The Vergecast

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

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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

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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

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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

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We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com 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
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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 vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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