The Vergecast is the flagship podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, hosts Nilay Patel and David Pierce ...
Nilay, David, and Richard Lawler take on a big week in confusing news stories. First, they talk through the latest from Elon Musk's DOGE, which is running rampant through government computer systems with little pushback. Then they explain the latest on the US government's tariff strategy, and the mass confusion it's causing across tech. Then they pivot away from politics and talk about streaming: the Super Bowl coming to Tubi, the deeply confusing forthcoming Fox streaming service, whatever Comcast is doing this year, and more. Finally, in the lightning round, they talk about Sonos's streaming box, Brendan Carr's latest assaults on free speech, OpenAI's "new" logo, and more.
Further reading:
DC is just waking up to Elon Musk’s takeover
Elon Musk is staging a takeover of the federal budget
Workers are reeling from chaos at federal agencies
Can anyone stop President Musk?
“For all practical purposes, I’d call that a coup.”
Trump imposes sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China
Canada will retaliate against Trump with tariffs on US goods
Trump agrees to a one-month pause on Mexico, Canada tariffs
Qwertykeys halts keyboard shipments to US over tariff costs and confusion
Shein and Temu depend on a 100-year-old tariff loophole that Trump wants to close
Your packages are about to get slower and more expensive
USPS backtracks, will accept parcels from China after all
China tariffs may already be hiking up import fees
China opens Google antitrust probe in retaliation to tariffs
Fox plans to launch a streaming service by the end of 2025
Super Bowl LIX will stream for free on Tubi
Comcast is adding Dolby Atmos to its ‘4K’ Super Bowl broadcast this year
Warner Bros. is streaming full movies for free on YouTube
Disney teases ESPN’s expansive sports streaming future
Disney’s streaming business posts another profit.
CBS is preparing to give Harris interview materials to the FCC.
FCC launches probe into Soros-backed radio station that revealed live locations of undercover ICE agents
After a bruising year, Sonos readies its next big thing: a streaming box
Sonos lays off 200 employees as its struggles continue
Google has ‘very good ideas’ for native ads in Gemini
ChatGPT’s agent can now do deep research for you
Here’s OpenAI’s new logo
Chairs Are Like Facebook
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1:36:51
Samsung’s S25 Ultra and the end of the flagship phone
Today on the show, it’s all about the future of phones… and your data. The Verge’s Allison Johnson joins the show to talk about the new Samsung Galaxy S25, what’s new in this high-end phone, and what it means for all the other smartphones coming this year. After that, Cooper Quintin, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, talks us through how to think about the privacy implications of RedNote, TikTok, DeepSeek, and all the other tech that puts us in contact with China. Finally, we enlist The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy to help us answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline all about the Meta Portal. Remember the Meta Portal?? If you’re missing yours, we have some ideas.
Further reading:
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra isn’t so ‘ultra’ anymore
Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus hands-on: more of the same
Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. S25 Plus vs. S25 Ultra: specs comparison
Trump signs order refusing to enforce TikTok ban for 75 days
TikTok’s service providers still risk billions in penalties for bringing it back online
TikTok is still on shaky ground in the US
Chinese social media app RedNote tops App Store chart ahead of TikTok ban
As Americans flock to RedNote, privacy advocates warn about surveillance
Will RedNote get banned in the US?
RedNote: what it’s like using the Chinese app TikTokers are flocking to
Why everyone is freaking out about DeepSeek
DeepSeek’s top-ranked AI app is restricting sign-ups due to ‘malicious attacks’
US Navy jumps the DeepSeek ship.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Facebook’s new Portal Go is great for video calls, but not much else
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1:27:24
How DeepSeek crashed the AI party
Nilay and David dig into the week's biggest story: the new Intel-powered Surface Pro. Kidding! They talk about DeepSeek, the out-of-nowhere AI company that sent both Silicon Valley and the stock market into uproar this week. Then, after the hosts debate what the real killer app for AI is — and whether we've even found one yet — we follow up on our question from last week about how people are actually using AI. We got so many good answers, and we talk through what to make of them all. Finally, in the lightning round, we talk about Brendan Carr being a dummy, the return of the Pebble, the continued rise of Bluesky and Threads, and Meta's $25 million check to Trump.
Further reading:
Why everyone is freaking out about DeepSeek
DeepSeek says its newest AI model, Janus-Pro can outperform Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 3.
Microsoft makes DeepSeek’s R1 model available on Azure AI and GitHub
OpenAI has evidence that its models helped train China’s DeepSeek
China’s DeepSeek AI is hitting Nvidia where it hurts
DeepSeek’s AI app is restricting sign-ups due to ‘malicious attacks’
US Navy jumps the DeepSeek ship.
DeepSeek wakes up Trump.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on DeepSeek R1: “an impressive model.”
Mark Zuckerberg tells Meta investors to not worry about DeepSeek
The Pebble smartwatch is making a comeback, with some help from Google
Oracle and Microsoft are reportedly in talks to take over TikTok
FCC chair says landlords can force bulk internet service on residents
From NYT: F.C.C. Chair Orders Investigation Into NPR and PBS Sponsorships
Meta agrees to pay $25 million to settle Trump account suspension suit
Zuckerberg wants to Make Facebook Great Again
Zuck wants to bring the “OG Facebook” back.
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1:46:42
A lazy person’s guide to getting in shape
The Verge’s Victoria Song joins the show to talk about the most popular and most-bailed-on New Year’s Resolution of all: getting in shape. She tells us about the apps that help you work out more without being rude about it, the data you really need to care about in your fitness tracker, and much more. After that, we talk to Anna Valtonen, one of the curators and researchers behind the new Nokia Design Archive. She tells us about the concepts, presentations, and overall culture that made Nokia such an important company in the history of phones. Finally, we answer another question on the Vergecast Hotline about how audio works on your phone. It’s all still too complicated.
Further reading:
Ladder
Fantasy Hike
Stompers
Runkeeper
5K Runner
Our interview with Adrian Hon about Zombies, Run
The Nokia Design Archive
Nokia’s “Morph” concept
The Nokia Communicator
The Nokia Moonraker smartwatch
From Apple: Share audio with AirPods and Beats headphones from iPhone or iPad
Also from Apple: Play audio through multiple devices at once in Audio MIDI Setup on Mac
From Samsung: Play music on two Bluetooth devices from your Galaxy phone
Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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1:31:47
Samsung's thin, big, boring AI phones
Nilay, David, and The Verge's Allison Johnson run down all the biggest news from the latest Samsung Unpacked. The S25 Edge had everyone excited, but the other new Galaxy S25 models feel a little familiar. Then, The Verge's Lauren Feiner updates us on the many goings-on in the first days of the new Trump administration, from the TikTok ban delay to the executive orders on citizenship and AI. Finally, in the lightning round, David and Nilay talk about Netflix's price increase, smart-home standards, and more.
Further reading:
This is the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus hands-on: more of the same
Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. S25 Plus vs. S25 Ultra: specs comparison
Here’s what Samsung’s first Android XR headset looks like in person
Samsung and Google are developing AR glasses together
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra stylus: back to boring basics
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on: smoothing out sharp edges
Samsung claims its new Galaxy S25 Ultra glass can survive head-high drops on concrete
Google Gemini now works across multiple apps in a single prompt
The Stargate Project is a $500 million AI data center plan for OpenAI
The United States Digital Service is now DOGE — here’s what it was responsible for.
Vivek Ramaswamy steps down from DOGE
Trump signs order refusing to enforce TikTok ban for 75 days
Trump says he’s open to Musk or Ellison buying TikTok
TikTok’s service providers still risk billions in penalties for bringing it back online
Bluesky and X launch new video feeds amid TikTok uncertainties
Instagram announces a blatant CapCut clone
Apple says it’s following the law by removing TikTok from the App Store
Sen. Tom Cotton warns TikTok’s service providers of “ruinous liability” for hosting the app.
Two lawmakers introduce a bill to repeal the TikTok ban.
Trump is absolutely going to make ByteDance sell TikTok or shut down again.
Netflix is raising prices again
YouTube Premium gets more experimental features that can now be tested all at once
Here’s the tech that could turn millions of Zigbee light bulbs into motion sensors with a single update
Samsung is bringing ambient sensing to SmartThings
Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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The Vergecast is the flagship podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, hosts Nilay Patel and David Pierce hang out and make sense of the week’s most important technology news. And every Tuesday, David leads a selection of The Verge’s expert staffers in an exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives – and which ones you should bring into yours.