The Vergecast

The AI vibes continue to find all-time lows. David and Nilay open the show by talking through the absurd Allbirds pivot to AI, the attacks on Sam Altman, and the increasing divide between what AI companies say is inevitable and what people actually want. Then, the Hype Desk crew talks Coachella and RAMageddon, before David and Nilay catch up on the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly suit and the increasing price of everything. In the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a dummy, satellite internet, brain-computer interfaces, and the Trump Phone.

Further reading:

Allbirds announced a switch from shoes to AI and its stock jumped 600 percent 

The Allbirds pivot to… meme stock? 

The attacks on Sam Altman are a warning for the AI world 

Sam Altman reportedly targeted in second attack 

Altman attack suspect proposed “Luigi’ing some tech CEOs.” 

Stanford’s AI study

NYT: Half of Gen Z Uses AI, but Their Feelings Are Souring, Study Shows

Reese Witherspoon on Threads on AI

Ticketmaster is an illegal monopoly, jury finds 


A jury is about to decide the fate of Ticketmaster 

Microsoft counters the MacBook Neo with freebies for students

YouTube Premium is getting pricier 

RAMageddon has come for Microsoft’s Surface Pro and Surface Laptop 

Meta blames RAM shortage for $100 Quest 3 price hike

FCC’s Brendan Carr again blasts deals between NFL and streaming services

The FCC just saved Netgear from its router ban for no obvious reason 

Netgear and the FCC have not responded to our emails. 

Did Neuralink make the wrong bet?

Apple and Amazon are teaming up to challenge Starlink’s smartphone ambitions 

Point, Musk. 

Amazon’s Starlink competitor now has an airplane antenna. 

Amazon’s Starlink competitor Leo gets a new date 

The new Trump Phone design is here 

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

--EPISODE RUNDOWN--

(Timestamps are approximate.)

00:00:00 Allbirds Goes AI

00:06:00 From Shoes to Tech Hype

00:09:00 Altman Attacks and Backlash

00:13:00 Why AI Feels Threatening

00:18:00 Gen Z Polls and Trust Gap

00:29:00 Reese Witherspoon AI Pushback

00:35:00 Hype Desk Returns

00:36:00 RAM Apocalypse and Wikifeet

00:39:00 Coachella Livestream Era

00:43:00 Ticketmaster Monopoly Verdict

00:47:00 MacBook Neo Spurs Microsoft

00:49:00 OpenAI Clouds and Copilot Backlash

00:51:00 Windows vs Mac Value Shift

00:54:00 The Pricing Apocalypse Hits

00:55:00 Why YouTube Premium Costs More

01:02:00 Lightning Round

01:03:00 Brendan Carr is a Dummy

01:07:00 NFL Antitrust Exemption Fight

01:15:00 Amazon Buys Globalstar

01:22:00 FCC Router Ban Chaos

01:27:00 Trump Phone Gets Realer

01:31:00 Neuralink Bet

01:32:00 Wrap Up
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During the height of the cryptocurrency craze a few years ago, the actor Ben McKenzie found himself wondering why no one else was seeing what he was seeing. He joins the show to explain his yearslong attempt to understand Bitcoin and the crypto world, all of which is in his new documentary Everyone Is Lying to You For Money. (You can probably guess how he feels.) After that, The Verge's Victoria Song tells us about her testing of continuous glucose monitors, which have gone from medical device to influencer trend in some worrying ways. Finally, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected]!) about why all our gadgets seem the same these days.

Vote for The Vergecast in the Webby Awards! A vote for The Vergecast is a vote that Brendan Carr is a dummy, that buttons are good, and that party speakers rule the world. Voting is open until April 16.  https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/technology

Further reading:

Everyone is Lying to You for Money


Low interest rates and loneliness: the origins of the pandemic crypto boom


Continuous glucose monitoring made me continuously crazy

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

(Timestamps are approximate.)

00:00:00 Sprinkler Duty Intro

00:03:00 Ben McKenzie Crypto Journey

00:04:00 Is Crypto Really Money

00:09:00 El Salvador Reality Check

00:11:00 Could Crypto Ever Work

00:14:00 Crypto Culture

00:19:00 Casino Capitalism And Crime

00:23:00 Why Bitcoin Keeps Rising

00:30:00 CGMs Explained

00:32:00 FDA OTC And Wellness Boom

00:33:00 Government Push For Wearables

00:39:00 Longevity Wearables Boom

00:41:00 Why Try CGMs

00:44:00 Scary Readings Doctor Visit

00:47:00 Living in the Data

00:48:00 Apps Scores Calibration

00:51:00 Disordered Eating Spiral

00:54:00 No Consensus for Non Diabetics

00:57:00 Medication Tradeoffs

01:00:00 Wellness vs Medical Regulation

01:04:00 Using CGMs Thoughtfully

01:10:00 Vergecast hotline

01:11:00 Why Gadgets Got Bland

01:22:00 Final Thoughts
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In a week filled with important news about important people, David and Nilay start the show with the biggest news of all: their silly tech projects. After some updates on iMac repurposing and vibe-coded productivity tools, the hosts turn to the state of OpenAI, and the big story from The New Yorker about whether we should trust CEO Sam Altman with the future of AI. After that, it's time for the lightning round, with the latest Brendan Carr is a Dummy shenanigans, and the New York Times' latest attempt to identify Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Is it, in fact, Adam Back? And does it even matter?

Vote for The Vergecast in the Webby Awards! A vote for The Vergecast is a vote that Brendan Carr is a dummy, that buttons are good, and that party speakers rule the world. Voting is open until April 16.  ⁠https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/technology⁠

Further reading:

⁠First photos of solar eclipse from Artemis II crew look almost too good to be real ⁠

⁠Artemis II astronauts break a record, name a crater ⁠

⁠Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? | The New Yorker⁠

⁠The vibes are off at OpenAI ⁠

⁠Sam Altman is “unconstrained by truth.” ⁠

⁠OpenAI’s AGI boss is taking a leave of absence ⁠

⁠OpenAI made economic proposals — here’s what DC thinks of them⁠

⁠CNN Defends Authenticity Of Iranian “Victory” Statement After Donald Trump Posts Irate Claim It Was A “Fraud”⁠

From The New York Times: ⁠Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto? My Quest to Unmask Bitcoin’s Creator⁠

⁠The latest Satoshi Nakamoto unmasking. ⁠

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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Cookie banners — those pop-ups that appear on practically every webpage demanding you accept their tracking systems — are one of the most consistent low-grade annoyances of life online. But Kate Klonick, a professor and writer, argues they're actually much worse than that, and the only plausible solution is to get rid of them entirely. After that, The Verge's Allison Johnson tells us about her AI-enhanced Google Maps experience, and why the new Ask Maps feature has the potential to be both incredibly cool and incredibly creepy. Then, she helps David answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email ⁠[email protected]⁠!) about whether E Ink phones might solve all our problems.

Vote for The Vergecast in the Webby Awards! A vote for The Vergecast is a vote that Brendan Carr is a dummy, that buttons are good, and that party speakers rule the world. Voting is open until April 16.  ⁠https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/technology⁠

Further reading:

⁠Ban Cookie Banners: A Case Study in Tech Regulation by Kate Klonick⁠

⁠Kate’s website⁠

⁠Google Maps is getting AI-powered ‘Ask Maps’ feature and more immersive navigation ⁠

⁠I let Gemini in Google Maps plan my day and it went surprisingly well ⁠

⁠TCL’s new Nxtpaper phones have a dedicated button for maximum monochrome ⁠

⁠Boox Palma 2 Pro review: one step forward, one step back ⁠

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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We love a ranking here on The Vergecast, and it’s time for the hardest one yet: David and Nilay compare notes on the 50 best products Apple has ever made, and see how their answers stack up to the many, many voters on The Verge this week. Before that, though, it’s time for a bit of AI news — surprise, it’s enterprise software! — and the comeback of the Hype Desk. After all that, and after the rankings, we do a round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, talk about the fediverse, and repurpose our old iMacs.

Vote for The Vergecast in the Webby Awards! A vote for The Vergecast is a vote that Brendan Carr is a dummy, that buttons are good, and that party speakers rule the world. Voting is open until April 16.  ⁠https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/shows/technology⁠

Further reading:

⁠OpenAI’s big numbers: $122 billion funding round, 900 million weekly ChatGPT users. ⁠

⁠Why OpenAI killed Sora ⁠

⁠I think Google is taking a couple digs at OpenAI about Sora. ⁠

⁠Apple’s third-party Siri Extensions could lead to an AI App Store. ⁠

⁠Microsoft’s new ‘superintelligence’ game plan is all about business⁠

⁠OpenAI acquires TBPN | OpenAI⁠

⁠Apple turns 50: celebrating five decades of the tech giant ⁠

⁠Everything is iPhone now ⁠

⁠Steve Jobs and the greatest run of products in tech history ⁠

⁠How the invention of QuickTime changed computers forever ⁠

⁠The triumphs and failures of Apple without Steve Jobs ⁠

⁠The Apple product that really changed the industry: the MacBook Air ⁠

⁠Apple at 50: a visual history ⁠

⁠The origin story of Apple’s long-running relationship with Foxconn ⁠

⁠Apple’s long, bitter App Store antitrust war ⁠

⁠Snazzy Labs' iMac - Studio Display Mod Guide⁠

⁠Flipboard Surf launches social websites combining Bluesky, Mastodon, RSS, and more⁠

⁠These Raspberry Pi price hikes are no joke ⁠

⁠Today is the final day to save up to $150 on a PS5 before the price goes up ⁠

⁠Sony temporarily suspends memory card sales due to shortages ⁠

⁠The White House has an app now, and Trump wants you to report people to ICE on it ⁠

⁠What’s inside the White House app? ⁠

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 [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

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