HBO vs. Max and Twitter vs. Substack

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

27 Sep 20231h

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

25 Sep 202331min

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

22 Sep 20231h 15min

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

20 Sep 20231h 40min

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

18 Sep 20231h

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

15 Sep 20231h 5min

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

13 Sep 20231h 39min

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

11 Sep 202325min