Lightning round: Brendan Carr and media chaos

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

Vergecast movie night! Join David and Nilay as we watch Sneakers at the IFC Center in New York City, April 27 @ 7pm. Get tickets here: https://www.ifccenter.com/films/the-vergecast-presents-sneakers/

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? 

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

00:00 Webby Vote

01:55 Housekeeping And Movie Night

04:26 AI Industry Reality Check

11:59 OpenAI Buys TBPN

20:01 Funding And Competition

26:42 Introducing Hype Desk

30:08 Pomodoro Timer Find

32:52 PAX East Highlights

35:17 Apple 50th Rankings 

40:01 Software Gets Snubbed

42:54 Classic Macs Debate

49:10 Halfway Point Picks

50:03 HyperCard And Origins

52:09 Top 20 Controversies

56:00 AirPods And Apple II

01:02:02 iMac iPad iPod Arguments

01:04:54 Mac Top Five Debate

01:05:54 Wedge Air And iMac Picks

01:06:31 Top Three M1 Versus iPhone

01:10:56 Number One macOS X Case

01:14:25 Wrap Apple 50 Rankings

01:15:46 Lightning Round 

01:15:57 Brendan Carr Speech Policing

01:18:42 Nexstar TEGNA Merger Chaos

01:23:13 Surf App And Fediverse

01:28:37 iMac Reclamation Update

01:32:56 Gadget Prices And RAM Shortage

01:38:18 Wrapup

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