The Vergecast

Nilay is going to buy the new touchscreen MacBook. But not for the touchscreen. He and David talk through Apple's new laptop, and what it means for Apple's other devices, including the tablet that used to be the future of everything. Then the hosts talk about Instagram's push into long-form video and its battle with AI content. Finally, it's time for Brendan Carr, Anthropic's S-1, robot vacuums, and the rest of the lightning round.

Further reading:

Apple finally combined a toaster and a refrigerator

Hands-on with the new OLED iPad Mini

Instagram doesn’t have a plan to pay long-form video creators

Adam Mosseri says negativity around AI is ‘going to get worse’

Invasion of the Sexy A.I. Joke Thieves

Brendan Carr plans to let prisons jam cellphone signals

Five weird details from Anthropic’s IPO filing

Microsoft is ending Copilot support on smart TVs

Google says its investments in AI are driving more searches

Palmer Luckey’s Anduril is getting into laptops — and claims they’ll be American-made

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We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.

0:00 ProLED Cold Open

01:04 Touchscreen Mac Arrives

02:39 Why Apple Did Touch

05:27 App Store Pressure

07:54 Touch Is Just Enough

09:49 Influencer Event Demos

13:56 iPad Squeezed Middle

18:34 Luxury Hardware Bet

22:37 Duo Reality Check

28:18 Instagram Going Through It

29:07 AI Agents vs Ads

32:18 Zuck Escapes iPhone

32:41 Instagram Becomes TV

33:23 Slop Meme Deepfakes

36:09 Mosseri AI Crisis

42:58 Longform Video Push

44:34 Creators Demand Revshare

48:19 Loop Closing Arms Race

49:34 Reddit Versus Google Zero

53:22 AI Kills The Web

01:00:20 Brendan Carr is a Dummy

01:02:22 Spectrum Auction Plan

01:03:35 NOAA Weather Spectrum Fight

01:04:29 700 MHz Auction History

01:05:38 FCC Spectrum Power Grab

01:06:09 Privatizing Weather Data

01:09:27 Anthropic S1 Reality Check

01:12:34 AI Products Beat Models

01:16:55 Claude Goes Sentient

01:17:55 Copilot Leaves Smart TVs

01:21:16 Quiet Robot Vacuum Thoughts

01:25:03 Palmer Luckey Laptop Fight

01:30:10 X Replies and Racism

01:32:32 Wrap Up and Next Week
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Steve Jobs once said touchscreen laptops were a terrible idea. Now Apple is shipping one. The Verge's Antonio Di Benedetto tells us all about the new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR, how MacOS is changing for touch, why a laptop user might want a touchscreen, and whether MacBook and iPad are destined to become one.

Further reading:

Hands-on with Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro

Apple finally combined a toaster and a refrigerator

DoorDash is acquiring Instacart for $17 billion

Google says its investments in AI are driving more searches

Samsung’s expecting the RAM shortage to last until at least 2028.

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.

We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon's product launch spree continues, this time with a bunch of new Alexa-powered Echo devices. The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy explains what the new Echo Show 16 finally got right, why a digital photo frame could be Amazon's next big Alexa hit, and whether this new way of thinking about smart home gadgets might help Amazon defeat the HomeView and win a space in your kitchen.

Further reading:

Apple announces its first touchscreen MacBook Pro

Amazon’s new Echo line is here: the 6 biggest updates

Here’s Virgin Galactic’s new Apeiron spaceship

Amazon’s new Echo line is here: the 6 biggest updates

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.

We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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Kevin Roose's new book, The AGI Chronicles, tells the story of the AI revolution. He joins the show to explain its earliest beginnings: the researchers who discovered what language models could do, the people who debated whether humans or computers should are more special, and the executives who started the companies that currently rule our economy. What do they want, and what are they building?

Further reading:

Kevin Roose is AGI-pilled. Why aren’t you?

Machine Gods

The AGI Chronicles

Apple refreshes the iMac with M6 chips

Apple updates the MacBook Pro with M6 chips

Palmer Luckey’s Anduril is getting into laptops — and claims they’ll be American-made

OpenAI announces three big science discoveries and a new way to work with academics

Data center backlash is uniting America

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.

We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We talk a lot about where the computer is, and where your stuff is. Paul Ford, a co-founder of Aboard and longtime tech blogger, recently built a tool called TinyLittleOffice that puts all the stuff in an unexpected place: the URL. Paul joins the show to explain how the web and the cloud have become powerful development tools, what it means to store a document in its domain, and why tiny, disposable software could make a comeback in the age of AI.

Further reading:

A YouTuber dissected an iPhone Duo and thinks he found the cause of crackgate

Anthropic’s IPO filing lays out a plan to ‘revolutionize every area of human endeavor’ with AI

Apple updates the iPad Mini with a larger OLED display

Tiny Little Office

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.

We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices