The Vergecast

• How to save a smart home company

  This week on The Vergecast, we enter the Jen-era of Hot Girl Vergecast Summer, with a deep dive into the business of the smart home. The Verge’s smart home reviewer, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy (aka Jen), chats with Ken Fairbanks, a longtime customer of Insteon who ended up buying the smart lighting company when it went into bankruptcy. Ken shares the story of how one of the original smart lighting protocols, founded in the post-X10 era when home automation moved from wired to wireless, floundered, and how he and a band of users brought it back from the dead. He dishes what he’s learned about how to keep the lights on — from customer loyalty and the value of subscriptions, to what tariffs are doing to the industry and how some hardware companies are just pyramid schemes. Then, in a special supersized (and we mean SUPER) Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected]), Jen is joined by smart home expert Richard Gunther, co-host of The Smart Home Show, to tackle a bunch of your burning smart lighting questions. They answer everything from how to move your smart home to which Thread border router you should buy for your Matter setup. Plus, they run down their own smart lighting set-ups. Further reading: Insteon’s troubles are a smart home tale as old as time Insteon Raises the Curtain for the Next Act Someone turned Insteon’s lights back on Insteon customers turned Insteon’s lights back on Thread count: Ikea is stitching together a smarter home Smart switches or smart bulbs? How to choose the right smart lighting for your home Controller for HomeKit Philips Hue Play sync box and gradient lightstrip review: wholly unnecessary, totally delightful Taming Wi-Fi in the Smart Home: Leviton’s new smart light switches don’t require a neutral wire Every smart home device that works with Matter Aqara’s new seven-inch home control tablet can replace a light switch These smart lights could solve the kitchen cabinet problem Hue launches a pricey new sunrise lamp Smart string light showdown: Nanoleaf versus Lifx The best floodlight camera to buy right now How to move a smart home Moving a smart home - The Smart Home Show Living with the ghost of a smart home’s past Smart ceiling light showdown: Aqara T1M versus Nanoleaf Skylight Binding should be the next big thing for smart home devices Aqara adds support for 50 new Matter device types Flic is ready to control all your Matter devices Thread is Matter’s secret sauce for a better smart home Google Nest Thread border routers Google TV Streamer review: smarter than your average set-top box Google Nest Hub (2nd-gen) review: sleep on it Why Thread is Matter’s biggest problem right now The four changes in Thread 1.4 that could fix the protocol Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• We found stuff AI is pretty good at

  In this bonus episode of The Vergecast, Senior Reviewer Victoria Song sits down with a bunch of Verge staffers to talk about how they use AI tools in their everyday lives. Not all of it went smoothly — we definitely get into the ways these tools fall short — but we explore how AI can be used to help bedtime go more smoothly for parents, plan big cross-country moves, supplement your internet searches (always double-check!), and even vibe code an app for your next tabletop role-playing game. If you have any examples where AI was useful to you, we’d love to hear them. (For what it’s worth, we’d also love to hear stories where it spectacularly failed.) Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• GPT-5's big new feature: less lying?

  It’s a huge week in AI, with OpenAI releasing GPT-OSS and GPT-5, Grok getting deeply problematic again with its “spicy” video generator, and Tim Cook admitting that Apple may need to cut some deals. Then we talk the age gating of the internet and how you might soon need an ID card to get just about anywhere online. Finally, the Lightning Round gets re-rebranded. Adi Robertson and Alex Heath join the show to discuss. Further reading: GPT-5 is being released to all ChatGPT users OpenAI releases a free GPT model that can run on your laptop Why open-source AI became an American national priority Mark Zuckerberg promises you can trust him with superintelligent AI xAI’s new Grok image and video generator has a ‘spicy’ mode Grok’s ‘spicy’ video setting instantly made me Taylor Swift nude deepfakes I tested Grok’s Valentine sex chatbot and it (mostly) behaved Tim Cook says Apple ‘must’ figure out AI and ‘will make the investment to do it’ Tim Cook says Apple is ‘open to’ AI acquisitions Ready or not, age verification is rolling out across the internet The UK is now age-gating the internet The UK is slogging through an online age-gate apocalyps The UK’s new age-gating rules are easy to bypass Reddit and Discord’s UK age verification can be defeated by Death Stranding’s photo mode Reddit rolls out age verification in the UK to comply with new rules Five EU states to test age verification app to protect children The EU approach to age verification Commission presents guidelines and age verification app prototype for a safer online space for children Porn age-gating is the future of the internet, thanks to the Supreme Court The Supreme Court just upended internet law, and I have questions Florida Sues Huge Porn Sites Including XVideos and Bang Bros Over Age Verification Law  “Over the last two and a half years, 19 states – home to more than a third of Americans – have passed laws that require pornography websites to confirm a user’s age by checking a government-issued ID or scanning their face, among other methods.” Google is using AI age checks to lock down user accounts Today's Supreme Court Decision on Age Verification Tramples Free Speech and Undermines Privacy Age Verification Harms Users of All Ages Blocking Access to Harmful Content Will Not Protect Children Online, No Matter How Many Times UK Politicians Say So Zero Knowledge Proofs Alone Are Not a Digital ID Solution to Protecting User Privacy Age Verification in the European Union: The Commission's Age Verification App RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine contracts Epic just won its Google lawsuit again, and Android may never be the same Google has just two weeks to begin cracking open Android, it admits in emergency filing Instagram adds a reposts feed and rips off Snap Maps OpenAI charts crime OpenAI gets caught vibe graphing Nintendo raises the Switch 1 price from $299 to $339 Apple says Trump’s tariffs are adding another $1 billion to its costs Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• Online shopping is full of copycats

  This week on The Vergecast, guest host Mia Sato talks to YouTube fitness pioneer Cassey Ho (better known as Blogilates) about the well-oiled machine that is the dupe economy. Ho shares her experience creating her own line of athletic wear that sooner or later gets ripped off by countless copycats — and how she tries to fight back. Then, Mia brings an audio diary from a visit to Fabscrap, a textile recycling facility in Brooklyn, that is working to save fabric and other materials from the landfill. Fashion is a wasteful industry, not unlike tech — luckily, there are people like Fabscrap staff and volunteers who are working towards solutions. Finally, Victoria Song swings by to help answer a hotline question about how to make the high-tech Clueless closet a reality. If you have a question for us, call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected]. Further reading How dupes turned online shopping upside down Lululemon sues Costco over viral alleged “dupes” The US finally acknowledges textile waste in new report Your stuff is actually worse now Ghana becomes dumping ground for the world’s unwanted used clothes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• Diving into Apple’s Liquid Glass

  It’s time. The public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and more are finally out for everyone to try. Jake Kastrenakes, Vee Song, and Antonio G. Di Benedetto give their takes on Apple’s Liquid Glass design language after two months of living with it. Antonio shares his experiences with macOS and the upgraded Spotlight, and Vee dives into the ups and downs of watchOS’s AI fitness coach. Then, Andy Hawkins and Eater's Matthew Kang talk about Tesla’s rough quarter, the new Tesla Diner, and what Epic Bacon has to do with it all. Finally, the Thunder Round returns, and we all learn what Labubus are. Further reading: ⁠Apple releases public betas of its new software updates with Liquid Glass⁠ How to install the iOS 26 public beta The biggest changes coming to your iPhone with iOS 26 ⁠Liquid Glass is fine, I guess⁠ ⁠Apple’s Liquid Glass redesign is shaping up to be a snoozer on Macs⁠ You can actually multitask on an iPad now and it’s the best new feature in 15 years watchOS 26 preview: a subtler take on AI ⁠Apple launches $20 subscription service to protect your gadgets⁠ Tesla’s earnings hit a new low, with largest revenue drop in years Elon Musk finally admits the new, more affordable Tesla is just a stripped down Model Y Undeterred by limits, Elon Musk plots a big robotaxi expansion Everything Eater Editors Ate at the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles The Full Tesla Diner Menu, Revealed The Tesla Diner Will Track When Guests Are Nearby to Prepare Their Orders Inside the New Tesla Diner in Los Angeles Anti-Elon Musk protesters are coming for Tesla’s new diner Faraday Future is back with another wild EV that probably will never get made Amazon buys Bee AI Jake: AppleCare One is a good deal, but not for everyone Uber’s making it easier for women riders and drivers to find each other The frenzied, gamified chase for Labubus Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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