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 ...
2024 is almost over, somehow. So we gathered a bunch of our Verge colleagues and told them each to tell us three things from the year: the biggest story, their favorite new tech thing, and their favorite new non-tech thing. We got a collection of big stories, cool gadgets, great movies, and more good stuff from the year that was.
We're also planning a special episode for Tuesday, December 10th, all about The Verge and The Vergecast. So if you have questions about how we work, what we cover, why we talk about copyright law so much, or what Nilay is actually like to work with every day, tell us! Call 866-VERGE11, or email [email protected], and we'll answer as many as we can on the 10th. Thanks in advance!
Further reading:
Jay Peters:
Story of the year: Google is a monopoly
New thing of the year: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Non-tech thing of the year: XOXO Field Notes notebooks
Jake Kastrenakes:
Story of the year: All things AI
New thing of the year: The Wiim Ultra amp
Non-tech thing of the year: Chronoloy
Justine Calma
Story of the year: The US election, and the rise of nuclear power
New thing of the year: Nurse Unseen
Non-tech thing of the year: Sugarcane
Vjeran Pavic:
Story of the year: The Apple Vision Pro
New thing of the year: The Fujifilm X100VI and the Kino app
Non-tech thing of the year: Mountain Gazette
Kylie Robison:
Story of the year: Billionaire crybabies
New thing of the year: Stardew Valley
Non-tech thing of the year: Curated playlists
Barbara Krasnoff:
Story of the year: The US election
New thing of the year: The Elgato Stream Deck
Non-tech thing of the year: Googly eyes
Alex Heath:
Story of the year: The AI rat race
New thing of the year: Granola
Non-tech thing of the year: Shochu
Ash Parrish:
Story of the year: Grand Theft Auto VI and the Nintendo Switch 2, and more industry layoffs
New thing of the year: The Playstation Portal
Non-tech thing of the year: Bucephalus the puppy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
--------
1:39:34
The government's plan to break up Google
The Verge's Lauren Feiner joins Nilay and David to talk about the US government's proposal in its search antitrust case against Google. They discuss the future of Chrome, what a white-label search engine might look like, and how a Trump administration might change the course of this case altogether. Then Nilay and David talk about the week in AI and gadget news, from the latest on Amazon's new Alexa to Google bailing on tablets all over again. Finally, in the lightning round, they discuss Comcast spinning off its cable channels and the latest in the Threads / Bluesky competition.
Further reading:
DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open its search monopoly
Google responds to DOJ’s ‘extreme proposal.’
Google workers to DOJ: we need protections to make your breakup effective
Apple fights to keep DOJ antitrust suit from reaching trial
Amazon announces new Echo Show 21 and Echo Show 15 smart displays
Google may be about to reboot its laptop and tablet hardware again
Google reportedly cancels Pixel Tablet 2 and might quit the category — again
Sonos’ smart TV plans might have found an OS
Windows 365 Link is a $349 mini PC that streams Windows from the cloud
Comcast is spinning off its cable TV business
Trump names Brendan Carr as his FCC leader
Strava closes the gates to sharing fitness data with other apps
Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI
Threads’ custom feeds are already rolling out
Threads’ algorithm will focus more on the people you follow
Bose acquires premium audio brand McIntosh
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
--------
1:56:53
If Netflix can't make live work, can anyone?
Richard Lawler joins the show to chat about the Tyson / Paul fight, and more importantly the fact that Netflix didn't seem to be able to keep up. As live sports — and TV in general — move toward streaming, are even the biggest names in tech ready for what's coming? After that, Roland Allen, the author of The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper, tells us about the history of the notebook, and why we've been writing things down about our lives for centuries. Even in a digital world, Allen argues, you just can't beat the notebook. Finally, a question from the Vergecast Hotline sends producer Will Poor down a TikTok Shop rabbit hole.
Further reading:
Netflix served the Tyson vs. Paul fight to 60 million households
NFL fans worry Netflix’s bad Tyson vs. Paul stream means it can’t handle football
Netflix adds Beyoncé to live entertainment juggernaut
Netflix snagged global streaming rights for NFL Christmas Day games
Roland Allen’s website
The Notebook: a History of Thinking on Paper
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
--------
1:14:49
Making human music in an AI world
For the third episode in our series about the future of music, we talk with Ge Wang. Ge is a professor at Stanford, a co-founder of Smule, the conductor of Stanford’s laptop orchestra, and has been at the center of technology and artistry for most of his life. We talk about how humans can use AI without giving in to it, what it means to truly play with technology, and the value of art and creativity and friction when it feels like all those things are being taken away.
Further reading:
Ge Wang’s website
The future of computer music | Stanford University School of Engineering
Ge’s viral TED talk: The DIY orchestra of the future
From Wired: Behind the Scenes With the Stanford Laptop Orchestra
Ge Wang: Human Well-Being Should Be AI Creators’ Goal
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
--------
50:39
Bluesky's quest to be the next Twitter
Nilay and David talk about the future of social, in light of Bluesky's recent surge in growth. Threads is huge, Bluesky is ascendent, Mastodon is... around, but can any of them become the next Twitter? Is that even the goal? After that, Kylie Robison joins the show and the gang discusses Apple's smart home device (which is just an iPad), the AI scaling slowdown, and a new twist in the delivery wars. In the lightning round, it's all about disclosures, wireless carriers, and the sad end of Freevee.
Further reading:
Twitter’s succession: all the news about alternative social media platforms
One million people have joined Bluesky in the past week.
Bluesky adds 700,000 new users in a week
The Guardian is quitting X.
Remember the TikTok ban?
Apple’s rumored six-inch ‘AI wall tablet’ could control your smart home by March 2025
Apple is reportedly working on an Apple Home security camera
Anthropic co-founder Darius Amodei said we’ll have artificial general intelligence “in 2026 or 2027.”
Just Eat is selling Grubhub to Marc Lore’s Wonder for $650M
Boost Mobile says it’s a real wireless carrier now
Amazon is shutting down Freevee
Trump says Elon Musk will lead ‘DOGE’ office to cut ‘wasteful’ government spending
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
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.
Australia