The Vergecast

Apple is acting like a monopolist and a bully, according to the chairman of the House Antitrust Committee. Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) joined The Vergecast along with Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson to discuss the plight of Hey, Basecamp’s new $99-a-year premium email service. Earlier this week, Heinemeier Hansson revealed that Apple had rejected the Hey iPhone app from the App Store because it didn’t offer any way to sign up and pay in the app itself — which would require giving Apple a 30 percent cut of the fee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and Verge reporter Makena Kelly talk to Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts about bringing broadband access into rural areas, the technology plights caused by the pandemic, privacy concerns over contract tracing, and the race to 5G. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stories discussed this week: Tinder CEO Elie Seidman on finding love during the pandemic It’s hard to figure out how often people without symptoms spread COVID-19 Inside Nextdoor’s ‘Karen problem’ Nextdoor tells community leads to allow Black Lives Matter discussions after exposé Contact tracing programs have to work with local communities to be successful Apple launches $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative Android 11 beta: all the announcements Android 11: conversations, bubbles, and making sense of complexity Five new features Android 11 borrows from the iPhone Android 11 may be the best texting platform if you use multiple chat apps Apple’s virtual WWDC keynote will take place on June 22nd at 1PM ET Apple will announce move to ARM-based Macs later this month, says report Apple pulls podcast apps in China after government pressure The new Sonos app and S2 update are available now IBM will no longer offer, develop, or research facial recognition technology Amazon bans police fro

Tinder and its parent company Match Group have weathered the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well, all things considered. User engagement is up, as is interest around new product features, like video calls. More than six years after its launch, Tinder is finally introducing a one-on-one video calling feature that it says will be heavily moderated for content and safety. At the same time, Tinder CEO Elie Seidman says he and his team are focusing on how to keep young people coming to the app and how they can build digital relationships inside of it, especially as in-person dates slow down.Seidman joins Vergecast host Nilay Patel and Verge senior reporter Ashley Carman for a chat about the future of the platform, how it’ll keep people safe over video calls, and what happens to its Tinder U initiative that it’s focused on for years. Plus, he explains how Joe Exotic might be more important to a relationship than living near each other. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stories from this episode: Blaming protesters for COVID-19 spread ignores the bigger threats to health 5G coronavirus conspiracy theorists are endangering the workers who keep networks running Telehealth wasn’t designed for non-English speakers The pandemic has made it harder to buy a new laptop Byte flight The United States will cut ties with the World Health Organization, says President Trump  FCC extends deadline for ISPs to quit charging customers who use their own equipment K-pop stans overwhelm app after Dallas police ask for videos of protesters SpaceX successfully launches first crew to orbit, ushering in new era of spaceflight A rocket launch can’t unite us until the space world acknowledges our divisions Watch NASA astronauts fly SpaceX’s Crew Dragon using touchscreens SpaceX’s Crew Dragon successfully docks with the space station What the future of the space station looks like after SpaceX’s historic launch Meet the cute stuffed dinosaur that hitched a ride on SpaceX’s historic launc

Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and Verge reporter Julia Alexander talk to Otter Media CEO Tony Goncalves on his new project overseeing HBO Max. Goncalves discusses AT&T's strategy for the WarnerMedia streaming service, the dispute with getting the app on Roku and Amazon, HBO Max's place in the streaming wars, and how their data usage works on mobile. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn welcome back Adi Robertson and Casey Newton to the show to discuss Trump's executive order targeting social media companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google. Julia Alexander also stops by to discuss the launch of WarnerMedia's new streaming service HBO Max. Stories discussed this week: Google search results will take ‘page experience’ into account next year T-Mobile now supports cross-carrier RCS messaging Google Messages may finally be adding end-to-end encryption for RCS Why Twitter labeling Trump’s tweets as “potentially misleading” is a big step forward FCC commissioner says Trump’s Section 230 plan ‘does not work’ Donald Trump is starting a messy fight with the entire internet White House organizes harassment of Twitter employee as Trump threatens company Donald Trump signs executive order targeting social media companies YouTube is deleting comments with two phrases that insult ... YouTube fixes error that deleted comments critical of the ... YouTube says China-l

Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield about remote working, competition with Microsoft, and the way technology changes how we communicate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s Friday, which means there’s a new episode of The Vergecast to fill you in on all of the news from this week. Join Nilay, Dieter, and a rotation of other editors for everything that you need to know. The three topics covered this week are: Microsoft’s Build developer conference Elon Musk’s... active month Spotify getting exclusive streaming rights to The Joe Rogan Experience podcast During the first part of the show, Verge senior editor Tom Warren joins Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn to discuss what was announced at Microsoft Build 2020 and what’s next for Windows software. Microsoft Lists is a new app designed for Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook Microsoft’s new Fluid Office document is Google Docs on steroids Microsoft to unify Windows desktop and UWP apps with new Project Reunion Microsoft’s new PowerToys Run launcher for Windows 10 is now available to download Microsoft Edge is getting a new sidebar search feature and Pinterest integration Microsoft is bringing Linux GUI apps to Windows 10 Micro

Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and executive editor Dieter Bohn interview Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Pichai disusses Google’s COVID-19 response: the way the company is handling the pandemic and how he’s working with Tim Cook from Apple on exposure tracking. They also talked about how he is running one of the biggest companies in the world remotely and how the company is handling employees working from home Of course they talk about their products and services: the future of the Pixel, competing with companies like Apple and Samsung, and RCS messaging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn welcome Dan Seifert, Casey Newton, and Julia Alexander to talk about gadget news, Facebook's oversight board, and updates in the streaming world. Stories discussed this week: The doomsday bunker market is thriving amid the coronavirus pandemic Amazon asks Congress to pass a law against price gouging during national crisis Uber’s response to COVID-19: face masks, selfies, and fewer people in the car The lockdown live-streaming numbers are out, and they’re huge Elon Musk defies coronavirus order and asks to be arrested  Tesla has already started making cars again at its California factory Twitter introducing new labels for tweets with misleading COVID-19 information Google says that the majority of its employees will work from home until 2021 The mastermind of Google’s Pixel camera quietly left the company in March Google Pixel 4a Performance Review tests the phone's ... Android 11's public beta to launch with June 3rd live stream … TCL wants to be the next big name in b

Alex Stamos, former chief security officer of Facebook and director of the Stanford Internet Observatory talks to Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and editor Casey Newton about his role consulting on security for Zoom, disinformation around the pandemic on social media, and the threat of foreign interference in the 2020 election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stories discussed this week: The disappointing truth about antibody testing Apple is giving $10 million to COVID-19 testing kit company FDA authorizes CRISPR-based test for COVID-19 Sen. Ed Markey wants the FCC to rethink its broadband deployment plans An Amazon warehouse worker in New York has died of COVID-19 An Amazon VP’s resignation has cast a spotlight on the company’s working conditions Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders demand Amazon explain whistleblower firings Pittsburgh’s airport is the first in the US to use UV-cleaning robots NYC will use powerful ultraviolet lamps to kill the coronavirus on subways and buses ESPN to air live NBA 2K League games We’ve known how to make healthier buildings for decades The spring of iterative hardware updates MacBook Pro 13-inch: come for the keyboard, stay for the performance The saga of Apple’s bad butterfly MacBook keyboards is finally over Microsoft’s new Surface Go 2 has a bigger display and better Intel processor Microsoft Surface Book 3: ne

This week we saw Sonos announce several new products, most significantly the Arc, which is the company’s first soundbar to support Dolby Atmos. Other new devices include the Sonos Five speaker and a refreshed Sub, and all three will only work with Sonos’ new S2 app that launches next month. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence sat down virtually with Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel for The Vergecast to discuss the new products, the S2 update, the backlash that Sonos took from customers over its “Recycle Mode”, and the perception that the company is leaving customers with older Sonos hardware behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nilay, Dieter, and Paul discuss quarterly earnings from tech companies, the new CEOs of the three biggest mobile carriers, and how Trolls World Tour may be changing the movie theater business. Stories discussed this week: More than 1 million people in the US have tested positive for COVID-19 No one knows when the COVID-19 pandemic will end  It’s impossible to count everyone with COVID-19 Elon Musk is dangerously wrong about the novel coronavirus Elon Musk says shelter-in-place orders during COVID-19 are ‘fascist’  Americans are surprisingly open to letting their phones be used for coronavirus tracking Apple and Google have begun testing their COVID-19 exposure notification API  How a team of NASA engineers developed a ventilator for COVID-19 patients in just a month Apple’s latest iOS beta makes it easier to unlock an iPhone while wearing a face mask Zoom admits it doesn’t have 300 million users, corrects misleading claims Google Meet video conferencing is now free for anybody Messenger Rooms a

Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel interviews co-director of the Institute for Local Self Reliance Stacy Mitchell about her critique of Amazon's power in America's marketplace. As Amazon becomes more essential infrastructure during the coronavirus pandemic, Nilay and Stacy discuss the increased visibility of Amazon's monopoly power and the way it treats its workers. Is it possible to regulate a company that people use and love so much? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stories discussed this week: Google is now listing COVID-19 testing centers in search results CEOs sticking with Trump’s ‘open the economy’ group after he tweets call to ‘liberate’ states Bill Gates says countries will probably use interviews and databases to track the coronavirus Bill Gates is now the leading target for coronavirus conspiracies, says report Connecticut suburb deploys ‘pandemic drones’ to try to enforce social distancing Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot is helping hospitals remotely treat coronavirus patients The jury is still out on Zoom trials Marco Polo has been around for years, but it’s blowing up amid the pandemic Lo-fi beats to quarantine to are booming on YouTube Apps aren’t a reliable way to measure blood oxygen levels First at-home COVID-19 testing kit authorized by the FDA iPhone SE review  Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro review: the best way to turn an iPad into a laptop Logitech Combo Touch review Microsoft prepares to launch Surface Book 3 and Surface Go 2 Apple will

Part of The Verge's Interface Live series, silicon valley editor Casey Newton talks with Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier about her new book No Filter, which delves into the history of Instagram and how the app became what it is today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stories discussed this week: The Interface Live on Zoom: the hidden history of Instagram, with Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier In a self-isolated world, developers are learning to make games from home How GM and Ford switched out pickup trucks for breathing machines The search for COVID-19 treatments shows how messy science can be How Medium became the best and worst place for coronavirus news Unemployment checks are being held up by a coding language almost nobody knows How you’ll use Apple and Google’s coronavirus tracking tool Apple’s second-gen iPhone SE is here: all the news and details Even ‘small’ phones are big now The iPhone SE 2’s camera setup is going to lean on Apple’s software The new Moto G Stylus and G Power are surprisingly adept cameraphones Samsung’s Galaxy S10 Lite will launch in the US on April 17th for $650 Google’s midrange Pixel 4A could launch soon, and there may not be an XL version Apple is tweaking how MacBooks charge to extend battery lifespan Apple’s new Magic Keyboa

Nilay Patel talks with The Verge's Adi Robertson, Casey Newton, and Nicole Wetsman about Apple and Google announcing a system for tracking the spread of the new coronavirus, allowing users to share data through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transmissions and approved apps from health organizations. Links: Apple and Google are building a coronavirus tracking system into iOS and Android What is contact tracing? Why Bluetooth apps are bad at discovering new cases of COVID-19 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices