Why Apple and Amazon can't stop launching stuff

We are once again back to taking your questions on The Vergecast Hotline! (Call 866-VERGE11, or email [email protected].) This time, David has some thoughts on Apple's new product launch strategy, the impossible task of building a modular operating system, and more. Also: a theory on the word "theory." Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted to having a relationship with a woman named Alice Huang (no relation). Was she a business partner, or was she a spy sent by the Chinese government to steal secrets from the most powerful person in AI? The Verge’s Liz Lopatto explains everything we know about the scandal, what a spy might want from Nvidia, and what could happen next for both Huangs. Further reading: ⁠The future of AI hinges on… Jensen Huang’s sex life?⁠ ⁠What could China get from Jensen Huang?⁠ ⁠Here’s what Trump said he knew about Jensen Huang⁠ Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All around the internet, groups of media fans are hunting for and curating some of the best movie, music, and TV collections anywhere. And they're doing it all via BitTorrent. Verge contributor and Lowpass writer Janko Roettgers takes us into the world of private torrent trackers, where some people are saving culture and some people are just in it for the flicks.Torrent Underground We’re also on video! Check us out on YouTube. Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. 0:00 Torrents Return01:20 Private Trackers Explained04:04 Rules Ratios And Leechers05:56 The Prestige Ladder10:00 Bounties And Salinger12:55 Piracy Ethics Today17:16 Streaming Backlash19:45 What Private Really Means22:12 Anti Piracy Crackdowns25:44 Why People Do It27:14 Is BitTorrent Growing28:45 Curation Beats Algorithms31:51 Enough Phone Kickstarter33:50 Phone Prices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2026 midterm elections in the US ended in a sweeping win for Democrats — and several dozen sweeping losses for the AI industry. Nilay and David dig into what the results will mean for data centers, Big Tech, and even the future of X. Then, they try to figure out whether anyone's making any money in AI — not so much, it turns out — and whether the touchscreen MacBook is worth the price. Further reading: ⁠The fight for tech accountability starts now ⁠ ⁠Tech is about to get hammered in Congress⁠ Forbes: ⁠Elon Musk Deletes Midterm Posts After Stunning Election Losses⁠ ⁠Data centers lost the midterms ⁠ ⁠Democrats leaned into Big Tech and AI opposition this cycle. ⁠ ⁠Not even $200 million could help Elon Musk buy Texas ⁠ ⁠OpenAI says ChatGPT is catching up to Google in search ⁠ ⁠Google hasn’t figured out how to make AI pay like its search engine ⁠ ⁠Uber only fulfilled 4 rides from AI agents last quarter ⁠⁠ ⁠DoorDash's CEO: Don't be 'delusional' after just a few hundred AI agent orders⁠ ⁠Apple is reportedly lowering AI usage budgets.⁠ ⁠Brendan Carr plans to let prisons jam cellphone signals⁠ ⁠SpaceX could buy Boost Mobile as part of its big mobile carrier plans ⁠ ⁠Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display review: a touchscreen winner⁠ ⁠Sam Altman addresses RAM comments: People should ‘put as much as they want in their computers⁠ ⁠⁠Sam Altman says it’s better for RAM to be in a data center than on your desk ⁠⁠ Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. 0:00 Bezos Hair Transplant Hoax 01:15 Midterms Shockwave Begins 02:00 Corruption And Data Center Backlash 06:53 AI Products Not Worth It 09:26 What Democrats Can Do Now 11:15 Congress Investigations Lawyer Up 13:15 Hype Reels Take Over Politics 15:42 X Bubble Versus Real Life 22:47 Microblogging Decline And AI Regulation 23:56 Ossoff Speech And AI Doomerism 27:35 Google Then Versus OpenAI Now 33:35 Back From Break 33:42 OpenAI Search Claims 35:19 Google Moat Erodes 38:02 Monetizing AI Overviews 42:52 Ads Break Trust 45:49 Google Zero Spiral 47:43 Agents Reality Check 50:41 Token Spending Pullback 52:50 Muse Novelty Wears Off 01:00:16 Brendan Carr is a Dummy 01:02:00 FCC Heat On Carr 01:07:04 MacBook Pro Touchscreen 01:09:09 Touchscreen Love Hate 01:10:25 Dynamic Island Reality Check 01:11:17 Best Touch Use Cases 01:11:58 App Support And Optimization 01:14:10 MacBook Pro Verdict 01:14:27 Speakers And Trade Ins 01:15:42 Sales And Upgrade Timing 01:17:11 SpaceX Boost Mobile Drama 01:22:05 Ram Altman Cloud Take 01:29:31 AI Photo Editing Panic 01:37:13 Wrap Up And Plugs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Morgann Book reads a lot of books. And, as a literary creator and podcaster, makes a lot of content about books. She joins the show to explain why BookTok loves all things romance and romantasy, why physical books are an important balance to digital life, and why she's not worried at all about the future of reading. Further reading: Bookish Media Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Film director and camera nerd Rian Johnson sits down with Vergecast guest host and camera nerd David Imel for an unapologetically nerdy conversation about cameras. They chat about cinematography, Rian's viral Chromagraph Camera app, and check out David's vast collection of quirky equipment. (As of recording, Rian is still waiting for his to be delivered.) Further reading: ⁠Rian Johnson explains why he had to build his own iPhone camera app⁠ Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Election Day in the United States, and data centers have become a core issue in some of the country's most important midterm races. The Verge's Adi Robertson explains why people are uniting against data centers, why they've become a proxy for all kinds of other fights, and how this year's results might change the AI industry going forward. Further reading: Apple is all in on AI — its own and everyone else’s | The Verge OpenAI is quietly renaming data centers ‘compute campuses’ | The Verge GTA VI’s download will need up to 212GB of hard drive space | The Verge Midterm elections 2026: all the news The Verge's investigative series: The Center Will Not Hold The 2026 iPad Mini is a terrific tiny tablet — for a big price Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Streaming all your video games seems like such a good, simple idea. All your games, everywhere, on any screen you like — it's the dream! The Verge's Sean Hollister explains how the tech works now (which might be better than you think), why it'll take a huge amount of work to make it even a little bit better, and why games like Grand Theft Auto VI probably can't just live in the cloud. Further reading: SpaceX could buy Boost Mobile as part of its big mobile carrier plans | The Verge Anthropic’s updated S-1 has even more eye-popping numbers. | The Verge More European supermarkets are getting their freezers hacked | The Verge Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nilay is going to buy the new touchscreen MacBook. But not for the touchscreen. He and David talk through Apple's new laptop, and what it means for Apple's other devices, including the tablet that used to be the future of everything. Then the hosts talk about Instagram's push into long-form video and its battle with AI content. Finally, it's time for Brendan Carr, Anthropic's S-1, robot vacuums, and the rest of the lightning round. Further reading: Apple finally combined a toaster and a refrigerator Hands-on with the new OLED iPad Mini Instagram doesn’t have a plan to pay long-form video creators Adam Mosseri says negativity around AI is ‘going to get worse’ Invasion of the Sexy A.I. Joke Thieves Brendan Carr plans to let prisons jam cellphone signals Five weird details from Anthropic’s IPO filing Microsoft is ending Copilot support on smart TVs Google says its investments in AI are driving more searches Palmer Luckey’s Anduril is getting into laptops — and claims they’ll be American-made  Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. 0:00 ProLED Cold Open 01:04 Touchscreen Mac Arrives 02:39 Why Apple Did Touch 05:27 App Store Pressure 07:54 Touch Is Just Enough 09:49 Influencer Event Demos 13:56 iPad Squeezed Middle 18:34 Luxury Hardware Bet 22:37 Duo Reality Check 28:18 Instagram Going Through It 29:07 AI Agents vs Ads 32:18 Zuck Escapes iPhone 32:41 Instagram Becomes TV 33:23 Slop Meme Deepfakes 36:09 Mosseri AI Crisis 42:58 Longform Video Push 44:34 Creators Demand Revshare 48:19 Loop Closing Arms Race 49:34 Reddit Versus Google Zero 53:22 AI Kills The Web 01:00:20 Brendan Carr is a Dummy 01:02:22 Spectrum Auction Plan 01:03:35 NOAA Weather Spectrum Fight 01:04:29 700 MHz Auction History 01:05:38 FCC Spectrum Power Grab 01:06:09 Privatizing Weather Data 01:09:27 Anthropic S1 Reality Check 01:12:34 AI Products Beat Models 01:16:55 Claude Goes Sentient 01:17:55 Copilot Leaves Smart TVs 01:21:16 Quiet Robot Vacuum Thoughts 01:25:03 Palmer Luckey Laptop Fight 01:30:10 X Replies and Racism 01:32:32 Wrap Up and Next Week Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steve Jobs once said touchscreen laptops were a terrible idea. Now Apple is shipping one. The Verge's Antonio Di Benedetto tells us all about the new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR, how MacOS is changing for touch, why a laptop user might want a touchscreen, and whether MacBook and iPad are destined to become one. Further reading: Hands-on with Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro Apple finally combined a toaster and a refrigerator DoorDash is acquiring Instacart for $17 billion Google says its investments in AI are driving more searches Samsung’s expecting the RAM shortage to last until at least 2028. Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices