The Vergecast: Ad-Free Edition

Today, things got a little loose in the studio of The Vergecast. Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding joins Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce to make their own version of Drake's AI summer classic. We're not saying a laser bong was involved, but we're not not saying that either.Then deputy editor Alex Heath stops by to tell us about Snaps latest announcements and give us an update on the latest round of layoffs at Meta.Finally, a lightning round with all the big headlines in tech from this week.Further reading: AI Drake just set an impossible legal trap for Google Google employees label AI chatbot Bard ‘worse than useless’ and ‘a pathological liar’: report What’s really going on with ‘Ghostwriter’ and the AI Drake song? Family of F1 legend Michael Schumacher plans legal action over fake AI interview Snapchat releases My AI chatbot to all users for free Google’s big AI push will combine Brain and DeepMind into one team Netflix is shutting down its original DVD business after 25 years Netflix is out of the DVD business because streaming won – now, can Netflix still win? Twitter begins removing blue checkmarks from all legacy users It’s a laser bong SpaceX’s Starship successfully takes off before bursting into flames BuzzFeed News is being shut down Social media is doomed to die Google Fi has a new name and expanded connectivity support for smartwatches Leak: Google will announce the Pixel Fold at I/O and beat Samsung on battery Everything spy movies get right (and wrong) about smart glasses Microsoft is reportedly working on a smaller Surface Pro and Arm-powered Surface Go 4 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 quantum dots: 02:33 - Makena Kelly explains the various attempts from the US government to ban TikTok, and how that could actually work.  TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform Inside the US government’s fight to ban TikTok 25:06 - Allison Johnson explains the state of the Android phone market, and where it’s headed next this year. The best Android phone to buy in 202351:28 - Chris Welch explains why this may be the best time to buy an OLED TV.  This is the best time in a decade to splurge on a premium OLED TV Making sense of new TV features in 2022  Vote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast: http://bit.ly/3moCTDs Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear 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 Warner Bros. Discovery's new streaming service, Sony's mobile gaming move, and Twitter's feud with Substack.Further reading: HBO and Discovery’s ‘Max’ streaming service is here Max is charging more money for 4K, and that means it can't suck this time  What we’ve learned about Sony PlayStation’s new smartphone games team Sony is gearing up for a new cloud gaming push amid rumors of a PlayStation handheld NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube starts at $249 for the 2023 season Google TV’s live guide is getting crammed full of over 800 free channels Microsoft is experimenting with a Windows gaming handheld mode for Steam Deck-like devices  NPR becomes first major news organization to leave Twitter  PBS also stops tweeting after being hit with ‘government-funded media’ label Is Substack Notes a ‘Twitter clone’? We asked CEO Chris Best Mini’s cars are getting an ‘intelligent personal assistant’ named Spike You can now talk to Microsoft’s Bing chatbot from your keyboard in iOS with SwiftKey Nvidia RTX 4070 review: a $599 RTX 3080 — kind of  Vote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology PodcastEmail 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

What are the best streaming services in 2023? Nilay, Alex, and David decide in the most chaotic way possible: with draft-style picks. The crew debates the best roster for the future of entertainment — from Netflix to Hulu to HBO Max to a few surprises. Who is the MVP, and who gets snubbed? Find out in our inaugural Vergecast streaming draft.Read more: theverge.com/streaming-warsVote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast: http://bit.ly/3moCTDs 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 the end of Twitter and the future of infotainment.Links: The color quiz Twitter tried to hide who pays for their checkmark, but life finds a way. https://twitter.com/AlexBlechman/status/1641905502043926530 Substack is getting a Twitter-like ‘Notes’ feed Elon Musk’s obsession with blue checks is a verified problem Twitter yanks the New York Times’ checkmark in verification overhaul Today in Twitter: where are the retweet labels, and why did Doge replace the bird? Spotify shuts down its Clubhouse competitor Spotify shows how the live audio boom has gone bust Everybody hates GM’s decision to kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs The rest of the auto industry still loves CarPlay and Android Auto GM is cutting off access to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its future EVs Could a new PlayStation handheld be built for Remote Play? I like the idea Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC is no April Fools’ joke Walmart’s redesigned website looks better than Amazon Donald Trump was arrested, please like and subscribe The Home Assistant SkyConnect is a combination Zigbee and Thread dongle for better smart home control Vote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast!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 peer-to-peer wireless networking: 02:31 - David Pierce talks with smart home reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy about Amazon’s network of smart home devices called Sidewalk and the state of Matter, the promised smart home standard. Amazon just opened up its Sidewalk network for anyone to build connected gadgets on32:16- Monica Chin brings six laptops to Times Square in New York City to test out the microphones.48:47 - Tom Warren joins the show to explain how AI is being integrated into Microsoft’s products, which may be more promising than Bing’s chatbot. Microsoft’s new Copilot will change Office documents forever Microsoft Security Copilot is a new GPT-4 AI assistant for cybersecurity Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.Vote for us in the People’s Choice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast! 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 AI image generators getting better, Apple WWDC 2023 rumors, and the other big stories in tech this week.Further reading: The swagged-out pope is an AI fake — and an early glimpse of a new reality Another hurdle for AI image generators: unicycles It’s so hard to be worried about AI when the shit is so funny. AI-generated video is still in its “demonic phase.” Elon Musk and top AI researchers call for pause on ‘giant AI experiments’ UK rejects idea of dedicated AI regulator. The US government is gearing up for an AI antitrust fight FTC should stop OpenAI from launching new GPT models, says AI policy group Apple’s WWDC 2023 kicks off on June 5th Apple staff reportedly express doubts about mixed-reality headset months ahead of launch Apple Pay Later is finally launching The ugly economics behind Apple’s new Pay Later system  Apple Music Classical is now available from the App Store Disney just laid off the guy it bought Marvel from... but that’s probably a good thing Elon Musk is now the most-followed person on Twitter Twitter is secretly boosting Elon Musk, Dril, and MrBeast for some reason  Google’s ADT partnership finally has a new home security product to show for it Sony’s new ZV-E1 camera is designed to help your vlogs suck less The TikTok ban is a betrayal of the open internet Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter? Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Verge answers questions from The Vergecast Hotline. We hear from David Pierce on balancing privacy and modern conveniences for digital journaling, Alex Cranz on tablets for reading, Dan Seifert and Allison Johnson on tech reviews at The Verge, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on smart home routers and doorbells, and Monica Chin on laptops for college.Further reading:  My impossible search for the best, most powerful, most private journaling app ever The best iPad to buy in 2023 Ethics Statement - The Verge  Nest Wifi Pro review: better, faster, shinier Eero Pro 6E review: faster Wi-Fi but flakier performance Aqara Video Doorbell G4 review: this battery-powered buzzer needs to go back to basics The FTC wants to ban those tough-to-cancel gym and cable subscriptions Best laptop 2023: 15 best laptops you can buy 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 are joined by policy reporter Makena Kelly, who is on the ground in Washington for the House Energy and Commerce Committee's hearing on TikTok. Later, we dive into all the other news from this week, from Google's release of Bard to OpenAI's rapid expansion of ChatGPT. It was a big week.Further reading: TikTok ban hearing: all the news on the US’s crackdown on the video platform   TikTok bans deepfakes of nonpublic figures and fake endorsements in rule refresh Google opens early access to its ChatGPT rival Bard — here are our first impressions Google says its Bard chatbot isn't a search engine — so what is it?  Testing Google Bard: the chatbot doesn’t love me, but it’s still pretty weird Google and Microsoft’s chatbots are already citing one another in a misinformation shitshow Sundar Pichai expects that ‘things will go wrong’ with Bard Can AI generate a way to pay for itself? GitHub Copilot gets a new ChatGPT-like assistant to help developers write and fix code Mozilla.ai is a new startup created to build more open and trustworthy AI OpenAI is massively expanding ChatGPT’s capabilities to let it browse the web and more 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 over-the-air interactive television:David Pierce is joined by Alex Cranz and Janko Roettgers to talk about ATSC 3.0, the new standard for over-the-air broadcasting.The future of TV is up in the airMitchell Clark joins the show to discuss his next endeavor.Mitchell's gear listDan Seifert explains which iPad you should buy and how to make the iPad work better for writing by hand. The best iPad to buy in 2023 Yes, paper-feel screen protectors for the iPad are good This Apple Pencil clone provides 80 percent of the experience for a quarter of the price Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices