The Vergecast: Ad-Free Edition

The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss previews for the Apple event, gadgets at IFA, the latest with Snap, and a whole lot more.Further reading: Apple’s iPhone 16 launch event is set for September Apple’s iPhone 16 event: how to watch and what to expect Apple’s rumored Mac Mini redesign may ditch the USB-A port Is our long FineWoven nightmare almost over? What Not to Expect at Apple Event on September 9: 'It's Glowtime' A new low-end Magic Keyboard may come next year. Apple Sports is ready for all kinds of football Inside Apple’s theatrical U-turn on Wolfs. Ted Lasso could come back for a fourth season Beats’ long-awaited Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds are coming in 2025 Microsoft and Apple are arguing over cloud gaming apps again The Remarkable Paper Pro is as outrageous as it is luxurious Honor’s superthin foldable is another cool phone the US won’t get TCL’s new Nxtpaper phones have a dedicated button for maximum monochrome Our first official look at Huawei’s tri-fold. Acer’s first handheld gaming PC is the Nitro Blaze  DJI’s $199 Neo selfie drone is going to be everywhere Acer’s Project DualPlay concept laptop has a pop-out controller and speakers Acer’s 14-inch laptops claim 24 hours of battery life from Intel, Qualcomm, or AMD Qualcomm’s new eight-core Snapdragon X Plus makes these Windows laptops cheaper IFA 2024: hands-on (and off) with Lenovo’s Auto Twist AI PC concept Intel strikes back against Windows on Arm Verizon looks to expand Fios with $20 billion purchase of Frontier Concord was worse than bad — it was forgettable Sony is taking Concord offline on September 6th after disastrous launch Snapchat to put ads next to chats with friends You’ll soon be able to Sony is taking Concord offline on September 6th after disastrous launch Sub.club is here to help the fediverse make money Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss Telegram CEO being charged in a French criminal investigation over content moderation, Yelp suing Google for antitrust violations, a week in AI-generated nonsense, and more. Telegram says CEO has ‘nothing to hide’ after being arrested in France  French authorities arrest Telegram’s CEO Why the Telegram CEO’s arrest is such a big deal Telegram CEO charged in French criminal investigation Telegram CEO Pavel Durov faces court questioning in France. French prosecutors explain why they arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov How Pavel Durov, Telegram’s Founder, Went From Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg to Wanted Man Can Tech Executives Be Held Responsible for What Happens on Their Platforms? How Telegram played itself Yelp sues Google for antitrust violations TikTok must face a lawsuit for recommending the viral ‘blackout challenge’ California State Assembly passes sweeping AI safety bill Mark Zuckerberg responds to GOP pressure, says Biden pushed to ‘censor’ covid post Google Gemini will let you create AI-generated people again xAI’s new Grok image generator floods X with controversial AI fakes X’s Grok directs to government site after sharing false election info Smart home company Brilliant has found a buyer ESPN ‘Where to Watch’ feature helps find where to stream sporting events Plaud’s NotePin is an AI wearable for summarizing meetings and taking voice notes The maker of the Palma has a new cheaper e-reader The Dyson Airwrap i.d. is a smarter hair curler Snapchat finally launched an iPad app Instagram adds what photos have always needed: words Apple’s iPhone 16 launch event is set for September Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the flagship podcast of the native resonance of your smartphone: 02:32 -The Verge’s David Pierce tries to find out if those YouTube videos promising to remove water from your phone with sounds actually work. 32:42 - Then, David chats with The Verge’s Alex Heath about some AR glasses that are reportedly set to launch from Snap and Meta this fall.59:16 - Later, David answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline about competition in the AI industry.Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You can learn a lot about somebody just by learning about how they get things done. Are they the sort of person who might have a perfectly color-coded email inbox, a flawlessly organized to-do list, and what’s that, they just sent you a calendar invite for happy hour next week? Or are they more likely to have a giant pile of sticky notes they never look at, a computer desktop with so many files you can’t even see the wallpaper, and today’s main tasks written on their arm? Neither is wrong, but they’re very different.On this episode of The Vergecast, the second in our three-part miniseries about work and productivity and how to get more done in a digital world, we decide to get to know our colleagues in a new way: by asking them to share their own productivity systems. We didn’t give them much specific instruction or homework, other than to come ready to answer a question: how do you get stuff done? Eight Verge staffers showed up, with eight very different ideas about what being productive means and how best to pull it off. Along the way, we found some ideas to steal, a few new apps and tools to try, and a lot of new thoughts about our co-workers.If you want to know more about the things we discuss in this episode, here are a few links to get you started: A Googler’s guide to getting things done TickTick Upnote Notion Google Keep Google Calendar The Rhodia #16 spiral notepad Papier’s productivity planners Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Verge's David Pierce, Alex Cranz, Allison Johnson, and Richard Lawler discuss the Google Pixel 9 review and its controversial reimagine AI feature, a Chick-fil-A streaming service, Sonos app updates, and more.Further reading: Google Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL review: AI all over the place Google’s AI tool helped us add disasters and corpses to our photos  This system can sort real pictures from AI fakes — why aren’t platforms using it?  The AI photo editing era is here Donald Trump posts a fake AI-generated Taylor Swift endorsement From Digital Trends:I tried Google's new Pixel Studio app, and it's a mess OpenAI exec says California’s AI safety bill might slow progress https://www.threads.net/@chriswelch/post/C-8wxAGOpyP https://www.threads.net/@chriswelch/post/C-8LGwKOlPj?xmt=AQGzGV_vvL3vxoEhZ_nM263bP8n-Pu9Dxz5Ngmib-0wzgA https://www.threads.net/@chriswelch/post/C-8wxAGOpyP A new $6 billion bid to take over Paramount could undo plans to merge with Skydance. I hope the next CEO of Disney is just Bob Iger with a fun mustache. Paramount Plus plans are 50 percent off ahead of the 2024 NFL season  The 2024 Olympics were a big win for TV of all kinds The Acolyte has been canceled Chick-fil-A is reportedly launching a streaming service for some reason Apple Podcasts now has a web app Spotify star Alex Cooper is jumping to a new podcast network JBL made its charging case touchscreen more useful with a size boost  Meta and Snap are about to show off their new AR glasses  Amazon cancels the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition’s main feature — focusing on photos Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the flagship podcast of hydrogen futures: The Verge’s William Poor, Andrew Marino, and Alex Parkin head to California to figure out why hydrogen fuel cell technology, once a super-promising successor to gasoline, lost out to battery electric cars. They also put the embattled tech to the test with a road trip across California’s “hydrogen highway.”Further reading: Check out the interactive map of our trip here, and the video version of the story here. Read Andrew Hawkins’ story about the future of hydrogen fuel cell tech here. Read Justine Calma’s coverage of federal green hydrogen programs here.Go deep into California zero emission transportation policy here.Credits:Fact Check by Jasmine Arielle TingThanks to:Bill Elrick, Hydrogen Fuel Cell PartnershipMichael McCurdy, California State LibraryArchival footage courtesy of Global ImageWorks, LLCEmail us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Laura Mae Martin is a big believer in the settings menu. Martin is Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor, and spends much of her time working with other Googlers on improving their productivity and communication systems — and one of the things she often recommends is taking a few minutes to poke through the options. “With your phone, with your email, your Slack, all these things, the features are there but we don’t take the time to dive into them,” she says. She even thinks you should maybe have to look at settings before you can use the app. “Like, you can’t get into the app unless you spend 10 minutes figuring out what it can do.”On this episode of The Vergecast, the first in our three-part miniseries about all things productivity and work, we talk to Martin about how she sees things changing. Four years after the pandemic forced us all to work from home, are we finally figuring out remote and hybrid work? Are managers realizing that butts-in-seats isn’t, and maybe was never, a good metric for productivity? And is the era of the hard-charging hustle bro finally giving way to a healthier, more holistic way of thinking about being productive? Martin sees all these things from so many perspectives, and has lots of thoughts on everything from communication styles to energy flows.We also talk about the rise in digital productivity tools like Notion and Slack, and why email is still so important — and still so terrible. One of Martin’s jobs at Google is to consult with the teams building Workspace apps like Docs and Gmail, and she has lots of thoughts on how those product works and how they could be better. We also talk about whether AI stands to change the way we get things done, and whether it’ll help us do more or just give us more to do.Along the way, Martin offers us lots of practical tips on how to manage our digital lives a little better. Charging your phone outside the bedroom, no-tech Tuesdays, and a couple of prettier email labels might actually go a long way. And if you have too many notes in too many places, it’s time to get a Main List going.If you want to know more on everything we talk about in this episode, here are a few links to get you started: Laura Mae Martin’s website Her book, Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing’ The Google Workspace guide to productivity and wellbeing The Verge’s favorite tools to stay organized The best note-taking apps for collecting your thoughts and data All I want is one productivity app that can handle everything Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss AI tools announced at this weeks Pixel 9 event, Nilay's TV competition, tech regulatory news, and more.Further reading: AI overshadowed Pixel at the Pixel event All the AI features coming to Google's Pixel 9 series  Google debuts Pixel Studio AI image-making app Google makes your Pixel screenshots searchable with Recall-like AI feature Every time Google dinged Apple during its Pixel 9 launch event Google Gemini’s voice chat mode is here Using Gemini Live was faster than Google, but also more awkward Google Pixel 9 launch event: all the announcements and products  Google's Pixel 9 lineup is a Pro show  The Pixel 9 Pro XL showed me the future of AI photography Google’s Zoom Enhance camera trick is finally available  Inside the competition that named the Sony A95L the best TV of 2024 Patreon adds Apple tax to avoid getting kicked out of the App Store  Apple is finally going to open up iPhone tap-to-pay Apple relents and approves Spotify app with EU pricing  AltStore PAL drops its annual subscription thanks to a grant from Epic Epic judge says he’ll ‘tear the barriers down’ on Google’s app store monopoly The FTC’s fake review crackdown begins this fall Ex-Google CEO: AI startups can steal IP, hire lawyers to “clean up the mess” Flipboard is going to let you follow fediverse accounts right inside the app Halide’s Process Zero feature captures photos with no AI processing Realme’s 320W fast charging can fully charge a smartphone in four and a half minutes Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the flagship podcast of the correct height-to-width ratio of a foldable phone: The Verge’s David Pierce, Allison Johnson, Victoria Song, and Chris Welch discuss all the new gadget announcements from Google’s Pixel event — including the Pixel 9, the Pixel Watch 3, the Pixel buds, and more.Further reading: Google Pixel 9 launch event live coverage: all the news Google’s Pixel 9 lineup is a Pro show Google’s new Pixel Buds Pro 2 seem better in every way that matters The Pixel 9 Pro XL showed me the future of AI photography Google Pixel Watch 3 hands-on: a big leap forward The Google TV Streamer might be the Apple TV 4K rival we’ve been waiting for Why Google decided now’s the time to move on from Chromecast The Nest Learning Thermostat gets its biggest upgrade in over a decade Google’s Pixel Fold one year later: I can’t wait for the sequel Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Alex Heath, and Lauren Feiner discuss a federal judge ruling that Google violated US antitrust law, X suing a group of major advertisers over an “illegal boycott”, and the rest of this week's wild tech news.Further reading: Judge rules that Google ‘is a monopolist’ in US antitrust case All the spiciest parts of the Google antitrust ruling X files antitrust lawsuit against advertisers over ‘illegal boycott’  The Global Alliance for Responsible Media is 'discontinuing' after Elon Musk's X filed an antitrust lawsuit against it Disney’s password-sharing crackdown starts ‘in earnest’ this September Disney’s streaming business turned a profit for the first time The price of Disney Plus is about to go up Logitech’s ‘forever’ mouse isn’t happening Google is discontinuing the Chromecast line The Google TV Streamer might be the Apple TV 4K rival we’ve been waiting for Humane’s daily returns are outpacing sales  Samsung’s Frame TV is finally getting the knockoffs it deserves  Microsoft says Delta ignored Satya Nadella’s offer of CrowdStrike help Hands-on with Google’s new Nest Learning Thermostat OpenAI won’t watermark ChatGPT text because its users could get caught Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices