The Vergecast: Ad-Free Edition

The iPhone 4 was one of the best iPhones ever — and definitely the most dramatic iPhone ever. It was lost in a bar in California, sold to Gizmodo, and published for the world to see months before its launch. The phone itself had a bunch of important new features, and one that spawned Antennagate. In this episode, David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and longtime tech columnist Walt Mossberg tell the whole story of the phone, its legacy, and its place in tech blog history. If you like the show, ⁠⁠⁠subscribe to the Version History feed⁠⁠⁠ to make sure you get every new episode. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world runs on RAM, and RAM is harder than ever to get your hands on. What’s happening here? Every year, the Vergecast team spends the holiday season going deep on a single spec or technology, and this year it’s all about Random Access Memory. (No, that’s not a Daft Punk album.) Nilay, David, and Sean Hollister explain what RAM is, why it matters, how it became a precious commodity, and what it means for the future of chips around the world. We also play some games. We do… okay at the games. Happy Holidays! 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google didn't invent the concept of smart glasses, but it was one of the first companies to actually put them on people's faces. It was a revolution, and also a problem: Google made face computers extremely uncool, and its early user base was so off-putting they became collectively known as “Glassholes.” The Verge’s Victoria Song and Waveform’s David Imel break down why Glass failed — despite being shockingly right about the future of technology. If you like the show, ⁠⁠⁠follow the Version History feed⁠⁠⁠ to make sure you get every new episode as soon as it drops. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Åhead of our last Friday episode of 2025, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr did The Vergecast an enormous favor: he went in front of Congress and said a bunch of wild things about regulation. So, of course, Nilay and David have to talk about them. For a really long time. After that, the hosts look at all the ways YouTube and Netflix are becoming more like one another, and then update the Go90 Scale of Doomed Streaming Services to round out the year. Finally, in the lightning round, there's talk of web apps, EVs, Bluesky, and the metaverse. Further reading: ⁠The Vergecast live at CES⁠ ⁠Brendan Carr doesn’t regret his threats to broadcasters ⁠ ⁠Former FCC Chairman Michael Powell: ‘Cable companies are at the mercy of content companies’⁠ ⁠The Oscars will stream on YouTube in 2029 ⁠ ⁠Netflix’s next big TV game is FIFA soccer ⁠ ⁠My Favorite Murder and The Breakfast Club podcasts are ditching YouTube for Netflix ⁠ ⁠Warner Bros. wants its shareholders to reject Paramount’s latest offer ⁠ ⁠Netflix is “100% committed” to releasing WB films in theaters. ⁠ ⁠Even Jared Kushner thinks the Paramount WB bid sucks.⁠ ⁠Peacock will bombard you with ads as soon as you open the app ⁠ ⁠HBO Max’s new channels keep Friends and Game of Thrones playing 24/7 ⁠ ⁠Instagram is putting Reels on your TV ⁠ ⁠LG forced a Copilot web app onto its TVs but will let you delete it⁠ ⁠Mercedes-Benz discontinues feature that syncs music to driving⁠ ⁠Ford’s big bet on EVs didn’t pan out — now it’s pivoting to hybrids and energy storage⁠ ⁠Bluesky claims its new contact import feature is ‘privacy-first’ ⁠ ⁠Gemini 3 Flash is here, bringing a ‘huge’ upgrade to the Gemini app ⁠ ⁠The ChatGPT app store is here⁠ ⁠Alexa Plus’ website is live for some users ⁠ ⁠Meta pauses third-party Horizon VR headsets program ⁠ 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who's going to win the Super Bowl? What about the latest season of Survivor? Or the race to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve? Who will be Portugal's next president? How many times will Elon Musk tweet in the next week? On Polymarket, and other prediction markets, you can bet on all these things and more. Are we entering a world in which everything is gambling and gambling is everything? Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal joins the show to explain the rise of prediction markets, what's betting and what's investing, and more. Then, The Verge's Hayden Field teaches us about Model Context Protocol, a wonky bit of AI infrastructure that might be key to making AI agents work. MCP is barely a year old, and practically all of tech is ready to embrace it. Finally, Hayden helps David answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email ⁠vergecast@theverge.com⁠!) about why every AI company seems to want you to go shopping. Further reading: ⁠Are prediction markets gambling? Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev is betting not⁠ ⁠Election night at Kalshi HQ⁠ ⁠Joe Weisenthal at ⁠⁠Bloomberg⁠ From Bloomberg: ⁠My Biggest Question About Prediction Markets⁠ ⁠Anthropic launches tool to connect AI systems directly to datasets⁠ ⁠AI companies want a new internet — and they think they’ve found the key⁠ 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A year ago, David and Nilay sat down with Wall Street Journal senior tech columnist Joanna Stern to make a bunch of confident predictions about 2025. We got them... you know what, never mind. Let's look ahead to 2026! This year, we gather again to make increasingly bold bets about the year to come, including the future of a few of the world's biggest companies and whether we're finally going to get a foldable iPhone. Last year's predictions may not have been our best, but we're feeling good about these. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Technically, the Netflix / Warner Bros. news is almost a week old, but what a week it has been! And so, after some follow-up on smart shades and CES, Nilay and David talk through all that’s at stake in the fight between Paramount and Netflix — and whether it’s even possible for someone to win this deal. After that, Charlie Harding, co-host of Switched on Pop and honorary Vergecast intern, explains how AI is taking over the country music scene in Nashville. He also makes us a song, and it’s a jam. Lastly, the hosts talk about font news (with a special guest), Brendan Carr, smart rings, garage wars, and more. Further reading: ⁠The Verge subscription turns one ⁠ ⁠Netflix is buying Warner Bros. for $83 billion ⁠ ⁠Paramount launches a hostile $108 billion bid to snatch Warner from Netflix ⁠ ⁠David Ellison pitches Paramount’s $108 billion hostile bid for WBD as “pro consumer.” ⁠ ⁠Behind Paramount’s Relentless Campaign to Woo Warner Discovery and President Trump⁠ ⁠New Paramount Speaks: Theatrical Films, Streaming Investment and Tech Upgrades Are Top Priorities⁠ ⁠Netflix CEO made a visit to the White House before buying Warner Bros. ⁠ ⁠Trump isn’t sold on the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal⁠ ⁠Netflix’s leadership thinks the Warner Bros. deal won’t be like other big media mergers.⁠ ⁠Welcome to the big leagues, Netflix ⁠ ⁠There are no good outcomes for the Warner Bros. sale⁠ ⁠OpenAI’s billion-dollar Disney deal puts Mickey Mouse and Marvel in Sora⁠ ⁠Get ready for an AI country music explosion⁠ ⁠Brendan Carr is a Dummy⁠ ⁠Chamberlain’s new technology blocks aftermarket controllers from working with its garage door openers⁠ ⁠The Pebble Index 01 is a smart ring with a built-in microphone⁠ ⁠Calibri is too woke for the State Department | The Verge⁠ ⁠Gruber got a copy of the thing⁠ 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Well, friends, it's been a year. And before we turn the page to 2026 and all the stories of 2025 begin to blur together, we decided to take stock of things. Nilay and David are joined by Wall Street Journal senior tech columnist Joanna Stern to debate the best products of the year, the biggest policy moves, the people who broke bad, the good AI things, the bad AI things, and much more. It's been a vibe-everything kind of year, and there's a lot to discuss. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI models are very good at summarizing things, finding other things like those things, and helping you find those things again. But does that mean we should leave all the work of finding and understanding to those models? Sari Azout, the founder of an app called Sublime, doesn't think so. For this episode, the second in our two-part series about how developers are using AI and building models into their products, Azout explains how Sublime tries to balance being a thoroughly human-focused app with the efficiencies that come with new technologies. She has thoughts on curation, taste, and the differences between AI as a creative partner and AI as a creative replacement. Further reading: ⁠Sublime⁠ From Sari's newsletter: ⁠What matters in the age of AI is taste⁠ From The Atlantic: ⁠Good Taste Is More Important Than Ever⁠ ⁠AI Is a Lot of Work⁠ ⁠Making human music in an AI world⁠ ⁠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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

First things first: David and Nilay are both having some TV problems, and they need to talk it out. But then they get to the news of the week, including Samsung's new extra-foldy foldable phone, and a big change in the design departments at both Apple and Meta. What does it all say about the future of smart glasses? After that, the hosts talk through why Sam Altman declared a code red inside of OpenAI in order to redirect focus to ChatGPT — and whether the technology that has made all these products possible is actually the right technology moving forward. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a Dummy, recap season, "dear algo," and thermostats. Further reading: ⁠Samsung’s Z TriFold is official and it looks like a tablet with a phone attached ⁠ ⁠Huawei tris again. ⁠ ⁠Huawei’s first trifold is a great phone that you shouldn’t buy ⁠ ⁠Apple’s head of UI design is leaving for Meta ⁠ ⁠Apple AI chief steps down following Siri setbacks ⁠ ⁠Louie Mantia’s blog post about Dye⁠ ⁠Zuck’s post about the new team⁠ ⁠Linux usage on Steam hits a record high for the second month in a row ⁠ ⁠OpenAI declares ‘code red’ as Google catches up in AI race ⁠ ⁠OpenAI just made another circular deal ⁠ ⁠Anthropic’s AI bubble ‘YOLO’ warning ⁠ ⁠Anthropic’s racing OpenAI to go public⁠⁠ ⁠ ⁠Normalizing extraterrestrial data centers⁠ ⁠I tested five AI browsers and lost my mind in the process⁠ ⁠The AI boom is based on a fundamental mistake⁠ ⁠Ilya Sutskever – We're moving from the age of scaling to the age of research⁠ ⁠FCC boss Brendan Carr claims another victory over DEI as AT&T drops programs⁠ ⁠First there was nothing, then there was Hoto and Fanttik⁠ ⁠This new Honeywell Home smart thermostat can answer your Ring doorbell⁠ ⁠Spotify Wrapped 2025 turns listening into a competition ⁠ ⁠YouTube introduces its own version of Spotify Wrapped for videos ⁠ ⁠Amazon Music Delivered puts your top tunes on a festival poster. ⁠ ⁠Google Photos Recap will tell you how many selfies you took this year⁠ ⁠“Dear algo.” ⁠ 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices