missing a lot of features, and people aren’t happy President Joe Biden to announce AI data center at failed Foxconn site in Wisconsin TikTok sues the US government over ban The Google Pixel 8A is a midrange phone that might go the distance Google’s Pixel Tablet relaunch at $399 makes its magnetic dock optional 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
Delta's 10-year journey to the top of the App Store
Today on the flagship podcast of enterprise certificate hacks: 03:22 - The Verge’s David Pierce chats with Riley Testut, founder of AltStore and developer of the game emulator app Delta, about how his app finally made it into Apple’s App Store. The free Delta game emulator for iPhones is live on Apple’s App Store Third-party iPhone app store AltStore PAL is now live in Europe Delta is the game emulator your iPhone has been missing 46:17 - David walks us through his experimentation with the many software and hardware solutions for “AI voice notes.” Cleft Notes is an AI voice notes app that really works 1:02:02 - David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about the Rabbit R1. Rabbit R1 review: nothing to see here 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
A speedrunner’s quest to (re)build the perfect N64 controller
We’re kicking off our “Five Senses of Gaming” miniseries today, starting with “touch.” The Verge’s William Poor explores a controller crisis in the Nintendo 64 speedrunning community, and follows one speedrunner’s quest to recreate a mythical controller he lost. Further reading/viewing: How Sticks Are Sabotaging Speedrunners (Stick Crisis History) abney317 on Twitch The Quest to Beat abney317 Mariokart64.com More on Beck Abney’s controller problems 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
Rabbit, Humane, and the iPad
The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss this week's tech and gadget news. Further reading: Rabbit R1 review: an unfinished, unhelpful AI gadget The Rabbit R1’s first software update addresses its dismal battery life - The Verge Turns out the Rabbit R1 was just an Android app all along TikTok and Universal Music Group end feud with new agreement Microsoft’s OpenAI investment was triggered by Google fears, emails reveal Peloton announces new round of layoffs as CEO quits Elon Musk goes ‘absolutely hard core’ in another round of Tesla layoffs Tesla layoffs hit Supercharger team just as it’s poised to take over EV charging LinkedIn is the latest company to get in on gaming Pixel 8A leak reveals $499 starting price Beats announces Solo 4 headphones and $79.99 Solo Buds Beats Solo 4 review: playing both sides Walmart is about to launch a 4K Chromecast that’s also a smart speaker SwitchBot S10 review: with plumbing hookups, this robovac and mop is actually hands-free iOS 17.5 beta lets you keep Find My on during iPhone repairs Razer made a million dollars selling a mask with RGB, and the FTC is not pleased Instagram’s updated algorithm prioritizes original content instead of rip-offs Meta is “exploring” algorithm changes on Threads. 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
Phones are the ultimate AI gadget
Today on the flagship podcast of dedicated AI hardware: The Verge’s David Pierce and Allison Johnson debate whether the emergence of standalone AI gadgets like the Humane Pin and the Rabbit R1 are better off as apps or should exist as its own hardware. Humane AI Pin review: not even close The Humane AI Pin worked better than I expected — until it didn’t A morning with the Rabbit R1: a fun, funky, unfinished AI gadget Can Rabbit’s R1 outsmart the smartphone assistants? Let’s find out! The future of AI gadgets is just phones The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses actually make the future look cool The Verge’s Alex Heath joins the show to discuss Meta’s big move into AI with its multimodal AI smart glasses and a new AI model called Llama 3. Q&A: Mark Zuckerberg on winning the AI race Meta wants to be the Microsoft of headsets Zuckerberg says it will take Meta years to make money from generative AI Nilay Patel answers a question from The Vergecast Hotline about Microsoft and antitrust. Microsoft splits Teams from Office as antitrust pressure ramps up Microsoft and OpenAI deal may face anti-trust investigations in the EU. 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