The Vergecast

Today on the flagship podcast of the laserdisc resurgence: While Netflix’s DVD.com service shuts down later this week, The Verge's David Pierce chats with Bill Rouhana, the CEO of Chicken Soup for The Soul Entertainment, about the potential of Redbox and physical media in 2023. Netflix’s DVD service shuts down: here’s the complex tech behind it Later, David and Alex Cranz talk with New York Magazine’s John Herrman about his recent story on social media metrics and what they actually mean. Lies, Damned Lies, and Social-Media Metrics Keep listening for this week’s Vergecast hotline question. 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

In part three of our AI mini series, David Pierce dives into the decades-long endeavor to build a virtual assistant. What can a virtual assistant do? What do we want it to do? 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 Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss all the announcements from Amazon's fall product launch event and Microsoft's Surface and AI event. Further reading: Amazon’s fall 2023 product launch event: live news, announcements, and more Amazon is set to supercharge Alexa with generative AI The Fire TV should be at the heart of Amazon's smart home The new $269.99 Echo Frames look a whole lot more like glasses. Alexa Eye Gaze offers a new way to control Alexa on a Fire tablet In the new Echo Show 8, Alexa will be 40 percent faster. Finally some hardware...for kids. YouTube is going all in on AI with background and video topic suggestions YouTube made a video editing app — just like TikTok Microsoft Surface event: the 6 biggest announcements Microsoft’s new Xbox controller borrows great ideas from Stadia, Steam, and Sony This is Microsoft’s new disc-less Xbox Series X design with a lift-to-wake controller Microsoft’s next Xbox, coming 2028, envisions hybrid computing Microsoft addresses the huge Xbox leaks: here’s Phil Spencer’s full memo Microsoft’s Phil Spencer says acquiring Nintendo would be ‘a career moment’ Microsoft announces the Surface Laptop Studio 2 with upgraded chips and ports A first look at Microsoft’s upgraded Surface Laptop Studio 2 Microsoft announces the new Surface Laptop Go 3 Hands-on with the Surface Laptop Go 3 The Surface Go 4 comes with a much-needed performance boost Microsoft 365 Copilot launches in November Windows 11’s next big update arrives on September 26th with Copilot, RAR support, and more Microsoft announces Surface Hub 3 with portrait mode The cable bundle of the future is officially here Google’s Bard chatbot can now find answers in your Gmail, Docs, Drive The Home Assistant Green is here to make the most powerful smart home platform more accessible 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

Today on the flagship podcast of the Action Button: 03:34 - The Verge's David Pierce chats with Allison Johnson and Dan Seifert about their reviews of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. 41:02 - Victoria Song joins the show to talk about her review of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. 1:07:58 - David chats with Isaac Mosna and Widgetsmith's David Smith about customizing your iPhone wallpaper and widgets. 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

In episode two of The Vergecast's AI mini series, David Pierce sits down with Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding and music producer Ian Kimmel to share how they made an entire song from scratch using a bunch of AI tools. Later, Nilay Patel joins the discussion to talk about the future of AI in the music industry. Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's been a week! The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz rejoin the studio to process all the tech news and announcements. Apple had its annual hardware event where the iPhone 15 and new Apple Watch lineup were shown off. Later, senior tech and policy reporter Adi Robertson joins the show to walk us through the US v Google antitrust trial that kicked off earlier in the week. Further reading: iPhone 15 event: all the news on Apple's new phones Here's why Apple put a Thread radio in the iPhone 15 Pro Rumors of Lightning’s death are just slightly exaggerated The iPhone Mini is officially gone, long live the iPhone Mini USB-C Backbone One controllers will be ‘upgraded’ to work with the iPhone 15 lineup. The iPhone is getting new ringtones with iOS 17 Apple announces more iOS 17 features coming later this year: Apple Music updates How Google plans to win its antitrust trial What to expect from the Google Search antitrust trial US v. Google antitrust trial: updates Developers respond to Unity’s new pricing scheme Unity cancels town hall over reported death threats What happens when Google Search doesn't have the answers? Google AMP: how Google tried to fix the web by taking it over A storefront for robots The little search engine that couldn't Who killed Google Reader? 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

After attending Apple's fall hardware event, The Verge's Nilay Patel, Allison Johnson, Dan Seifert and Victoria Song break down the biggest announcements: the iPhone 15, 15 Pro, the new Apple Watch Series 9 and the Ultra 2. Further Reading: All the big conferences and events in tech, entertainment, and automotive coming this fall iPhone 15 event live blog: all the news from Apple's keynote Apple iPhone 15 event: the seven biggest announcements Apple announces iPhone 15 with USB-C, a camera upgrade, and the Dynamic Island Apple iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max announced with titanium bodies and an Action Button iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max hands-on A first look at the new iPhone 15 with USB-C and a big camera upgrade Apple's cheapest iPhone 15 Pro Max now costs more — but also has double the storage Apple is releasing iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 on September 18th Apple announces Apple Watch Series 9, and it has a handy double-tap feature Apple Watch Ultra 2: price, release date, and features Apple is switching the AirPods Pro charging case to USB-C Apple’s USB-C AirPods Pro will support lossless audio with the Vision Pro Apple's Lightning connector was the first great port — and USB-C might be the last Post-process: why the smartphone camera changed photography forever The iPhone 7 Plus vs. the original iPhone: a camera showdown The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are the first smartphones with Thread 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

In part one of The Vergecast's AI mini series, David Pierce dives into the boom of voice synthesis and artificially generated speech. The process is a lot more accessible for everyone, but how realistic can it sound? Further reading: AI voices are taking over the internet Everyone will be able to clone their voice in the future Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Verge's David Pierce, Alex Cranz, Richard Lawler, and Dan Seifert discuss what to expect at Apple's iPhone 15 event, the drama behind the scenes with Disney's CEOs, and some more gadget news. Further reading: iPhone and iPad apps will be available in the Vision Pro App Store by default Sonos announces Move 2 speaker with stereo sound and 24-hour battery life Google leaks Pixel 8 Pro again with a 360-degree preview GoPro’s new Hero 12 Black will let you film continuously for longer A GoPro Max successor is coming What goes into designing a solar-powered Bluetooth speaker Bob Iger and Bob Chapek's CEO battle made Disney the pettiest place on Earth YouTube is experimenting with longer but less frequent ad breaks on TV Roku turns to layoffs (again) and removes streaming content to cut costs Chrome is about to look a bit different Google’s cookie-replacing Privacy Sandbox reaches major milestone How to disable Chrome’s new targeted ad tracking Clubhouse reinvents itself as an audio messaging app MrBeast just dropped a new YouTube face 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 Verge's David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Richard Lawler discuss all the gadgets announced at IFA 2023, the next flagship phone events from Apple and Google, and a whole lot more. Also: Nilay Patel breaks news about the 5G banana surgery. Further reading: No, they did not do surgery on a banana over 5G Apple’s September iPhone event: how to watch and what to expect Google leaked Google’s flagship Pixel 8 Pro, again Google sets its Pixel 8 launch event for October 4th Google kills Pixel Pass without ever upgrading subscriber’s phones Taylor Swift Eras Tour is coming to theaters this October Starfield review: a stellar sci-fi refresh of the Bethesda RPG formula Sony is raising PlayStation Plus prices up to $40 per year Dolby might have found a way to make built-in TV speakers sound much better Instagram may be making Reels longer to compete with TikTok Google’s Duet AI now available in Docs, Gmail, and other Workspace apps IFA 2023: the biggest announcements from Europe’s big tech show Alexa and Google Assistant play together nicely, but not perfectly, on JBL’s new speakers Anker's new MagGo wireless chargers might charge iPhones just as fast as MagSafe Philips Hue has three new smart security cameras Jlab’s $39.99 Jbuds Mini are the smallest yet. How Google made the world go viral We sent the top ANC headphones to a lab to test their noise-canceling abilities This USB button helps Jeopardy! contestants get their buzz on The future of Tesla is in China Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the flagship podcast of social media monetization strategies: 04:05 -The Verge''s David Pierce and Nilay Patel chat with Taylor Lorenz about her new book Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet 55:26 - Adi Robertson joins the show to explains why publishers, and the music industry, would have a bone to pick with the Internet Archive. 1:23:13 -Vjeran Pavic helps out with this week's Vergecast Hotline question. 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 Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Richard Lawler discuss Threads' new web app, Sony's Playstation handheld, NFL 4K streaming, AI music copyright, and a whole lot more. Further reading: Elon Musk says (yet again) that X will stop letting you block users X glitch wipes out most pictures and links tweeted before December 2014 X fixed the ‘bug’ that broke images attached to tweets from before 2014 X tests removing headlines from links to news articles Elon Musk says news organizations can get a share of X’s advertising revenue, too. Threads on the web is here NFL Sunday Ticket has arrived on the Google TV homescreen Amazon is bringing a whole lot of AI to Thursday Night Football this season Sony’s portable PlayStation Portal launches later this year for $199.99 Sony’s PlayStation wireless earbuds will cost a whopping $199.99 Sony’s PlayStation division is acquiring headphone maker Audeze This batarang houses Qualcomm’s next big bet on gaming Somebody already unboxed the Quest 3 Microsoft kills Kinect again Corsair’s first standing desk is designed for gaming, streaming, and more Google and YouTube are trying to have it both ways with AI and copyright Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel Netflix is going to let DVD subscribers keep unreturned discs for free White Noise Podcasters Are Costing Spotify $38 Million a Year - Bloomberg Sonic Spectrum: a journey into noise white, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple & violet 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

Today on the flagship podcast of payment processing fees: 04:36 - The Verge's David Pierce travels to meet Keegan McNamara, an artisan who is making unique computers for more purposeful use cases. A visit to the one-man computer factory 27:11 - Liz Lopatto and Alex Heath join the show to discuss the future of "super apps" in the United States — notably the one Elon Musk is trying to build with X, formerly known as Twitter. Everything Elon Musk told Twitter employees in his first company meeting Can Elon Musk turn Twitter into an ‘everything app’? Here’s what Elon Musk wants to do with X, his ‘everything app’ 1:09:54 - Keep listening for this week's Vergecast Hotline question. What is a custom feed and how do I make one? – Reddit Help Email us at vergecast@theverge.com, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Dan Seifert discuss the iMac's 25th anniversary, the state of streaming, a TV in a suitcase, and a whole lot more. Further reading: Linus Tech Tips pauses production as controversy swirls They Review Movies on TikTok, but Don’t Call Them Critics YouTube is adding chat, highlights, and Shorts to NFL Sunday Ticket It’s official, people aren’t watching TV as much as they used to iMac at 25: a visual history of Apple's iconic all-in-one computer How the iMac saved Apple For a generation of students, the iMac was a gateway to the future In a world full of laptops, is there a place for the iMac? Apple moved the end call button again in iOS 17 These iOS 17 Features Won't Be Available at Launch - MacRumors Everything New in iOS 17 Beta 6 - MacRumors DisplayPort: A Better Video Interface | Hackaday LG now sells this bizarre TV in a suitcase, and I must have it Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 family review: easier choices Google Chrome will summarize entire articles for you with built-in generative AI OpenAI wants GPT-4 to solve the content moderation dilemma An Iowa school district is using ChatGPT to decide which books to ban The Biden administration urges the Supreme Court to take up content moderation cases Special counsel obtained ‘some volume’ of DMs from Donald Trump’s Twitter account Microsoft to hold ‘special event’ in New York City on September 21st 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

Today on the flagship podcast of non-exclusive distribution deals: 02:15 - The Verge’s David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and Richard Lawler discuss how the future of sports streaming will have a lot to say about the future of entertainment. 41:57 - David chats with director Alex Winter about his new documentary The YouTube Effect. 1:12:00 - Keep listening for this week’s hotline question about Windows 11. 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 Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz break down the chaotic and increasingly more expensive state of streaming video. Are we just recreating cable TV? And afterwards, the crew explores the wild world enterprise software. Further reading: Disney Plus and Hulu are about to get even more expensive The Emmy Awards are officially delayed because of the writers and actors strikes Disney is ‘actively exploring’ ways to crack down on password sharing What does Bob Iger think about selling Disney to Apple? Paramount says it has a plan to weather the Hollywood strikes. Barbie earns $1 billion at the box office worldwide Verizon will soon raise prices on certain unlimited plans — yes, again Slack’s redesign: new DM and Activity sections and more features in the messaging app Verizon is shutting down BlueJeans, which it bought for $400 million Zoom says its new AI tools aren’t stealing ownership of your content The LK-99 ‘superconductor’ went viral — here’s what the experts think Cadillac’s Escalade IQ is the next GM vehicle to lack Apple CarPlay MrBeast’s burger company is suing him for $100 million You can now verify your Threads profile on Mastodon Sign up for Installer, our weekly guide to all the best and Verge-iest stuff on the internet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we're sharing an episode of Land of the Giants: The Tesla Shock Wave Not many people can name the original founders of Tesla. So how did two guys who wanted to build an electric car create a company synonymous with Elon Musk? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss YouTube adding a slew of new TikTok-like features to Shorts, Elon Musk's extravagant 'X' sign, and much more. We also go through this week's emails. The Samsung fans have spoken. Further reading: Elon Musk wants a second chance to fail at X Elon Musk capitulates: Twitter will default to dark mode but still offer a light option Twitter Blue subscribers can now hide their blue checks Elon Musk's extravagant 'X' sign atop the former Twitter HQ has been dismantled Elon Musk’s X sues anti-hate researchers for allegedly scraping data from Twitter Do you want to buy stocks on X? YouTube is adding a slew of new TikTok-like features to Shorts BBC launches an ‘experimental’ Mastodon server LG 27GR95QE-B review: ushering in a new age for gaming monitors Some details on what Apple needs to ship the Apple Vision Pro developer kits. Apple’s Vision Pro platform joins Pixar’s bid to standardize 3D content The Excel World Championship esport is coming back to ESPN this week Exclusive: the Sonos Move 2 is coming in September with stereo sound and 24-hour battery life MrBeast is suing his ghost kitchen partner over ‘inedible’ MrBeast Burgers 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

Today on the flagship podcast of texting on the outside screen: 03:28 - The Verge’s David Pierce chats with Allison Johnson and Dan Seifert about the software design of Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5. 32:54 - David takes a trip to the Dave & Busters to find out why the games on your phone ended up in your local arcade. 49:48 - Alex Heath joins the show to discuss his experience getting his eye scanned by an orb from Worldcoin, a crypto startup co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. 1:14:45 - Our hotline question of the week about wearables without screens. 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 Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and Richard Lawler discuss Twitter being rebranded as X. Allison Johnson joins the show to discuss everything announced at Samsung’s Galaxy Flip 5 and Fold 5 Unpacked event. Also: we read your emails! Further reading: Twitter is being rebranded as X Elon Musk just changed Twitter’s logo again — sort of Can Elon Musk really use that X logo for Twitter? For Elon Musk, X equals everything Twitter Blue’s former lead talks about Elon Musk, X, and sleeping on the floor Twitter Japan will be called simply, Japan Threads is rolling out its Following feed You can’t just leave Threads in the Following feed The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is last year’s phone with a new hinge The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 gets a big little screen upgrade Samsung goes OLED all the way with the Galaxy Tab S9 tablets The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 series is all about the bezels DJI Air 3 review: old ideas, new package OpenAI can’t tell if something was written by AI after all Seven major automakers are teaming up on a North American EV charging network T-Mobile says its ultrafast 5G capable of up to 3.3Gbps is rolling out now Boost Infinite’s $25 unlimited wireless plan is now on Amazon Prime T-Mobile’s charging a $5 fee for in-store bill payments My first MP3 player had everything I needed Looking back at the original Chromecast, which just turned 10 years old Japan’s indie game scene is growing up How to build a better search engine than Google 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