How tariffs will change your gadgets
How tariffs will change your gadgets First things first, some exciting news: The Vergecast has been nominated for a Webby Award! This one means a lot to us, especially because itâs an award you get to vote on. Weâd be so grateful if youâd go vote for us once, or 40 times, or however many […]
Searching for the perfect minimalist smartphone
Searching for the perfect minimalist smartphone Smartphones are great. Theyâre also⦠a lot. The idea of a more balanced device, one that gives you all of the most important and useful features of a smartphone but keeps you out of the infinite-doomscrolling loops, has been an enticing one for a long time. Nailing that balance, […]
OpenAI has a Studio Ghibli problem
OpenAI has a Studio Ghibli problem When you can create art just by asking for it, what might you create? If youâre anything like the internet these last few days, youâd create some lovely things â stylized family portraits, a thousand different looks for the Distracted Boyfriend meme â and some truly, deeply, unfathomably horrifying ones. […]
How Roomba got stuck
How Roomba got stuck In the robot vacuum world, thereâs Roomba and thereâs everybody else. iRobotâs autonomous cleaner may not have been the very first of its kind, but it was the first one most people knew about, and for many years it was clearly the best one you could buy. But now, more than […]
Trump’s confusing crusade against Big Tech
Trump's confusing crusade against Big Tech Trump’s confusing crusade against Big Tech President Trump wanted to ban TikTok. Now he wants to save TikTok. There might even be a plan to save TikTok, though right now it feels more like a âconcepts of a planâ situation. Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to press hard on […]
Switch 2, Steam Deck, and the next-gen console wars
Switch 2, Steam Deck, and the next-gen console wars The Nintendo Switch 2 is nigh. Nigh-ish, anyway. When it does launch later this year, it might start another revolution in portable gaming, as millions of people are able to play from their couch, their bed, the train, and anywhere else. That was also true of […]
China has some big ideas about smartphones
China has some big ideas about smartphones The US smartphone market is pretty boring. There are iPhones, there are Galaxies, Google will happily give you a Pixel if you remember it exists, and thatâs about it. But as soon as you get out and see the world a little, you realize: there are a lot […]
Apple’s chip bumps, big and small
Apple's chip bumps, big and small Apple’s chip bumps, big and small Apple updated a couple of its most-loved products this week, both in relatively minor ways. The iPad and iPad Air both got new processors and not much else, the MacBook Air got a new processor and a new color, and the Mac Studio […]
The high stakes for AI Alexa
The high stakes for AI Alexa Amazon has been trying to make virtual assistants happen for more than a decade. Alexa is, by many definitions, wildly successful, but it has so far failed to become the kind of omnipresent, omnipotent helper the company imagines. (It has also, by all accounts, failed to become a compelling […]
We can’t quit electric cars — or robotaxis
We can't quit electric cars — or robotaxis We can’t quit electric cars — or robotaxis There was a time, not so long ago, when people wouldnât shut up about a revolution in automobiles. No matter where you looked, youâd find someone telling you about how self-driving, all-electric vehicles would change the way we think […]