
This week on The Vergecast, guest host Mia Sato talks to YouTube fitness pioneer Cassey Ho (better known as Blogilates) about the well-oiled machine that is the dupe economy. Ho shares her experience creating her own line of athletic wear that sooner or later gets ripped off by countless copycats — and how she tries to fight back.
Then, Mia brings an audio diary from a visit to Fabscrap, a textile recycling facility in Brooklyn, that is working to save fabric and other materials from the landfill. Fashion is a wasteful industry, not unlike tech — luckily, there are people like Fabscrap staff and volunteers who are working towards solutions.
Finally, Victoria Song swings by to help answer a hotline question about how to make the high-tech Clueless closet a reality. If you have a question for us, call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com.
Further reading
How dupes turned online shopping upside down
Lululemon sues Costco over viral alleged “dupes”
The US finally acknowledges textile waste in new report
Your stuff is actually worse now
Ghana becomes dumping ground for the world’s unwanted used clothes
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Aug 5
1 hr 4 min

It’s time. The public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and more are finally out for everyone to try. Jake Kastrenakes, Vee Song, and Antonio G. Di Benedetto give their takes on Apple’s Liquid Glass design language after two months of living with it. Antonio shares his experiences with macOS and the upgraded Spotlight, and Vee dives into the ups and downs of watchOS’s AI fitness coach. Then, Andy Hawkins and Eater's Matthew Kang talk about Tesla’s rough quarter, the new Tesla Diner, and what Epic Bacon has to do with it all. Finally, the Thunder Round returns, and we all learn what Labubus are.
Further reading:
Apple releases public betas of its new software updates with Liquid Glass
How to install the iOS 26 public beta
The biggest changes coming to your iPhone with iOS 26
Liquid Glass is fine, I guess
Apple’s Liquid Glass redesign is shaping up to be a snoozer on Macs
You can actually multitask on an iPad now and it’s the best new feature in 15 years
watchOS 26 preview: a subtler take on AI
Apple launches $20 subscription service to protect your gadgets
Tesla’s earnings hit a new low, with largest revenue drop in years
Elon Musk finally admits the new, more affordable Tesla is just a stripped down Model Y
Undeterred by limits, Elon Musk plots a big robotaxi expansion
Everything Eater Editors Ate at the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles
The Full Tesla Diner Menu, Revealed
The Tesla Diner Will Track When Guests Are Nearby to Prepare Their Orders
Inside the New Tesla Diner in Los Angeles
Anti-Elon Musk protesters are coming for Tesla’s new diner
Faraday Future is back with another wild EV that probably will never get made
Amazon buys Bee AI
Jake: AppleCare One is a good deal, but not for everyone
Uber’s making it easier for women riders and drivers to find each other
The frenzied, gamified chase for Labubus
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Jul 25
1 hr 41 min

Summer blockbusters like the new Superman and Jurassic World movies may be doing great at the box office, but promoting them is more complicated than ever. The old celebrity playbook of magazine profiles, TV chat shows and press junkets isn’t enough in an era of audience fragmentation. Publicists now have to strategize which podcasts to make time for, and whether their clients will eat chicken on YouTube with Amelia Dimoldenberg or Sean Evans.
This week on The Vergecast, guest host Mia Sato talks to Vulture’s Fran Hoepfner to break down the ever-changing new media circuit, whether you’re a beloved A-lister, a formerly-beloved A-lister, or an aspiring A-lister.
Then, we take a deep dive with Sarah Fackrell into a controversial legal tactic brands are using to go after online sellers hawking everything from grumpy cat T-shirts to closet hooks.
Finally, Victoria Song joins Mia to answer a Vergecast hotline from a listener wondering whether an AI translator will be able to keep up with his partner’s Colombian mother. If you’ve got a question for us, call 866-VERGE11 or e-mail vergecast@theverge.com.
Further reading:
Box Office: ‘Superman’ Surpasses $400 Million Globally, ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Nears $650 Million Milestone
The Celebrity Press-Tour Road Map
Fame and Frustration On the New Media Circuit
Sydney woman who sold a cartoon cat T-shirt told to pay US$100,000 in Grumpy Cat copyright case
How Does a Mom Get Slapped With a $250,000 Judgment Over $380 of Homemade Luke Combs Merch? Experts Cite ‘Cottage Industry’ of Mass Counterfeit Suits in Illinois
A SAD Scheme of Abusive Intellectual Property Litigation
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Jul 22
1 hr 22 min

Would you like Siri more if it had a face? This week on The Vergecast, we’re talking about AI assistants getting smarter… and uncomfortably personal. The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins the show to talk about her early tests of Alexa Plus, which is finally AI-powered and a lot more capable. Jake shares his uncomfortable first interaction with Grok’s anime girlfriend. And Waveform cohost David Imel is here to talk about Sony’s RX1R III and other premium “compact” cameras.
Finally, the THUNDER ROUND is back. New, improved, and still loud.
Further reading:
24 hours with Alexa Plus: we cooked, we chatted, and it kinda lied to me
Alexa Plus launches to “small number” of people More than a million people now have Alexa Plus
Elon Musk’s AI bot adds a ridiculous anime companion with ‘NSFW’ mode
I spent 24 hours flirting with Elon Musk’s AI girlfriend
System prompt dump of xAI / Grok’s new AI anime girlfriend
Elon Musk teases AI anime boyfriend based on Edward Cullen
“We will, of course, have another character inspired by Mr. Darcy”
xAI has open roles for building AI “waifus.”
US government announces $200 million Grok contract a week after ‘MechaHitler’ incident
Grok will no longer call itself Hitler or base its opinions on Elon Musk’s, promises xAI
Sony’s pocket-sized RX1R camera returns with its first update in 10 years
Original RX1R
RX1R II
Google exec: ‘We’re going to be combining ChromeOS and Android’
Our biggest questions about ChromeOS and Android merging
Ikea goes all in on Matter/Thread
Eric Migicovsky
Texts.com
Google Nest subscription
The next batch of emoji includes Bigfoot
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Jul 18
1 hr 46 min

On this episode of The Vergecast, we’re going to dive deep into why accessible design is universal design. First, guest host Victoria Song will chat with Jason Valley, a visually impaired Verge reader. Jason initially reached out to Victoria after her Live AI hands-on, challenging the notion that the feature was a “solution looking for a problem to solve.” Jason shares how the tech has helped him live a more independent life, what he’s hoping to see improve, and how the blind and low-vision community has enthusiastically embraced the technology.
After that, Victoria sits down with Be My Eyes CEO Mike Buckley. Be My Eyes is an app that pairs blind and low-vision users with sighted volunteers to help them go about their day. Buckley gives his thoughts about how accessible tech design benefits everyone, why smart glasses and AI are a natural combo, and what challenges and opportunities in this space remain.
And finally, we have features reporter Mia Sato on to answer a spicy question about smart glasses from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com). Specifically, do smart glasses belong in the bedroom?
Further reading:
Live AI on Meta’s smart glasses is a solution looking for a problem
Meta’s smart glasses can now describe what you’re seeing in more detail
The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses actually make the future look cool
Be My Eyes AI offers GPT-4-powered support for blind Microsoft customers
The principles of wearable etiquette
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Jul 15
1 hr 12 min

Summer phone season kicks off with Samsung’s latest launch. Jake, Vee, and Allison talk about Samsung’s new lineup of foldables, including the very thin new Z Fold 7 and Allison’s disdain for the Z Flip 7 FE. Vee has impressions of Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 8 lineup and its squircle-y new redesign. Then, it’s time to talk Big Tech shakeups. Apple’s COO is leaving, Zuckerberg is buying himself an AI dream team, X’s CEO is out — and its chatbot Grok is on a rampage. Finally, big things are in store for the Lightning Round… which shall henceforth be known as the THUNDER ROUND. Lots to talk about, including Lorde’s CD problems, Apple’s Liquid Glass changes, and HBO Max finally becoming HBO Max again.
Further reading:
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025: Everything announced at the July event
Galaxy Z Fold 7 hands-on: Samsung finally made the foldables we’ve been asking for
Samsung cuts price of its foldables with the Z Flip 7 FE
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series hands-on: squircle squad
Samsung seems to have leaked its own trifold phone design
Samsung says its trifold phone should launch ‘this year’
Samsung snuck a trifold tease into (January) Unpacked
One of Tim Cook’s possible successors is leaving Apple
Sabih Khan
Apple’s design team will report to Tim Cook
A close look at who could succeed Tim Cook
Mark Zuckerberg announces his AI ‘superintelligence’ super-group
Meta is paying $14 billion to catch up in the AI race
Meta’s ‘superintelligence’ hiring spree adds an AI leader from Apple
Pay packages of up to $300 million over four years
Meta is trying to win the AI race with money — but not everyone can be bought
X CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down after two years
X’s CEO is out after failing at basically everything she claimed she wanted
Threads is catching up to X on mobile
X has a new head of product
Elon Musk’s xAI buys Elon Musk’s X for $33 billion on paper
xAI updated Grok to be more ‘politically incorrect’
Grok stops posting text after flood of antisemitism and Hitler praise
“In other posts it referred to itself as “MechaHitler”.
Musk makes grand promises about Grok 4 in the wake of a Nazi chatbot meltdown
Adobe’s new camera app is making me rethink phone photography
Ikea’s latest speaker lamp ditches Sonos for Spotify and inexpensive Bluetooth
Ikea ditches Zigbee for Thread going all in on Matter smart homes
Perplexity launches Comet web browser
OpenAI’s next big launch could be an AI web browser
E Ink is turning the laptop touchpad into an e-reader for AI apps
Lorde’s new CD is so transparent that stereos can’t even read it
I tried playing Lorde’s new CD
Appeals court strikes down ‘click-to-cancel’ rule
Nothing’s ‘first true flagship’ phone plays it a little safe
Adding calendar events with a screenshot is AI at its finest
The government’s Apple antitrust lawsuit is still on
Apple just added more frost to its Liquid Glass design
Apple’s second-generation Vision Pro might launch this year
Nvidia briefly became the first $4 trillion company on Wednesday
The makers of Cameo just launched... a birthday-tracking app?
Nintendo is ending its cost-saving Switch game vouchers
HBO Max is officially HBO Max again
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Jul 11
1 hr 26 min

On this episode of The Vergecast, we kick off Hot Girl Vergecast Summer with a classic Vergecast segment: the mic test. Guest host Victoria Song is joined by Vergecast producers Andru Marino and Erick Gomez to see how the Nothing Headphone 1, Sony WH-1000XM6, Apple AirPods Max, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra hold up against what’s possibly the noisiest street in Brooklyn.
After that, Victoria is joined by Ladder CEO Greg Stewart to talk about what it takes to build a successful strength training app — especially for people just starting out. As it turns out, it’s quite challenging, between curating playlists, accommodating users’ different access to equipment, skill levels, and preferences for coaching styles. (And maybe, some occasional beef with Peloton?)
Lastly, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com) about AI fitness summaries, whether people actually like them, what’s frustrating about them, and what scenarios they might actually be useful for.
Want to learn more about the topics in this episode? Here are some handy dandy links for your reference:
Nothing Headphone 1 review
Sony WH-1000XM6 hands-on
Apple AirPods Max review
Bose QuietComfort Ultra review
A lazy person’s guide to getting into shape
Ladder isn’t done trolling Peloton
The unbearable obviousness of AI fitness summaries
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Jul 8
1 hr 2 min

One way to think about the tech industry is just as a series of people trying to build stuff they saw in movies and on TV. Some of that tech is great, some of it is deeply dystopian, and most of it would make the world a very different place if it suddenly existed. In this episode, a bunch of us try to figure out which tech we actually want to use. David is joined by The Verge’s Allison Johnson, Jennifer Pattison-Tuohy, Mia Sato, and Victoria Song — aka the hosts of Hot Girl Vergecast Summer — to draft their way through the movie, show, and game tech they’d want to make real. Some of the picks you’ll expect, and some we bet has never crossed your mind. And some big-name tech goes undrafted!
Once you've finished the show, make sure you take the poll and tell us who won: https://forms.gle/Q1wFhpzCdM3B5bqj9
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Jul 1
1 hr 29 min

It's already the heat of summer, and the news keeps coming. Nilay, David, and Jake start the show with a bunch of tech news, including the latest on Tesla's robotaxi launch, some updates on the Trump Phone, new devices from Fairphone and Unihertz, and Meta's shifting strategy for face computers. After that, The Verge's Adi Roberston joins the show to talk about two important AI lawsuits that were both decided this week — one involving Anthropic and the other involving Meta — and what this particular battle means for who will win the AI war. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for another round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, some huge news in the HDMI world, and the end of the Blue Screen of Death.
Further reading:
Tesla’s robotaxis are operating in a regulatory vacuum
Here’s a running list of all of Tesla’s robotaxi mishaps so far
The Trump Phone no longer promises it’s made in America
The smaller Fairphone 6 introduces swappable accessories
The Titan 2 is a modern BlackBerry with 5G, Android, and two screens
A week in Xbox VR with Microsoft and Meta’s new $399 headset
Meta announces Oakley smart glasses that shoot 3K video
Anthropic wins a major fair use victory for AI — but it’s still in trouble for stealing books
Meta’s AI copyright win comes with a warning about fair use
Senate confirms Trump’s FCC pick, Olivia Trusty
FCC Seeks Public Comments on Changing Broadcast Ownership Rules
Trump’s FTC agrees to Omnicom merger — with a gift to X
Paramount Plus with Showtime is getting a rebrand
Paramount delays $35M settlement with Trump as media giant fears bribery backlash: sources
The Paramount Risk in Settling Trump’s Lawsuit: ‘Bribery’?
The HDMI 2.2 specification supports 16K video at 60Hz
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Jun 27
1 hr 42 min

Tesla is famous for throwing caution to the wind in the name of rolling out cool technology, so it was somewhat surprising to see its robotaxi service launch over the weekend in somewhat muted fashion. The Verge's Andy Hawkins joins the show to explain what, exactly, Elon Musk and co. launched, and what it says about the state of the self-driving revolution. After that, The Verge's Allison Johnson takes us through the history of MVNOs, and why they might just be the best deal in wireless carriers. We talk about Trump Mobile, Ryan Reynolds, e-SIMs, and what it would mean to make it easier to switch service. Finally, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline about how to free up storage on your iPhone. It's harder than it should be, but hopefully easier than you think.
Further reading:
Tesla’s robotaxi is live: here are some of the first reactions
The Tesla Cybercab is a cool-looking prototype that needed to be much more than that
Waymo says it will add 2,000 more robotaxis into 2026
How Donald Trump and Ryan Reynolds can easily sell you phone plans
Trump Mobile is a bad deal
How to clear up space on your iPhone when you’re running out of storage
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Jun 24
1 hr 11 min
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