Vergecast

Due to a series of vacations and illnesses this week, we decided that instead of bringing you a Vergecast today, we’d play you an episode of Power User, the new show from our friend Taylor Lorenz and our friends at the Vox Media Podcast Network. Taylor and I chatted for a few minutes about podcasts, TikTok bans, and more, and then we rolled the tape on her first episode.

We’ll be back next week, and hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. Rock and roll.

At one point during this episode, as we discuss our Vision Pro review — and the reaction we’ve seen from around the web — Nilay begins to debate how he’s scored every Apple product ever. It’s that kind of Vergecast, y’all. And then, as TikTok loses a key music partner and foists shopping on users everywhere, we wonder: is it time to call the top on TikTok?

The Vision Pro is not an easy thing to review, or explain, or score. But Nilay had to do all those things. So about 24 hours before the whole thing went live, we sat Nilay down in the studio to hash this thing out once and for all. What is the Vision Pro good at? What’s it for? Why is it so expensive? What’s the deal with the eyes? And most importantly... is it good?

In this episode, we get our first glimpse of Nilay’s fabulously lucrative “alternate app marketplace” idea, we have a lot of thoughts about whether Netflix is better than cable or is just cable again, and all expose ourselves as thoroughly un-knowledgeable about wrestling. But we do know all about Pokemon with guns.

After 40 years, the Mac line is as strong and successful as ever — does it have another four decades to go? And in 2064, will we be talking about the Vision Pro launch the same way we talk about the Macintosh?

Our good friend Walt Mossberg has some thoughts. Then YouTuber and author Ali Abdaal talks about his book, “Feel Good Productivity,” and why my to-do app habit is really not helping me get anything done. Click here to listen in your preferred podcast app.

Big gadget week! The Vision Pro is up for pre-order (are you getting one?), so we talked about everyone’s experience so far and all the things we still don’t know. Then we dig into Samsung’s new S24 lineup, the latest on the Apple Watch ban, and what it means to make a slow-mo video when there’s no slow-mo video to make it from.

Netflix: probably a winner in 2024. Disney Plus: rough times ahead. Peacock? Paramount Plus? Will they even exist in 12 months? Alex Cranz and I get to the bottom of this year’s streaming wars, and also maybe talk E Ink a little. But first: you know that creepy sound on TikTok videos about the North Sea? We have a story for you about that.

AI gadgets are about to be everywhere. But who owns the AI, and who should benefit when you use it? Who gets paid when my fridge recommends a recipe, is really the question I’m asking. We get into the battle between The New York Times and OpenAI, get excited about what’s coming at CES, and wonder about what happens when your movie theater projector just can’t hang anymore.

If 2023 could just, like, stop with the news now, that’d be great. But there’s still lots to discuss! We talked Watch bans and Beeper battles and streaming mergers and Peloton pivots and a bunch more.

Then we looked back at some of The Verge’s most popular stories from the year that was, and asked ourselves: were these really the biggest stories of the year? There were some surprises — and some stinkers. Click here to listen in your preferred podcast player or watch the YouTube version below.

I mean, that’s kind of grandiose, but it’s not that grandiose? How the whole Beeper vs. Apple thing ends will matter in big ways, even if you don’t care about bubble colors. Epic v. Google could upend the app store ecosystem. And Threads, well, Threads is crushing it right now.

I have spent an alarming amount of time in the last 24 hours reading thousands of the best tweets anyone ever tweeted. We talked about those tweets, our brushes with main-character-ness, and more. Plus, Will Poor resurrects his extremely old Macintosh, and wonders: how can I make this thing last another three decades?

That’s right, Dan Seifert joined the pod this week (click here to listen in your favorite podcast app) with his unhinged and totally useable Dex setup and we spent quite a bit of time talking about the dream of a phone that actually doubles as a laptop.

We also talked about Google’s big new AI, the chaos at Spotify, and even found time to talk about a few gadgets and the perils of owning digital media.

Somehow, even after the Cybertruck launched, we still don’t know how many wipers it has. But we do know a lot more about it, including how to open the door! We also kinda sorta got some closure on the OpenAI drama, but as always the CEOs are still out here saying some wild stuff on stage and on the internet. Thank goodness we have a podcast where we get to loudly ask the digital gods: why?

Do you ever open the Netflix app and wonder why you’re seeing what you’re seeing? It turns out the story is both more and less complicated than you might think — and resistant to all my conspiracy theories about Netflix bullying you into watching stuff.

Also, if you haven’t been watching this season of Planet Earth, you’re missing out. And the stories behind the way the filmmakers capture incredible footage in awful conditions will only blow your mind more. Because this is The Vergecast, and care too much about drone cameras.