The Vergecast

• Searching for the perfect minimalist smartphone

  David has a Light Phone III, and it's making him wonder a lot of things about technology. So The Verge's Allison Johnson joins the show to talk about the whole trend of minimalist smartphones, and to figure out which features a smartphone absolutely needs, and which ones we could all probably do without. After that, The Verge's Andy Hawkins takes us through a big weekend in the Tesla Takedown movement, what's happening with Elon Musk's car company, how automakers are responding to impending tariffs, and whether we're wrong to be excited about the new Nissan Leaf. Finally, The Verge's Jen Tuohy answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11, or email [email protected]!) about all-seeing cameras in our homes. Which mostly don't exist yet. Mostly. Further reading: Light Phone III review: everything in moderation There’s no perfect minimalist phone — yet One year with the Light Phone 2 We went to 10 anti-Tesla protests — and a couple counter protests, too ‘Tesla Takedown’ protesters planning ‘biggest day of action’ How Elon Musk turned the Tesla brand so toxic The Nissan Leaf lives on as a compact SUV with a Tesla charge port Ring’s latest security camera is a drone that flies around inside your house Project Astra is the future of AI at Google Alexa Plus arrives with promise but plenty of questions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  1:24:02
• OpenAI has a Studio Ghibli problem

  In this episode, we do a Studio Ghibli-like rendition of The Vergecast. First, Nilay and David discuss some big news in the gadget world, from the mysteriously viral midrange Canon camera to the upgrades we're expecting out of Apple in the next few months. Plus, is it over for Amazon's Echo brand? After all that, The Verge's Kylie Robison joins the show to discuss everything happening at OpenAI: the company launched a new image generator inside of ChatGPT, and it immediately became both a huge hit and a big mess. (Par for the course with OpenAI, really.) Kylie also explains why Perplexity is probably not buying TikTok, no matter how much it might want to. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for everyone's favorite segment, Brendan Carr Is a Dummy, followed by the latest on the Signal attack-planning chaos in the government, some news about Elon Musk pressuring Reddit CEO Steve Huffmann, and what's next for the car industry with huge tariffs looming. Oh, and a little bit of exciting e-bike news Further reading: From Meta: Bringing the Magic of Friends Back to Facebook Apple’s AirPods Max with USB-C will soon support lossless audio The Apple Watch may get cameras and Apple Intelligence Apple’s WWDC 2025 event starts June 9th Don’t expect an overhauled Messages app in iOS 19. Amazon tests renaming Echo smart speakers and smart displays to just ‘Alexa’  OpenAI reshuffles leadership as Sam Altman pivots to technical focus OpenAI upgrades image generation and rolls it out in ChatGPT and Sora ChatGPT’s new image generator is delayed for free users ChatGPT is turning everything into Studio Ghibli art  OpenAI says ‘our GPUs are melting’ as it limits ChatGPT image generation requests OpenAI expects to earn $12.7 billion in revenue this year. Nvidia Infinite Creative Microsoft adds ‘deep reasoning’ Copilot AI for research and data analysis Google says its new ‘reasoning’ Gemini AI models are the best ones yet Google is rolling out Gemini’s real-time AI video features Perplexity’s bid for TikTok continues Trump's FCC says it will start investigating Disney, too From Status: Sounding the Carr Alarm Trump officials leaked a military strike in a Signal group chat The Atlantic releases strike group chat messages And the Most Tortured Signal-Gate Backronym Award goes to… | The Verge Elon Musk pressured Reddit’s CEO on content moderation | The Verge Trump’s plans to save TikTok may fail to keep it online, Democrats warn Rivian spins out secret e-bike lab into a new company called Also BYD beats Tesla. Trump says he will impose a 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  2:04:36
• How Roomba got stuck

  Some products are so successful they become snynonymous with their whole category — nobody asks for a facial tissue, they ask for a Kleenex, you know? Today's episode is, at least in part, about two of those products. First, The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins the show to chart the rise and fall of the Roomba, the robot vacuum that practically invented the category and yet seems to have been left behind. Can iRobot get its robot back on its feet? After that, Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn discusses the state of e-readers, what it's like to always be "the best non-Amazon option," and what we all want from devices that aren't our smartphone. Finally, The Verge's Chris Welch helps us answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11, or email [email protected]!) about which TV you should buy in 2025. It's a complicated question, but there are answers. Further reading: From CNN: The secret military technology inside the household vacuum robot iRobot announces eight new robot vacuums iRobot tells investors its future is in doubt Will iRobot’s reinvention of the Roomba be at the expense of its history of innovation? Amazon wants to map your home, so it bought iRobot The death of the Amazon deal could mean goodbye iRobot iRobot’s founder is working on a new kind of home robot Michael Tamblyn's website Kobo announces its first color e-readers The best ereader to buy right now Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  1:38:29
• Trump's confusing crusade against Big Tech

  Starlink is in the White House, Siri is still bad, Pebble is back, up is down, everything is chaos. In this episode, Nilay and David start the show by running through some big gadget news, from a Siri-related shakeup at Apple to the new Google Pixel 9A. After that, The Verge's Lauren Feiner talks us through some of the latest in tech regulation: Trump's illegal firings at the FTC, the confusing state of the TikTok ban, OpenAI and Google arguing their case for free-for-all AI, and more. Finally, in the lightning round, Nilay and David talk about the latest Tesla recall, the hugely popular book about Meta, some exciting ActivityPub news, and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos gently zinging Apple TV Plus. Further reading: From Bloomberg: Apple Shuffles AI Executive Ranks in Bid to Turn Around Siri The first new Pebble smartwatches are coming later this year Europe is trying to get non-Apple smartwatches to work better with iPhones Google’s Pixel 9A gets a bigger screen and beefier water resistance Google briefly delays Pixel 9A release to investigate ‘component quality issue’  Huawei’s new flip phone is weirdly wide Nvidia says ‘the age of generalist robotics is here’ Nvidia’s cute ‘Digits’ AI desktop is coming this summer with a new name and a big brother Nvidia announces Blackwell Ultra GB300 and Vera Rubin, its next AI ‘superchips’ Musk’s Starlink gets deployed at the White House Federal rural broadband program loses head Oracle is reportedly in the lead to save TikTok from US ban A”high-level” deal to save TikTok can probably happen by the April 5th deadline, Vance says. Democratic FTC commissioners say they were ‘illegally fired’ by Trump Fired FTC commissioner warns of the ‘corrupting influence of billionaires’ Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks will resign this spring WBEZ, 12 other public media stations under investigation  CTIA Announces Ajit Pai as New CEO and President OpenAI and Google ask the government to let them train AI on content they don’t own Hundreds of celebrities warn against letting OpenAI and Google ‘freely exploit’ Hollywood Google Search charged with breaking EU antitrust rules DHS’s airport panopticon is getting people deported and detained Space science is under threat from the anti-DEI purge DOGE stranded USAID workers with laptops full of sensitive data They’re removing webpages about Black soldiers by adding ‘DEI’ to the URL. ‘Tesla Takedown’ protesters planning ‘biggest day of action’  Tesla recalls more than 46,000 Cybertrucks after trim starts falling off From NYMag: Elon Musk Has Become Too Toxic for YouTube ‘Careless People’ debuts at the top of the NYT best sellers list. Threads finally lets you set the following feed as default Ghost connects its newsletters to the open web Netflix’s CEO talks Apple TV, Amazon, and the NFL Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  1:54:17
• Switch 2, Steam Deck, and the next-gen console wars

  Handheld gaming looks like the future — so why isn't it more popular? The Verge's Sean Hollister joins the show to talk about some new data about the handheld console market, what it says about the Steam Deck's dominance, whether the Switch 2 might change everything all over again, and why Sony and Microsoft don't appear to be in the game at all. After that, David reports on his trip to Florida to see TGL, the golf league aiming to bring the sport to new places and new fans, with the help of a truly enormous amount of technology. Finally, we answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline about iPads — and more specifically, one particularly good reason to upgrade to the Air or the Pro. Further reading: Three years later, the Steam Deck has dominated handheld PC gaming shipments Steam Deck OLED review: better, not faster Lenovo Legion Go S review: feels good, plays bad Asus ROG Ally X review: the best Windows gaming handheld by a mile MSI Claw review: an embarrassment A night at TGL, the would-be future of golf From ESPN: Inside the making of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's TGL From Wired: Robotic Putting Greens. Mixed Reality. Loud Spectators. This Is Golf?! Apple iPad Air 2025 review: what the M3 upgrade really gets you Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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