The Vergecast

106:41

AGI is whatever you want it to be

The Vergecast ·

2026/09/04

OpenAI announced its next big model, GPT-6 Astra, and also, by the way, that AGI is here now.Today on The Vergecast, we've got an all-star panel to break down the news of the week.First, senior AI reporter Hayden Field joins us to talk about our supposed AGI era and Nvidia's acquisition of Hugging Face. Then, our friend Joanna Stern pops in to talk about new Apple CEO John Ternus, old Apple CEO Tim Cook, and to, most importantly, speculate on the format of next week's Apple keynote.We wrap things up

en

36:36

Apple Home rumors, ranked

The Vergecast ·

2026/09/03

Apple's big hardware event is coming next week. iPhones are the main draw, but senior reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy has her eyes on the rumors around — what else? — smart home gadgets. Andrew O'Hara from the Smart Home Insider podcast joins Jen to fire up the Rank-o-Matic and speculate on which rumored gadgets are most likely to see the light of day.Further reading: OpenAI’s next big AI model has ‘entered the AGI era’ Nvidia is buying Hugging Face for almost $13 billion Microsoft

en

25:05

What’s happening with US data centers?

The Vergecast ·

2026/09/02

Data centers have been a staple of Loudoun County since the early dot-com boom, but recent expansions have left some residents wondering how much more the county can take. In this episode, guest host David Imel talks to Lauren Feiner about her recent article detailing the buildout of “Data Center Alley,” what it means for residents, and what other counties reeling with similar buildouts can learn from it.Further reading: Is this the future of America? Subscribe to The Vergefor unlimited

en

40:53

What the AI overlords get wrong about being alive

The Vergecast ·

2026/09/01

Elizabeth Lopatto recently wrote about Mark Zuckerberg's 6,500-word AI manifesto in her piece, "Mark Zuckerberg doesn't understand how to live." Today, she joins guest host David Imel and senior wearables reviewer Victoria Song for a freewheeling discussion about what happens when we let AI make decisions for us.Further reading: Mark Zuckerberg doesn't understand how to live Dyson made a camera-equipped toothbrush that flosses for you Markiplier is now GoPro’s biggest shareholder

en

25:44

Can Fairphone survive the US market

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/31

Skyrocketing RAM prices put a spotlight on product longevity and repairability, which makes this a particularly apt time for Fairphone to launch its first smartphone sold directly in the United States. Today, David Imel talks to CEO Raymond van Eck about the Fairphone 6+, the company's goals of user-repairability and ethically-sourced materials, and what place AI has in the future of Fairphone. Further reading: ⁠Read Tim Cook’s final message to Apple staff as CEO⁠ ⁠Sony Music Publishing

en

93:34

The iPhone Fold could make concerts even worse

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/28

This week Apple announced a Mac Mini made for AI and a Mac Studio made for AI, both with faster M6 and M5 Pro chips made for AI. But that's all an amuse-bouche to Sept. 9's (expected) main course: the long-awaited folding iPhone. Nilay Patel, Jake Kastrenakes, and David Imel run through all of this week's Apple news, including the most important story: a surprise discount on the legendary polishing cloth.Then, they react to Meta's settlement in its latest kids safety trial, geek out about Grand

en

31:01

How to buy a laptop when everything’s expensive

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/27

If, after months of increasingly dire RAMageddon warnings, you just now find yourself in the market for a new laptop... we're here to help. In the latest installment of our "RAMageddon Survival Guide," laptop reviewer Antonio G. Di Benedetto joins David Imel to offer his recommendations.Further reading: Apple announces September iPhone launch event Xbox announces disc-to-digital feature that digitizes your physical games Xbox’s limited-edition green Series X is already sold out

en

17:45

Meta will cut teens off of Instagram after two hours

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/26

Two-hour usage limits, age verification, and a $17.1 billion payout: We're breaking down today's big settlement in Meta's kids online safety trial. Senior policy reporter Lauren Feiner and senior tech and policy editor Adi Robertson discuss how we got here, why Meta settled, and what this means for the ongoing conversation around teen mental health and social media.Further reading: Meta agrees to heavy restrictions on teen users in major lawsuit settlement Subscribe to The Verge for

en

32:52

Does smart home tech work in a college dorm?

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/25

It can be hard enough to set up smart home tech in a house or an apartment, but what about a dorm room? Jennifer Pattison Tuohy recently tested out some smart home tech when she dropped off her son for his freshman year at Clemson. Jen reports back to David Imel on how the gadgets stood up to the challenges of college Wi-Fi and rules against hanging things on the wall.Further reading: Apple’s new M6 chip gets more cores and more AI compute Apple’s new Mac Mini has fresh M6 and M5 Pro

en

25:40

We play a brutal quiz of our gadget memories

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/24

Do you remember your first BlackBerry? Do you remember when that first BlackBerry launched? On this episode taped before David Pierce went on leave, producer Travis Larchuk leads David, Nilay, and The Verge’s Sean Hollister through a game of memory and history and a surprising amount of feelings tied to gadget launches. Subscribe to The Vergefor unlimited access totheverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and ourad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and

en

77:22

Pixel 11 gets in on the digicam trend

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/21

Smart phone cameras have been getting better and better at capturing flawless, true-to-life images. But is that what the people really want?David Imel joins Nilay Patel and Jake Kastrenakes to talk through the Pixel 11's Camera Looks. They're Google's nod to the trend of retro digital and analogue cameras, and alter how a photo is processed on the sensor level. At the same time, its super zoom is still hallucinating text and making stuff up.Then it's a supersized Brendan Carr is a Dummy, with

en

39:22

We ask Gemini and Alexa to track cats and give advice

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/20

For better or worse, Amazon Alexa and Google Home's smart voice assistants have been imbued with the powers of generative AI. The promise is that you can use natural language with your smart speaker to adjust your thermostat, lock the doors, and find out what your pets have been up to. The reality is smart home voice assistants seem to be going through an identity crisis. Senior reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy invites Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel onto his own podcast to compare notes on life

en

38:37

Pixel reviewer roundtable

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/19

Pixel reviewers assemble: Senior reviewer Victoria Song leads a Vergecast roundtable with editors Dominic Preston and Cameron Faulkner to discuss the Pixel 11/Pro/Fold and the Pixel Watch 5. We discuss if HiLight is a LowLight, whether we miss the temperature sensor, and if the Watch 5’s GPS truly beats Garmin and Apple. And stay tuned for more camera discussion on Friday’s Vergecast.Further reading: Nvidia’s new financial strategy does not compute Amazon’s drones will soon deliver to

en

23:50

A repair shop’s guide to surviving RAMageddon

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/18

It feels right now like prices are going up, gadgets are getting worse, and everything is getting harder to buy. Leo Mastrolia, the Digital Doctor and the owner of a repair shop in New Jersey, is seeing this all play out first hand. For the second part of our conversation (and the first part of our RAMageddon survival guide), he tells us what he’s telling his clients about fixing their gadgets, managing upgrades, and surviving a parts crisis.Further reading: Elon Musk made flying even

en

37:12

The Digital Doctor will see you now

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/17

A few years ago, Leo Mastrolia started a gadget repair shop. Little did he know he’d eventually become known across the internet as The Digital Doctor, and would learn to fix practically every gadget you can think of. On this episode, which is part one of our conversation with Leo, he tells us about his journey as a gadget fixer, the growth of his social channels, and how right-to-repair fights and upgrade cycles are affecting life in his store. Further reading: ChatGPT’s Computer History

en

93:15

Mark Zuckerberg has an Instagzam

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/14

Have you seen Instagram's new logo? Meta debuted it right before we started recording, so of course David and Nilay needed to talk about it. Then, the hosts turn to Mark Zuckerberg's 6,500-word missive on the future of AI, and the problem with his idea that giving AI to everyone will fix everything. After that, it's time for Claude watermarks, Spotify AI personas, Brendan Carr, Flock, and much more.Further reading: ⁠This is Instagram’s new logo | The Verge⁠ ⁠The Pepsi Universe PDF

en

33:32

Should you let a robot mow your lawn?

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/13

Is it time to fire the neighbor kid and hire a robot lawnmower instead? Last year I wrote that “in all but a few scenarios, robot lawnmowers still aren’t worth your money,” but there’s a new class of Roombas with razor blades ready to tackle bumpy terrain and dodge crazy chickens. Realtor and smart home reviewer Brandon Doyle joins me to talk about our experiences with 2026’s newest robotic mowers and to let you know if they're finally worth all that money.Further reading: It looks like

en

57:11

Pixel 11 and Pixel Watch 5: Our first impressions |...

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/12

Google just showed off its next generation of hardware, including the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel11 Pro Fold. (Whew, those names.) There's also the new Pixel Watch 5, the Pixel Tag, and a bunch of really interesting new ideas about smartphone cameras, GPS, and wellness. David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and Victoria Song went live to talk about the state of Google's hardware, and whether there's anything worth upgrading for this year.Further reading: The 7 biggest

en

40:38

Lessons from the very first chatbot

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/11

Before Alexa and Siri, there was ELIZA. The first chatbot ever was the creation of a man named Joseph Weizenbaum, who built the bot almost as a magic trick — and then couldn't believe how many people fell for it. David Berry and Mark Marino, two members of a team dedicated to restoring and understanding ELIZA, explain how Weizenbaum created the virtual conversant, why he came to regret it, and what ELIZA can teach us about life in the AI age.Further reading: Why your Amazon order

en

45:45

Pencils down: We share our vibe-coded websites

The Vergecast ·

2026/08/10

We've spent the last month vibe coding our own corners of the internet. The Verge's Jake Kastrenakes and Hayden Field join David to talk about their use of Gemini, Codex, and Claude Code to build 90s-themed personal websites, vegetable-sharing systems, and photo boards. It wasn't always easy, and we didn't get everything done, but with a little AI and a lot of prompting, we made it work. Further reading: Four takeaways from Mark Zuckerberg’s massive AI manifesto | The Verge The first rival

en

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Lead With AI

Tamara Nall

Elon Musk Podcast

Stage Zero

Modem Futura

Sean Leahy, Andrew Maynard

Cisco Podcast Network

Cisco

MSP Business School

MSP Business School