is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
This seems to be the year that Google’s AI features are actually starting to add up to something useful. After a week testing the Pixel 10 Pro, my colleagues Allison Johnson and Vee Song say some of the new features are legitimately useful — at least when they work, which isn’t always as expected. Case in point: the live translate feature could shift their voices from one language into another… until they broke down and just started screeching.
On this week’s Vergecast, we’re talking through the Pixel 10 Pro’s AI features, including diving deep into the AI-infused Pro Res Zoom feature that’s built into the camera app now. I’m fascinated by how accurate and un-AI-like it seems to be, up until the point where it sees some text and becomes a jumbled mess.
After that, Richard Lawler joins us to talk Dish, Intel, and Elon. Dish has officially failed at becoming the United States’ fourth major phone carrier (with an assist from FCC chairman Brendan Carr). Intel is now partially owned by the United States in a questionable scheme to bully the tech industry into supporting its foundry business. And Elon Musk is actually suing Apple over the App Store, with a lawsuit that simultaneously boasts about the popularity of Grok’s App Store downloads and complains that it isn’t doing well enough.
Finally, it’s time for the Thunder Round. We discuss KPop Demon Hunters’ success at Netflix, YouTube’s messy new “AI” experiment, Google’s new Android verification requirement for developers, Taco Bell’s AI drive-through fiasco, and what can only be described as an Amazon locker on wheels.
If you want to read more about the stories we discussed, check out the links below.
- Google Pixel 10 Pro review: AI, Qi2, and a spec bump too
- Apple’s iPhone 17 launch event is set for September 9th
- Dish gives up on becoming the fourth major wireless carrier
- The Trump administration promised a fourth wireless carrier — America got a hot mess instead
- US government takes 10 percent stake in Intel in exchange for money it was already on the hook for
- Elon Musk’s xAI is suing OpenAI and Apple
- Elon Musk’s xAI quietly dropped its status as a public benefit corporation
- KPop Demon Hunters is Netflix’s most popular movie of all time
- Is YouTube’s Shorts experiment using AI or just upscaling?
- Google will verify Android developers distributing apps outside the Play store
- Taco Bell’s AI drive-thru plan gets caught up on trolls and glitches
- This new delivery robot will bring the entire grocery store to you
