Datasets:

kpriyanshu256

/

the_verge-linustechtips-two_min

like 0

This is Dan Siefer with The Verge and I'm here in New York City where Microsoft has just announced the Surface Pro 3, the latest in its line of tablet laptop combination computers. The Surface Pro 3 is an entire revamp of the Surface Pro 2. It's thinner, lighter, and bigger than before. Microsoft has increased the screen size up to 12 inches and given it a 21 by 60 by 1440 pixel resolution. Microsoft is saying that's 38% bigger than the Surface Pro 2 and it is significantly noticeable when you hold it in your hand. But at the same time the company has made it thinner and lighter. It's actually strikingly light when you pick it up and remarkably thin for what it is. Inside the Surface Pro 3 uses a core i3, i5, or i7 processor. The hinge has been upgraded to a new fluid type of hinge that allows you to position the Surface Pro 3 at any angle that you'd like and it allows it to go all the way down to 150 degrees so you can write on it with your hand. Writing has been greatly improved with the new Surface Pen which works with Microsoft's OneNote software to do a bunch of different tricks with writing on the screen itself including palm rejection and character recognition and all kinds of things that make it easier to write on a screen. The new type cover has been improved with a larger, better to use trackpad. It's got a backlit screen now. The keyboard has been improved for typing as well, yet it still gives it the same thin dimensions as before. The Surface Pro 3 with its type pad cover is still the thinnest core laptop that you can get on the market. Of course it's got a full touchscreen as well as access to all of Microsoft's Windows 8 apps, but the real push here is to replace the laptop that you have and the tablet in your bag into one converged device. Pricing for the Surface Pro 3 starts at $799 for a core i3 model and it's actually going on sale tomorrow, though you can place a pre-order today.

A hologram of Michael Jackson appeared and performed last night at the Billboard Music Awards, almost five years after the singer's death. But while this might look like the future of posthumous performances, the trick itself is actually about five centuries old. The projection of Jackson materialized on a golden throne before launching into a performance of Slave to the Rhythm. There was moonwalking, there were taped fingers, there was dancing paramilitary cyborgs because, well, because. Jackson's appearance is just another in a series of musicians, both living and dead, who have had their images projected on stage for live performances. The most famous example is perhaps Tupac Shakur from 2012's Coachella Music Festival. The likeness was created by Visual Effects Studios Digital Domain, which reportedly took four months to create the projection of the rapper at a cost of up to $400,000. And this past April, Janelle Monae and M.I.A. performed a live duet from both New York and Los Angeles, with each singing alongside a 3D projection of the other. But it's not just musicians. Recently elected Indian Prime Minister Modi used it to make appearances at hundreds of campaign rallies across the country. And it's not actually a hologram, not in the way we picture it in science fiction like Star Wars. The technique is called Pepper's Ghost and dates back to the 16th century. So while the illusion is not a new invention, the advent of lifelike CGI has only recently allowed us to resurrect celebrities and musicians. So did it work? Reactions so far have been mixed. The CGI hits up against the so-called Uncanny Valley, with Jackson's face looking obviously artificial up close. There's also some technical issues in the ABC broadcast that were later fixed for the official video on Vivo. It also begs the question, could someone actually make a pop star from scratch? Japan's Hatsumikku is an entirely digital creation, voice and all, even as she's played to sold-out crowds. And at the 2006 Grammy Awards, Madonna sang alongside entirely fictional act gorillas. So while the practice day is still rare enough to warrant shock and awe, it won't be long before you're paying top dollar to see your favorite musician or speaker. Living, dead, or completely made up.

The media landscape in the US is about to look much, much smaller. Yesterday the competition was vast and free. Today, a tale of two conglomerates. I'm Ben Popper and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. AT&T has agreed to acquire DirecTV for $48.5 billion. The merge firms will control some 26 million TV subscribers, making it second only to the hypothetical 30 million of a combined Comcast-Time Warner company. AT&T is hoping this merger will give it a leg up in the fast-growing market for streaming video. It never made much headway with its U-verse TV offerings. Partnering with DirecTV will give it scale and access to exclusive programming like NFL Sunday Ticket. Just how important is premium content like the NFL? The terms of the deal actually stipulate that AT&T can walk away from the merger if DirecTV doesn't win the contract with the NFL to renew that exclusive. AT&T hopes the merger with DirecTV will allow it to offer better package deals. For example, a customer could walk into an AT&T store and buy satellite TV subscription, broadband internet service, and a smartphone all on one bill. The deal, like the Comcast-Time Warner merger, must still pass regulatory scrutiny before it's approved. If these two mega mergers are approved, the communications and media landscape in America will have shifted dramatically. Taken together, AT&T and Comcast will control at least 60% of the pay TV and broadband internet market. For more on these acquisitions, check out The Verge. Coming up, I agree to acquire some jelly for my peanut butter sandwich, but will the snack department approve the merger?

Sixty years ago, the King of Monsters was born, and at some point, things got weird. I'm TC Sotic, and this is 90 seconds on the verge. This weekend, a new American reboot of Godzilla hits theaters. It's the beginning of a new era for the movie monster, who first appeared in a 1954 Japanese film from Toho Studios. While he's since become a kitsch figure, the original Godzilla was actually a serious film. A huge lizard-like beast brought about by nuclear radiation, he served as an allegory for nuclear fears in post-World War II Japan. There have been over 30 Godzilla films, and this one is the second American reboot. Now brace yourselves, and let's go back to 1998. Roland Emmerich's Godzilla reboot, starring Matthew Broderick, was so poorly received that Toho Studios officially renamed that creature Zilla, and later had the real Godzilla kill him off in 2004's Final Wars. But at least he got a Puff Daddy collaboration out of it. Godzilla has been played as both villain and savior, but by and large, humanity's presence is viewed as incidental to whoever he's fighting. Be it three-headed monsters, giant spiders, or even King Kong. So in an age when sci-fi and comic icons of yesteryear are getting gritty reboots, where does the American remake of Godzilla go? Not where you might think. Director Gareth Edwards avoids the barrage of battles you see in a Transformers or Pacific Rim, going for a more suspenseful approach that keeps Godzilla just out of sight for most of the movie. But when he does show up, he doesn't mess around. For more on Godzilla, check out The Verge. And coming up, a Herbie the Love Bug remake reimagines the car as a post-apocalyptic force of destruction. It's also now a Jetta.

And now we will proceed to a vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. I concur. Opposed? No. The ayes have it, the order is adopted. And with that, the fight for net neutrality begins anew. I'm Ross Miller, and this is 90 seconds on the Verge. The FCC today has voted 3 to 2 to accept Chairman Tom Wheeler's new open internet framework. While the new proposal has been amended from its more controversial text, it leaves open the question of internet fast lanes, which many see as fundamentally undermining net neutrality. But you wouldn't necessarily realize that hearing the Commissioner speak ahead of the vote. An open internet means consumers, not a company, not the government, determine winners and losers. We cannot have a two-tiered internet, so I support network neutrality. But I believe the process that got us to this rulemaking today is flawed. The dispute, this fundamental, is not for us, five unelected individuals, to decide. Instead it should be resolved by the people's elected representative. Prioritization is not a bad word. It is a necessary component of reasonable network management. There is one internet. Not a fast internet, not a slow internet. It's one internet. Now that it's passed, the proposal will move into a 60-day public comment period, followed by 60 more days for a response. The FCC hopes to have the framework in place by the end of the year. For more on net neutrality, check out The Verge. Now go and make your voice heard.

Chances are the smartphone in your hand or your pocket was designed by an American, Korean, or maybe even a Taiwanese company. But a handful of companies are looking to change that and make names for themselves in the West with competitive devices at bargain prices. The most well-known Chinese companies in the West have been Huawei and ZTE, but neither has been very successful in breaking into the mainstream, high-end smartphone markets in the US and Europe. But Oppo and its recent offshoot OnePlus are taking a different tack. Instead of trying to buddy up with carriers, they are selling their phones unlocked, direct to Western consumers. Oppo's new Find 7a and the OnePlus One are strikingly similar from the outside. In fact, apart from slightly different button placements, the only differences between the two phones are the software that they run and the prices that they sell for. Both phones are a nerd's dream in terms of specs. They have 5.5-inch 1080p displays, current quad-core processors, support for European and American LTE networks, 13-megapixel cameras, and clean, plastic designs with solid build quality. The $499 Find 7a runs Oppo's custom version of Android, dubbed ColorOS. Based on Android 4.3, ColorOS is a heavily modified version of the platform, similar to HTC's Sense or Samsung's TouchWiz. Virtually everything about the software has been touched by Oppo's designers and looks significantly different than what comes out of Google's software labs. Oppo's software design feels a bit heavy-handed more often than not, but it doesn't seem to affect the Find 7a's performance and it's not nearly as ugly as some of the custom interfaces that we've seen from other manufacturers. Conversely, the $299 OnePlus One is the second phone on the market to run Cyanogenmod out of the box. Cyanogenmod is a very lightly tweaked version of Google's vision for Android, and its software looks and behaves very similarly to a Nexus 5. There are a few more customization options with Cyanogenmod, and the OnePlus has a custom lock screen, but for the most part, it's a stock Android experience. But what's most impressive about the Find 7a and the OnePlus is the level of quality that they're offering at hundreds of dollars less than other, more popular smartphones. With the exception of Google's Nexus series and perhaps Motorola's Moto X, lower-cost phones have typically offered inferior screens, slower processors, lousy cameras, and cheap build quality. But that's not the case at all with these two, which have great-looking, high-resolution displays, impressive camera performance, lots of speed, and batteries that can last all day and more. And the build quality on either phone is better than even some of the most popular phones available today. There's still a few things that will likely hold the Find 7a and the OnePlus One back from really taking the market by storm. They are rather monstrous and impossible to use with one hand, and the average consumer in the US isn't likely to order a phone online, sight unseen, from a manufacturer that they've never heard of. But buying habits are changing, and as more customers in the US make it worthwhile to purchase a phone out of contract instead of taking a subsidy, Chinese manufacturers are poised to capitalize on that opportunity. After all, when there's a price difference of nearly $400 between the OnePlus One and another high-end Android phone, what would you choose?

My name is Dave Arnold. I always want to come up with new, not just drink combinations, but new techniques. That's what gets me interested. My mom, even though she was a doctor and works like an incredible amount, always found the time to kind of throw the occasional fancy dinner party. And you know, I would dress up like a page and run around and she would cook, you know, traditional stuff. The fact that even though she was really busy, she took the time to kind of do this. Kind of instilled in me this kind of desire to be in the kitchen. When I was growing up, there wasn't this kind of saturation of kind of higher-end, interesting foods. My mom always took the time to expose me to this stuff. So, you know, I was the kid who loved escargot. I was the kid who loved smoked eel. Everyone kind of would praise my food knowledge when I was a kid. When I was a senior in college, I was a philosophy major and I took an art class and I loved it. I tried to do, you know, work as a working artist, but a lot of my projects started getting extremely complicated. And I would work for years on them and do a lot of research and not finish them. I found that being part of the art world was less and less kind of what I really maybe wanted to do. I was trying to go into the food world. I was looking for a way to do that. A bunch of things happened simultaneously. I met Wiley Dufresne and started, you know, hanging out with him. He was the kind of one who showed me that my interest in technology and my interest in food could interact in a way to create new kinds of foods, do new things. He kind of introduced me to that world. There was a lot of people working on using new techniques in the food world and not as many people who were focusing specifically on the problems of cocktails. And cocktails, even though it's all flavors, they have a very different set of problems from cooking. And the knowledge doesn't apply 100% straight away. So I felt if there's a wide open field, go there. So I have a bar called Booker & Dax. The mission is to use new techniques, new technologies and to focus very, very critically on how we make drinks. We use a centrifuge, we'll use new infusion techniques, we'll, you know, milk wash, liquid nitrogen, muddle. We'll do all these things, but in the end, the drink is very simple. My hope is that the stuff that I work on helps other cooks and other bartenders, keeps them how to use something that they haven't used before and that as a result, they feel more fulfilled. People tend to say, you know, you haven't really followed kind of a linear path. Started out life, you know, working in science, got to come from a science, you know, family background, go to philosophy, go to drinks. They're all threaded together. You know, they all involve connecting your hand to your brain. I always say that our goal is to change the way we make drinks, not to change the way you drink. I'm Dave Arnold and this is my story.

The next generation in the iPhone legacy is almost upon us. Now I'd like to talk about iPhone. A couple of you may have been expecting this. I'm Nathan Seichert and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. It's been almost seven years since Apple unveiled its first iPhone. The company has released at least one new device every year since 2007. Last year it released two. And though it likes to maintain an illusion of secrecy, Apple's flagship devices have a pretty good track record of leaking ahead of major events. Right now we're hearing a lot about the next iPhone. Here's what we know so far. Apple is reportedly working on two new iPhones with larger screens. Most sources point to 4.7 and 5.5 inch models. And cases suggest a design more like the iPod Touch and possibly as thin as six millimeters. The larger model is also expected to boast a display that runs at a sharper 1704 by 960 resolution. Other rumors point to an improved camera, which isn't that surprising. And some potential new uses for its fingerprint sensor. But if you were expecting to see these new devices at next month's Worldwide Developers Conference, you're probably going to have to wait a little longer. Rumors are somewhat divided here, but Apple's not expected to show up any new hardware at WWDC. The event will reportedly focus on the revamped OS X and the new iOS 8, which is likely to include a health book app and an updated Apple Maps. And if Apple's reported $3.2 billion acquisition of Beats happens in time, we may also see an appearance by new Apple executives Dr. Trey and Jimmy Iovine. For more on Apple, check out The Verge. Coming up, Tim Cook cancels production on the iPhone 6, saying why can't you guys just be happy with the phone we gave you last year?

You can tell the Xbox, Xbox. Watch TV, it'll switch instantly over the television. With voice commands. The future is here. One year ago this month, Microsoft unveiled its vision for the future of Xbox. What a difference a year makes. I'm Addie Robertson, and this is 90 seconds on the Verge. We'll continue to innovate on Kinect. I think it's an important differentiator for us. But I also know there are people out there that want to make the choice when they want to make it. Microsoft announced today that starting June 9th, the company will begin selling a version of Xbox One without Kinect for $399. That means the base model now costs the same as Sony's PlayStation 4, which so far is outselling the Xbox One worldwide. Right now, there are only a handful of games that use Kinect in any meaningful way. With today's announcement, the incentive for developers to make Kinect games has further diminished. This is the second major backpedal for the Xbox One, which was originally going to require a persistent internet connection and severely limit the used games market. Microsoft changed that policy last June before launch. The company today also announced that starting this June, apps like Netflix and HBO Go will no longer require a premium Xbox Live Gold account. It added free Xbox One titles to its monthly Games with Gold promotion, which brings us back to Microsoft's original vision of an always-connected experience powered by natural motion. Is that the future of home entertainment? Possibly, but we're not there yet, and Microsoft knows it won't be able to realize that dream if it can't at least compete against the PlayStation 4. For more on Xbox One, check out The Verge. Coming up, Microsoft backpedals through time and announces the return of Jezzball.

Up until now, most people have visualized prosthetic arms with an immobile hand or a metal hook. But that's all about to change. Proofy. I'm Sam Sheffer and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. The U.S. Food and Drug Association has approved the DECA Arm System, a mind-control prosthetic that can do multiple simultaneous movements. A number of scientists and engineers from around the world are working on similar limbs, but this is the first one with FDA approval. The DECA Arm System is similar in size and weight to an actual human arm. It's capable of detailed tasks like using zippers, brushing teeth, and even handling fragile foods like grapes and eggs. The company has nicknamed it Luke after the character from Star Wars. Notice the similarities? The project is funded by DARPA but developed by DECA, a company founded by Segway inventor Dean Kamen. Here's how it works. The DECA Arm System is controlled by EMG electrodes placed on the remaining portion of the human arm. A computer processor translates muscle contractions into one of 10 specific movements. The system also uses a combination of switches and both movement and force sensors for control, some of which was showcased in a 60 Minutes report from 2009. This is Fred Downs, who was the Veterans Affairs official in charge of prosthetics. First time in 40 years my left hand did this. With FDA approval, DECA can now bring the arm to market. With that said, there's currently no price and won't be until the company finds a commercial partner to mass produce. For more on the DECA Arm System, check out The Verge. Coming up, DARPA announces a collaboration with Dharma to create a prosthetic hand that pushes a button every 108 minutes.

Making one headphone to fit everybody's ears would be like trying to make one pair of shoes to fit everybody's feet. I mean, it's impossible. You know what, Johnny? You're right. I'm Ross Miller, and this is 90 seconds on The Verge. Apple is negotiating the purchase of Beats for 3.2 billion dollars. The deal could be announced as early as next week. The story was first reported by Financial Times and later confirmed by Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and even Dr. Dre himself by way of Tyrese. First billionaire in hip-hop right here from the mother-f***in' West Coast. Oh, oh! Beats was founded in 2008 by Dr. Dre and music mogul Jimmy Iovine. According to NPD, it commands around 59% of the premium headphone market and has essentially replaced Apple's white earbuds as a status symbol. But thinking long-term, Beats also has a subscription music service. Beats Music launched in January and according to Recode, has only managed 200,000 users, a far cry from the nearly 10 million using Spotify. But iTunes Radio hasn't fared much better, and the single-track download model that Apple pioneered is declining. Subscription services seem to be the future, and Apple just bought its way into that market. Also, Apple's been on something of a hiring spree lately. Just today, it was revealed that Apple has hired the head of Nokia's Lumia photography division, who co-authored the paper on PureView technology. But those hires serve a very utilitarian purpose for Apple. It's not Beats' technology that's worth 3.2 billion dollars. It's the name itself, a well-known and very lucrative brand. And Apple buying an image? Well, that's pretty new territory for the company. For more on Apple, check out The Verge. Coming up, Dr. Dre finally earns his tenure and becomes Professor Dre.

Remember the 80s? Will you be the one to experience the Nintendo Entertainment System? My how things have changed. It's a me, Ellis Hamburger, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Nintendo announced yesterday that it will develop new consoles targeted at emerging markets. Rather than making cheap versions of existing hardware like the company has done in the past, Nintendo will build these products from the ground up. Nintendo also announced that its first smartphone app, Mario Kart TV, will launch this month alongside Mario Kart 8. So why exactly is Nintendo shifting gears? Well, its 2013 earnings report might have something to do with that. The company reported $457 million in operating losses last year. That's the third consecutive year of losses for Nintendo. Much of this has to do with the failure of the Wii U. Total sales now stand at just over 6 million consoles worldwide. But let's not forget that this is just one blip in the company's long and successful history. The House of Mario reportedly has around $10 billion in the bank thanks to many profitable years. While the Wii U sales have been floundering and the 3DS was slow to take off, Nintendo made three of the top five best-selling game systems of all time. So what's next? This month's Mario Kart 8 is as close to a guaranteed system seller as anything in Nintendo's very successful stable of franchises. And if that's not enough, Nintendo is expected to lay out its grand plans for the year to come at next month's E3. For more on Nintendo, check out the Verge. Coming up, Nintendo announces the 1DS. Ultra portable, single screen, comes with Tetris and oh that's a Game Boy, isn't it?

My name is Leland Melvin, a former astronaut, now working to help inspire the next generation of explorers. My parents exposed me to so many things as a child, from sports to creating Lego blocks to building campers to music. I give most of my props to my dad. He was my mentor. He was my hero. It just really, really helped a lot. Sports was a really big part of my life. So this is a picture of me catching or dropping a touchdown pass in the end zone at my homecoming game, when there was a scout from the University of Richmond looking at me drop this pass and started walking out of the stadium, but he heard the crowd screaming the second time. My coach believed in me, gave me another chance to catch the winning touchdown pass, and that one pass resulted in a full scholarship to the University of Richmond. I was finishing my master's degree at the University of Virginia, and I went to a career fair, and a woman at the NASA booth said, hey, you need to come work for NASA. I'm like, no, I'm not going to work for NASA. And she just convinced me that I need to come down and check it out, so I went down and looked at it and said, this is pretty cool. I worked at NASA for about, I think about seven or eight years, and a friend of mine who wanted to be an astronaut said, Leland, you'd be a great astronaut. I'm like, what are you talking about? I mean, you know, me, astronaut? And that same year, my boy Charlie Camarda, he got in. Then I saw what he was doing. It was flying jets, he was inspiring kids, he was going to be flying in space one day, and I said, wow, that's the ultimate gig. And so I applied the next year and I got in, and it was just incredible. To train on the ground, you go down into a pool that's about 30 feet deep. Well, they started letting me down, I realized that this little styrofoam pad was not in my helmet. They forgot to put mine in. So I asked the test director to turn the volume up in the headset, and from that point on, I heard nothing but static. I went deaf. The doctors from around the world, no one knew what happened to me. Slowly, it started getting better, hearing came back, still hearing impaired, and this year, I went to Washington to work in education, and that's when we lost Space Shuttle Columbia. Seven of my friends were in Space Shuttle Columbia that broke up coming over the Texas sky. One of the mission specialists was David Brown, but I went to his parents' home the night of the accident to console them. His father said to me with tears in his eyes, he said, Leland, the biggest tragedy would be if we don't continue to fly in space, to carry on their legacy. Now at this point, I'm not flying because they've told me I'm medically disqualified, but as we fly around the country to go to the different memorial services, the chief flight surgeon, Rich Williams, he says, I'm going to sign you a waiver to fly. This will be your testimony to the world. And today with that, you are cleared to launch the landing. Copy, cleared to launch. It's 17,500 miles per hour, going around the planet every 90 minutes. Nothing can prepare you for the views that you'll see from the space station. I mean, it's, the colors are just so vibrant. Just looking down at the planet and looking deep into the heavens and the stars and the planets, it's just, it's just so stunning. Connecting the dots with building, creating, doing the robotics, doing the space, I never really synthesized all those activities to a final job or final goal. Sometimes when you don't believe in yourself, other people do and they give you a second chance. And I think that's been a theme through my life, you know, giving, being given a second chance. And now I'm helping inspire the next generation of explorers. My name is Leland Melman and this is my story.

This week, as expected, Alibaba filed for its US IPO. Alibaba. Alibaba. Alibaba. Alibaba. Alibaba says open Sesame to Wall Street. Wait, pause. What is Alibaba? I'm Nathan Seidkert, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce company founded by Jack Ma, a former English teacher who's akin to Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos in China. Alibaba is made up of several sites, but the two biggest are Taobao and Tmall. Taobao is Alibaba's eBay, allowing small businesses to sell products online. But Taobao doesn't take a cut of the proceeds. Instead, it makes money through advertisements. Tmall is much closer to Amazon, where large companies like Samsung and Gap can create online stores for an Asian market. Last year, sales on Taobao and Tmall totaled over $248 billion. Alibaba's biggest challenge is going to be trust. The company's been criticized in the past for promoting counterfeit and defective goods, something it explicitly acknowledged in its IPO filing. But if Alibaba can earn that trust, it could prove to be a serious threat to Amazon, which thrives on undercutting its competitors. That isn't slowing Alibaba's growth internationally. The company already does business in Russia and Brazil and is working on an American marketplace it's calling ElevenMain. For Amazon, which thrives on undercutting its competitors, Alibaba could prove to be a serious threat. What happens when hordes of Chinese manufacturers can sell directly to its consumers? For more on Alibaba, check out The Verge. Coming up, I start my own international ice cream business. But I'm a little low on money, so it's going to have to be ground shipping.

Would Microsoft spin off Xbox into its own company? It's unlikely, but not impossible. I'm Jake Kastronakis, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Would you support him if he wanted to? We're going to have an overall gaming strategy, so it's not as obvious as you might think. Would you support him if he wanted to spin off? Absolutely. OK, that's news. That's Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates responding to a question of whether the company would consider spinning off Xbox and Bing into separate companies. Gates was quick to call Bing a, quote, fundamental technology and core business, but he was more ambiguous about Xbox, deferring to new CEO Satya Nadella. To be clear, that in no way means that Microsoft is thinking about spinning off Xbox, or even that Gates himself thinks is a good idea. But according to Washington Post earlier this year, investors have been asking for Microsoft to spin off non-essential properties, including Xbox. CEO contender Stephen Elop was reportedly considering breaking apart Xbox and Bing, too, if he got the top job. Elop is now the head of Microsoft's hardware division. Since becoming CEO, Nadella has said multiple times that Microsoft must thrive in a, quote, mobile-first, cloud-first world. One of the core things that we've got to realize is that this business does not really respect tradition. The Xbox was first introduced in 2001, and while sales of the new console lag behind Sony's PlayStation 4, it remains a very important brand for Microsoft. Even so, Gates' comments are still likely to end up as fuel for the investors' fire. For more on Microsoft, check out The Verge. Coming up, we take a look back at 2001, the Rock Odyssey. Finally, Bill Gates hooked up with The Rock. Smell The Rock is good.

What do NASCAR and Doge have in common? I'm Brian Bishop, and this is 90 seconds on the verge. And it's the Doge car machine for Josh Wise. Doge is a internet cryptocurrency. It's pretty safe to say that none of that has ever been uttered during a NASCAR broadcast before. Josh Wise, driver of the so-called Doge car, placed 20th out of 43 in the NASCAR sprint cup this past weekend at Talladega Super Speedway. Last month, the Reddit sub-community r slash Dogecoin collectively raised more than $50,000 to sponsor Wise, who at the time had no sponsor for the race. That funding included plans to wrap the stock car with Dogecoin branding. This isn't the first random act of dogery. In January, the community also helped the Jamaican bobsled team finance its trip to Sochi to compete in this year's Winter Olympic Games. There's also the nonprofit Dogecoin Foundation, which so far has raised tens of thousands of dollars for initiatives like service dogs for children in need and clean drinking water in Kenya. Dogecoin was introduced last December as an alternative to Bitcoin. Today, one US dollar equals over 2,200 Dogecoins. The logo itself is a cartoonish version of the Doge internet meme, which hit peak popularity last year. The original Doge image can be traced back to a Shiba Inu named Kabosu, whose owner is a kindergarten teacher in Japan. That original Doge, by the way, recently joined Vine. It's really cute. For more on Dogecoin, check out The Verge. Coming up next, a definitive guide on how to pronounce Doge from just about everybody. What is it, Matt? Dogecoin. Dogecoin. Dogecoin. Or doggy coin. Doggy coin. Lame Dogecoin. Potato, potato. It's much fun.

Oculus Rift now faces a challenge over who legally owns the future of virtual reality. I'm Chris Ziegler and this is 90 seconds on the verge. VR is making a comeback and Oculus is at the center of that revival. The former Kickstarter Phenom was recently acquired by Facebook for $2 billion. But before all that, the Oculus Rift was a prototype held together by duct tape. Fatefully, it caught the attention of legendary game programmer John Carmack, best known for Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. Carmack contributed to the project early on. In fact, it was in his office in 2012 that we first tried it out. But Carmack didn't own his own studio. That belongs to game publisher Zenimax. When Carmack decided to join Oculus in 2013, Zenimax didn't initially make a fuss, but now it says that because Carmack was instrumental to Oculus' success, it owes Zenimax money. Carmack, for his part, claims that Oculus, quote, uses zero lines of code that he wrote while under contract to Zenimax. But even if that's true, how else may he have helped? That leads us to one crucial document in particular. Back in May 2012, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey signed a non-disclosure agreement with Zenimax. NDAs are pretty routine, but sources tell us that the company is interpreting the contract to mean Zenimax owns part of the Oculus idea via its contributions. But what is Zenimax really after here? According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is seeking compensation, which in layman's terms probably means a cash settlement. With Facebook, there's plenty of that to go around. For more on Oculus, check out The Verge. Coming up next, the restaurant industry and the city of New York offer a modest joint proposal to tackle the city's rat problem. Oh, no. Oh, God, no. It's gross.

All signs point to a more premium Android experience, but at what cost? I'm Evan Rogers, and this is 90 seconds on the verge. Multiple rumors this month have pointed to a new silver program from Google showcasing the best of Android at carrier stores. According to the information, Android Silver would actually replace Google's more mid-range Nexus program. Though never a big seller, Google's Nexus program has had a big impact on Android. Let's take a look back. This is the Nexus One, the first so-called Google phone debuted January 2010, made by HTC and running the then brand new Android 2.2 Froyo. That's always been the hallmark of a Nexus, the latest and greatest Android with nothing added by carriers or manufacturers. That means no TouchWiz, no Sense UI, and no Vcast. Google has released one Nexus phone per year, rotating between top-tier manufacturers. After HTC made the first one, Samsung took over for Nexus S in December 2010, followed by the Galaxy Nexus one year later. LG has been the latest Nexus OEM, making both 2012's Nexus 4 and the latest Nexus 5. That all leads us to today. The Nexus 5 is only six months old, which means a new model wouldn't be expected until later this year. While Google hasn't released sales figures, it has said the Nexus 5 is a quote, strong performer. And in 2012, Google expanded the Nexus program with 7 and 10 inch tablets. But let's circle back to Android Silver. The closest thing we have to that program right now is Google Play Edition, a selection of premium handsets like the new HTC One with Pure Android. If Silver ends up replacing the Nexus and gunning for the high end, what will fill the void in the middle? That's a good question. For more on Android Silver, check out The Verge. Coming up, Google unveils its gold program, which is just a series of bedazzled Moto Xs.

At South by Southwest 2009, Foursquare introduced the world to the check-in, a way to quickly share your location with friends. Five years later, it has 5 billion check-ins and counting, giving it one of the world's most powerful databases about where and what to eat or do in any given neighborhood. But users were confused. Was Foursquare meant to replace Yelp or help them find their friends? The company never caught on with the mainstream, struggled to raise funding, and watched its user base quickly fall behind younger services like Instagram. Eventually, they came to a striking conclusion. If the company wanted to survive, it needed to make its riskiest decision yet, killing off the check-in and splitting its app in two. Over the last couple of years, it's like, what story is the most important story in Foursquare? Is it like check into places because you tell Foursquare great things and then we can kind of give you amazing personalized local search results? Or is it come in, search and discover, find great places, and then check into those places? People always think, oh, Foursquare, that's the check-in app. Oh, Foursquare, that's the thing where you check in and get badges. And I think if that's your perception of what we're doing, you're missing 90% of the vision and 90% of really what the company is here to do. We looked at this and looked at the session analysis and saw that only one in 20 sessions had both social and discovery at the same kind of app open. So what that says to me is that 19 out of 20 times when someone used Foursquare that had the business up front and the party in the back either went to business or went to a party, but not both. We did this exercise where we brought kind of 10 different people from around the company together, kind of posed to them. We call it the Lego block challenge or something like that, which was actually a really important point to make. We said, all right, let's kind of catalog all the Lego pieces that we have as a service and as a company. Obviously we have our 40 million plus users. We have our POI database of 60 million plus places. We have 40 million plus tips, 150 million plus photos. I'm just rambling off PR staff. But these are all the Lego blocks. How do we take all of those different Lego pieces and assemble them in a way that really makes sense for the things that we can do with phones in 2014? We've been working on just reimagining Foursquare as if it was created today and what that would look like. And for us that means two different experiences. It means one that's focused on where your friends are right now and how to keep up with them. And it's another about where to go next and how to find a great place to go that's totally different from any local search experience right now. By splitting them into two, we give people really clear messages to come up to. Again, you have Swarm, which is your social heat map. Like if what you want to know is where your friends are, you should download Swarm and you'll be able to meet up with them at fantastic moments when you might not have seen them otherwise. And if what you're looking for is recommendations, then Foursquare is the app for you. And I think in the past that's been hard for us because they are two very different use cases, but they've been stuck together. Breaking the app in two wasn't exactly how the company's leadership envisioned Foursquare's future, but as teams started working on the two apps, one for check-ins and one for discovery, the dichotomy felt increasingly obvious. The first app, called Swarm, is a dead simple location sharing app that is one key wrinkle. Unlike people discovery apps of the past, Swarm only shares your general location with friends. When you first open the app, you see a list of friends who are nearby, followed by friends who are in the neighborhood, and then in the same city as you. It's like Find My Friends, but a lot less creepy. And if you want friends to know exactly where you are, you can always check in just like you used to. Swarm is a lot like Facebook's recently launched Nearby Friends feature, but inside its own app with its own friends list just of people you trust. It sounds a lot like some of the friend finding apps that have launched in the last few years. Google Latitude, Sonar, Highlight, Banjo, Social Radar. None of these apps ever hit the mainstream and frankly neither did Foursquare check-ins. But Foursquare thinks it's figured out why. Being able to say, hey, you know what, people don't want to have their face on a map. They don't want to be like precision pointed a lat long so someone can like go find them in the middle of a park. Or like Find My Friends on your iPhone is great if you have like a spouse who like is like total transparency, right? Like you can track where they are, are they at the gym, are they shopping? And you maybe do that with one person in the world. But they want people to be kind of immediately aware of where they are so their friends can know like, hey, if I go to the Williamsburg and I get on the train, here are my 10 friends who are in Williamsburg. A lot of the stuff that we were inspired by is like early instant messaging clients. You know, to be able to look and see like these people are online, these people are offline, this person is active, this person is not. Like what does that version of a buddy list look like when it's on your mobile phone and it has some element of location and it makes it easy to connect with people and just kind of easy to know of people's awareness and availability. It remains to be seen whether people really do want to know who's around, a trend tech investors and early adopters love to push but which the mainstream has ignored. But swarm is only half the equation for the new Foursquare. At that, it's the much smaller half. The most important part of Foursquare's future is a new version of its discovery and recommendation service. While the company won't yet divulge how the new app looks, one thing is clear. Foursquare aims to take Yelp head on in its hopes to be the undisputed king of local search. People have been telling me for years like there's no way that's going to work. It's impossible to do. If someone's going to do it, Google would have done it already. And I'm like, no, I think we can do this in a different way. It's always been really hard to tease those experiences out of Foursquare because like you have to check into the places and you have to look at the screen and you have to get the tip. And I'm thinking was always like, let's just get a ton of knowledge about the world, about where people go, get a ton of these tips. And then when we can tell when someone just walks into the place, we can just pop up that message and the phone will buzz and they'll just look at it. Now that's what we wanted to do in 2009. Just took us five years to get to where we are. Yelp can't do what we do. Like Yelp doesn't need to be able to personalize for you because when you search for pizza on Yelp, it shows you the top 10 pizza places. It's not tailored to you. But when you're on Foursquare and you search for pizza, we know if you like a greasy slice or the most artisanal, perfect pizza in New York. If people weren't afraid, we would have done this a long time ago, right? And not afraid in an irrational way, afraid in like, this is like a somewhat risky thing to do. It is riskier than the current path we're going down. Ultimately, I think like the winner in the local search space, it's all about who has the best data. And we're at the point now, it's like, God, the company has succeeded to the point. Like we've built all this great stuff. The phones have matured. Like we have the flexibility and the freedom to kind of rethink this entire space. And we came up with this idea of like, hey, we should do two apps, one for check-in, one for search. And we, you know, you have to sit on it for like a week or two weeks, you know, and during those two weeks, like this is kind of crazy, right? But then it's like, no, this makes perfect sense. This is what like we really can do it now because of all the things that we've done in the past. This makes a lot of sense.

Hey, this is Ellis with The Verge, and I'm here with the latest version of Snapchat. Today's update is the company's biggest yet, letting you text and video chat with friends. But not exactly how you'd think. The new version of Snapchat opens to the app's familiar camera screen, but swipe right and you'll see the chats are now grouped into conversations like in most messaging apps. Swiping right on a friend's name brings you into a new chat window, where you can send texts for the first time, as well as emojis, snaps, photos from your camera roll, and videos. But then, a tiny blue circle might show up in your chat window, indicating that your friend has joined the conversation. By tapping and holding on the blue circle, you can instantly start a video call with them. Move your thumb down for a selfie video and up to show what you've been seeing. The cool part is that video chats go one way or both ways. You can show a friend your new shoes and they can just watch. Or they can hold the blue button as well to hop in to tell you what they think. And there's no answer and call button. You just tap and hold with your thumb as if Snapchat were visual walkie talkie and lift your thumb when you're done. Interestingly, video chats can only be started when both people are inside a conversation, so there's never any waiting or ringing like there is with FaceTime. As soon as you leave a conversation, your messages and snaps disappear forever. You can, however, save an important text message like an address or phone number for later by tapping on it. There are great touches all around the edges here, like how you only get one push notification even when a friend sends you ten messages, and how typing indicators show up on your lock screen instead of inside conversations themselves. Because we all know that typing while somebody else is typing can get awkward. The new Snapchat envisions a future where people might send a snap or a text and then squeeze in a quick video chat during a car ride. Video chat fidelity isn't as high as with FaceTime and other apps, but that's hardly surprising. Snapchat has always been scrappy and weird and lo-fi, which makes people so comfortable when they're using it. Switching to Snapchat for my texting needs feels like a stretch, but the app succeeds in breaking down so many of the barriers that make video chats so cumbersome and awkward. I might actually end up talking face-to-face with friends more often than I ever have.

What happens when we combine this with this? Well, NASA has the answer. I'm Ross Miller, and this is 90 seconds on the verge. You might recall last month, NASA asked the internet to choose a design for its next generation Z2 spacesuit. The agency presented three options, entitled biomimicry, technology, and the very catchy trends in society. After over 230,000 votes, a statistical majority picked technology, a design that quote, pays homage to spacesuit achievements of the past, while incorporating subtle elements of the future. The design is unquestionably reminiscent of Tron, but that's still a marked improvement over the Buzz Lightyear inspired Z1 suit from 2012. The Z2 is also a functional improvement over its predecessor, with a hard composite upper torso and materials more compatible for a full vacuum environment. Now to be clear, the Z2 suit isn't intended for use in space now or ever. NASA's Z series is actually for testing purposes only, developed under the agency's Advanced Exploration Systems Project. Come November, when the suit is expected to be fully built, NASA is planning on conducting multiple vacuum chamber tests to mimic the lack of atmosphere in space. It'll also be tested at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, a huge indoor pool used to train astronauts on spacewalking. The results of those tests and others will go into the eventual design of Z3, which will hopefully allow for more mobility. After all, astronauts could really use it. For more on the future of space travel, check out the verge. Coming up, NASA updates its freeze-dried menu for foodie astronauts. Now they have freeze-dried pork belly and freeze-dried banh mi sandwiches.

What do a folk singer, a corrupted hobbit, and a perpetually naked Brooklynite have in common? Ladies and gentlemen, this is your new Star Wars cast. I'm David Pierce, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Speculate no more. The cast of Star Wars Episode VII has officially been announced, and hey hey, the gang's all here. Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, R2-D2, and C-3PO are all returning, all played by the original cast members. Those six will be joined by seven newcomers, so let's break it down. John Boyega, probably best known from Attack the Block. He'll also play a big role in the upcoming 24 revival, Live Another Day. Daisy Ridley, she's the newcomer here. Not a lot of IMDb credits at the moment. Adam Driver, who you can see in his entirety on HBO's Girls. Oscar Isaac, Mr. Lewin Davis himself. Andy Serkis, aka Gollum, King Kong, and Caesar from Planet of the Apes. Donal Gleeson, son of Brendan Gleeson, but more importantly, Bill Weasley in the last two Harry Potters. And rounding out the new cast is Max Von Cedo, a legendary actor who is in both Seventh Seal and The Exorcist, but more importantly was the voice of Viggo in Ghostbusters 2. But here's the big follow-up question. Who's everyone playing? Variety has long been reporting that Adam Driver will be the main villain for the film. The publication also says that Boyega will be a Jedi, and that Isaac will have a, quote, Han Solo look to him. And statistically speaking, there's a really good chance Serkis will be playing some kind of CGI creature with surprising emotional depth. Episode VII is set 30 years after the Return of the Jedi. Shoot it begins in May, but the movie won't hit theaters until December 18, 2015. For more on Star Wars, check out The Verge. Coming up, Zardoz II, the Glass Zardozery.

But I don't believe that there's going to be anything that's going to take away your PTSD because every time you start talking about all this bullshit that we've been talking about in this room, my fucking memory banks just start flooding back in, right? I had to live with it for such a long time and I tried to wash it out of my mind. I tried fucking everything. There's nothing that you're going to forget. I got in the Army when I was 19. In 1964, I was in country in 1965 and 1966 in Vietnam. I was a helicopter mechanic. One of my best friends, I saw him decapitated by a helicopter blade and that was the one that got me. I think I was 22 when I got out. I knew something was not right emotionally and I couldn't put my finger on it. PTSD is basically a collection of symptoms that happen to people after a traumatic event such as sexual abuse, rape, war, accidents, that kind of thing. It can be really debilitating for people. There's a significant instance of suicide and there's a lot of suffering and disability that comes from living with that. Someone described PTSD as having a big broken heart and I think that's a pretty good description. You bury those emotions that make you human. Well, historically the treatments weren't terribly effective. A lot of supportive counseling, a lot of groups discussing feelings and what's far better is treatments that involve exposure. Depending on what literature you look at, probably around half the people are not well served. Also, pharmacology, Zoloft and Paxil and other medications kind of help to decrease the intensity of symptoms like anxiety, but they don't tend to get at the root of the problem and really cure the disorder. I got to the point where I had so many drugs, I just put them in a big bag and threw them away. I said, I don't want to be drugged for the rest of my life. I was kind of, I'd say desperate, I just wanted to do something in front of my own to commit suicide and I was just tired of kind of carrying the baggage and I saw this clip on CNN. This is the place where we do the study, this is where we meet with people and then this is where we do the MDMA sessions. Intense psychotherapy, including eight hour sessions after taking a capsule of MDMA of ecstasy. MDMA is methylene dioxide methamphetamine. It produces a reduction of activity in the amygdala, the fear processing part of the brain. It enhances activity in the frontal cortex where people put things in context. It releases oxytocin and prolactin, which are hormones of bonding and affiliation and love. And the remarkable thing that we've learned about memory is that when you remember something, you have to reconsolidate the memory. You're basically recreating the memory so that if this memory is linked to fear and under the influence of MDMA, you can bring back the memory but the fear response is dampened down. Then when you reconsolidate the memory, it doesn't have that fear to it and you've been able to put it in context as then and not now. Well it's certainly understandable that people don't necessarily realize that this could be a potential therapeutic tool. A lot of people don't know the history. Most people don't understand that MDMA really began as a therapy drug in the middle 70s and early 80s. And then from that, some people realized that they could make a lot of money selling it in more recreational settings and more public settings. And so it was just inevitable that there would be a crackdown. The conclusion of the administrative law judge that did the DEA hearings was that it did have medical utility and it should be in Schedule 3, meaning you can't sell it in bars but doctors can use it. And the DEA administrator overruled that and put it in Schedule 1 anyway. And I felt it was important that we look into this further. No controlled research had been done. We designed a study in which people would have 8 hour all day sessions with me and Annie in which we'd give them MDMA and then spend the day with them, helping them process what came up. I had a very chaotic childhood and because of that I was exposed to a lot of random abuse, sexual abuse. As a child I had a lot of symptoms. I was anxious, I had sleeplessness, I had vomiting, irritable bowels. But I didn't get any real medical attention until I was like 20. Conventional psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, rapid eye movement therapy, drugs and medication, anything that came through I would try it with complete abandon. And it seemed like the more I tried I would uncover more and more stuff would come up to the surface and then it would start to just get worse. The first study was inactive placebo compared to MDMA. So some people got inactive placebo with all the same therapy, the same all day sessions, exact same approach. I got placebo so I was not changed even though this was the best of the best of the best. I knew that I could come back and I would be getting the medicine two months later. Now that's when everything changed. Well in our first study basically in a nutshell 25% of the people that got the therapy with placebo were basically free from PTSD at the end compared to 83% with MDMA. So 83% no longer met criteria for PTSD. There's thing called a CAPS score that rates how sick you are. After this last treatment we did my CAPS evaluation. I came back for the two month follow up to do the CAPS to see what the results of it were and he comes back and sits down and he says, Rachel you don't have post traumatic stress disorder anymore. You don't have it. When I first heard about the study I signed up right away and I was like, I got to thinking about it. I mean it was like 2400 miles of logistics, there's cost involved. Then I broke it down and I said well what do you got ecstasy of therapists? Hell I live next to a college town. It's a no brainer. The treatments that are sold to us at the VA are high in number and varied in legitimacy and MDMA is one of them. If a veteran said listen I saw this on CNN and this is something I really want to do why aren't you offering it? It might work but we don't have the data to support that. This was my own thing. What they were doing was 2400 miles away I said I've got to deal with what I have and I didn't have any compunction about it whatsoever. Fortunately I had a friend of mine's son. He met some guy in Sacramento who was going down to Los Angeles to score a big bunch and I was able to get some and it worked out beautifully. The first time I did it was like this blanket of warmth and glowing. I felt alive again in touch with my feelings and stuff. Music was incredible under the influence. Then after I did the first session by myself I felt a noticeable difference. I got in touch with somebody I knew as a therapist and explained to them what I was trying to do and then I did three three-hour sessions. It was extraordinary. I did three sessions I couldn't do in 30 or 40 years. Right now we're in what the FDA calls phase two which is a number of small studies and then hopefully in a couple years we'll be able to move on to phase three which means two to three hundred people each in multiple sites and you need two of those to then apply to FDA for approval as an indication as a treatment. If it keeps going well what we think is going to happen is it would be approved not that you can give a prescription and people can pick it up at the pharmacy but that it would be approved for use in specially licensed clinics. Last year the VA spent around five and a half billion dollars on disability payments for over 275,000 vets. They perceive this as a crisis. There's 22 vets on average committing suicide every day. So while the VA has certain therapies that they've developed there's a pretty strong awareness that there's a substantial number of people for whom these therapies do not work. These treatments are cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure. We know that these work. It's hard to then say okay now that we finally got something that is very effective in 65 to 80 percent of cases let's try a far out type of treatment. If somebody were to come along with a treatment that has a lower side effect profile, lower nutrition, same effect size, easier to do well then we'll do that. What I fear though and what I don't like to see and what basically just pisses me off is when people forego the effective evidence based treatments for the peripheral type treatments that don't have any real evidence they don't have a great outcome and then they give up on any treatment and that bothers me a lot and that does happen sometimes. The real issue is does this help people or not? And if it does, if they're suffering from PTSD and this is a tool that can help them we should develop it. And even though there's a short term cost that some people will seek it out on their own and may find impure drugs or not be sufficiently supported that's not a reason not to develop it into a medicine. In fact it's a reason to develop it as quickly as possible. There is so much enthusiasm from medical students, residents, young therapists that are interested in this field. I mean just in the last four years I think the amount of enthusiasm and people wanting to do this and open to it has really changed. It's funny I tell people about this and you know veterans and stuff like that and it just it goes right over their head and that they don't understand it but you know I sure did I picked up on it right away and you know when it starts the word gets out I think things will change. So what are they treating almost now that you're studying? Well they're looking at using MDMA to cure PTSD basically. I don't think there's a cure but that would be fun. There is a cure. Maybe one day. You

Microsoft is digging up the past in its quest to take on Netflix. Damn it, I'm stuck. I'm Sam Sheffer and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Microsoft has been pushing for Xbox to become something more than just gaming. To that end, the company has announced a full slate of original video that it's branding Xbox Originals. The initial lineup of Xbox Originals seems to be a little bit of everything, starting with a live broadcast of Bonnaroo on June 13th. Microsoft's 2014 lineup also includes a reality show about soccer players and a six-part documentary series about technology, tentatively titled Signal to Noise. This past weekend, filming of the debut episode took place. Directed by X-Men writer Zach Penn, the episode focuses on the longtime urban legend that Atari buried truckloads of the infamous E.T. game in a New Mexico landfill. It turns out the myth was true, as construction workers did in fact unearth copies of the notorious game. Microsoft first announced plans to create shows for the Xbox last year, along with a live-action Halo series from Steven Spielberg. Unfortunately, there were no updates about that project today. It did announce a, quote, digital feature, also set in the world of Halo, from executive producer Ridley Scott. Compared to Netflix and Amazon, Microsoft's opening things up with an ambitious and diverse volley of shows. Of course, the company has quite a bit of ground to cover if it wants to compete with Emmy winners like House of Cards. For more on Xbox Originals, check out The Verge. Coming up, Nintendo announces new content for the Wii U. It'll just be reruns of the live-action Super Mario Brothers show, but at Wii size.

Many observers present company included would argue that motorola's beautiful moto 360 smartwatch is the most exciting tech product to be announced in years In fact, I take it a step further has the opportunity to be the most transformational product in the most transformational product category since the smartphone That's not an overstatement every company from Apple to Google has its brightest minds trying to dream up the device That's going to finally push wearables from nerdy gadgets to must-have accessories This isn't just a hobby some kind of fad or corporate sideshow that'll pass in a year or two Wearables are here to stay and whoever gets to market with the first no-compromise smartwatch stands to reap the spoils But at this point the 360 is just being dangled at us from afar with precious few details apart from the promise of a summer launch Come on, just do something with it. No, I will not. I can't. Everybody here wants to see your watch do something. I know Why did you bring it then? I'm testing it. It's like you're torturing all of it The job of turning it into a real thing that you or I can buy now falls to some of the nearly 2,000 Motorola mobility employees who to put it lightly have other things on their minds Earlier this year Google rather suddenly announced that it was selling Motorola Which it had acquired just a year and a half earlier to Chinese computing giant Lenovo Meanwhile moto was in the final stages of a long-planned move of its corporate headquarters from a dreary campus north of Chicago To the heart of the city where it got its start over 80 years ago the tumultuous process of engineering the kinks out of the 360 a complex and absolutely critical product for Motorola is stressful enough But when you tack on the drama of a high-profile corporate divorce coupled with a relocation An event deemed important enough to bring out Chicago's unfiltered mayor Rahm Emanuel. Well, that's just a lot to deal with Well, we're used to change as you know Over in that last three or four years. There's been a lot of change and this is you know, another another phase of it But you know if changing the way things are going to be Another phase of it, but you know change is good in so many ways It gets you out of your comfort zone as you challenge some things you typically wouldn't so You know the change actually is turning out to be really quite good for us And what are your first priorities in the new facility or your first product priorities? What are you working on that? You really need to just kind of hit the ground running in a brand new building everything right? You know, you don't skip a beat. You can't skip a beat as you know in our industry, right? So we're continuing to you know drive and what we're doing in terms of whole moto franchise of products with the X's and the G's And the follow-ons for those products, of course and the droids and then moto 360 and you know The whole wearable set of products that I think are going to be really interesting over the next couple years Like Motorola Motorola's new home is an octogenarian to the enormous merchandise mart on the north bank of the Chicago River One of the most imposing and spectacular structures in the city open just two years after Motorola was founded in 1928 The company has been renovating it for months Transforming it into a ridiculously hip space that centralizes practically all R&D operations into the top few floors of the building What might come as a surprise is that it's dotted with all the spoils of a well-funded Valley startup mini kitchens that are stocked to the ceiling with snacks and caffeine an Enormous game room and an open rooftop that commands one of the best views in the entire city feels a little shall we say? Googly, but this isn't a Google company anymore It's Lenovo's turn to try making Motorola into the global force It once was and with the moto X in the rear view it's all on the 360 the expectation I'm assuming is that anyone who wears a watch or might wear a watch is a potential customer for this versus someone who just wants A gadget on the wrist, right? Yeah, we think it actually broadens the appeal and it does what you know One of the one of the people in the watch industry are talking, you know Two said it was the first device that really broke the fashion barrier and we think we've done that So people will consider it as a watch that also does all these amazing things, right? So you definitely have your watch face which is gonna be cool and iconic because that's a central part of a watch But what we're doing with Android wear and how contextually relevant the information is that's gonna be delivered I think it's gonna really gonna be a reinvention of the modern-day time piece both from the services and what it does in terms of maybe Rethinking what time telling and time is to the form factor itself

I got in the army when I was 19. I think I was 22 when I got out. You know, I knew something was not right emotionally. I couldn't put my finger on it. I was kind of, I say desperate, but I was just tired of kind of carrying the baggage. And I saw this clip on the CNN. This is where we do the MDMA sessions. Intense psychotherapy, including eight hour sessions after taking a capsule of MDMA, of ecstasy. When I first heard about the study, I broke it down. I said, well, what do you got ecstasy at there? Hell, I live next to a college town. It's a no brainer. You know, I did three sessions I couldn't do in 30, 40 years.

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! I'm Ross Miller, and this is 90 seconds on the Verge. The Federal Trade Commission has come to Tesla's defense in a very big way. And no, it has nothing to do with that whole electric car thing. In an official blog post today, the FTC warned states not to create laws banning car companies from selling directly to consumers. The FTC notes that Tesla currently poses no serious threat to traditional dealerships. The commission's bigger point, however, is that whether or not Tesla's business model proves superior, staying steadfast to a decades-old model like dealerships could produce, quote, harmful consequences to innovation and competition. But Tesla fighting the system isn't really anything new for Elon Musk. No, it isn't. In fact, he's kind of made a name for himself trying to change established industries. Last August, Musk revealed plans for a so-called Hyperloop that could get passengers from LA to San Francisco in less than a half hour. While seeing these plans come to fruition is years away, if ever, it still aligns with Musk's reputation of thinking big. SpaceX, another company Musk founded, was established with the goal of making space exploration affordable and the colonization of Mars a reality. Don't forget about the whole military thing. Okay, let's talk rockets. The company has filed an official protest complaining that Boeing and Lockheed Martin have a, quote, monopoly over national security launches. Basically, SpaceX thinks they can launch military payloads better and cheaper. Musk says, if allowed to compete on contracts, SpaceX could save the U.S. government $1 billion annually. For more on SpaceX and Elon Musk, check out The Verge. Coming up... No, it's my turn to say that last part. You said the last part. Coming up... I'm not even doing it right, coming up. You sound like bad Brian Williams. Coming up... You know what? I make glass impressions, not working.

The following show has been approved as being commercially reasonable for all parties. We just don't know what that means. I'm Adrienne Jeffries, and this is 90 seconds on the verge. The internet could be getting a fast lane reserved only for those rich enough to use it. The FCC is considering new rules for internet service providers that would harm a key principle of net neutrality that all traffic should be treated equally. Right now ISPs aren't allowed to give special treatment, meaning companies like Comcast can't decide if data from Facebook is more important than a movie from Netflix. But the new rules would allow ISPs to discriminate between data on the so-called last mile where the network connects to your home. It's a toll that would allow ISPs to tax internet companies for the privilege of connecting with customers who are already paying for the network. All this could be avoided if the government would just declare what most people already take for granted. The internet, like water and electricity, is a public utility. But the major ISPs continue to fight against that label, warning that net neutrality is a meddlesome government regulation. A draft of the open internet notice of proposed rulemaking is being circulated to the commission today, and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that he intends to have enforceable rules by the end of the year. Be sure to let your congressional representatives know how you feel about a free and open internet. And while you're at it, give FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler a call. Here's his number. We will not let that kind of control take over the internet. Period. For more on un-f***ing the internet, check out The Verge. Coming up, Disney World begins offering advanced fast passes, allowing wealthier families even faster access to Space Mountain.

I'm Todd Jones. My brother and I founded and run Teton Gravity Research and we're a media company. We do action sports entertainment. We had a fairly wild upbringing, you know, with the three brothers and it was always like just adventure and trying to, you know, create cool wild different stuff and always stayed really close with my brothers and, you know, fortunate enough to work with them all today. So this is a photo of my younger brother Jeremy Jones and myself in Stil, Vermont in the early days. Basically, my dad had gotten us these boards and we really liked it. We would ski all day and the mountain would close and then we would put on the headlamps and hike up behind our house, you know, just any little hill we could find and build kickers and stuff. And that's how in 1986 and 87, that's how we did it. You know, we were fortunate our friend Doug Coombs had opened the first like commercial heli ski guiding in Alaska and we were fortunate for him to take us under his wing and give us jobs. At the time, we couldn't really afford to pay for a bunch of helicopter time. We were just ski bones and dishwashers in Jackson Hole and we'd spend all of our money just doing our own personal runs and exploring the Chugach Range. And then we'd be out of money and we'd hitchhike to the nearest fishing port and hop on a boat and try and make some money and, you know, keep the whole dream rolling. You know, at that point we were kind of low-level pro skiers ourselves and no one was really capturing that Alaska movement that was really a big part of our whole DNA. Me and my brother and another guy all pulled in commercial fishing money and bought our first RFlex 16mm camera and said, screw it, let's make our own film. Those early days of hanging out the side of helis, I think, really taught me a lot. In aerial cinematography, for one, you have to see the vision of what you want to do because it's just moving space and then you have to communicate that to your pilot. The Continuum is really cool because it's our first film. So it was like, you know, super indicative of the time for us. It was 18 years ago and we didn't need a ton and we had this vision to make movies and make films and I was still skiing in front of the camera and me and my brother and our other partner were trading the camera back and forth. We just had this idea and vision and really wanted to set out and chase it down and go after it. It was a really special, special film for us. You know, playing with technology and watching the world evolve and change and kind of, you know, seeing what's relevant and how that can help us do what we do is really cool. I would say 18 years ago when we started TGR, we started rolling the cameras and really haven't put them down. We, you know, threw this thing out there not really knowing what it would do. The last eight years have been like the most dynamic, constantly changing, evolving times ever.

It's not TV, it's just shrewd f***ing business. I'm Ross Miller and this is 90 seconds on the verge. Amazon and HBO have signed an extensive, exclusive, multi-year agreement that brings many of the network's shows and specials to Prime Instant Video. That means for the first time ever, you'll be able to legally stream HBO content across a number of set-top boxes without a cable subscription. Starting May 21st, Amazon Instant Video will offer eight of HBO's biggest shows in their entirety as well as select seasons from Boardwalk Empire and True Blood. HBO also promises that seasons of Girls, Veep, and Newsroom will be added in the future, but not until three years after the first air. Notably absent, however, Arliss, also Game of Thrones. It's a good deal for HBO, which is no doubt walking away with unfathomable amounts of money here, but it's an even better deal for Amazon. The company has already locked down several high-profile exclusives to stream shows like Downton Abbey and 24, but HBO has long been the white whale of streaming content, and an Amazon exclusive is ostensibly a missed opportunity for Netflix, its biggest competitor. And just like Big Red, Amazon is aggressively pushing to create a portfolio of original series on top of these syndication deals. But don't mistake this as a sign that HBO is softening its ties to the cable industry. The network's top brass have always been very vocal about where the big money is, and these shows are, frankly, years old. So if you really want to watch the new Game of Thrones, legally speaking, you're going to have to pay for cable. For more on Amazon and HBO, check out The Verge. Coming up, Microsoft announces the return of web TV with the exclusive rights to stream reruns of VH1's pop-up video and clips from SNL's 1980-1981 season.

Now the pros can say goodbye to blurry out of focus photos. I'm Nathan Seichert and this is 90 seconds on the verge. This is the Lightro Allume. You can think of it as the professional version of its original point and shoot that first shipped in 2012. A light field camera with a more traditional looking body and a larger more powerful sensor. It's available for pre-order now at the professional level price of $1,599. But let's take a step back. What exactly is light field photography anyway? It's not a camera on the conventional sense. When you push a button it doesn't imprint reflected light on a sensor the way a camera does. Lightro instead records the direction each ray of light is moving. The practical result is an image that you can refocus after the fact. Lightro's mantra has long been that the magic can be done in software and sure enough it's no longer the only company trying this approach out. Last November Nokia released its refocus app for all PureView Lumia devices. And both Samsung's Galaxy S5 and the new HTC One also tout Lightro-like refocusing effects. Even Google has gone so far as to include refocusing in its new standalone camera app. But all those phones and apps are still using traditional photographic methods. Lightro's pitch is to capture everything at once. Lightro has a great vision for the future of photography but can it convince people to invest in the future now? The Illume will be available in mid-July. For more on Lightro check out The Verge. Coming up Polaroid announces the relationship camera that helps refocus the conversation after you've dug yourself into a hole you just can't seem to get out of. What I was trying to say is that the dress just isn't my favorite one you own. I like it. It's just, you have better ones.

It looks like Nike is throwing in the wearable towel. Hit the showers, FuelBand. I'm Dan Seifert and this is 90 seconds on the verge. On Friday, Nike confirmed reports that it is laying off a majority of the employees in its hardware division, which makes the FuelBand line of fitness trackers as well as the Nike Plus sport watch and other peripheral devices. CNET reports that as many as 55 people on Nike's 70-person hardware team were laid off last Thursday. The original FuelBand launched in 2012 to ecstatic consumer demand, but Nike was slow to capitalize on that with few updates to the wearable. With the release of products like the Fitbit Flex, the FuelBand is no longer the only player on the court. While Nike's announcement is surprising, as the FuelBand is considered one of the better fitness trackers out there, it shows that maybe Nike sees a bigger storm coming. With last month's announcement of Android Wear, Google's smart watch operating system, and the long rumored Apple smart watch possibly coming soon, fitness companies are no longer the only ones interested in wearable devices. Nike is not a technology company, and it knows that, but it seems perfectly fine playing assistant coach to the bigger players. While Nike has stated that it will continue to improve the FuelBand app, as well as continue selling and supporting the device for the foreseeable future, the possibility of the company releasing new hardware is slim. Moving forward, Nike will reportedly shift its focus to fitness software, which other hardware makers can then integrate into their own wearables. The first wave of fitness wearables failed to gain mainstream adoption. However, with Apple and Google expected to step up to the plate, the next round in wearables is about to begin. For more on the Nike FuelBand, check out The Verge. Coming up, McDonald's also announces it's getting out of the wearable game after declining sales of its McNugget pedometer. People kept eating it.

Elon Musk and SpaceX continue their goal toward commercial space travel. I wonder what the in-flight movie will be? I'm Jake Kastronakis and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. SpaceX launched its third supply mission to the International Space Station this afternoon. The Falcon 9 rocket and accompanying Dragon capsule took off from Cape Canaveral with the goal of rendezvousing with the space station on Sunday morning. The launch gives SpaceX a chance to test the next step in its plan for a reusable rocket. Once the Dragon capsule detaches, the rocket will attempt to slow itself and make a controlled return to Earth, where it will be fished out of the ocean and used again. To give you an idea of how expensive space exploration can be, a NASA space shuttle launch costs around $450 million per mission, and a lot of that money goes toward building rockets that just crash into the ocean afterward and are damaged beyond repair. But SpaceX has a chance to change that. Its launches cost about $56 million, and Elon Musk says that a reusable rocket could even cut that in half. While the chance of today's rocket landing successfully isn't great, it's put between about 30 and 40 percent, SpaceX and NASA will still be breaking new ground on the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule headed for the space station is carrying red romaine lettuce and radishes. These are being kept inside an experimental plant growth chamber. It's part of a test project meant to give astronauts a source of fresh food. Of course, all of this is just phase one for SpaceX. Musk's ultimate goal is to make commercial space travel not just a reality, but also an affordable one. For more on SpaceX, check out The Verge. Coming up, in an effort to add more fiber to the astronaut diet, NASA sends 40 tons of Metamucil to the International Space Station.

No one showed up to your birthday party? Facebook wants to help you track down those jerks. I'm Ross Miller, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Facebook today has begun rolling out a new opt-in feature for iOS and Android called Nearby Friends, which, as the name suggests, is all about seeing which of your friends are close by. This kind of social discovery is far from a new idea. In fact, several years ago, it was something of a trend with apps like Highlight, Sonar, and Glancy. They didn't catch on. One reason was technology, more specifically battery life. That's a simpler thing to fix, and one that Facebook believes will not be an issue this time. The bigger issue, however, was social. People don't want to share their exact locations because, well, that's creepy. That's why Nearby Friends is instead focusing on approximate locations, like neighborhoods. Users can then choose to share their precise location with a specific friend after a few clicks. Nearby Friends is a bit of a change in strategy for Facebook, which has lately been breaking its services apart into standalone apps like Paper for News and Messenger for Chat. Facebook clearly thinks of this as a defining feature, but it's also conflicted about how exactly to integrate it. And that confusion echoes Facebook's larger problem. It isn't just the Nearby part that's concerned. It's also Facebook's very broad definition of friends. Facebook also seems to know this and has designed Nearby Friends with curated lists in mind. Okay, so let's say you do activate Nearby Friends. You curate a list, and you get all your buddies to do the same. At the end of the day, do you really want an app actively tracking your location every 15 minutes? For more on Facebook, check out The Verge. Coming up, MySpace unveils its own People Discovery service. You about using MySpace? No?

My name is Mick Ebeling and I love the concept of technology and creativity colliding. I was born in Long Beach, California and then moved out to Phoenix, Arizona, Tempe, Phoenix, Arizona. Grew up in a fantastic family. Parents were married until the day my dad died. So every summer, literally every summer, we would go on a family vacation and we've gone on the same family vacation every year. And we would camp at two campsites every single time we would leave the campground. My dad would always say, you always leave the campground cleaner than when you found it. And looking back now, it's one of those things that ever so subtly just ingrained a certain way of thinking into my brother and I in terms of just trying to make the world a slightly better place. In 2009, I got bit by this bug of using and hacking technology for the sake of humanity and taking technology and actually applying it to things that are going to create a more global good. I came back from dinner one night after having a conversation with a friend of mine and he told me about this doctor out in South Sudan who was helping the people of the Nuba Mountains who were getting bombed and there was a large number of amputees out there. Went online and researched him a little bit and was just blown away by his story and the story of a young boy named Daniel who Dr. Tom had helped stitch up. And that story for me was one of those stories that you couldn't just read it. It was just something that stuck in me that I had to do something. Earlier in the summer, we had just interviewed a guy named Richard Van As. He created this 3D printed prosthetic solution that was amazing and now he was making it for other kids who needed it. We ended up going to Africa. We found Daniel, which that was a miracle in and of itself that we found this young boy who at the time was in a 70,000 person refugee camp. When we put the arm on him for the first time, all of a sudden he started to see, oh my gosh, I've got an arm now. And that I think was the moment for him where he got it. Like he totally understood, like I am gonna have this extension now and it works. After we made the arm for him, he was able to feed himself. We made our trip up to Dr. Tom and then we taught about eight or nine young men who were working at the hospital how to 3D print and how to make these arms themselves. In my life, if I can keep causing or being exposed to those moments of realization, those like pure moments of just aha, like oh my gosh, and doing that in a way that's actually like pushing society forward and advancing us as a species, then man that's all I can wish for. The thing that I'm most excited about is that this has awoken the realization that this is not rocket science. If we can continue to show people that technology is not this foreign, inaccessible thing that you can't actually use, but it's something that's very real and that can help the world and help individuals within the world, then Project Daniel is going to be the first of many things. My name is Mick Ebeling and this is my story.

My name is Pamela Chen and I am an editor, producer, photographer and I work at National Geographic. I'm very close with my family. We were very close growing up. My parents are immigrants. This was taken, I think I was around nine months old and I had destroyed everything in the house and I had picked up my parents' camera and I'm pointing it the wrong way. I really had no idea then that I would end up holding a camera the right way three decades later. It's pretty amazing. My father is a professor of mathematics and so when I went to college I thought I would be a math major with a photography minor because I always kind of liked it. And then one day I was taking pictures on the quad and I didn't know anything. I knew nothing about photography. This girl and her boyfriend were dragging each other down the quad on a skateboard and I picked up the camera and I took a picture but my settings were so wrong that the picture came out really blurry. And that was kind of the first time I realized that photography was a way that you could see the world differently than what you were seeing with your own eyes. And after that I switched my major to photography, my minor to math and my whole life changed after that. For me it was very surreal because I had not ever dreamed of being a journalist but as soon as I started studying it and doing it, it became such a natural fit. I love talking to people, I love hearing their stories, I love documenting things and I love collecting these little details about life and photography was really a way to do that. I love being an editor. For me, even when I was out in the field, I was thinking like, I can't wait to get home and look at these all together on the screen. I can't wait to see everything collected and go through it all. And as an editor for National Geographic, I get to do that. Every story has 10,000 to 60,000 pictures that come in and it's the senior picture editor's role to play in following through the whole journey of the photographer by going through every frame. One of my first assignments at National Geographic was to do the story on a new discovery of Mayan remains in Mexico. What they realized was that these remains had been untouched for 2,000 years. When you do a lot of research on a story, seeing it in real life is kind of a shock and I think that was definitely true when I went down to these sacred cenotes in Mexico. You never start out thinking that your life is going to be a project that you document, but once you start looking at it all together after the years go by and you look and you realize that you have so many pictures of one person or so many pictures of one thing that you were passionate about, then you realize that everything adds up to something. It's all the little details that add up to something and that's something beautiful about a photograph. It gives you a chance to collect your memories. Having a digital record of that is really important to me. Pictures to me are memories and it's just these fragments that add up to a greater whole. And I think more than anything, collecting those pictures is something that I'll do for the rest of my life.

This is Dan Seifer with The Verge. Here at the New York International Auto Show, Apple is demoing CarPlay, its simplified version of iOS optimized for use in the car. We got a chance to look at how CarPlay works in upcoming Hyundai, Volvo, and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. CarPlay relies heavily on Siri. In fact, auto manufacturers can disable manual text input entirely and provides quick access to the things you need most while driving, namely music, navigation, phone calls, and text messages. CarPlay also provides access to third party apps that have been updated to support it. There's only a handful available right now, but you can listen to iHeartRadio, Spotify, or podcasts through your car's stereo. Most of the difficult interactions are done through Siri. You dial numbers, send and read text messages, enter destinations, and call up music with your voice. It works well most of the time, and the system uses the microphones already built into the car instead of using the iPhone's microphone to pick up your voice. CarPlay works in different ways depending on a car's specific hardware configuration. Volvo's implementation uses both a touchscreen and hardware buttons, while Hyundai opted for the all-touchscreen route. Mercedes-Benz chose to forego the touchscreen entirely and requires drivers to control CarPlay with a hardware knob and a handful of buttons. Like iOS, CarPlay really lends itself to touch interactions, and it was definitely easiest to use in the cars with touchscreens. Each car manufacturer integrates CarPlay into its existing navigation systems differently as well. Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz essentially run CarPlay as an app, with it completely separate from the native navigation system. Volvo on the other hand has built an interface that integrates CarPlay as a panel along with the native navigation system, Bluetooth phone app, and media playback. It's much faster and easier to navigate on Volvo's system, and it doesn't feel like you're working in two different worlds as much as the Mercedes and Hyundai's versions. The other thing that's a bit weird about CarPlay is that it duplicates many of the things that car makers have already put into their cars. It's a second navigation system, second phone app, second music player, and second voice recognition system. Car makers don't really have much of a choice here. If you don't have an iPhone, you're still going to want to use navigation and Bluetooth features in your car, and they have to provide them. Still, despite duplicating almost everything your car already does, CarPlay is nicer to use than virtually any automaker's interface, and it integrates with your text messages and smartphone apps much better. Apple's initial CarPlay rollout is rather limited. In addition to Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo, just Ferrari and Honda have committed to launching cars with it this year. Thirteen other manufacturers have also signed on board to support CarPlay at some point in the future. Will CarPlay be the car interface of the future? Only time will tell, but I really wouldn't mind having it in my car right now.

How do you continue a film franchise without one of its most beloved stars? Fast and Furious fans now have their answer. I'm Chris Sigler and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. In a Facebook post this week, the production team behind Fast and Furious 7 announced that Paul Walker's brothers, Cody and Caleb, would be stepping in to fill, quote, "...small gaps in some remaining action that was left unfilmed in the wake of the actor's unexpected death." The production was temporarily put on hold upon Walker's death, as screenwriter Chris Morgan rewrote the script to give Walker's character Brian O'Connor an honorable send-off. Fast and Furious 7 is due for release April 10, 2015. Tragedy like this, sadly, isn't that uncommon in Hollywood. When actor Richard Harris died in 2002 following his portrayal of Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies, Michael Gambon took on the role for the remainder of the series. But as with Walker, what happens when you lose an actor in the midst of production, when recasting isn't an option? Philip Seymour Hoffman had one major scene left to film for the final Hunger Games movie when he died in February. That film was expected to hit theaters in November 2015. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a source close to the production says they're considering, quote, "...digital things as well as editing workarounds to hide his absence." The same combination of tricks was used in 1994 when Brandon Lee died during the filming of The Crow. And then there's the imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. When Heath Ledger died in 2008, director Terry Gilliam proceeded to cast Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law to shoot Ledger's remaining scenes, writing the physical transformation into the story itself. For more on Fast and Furious, check out The Verge. Coming up, in an effort to cut calories, Subway announces the holographic turkey sub. Virtual soy cheese is also available.

Jeff Bezos has come a long way from selling hard copies of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps. I'm Nathan Seidkart and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Is this Amazon's smartphone? BGR claims we're looking at an early prototype wrapped in a protective case to conceal its true design. Here's the interesting part. It has five, yes five front-facing cameras. Rumors have long pointed to Amazon's smartphone having a 3D experience, with the cameras being used to track your face to give the illusion of a 3D space. But the bigger question is why would Amazon want to enter the highly competitive, low margin smartphone market in the first place? Amazon has already proven it can be successful with e-readers, tablets, and even set-top boxes. But those will always be secondary to your smartphone, a device you always have with you. Amazon also has a major advantage over even Apple and Samsung. It can compete on price without subsidies and doesn't need carrier partnerships. Amazon.com is already the world's number one online retailer. And right now, five of its top six best-selling electronics are its own devices. It doesn't need to be on actual store shelves to generate sales. And Amazon's philosophy is to sell devices as close to break-even as possible. The Kindle, Kindle Fire, and Fire TV all have one important thing in common. They're all basically storefronts for Amazon to sell you books, movies, music, virtually anything. And smartphones are more or less the only screen left to own. According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is expected to announce a smartphone by June, with plans to ship it by September. For more on Amazon, check out The Verge. Coming up, Jeff Bezos unveils the Kindling Fire. It's perfect for burning all those books you just re-bought on your Kindle.

Hi, this is Dieter Bon with The Verge, and I'm in Sunnyvale, California at the offices for Project ARA. It's the moonshot project out of the Advanced Technologies and Products group inside Google, and they're trying to build modular smartphones that will let consumers swap out components on the fly. It sounds like a nerd's dream, but the real dream is to upend how we make and buy phones in the future. Project ARA isn't a phone. It's actually, well, a project. ATAP, a group that in some part came out of DARPA, is essentially just making the instructions for how modular phones work. They're developing the technology for the different pieces to talk to each other and working with partners to build prototypes. At the center of it all is an endoskeleton, an unassuming slab with different slots where you can put in modules. There's some wild technology inside this metal frame. ARA is using next-gen, super-fast networking technology to get all the parts to talk to each other. It manages power and lets you hot-swap modules. It uses wireless capacitive pads to let the modules communicate with the main board and each other. Even the way the modules lock into the frame is futuristic. In this lateral direction, they are held using electropermanent magnets, which is a pretty neat technology. It's kind of a cross between a permanent magnet and an electromagnet in that it has an on-state and an off-state. It uses an electrical pulse to switch between those two states, but it's a passive component, meaning it consumes no power in both the off-state and the on-state. But all that technology doesn't add up to a phone. It's essentially just networking. It doesn't have your main processor, your cellular radio, or even a screen. Adding all those things on piecemeal can make for a pretty bulky phone, but ATAP has managed to build something that doesn't look completely ridiculous. Trying to keep the form factor of a device to something that we think is elegant and beautiful where each individual module has this pebble-like, sleek, watertight aesthetic associated with it. And so as a consequence, because the form factor is defined by this, that leaves a little bit less area for functional components. Traditional phones put as many parts as possible on a single circuit board or even a single chip. Pulling all those things apart into separate modules has costs. The phone gets fatter, battery life drops, and overall the thing gets heavier. Aramenco thinks that he can convince people that the trade-offs are worth it. So we want to make sure that that overhead, that inefficiency is minimized. And we think the crossover point is somewhere at the one-third overhead point. We think we'll come in at about one-quarter, about 25% overhead. And by crossover, I mean that's where consumers are willing to trade some penalty in exchange for the flexibility and for the richness of the ecosystem and the ability to customize functionally and aesthetically. The aesthetics matter a lot. Even if Aramenco's ambitious plans work out, people still have to want to use the thing. To get there, ATAP is working with a partner to create a first-of-its-kind 3D printer, which will be able to rapidly build customized plastic shells for each module. What that means is that we'll be able to create module enclosures, which on any given module are user-replaceable. We call them shells. And so a consumer in the ARA marketplace will be able to utilize shell maker apps to create beautiful designs that are not just unique, not just custom, but can also be expressive to the consumer. This week, Aramenco and his team is finally getting into the nitty-gritty of how ARA will work by hosting a conference for hardware developers. The group has an aggressive goal of launching a real product for consumers about a year from now. So getting there won't be easy, and they'll need the support of both big and small manufacturers to do it. The more you think about Project ARA, the crazier and more ambitious it seems. Aramenco's ATAP group itself consists of just a handful of people. They're working with partners to build up prototypes and create the spec. They're also on an insanely tight schedule, and strangely enough, it's a schedule they've imposed on themselves. So the internal team, and in this case the team internal to Google, is very, very small, very, very lean. And we're here for a very short period of time. So I had a two-year tenure, and one year into my two-year tenure. The project is scoped to the team's tenure. And as a consequence, the philosophy is that time is not your friend, and innovation under time pressure is higher quality innovation. It tends to get rid of red tape, it tends to get rid of dithering and inability to make decisions, and it tends to take away risk aversion. So it's innovation under time pressure. ATAP came from a team of people who originally worked at DARPA, pursuing futuristic projects. Aramenco himself had plans for next generation war vehicles, and even something called fractionated spacecraft. But ATAP's philosophy is to aim high and demand that you make something real, something more than just a prototype, in only two years. So the ability to take a sort of fundamental scientific and technical understanding of groundbreaking physics and technology, and intersect that with a driving, very compelling, moonshot practical application. As a consequence, they culminate, they have to culminate in a demonstration. They can't just culminate in theory, or PowerPoint, or a lab demo. So the DARPA mantra is that we do demonstrations at a convincing scale. And what that means is that the demonstration has to retire all the key technical business and market risks. Demonstrations at convincing scale is a weird phrase, but it's an important one. It means that Project ARA has higher stakes than Google's other moonshot projects, like self-driving cars or internet blasting balloons. By this time next year, the ATAP group has to actually prove that ARA can work, it has to have a critical mass of module developers and potential consumers. In fact, they're targeting the five billion people who don't yet have a smartphone. If they can pull it off, it could be a huge deal. Hardware manufacturers won't have to try to convince giant phone makers to include their parts on big-name phones, they can just sell them directly to consumers. Consumers won't have to throw away their old phones when they want to upgrade. And the ATAP team, well, they're going to have to find another crazy problem to tackle. Project ARA will be handed off to Google, and Aramenco will be moving on to the next moonshot. Despite thisходит, Mummy will be receiving out-of-color

It's drone imperialism as Facebook and Google both fight to connect the world, one high-altitude UAV at a time. I'm Russell Brandom, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Google has acquired Titan Aerospace, a company developing solar-powered drones that can reportedly stay in flight for years at a time. Titan's team will stay in New Mexico but work closely with Project Loon, Google's original initiative to use weather balloons to bring internet access to the world at large. That team will also reportedly work with turbine company Makani Power, which Google picked up in May of last year. It sounds crazy, using drones to bring the world online, but surprisingly enough, Google isn't the only company with this strategy. Last month, Facebook announced plans to engineer its own fleet of internet-equipped, solar-powered drones. Just like Google, it would aim to bring connectivity to the estimated two-thirds of the world that's currently offline. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook also considered buying Titan earlier this year, but ultimately decided on the UK-based Ascenta to make its airborne routers. So while these American companies look to deploy drones across the world, we're still not sure how to regulate drones at home. The Federal Aviation Administration has until 2015 to outline safety regulations for commercial UAVs. At that point, Titan says its drones will be ready to deliver connections up to 1 gigabit per second across 1,000 miles of remote countryside, with each drone lasting up to five years at a time. If you're already connected, then Amazon would like to offer you deliveries by drone, assuming it doesn't get stuck in a UAV traffic jam. For more on the future of drones, check out The Verge. Coming up, we take a look at Operation Magic's school bus, a fleet of nano-drones designed to enter through your nostril to learn about the central nervous system.

What does it look like when you combine a fitness tracker and a smartwatch? If you're Samsung, it looks like this. The $199 Gear Fit is Samsung's first attempt at a wrist-worn fitness tracker, and it borrows a lot of elements from the company's line of Gear smartwatches. It's by far the most handsome of Samsung's wearables, with an attractive design and slim enough profile. It's made of rubber and plastic, so it's definitely not premium, but it's not a bad-looking device at all. The real star of the show here, though, is the Fit's gorgeous curved touchscreen display. It's bright, vibrant, and has incredible viewing angles. It's also easy to read outdoors, which is really important for a fitness device. The Fit is the first device I've seen where a curved display actually makes sense and fits in with what the product is supposed to do. The Fit's rubbery band is comfortable to wear, and the clasp is easy to close, which I can't really say for competitors like the Fitbit Force or Flex. But for all the nice things I can say about the Fit's hardware, unfortunately that beauty is only skin deep. The main problem with the Fit is that it's just not a very good fitness tracker, and not a very good smartwatch. The Fit's horizontal layout proves to be pretty hard to use. By default, the display is oriented horizontally, which makes it awkward to read when you're wearing it. There's an option to switch that orientation to vertical, and that's what I ended up using most of the time. But then text is condensed, and reading anything on the display requires a lot of swiping. The touchscreen isn't always responsive either, requiring me to tap at it repeatedly at times. The Fit does do the things that you'd expect from a fitness tracker. It can count your steps, track your sleep, and even has a built-in heart rate monitor. But the step counter proved to be wildly inaccurate, awarding me far more steps than it should have for many activities. Likewise, the heart rate tracker is painfully slow and gives me readings that don't always line up with my state of activity. Or lack thereof. Using the Fit to track your activity is also a chore. Unlike the Fitbit Flex or Basis Band, you have to actually tell the Fit to track your steps. If you forget to turn the pedometer on, it just won't record your activity. Likewise, the sleep tracking requires you to remember to tell the Fit that you're going to sleep and that, well, you've woken up in the morning. With every other fitness tracker offering these functions automatically, it just seems like a real oversight by Samsung with the Fit. The Fit pairs with Samsung's S-Health app on your smartphone to organize all of your fitness data, but S-Health proves to also be lacking in many areas. There's also a built-in fitness coach that's designed to give you challenges to meet your goals throughout the day. But there's no way to view my sleep activity, and Samsung just doesn't do a great job of tying all of this data together into something I can actually use. On the smartwatch side of things, the Fit can show you basic notifications from your phone including those from third-party apps. But there's little you can do with those notifications other than just clear them. You can set up message templates for quick replies to text messages or to reject incoming calls, but aside from that, the smartwatch functions are quite limited. And the fact that the screen isn't always on makes it a poor replacement for an actual watch. Finally, the Fit's battery is also just disappointing, requiring a charge every two days or so. It charges through this awkward USB adapter that will most surely get lost, and even though the Fit has a small battery, it takes a lot longer to fully charge than I expected or really wanted to wait for. There's going to be a lot of smartwatches on the market this year, in addition to a lot of fitness trackers. The Gear Fit's limitations, price, and the fact that it only works with Samsung devices put it at a disadvantage right from the start, and I have a feeling that those who are patient will have much better options in the near future.

Samsung's always had weird ideas about what we should do with our cell phones. And it's been wrong a lot. I don't want to wave my hand over the phone to answer a call, thank you very much. But this time, Samsung says it's trying something different. To perfect the things that users really care about and leave the rest aside. And when it does weird things, to at least make them awesome. That's how you get this, the Galaxy S5. To look at it, the S5's not actually that different from last year's ultra-popular Galaxy S4. It has a slightly larger 5.1 inch screen and is thus a little bigger, but it's pretty much the same look, the same layout, the same everything. But that's okay. The 1080p screen is absolutely beautiful, the phone is thin and light, and it's as usable as any other big 5 inch phone. Which is to say, not very, but that's what you sacrifice for a screen like this. And the look may not have changed, but the phone feels really different. It's still made of plastic and it feels like it belongs in a toy aisle when you compare it to the HTC One or the iPhone 5S or even the Moto X. But it has this slightly dimpled soft touch back that feels a lot better than the gross slimy shell of the S4. Is it great? No. It's not even good, but it's better. The one remarkable improvement is that the S5 is waterproof. There's an awkward port flap covering up the charger, but other than that there's no indication that this phone has been ruggedized at all. But it has. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is. Since the S5 doesn't feel so precious, I wound up using it in places I never would otherwise. One thing Samsung's always paid attention to is battery life, and it holds true here too. The phone can last through a day, even a day and a half, without much trouble at all. If you do run into problems, there's a crazy ultra-power saving mode that instantly turns your phone into a super basic but super long-lasting device. So no matter what comes, you'll probably be okay. The last big thing manufacturers have to get right is the camera. And Samsung does, more or less. It has a 16 megapixel camera that is capable of taking really great sharp pictures. There's a neat real-time HDR mode, which does wonders for shots with bright backgrounds and dark subjects. There are also, of course, many of the same weird dual-camera modes and crazy filters as always. A second sensor in the camera makes autofocusing really fast, and it'll even shoot 4K video if, for some insane reason, you want your phone video in 4K. It has some real trouble in really low light, but for most things you'd want to shoot with your phone, the S5's camera is solid. Samsung got the big, mission-critical things right here. The display and battery, check and check. The camera, mostly check. And even though build quality is still pretty rough, having a waterproof phone is at least worth something. That's all great. But what do they always seem to, the little things kill Samsung? Little things like the fact that every time the phone vibrates, it sounds like an explosion and feels like something is rattling around inside the phone. Like the speaker, which points quiet, tinny audio away from your face. Like the fact that the fingerprint sensor, the supposedly great addition that makes it super secure and easy to unlock your phone and pay for stuff, is impossible to use unless you hold the phone in two hands and swipe oh-so-carefully right perfectly down the center of the home button. Like the multitasking and back buttons that bleed a circle of white light and just look bad. Samsung has always over-customized Android, and its TouchWiz skin here on top of Android 4.4.2 is only a very slight improvement. Samsung has cleaned up the TouchWiz look a lot, and it's now a lot more consistent and a lot less ugly. It still has just as many weird options and ideas, they're all just better hidden now. Samsung still preloads too many apps, recolors just about everything, and for some reason that is far beyond me still insists on making the phone bloop and ripple every time you touch it. The phone is really fast, thanks to a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, but the software is so over-animated that it can still feel laggy in spots. Magazine UX, the flipboard-powered news reader that lives to the left of the home screen, isn't as good as HTC's BlinkFeed. TouchWiz just isn't as good as Sense in general, even if Samsung has made some steps in the right direction. When there are 20 options in the notification pull-down, 61 items in the settings menu, and 27 different camera settings, Samsung's still doing something wrong here. Again there are a few good ideas that Samsung had that it just hasn't executed very well. S Health is a shockingly full-featured app that can do everything from track your steps to tell you how to exercise or eat better, but it's really not well implemented. You have to explicitly tell it to start tracking your steps, and adding food or exercise gets really clunky. The S5 even has a heart rate monitor if you're really into tracking yourself, but it's really inconsistent and just doesn't make sense here the way it does on the Gear Fit. Luckily, most of its problems are easy enough to hide or avoid, except for the heart rate monitor which creates an ugly divot in the back of the phone. And that's the thing about the S5, which costs $199 on contract on just about every carrier out there. Samsung got virtually all of the important things right, and most of the things wrong are a nuisance, not a dealbreaker. But for all the boxes it ticks, the S5 just isn't an interesting phone, or one I want to use. It doesn't impress or inspire the way the HTC One or the iPhone does, and it doesn't offer something groundbreakingly cool like the notifications or voice control of the Moto X. The S5 is just good, good enough even, but I want it better.

Things you can do with a tax refund. Save it, go traveling, or you can buy a computer to wear on your face. We're not judging. I'm Ross Miller, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. For one day only, on Tuesday, April 15th, Google will let anyone in the US purchase a glass headset for $1,500 plus tax. You can choose from one of five colors, and it will include free frames or sunglass shades. It's been almost one year to the day since Google started shipping its headset to the glass explorers, and it's gotten better. Since the very beginning, Google Glass has been touted as a way to share your view with the world, as well as a way to get information without pulling out your phone. Google has continued to update both the software and hardware, and third-party developers have been contributing various apps. Simply put, there's just more to do with the thing now. Google itself even created a few mini games, though admittedly you look really silly when you play them. And let's not mince words here. Even one year later, it still feels weird to wear the thing in public. While celebrities, athletes, and fashion models have all been seen trying out Glass, most early adopters have been developers and tech enthusiasts, and much of the coverage about Glass has been about privacy concerns and public etiquette. It's enough that Google has made its own list of dos and don'ts to help explorers avoid these faux pas. And that's one of the reasons why Google isn't selling Glass en masse yet. It's not that there aren't more people to pay $1,500. It's just not comfortable to think about people around us wearing a camera at eye level. But Google is banking on us as a culture kind of getting used to it, eventually. For more on Google Glass, check out The Verge. Coming up, we check out Facebook's filling. It fits right here between your teeth and posts everything you say straight to your wall. Turns out I say some weird things in my sleep.

If you build it, they will call. At least that's the vision Google has. I'm Nathan Seidkart, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Google has posted the Module Developer Kit, or MDK, for Project ARA. It's documentation that provides exact specifications for manufacturers that want to create stuff for the upcoming piecewise smartphone. So here's the gist. Project ARA breaks down a smartphone into various modules, like camera, battery, and processor. Those modules all attach to an endoskeleton. The company has outlined three different sizes for ARA endoskeletons, sectioned off by the spine and various ribs. That's Google terminology, not ours. Only Google will build the endoskeletons for now, but it wants third parties to create an ecosystem of modules. Those will be sized to fit in 1 by 1, 1 by 2, or 2 by 2 slots, and will lock in via an electro-permanent magnet. That applies to both the rear modules and the front, which fits various display sizes, speakers, and even a keyboard if you want one. The MDK hints at some pretty ambitious thinking on Google's part, listing potential module ideas like health sensors and even thermal image cameras. I mean, say I wanted to ditch my posh city life and move to the wilderness. I could potentially build a phone with a massive battery and even a built-in dart gun. OK, I might be dreaming a bit too big on that last part. Really, the biggest question is, will consumers care about an upgradable phone? We'll find out soon, actually. Google hopes to have the first ARA phones on sale early next year. For more on Project ARA, check out The Verge. Coming up, Xzibit and I get to work on our own modular phone that can make calls, steam my vest, and make fettuccine Alfredo at the same time.

Comcast is working with the FCC to merge with Time Warner Cable. The problem? Its argument is complete bullshit. I'm Addie Robertson, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. This week, Comcast is laying out its arguments to the FCC for purchasing Time Warner Cable. Basically, its defense breaks down into two main points. One, Comcast is not directly competing with Time Warner Cable in any market. And two, the consumers still have lots of other options for internet and TV. While the first point is technically true, it fails to acknowledge the sheer size of a combined Comcast-Time Warner Cable network, and the power it could wield. If the acquisition is approved, Comcast would have a combined 30 million subscribers for internet and TV. That would be over three times the next largest service. As far as Comcast arguing, there will still be plenty of competition out there. It's important to note what Comcast considers competition. The company defines its business as internet and video. That means that any media box or video service, from Netflix and YouTube to even Apple and Facebook, Comcast counts as competition. But the thing is, all those services actually require Comcast to function. And Comcast's argument about internet competition is even flimsier. Google Fibre's potential expansion is listed, despite only operating in two small markets right now. Comcast then goes for the mother of all exaggerations by claiming 4G LTE wireless as a potential choice for customers, despite having slower speeds and much, much smaller data caps for the price. None of this even takes into account Comcast's ownership of NBCUniversal and all its properties. For more on the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, check out The Verge. Coming up, Comcast completes the last step in vertical integration, by acquiring your eyes.

Marvel Studios has yet another hit on its hands. What the hell is its secret power? I'm Matthew Schnipper and this is 90 seconds on the verge Captain America the Winter Soldier has set a new record for April releases grossing over 95 million dollars in its first weekend It'd be a major success for any film studio But it's especially poignant for Marvel after years of letting other studios adapt its characters for the silver screen the comic book giant released Iron Man in 2008 its first movie produced entirely in-house It also marks the beginning of what is now known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe with each movie living within the same fictional world and characters Making cameos everywhere the studio has released nine films in just six years But it wasn't until 2012's The Avengers that Marvel showed it could really set records So Marvel's proven it can shepherd these cross-pollinated films, but how far into the future are they looking? In a recent Bloomberg Businessweek cover story Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige teased that they had mapped out ideas as far as 2028 which is kind of insane and probably more speculative than anything But Marvel isn't the only one recognizing the box office power of a superhero dynasty Fox is currently revitalizing the x-men franchise As for Sony it has five spider-man films in the works Then there's Warner Brothers the Zack Snyder helm Batman vs. Superman is expected to introduce a cavalcade of DC characters and will debut May 6 2016 which is the exact same day that Captain America 3 is scheduled to premiere for more on Marvel Cinematic Universe Check out the verge coming up. We take a look at some of Marvel's lesser-known superheroes like sad man Who lives in the basement of his parents suburban home spends all this time listening to the Smits

Google is making another stab at television. You know what they say, fifth time's the charm. I'm Sam Sheffer and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. This is Android TV. According to documents obtained exclusively by the Verge, Google's latest attempt to own the living room is expected to launch soon. Google has had a long history of trying to take over the TV with very limited success. The first attempt was Google TV, a full computing platform that Eric Schmidt predicted would ship in a majority of TVs by 2012. And we all know how that turned out, and let's not forget the Nexus Q, the $300 sphere that was scrapped almost as quickly as it was announced. So far, the company's biggest hit with the TV market is the Chromecast. According to sources, Chromecast would continue to live on even after Android TV launches. The Android TV described in these documents is no longer a crazy attempt to turn your TV into a bigger, more powerful smartphone. Instead, Android TV is set to focus on an experience that is, quote, cinematic, fun, fluid and fast. But the big question is what market would Android TV be launching into? There are literally dozens of ways to stream internet video, from Apple TV and Roku to PlayStation and Xbox. The real game changer will be the company that can bypass the likes of Comcast and provide subscription content directly to the user. Even so, as Amazon's Fire TV is currently proving, there's still a market for dead simple set-top boxes that stream compelling content. Android TV could be Google's chance to get back in that game. For more on Android TV, check out the Verge. Coming up, Tesla joins the battle for your living room with the announcement of its own set-top box. Musk CTV.

After decades of stupid pet tricks, is it time for some truthiness? I'm Michael Shane and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. 2015 for the love of god. In fact, Paul and I will be wrapping things up and taking a hike. And with that, David Letterman has officially announced the beginning of the end to his late night tenure. Letterman began CBS's The Late Show in 1993 following a high-profile breakup with NBC. David Letterman's planned retirement in 2015 is of course still a ways off, but that hasn't stopped pretty much everyone from speculating about his replacement. Deadline founder Nikki Fink says that Stephen Colbert is quote, the only one on the air currently that CBS is considering, and Mashable reports that Colbert would be willing to take the gig. According to the Hollywood Reporter, former Daily Show correspondent John Oliver was approached about taking the 1230 slot. Oliver ultimately went to HBO. As for Craig Ferguson, who currently hosts CBS's Late Late Show at 1230, multiple sources tell the Hollywood Reporter he's not a serious contender. CBS could just scrap both The Late Show and Ferguson's Late Late Show altogether and start with a clean, younger slate. Both shows are owned not by CBS, but rather World Wide Pants, David Letterman's production company. And before you ask, Jay Leno already said no. For more on Late Night and other stories, check out The Verge. Coming up, I sit down with CBS to discuss my late night talk show, Shane Says, which is focused solely on the Indiana Jones films. Airing every other Tuesday night at 435 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The fight for your living room is heating up. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Sony, and small players like Roku all want to take over your television and sell you movies and TV shows. The new Amazon Fire TV is a set-top box that plugs into your TV and connects to your home's Wi-Fi or Ethernet network. It's not much different in appearance from an Apple TV or Roku 3, though it's a little thinner and a little larger than either of those. But the hardware design matters little. This thing is designed to sit on your home entertainment center and get out of the way. You control the Fire TV with its included Bluetooth remote. It's pretty similar to both Apple and Roku's remotes and offers basic controls for navigating the interface and playing your media. It also has a button for Amazon's voice search function, which I'll get to in a minute. Amazon's goal with the Fire TV is to address three main frustrations it's seen from customers of the other media streamers – speed, search, and accessibility. It's packed the Fire TV with a quad-core processor and lots of RAM, so it reacts quickly when you navigate menus and load content. It has a new voice search function that works effortlessly and completely obviates the need to manually enter your searches with the remote. And Amazon promises to offer you access to as many media services as it can. In addition to its own instant video service, there are apps for Hulu Plus, Netflix, Watch ESPN, Crackle, and many others available at launch. A big exception here is HBO Go, which isn't available, but Amazon tells us that it's working with HBO to bring that to the Fire TV soon. If you've ever used a Kindle Fire tablet, the interface of the Fire TV will be very familiar. It's a basic grid of TV shows, apps, and movies that you can watch. It's simple and straightforward enough, but not much different from the interfaces on other media streaming boxes. Amazon preloads your content on the Fire TV before shipping it to you, so once you've connected it to your network, all of your instant video purchases, Amazon Cloud Drive photos, and starting next month, Cloud Player music are instantly available. The Fire TV tries to learn your viewing habits to preload content before you decide to watch it, so you see fewer spinning circles and more movies. The extra hardware horsepower Amazon has packed into the box shows – it's more responsive and loads content quicker than a Roku or Apple TV. And as with Amazon's tablets, if you're fully invested in Amazon's ecosystem, you're going to get the most out of the Fire TV. The Hulu and Netflix apps are very similar to what you get on a Roku or Apple TV, but they are siloed from the rest of the features Amazon is pushing with the Fire TV. You can't use the excellent voice search within Hulu or Netflix, and you still have to tediously key in your logins using the remote. Things you watch on Hulu or Netflix won't show up in your recent feed, and you do a lot of bouncing between services if you're watching video from different sources. Amazon does have some integration with Hulu when you use the universal search function, so you can get right to a show from the main interface. But the biggest differentiator for the Fire TV is its games offering. You can get an optional controller for $39.99 or use the included remote to play a variety of games, ranging from Arcade Racer Asphalt 8 to an Amazon developed Halo clone to Disney sponsored runners. For the most part the games look nice and run well. Video times can be a little long, but I didn't see any dropped frames or stuttering while playing the game. The controller is a pretty generic clone of an Xbox controller with dual control sticks, rear triggers, and a few mushy buttons, but for the most part it gets the job done. Most of the games appear to be ports from existing Android smartphone or tablet titles, but with Amazon developing its own with its own studio of games, there's a good chance we'll see many more titles specifically made for the Fire TV in the future. It's not something that can compete with the Xbox One or PlayStation 4, but for the casual gamer it's a nice little addition to what is already a capable media streaming box, and it's probably going to eat the Ouya and other Android powered gaming systems for lunch. There are some interesting things that are missing from the Fire TV. I can't use it to actually shop Amazon for products, and the vaunted Mayday support service from the Kindle Fire tablets is nowhere to be found. There's a good chance that both of these features will be added at some point in the future, but for now the Fire TV is very much a media streaming box, and it's a first edition one at that. The Fire TV is probably the best media streamer you can get right now, at $99 it's the same price as the Apple TV and only a little more than a Roku 3, but it's faster, offers more and has games to boot. But if you're looking for it to be a replacement for your cable TV service, it's really no different from the current options already on the market. Amazon isn't upending the television industry with this one, it's just giving you more ways to give it money.

Firefox has encountered an unexpected problem with its CEO. I'm Adrienne Jeffries, and this is 90 seconds on the verge. Mozilla co-founder and CEO Brendan Eich has resigned from the company amidst controversy surrounding his $1,000 donation to California's infamous anti-gay marriage ballot, Proposition 8. Eich has also resigned from the board of Mozilla's non-profit foundation. Mozilla, best known for its Firefox browser, confirmed the move in a statement posted to the company's blog. Quote, Eich co-founded the Mozilla organization in 1998 and became CTO of the for-profit Mozilla Corporation when it launched in 2005. He also invented the programming language JavaScript. The pressure on Eich to resign mounted during an extraordinarily public discussion among Mozilla employees, developers, and other members of the community. Last week, three of Mozilla's six board members left the software company reportedly over its appointment of Eich, who became CEO last month. The question still remains whether these members will return to their positions now that Eich is out, although at the time Mozilla contended the resignations had nothing to do with Eich being selected. Popular dating site OKCupid asked its users to boycott Mozilla amid the controversy. Firefox users who visited the dating site were directed to a message calling out Eich for his support of Prop 8. The question now is who will step in as CEO. Mozilla says the role is being discussed and it will have more information next week. For more on Mozilla, check out The Verge. Coming up, Brendan Eich takes a trip to Vegas and loses big at the craps table. Hey, it's not the worst way he spent $1,000.

Hey, this is Tom Warren with The Verge and we're looking at Nokia's new Windows Phone 8.1 devices. The first one is the Lumia 930, which looks kind of like the Lumia icon on Verizon, so same 5-inch 1080p display. What Nokia's done here is at the rear of the device you've got a lot of color, so this is an orange model. There's also a bunch of other colors including green. They've got the same 20-megapixel camera on the back here and it's the same sort of rectangular blocky feel with metallic edges. It's actually basically a Lumia icon for the rest of the world. Now the second device that Nokia's announced today is the Lumia 630 and out of the two this is the new device, so to speak. First thing you notice, obviously it's got some on-screen buttons, that's new to Windows Phone 8.1. It's also got dual SIM support, so you've got the two separate tiles for each SIM here and two separate tiles for the messaging there, so you can link the two, but that's just to allow people to slot in the two SIMs. Aside from that, a 4.5-inch display at the front here and at the back you've got a matte finish and some crazy green-looking color here. It's a lot like the Nokia X and it kind of looks similar to the Lumia 620 as well, so you've got a kind of angular take at the back there. A 5-megapixel camera at the rear. Other than that, it's a kind of standard Windows Phone device aside from these on-screen buttons that allow you to navigate around and get into things like Cortana. So that was a quick look at the Nokia Lumia 630 and the Nokia Lumia 930.

We successfully made it through the three-hour Microsoft Build keynote. This will be about 120th of that. I'm Nathan Sykert and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Microsoft kicked off its annual developer conference today with a new way for developers to create a single app that works across Windows phones, tablets, PCs, and even the Xbox One. Unification has appeared to be a goal of Microsoft's for some time now. Whether or not you pay per platform, however, or pay once for universal access, well, that's up to the developers. Siri and Google Now have a new rival. Say hello to Cortana. She'll probably say hi back. Arriving with Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft's new voice assistant lets you manage basic phone functions, set appointments and reminders, search the web, and more. Microsoft is taking a more human approach to Cortana and even brought in Jen Taylor, the voice actress for Cortana in the Halo series, to reprise her role here. Windows Phone 8.1 will roll out as a free update to consumers in the next few months. While the audience at Build was happy to see Cortana in action, it was the return of the Start menu that really got the party started. It looks like a Windows 7 and 8 hybrid, being around the same size as the Windows 7 menu, but also featuring miniature live tiles along one side. Microsoft also showed a new mode that allows modern Windows 8 apps to run on the desktop inside their own Windows. The Windows 8.1 update is coming April 8th with major keyboard and mouse improvements, but the new Start menu? That's not coming until sometime later this year. For much, much more from the Build conference, check out The Verge. Coming up, Microsoft cancels a secret real-life Titanfall beta. We talked to the survivors.

Welcome to Build 2014. Today we're announcing two things. Windows Phone 8.1 and our Windows 8.1 update. We believe that Windows Phone is the world's most personal smartphone. So I'm going to come up here and pull down from the top and show you our new Action Center in Windows Phone 8.1. Now the second thing we've done to make Windows Phone feel even more personal is a feature that lets you greatly personalize your lock screen. Of course we've evolved the heart and soul of Windows Phone, the start screen. One of the things that we spent a lot of effort on this past year, a new feature that makes Windows Phone very personal in an incredibly useful way. Hi, I'm Cortana. It's certainly a lot catchier than Microsoft Personal Assistant V1 Service Pack 2 2014. She can make phone calls or send texts or schedule appointments or take a note, give you a reminder. She's also good at helping you learn things. She can do searches, tell you what music is playing. She knows the places you frequent and so on and so on. Here's Cortana's notebook. This is the transparent way of putting the user in control of their relationship with Cortana. You might notice down here on the very bottom, Cortana is prompting me with information that's new. Wow, look at that. Microsoft is announcing Windows Phone 8.1. Cortana on the phone gets to know you with your permission. It goes in the notebook and then the service can be helpful proactively. Here are 10 Mexican restaurants in Palo Alto that are four stars. Call the second one. Sure thing. Who would you like to call? Well, there you go, our first little demo bug with my nervous voice. Sorry about that. Actually, that's a good segue to mention that as you notice in the upper right, we're launching Cortana as a beta. Ordinarily, she would recognize when I get home and you would see right there, home. I converted that temperature to Celsius. No, that's not what I want. Oh, it got a two. I'm going to try that one again. There are 105 calories in a serving of banana. The Bing Health and Fitness app gets this data as a means of Cortana being extended to apps. And then when I use that app, the banana is then added and I can keep track of those calories. I might talk to my sister on the phone or I might have a chat string with her. I might have an email conversation. And in all those cases, Cortana will now remind me when I'm in the context of talking to my sister to talk to her about her new puppy. Cortana can be extended via third party apps. Hulu, add deadbeat to my queue. And so the app runs, the service recognizes the data. All right, adding deadbeat to queue. There it is. Cortana is the first truly personal digital assistant. You thought talking to Cortana was risky. This is terrible. I have sweaty hands and now I'm going to type as fast as I can. You ready? I love, with a heart, developers. Windows Phone 8.1 is going to start rolling out to consumers as an update in the next few months. So now I'm going to change gears and talk to you about Windows 8.1. If you are a Windows user that's been a Windows user for a long time, you probably have a deep and intimate relationship with the taskbar. So if I move down here to the bottom of the screen, the taskbar will pop up and I can use that to switch between modern apps. There's mail. There's Facebook. I can switch back to a Win32 app like IE. The Windows 8.1 update will be available to all Windows 8 and 8.1 users via Windows Update starting April 8th. Well, it's my pleasure to introduce Universal Windows Apps. Your customers can buy the app one time and it works on both phone and PC. They don't need to buy a different app for the phone and the PC. So what I want to do is give you a look at some of the work we're doing to build touch-first versions of Office for this modern Windows platform. And I want to show you the same application that I was just working on on the tablet also works on the phone. Your Universal Windows applications running on the Xbox. You can't just make it work with a controller. You really need to think about how you're going to take advantage of Kinect. And so I'm pretty excited today to announce Kinect for B2 for Windows. So I want to announce today that we're giving a free Xbox One to everyone in the audience here at Build. We're going to enable your Universal Windows applications to run in a window. And we're going to enable your users to find, discover, and run your Windows applications with the new start menu. We will bring Windows Phone 8.1 to all Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices offered in an over-the-air update coming this summer. We're also excited to introduce the next generation of Lumia devices, the Nokia Lumia 930. The Lumia 930 offers unprecedented images and videos. It's got optical image stabilization, so as that gentleman is shaking his hand with a competing device, I will get the clear picture. Before getting the blurry picture, you can capture and relive your videos with complete surround sound capabilities right from this device. [♪ music playing in background with no vocals playing in background. Now we'll start selling the Lumia 930 globally in June. We will start in Europe and then move through Asia, India, and the Middle East. I'd like to introduce you to two new Lumia products, the Nokia Lumia 630 and the Nokia Lumia 635. The 630 and 635 have a sleek design. They come in five stunning colors with changeable shells, and that will be in the month of May. We'll start the rollout in Asia, move through India, the Middle East, South America, and Europe, and we'll be here in the U.S. broadly with our partners starting in July. The Lumia 630 3G single SIM will be priced around $159. If it's a dual SIM device, it will be $169, and if it's the 635 4G version, it will be $189, all before taxes and local subsidies. Here in the U.S., of course, the pricing is quite different based on the operators. There's going to be more ubiquitous computing everywhere, and there's going to be ambient intelligence everywhere. Okay, your presentation is ending now. Would you like any exit music? Sure. Play It's Time by Imagine Dragons. Thank you very, very much, Bill. I hope you all have a fantastic time at the rest of the Deval Conference. Thank you.

Hey, this is Tom Warren with The Verge and we're looking at Windows Phone 8.1, an update to Microsoft's mobile operating system. The first thing you'll notice is when you scroll through the tiles on the start screen here, there's a transparent effect and you can basically skin these tiles with a background image. Now that's coming across to all old devices that update and it's just a new feature and it's kind of cool looking. Now some of the bigger features in Windows Phone 8.1 is a new action center that you swipe down from the top. It's kind of similar to iOS and Android. You've got your sort of settings here. You can turn off Bluetooth, turn off Wi-Fi, all that kind of stuff. And you can also check out the battery so you actually see the percentage of these. Notifications from apps will show here. You can tweak them and get them to mute, not to vibrate and all the sounds, etc. Another big feature is obviously Cortana. You hold down the search button to activate the voice side of it. You can ask the questions. You can also interact with text so we'll quickly show that now. On the text side, you can actually use a swipe keyboard. Now Microsoft is saying that this is the fastest in the world and they're boasting about that. It's kind of fast and it's all integrated in so you don't have to go and swap to it. It's just all there. Now kind of the theme of Windows Phone 8.1 is tweaking and lots of small additions. So one of them, Battery Saver, you go in, it lists basically all your battery usage across all of the apps so you can see which apps are really taking your battery. It's pretty cool. There's also a Wi-Fi Sense feature that will automatically connect to free Wi-Fi networks when you're on the road. So Internet Explorer is also being updated. It supports YouTube in the way that the YouTube video will now play inline rather than fullscreen. You can also sync all your tabs back to your Windows 8.1 device. That's kind of a common theme across Windows Phone 8.1. So even your theme color choice and your layout here will sync up to OneDrive and that will be prevalent across any Windows Phone 8.1 device that you use. So Microsoft is also separating out the video and the music features and podcasts. And there's also new features in the calendar. So the view looks a lot better. So that was kind of the big features, Action Center, Cortana, and this cool new Start Screen. And that was Windows Phone 8.1.

Jeff Bezos is coming to your living room, but who's bringing the popcorn? I'm Ross Miller and this is 90 seconds on the verge. Well after many months of rumors Amazon has announced Fire TV a $99 set-top box that starts shipping today. The box which places Amazon Prime video service at the center stage also contains the de facto suite of video apps including Hulu, Netflix and Twitch. Fire TV also features music apps like Pandora and iHeartRadio, an app that displays pictures and videos you've backed up with Amazon Cloud Drive. One of Amazon's biggest selling points with Fire TV is its new remote which aims to take on voice commands. The new remote has a built-in microphone allowing customers to speak into it in order to find a movie or TV show. This is Amazon taking on products like Microsoft Connect which forces users to shout at the TV. The company is touting this as a pretty major feature even broadening Gary Busey of all people to promote it. Gary Busey. At $99 the Fire TV is priced at par with Apple TV and Roku 3, but where Amazon is trying to stand out is a genuine effort at being a gaming console. It's not trying to be an Xbox or PlayStation killer however as much as it is something for people who want smartphone games on their TV. And there's also Minecraft. You can control the games with the Fire TV remote with an upcoming tablet app or with Amazon's new $40 game controller. Amazon is promising thousands of games available by May many of which will be free to play. The average price of a paid title is said to be about $1.85. For more on Fire TV and other stories check out The Verge. Coming up Amazon sets its sights on the food industry with the Amazon Prime Rib.

I'm Tom Warren with The Verge. Apple has Siri, Google has Google Now, and Microsoft finally has Cortana. Cortana is a personal digital assistant for Windows Phone 8.1, a big update to Microsoft's mobile operating system. She takes the form of a circular icon, and you can talk or type to Cortana to get her attention. She's like your very own assistant, and she even has a notebook just like a real one. The notebook feature is designed so that only you can share information with Cortana, but she'll be learning about your habits and interests all the time before asking you to store anything she learns about you. Like Google Now and Siri, Cortana will answer basic web searches using natural voice commands. You can ask things like, how tall is Britney Spears? Five feet, four inches tall. Or what's the nearest restaurant? I found this restaurant. The difference here is that once you've completed a query, there's a multi-step element with Cortana where you can also say, call it, and she will understand you meant the nearby restaurant. You can also say, show me directions. Cortana also has a personality, and Microsoft has brought in the voice of Cortana from Halo, Jen Taylor, to answer some queries. Whether it's you asking, who is your father? And getting this reply. Technically speaking, that'd be Bill Gates. No big deal. Or do you like Siri and getting an equally witty result? Hard to say. So far, our conversations have been kind of one-sided. As Cortana is a personal assistant, she'll also notify you of things like sports scores or flight information. But you can also ask her to remind you in clever ways. Remind me when I next speak to my girlfriend that I need to discuss Kevin. Next time you talk to Sarah Elizabeth Hipple, I can remind you to discuss Kevin. Great. Cortana will then create a reminder that triggers when you next speak to your girlfriend. That's useful and super powerful. Other commands include the ability to ask Hulu to find the latest episode of a TV show, or just ways to turn off airplane mode and other system settings. Cortana is always with you in your pocket and learning about you. But the real trick for Microsoft will be when it can offer this type of digital assistant everywhere. In your living room, car, at work, and on every device you own. Cortana is powered by Bing, and it's impossible to imagine her existing without Microsoft's clever search work and servers crunching data in the background. Microsoft is rolling out Cortana to Windows Phone and Bing.com initially. One day you'll be able to ask Cortana to sing you a song, and her voice will be everywhere. Here's one I know. Should old acquaintance be forgot and never thought upon?

This is Dan Seifer with The Verge and we're looking at Amazon's new Fire TV Home Entertainment Box. This is a very similar box to something like you might be familiar with a Roku or an Apple TV. It's about a five inch square device, very simple looking, very monolithic, simple ports on the back for USB, Ethernet. You've got your optical audio out and HDMI and power. And inside it's got a quad core processor, two gigs of RAM, Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth connectivity. Other than that, that's the hardware of the box. You actually use this box with this wireless remote which talks to it through Bluetooth. It's got a simple circular up, down, left, right, basic controls and this voice search button which we'll take a look at in a minute. Optionally, you can add the game controller to the system which will let you play games. It gives you a very similar experience you might have on a PlayStation or an Xbox with the dual joysticks, trigger buttons here on the back, wireless controller. That's going to sell as a separate price for about $39.99. We've got a very fast, fluid interface that Amazon is using. It looks very similar to the Amazon Fire tablets interface if you've used a Fire HD or anything like that before. You've got access to movies, TV, you access your Amazon Prime watch list, all your video library. There's games on here like we mentioned earlier. Some really impressive graphics that we saw during the demos earlier of Asphalt 8 and an Amazon published game called Sev Zero. Then you've got different apps which you can access as well. You can access your Amazon Cloud photos too. Everything is very fast and responsive. Amazon is positioning this as a high performance version of a home entertainment system. We're not going to expect the lag that we see on other devices like a Roku or other things that frequently can be frustrating to use just because they're not as slow and responsive. One of the things that they're doing to make it easier to use at home is the voice search with the remote so you can do things like Ender's Game. Ender's Game. Let's try a different one. Duck Dynasty. There you go. It does very quick voice type of search so you can pull up things without having to type in anything into the screen itself which makes your life a lot easier when you're at home on your couch in your living room. Amazon is actually selling this starting today. The price of the box is $99.99 and as mentioned earlier you can get the optional game controller for $39.99.

It came, it saw, it limped to the finish line. I'm Maddie Robertson, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. The deadline for Obamacare has passed, and thanks to a last minute surge in sign ups, the White House met its target of enrolling more than 7 million people. To help reach its goal, the Obama administration launched an 11th hour marketing push that included of all things an appearance on the Zach Galifianakis show Between Two Ferns. Okay, let's get this out of the way, what did you come here to plug? Nearly 5 million visits were made to healthcare.gov on Monday, causing the site to have a brief last minute breakdown. You know, for old times sake. The launch of healthcare.gov last October was marred by technical failure. Only 6 people reportedly managed to enroll on the first day, and less than 27,000 total in the first month. The White House promised to fix the website by the end of November, and while it did become more robust, errors have persisted. But don't worry if you ran into any issues and weren't able to finish enrollment, there's still quite a bit of wiggle room. Anyone who at least started an application, which can be as little as filling out your name, can still complete it and receive coverage in 2014. Actually, even if you haven't started an application, but experienced website errors, were given misinformation by an Affordable Care Act worker, or fit into one of 8 other categories, you'll still be okay. There isn't even a penalty for lying. You must, however, apply by April 15th in order to get coverage starting in May. For more on the Affordable Care Act, check out The Verge. Coming up, I submit my claim for being late to enroll. I had to lie down because I had a headache for not being able to enroll in healthcare.gov. Yep, that's it. The site wasn't working.

The patent trial of the century is getting a sequel. Hopefully they don't leave it open for a trilogy. I'm TC Sotic, and this is 90 seconds on the Verge. Apple and Samsung returned to court this week for round two of its patent infringement court battle. The first trial, which ended less than two years ago, saw Apple convince jurors that Samsung made billions of dollars copying the iPhone. So what's different this time around? Simpler patents, for one. Apple will try to convince the court that Samsung wholesale copied many of the features found in the original iPhone, including slide to unlock and universal search. The other big difference is Google. Samsung signed a broad cross-licensing agreement with Google last January, and now Samsung is arguing Google independently developed many of the software features Apple has accused it of copying. Apple will still paint itself as a huge risk taker with the launch of the original iPhone, while Samsung will suggest Apple is being a bully trying to stifle competition. It's worth noting that of the almost 20 products listed, only a handful are still on sale. Most have been retired. It also doesn't cover any of the company's latest products since the lawsuit was filed in 2012 and only just made it to trial. Ultimately, this case isn't about money. The financial damage both sides are asking for is relative chump change for the tech companies. This is about Apple and Samsung, two extremely bitter rivals, battling it out in every venue imaginable. It's the hangover part two of sequels. More of the same with just a little more Google this time around. For more on Apple versus Samsung, check out The Verge. Coming up, two star-crossed lovers, one an Apple executive, the other a Samsung VP, fall in love amidst a heated battle between two rival families. Love, tragedy, and patents collide.

What's BlackBerry's plan for the future? Apparently, the answer lies in the past. I'm Dan Seifert, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. BlackBerry is bringing back the Bold, a phone it first introduced way back in 2011. Announced during the company's fourth quarter earnings call, CEO John Chen said the revival is based purely on customer demand, and is possible because BlackBerry partnered with a cheaper manufacturer to produce the device. Since the Bold's original launch in 2011, it's been superseded by the BlackBerry 10-based Z10, Q10, and Z30. But those haven't quite taken off in the same way. Simply put, the Bold is the quintessential BlackBerry smartphone. Chen didn't say where the Bold will be sold, but it's likely that BlackBerry will sell it in the same emerging markets as it's been selling other BlackBerry 7 devices. Chen assumed the role of CEO this past November, and has made the company focus on cutting back its expenses and expanding its software and services. BlackBerry's iconic Messenger service went cross-platform late last year, and is now up to 85 million users. But the service's growth has slowed, and it's not nearly the juggernaut that competitor WhatsApp is with its 450 million users. BlackBerry has been struggling with losses for the last couple years. In its 2014 fiscal year, the company lost $711 million, over $80 million more than the previous year. Chen is playing a long game, and says he doesn't expect the company to be profitable again until 2016. What exactly BlackBerry will look like by then remains to be seen, but there's a very good chance it will never be the smartphone powerhouse it once was. For more on BlackBerry and other stories, check out The Verge. And coming up, I vow to eat my Bold if BlackBerry isn't profitable by 2016. Oh god, what have I done?

For most of my life, virtual reality was the stuff of films like The Lawnmower Man and Johnny Mnemonic. It looked pointless or just silly in retrospect. It was also the stuff of books like Neuromancer and Snow Crash. A magical alternate world so ambitious that the most powerful computers today couldn't build it. But virtual reality, it turns out, might be none of those things. The first time I tried the Oculus Rift, it was only a prototype held together by duct tape. I spent a couple of minutes slowly walking around a low-resolution virtual spaceship. The year was 2013 and virtual reality was actually coming. In the following months, people started releasing demos that could only have worked in VR. You could feel vertigo on a steep cliff or have your head cut off with a guillotine. First-person shooters became genuinely first-person. John Carmack, one of the fathers of modern-day video games, left the company he helped found to work on the Rift. At the 2014 Game Developers Conference, virtual reality was vindicated. Sony announced Project Morpheus, its own headset for the PlayStation 4, promising partnerships across the gaming industry. Less than a week later, Facebook, yes Facebook, bought Oculus. But even if Facebook has grand ambitions, the last year has been about finding the limits of virtual reality, including the fact that simply walking around can be literally sickening. At GDC, the Oculus demos were low-key. One of them just put you on a couch. Sony's were slightly more ambitious, but sometimes this only highlighted their shortcomings. My hands kept shooting across the room with the move controller, and when my diving cage started shaking in one demo, it just made me realize that my body couldn't feel a thing. That's where VR is at right now. It can genuinely trick you into thinking you're somewhere else, but disrupting the illusion is easy. That doesn't mean there aren't some fantastic things to do. Eve Valkyrie is a space-fighting simulator that makes you feel like you're really inside a cockpit. Horror games are a natural fit. When something jumps at you, it practically jumps into you. People have created virtual dioramas of places like Jerry Seinfeld's apartment and relaxing virtual vacations like a flight over Iceland. The near-term future of virtual reality looks a lot like these experiments. Developers will figure out what works on present-day headsets, and Sony, Oculus, and Facebook will keep trying to build hardware that raises the bar. The Rift is a black box, and Project Morpheus is an ergonomic Tron headset, but under the shells, they're not so different. Both put you in an immersive world that leans on your brain to fill in the gaps. They're a bit blurry, a bit confining, and in the Rift's case, a bit heavy. Reading anything at all is painful. We still don't really know how to interact with them. Do you use a standard controller? A motion control setup? A giant treadmill? But Facebook and Sony are betting that these are all solvable problems. For now, the Rift and Project Morpheus are still gaming devices, first and foremost. Neither is a consumer product, and Sony says it won't release one until 2015. Oculus hasn't set a date, but it just started selling the second version of its development kit. In the next year, we'll probably see marginal hardware improvements and much bigger software ones. Oculus doesn't want people to have to take off the headset to start a game, and creating a usable interface is a vital step towards making VR practical. Outside Sony and Oculus, a small group of companies are creating experimental Rift controllers, and a competitor is trying to beat the curve by making a mobile headset. All of which takes us to Mark Zuckerberg's huge bet on virtual reality as a platform of the future. One investor even likened it to Google buying Android. Right now, it feels impossible. For now, it probably is. Social interaction in particular is a core part of Facebook's plan, and that's not one of the Rift's strong points. But Facebook is willing to wait a decade for the bet to pay off, and that's enough time for VR to either quietly fade away, quietly replace the internet as we know it, or at least quietly become a new information channel like mobile phones and gaming consoles. The 1990s give us one VR hype cycle, and if we want VR to succeed, we shouldn't buy into another. You're not going to get addicted or forget about sex, and it'll be a long time until you can throw away your keyboard. The better we understand what the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus can and can't do, the better we'll be able to experiment with things they might be able to do, and to create things that people will actually use right now. And most importantly, we'll be able to examine what we want out of virtual reality, and whether Sony and Facebook are the ones to provide it.

Microsoft just released Office for iPad. We downloaded Word, Excel, and PowerPoint from the App Store, and this is what they look like. Microsoft Office has long been the productivity sweet juggernaut on the desktop, and now it's trying to claim some new territory, the iPad. Since Office is also on the iPhone and the web, Apple users will now have an easy way to sync and work on Office documents across all of their devices. Microsoft does a good job of translating the apps for a tablet too. They look clean and stylish, right at home on an iPad, but still distinctly part of Microsoft's family. Each app has a really similar interface too, so it's easy to pick each of them up and move between them. On their editing screens, there's a brightly colored toolbar at the top, and then plenty of room for your document below. The toolbars each have a few different tabs that you can switch between, letting you view basic editing tools, layout options, review functions, and other features specific to the app. Everything is nice and big for the touch screen too. All of your documents are set by default to automatically save to the Cloud, though you'll of course be using Microsoft OneDrive, and OneDrive only. The good news is that sync worked. Once you close out of a document on the iPad, it'll be updated and ready the next time you open it on the desktop or anywhere else. Just make sure you have an internet connection, otherwise you'll be out of luck. Each of the apps is really polished and sleek. Word does a great job of letting text, images, and shapes mix together on a page. Excel has a custom keyboard for punching in numbers, and lets you build formulas just by tapping on cells, and PowerPoint still has more transitions than you could ever ask for. I'm not sure if you'll find every single one of their desktop counterparts options in here, but I was definitely able to find all of the ones that I wanted. So the apps are good, but there's one potential deal breaker, and it's a big one. When you download the apps for free, you can only view them. If you want to create and edit anything, you'll have to pay. For the Home Edition, that's nearly $100 per year. That's a steep price to pay considering that Apple offers its own productivity suite for free. Overall, these apps are looking good, even though these are just their first impressions. You can download all three in the App Store right now.

President Obama has announced plans to dismantle the NSA's phone record database. My weed guy feels better already. I'm Ross Miller, and this is 90 Seconds on the Verge. I am therefore ordering a transition that will end the Section 215 bulk metadata program as it currently exists and establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk metadata. That was from a January 17th speech where Obama gave his administration until March 28th to lay out its plan. Well, one day before that deadline, we have an answer. Under the new proposal, the NSA will no longer keep its massive record collection. Instead, the data will remain in the hands of phone companies like AT&T and Verizon. While the NSA currently holds its records for up to five years, according to the New York Times, there will be no mandate for phone companies to hold anything beyond the 18 months or so that's already federally required. But how exactly did the NSA get clearance for this bulk record collection in the first place? Well, it actually all has to do with Section 215. Both the FBI and NSA have been using Section 215 of the Patriot Act as legal justification for collecting large amounts of metadata, which was being done in secret until news of the program was leaked by Edward Snowden last summer. Some limitations have already gone into effect. As of last month, the NSA must now get approval from a judge to access even its own records, where Obama's proposal goes from here as up to Congress. In the meantime, the administration has asked the Foreign Intelligence Reveillance Court to renew the program as it currently exists for another 90-day cycle. For more on this and other stories, check out The Verge. Coming up next, we reveal the names of more secret NSA programs.

Is Bitcoin a currency or not? Well, the IRS has made its decision because hey, they just want to tax something. I'm Adrienne Jeffries and this is 90 seconds on the verge. After previously saying it was unsure how to tax Bitcoin, the IRS this week decreed that virtual currencies will be treated as property and taxed accordingly. Ultimately, any income earned due to Bitcoin increasing in value will be taxed much like stocks and bonds. Likewise, losses can be deducted if Bitcoin loses value. Bitcoin and other similar virtual currencies act much like digital cash, using cryptography to control the transfer and creation of money. However, Bitcoin has proven to be very volatile so far, going from $100 USD last June all the way up to $1,000 USD this past January. While this IRS ruling does legitimize virtual currency as a real financial asset, it's a far cry from being a replacement for cash. The IRS acknowledges that Bitcoin can and does at times operate like quote real currency, but also notes that no country or jurisdiction currently accepts virtual currency as legal tender. Although Bitcoin is the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency, it's certainly not the only virtual currency being used in the real world. Members of the Reddit sub-community Dogecoin, which dedicates itself to the cryptocurrency based on a popular internet meme, pooled money together to sponsor a NASCAR driver Josh Wise, a previously sponsorless driver. After less than a week, the group surpassed its goal, raising almost $45,000 in the virtual currency. For more about virtual currencies, check out theverge.com. Coming up next, I purchased my very first Dogecoin. Can I get a receipt please?

Greetings, mobile Accomplishers. Welcome to the Verge Mobile Show. I am one of your hosts, Dieter Bohn. Should I go second because I'm seated next to you? Yeah. I'm Chris Ziegler. And since I'm seated next to Chris, I will go third and I'm Dan Seifert. And we are joined remotely by our good friend, Vlad Savov, who I believe is on the line. I hope I am. Yeah. Hey, Vlad, how you doing? Okay, is there a mystery to me whether I'll be visible if I have a video stream going for this show? We're looking at you. We're looking at your plaid shirt. I will say kudos on the lighting. Yeah, you've done really well for yourself. Vlad, I do have some concerns about your beard. It looks as though you may have shaved it at some point. No comments. I'm taking a fifth on that one. You can't take the fifth. No, hang on, Vlad. You can't take the fifth. You're not allowed to take the fifth. You don't live in America. Yeah, you're only Americans get the fifth. You're a queen subject or whatever they call you guys. Also, you're on video. Yeah, both of those things are valid. And the third thing is valid actually as well. I have a video. I do not have the liberty to have Comcast dominating by internet program service. So yes, I can't take the fifth. The truth is we were away the past couple of weeks because I had to regrow the beard and cover up that little brief moment where I didn't have one. There we go. But now we're back and Chris very subtly skipped past that detail. So yeah, it's been. We've got so much to freaking talk about. We do. Yeah, but we're not gonna try and talk about everything because that would be madness. That'd be insanity. We've got some things that we have to talk about but it has been a good three weeks, three years. It's been an eternity since we've been here. And I don't know. We should just talk about what happened today. Today, what happened was this right here. This is the new one, the one M8, the one awkwardly named phone. 2014. 2014. However you like to. It just vibrated at me and I don't know why. Oh, I just turned it on somehow. I just like. I think you, did you double tap it? I must have. That's, I don't know. So this phone is, it's funny. We've kind of struggled a little bit with this device, I think, because the story in many ways is the same as it was last year, which was that this is HTC's last stand but that was the story with the one in 2013. So really what they've done is they've taken the 2013 one and quote unquote refined it. And what's really striking to me about this phone, tell me if you guys disagree, but when the leaked photos were circulating the web, I felt like it looked like a steaming. Everything leaked. Yes, everything leaked. Everything leaked. And it looked like a steaming pile, but then when you see the phone in person, it's a really nice looking phone. So I disagree. I think that seeing the phone in person is not all that different from seeing it on the internet. I think that it is not as like harshly beautiful as the original one. It's curvy and whatever, holding it is much nicer. That's the point I wanted to make is as soon as you pick it up and feel it in your hand, you can feel how different it is from the prior model. Like it just feels so much nicer and feels so much different and you could feel that, you know, they say like there's 20% more metal or something in the body of this and you can actually feel the difference. Well, I also prefer the brushed aluminum to the sandblasted metal. See, I'm gonna disagree with you there. I like the sandblasted metal myself. Vlad agrees with me, I think. Will someone please agree with me on something? Vlad, please. I agree with Chris. Thank you. And the thing is both of you guys can be satisfied because there's this dark gray version, which is the flagship variety, which has the brushed aluminum look on the back, which I'm a fan of. I prefer that. But then also the classic look is still available in the light silver version, which is the one that most closely resembles last year's HT1. And there's the golden version, which I'm really no fan of the color, but again, it's well built and constructed. Just to correct Dan, because it's kind of an important point, the new HT1 doesn't have 20% more metal. It's actually gone up from 70 whatever percent to 90 whatever percent. You are correct. So it's 20 percentage points more. 20 points, right, yes. What is the other 10% of the phone? No, it's 90 something. Love, unicorn of years. The rest of it is... Ivory. It's conflict metals. Conflict minerals. No, the rest of it is the plastic inserts where the boom sound speakers are. And then the display obviously isn't being counted because that's like half the phone. Right. Okay, okay, fair enough. I mean, it's beautifully built. It's beautifully built. The thing that I would say, there's two downsides actually, to two actually very good things. As Dan says, the hand feel of this phone is brilliant. It really just feels robust and good. But it's, and okay, stifle your chuckling. It's the length of it. It's just too long for me. No, exactly. Compared to a five inch phone. I wanted to actually laugh at robust hand feel. But continue. So when I first saw it, I thought... Compared to a five inch phone like the Nexus 5. I mean, when I first saw it, I thought the same thing because it's taller than last year's model. It's noticeably taller than last year's model. But when you use it, because they moved the buttons from that weirdly awkward, almost at the bottom position to on the screen, they're actually a lot easier to reach with your thumb when you're holding the phone in your hand than even last year's model, which was shorter. So like you totally, this thing is too big, just like every other phone that's too big. No, but the thing that makes it too big is the speakers in the top and the bottom. So it just makes the whole fricking thing tall. Like the Nexus 5, the screen is like virtually identical. In size, I think. I mean, it seems super close to me. And it's just, it feels way better than, than the, in my hand in terms of being able to reach the stuff. Yeah, well, I mean, like the same, I mean, the same thing could have been said about last year's too. It was taller because of the speakers. Yeah. But which phone sounds better? Well, it does have boom sound. Two things happened during the live blog today. They had, HTC had their event and it was fine. It was in a plate, a warehouse next attached to the post office by Penn Station in New York. It was unbelievably cold in there. And then the wifi didn't work. And then it did, it was great. And then they did the event and that was fine. But during the event, they said boom sound and I had to write boom sound. I had to write boom sound unironically. Did you capitalize the S properly? I did capitalize the S. The camel case got in there. And then somebody on stage at one point said, and I quote, 2013 was the year of the selfie. And I just had to write that out. That is a sentence that I heard. I mean, it was added to the OED. No, it wasn't added to the OED. Whatever it is. Man. See, whatever it is. Not the real OED, the online OED. Well, to that point, the camera has a selfie option. There literally is a selfie option in the camera software. Does it make your face more beautiful? What's the story with it? No, you've hit a thing. You swipe up to switch the camera angle. Does it have the beauty things? Because last year's definitely had the beauty things. No, that was ZTE or something. No, no, the one had that too. So it's a five megapixel camera on the front, right? And four on the back. And four on the back. Yep. This is like the ultimate mullet phone. It is all business, straightforward, nothing special about a camera on the front. And it's party wild ultra pixel time on the back, including the two color flash. True tone. True tone. Yeah. And the depth sensor. So we should talk about the depth sensor. It supposedly lets you do lightro-like refocusing. But it's not true lightro-like refocusing. It does, in fact, accurately measure depth. So it knows that Dan is far away and Chris is close. But the only thing you use it for is applying crazy after effects. And it uses that depth information to apply the effects. So if you want to apply bokeh, it just blurs stuff that's far away. If you want to apply pencil sketches, pencil sketches things that you don't focus on. It's cool. So this type of that whole refocusing thing has been this trend with manufacturers, Nokia introduced it, LG has it. They all do it differently, though. The Nokia and the LG, and I think Samsung probably does it too, where they take a series of photos and they're at all different focus points. And then they stack them together. And then you can choose afterwards. The thing that is key different with the One is that it is just taking one photo and that secondary sensor is capturing all that depth data so it doesn't need to stack the photos, which takes longer. And HTC says that this whole refocusing ability and silly green screen type of effects or whatever, that's just the beginning. At least they think it's just the beginning of what this can do. And they're going to release an SDK and have people have fun with it. Manufacturer specific SDKs are always a bad idea. Yeah. And they just introduced two today. They always get tons of support. They introduced BlinkFeed and this today. Well, so BlinkFeed does do a couple cool new things, right? Yeah. It has Fitbit integration. It has Foursquare integration. I think that they tease that there are going to be some more things in the future. It has keyword integration. And what everybody is going to do instead of like search, I think their example is searching for mountain climbing or something ridiculous. I don't know. But everybody's going to just put in their name. It's your home screen. It should have all the news stories about you. That's what's going to happen. You realize that for 99.997% of the population, it would just never return anything. Unless you're Barack Obama. Right. Or Chris Ziegler. Or Chris Ziegler, who's making news on a daily basis. That's right. Yeah. So here's the million dollar question for you gentlemen. And Vlad, you as well. Are you going to get the Sense version or the GPE version? Before you jump into that, I just want to say that you can buy the Sense version today. You can walk into a Verizon store and buy the Sense version. Just Verizon. Which is just Verizon. You can order on AT&T and Sprint online and have it delivered tomorrow. And T-Mobile, right? T-Mobile is the next month. The next month. The un-carrier. But I mean, either way, the fact that HTC announced this phone this morning, at least here on the East Coast, it was this morning. It was afternoon in London. And then less than two hours after the announcement, you can walk into a store and buy it. It's pretty unprecedented. Apple hasn't even done that with the iPhone. And Apple always brings its products to market very quickly. So that's pretty cool. Well, I mean, no, it's really important. Because now they are guaranteed to have two weeks where the thing might actually sell before Samsung destroys them. And the saddest part, and this is a point that Drew Bamford brought up in Dan's report, is that Drew Bamford being their software designer, there is so much more attention to design detail paid to this device, and really last year's one as well, compared to Samsung. I mean, David mentioned this in his review. Like with a Samsung phone, you're not buying a phone. You're buying features. And with one, you're buying a phone. So that's true. But on the other hand, I got to say, $0.06, by the way, the third thing at this live blog that I had to type out multiple times that I was not happy about, Sense 6, whatever, there's a lot of gimmicky features on here. Like there are one, two, three, four, five different ways to turn on the phone with gestures. And you just got to like, the first time you do it, it's like, hey, you just did a thing. It's like, OK, that's weird. And then every time I open up the camera app, I had to hit close on six dialogue boxes telling me how stuff worked. There's a lot of gimmicky stuff that they put in. Yeah, but that's a one-time thing, right? Yeah. I mean, I feel like you need those indications on the first time you do a gesture so you know what the hell you just did. So again, we haven't had these phones for a long time. So I figure that would be just kind of an irritating thing when you first pick up the phone. It helps you learn the gestures, and then you progress from that. But I agree with D2. I don't think that the gestures are necessarily all that useful. I haven't been using them at all. And one of the shortcomings for me is actually double tap to wake. First of all, we all know that I'm in love with it. Ever since the Nokia N9 days introduced it, LG has embraced it. It's beautiful. And HTC has done it, and somehow has managed to screw it up. What's screwed up about it? They screwed up a very particular way that I use it. Well, here's the thing. They expect a motion gesture of the phone before they accept double tap. So if you just have the phone laying down on the table like I have right now, and you double tap the screen, nothing happens. So it is actually there's a motion gesture, and then it starts being responsive to the swipes and things like that. And that's what I like to do. I just have the phone sitting down on my desk, and I want to check notifications. Now, swipe up works. Swipe up works, bro. Just swipe up. Ah, that's one. Yeah, I'm a double tapper. Sorry. It's too late. Did you see that LG has added a thing to knock on where you can actually knock a password? Yes, it's called knock code. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That is just so completely unnecessarily complicated. It's like your pattern unlock and things like that, but you just tap the blank screen, and then magic happens. But magic works. Yeah, here's the thing about that is if anybody turns that feature on, literally every phone on the planet will be unlocked with shaving and haircut two bits. Right? You lost me, dude. OK. Let it go. The listeners, the viewers, they get my jokes. They're hilarious. OK, so we need to go back to the camera before we get to Chris's $64,000 question. Meh. Right? Meh. I'll just say the camera. The camera. Like, it's great in low light, but there's nothing here that makes me go, oh my god. Like, they took a shot with the Ultra Pixel thing, and instead of being like, yeah, it was a good idea, we're going to just go increase the megapixels, but still claim it's Ultra Pixel. We'll just make a better camera. They just added a second camera to the same camera. And there were shortcomings with the original camera last year, and I think there are shortcomings with it now. Well. Yeah. Let me say the positive stuff. I want to just say the happy stuff here, which is that the operation of this camera is just it embarrasses the Galaxy S5. Because today, I had a Galaxy S5 around at the event, and I've got to tell you, Bulgarian reviewers are getting Galaxy S5s, and I'm contemplating actually flying back to Bulgaria to get one of those damn phones. Yes. So there was an S5 at the event, and we literally had the two phones side by side taking photos. And actually, the S5 was exposing the scene better, but it was just so slow, and it was just delay. And the HTC One, it is just murdering it. It's just instant. It's like, you tap, picture is taken, it's ready. You want to get into the gallery, instant. Everything just super smooth, super fast. So as far as the software side of things goes, and also the menus to switch between software modes, switch between front-facing and rear-facing camera, they're just brilliant. I cannot say anything bad about that software. I think it's really nice, really smooth, and snappy. But I'm with you guys. Adding the second sensor with that depth sensing at the moment, it's just a gimmick. There's nothing compelling or unique that makes you want this over any other phone. And I think they really should have done something better with the sensor. I think the HTC One from last year, that was not as strength. And HTC could have made it as strength this year, but didn't, so that's the disappointing side. But it leaves them room. It leaves them a very clear-cut place to improve the One M9 this time next year. The one thing that is cool is. Are they going to be here this time next year? So you know on the Moto X, you do the screwdriver twist thing. If you turn it sideways and hit the volume button, it launches right into the camera. That's actually really cool. That's a really smart way to do that. The twist is the worst. I actually like the twist. No, the twist is the best. I use the twist all the time. I pull it out of my pocket like this, and I go, and the camera's open, and I can take a picture. Yeah, that's some James Bond shit right there. It is. It is literally the worst. And I've never gotten it to work. It's like I'm jumping out of the helicopter, and I'm like, whop, selfie. Yeah, right? Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And your other hand is still free to fix your bow tie, so you can get it in one motion. It's like I pull the camera out, and I pull my 38 out, and I'm like. 38? Whatever he uses. Come on. I assume he uses a 9 millimeter, but I'm not sure. Oh, my god. James Bond. Walter PPK. Yeah, you're right. Are we done? Yeah, you're right. Also a Beretta early, but we're going to let that go. No, but what caliber is the Walter PPK? Who cares? If it's a 38, then I'm right. 765. No, wait, wait, wait. No. It's a 7 millimeter, isn't it? 765. Yeah, that's NATO, I think. Yeah. Anyway, that was a weird thing. What's the physical gesture for when a conversation is completely going over your head? How do you signal that visually? With a hand like this. Yeah. And then it launches the camera. OK, well, I'm asking you guys. So back to my million dollar question. Who is buying which version of the HTC One M8 2014? I'll tell you which version I'm buying. Turbo Championship Edition. Neither. Yeah, I don't think I'm going to. I'm not prepared to point out my own money. I may not be able to stick to that, but look, I've got a Nexus 5. And the camera on the Nexus 5 is itself not much of a champ. But comparing these two phones, I can't see spending the money. If you had a red Nexus 5, I might agree with you. That's fair. But the black one, I don't know. If I were to buy one, I would probably. So it all depends on whether or not the camera software on the Google Play Edition is as strong as it is on the regular Sense Edition. If that is the case, then I would probably go with the Google Play Edition. But Sense has got some nice stuff where it actually lets you reorganize the quick menu, the quick settings menu, where you can reorder stuff and add stuff. And you can actually add the option for mobile tethering. At least on the International Edition, I'm sure that AT&T will take it away. Because that's how they do. But that's pretty impressive. And that might make me want to switch. I can take or leave blink feed. This thing is just wicked fast, though. Nexus 5 doesn't have boom sound. I'm just saying. So my take on it is last year, I bought the Google Play Edition of the one. And the reason that I bought the Google Play was because I could have Android 4.4 or whatever immediately. And updates were coming very quickly to that. And when last year's one was launched, I think it launched with Android 4.1, which was way behind the curve for Android versions. But if I were to buy one this year, I'd almost lean towards the Sense models. Already got the latest version of Android. HTC has been really aggressive at pushing out updates, especially if you buy an unlocked version. And some of the things on the Sense that don't really bother me as much anymore, Sense 6 is a lot cleaner, a lot flatter. It's a lot faster. I can very easily put the Google Now launcher on there and do away with blink fleet entirely. And I also get the software and all that stuff. I mean, my real answer might be the Google Play Edition of the GS5. I know. In Band-Aid gold. Weirdo. Weirdo. Oh, god, no. What about you? I think Dieter's call might be the good one. Why? Why do you want the GS5? Focusing, well, hang on a sec. Focusing on the HTC One to start with, I actually completely agree with Dan and Dieter again. Sense 6 doesn't trouble me all that much. And I'm finding myself using blink feed. Like, I feel weird. I've been bemoaning blink feed for the longest time. But I'm using it. I don't mind. I've got the Verge. I've got Polygon on here. I've got a couple of UK newspapers. And those are interesting stories. And like Dieter says, the quick menu is indeed quick and customizable. And the big distinction for me between this and Samsung software, which I just find intolerable, is that Samsung has just way too many features and options. And it just takes you so long to read through everything in order to be able to make a choice and a decision that by the time you finish customizing it, you're just fatigued. And you're like, OK, I'm done with this part. I just need to go and do something else with my life. So yeah, I mean, what I would say is having spent time with this, when I first heard that there would be a Google Play edition last year, I would have been like, yes, fist bump, bump and pump, whatever, both. What? Bumping and bumping? Great. There's a Google Play edition. What's the hand feel of that gesture? Does that launch the camera? Yeah. Well, if there's anybody nearby, I would do a fist bump. Yes, there's a Google Play edition. But if there's nobody nearby, I would do a fist pump. OK. Right. Fair enough. So now we've got that cleared up. That would have been last year. But now I'm like, well, OK, Google Play edition, that's about as good as the phone that is available to buy today. So I think that's a great credit to the improvements that HT has made in its software. That being said, I do agree that the Nexus 5, I mean, it's so much cheaper and more affordable. And it's comfortable. Like, it doesn't have anything terribly excellent about it. But just like the camera, I'm just comfortable with it. I'm settled in with its limitations. And I just don't see this phone to have that unique, special thing that compels me to go away from Nexus 5 or to spend the extra money from Nexus 5. And the thing I would say about the Galaxy S5 is you get rid of that crazy, nonsense Samsung software, and you ignore the silly colors, it actually feels good in the hand. Like, the texture of its back is pretty comfortable. And over the long term, the HT1 just kind of feels like it's almost too premium. And I feel like if I own one, I would be too precious to buy that. You know what? I'm going to buy the Galaxy S5. Because I don't deserve the HTC One. I'm not good enough. It's too good for me. Vlad, Vlad, how often do you wash your hair shirt? No? My jokes? Your hair shirt monks, they wear hair shirts because they're punishing themselves? I have no idea what you're talking about. Walter PPK. No, you're right. I should have known the PPK. That was my bad, not yours. But the hair shirt was one toke over the line. Anyway, Vlad, continue. Most of the Bulgarian monks, it's different in my defense. They also get review units, really, apparently. But no, seriously, guys. I feel like with the HT1, I would be a little bit too precious about it with that fine finish and the metal and everything else. Whereas the Galaxy S5, it just feels like something you really can just have and toss around the place. And I don't know. But Vlad, if the finish is just too precious for you, you can cover it up with the dot view case. Show them the front. Show them the knocker thinger. Let's see. Where's my camera? There we go. OK. Which is literally. Most of the only guys who are excited about the case. That's pretty cool, dude. No, the case is just. It's pretty dope. That's pretty. It just adds this level of fun and whimsy. And you can see some notifications and the weather. And touch works through it. And touch works through it. So if someone's calling me, I can swipe down to answer the call. I can swipe up to ignore it without ever opening the case. Can you flip the case over and then take a picture with it? Open up the case. So it's not perfect. And now take a picture? Oh, wow. That's pretty ape. You can't take a picture when the case is flipped in the back because they didn't put a hole for the camera. And it is a $50 case that is a lot of plastic and rubber and does not feel $50. And the notifications are limited to first party apps. So third party apps don't show notifications and stuff. But all of those other major complaints aside, I think it's really, really cool. And it won't work on the GPE version, right? You know, I don't know. Because it uses. The only thing it works with are the Sense apps. I doubt it'll work on the GPE version. It'll work as a case. But you won't get the fun dot matrix view. But it's fun. And they're coming out with these cool colors. I got to see a couple of them in their design studio. The orange looks really hot. The blue looks really hot. It's kind of weird that they're only launching it with gray. Because it's a fun accessory. And they're launching it in the most blah color. Yeah, this thing screams to be yellow or orange or red. Or it screams, look at me. And the gray is very subdued. Yeah. But I know Chris is going to buy one. But it reminds you that no more than 20 minutes ago, we've been moaning the fact that this phone is rather chunky and large. And now we're celebrating the fact that it has a case that adds a plastic flap on it. It's funny that you mention that. Because when I was speaking to Scott Croyle, we were doing our behind the scenes look here. I was like, you know, you guys spend all of this time and energy designing this beautiful phone that feels great in your hand. How does it feel when somebody just slaps a case on it? And he's like, the reality of the matter is people put cases on their phones. Because they have them for two years or three years or whatever it is. And they're really expensive. And they don't want to drop them and break them and scratch them and all that stuff. I have seen they dropped a review unit that was dung up. Dung up. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,. Yeah, I mean, as much metal as you put up on the phone, you drop it onto concrete, it's going to get damaged. And he's like, at least we made something fun with the case. And I was like, yeah, I guess you're right. And it is. It's fun. I would say that this case would be much more interesting to me if it had an AMOLED display underneath it. Because most of the notifications, again, it's a dot matrix look where dots are illuminated on the screen underneath the cover. And I mean, I agree. That's a clever and kind of a throwback look. So fair enough. But with an AMOLED display, you're not using the entire backlight when you're showing those notifications. So it's really power efficient as well, as well as being cute. That's true. Whereas with the HTC One, because it's an LCD display, you are always using the full backlight. Even though it's a gorgeous display, I mean, we're not going to quibble about it too much. And by that same logic, Vlad, the One doesn't have active notifications like the Moto X because they just can't do it in a power efficient way. So Chris, you asked that big $64 million question. And you have yet to answer it. The value keeps going up. Like Dieter tried to make it a $64,000 question. I tried to make it $1 million. Now it's $64 million. It's a pretty pricey question. I think I was originally leaning GPE, but now I'm starting to lean Sense because I'm really into the case. You're right. Sense has gotten way better. How long have you been using an iPhone? Close to two years. And this is going to get you to switch? Well, yes, and here's why. Because I am not surviving a single day without a Moto 360. Oh, we've got to talk about this. The second the 360 hits the market, I am hopping on that bandwagon. It's not going to be iOS compatible. Yeah, so well, it could be. You don't know that for sure. It's called Android Wear. There's no way that this thing's going to be iOS compatible. Well, Google Glass is iOS compatible. So the Moto 360 is a smart watch, right? Yep. Oh, Vlad. Vlad, Vlad, Vlad. Vlad, Vlad, Vlady Vlad. No, you were on vacation. He was on vacation. It's not his fault. It takes a lot of effort and focus to grow this beard. OK, so I was intensely focused on my thoughts. Vlad, I thought you were about to make some big point about the Moto 360, but you were genuinely just asking what the Moto 360 is. So we should talk about all of this stuff. The Moto 360 is nothing at the moment. Like, I really want to highlight that as a reader. No, no, no, no, no. I need to tell you you're wrong about that, because I want to believe so badly in this thing. When Jim Wicks did the online Hangout, he had one on his wrist, and he was futzing around with it. And it was a real thing, and real screens went whizzing by on his wrist. And you could see it. It was like a quarter of an inch square on a giant monitor. And it looked real, and I believe in it. It looks like my watch that I have here. Just imagine this isn't an analog face, and it's a round touchscreen. Yeah, and it looks bigger than that, though. It's probably a little bigger. Is that a Moto 360? Yes, it is, Chris. By the way, that's the craziest looking watch. I have to beat you in the face until you give me your Moto 360. So it looks great. There's Android Wear overall, and then there's the Moto 360 specifically. And I love them both. I need to not be so giddy about this, but I was having this conversation with David Piers, who wrote the excellent HTC One review, and many other excellent reviews. And I was like, look, this is what the smart watch should be. They should take what they did with Google Glass and make it suck a little bit less and put it on your wrist. And they should Google Now it up a little bit and put it on your wrist. And you know what they did? That. It is very Google Now heavy. And they did notifications really intelligently. It does this thing that Pebble did right so far in the way that they've shown off. And maybe they're going to screw it up with more apps and throw garbage later. But it gets notifications right, and it gets some ambient alerts right. And that's all it tries to do. It just makes sure it nails those experiences. It works with current Android notifications. People can extend stuff, and they can start working on that now. As a first gen platform, if these things come out, if they're not slow as hell, and if a battery can last for a day and a half, which are all big ifs, but if they can do those things, then I am super excited for this. And they're not obscenely expensive. Well, OK, four things. Right. Now, other than the four most important things for a product, it's awesome. Well, but also I think that if they had just debuted it with the G Watch or whatever the hell it's called. Oh, god, the LG G Watch. Yeah, it would have fallen. The announcement would have landed with a thud because it looks exactly like how you expect a 2000s era smart watch to look. And the Moto 360 looks like the future. And that's what really. It's pretty crazy. Really, the only difference between the Moto 360 and the G Watch and a lot of other smart watch concepts is the fact that it's round. And like. No, that's not true. No, two things. You're right. That's the big thing. But the other thing is that the G Watch has a bezel. A huge bezel. Yeah, the Moto 360 has no bezel. But the fact that it's round, Motorola talks a lot about how that makes people think of a watch when they see it. And Motorola is right. It looks like a watch that you'd wear on your wrist. I prefer square watches. Like with a screen. But I prefer square watches, but I also prefer pretty watches. And the LG G Watch is just horrendous looking. Well, it's not. It's not horrendous looking. Guys, the Moto 360 looks sick because it's a freaking Brenda so far. No, it's not. This is the thing that troubles me about it. But Vlad, Motorola was on camera using it. He said that, Dieter. Right, but he wasn't using this tiny freaking bezel and the awesome display and everything else. And he wasn't getting more than a day's worth of battery life out of it. It was like a glimpse. So to me, it's like we can be excited about the potential. But I don't think that this announcement necessarily should make us any more excited or feel like it's coming any time sooner. They said summer. They said it's coming this summer. Here's why we're excited, Vlad. I'm saying the potential of the really ideal watch that satisfies all of these conditions. I don't think that's anywhere near this. Yeah, so that's fine. That's fine. But when was the last time a product, a technology product, was announced that made you go, holy shit, I want that? It's been a little while, right? You felt it. You're like, that is awesome. It's been a while. It's a category that feels like, whoa, that just grabs you from your unmentionable parts. I mean, last year when the Google Play Edition 1 was available for sale, I bought it the minute it was on for sale. So yeah, this Moto 360 could be vaporware. It could be too expensive and too slow and have terrible battery life. I don't think Motorola is that stupid. Right. But the reason that we're excited is because they're at least laying out an ambitious vision that actually seems achievable in a real product and not some pipe dream concept video that Microsoft used to make. That's what's exciting about it. It's like everything that they're showing seems achievable. And we believe that Motorola could probably achieve it. And it seems like it's the right thing to do for a watch that you could pull off in a V1 product. That's why I'm excited, because there's enough that's right here to make me excited about technology. It's so exciting to me that it actually makes me really second guess Google's decision to sell the company. Like, Google needs, as long as they're going to be in the Werewolves game, which they're still making glass, and by all appearances they're going to do a consumer version, as long as they're in that game, they need hardware chops. And the 360 and the concept behind it, the design behind it, are really exquisite. Like, it is the first and only smartwatch that, like you say, Dan, it looks like a watch, and people around you aren't going to recognize it as being anything but a watch. And that's so important for a product in this category. I don't think it looks exactly like a watch. I don't think that's, it's more watch-esque, but I don't think the goal of a wearable should be to try and mimic. It's the new skeuomorphism. It's hardware skeuomorphism. It should be honest to what it is. No, it should not. Because the difference between a smartphone and a smartwatch is that a smartwatch is a place that's visible. It's jewelry. And so the only way it works is if it's. Yeah, but it has to look good. We're going to get to, like, this is a piece of wearable technology. I've made this point so many times, right? Like, this doesn't look alien to you. It's become part of our cultural acceptance that this piece of technology is OK to wear. We will get to a time when wearable technology with screens and other geek eyes will be acceptable. We're in a weird middle point where we want it to look like what we think of as a traditional watch. The reason the Moto 360 is awesome is because it just doesn't look like a steaming pile of garbage. It looks actually really awesome on its own merits. But you know why the eyeglasses work is because they're available in literally thousands of styles. That's something that you can't say for technology of any sort. The best case scenario, you have three colors to choose from. So I think that one of the things that has made me. Well, hang on, Chris. You can do that with headphones. Ooh. Yeah, but headphones aren't wearable. They surely are, dude. Come on, man. Because, actually, because I see you guys, when Dieter was saying this is a piece of wearable technology, I was like, is he talking about a headset at the moment? And rather than glasses. And headphones, I mean, this is, give credit to, where is you? This is Miriam Joao Tango said this. The original wearables were headphones. We just kind of forget about it because they're widely available except. Actually, the original wearables were loincloths. Let's be clear. I would say that headphones are one step removed from what we're talking about, Vlad, because you wear them temporarily, not in the course of your daily life. Whereas with a watch, it's something where you get up in the morning, you put it on, and you wear it till you go to bed. Or maybe you wear it 24 hours a day. Yeah, well, this actually, I did a panel at South by Southwest. Humble brag. That was just a brag. There's nothing humble about it. No, at the end of the panel, it was no wearables. Anything you want to brag about? It was about wearables. At the end of the panel, this incredibly smart woman came up and just nailed us. She's like, why are you calling this stuff wearables? What is a wearable? And me and a dude from Pebble, a guy from Fitbit, a guy from Whistle, we're all like, uh, yeah, you're right. This is a really stupid term. Nobody knows what it is. But my thing is to say it has to look like a watch is silly because watches come in thousands of forms. It has to look good. If it just looks good, then that's enough and it can be a piece of technology. That's fair, but the reason, I mean, I think it looks good because it's borrowing familiar concepts from what we perceive as a watch. And it's like watches come in thousands of forms, but they all look like watches. And they're unmistakably watches. And I think that the Moto 360's unmistakably looks like something that you put on your wrist to check the time and other things. So there's a difference between looking good and looking alien. And the problem with most wearable technology, especially like the original Pebble, is it looks alien. It looks unfamiliar. And at some point, it will stop looking alien. Well, yeah, right? It just needs to not look completely alien. As long as it's familiar enough where you're not completely put off by it, we'll move forward. Eventually, your category of things that you're not put off by will grow. And so like, well, maybe we'll get there, but there's been concepts over the years of things that are like a full screen that wraps around your wrist. And granted, if I were wearing a full screen around my wrist, I would look pretty stupid to most of us right now. I would also mug you and take your wrist out. I was going to say. Take your futuristic wrist out. Wait a minute. You're the one that thinks that it has to look like a watch. You would want the wrap around screen? Maybe the 360 would be my second purchase. I wouldn't wear it. Maybe we'll get there using the concepts of the 360 and stuff like that. Yeah. I think that, look, any way you slice it, regardless of your philosophy on this, I think that the existence of Android Wear, the existence of a common platform that anyone can come to and build upon is great news for this business. Because you saw the list of partners, including Fossil, which is an honest to God watchmaker. Samsung. Samsung. HTC. And those guys I'm less excited about. But Fossil specifically. And of course, I wear Fossil watch for like 10 years. And so the fact that they're in on this, and undoubtedly we're going to see more watchmakers in the future say, you know what, maybe this is something we should try. I think it's just great news. Well, what's hysterical about it, to me at least, is that Sony came out today saying that they're not going to use Android Wear. Yeah. And they're going to continue pursuing the smartwatch platform that they've been using, which just screams of a mistake to me. They're going to be left behind. No developer is going to invest. They have a handful of apps for, I think they'll say that they have over 300 apps for their smartwatch platform, but none of them are really compelling. And the developers that care are going to go wear it. Well, look, beta and memory stick did so well for them. Look, guys, Sony gets a pass. It can do whatever it wants this week after it announced Morpheus, the VR headset for PlayStation. They literally can go punch a small child in the face. And I'm like, eh, it's OK. You made a VR headset. It's cool. Maybe you didn't see them because you were wearing the goggles. Well, so I haven't tried them. But the consensus is that they're no better than DK2 or Crystal Cove, right? Like, they're as good. No better. Oh my god. These suck. They're no better than the most amazing VR headsets around right now. Come on. No, but Oculus is like a PlayStation. Oculus is a Kickstarter. It is a Kickstarter versus the largest company, the largest consumer electronics company in the world until like five years ago. They've got to keep the costs down. Until like five years ago when a bunch of other companies became larger. Like, I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Yeah, you are just saying. But no, we are all in agreement that Sony has to do itself. Except for Vlad. Oh, no. Sony's, yeah, they watch thing is stupid. But Vlad is not in agreement on the Moto 360. Are you, Vlad? You're very mad about it. Well, I just want to see it. My thing is, I mean, usually I'm trying to find the happy side while we're having a big bitch session about something. But in this particular situation, I just would like people to curb their enthusiasm a bit and just take stock of the fact that we are, again, breaking into a new form factor, a new and aggressively smaller footprint in terms of how much hardware you can fit inside the device you're talking about with smart watches and with wearables in general. Let's not forget that Android Wear is supposed to be a platform for wearables beyond smart watches. It's just going to start with smart watches. Because, I mean, if you think back to the beginning of Android, and if you think back to things like the first 3G and 4G phones and all of those things, it takes time. It takes months and years for the hardware to catch up with whatever ambitions we might have. So I absolutely share the desire to see these excellent devices, as Dieter was saying, with all those stipulations. But I just feel like it's going to take us quite a long time to get there. And if Motorola accelerates that roadmap, great. But I also feel like battery life, performance, storage, all those things that can really enhance the functionality and make these devices truly smart watches, rather than just watches with a bit of tech-tactone on top of them, that's the thing that's going to take time. And this is why I'm just not ready to get that. Vlad can't see you raise your hand, man. Chris put his hand in the air in the middle of your monologue there, Vlad. And you're making really good points. Like, you couldn't see him. You're just waiting for his turn. I don't know. I just need Vlad to hold the phone for one hot second and explain to me why we need improvements in storage for a smart watch to work. Well, because, OK, this is, again, maybe I'm taking too much of a long-term view. But I really feel like smart watches are going to be the next step. So we had the desktop, we had the smartphone, and then we had smart watches. Like, this is where we're actually heading. And the reason phones became the central computing device for most people nowadays is just because they were convenient and they kind of matched the size that technology was falling and shrinking down into. And now we're able to shrink the same things down into the smart watch. And I don't feel like cloud drives and cloud services and the cost of even wireless, but still it's a tether to a smartphone, is the thing that's going to compel people like myself to own a smart watch. But if you're giving a smart watch with all those important things that you can get from a smartphone, then we can be talking. Including a big screen? Well, no. But I've never said that a big screen is an important aspect of a smartphone. That's when you get a nice, small tablet and you stick it on your bedside table and your life is complete. I'm just buying a nice Bell and Ross and getting out of this whole smart watch game. Yeah. That's what I'm doing. Putting my money behind a real Swiss maker of fine devices. I think Dan is pulling a classic move in buying a device right now. No, I'm not. The GPE? You can order the GPE edition of the HTC One M8 right now. It's $700, which seems high. It's not on their front page. And it's a two to three week shipping time. Two to three weeks. Isn't that like two Nexus 5s? Yes, it is. That's exactly what it is, Vlad. It's two Nexus 5s. Worth every penny. $700. It's actually $50 more for the Google Play edition than the unlocked sense model, which I do not understand. That doesn't make any sense. Can you buy the unlocked sense model right now? You guys want to watch us order phones? I'm going to just buy like eight Moto Gs. I mean, $179. Just string them together. Yeah. OK, so the other thing about the Moto 360. Last thing, it doesn't have a perfectly circular screen. It has a little bit on the bottom that's flat and is not screened. Instead of a perfect circle, it's got the little notch on the bottom, which is a bummer. But it's one that I can live with. But the reason I ask about it is there's two things that we don't know about it. Well, there's lots of things we don't know about it. Two of the big things we don't know about is one, why couldn't they make the screen just circular? And I think it's just physics. But two, how do they charge it? Because there's no. They made a circular screen on the Aura. Right. Yeah, but how do they charge it? Wix was kind of, he played coy when he was asked that, right? We assume it's just straight wireless. But there's no visible USB ports. There's no visible contact points on it or anything like that. So I mean, I assume they figured out some sort of wireless thing. I just hope it's not like the Qualcomm Tock, which was the worst thing ever. Right. It would be nice if they could charge a smartwatch the same way you do an automatic, a mechanical watch. But I just don't think it generates enough power. Where you have the counterbalance inside the case that rotates as you move. And that just generates power. But I don't think that'd be enough. I just want to say that Chris Welch, one of our reporters, is telling me that Verizon sells the one unlocked for $599. Well, I guess not unlocked. Off contract for $599. Can I use that on AT&T? Just tell me right now. AT&T is $699. But can I root and unlock a Verizon 1M8 and use it on AT&T? Probably won't get LTE. If my fiance is watching, I'm sorry. No, I'm not buying it. Not doing it. Closing the tab. Didn't do it. I'm OK. No, the Moto 360 is going to be inductive charging. That's the answer. It's just going to be, unless it uses the sweet bowl that Intel has made. Intel's got a bowl you can just throw your crap in it. Yeah, that'd be cool. Some people are saying on Twitter, somebody is saying that Motorola, let's see, Royd Ranger? Royd Ranger? Is that the handle? He's telling us that Motorola has this solar panel display patent, which may be something. But we have yet to see any solar panel charging that produce enough power to realistically use it. Also, if you wear a long sleeve shirt, you're just screwed. By the way, Royd Ranger, your photo of Barack Obama in a sweater wearing safety glasses and holding a cat is the most amazing thing ever. Royd underscore Ranger only has a few followers. If you are listening to the sound of my voice right now, please go follow him because he is hilarious and amazing. But I honestly don't know if we'll see solar panel charging. I think that would be a pleasant surprise. I'd assume it actually works, but it'd be a surprise to me. Maybe they'll finally use, they've been talking about long range wireless charging for years. No one has been able to do it. Our producer, John, says that because the back of the 360 is purple, then it definitely is going to be inductive charging. What does purple have to do with that? That's what I said. I don't know. Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. I hope he's right. Yeah. Well, I mean, I'd rather have something future. If it's microUSI-Fi, then I'm going to buy one and throw it against the wall and break it. There's no port on it. Which, by the way, when the thing inevitably crashes, not having a port, it's going to be a problem. It's going to be a magnet, like a pebble. When it crashes, not having a port will be a problem? Yeah, because you're going to need to put the firmware on it. Because it's Android? No, because how am I going to load CyanogenMono on my Moto 360? That's what I want to know. Oh, people are going to hack that so fast. That's why I'm not worried about it not running on iOS. It's going to be fine. Yeah. All right. It's going to be just fine. We'll see. Yeah. Speaking of iOS, are you guys excited for iOS 8? Just to mention that. Go ahead, Vlad. Sorry, guys. Just to mention what we're discussing specs. One thing we overlooked with the HC1 is, I mean, the specs are pretty much standard. It has a quad-core Snapdragon processor, 2.3 gigahertz. Most places around the world, it's going to be 2.5 gigahertz in China, because apparently people over there just love their specs. And also noteworthy, it has a dual-SIM, nano-SIM version, which again, is probably going to come to China and some of those other countries where people use more than one SIM. Again, not to the land of the free, because you guys won't really have much use for two SIMs. What's interesting to me is we didn't mention it, but they put a micro SD card slot on it, which I found really kind of interesting. I mean, in the US, they're going to be selling a 32-gig version. It's going to be the only option, I think, in the US is 32 gigs. But you can slap a giant SD card in there if you want, which is something we haven't seen. And on the HTC flagship, in how long? The One X didn't have it, did it? No. I've solved the mystery of the weird little bezel underneath the screen, thanks to MRAM 32. There's another picture of the Moto 360 that is in silver, and then there's another angle on it. And there is the tiniest little sensor that you can see. It looks like it's a light-detecting sensor on it. If you look closely, you can see the little circle in the middle of the black area. Looks like a light sensor to me for brightness for automatic. No, it's for automatic brightness detection. You heard it here first, guys. On the Verge mobile show, the definitive show about all things mobile on the Verge. There are no other shows. You solved the mystery by being told the answer by somebody on Twitter. Listen, Vlad. Yeah. That's how it works, man. I can take credit for what people tell me on Twitter. That's how the internet works. I mean, a dealer cited his source. Yeah. I mean, if you write at Backlawn and say a fact, I will repeat it. I'm going to do it right now. OK. I tried to transition to the iOS 8, but I don't know if we have it in us. I will say that there was a leak of a bunch of icons, and one of them was text edit. And Chris just wanted me to say that the Galaxy Mega is the best phone ever made. It's true. It's totally true. It's a giant, low-cost Galaxy. Galaxy Mega is the most amazing phone I've ever heard. Chris, are you still getting royalties for the name on that? Are you still getting royalties for the name on that? I better be. Because you coined it like three years ago. I did. Like, don't joke about getting royalties, because people will believe you. But I'm just saying. I mean, he named it on this show two years ago. Yes. They should call it the Galaxy Mega. And then five months later, Samsung's like, here's the Galaxy Mega in five different sizes. Someone at Samsung was watching the Verge Mobile show, and they're like, oh, Mega. That's a really good name for a phone. Anyway, I'm sorry. You were trying to make a point. We were trying to talk about health. I'm sorry. I asked you to say that you can't get royalties on a trademark. That's copyright. Yeah, but I can. No, I can't. Don't kill the dream. Well, OK. I'm sorry. I forgot about the Z-Power exception. My apologies. Thank you. The Z-Power clause. Dieter, you were attempting to make a point when I interrupted you with the Galaxy Mega news. You know, I think it's time we started having real talk about the Verge Mobile show. I think you're right. I think you're right. I think that the important thing to say here is we've had some good times. We've had some bad times. We've had some bad times. We've had some very bad times. Some awkward times. What was the worst time that we've had on the Verge Mobile show? Every show. Using Hangouts. Hangouts did the job. It let us talk to each other on the internet. No, my worst time ever on the Verge Mobile show, we had some early ones with extreme delay, where we were constantly talking over each other to the point where we had a meeting after a show to discuss the fact that we were constantly talking over each other. And then what happened? And then we started talking over each other. It finally ended. We figured it out. Never did it again. In that respect, today is an actual throwback episode, because with my Skype delay, I am perfectly overlapping with you guys. I just want to point out that Joanna Stern just favorited my tweet to you about the Galaxy magazine. That's what I wrote. Yeah. So you may have heard that the Verge cast is going on hiatus. We are going to go on a lacuna, which I think is more amusing than a hiatus. We're going on a walkabout. No. We're going to Australia. We're going to get lost in the desert. A lacuna is an unfilled space, an interval, a gap. We're going to perfect. It just makes me think of the racetrack Laguna Seca. We're going to a purgatory, if you will. Limbo. Yeah, limbo. Limbo. Verge Mobile show, limbo. How low can you go, not much lower than this moment right now. We will be back in some form or another. You will be able to download our voices again someday, somehow. Even during this extended period of radio silence, we'll still be able to download old episodes. That's right. If our viewers and listeners. You could even go back to the shows we did before the Verge Mobile show, if you wanted to. You absolutely could. Going back to 2007, seven years of podcasts goodness of our voices. The sky is the limit. I don't think that's the right direction if you're doing that. Vlad, what is your favorite and least favorite moment of the Verge Mobile show? I'm just going to condense them both into one. And that was when I did the podcast from the street. That was amazing. That was awesome. I don't think anything is ever going to equal that experience. I mean, that was the good side of it. The bad side of it was freaking cold. And I was talking to my phone, holding it up in front of my face. We know my neighbor's probably peeking out the windows and thinking, yeah, I'm not going to talk to that guy ever. Well, my favorite moment about that show was that you were, I was commenting that I was concerned you were going to get mugged. And then you were like, no, I would be doing the mugging. Which I thought was a really appropriate comment. And then, Dan. Got to turn it to you. I would say that my favorite is when we've all been able to be in the same place and do a show in the same room. I always enjoyed the fact, whether it's CES or Mobile World Congress or just all of a sudden New York. The first Mobile World Congress show is my favorite. It was like 4 in the morning. We were not entirely sober. We had strung together two USB microphones across the room so they wouldn't interfere. And we were talking quietly or trying to talk quietly so it would actually work so that you could get two microphones. I remember this. And it was great. And then we fell asleep hard. Yes, we did. I remember the apartment that we were in for that. We were in the video team's apartment, if I remember. That's right. Yes. And I don't have a worse memory. Our conclusion is that the best thing about the virtual world show was when we were able to do the show with as little technology as possible. So our big conclusion is we hate technology. We're going back to the jungle and putting on those loincloths, which as Dieter says, were the original wearable. The original wearable technology. Is the loincloth. The loincloth. The fig leaf. We're going back. Well, I guess the fig leaf. So I think that the parting memory that we want to leave our viewers with is Vlad in a loincloth. Please Photoshop that for us. I'm sure that there's plenty of base material to work off of out there. So no, we're taking an extended break. And that doesn't mean that we don't love you. In fact, we appreciate you. It does. We don't. It means we love you so much we don't want to do any more half-ass shows. No, we don't love them. Well, we love them platonically, just not romantically. Got to draw a line somewhere. Are you going to let me wrap this? Yeah, go ahead. We're just going to keep going. You're going to keep interrupting me. I'm going to keep going. We're just going to keep going, you're going to keep interrupting me. Go ahead. It's all you. I lost my thread. You were talking about loving. My tread. You were talking about loving. Loving people. Oh, no, no. We'll be back in another form in another way someday. And until then, you can follow us on Twitter. Dan is DC Seifert with an EI. Chris is Zpower with a Zed. Vlad is Vlad Savov with a bunch of Vs. I'm at Backlund, and since this is the very last Verge Mobile show, I thought it would be a good idea to finally reveal what Backlund means. But I'm not going to do that. Oh. Thanks for watching, everybody.

Stalking your exes on Facebook is about to get a whole lot weirder. This is 90 seconds on the verge. Facebook has acquired Oculus VR, makers of the Oculus Rift headset, for $2 billion. That includes $400 million in cash and over 23 million shares of Facebook stock. It's certainly not the most obvious choice. Said CEO Mark Zuckerberg, quote, Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever. The $2 billion acquisition is twice what Facebook paid for Instagram in 2012, but it's just a fraction of the $16 billion Facebook paid last month to acquire WhatsApp. It's been quite the success story for Palmer Luckey's Oculus Rift, which started as a Kickstarter project in August 2012, where it raised over $2 million. At this month's Game Developers Conference, the company unveiled the final development kit, featuring a 1080p OLED display. That's expected to ship in July for $350. Aside from the obvious use in first-person shooters, the Oculus Rift has so far been used for touring Jerry Seinfeld's apartment, swapping genders, and, well, this. The Oculus Rift Sony this month announced its own VR headset for the PlayStation 4, dubbed Project Morpheus. Oculus now has Facebook's resources, but it also has some of its baggage. Marcus Person, better known as Notch, just announced on Twitter that he is canceling an Oculus port of Minecraft, saying, quote, Facebook creeps me out. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014. However, a consumer version of the Rift headset isn't expected until late this year or early next. And that's today's top story. Coming up tomorrow, Facebook acquires me for $3 billion. 1.5.

Nobody's made Android phones longer than HTC, and from the G1 to the One, it's always done good work, even when it hasn't been hugely successful. But for all HTC has done in the Android universe, its new phone might be its most important yet. This is the new HTC One. Technically, it's the One, parentheses, M8, and I keep calling it the One 2, but everyone's going to know it as the One. It's sort of appropriate that it has the same name, too, because it's not exactly a huge shift. HTC got a lot of things right last year, and it's left those things mostly alone while trying to fix what went wrong before. The phone is still incredibly well made and attractive, though it's a little more subtle this year. It's a little more rounded and made of a slightly softer metal. It doesn't feel or look quite as impressive, but it's much more comfortable. Its back now wraps around the sides, giving it a sort of unibody feel like there's a metal out there that just naturally curves this way. The phone's a bit taller than last year's model, mostly to accommodate a slightly larger five-inch screen, but it doesn't feel any bigger than the old One. That screen is gorgeous, by the way, a 1080p display with perfect color representation and fantastic viewing angles. It may not be the most pixel-dense display on the market, but it's every bit as good as I need it to be. The One comes in a beautiful silver and a hideous gold, plus a brushed metal gray that's nice looking but not quite as eye-catching as the silver. HTC moved the headphone jack to the bottom, added an SD card slot, stretched the IR blaster across the whole top of the phone, and has on-screen buttons instead of sticking them below the screen. One thing that hasn't changed? The two big boom sound speakers on the front, which still sound fantastic. Even better than last year's, actually, a little louder and fuller. But this phone is more the same than different. It's a little heavy, extremely well-made, and still probably the best-looking Android phone around. Last year's One had two big problems. Chief among them, its mediocre battery life. This year, it's really not a problem. I could get a full 30 hours out of the phone, even with extremely heavy use. There's also a new extreme power-saving mode, which basically shuts off everything but the phone, texting, and manual email refresh, and can pretty much by itself get me through an entire night with only about 10% of the battery. There's a big 2600 mAh battery inside, but the One's new Snapdragon 801 processor certainly helps too. And along with 2 gigs of RAM, it makes the phone incredibly fast. I don't think I've ever had such a smooth experience with an Android phone, other than maybe the Nexus 5. But that's not to say I didn't have issues with the phone. HTC's Sense software still changes every single pixel of Android, and many of them were for the worse, especially some of the icons and menus. But HTC's skin has become far more coherent than last year's, with a flat design that often does look really nice. Everything about this phone feels like HTC is searching for something it can make commercials about. There's BlinkFeed, the built-in news reader that now leaves one screen to the left of your home screen. It's a really handy way to kill a minute or two waiting to cross the street, and I use it a lot, but it's really not meaningfully better than, say, Flipboard. BlinkFeed now integrates with Foursquare for restaurant recommendations, and Fitbit for fitness information that you can sync from either the phone's internal sensors or any Fitbit device you own. Both are cool add-ons, but again, neither is better than the apps themselves. The other thing is a bunch of gestures HTC enabled to make it easier to do things quickly on your phone. Swipe right on the screen when it's off, and you'll launch straight into BlinkFeed. Swipe left and you go home. Down kicks you straight to voice dialing, and double tapping just turns the screen on. You can even pick up the phone in landscape mode and hit the volume button, and you're launched straight into the camera. After a day, I stopped using the power button entirely, which is still irritatingly placed on the hard-to-reach top of the phone. Now here's the second thing HTC got wrong last time, the camera. It's much-advertised 4-megapixel ultra-pixel camera basically saw in the dark, had some cool features, and took bad pictures. And this year, that's still kind of the case. The software is better than ever, with a super simplified interface that also gives you lots of control over white balance, filters, ISO, and more. It's uncluttered and useful, which is hard to do. One of the coolest new features is the ability to focus a photo after the fact, like with a Lytro. It's using a second camera on the back of your phone to capture depth as you're capturing a photo. The effect isn't quite as pronounced as with a Lytro, but it's really cool to tap a blurry spot in a photo and watch it spring into focus. HTC also still has Zoes, the sort of automatic highlight reel shots that are nifty but lost my attention pretty fast. The software is great, and there's lots of features, but the camera still isn't very good. It sees in the dark, yes, taking photos of things where my iPhone sees only black. But those photos, and photos in just about any other situation, are still too soft and too muddy. Even the 5-megapixel front-facing camera does better in some spots. It's certainly an improvement over last year's camera, but all the cool features in the world can't hide that its photos just don't compare to the Galaxy S4, or the iPhone 5S, or even really the Nexus 5. Depending on your carrier, the HTC One costs $199 or $249 with a two-year contract. If you're phone shopping in the next few months, that camera is my only reservation in telling you to buy the new HTC One. It's gorgeous, comfortable, well-made, and competitive in every spec and feature. HTC's Sense software isn't great, but it's far less problematic than it's ever been, and the parts you don't like can be obviated pretty quickly. It's big, but so are all flagship phones these days, and my iPhone is starting to look mighty small. Really, it's all about priorities. HTC is so close and so good at so many things, if it can just make a great camera, it might run away with the crown for best Android phone. But we can't have it all, at least not yet. HTC's on to something this year with the new One, but I'm already waiting anxiously for next year's model.

Last February, HTC announced the One, a smartphone critically praised for its design, build quality, and performance. But unfortunately for HTC, it didn't turn into a huge sales success, the company still has declining market share and profits. Now the company is ready to release another new smartphone, also called the One. We're here in San Francisco at the company's Want & Co. Design Studio to talk to the industrial design team behind the new HTC One, and to find out what HTC is bringing to the table in 2014. The new One is a refinement of last year's successful design, it's softer and more coherent looking with more metal and less plastic. It's a better looking phone than last year's model, and it's rounder edges make it more comfortable to hold in your hand. HTC wasn't content to write out a familiar design like Samsung did, it built upon last year's well received phone and made it better. And really it had to, HTC doesn't have the same luxuries as Samsung. The screen has been bumped up to 5 inches, though it's still 1080p resolution, and the entire phone is a little bit taller as a result. The display looks really great, it has wide viewing angles, great color reproduction, and no visible pixels. The phone itself is upgraded on the inside too, with a Snapdragon 801 processor, bigger battery, 2GB of RAM, and 16 or 32GB of storage. Both the new One and the model before it were designed right here in San Francisco by Want & Co., the firm that HTC purchased in 2008 and turned into its own internal design studio. Before that, Want & Co. was involved in a variety of projects, everything from digital cameras and smartphones to furniture and even snowboard boots. I run the user experience and industrial design teams at HTC, which is basically, it's comprised of essentially three locations. There's the Taiwan team, obviously that's where our headquarters is, so we have a fairly substantial design and user experience team there. We have the team here in San Francisco, primarily industrial design, although there are a few user experience people. And then my head of user experience is based out of Seattle, so Drew Bamford, who's the vice president of user experience, is based out of Seattle. I think one thing you don't realize as a consultant is how much happens on the back end and how many leaps and hurdles and travails you have to kind of get through inside a corporation. So I think that's, it's very rewarding when something comes out. If I think about the HTC One last year, having that focus, having moved inside of HTC, having that focus really let us deliver, you know, just a really remarkable phone. This year's model debuted HTC's Ultra Pixel camera to varied successes, and this year the company is once again betting big on the One's camera. The new One has a secondary sensor on the back that accompanies the 4 megapixel camera. It acts a lot like a lightro camera, providing depth information to do things like refocus images after the fact or give pictures a 3D-like effect. We essentially use a stereoscopic optic system, and that allows us to basically define or assign range to every pixel. What that allows us to do is then take that information and we can actually reinterpret that for various applications. When you were developing this camera and coming up with these concepts and ideas, did you see a need in the marketplace that, you know, people wanted to be able to refocus their photo after the shot? Or was it just kind of like, this can do this and it's really cool and you know what, we're going to throw it in there and it's going to be fun? Focusing or focus accuracy isn't an issue. We have extremely fast autofocus. You know, that need's probably been met. One of the sort of big shortcomings that we felt in the optics in smartphone cameras is because of the extremely small TTL, the absolute necessity of having a thin optic stack, is that you can't get those sort of gorgeous, shallow depth of field shots. So you can actually now use that information to create things like super compelling portraits or actually replicate the sort of effect you'd get from extremely, essentially unattainable glass in a smartphone. HTC tells us that it's also completely revamped since for the new one. It runs on top of Android 4.4.2 and features various color coding for different types of apps. The entire OS feels cleaner and flatter and things like the camera app interface have been simplified and cleaned up a lot. Blink feed has been expanded with data from Foursquare and the one now has built in Fitbit integration to track your steps and movement throughout the day. The one can also be woken up with a double tap on its screen and there's gestures right from the lock screen to launch apps or go directly to your home screen. HTC is also debuting a basic flip cover case for the one called Dot View. It has a grid of holes that see through to the one's display, letting you see time, weather or notifications with just a glance. It's whimsical and fun and injects a little bit of personality into the device. But more importantly, it also gives HTC yet another marketing point. Like Zoe in Blink Feed and Boom Sound in Ultra Pixel, the company wants people thinking about and talking about its phones. You mentioned that you learned some things from last year's model and applied it to this year. Maybe could you go more specific into that? Initially we had some supply issues. Now the supply chain is up and running and we've solved a lot of those issues. So that's one of the big things, just operationally we're able to execute on it. Number two is, if you think about just going from 70 to 90%, there's another antenna breakthrough that's happened there where we can actually have even more metal on the product. We don't have to have that plastic sidewall anymore. We can actually bring the metal all the way up to the front surface of the phone. It's actually quite challenging. A lot of people don't know this, but there's more than 10 super sensitive antennas inside these phones. So somehow you look at this phone and you're like, where are those antennas actually broadcasting? Where are they actually coming through? As much as there is to like with the new one's hardware and design, and really it is nice, hardware wasn't a problem for the company last year. HTC is far enough behind Samsung and Apple at this point that shooting for the stars probably isn't its best strategy. The company could carve out a comfortable third place position, much like how Microsoft is trying to do with its Windows phone platform. The third place is dangerous. It frequently means that customers aren't necessarily thinking about your product when they walk into a store. HTC can't afford to wait for customers to be pleasantly surprised when they pick up the one. That strategy didn't work last year and it likely won't work this year. Competing with Samsung's marketing machine is by no means easy, but it's what HTC has to do. The road ahead is an uphill battle.

It's Monday, March 24, 2014. I'm Sam Sheffer, and this is 90 seconds on The Verge. After more than two weeks of questions and theories, investigators have concluded that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 crashed in the southern corridor of the Indian Ocean. Prior to the press announcement, families of the passengers received the news via text message, saying the plane had been lost and that there were no survivors on board. With investigators seemingly confident about the flight's tragic demise, the hunt for the black box becomes priority number one. Last month, Netflix secured a deal with Comcast in order to obtain faster streaming speeds, and it appears Apple is next on the horizon. The Wall Street Journal reports that Comcast is in talks with Apple to provide them priority services for its rumored set-top box. However, sources say the companies aren't close to a deal yet, reportedly disagreeing on who would retain customer information and whether Apple would receive a cut of Comcast's monthly subscription fees. And finally, the Black Keys have teamed up with Mike Tyson on the release of their new album. We just can't figure out why. The Blues Rock Duo's new album titled Turn Blue is due out on May 13th and was announced on Mike Tyson's Twitter account on Friday. The tweet also included a link to a creepy hypnotic video, but other than that, there was no mention of how or why Tyson is involved. This isn't the first time a band has taken an unconventional route to promote a new record. Last month, Chromio announced their new album on Craigslist. And that's it for today's top stories. Coming up tomorrow, OKCupid adds the ability to send a telepresence robot in place of yourself on dates. We'll take a look at what happens when they get back to her place. Oh, good God.

I'm Aaron Sopouris with The Verge, but for half an hour I was someone else. I was a woman. I was a stranger. I stared down at the clay mask I held in my hands, struggling to comprehend how those hands which were clearly not mine were allowing me to feel its curves and cracks. As I glanced at the mirror in front of me, my new lip piercing glimmered under a harsh fluorescent light. This was not a video game. This was the machine to be another. We're always finding new ways to connect with one another. Email and text messages, Twitter and Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and with every passing year keeping in contact with friends near and far becomes easier. The concept of telepresence, of virtually being somewhere that you're not, has been a driving force behind this march of progress. Surgeons can perform operations remotely, business deals are hammered out on the opposite side of oceans, and millions of us use Skype and other services every day to beam our faces across the world. However, this, presence, is generally a one-dimensional experience. Remote interaction, for the most part, is limited to sight and sound. The dream of true telepresence still eludes us. I visited FabLab in Barcelona, a small-scale workshop offering tools and teachings in the areas of architecture, engineering, and computer-aided design. The specific team I met, Be Another Lab, focuses on experiential telepresence demos that promote empathy, tolerance, and self-understanding by showing you the world from another person's perspective. The experiment I tried is called The Machine to Be Another, and it's disorienting. After being carefully positioned, I closed my eyes and listened to a voice played through a pair of headphones. That voice was Norma, a 29-year-old anthropologist from Germany who was wearing a camera hooked up to my headset. As I opened my eyes, I was staring at the same room but from a different perspective. My hands looked like Norma's, but they still appeared to obey my every command. One of the artists from Be Another Lab approached me and shook Norma's hand, and I felt it. The experiment continued as a series of objects were trotted out to each of us, first a mask, then a cigarette tin, and then finally a mirror. I could feel each object with my own hands while seeing it through Norma's perspective. As I inspected each object, I started to believe what I was seeing was reality. Norma's voice was still being piped into my head, but with a constant sensory bombardment I had no time to think, and her voice became my stream of consciousness. The demo finally ended with me standing face to face with myself, shaking hands. Through simple means, The Machine to Be Another shows what that might be like. However, Be Another Lab's dream isn't telecommuting, or robotics, or anything like that. This wants to make us understand and care about one another. Be Another Lab has investigated the issue of identity and perspective with a massively popular experiment called Gender Swap, which, as the name suggests, lets male and female participants swap bodies. But it's also empowered people to do things that would otherwise be impossible, like connecting a disabled ballerina with a surrogate dancer, who expressed her dance outside the confines of her wheelchair. The team is constantly looking for new collaborators from both the art and science fields, and it believes a little empathy and understanding would be enough to truly change the world. The experiment's unofficial motto sums up Be Another Lab's ambitions perfectly. If you could better understand each other, could you better understand yourself? If you could see the world through the eyes of the other, couldn't we make a better world to live in?

This is Sean Hollister with The Verge at GDC 2014 and we're about to put on the game face. It's an Android based virtual reality headset that doesn't require a PC or PS4 to use because it's got the guts of five different smartphones inside instead. It's got a 1080p screen and lenses similar to the Oculus Rift. They're actually the exact same lenses right now, but the company is working on turning this into a virtual reality platform of its own. We tried Shadowgun, an existing Android game. We sped through a space tunnel shooting up bugs, watched a 360 degree video of balloons flying through the sky and tried the original Tuscany demo for the Oculus Rift ported over to Android from PC with few flaws. It's a ridiculously early alpha with loads of issues right now. It's uncomfortable to wear, it makes you a little bit sick after using it because the tracking isn't very good right now. The company promises that all of these issues will be fixed soon with a new tracker, a new Tegra K1 processor to power games more quickly and a new screen to make things more crisp and clear. We're looking forward to seeing how this turns out in the near future.

It's Friday, March 21st, 2014. I'm Nathan Seichert, and today is our 420th episode of 90 Seconds on the Verge. Hit it! Troubled Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, says it has located nearly a quarter of the roughly $485 million worth of Bitcoins missing since the site shut down last month. While this is certainly good news for disgruntled customers, Mt. Gox is still a ways away from regaining the entirety of the lost fortune. How do you fight the man? Just Google it. Following yesterday's reported ban of Twitter in Turkey, citizens have discovered that the government simply used a DNS block to stop access to the site. Using the free DNS service Google provides, Turkish citizens have been able to circumvent the ban. A Turkish newspaper quoted the Prime Minister at a campaign rally as saying, I don't care what the international community says, everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic. And finally, marijuana is legal in both Colorado and Washington State. But how much will it cost for a pack of doobies? About $50. Fast company's Thor Benson decided to do the math, factoring in the cost of marijuana production with common industry margins and economies of scale wielded by large companies like Marlboro. A Marlboro representative said the company has no plans to sell marijuana-based products, but given that the sales could drive $20 billion in taxes alone, this might be too big of an opportunity for it to pass up. And that's it for today's top stories. Coming up tomorrow, episode 421. Wait, four plus two plus one times 90 seconds divided by 1.5 minutes equals... 420.

Hey and welcome to the Vergecast for the what is going on with my hair. What is happening? It really is like if I keep my head in this position, it's okay. Yeah, I think it works. It's like a serious way. Welcome to the Vergecast for the week of March 17th, 2014. I'm Josh Dupulsky. I'm Dieter Bohn. I'm David Pierce. And I know what you're thinking. Where is Katie and TC? Why isn't the wine cast going down? TC might be dead. Is that possible? TC is, well, Katie made a lot of threats. A lot of threats. Oh, I see his cowboy hat turned out to be alive. I just got an email on my Asha 210. I get pop up notifications. Is that even a thing that's possible? Wow. That is a notification. Can you get emails on your Asha 210? Pretty cool, right? Let me view it right now on the cool mail app. I will say I even... Just let me load that up. Just loading up the mail app. This really does make me want a yellow phone really bad. Yellow phones are where it's all happening. Here it is. Here's my email. Just loading. Still loading. Asha 210 is not fast. Okay, anyhow. But how many Sims do you have? At least two. At least two. I'm living the international lifestyle. You're a man of mystery. I'm a man of international dual Sim citizenry. If somebody is like, Josh, you're needed in Dubai right now. I'm like, I'm there. I'm there. I'll just pop my Dubai Sim in and call it a day. Not even a problem. Or my Dubai Sim may already be in there. You don't know. I may have just come back from Dubai. Anyhow, this is the Vergecast where we discuss the week and items that we're interested in talking about. That's right. I'm in Dubai. I'm in Dubai. My travels. Dubai, New Mexico, whatever. Actual Mexico. Actual Mexico. Old Mexico. Old Mexico, I guess is what it would be. Because actual would be like, it would be what is fake Mexico in actual Mexico. What if there were an English settlement in old Mexico? It would be ye olde Mexico. Ye olde Mexico. Ye olde. That's definitely a place in Vegas. I'm just going to throw that out there. Or new would have an E on the end of it. Right. New. Anyhow, a lot of people are like, I don't know. I'm going to throw that out there. A lot of stuff to talk about this week. A lot of things to discuss. I got to tell you, this is an exciting Vergecast for reasons that I can't tell you yet. May decide to not tell you. We'll see. We're just winging it. I just heard Ross laugh. He's like, oh God, don't do this to me. Anyhow, but sorry, I'm just checking on my hair and trying to figure out if it's- Just take your time. You do what you got to do. By the way, business cash, Thursday cash going on. Thursday cash. Is that a thing? I'm just like so whatever. You know what I mean? Yes, that is. Am I quoting Avril Lavigne? You just don't even care? Yes, I am quoting Avril Lavigne. As you should. A Canadian goddess, if there ever was one. Am I right? No. Minnesota. No. What's the Minnesota- Duck duck gray duck, man. Duck duck gray duck forever. Minnesota Canada connection. It's the weather, right? Yeah. Have you heard of this duck duck gray duck instead of duck duck goose? Sure. That is nonsense. Yeah, everybody knows that. I've never heard that. Okay, thank you. If you look at it, duck duck what? Everywhere in America, except for Minnesota, they play duck duck goose, this insane game that is clearly inferior to what we play in Minnesota, which is duck duck gray duck. Duck duck gray duck. Yeah. So it's like you're a duck, you're a duck, you're a duck, but your color is gray. Yeah, but no, with duck duck goose, you're just like much more complex. Duck duck goose, whatever. Yeah, we can handle- Wow, look at this. Look at this. Yeah, see? Isn't this crazy? Because you can go yellow duck, blue duck. So there is a Canadian. There is a Canadian connection though to that, right? Yeah. That's probably what they do. What about in Canada? Do we know? I think that it's just goose in Canada. It's just goose, goose, goose, goose, goose. Just goose. It's like a goose, goose, a. Then you run. Then you run. Yeah. And then you apologize afterwards. Sorry about that. So anyhow, so a lot to talk about this week. A lot to talk about. Let's just start with what I consider to be one of the most exciting pieces of news I've heard in a while. Christian Bale may be the next Steve Jobs. Well, it's like we're like six steps away from maybe. On film. It's like it might possibly potentially maybe be considered. The wrap had a story today which is that Fincher is like, Christian Bale is my only choice to play Steve Jobs in my not officially announced, maybe is not happening but is happening. Wait, so all we know, we know the movie is happening. Sony produced biopic. Right. And we know Sorkin is writing it. Those are the only things we know for sure. Do we know that for sure? Is that on paper? Is that a fact? That's a fact. I think we think it's going to be like three scenes surrounding. Oh, right. Around like launch event. The launch event. That's an old, that's an old rumor, isn't it? Yeah, it is. No, but Sorkin has said that. So that's true. Okay. That is true. This is what this is. Listen, I can tell already this is what people pay their Virgcast money for this conversation. Let me just lead this discussion by saying that I think this is a mistake. Why? No, that's the. Here's what I'll say. After seeing him in American Hustle, which I just watched. He's so good in that movie. Surprised, very surprised by his the depth. And I feel like nobody talks about him being in that movie. He's the star of the movie. Yeah, I feel like it's not really. So here's the thing. Like Christian Bale can do angry Steve Jobs just fine. Like here's, you know, he can freak out on people and that needs to happen. But does he have a reality distortion field? Does he inspire like love and hope? Have you seen American Hustle? That's like a hundred percent what he does in American Hustle. There is a, yes, I would say he has a soft spot. That's his whole character. I feel like the look is there. I feel like this works, you know? Yeah, wow. Seeing them side by side. That's actually culture on the left, right? He can act. This guy can act. Bale can act and he'll lose weight. He'll gain weight. You know, Jobs had huge. He didn't even care. But Jobs, when he got sick, he had huge weight fluctuations. In the 90s and in the early 2000s, he was actually kind of heavy. You know, there's like a period where, so that's like, we know Christian Bale can just jam on that no problem. Machinist. Machinist, he looks insane in it, right? So you know, it's kind of a bummer to talk about, but that if you need someone to get sick, to look like they're really, truly sick on film, Christian Bale's your man. He's like, how much weight do I need to lose? Give me 20 minutes. He's like, original birth weight, no problem. I'm there. I have intense and angry, but I don't know. I have intense and angry, but I don't know. Eight pounds, six ounces, I'll buy a Monday. But he's like, he's compelling in part because he's so often inscrutable. And I don't think that Steve Jobs is inscrutable. He wears his heart on his sleeve and I don't think I can get that out of him. No, I can see it. I can totally see it. I'm completely, now that they've said that, if it's anybody else, I'm going to be very upset and disappointed. And I'll probably go crazy. Who else? Noah Wiley. Is anybody else even out there as a possibility? Noah Wiley. Well, that would be an interesting, here's the problem though. He's not going to carry, they're not going to put Noah Wiley in the Fincher, Sorkin written jobs. You just can't carry a movie like that. They need star power. You know what would be great? Tom Cruise. Can we get a picture of Tom Cruise next to an old picture of Steve Jobs? I don't know. I mean, I think it could work, honestly. Tom Cruise. Christian Bale's in the right. Horrible human, pretty good actor. No, he's a great person and a great actor. My personal friend, Tom Cruise. That's right. What? You get their pals. I hung out with Cruise. Oh, that's right. Cruise missiles, I refer to him. I bet he likes that a lot. He was great. One of the greatest people I've ever met in my entire life. Did he leap on couches? You don't understand. I've told this story before, but many years ago I started, I really hadn't seen that many Tom Cruise movies. I started talking about, because here's the thing about Tom Cruise. In a lot of social circles, Tom Cruise gets some guff. You were just a terrible person, great actor or something. There we go. Totally, totally could play him. Yeah, this could actually work. I'm feeling very good about Tom Cruise in that role. Very good. By the way, he's got a vulnerability. Have you seen him in Magnolia? He does. Incredible performance. It's true. Anyhow, so many years ago- Good crier, Tom Cruise. Many years ago, pre-Magnolia, which is one of my favorite movies, and he's excellent in it. Paul Thomas Anderson, by the way, you should check it out. If you haven't seen it, it's three and a half hours. I used to factor my long plane rides by going, well, this is like two Magnolias. So anyhow, I had this kind of running joke that people would be like, oh, Tom Cruise. And I'd be like, yeah, I think he's great. He's actually my favorite actor. And then it turned into I started really getting into Tom Cruise and watching his films. And then it was like, I became fairly obsessed with Tom Cruise and excited. If he was on a talk show, I would stay up to tune in. Well, not stay up, but I would make sure to tune in. Stay up way past your bedtime. If a film of his was on TV, I would definitely watch it. And then finally, I got to totally hang out with him backstage at late night, which was truly the pinnacle of my existence as a human. Better than having a baby. I remember how excited you were. It was the birth of my child and then having a conversation with Tom. And he like legit, anyhow, I don't want to go into, but he like came into the dressing room and like talked about books with me and Laura for like 10 minutes. Is he a reader? It was insane. I could see him being a reader. He was reading- I'm sorry, I was a cheap shot. No, we were talking about the series that he was really into called the, I think it's called the Lensman, which is like a 1920, no, no, it's like from the 1920s, the Lensman series. Yeah. It's a space opera written by Edward Elmer Doc Smith. And yeah, it was first published in 1937. He started writing these stories. Anyhow, he was like talking about how he wanted to do, he wanted to use like, he had, he said insane things that only a Tom Cruise type person would say. He said things like, I'm trying to convince Ron Howard to make a movie. Wow. Which is just like a con, he says that all the time to people. I was like, that's nuts. Anyhow, he was a lovely man. It's gotta be weird to be Tom Cruise. I just, just, I just want to spend more time with Tom Cruise. Is he as short as everyone says he is? You know, he didn't seem that short to me. I'll be honest with you. I'm a tall guy. I'm six foot four. I'm very tall. He did not strike me as that short. What are we listening to here? He just had such a commanding presence. Oh my God. Yes. So great. Tom Cruise is awesome. This could actually totally work. Tom Cruise is so great. What are we watching here? What is this? Top, top something, Tom Cruise. Top 10 Tom Cruise moments. I mean, by the way, it could totally play Steve Jobs. I mean, that kind of looked like Steve Jobs. Yeah, totally. Totally. He's got the intensity. He's got the vulnerability. He could yell at you. Now that I've thought of this, I actually feel Christian Bale is a poor substitute. Poor substitute for Tom Cruise. That would be crazy. Fincher, if you're watching, which I know you are because you're a huge Verge cast fan, David Fincher. First of all, hey. Starts out high again. Thank you. Second, think about Tom Cruise for that. Okay. I kind of want Christian Bale and David Fincher to make a movie together though. Maybe not this one. They've made, have they not made a movie together? No. Oh, I guess you're right. I guess you're right. Anyhow, we spend far too much time talking about Tom Cruise. That's impossible. Okay. Somebody just got surprised. I just got a tweet, hot tweet coming in. They did not know I was six foot four. Also, there was a suggestion, McConaughey. No. Terrible. I don't know. I could see it. He could kind of do anything at this point. He's got a lot of range. I'd give it to him. He'd be good. He'd be good for the parts where Steve Jobs is a total wreck, like a complete maniac. The other problem is you can't make Matthew McConaughey not extraordinarily handsome. Christian Bale pulled off being fat, but fat Matthew McConaughey would still be a pretty good looking dude. That's a problem. Anyhow, sorry Matthew McConaughey. The whole story is we don't know the tail end of it yet, but that's very interesting. Yeah. I mean Fincher apparently wants Bale to play Jobs. Which is such a power move. He's like, you know this huge budget movie you're making. I will only do it if you give me everything I want. Just put anybody with a beard, Steve Jobs. Well, he's got facial hair, so I guess that's good work. I mean, it could work. It's like a good looking guy with a beard. So Sony, I'm available. You know, one more thing. He's a good yeller. I've heard of this guy. I know it for sure. What? Oh yeah. Good yeller. Yeah. And cry, cry a lot. I was going to say, are you a good crier? Doesn't really work. I mean the glasses are, yeah, thanks. The glasses, not seeing it so much. Although, you know, Jobs actually had kind of a nose on him. Like when you look at that, it's sort of kind of big. I mean, have you considered growing your hair out a lot? Not about the hair though. Yeah. Well, I actually, my hair is getting longer now. I'm actually thinking about growing it like a little bit longer. Just really going for it. I'm thinking about going for like a full on beautiful mane that I can throw back into a pony or a mini pony. Are you just call it a pony? Or like a bun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just going to call it a pony. Can we get a shot? Can I see a picture of either Christian Bale or Johnny Depp with like a little bit of a ponytail because that's what I'm going for. Or Jared Leto, I think has had mini, been rocking a pony at some point recently. That's my emulator. Jared Leto can wear a pony. I'm trying to find pictures of you from when I first met you at the launch of the, it was super long, at the launch of the Centro, I believe it was. Oh my God. Centro launch. I remember that. That was a shit show. Deeter's whole life is just measured by launches of web OS devices. That was when I, who was it? Ed Colligan. I like mobbed Ed Colligan. It was like, Hey, I want to do an interview with you. And he was like, contact my people there. Right boom, right there. That's my new shit. That's Josh DePoloski. There I am. Except, except super duper beautiful and good looking. Anyhow. Should we talk about watches? Android wear. This is a huge deal. This is a huge deal for me on several levels, but Android wear. So Google had this like what seemed like a totally, I don't know, like really bad way to roll out this thing. It's like one day we're sitting around and then one minute later, like, Oh, like where it's one, it's regular life. And then a minute later, like, Hey, we've created a like a totally new version of Android to run on watches and wearable. It was also super weird. There you go. Zach Galifianakis of steel jobs. That's great. It's perfect. But what if you lost a bunch of weight? Could work. I could see it. I could see it. Same piercing gaze. They're just looking into your soul. Right now. They're just looking at things. No, but the weird thing was we were at South by last week. Yeah. That's not by Southwest, Southwest. So there are pitch South by if you're, you know, in the no, which is cool if you're not, but we were at South by last week and soon to our pitch. I is on stage doing an interview. Head of Android and Chrome. He's like the guy in charge of all this stuff. And he sort of, he said that there was going to be like API's and stuff so that Android can work with wearable devices. It's coming soon. We're going to release some like a little update, like a point update to Android. Can include to me about it that the guy who was interviewing him, John Battelle had to literally point out in to the audience and be like, Hey guys, this is news. Yeah. And he was so like, it just wasn't even a thing. And then they're just like, so this is, so this changes. So here it is. This is, and it was, it was a vomit on the internet. This is Android where it's like, it's like, it's like it went up and then all of a sudden all these manufacturers like LG, Motorola, H did HTC say they're doing this? They said they're very excited about something or other. They announced them as a partner, but they haven't actually said anything. So it's obviously can be a square or circular interface. And here's, what's bugging me, it's driving me insane about the circular interface is that it has this little line at the bottom, which, which, well, that's just that device. No, but no, but I mean like, no, it's showing it here on the demo. It's showing every one of the demos is square. It also shows it on the demo here. You can see it shows the little line, which is insane. They're showing a lot of square. They did show some circular. Well, the demo is the circular demo they're showing is the Motorola watch. That's the only circular one we've seen. Yeah. Yeah. But so let me just say, so anyhow, long and short is this interface looks really good and looks totally like what I would want and have expected, but Motorola showed off this, this device called the Moto 360 and it is a circular, looks like a regular metal watch. It's very big. It's 46 millimeters, which is pretty big, although not comparatively to like a lot of compared to like your watch right there. This is probably a, I think this is like a 42. Okay. So it's a little bigger, but not, you know, you get used to it. It's weird because I used to have a, I always thought like, Oh, I want a smaller watch like, like a Rolex Explorer. I don't know if you ever seen one, not that I can afford a Rolex Explorer, but they have a, it's like a 36. Right. And I was like, yeah, that's about the size I want. But when you look at it, it actually now kind of looks like a little small. It looks like a small, it looks like a small watch. And so, so watches have been getting progressively bigger. 46 is big, but it's not ridiculous. What I will say is, it looks awesome. Yeah, it does. The interface looks awesome. The, I mean, the watch looks, it's not the exact watch that the face that I would, the, the watch design that it's plain. It's very basic, which is fine. I'm not complaining about that, but the whole concept looks great. And I'm like really excited about it. I mean, Motorola has a history of making circular displays. They made the aura. I mean, I definitely talked, I think there may be a verge cast or several where I'm like, Motorola made the aura. Why don't they just take that display and put it on a watch? I mean, kind of what they did. Yeah, kind of what they did. I was looking at Auras on eBay recently, like before this stuff. It was such a cool phone. Like, so, and look, it's like they were big on like the clock for the, no, no, no. We had all kinds of crazy clock stuff. Yeah. So, so this is a really cool development. I think like the question is, can they execute on it? Can they pull off this, this breathtaking design and also have a good interface and have it work with your device and battery life and well, battery life is a big one. Yeah. I mean, I really, I would argue the biggest thing. Like that's ultimately the thing that matters the most, especially these are like, yeah, like that's, I, I'm willing to charge it once a day. Like I will go that far. This is really driving me insane. This line at the bottom, there's like a little line. Yeah. When I was about to get on the phone with Jim Wicks, I was sitting in a meeting with Jordan and Billy, two of our video directors and they both were like, you have to ask him about the line. So they're saying it's a square interface and that's so it's cutting off the bottom. Well, the interface will work both circles. Like Google designed it to work in either case. So why do, why doesn't it just fill in the color of whatever is in that part with the, you know, I feel like this is an interface. I think that the display stops there. It's not like that. Why would the display stop there? No, I mean then it wouldn't be a round display. Yeah. Then how do you do a clock? Is the display fully round? Can we see the clock, can we see the clock face close up the watch face that the Motorola shows? It's like a black watch face. It just looks like a watch. I'm pretty sure it takes up any second now. Can we get, yeah, that takes up the whole screen. No, there's also, they show a person wearing it with the watch face in one of these images. I think the one just above this, no, no. I see that. Can you scroll up though? I want to see the, um, yeah. Can you zoom in on that image? Yeah. You see like the hand is there. It is, you can see it in this, in the, um, in the other one as well. But so, so they can go full screen. It's not the display. Yeah. That is, that goes all the way down there. You can see, I guess this one's better yet. Yeah. It's all the way to, no, no, no. It's not cut off. I told you. Go back to that. Zoom in again. Screen stops. Wow. This is a shocking revelation. Why? That makes no sense. Why is it doing that? Physics, man. Oh my God. What if, Hey, what if I'm about to blow your mind super hard right now? What if that's a small solar strip under the glass? It's solar. And so it's getting recharged. So on the hangout, Jim, how else would you, how else would you have USB port? We're not talking about how it's charging, but it's really exciting. It's part of our special. Think about it. It's the face of the watch exposed all day long to light. We were talking about this the other day about whether they're going to do motion or something for how to charge it. Or maybe it's a combo. It's like motion. And I mean, anyhow, well, wait, what? The back's purple. Well, inductive charging is one thing, but like you got to, that's fine. You don't, you want this thing to last all day and beyond, right? Yeah. Well, and it's like, it's a, you know, there are a million reasons that it seems like it might not like it's, it's a lot of years, not super thick. It's a lot of LCD screen, which means usually bad things. It's a lot of stuff for it. It's on no lead. No, it's weird that they didn't go with OLED. Yeah. I don't totally know why that is. Probably probably because you can't see it in and you can't see it in daylight. That too. We know basically, I mean it's gotten better, but anyhow, I'm excited. I'm really excited. Here's the thing. So they're not the only people who can make a watch. Anybody can make a watch using this, this interface. Yep. It is like plays on Google now, which is, has been great. I actually feel like Google has made Google now a little bit less good recently. Like they've changed some of the ways that it works. Did you see the thing they added yesterday? No. What's that? Okay. Google take a picture. Why would you do that? I don't know. So take a photo. It might, I mean, so I asked. Okay Google take a photo. What's the point of this? When I talked to Jim Wicks, the motorist head of design, I asked specifically about a camera. I was like, why didn't you include a camera? People seem to like it and he got very cagey and was like, well, you haven't seen everything that we're doing. And then this happens. I'm like, well maybe that's the answer. No, but that's great. But like I don't need my watch to take a photo. I think it's a terrible idea. But every, like the, the Galaxy Gear, it's like the most popular thing about it is people taking weird pictures with it. Why? I don't get it. I don't understand. I mean, I'd much rather have a real decent camera and a smartphone. Yeah. So anyhow, I'm excited about the interface. I'm excited about the possibility. I will say everybody was like, they're just showing off. These are all just demos. These are like, these aren't real things, but they did a, was it Jim Wicks who did a, a, a hangout with somebody and he actually has a device and you can see him fast scrolling through. So, so there is something. I don't think these guys are, this is just vaporware. They released an SDK and it works like we can, we can look at it. So what is this? Right. Actually we, I don't think we did a story on it. Do we do a story on that? Oh, we're doing, we're working on something. Okay. Yeah. But I think we have it. We can actually show some of this up. This is live right here. Oh, this is a live demo right here. So the way it works is like there's, there's a home screen and you can tap on the G button to do voice inputs or you can say, okay, cool. But it doesn't work. Oh, right. Oh, right. So it's the SDK. If you swipe up, that sort of like brings in your notifications. Okay. Let's see this. And maybe I should, there are no notifications. Are you going to, this is Evan is running this. I'm going to say. Exciting. Although this is extremely boring. Now presumably this would be like a nice watch face that a third party right developed for the, for the lock screen. Yeah. Yeah. And so you can swipe up. It's not cut off. So they are doing, they're cutting it off for a reason. So open that message. What happened? So when you open a message, you can, there's, there's basically swipe up is open the message. Swipe down is go down to back to the home screen. If you swipe to the left, it gives you options to interact with it. Like reply. So if like you can mark as red, you can reply. So it's kind of like a little bit like the Google glass interface. Yeah. And then if you swipe it to the right, it dismisses it and it also dismisses it on your phone. Oh, that's awesome. The fact that it syncs back is huge because that's the thing I hear about most smart watches, especially like, it doesn't do a good job. So that's syncing. That's not syncing to Evan's phone. That's just coming through on Hangouts. Well, it's, it's because it's the SDK. It's like, you know, right. Janky. Yeah. So it, but the idea is that it'll sync back to your phone. Right. Yeah. So the whole thing, the whole thing, there's no like native apps on it, at least not yet. It's all notifications and stuff. But presumably they'll, presumably you're going to be able to make apps for, they will have like right now it's very simple. I mean, you send like detailed notification information, like directions on maps or whatever, but you can play music on it. Well, right. This is, this feels like totally like the future. Well, so the fact that it's circular just feels like really cool if they can pull this off and it gets, it runs well and has okay. Battery life. Like even as a display is like a little, like what's the resolution of the display? Do we know? We don't know. They're not talking about it. Even if it's like they're really reluctant to talk about it. They said this is going to be out in the summer. Yeah. So that's really soon. Well, LG is a summer. Is this one for sure? No, I think Motorola said summer. Okay. So that's really soon. Yeah. Right. Now presumably. I mean, but it's working. Like they clearly have a thing that's working. So they must be in the phase of just tweaking. When is, when is, when is Google IO? It's usually June. It's like June. Okay. So we're going to see, we're going to hear an announcement. I'm guessing that, you know, in Google, in the Google IO package, they always give to all the developers there. Did you hear that for Google IO, it's now like a random lottery for developers? Yeah. It's like first come first serve and it sells out in a minute. It's a lottery. I think so. Um, so I think that, uh, I think that, uh, we're obviously going to see a bunch of devices there or at least like very fully functioning devices. My guess is they're going to have a developer. They're going to, there's going to be some, here's the developer platform, right? Like a nexus five. No, but I think they're going to do that, but they're also going to roll out like the app store at IO. Right. That's what I would hope. They're going to be like, these things are out now. And also here are all the apps. I am not confident there's going to be an app store for the watch. I am not a hundred percent confident. It's not going to just be Google now on your wrist with these, uh, you know, super notifications that it sends. I don't know. It feels like they've talked pretty explicitly about one on third party developers to make apps for it. Yeah. But there's a phone that like pushed off to it. Like the thing, the question is, will this thing exists separate from your phone? Right. Or is this like, I think it's, I think it's like, it's like glass, it's a peripheral. Well, also it's kind of like notifications. I mean, notifications actually can be pretty robust on Android. Right. So you can do a lot with a notification. You can reply in a notification. You can like share from a notification. You do all kinds of things that are like really useful. Notifications just work on it right now. It's that you can do more if you want to. Right. I mean, I'm just saying like beyond Google now, my guess is it'll tap into the notification system of Android, which is like its most powerful system. Yeah. If you ask me. Yeah. No, I agree. I find that I interact with the note in it. Yeah. I find that my notifications are so constant and they're so easy to interact with that I'm like almost, that's my application switcher. Like that's how I get around the phone. It's really interesting. Even just little things like being able to archive an email from the notification. Yeah. It's amazing. Look at this. What's going on here? This is a dude talking to developers on how to make stuff talk to Android wear. So exciting. It's very exciting. So I guess it works with Android 4.3 and up. Okay. So the other thing I think is really cool about this is that it's, they're talking about how it interacts with Chromecast, which is going to be, it's going to be a remote for Chromecast. Here's the thing. I was messing with the Chromecast the other night. I have one in my bedroom. So awesome. I keep buying them. But here's what's crazy. It's $35. I'll take another one. But here's what's crazy about the Chromecast. Like how many TVs do you have? It's the best selling thing on Amazon. Okay. But here's the single best selling electronic. That doesn't make any sense. But here's the thing. But here's the thing that I don't understand with Chromecast. Like why can't they just build in a airplay like function for like if I have a video, like if I shot a video of my baby, which I've done. Yeah. I watch it in my, in my Android phone and I want to watch and I have like video playback and I want to watch it on the Chromecast, whether I'm in the photos app at the gallery app, there's no way to do it. There is no, there's no, there's no native tab. You can have no tab for there's an app now that's called all cast. All cast does it. All cast does it. But like what I'm saying is that should be something that's natively built into any, well any place you can play video on your device, it should say like, okay, not third party apps, but like if you have video on your device. Cause that's the best thing. And even third party apps, then it's like airplay. But my understanding, I mean, I think the thing is that because it's not streaming from the device, there's no way for it to happen. Right. I mean, you have to have an intermediary, which is what all cast is. Right. Right. But I mean, and that's the best thing about airplay is that it's just built in everywhere. No, that's the thing. If you play anything, it just works. No, no. It's incredible. Like when you, I mean, that's like, it's brilliant on an Apple device when you have like, oh, I'm watching this in my ABC app or I'm doing, I don't know if ABC does it, but I'm a bunch of them do. It's just like, oh, you know what? Just throw it over to my TV. Or if I'm watching a video that I have, like that I, you know, saved to the device or whatever, just watch it. It's just like totally seamless. Like they have not gotten that at all. If they could get something, if they could just create their own in an intermediary on the device, that's like play to Chromecast or whatever. I don't know. But I think they'll get there. And I think the watch is actually like the perfect remote for all of this because like, and you know, we're talking, everybody's talking about the claims that the Chromecast doesn't have the processing power to push those kinds of, push those kinds of pixels. And they also called you bro. And he called me bro. So kind of, he just ruined his argument. I have two conspiracy theories about why Android Wear got announced this week. One is they wanted to, they knew that they waited until IO that it would either leak or Apple would announce something ahead of them. That's definitely the most obvious one. Second one is the Gear Fit, which seems like one of the better wearables out there right now just got announced at 199 bucks. It's on pre-order. What is it? The Gear Fit. But it runs Tizen. So instead of like letting Samsung sell a single one of these, they're like, you know what? We're going to announce this right now. So nobody buys. It's a pretty harsh diss from Google to Samsung. Well, I mean, Samsung switched to Tizen, so screw them. But also like, yeah, I mean, so here's how Google feels. So here's the question. Samsung's a partner for Android Wear. Yeah. So do you think that- Well, that's why Samsung's the best. They're like, we're going to make everything. Whatever. Do you think, do you think- Shut up. That's a Samsung guy. Do you think that somebody like a company like Pebble will adopt, I guess they won't because they want to be OS agnostic? Yeah. Yeah. Although, you know, it's not compatible. I mean, but on some level, like, I don't see how- It's not compatible with my Tizen phone. Unless this is terrible, unless Android Wear is terrible, which is there's a non-zero chance of it being terrible. Very well could be. So I actually asked- Unless it's terrible, I don't see how Pebble survives. Like, why would anyone buy a Pebble if this works at all? Well, we just actually ran a story. We just ran a story. They sold 400,000 smartwatches. He's not actually a smartwatch. He's not actually that worried about it. Really? Yeah. I mean, I asked him, point blank. And he's like, you know, at least now we've got something to directly compete with. I mean, I guess Pebble is like a small enough company that- They don't need to be- Right. They don't need to sell 100 million of them to be successful. 400,000 is plenty. Yeah. That's a big number. And if they can keep it cheaper than whatever these things cost, and presumably they will, that might help. I don't know. 249 for the Pebble Steal is like not cheap. What happened? What's happened that, sorry, that we have a situation that I'm just reading about here amongst our staff members that Evan Rogers and Nathan Seichert have their V card has merged. Yes, that happened to me. Where are you reading this? Evan just sent an email to our entire staff titled, I am not Nathan Seichert. Well, I'm confused. And then Laura like trolled him and now I'm really confused. Yeah. That just happened to me. No, I think it happened to him. Well, it happened to somebody. I tried to send him a text for our little demo of- It happened one night. With Android Wear and it went to Nathan Seichert. Very, very unusual and upsetting. Good thing I'm not sinking any of that information into my mainframe. From now on, if anybody sends me a V card, I'm not stopping. My intranet. V card. Anyhow. Don't laugh at V cards, bro. My intranet is solved. It's fine. Oh my God. Anyhow. Nobody's getting into my intranet. No one will ever break into your intranet. No. Say it on my- Okay. So anyhow, Android Wear. So let's just say it's a very exciting development. Let's hope- I'm kind of pissed because I'm going to end up buying like a lot of these. I just want one decent- Like look, God, it better be as good as it- They're showing it. I hope it's good. If it's terrible, I'm going to be very- If it stinks, I'm going to be so upset. Yeah. Let's hope it's good. Yeah. I think it's going to be good. It'll be good. I was talking with somebody about this the other day and this makes real problems for Apple now because they used to- Does it though? No, but Apple's whole move was always like, this industry exists. We're going to come in and make it great and beautiful and functional. No, that's what they'll do. They're going to go- That's what Google just did. No, no, no, no. They're going to go, no. They're going to go with Google because their PR message was really confusing and random. Look, Apple's going to do this. If they have- They're also going to put it on sale, really. Well, yeah. They're going to put it on sale immediately. If they have an event, Apple's going to do- If they have a device and they're going to have an event for it, which I believe they probably will- Well, there's been all these rumors they're going to do a TV thing in April, right? It sounds like they're going to have- Would they do this then? Yeah. Well, I don't know. I wonder. But they're going to have a health device. Or maybe like a WWDC. A health device of some type. Yeah. I don't know if you've been seeing all this. Yep. I don't know. It's a health book. I don't know. I don't think that many people care enough about their health for that to make sense. It like measures your heartbeat. I don't care. I don't really care that much about my heartbeat. But anyhow, so- I'm fine. They're just going to do an event. They're going to say- That's not how they think I'm doing it. They're going to say- Now, of course, Jobs is the master of this and they are trying hard to replicate it. But they'll get up and they'll say, here's what- Everybody's talking about wearables. Everybody's talking about these devices you wear on your wrist. And they're going to make fun of all these other guys. Here's what the competition is doing, here's Samsung, this is like they're going to make fun of it. The display doesn't even go the right way. When you try to look at it, they're going to put the gear fit up. Then they'll show Andrew, they'll say, Google announced these. There's no real products yet, but they say something's coming in the future. And they're going to say, what is that? This is all junk. We figured it out. He's going to pull up his short sleeve. Yeah. He's going to- Yeah. Right. Now, what if he opens his shirt and it's a necklace? No. It's dependent. He pulls open his deep V. Well, Johnny Ive won't- He just dips it down. Johnny Ive won't be on stage because of his crushing stage fright. But- I have stage fright. But no, it's fine. Look, you know what? I'm afraid right now. I'm terrified. You ain't Johnny Ive. Okay, my man? That's true. You get Johnny Ive money, your stage fright should go away. Getting that guy to help you. At any rate- Your stage fright guy? Your stage fright guy. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody needs one of those. Just get just doped up. Just be like, shoot me up with whatever. Put me out there. That's what I do. So they're gonna say like they figured they cracked it, they figured it out, they got the awesome. And maybe they do. I don't know. Apple might have an amazing device. But like what would they do that would make you more excited than this? Other than have a thing I can buy tomorrow? I mean- Have something that works with an iPhone? Well- I mean, somebody's gonna- Fair. If Google doesn't make the Android work with an iPhone, somebody will hack it to make it happen. Well, it is that- I would jailbreak- Presumably it doesn't- In a heartbeat. Presumably it doesn't work. No, I would hack the- I should jailbreak it anyway. The watch. Right. Well, my guess is couldn't they create an app that communicates via Bluetooth? I mean, Pebble does. Presumably, yeah. I mean, it's a Pebble. Right. Is that what Pebble does? Yeah. But it's way- Pebble is so much more interesting and accessible if you use an Android phone. Well, there's more apps to do more weird stuff with the iPhone. It kind of does what it does in that sense. Well, and it's the same sort of notifications things where- But imagine- On iOS, you don't get- But imagine a native device that plugs into the core features of iOS. And then that's the Apple device, right? If it does all that stuff. I mean, so notifications on a watch are super important. I would want to see Apple get notifications right on the phone before I trust them to put notifications on my wrist. Oh, yeah. No, their notifications are absolutely terrible. Yeah. They're absolutely pathetically bad. Yeah. By comparison. I actually was like- I was using my phone today. Good story. What? I was using my phone. Wow. No, it might have been while I had the- Was it your Asha phone? Was it your Asha phone? Was it your Asha phone? Was that the Asha phone? Yeah, no, not my Asha. I was using my Sony, which is- How many SIM cards were you using at the time? How many cameras on that phone? There were four, at least four SIM cards. Your speeds were outrageous. No, but I was actually- Also feeds. I was using the phone. I was moving from whatever thing to thing. I actually had this moment where I was like, I love the way this function. I was like, this is great. I can't believe what this thing is doing. It's such an amazing device. I have to say, I do have that- Every once in a while, I have that sensation of like, my God, this is so crazy that this thing does all of the stuff that it does. And it's a really cool, exciting feeling to have. I have to say, the last time I was using my iPhone, I did not have- The feeling was the opposite. It was like, why are you doing this? That is a great point, actually, about getting the notifications right on the phone before they try to get them right on a- But at least an interruptive or very basic notification on a watch does make a little bit more sense. But people are saying, the rumor is like, is that what Apple wants to do? The rumor is this is like a health device. It's not about getting notifications and controlling your Apple TV or whatever. Well, I'm surprised that nobody has really done a good job of trying to combine those two things yet. Because there's clearly a market for- Yeah, I mean, you're wearing both right now, right? You're wearing a Fitbit and a watch. It's cool, but it's like a fashion. I look like I'm wearing a- Bangles? Yeah, a bangle. You're a pretty cool guy. Does bangles the right word? I look like I'm in the bangles. Bangles is the right word. No, I agree. I agree. Wow. I tried to search the internet for bangles and it ended up searching my computer instead and I've got some bangles in my computer. I don't know what that means. You have bangles music? Yeah. Is Lisa responsible for this at all? You want to listen to some Eternal Flame right now? I kind of do. Always. I helped out my uncle. I backed up some stuff for him and I still have it here. Classic story. I helped out my uncle and now there's a bunch of bangles. Music. You're welcome, Bruce. On my computer. Uncles. That was a weird kind of threatening gun cocking motion you just made towards the screen. All right, anyhow, so we don't know what Apple's going to do. Android Wear is here, but not a real product yet, but they're saying by the summer. Let's move on. Let's talk about VR. Project Morpheus. Project Morpheus. Which is the greatest name of anything ever. Well, it's a good name. No, it's the perfect name. What's a better name? Name a better name for virtual reality. Virtual reality and Project NEO. Project Trinity. That's like the title of the show. Project Trinity. By the way, I know Morpheus is not from the Matrix, but my assumption is... It's also like Dreaming. Right, my assumption is that that was the touchstone on this one. Yeah. Because you do jack in on it. Yeah. Into it, whatever. So this is Sony. Sony has created a VR headset. It looks like the thing from the future. It looks like this is the thing that's on the cover of the William Gibson novel from 1985. They did new art and this is the cover. It looks super duper futuristic. I mean, I kind of feel like this is what I've always assumed the eventual Oculus Rift would look like. Yeah. Of course, you want to see the thing downsize. So we have done some reports on this. And the word on the street from our dudes seems to be... Can we run the demo footage? Seems to be this thing is a contender. I don't know why. I feel like this should be in the hero. What's great about this is that this wasn't some demo, some janky demo where they're running it off a PC and who knows, it's prototype, whatever. They're running it right on a PlayStation 4. I have actually not watched this video. This could work. I have been so busy this week, I have not watched the video. It's so cool. It does full tracking so you can turn your head and it uses the tools that are already on the PlayStation 4, the eye toy or whatever the heck. It definitely looks a lot more comfortable than the Oculus, the way it goes around. It doesn't have the thing that goes all the way around your ears and stuff. And they're big on the fact that it's weighted to balance better on your face. So this combination with the Move, is that what these things are called? The Move? Yeah, the PlayStation Move. It's been so long. This combo seems to me pretty incredible. I remember when we played with this on... Where did we do that? Where were we playing with the Move? It was on an On The Verge show one time. It was on On The Verge. You did the Johan Sebastian Joukowski. No, but there was another thing that we did with the Move on an older On The Verge. It might have been on an Engadget show back in the day. It's beard stroke here. I'm just trying to remember, man. Anyhow, but the Move is a really incredible tool but has never been utilized well. This in a VR environment makes total sense to me. Yeah, because that's the thing that sucks about Oculus, right? Is that it's like you can see everything normally but you can't actually do anything. But I think you're going to get into the situation where you've got those guys and it's like, where are my fingers? You're going to want fingers. Yeah. But just think about a sword fighting game. If you can play a sword fighting game and you're holding two swords, this is me usually stop you. I was much more casual. You're a kid. You know, those games. A sword fighting game. A sword fighting game. I'm not just, we'll edit this out in post. Yeah. You guys are gross. But look, is this it here? I mean, it's virtual reality. This is so crazy. What's funny about VR is that how much more real things look when you add the head motion of a normal person to it. Like, this is a regular video game graphic, but when you add that, like that articulation of head motion to it, it starts to like go like, oh, somebody's got a handheld camera and it kind of confuses your brain a little bit. Right. Well, and that it's not spinning. Like when you move in a game using an analog stick, you like spin really fast. This moves at the right pace. It's crazy. Sorry. I'm just taking a sip. So here's what we know. No price. Right. Not this year. No release date. Well, not out this year. Which is like, there's a lot of year left. And meanwhile, and so who knows what's up with this? Meanwhile, Oculus just released their final dev kit. Yep. Look at this. Based on the Crystal Cove. This is what life is all about. Getting out of life and into a virtual reality medieval world where you're battling a dragon. This is it. I'm going to jack in so hard to this and never jack out. I'm done with you. I'm done with the world. I'm going to have like, give me like a feeding tube, a catheter. Good to go. I'm done. Fair enough. Catch you later. See you in the world, the virtual world that I've created. I'm going to create a sick world. This other thing. It's going to be called sick world. Sick world. Yeah. We're going to make a game called sick world. We'll be good sicker. No, like cool sick. Like all the school is like skateboards everywhere. Skateboard and like cool guys and girls just partying. Just skating all the time. All the cubes gleaming. There'll be so many, so much. Cube gleaming. Gleamage that you're not even going to know. You don't know what gleaming the cube is. Let me tell you about gleaming the cube. Are you kidding? Gleaming the cube. Let me tell you about gleaming the cube. Get out. Well, so do you know the story of gleaming the cube? Gleaming the cube is a, is a movie from, I believe the late eighties. Yeah. Starring Christian Slater. Amazing. About skateboarding. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Gleaming the cube is not a terminal, not skateboard terminology created by the writer of the movie or the director because they thought it sounded like a cool skateboarding term. It sounds pretty rad. Gleaming the cube. Yeah. Anyhow. I want to do that with all my friends. The film was rebroadcast on television called, um, uh, for the, we've talked about this in the verge cast before. I know it, it was rebroadcast with a different title, which is called life for the love of a brother or like no revenge of a brother or something. Cause like his brother gets killed and he has to like, he has to like revenge him with his skateboard. Well now I don't want to see it. Is this some scenes, some scenes from gleaming the cube? Could we see some cube gleaming here? Maybe there's, there may be like some actual skaters in this movie by the way. This is a great Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk may be in this movie. Yeah. Tony Hawk should be in every movie. Tony Hawk should be Steve jobs. I actually just made it. Tony Hawk is Steve jobs. I have a friend who, who runs a, uh, a great skateboard company. Yeah. Yeah. It's called scum cone sons. No, I'm serious. They make awesome. They make awesome shit. I'm plugging them now. I've plugged scum cone sons. Totally. I know of our audience is ready for what they, what they have to offer, but a very, very good creative, interesting stuff. But, um, anyhow, but this, are we still gleaming? Oh yeah, here it is. This is maybe the scene here. Hey, gleaming the cube. Boom. Right there. So they just, they were like, is this him? That's him. There he is. He's like, cause, ah man, I'm gleaming the cube. That's my impersonation of Christian. You thought that was him in the film, right? There he is. This totally gleaming. I don't know. Now I kind of want to watch this movie. Yeah. Anyhow. I said, well, smartwatches, where were we talking about? Virtual reality. Virtual reality. So Oculus has got their second dev kit. It gets rid of most of the motion sickness. It's higher resolution. So you're not looking through a screen door. They said it's their last one, right? It's their last one before the consumer thing. And the thing Palmer, like you said, is like, look, we know what we need to do to release a consumer version. Now we just, we're going to do it. We promise. We swear. What does that mean? What does he need to do? Like make it more of a dev kit and make it a real thing. Make lots of them and then sell them for money. The controls, like they're grand unified. How we control virtual reality isn't figured out and I don't think it's going to be by the time they release it, but it's better. It's good. It's still a dev kit. I forget how much it costs. It's like $1,500. I mean, that's kind of why I'm psyched that Sony is doing this because Sony has all of the other pieces around it that will just work. If you have a PlayStation and you buy this thing, it just drops into the system that you have. That's really cool. Like that would make me buy a PlayStation. Because you know what I don't do? Game on my PC. Yeah, no, I'm not. That's the thing. Yeah. I got to say, I'm 50. Why did I think 1500? 350 bucks. What did you say? $100 million. The dev kit too is 350 bucks is coming this July. It's really uncool what's happening over here. I mean, I mean at least Oculus is shipping to real humans. Sony just like something, you know, is showing something off, which Sony is, but Sony's product is going to be, I mean, it's a PlayStation 4. Also looks like it's a product. Yeah. Right. I mean, I don't know if Oculus is going to release their consumer version or if there's going to be a consumer version anytime in the near future. Presumably there will be. I hope there will be. Oh, what is this? Oh, this is from the Engadget Show? Oh yeah, here we go. This is some classic. Look at me without a beard. OG job. That is disturbing and shocking. I got a little bit of something going on there. You can play Steve Jobs. This is like before the move was actually released, I believe. What are you, you're sword fighting. I like, yeah, we are sword fighting. Everybody wants to do it. These things are sword fight. Yeah, I actually do some, that is why I bought a Wii. What am I doing? Yeah. It was a huge disappointment. Look at this. That was cool. I should shave my beard. Oh yeah. I kind of like broke the sense or they were not loving this. Yeah. This seems like it went super great for everybody involved. Just put it in my pocket. Oh yeah. This is what happens is this sword just floats. I put it away and it just floats there. That's classic stuff. I don't know where that Sony logo came from. I think presumably it's gotten slightly better since then. Yeah. Did you see this other thing that, oh, that was even a real. Did you see this other demo that Sony did? Sean did at GDC. So they did an eye tracking demo where like you calibrate it by just looking at a couple of dots and then it will, you can play the video game just by looking at stuff. NSA man. And it's way closer. And so like. They give that data right over to the NSA. That second joystick, you just look at the thing you want to shoot a fireball at and then hit the button. I don't get it. So you can look at it. Why would you want to do that? Because you don't have to steer then. Hand eye coordination is like what drives human innovation. Without that, I'm just like, like, how am I going to, you know, look, oh, Hey, can you make dinner? Like sorry, my, I can't do that anymore because my hand eye coordination is blown because now I just look at things to get them. That's what's going to happen in the future is going to be like, Hey, it's time to prepare. Hey, it's breakfast time. Can you scramble some eggs? And it's like, Nope, because I have no hand eye coordination because I'm used to just going like this all the time. I'm not sure you understand what hand eye coordination is. That's like perfectly like you are able to like look at things and do things with your hand. And now you're just looking at things. Nobody normally here. It's just like he legitimately is just doing this. Just looking at a thing and I was going to look at another thing and this game is apparently awesome. Yeah. And you can aim with pinpoint precision because you just look at the thing you want to shoot at. This would make me so much better at games. Yeah, because the thing I suck at, do you have to move? But they would make the games harder. I don't like this at all because you can never win. They will find new ways. This is cool, but I don't like it. Sorry. This is pretty cool. Look at this guy just shooting that dinosaur. Why are you shooting the dinosaur? What did he do? He's already dead. Leave him alone. It's Sean. Actually I'm like yelling at Sean. Sean, leave that dinosaur alone. Poor dinosaur. Look at this, what is this second son? Yeah. This game looks really stupid. Apparently it's great. Well, you know how I feel. Everybody says it's cool. It seems cool, but I hate it. But I don't like it. It seems cool, but I don't like it. Yeah. All right. Anyhow, so this is an exciting time though. Here's what I'll say about the VR stuff. It's like really happening. Yeah. Maybe it's not going to be another Power Glove situation. It's like really almost happening. Well, no, but I mean- I really want it to happen happen. But really almost happening is a lot better than not happening at all. Yeah. And I feel- that's true. Well said. No, but I feel like with Oculus it was always kind of like a neat idea that was never going to really be huge. And with a company like Sony can do this and make it big. No, they can do it. This is the Sony that Sony needs to be. Yeah. Except they should have done this before Oculus. Yeah. I mean they say they've been working on it for three years. They should have bought Oculus. They should have given Oculus a billion dollars. I bet Microsoft is going to buy Oculus now and be like, oh, see you. Yes, they had a thing. That is serious. And it's already PC compatible. So it's a short walk to paradise. They're in. So on and so forth. Or Sony will buy them, thus making it harder for Microsoft. Maybe Sony will buy Microsoft. Or Oculus won't sell because they got all that cash money. That's true. 75 mil just sitting on it. That's right. I forgot about that. Yeah, you forgot all about their $75 million investment. Those $75 million to Sony. Sony loses 75 million in these seat cushions of their gigantic Hummer. They give it to Justin Bieber every time he walks into their building. Their gigantic Hummer limousine. Because that's what Sony is. I saw Nelly Furtado at the Sony building one time. Really? Fun fact. Nelly Furtado is a fun fact. It's a fun fact. It's a fact. Every time I hear her name, I think of a Furtado is my problem. Nelly Furtado. I was talking about Oculus before. But you know, Furtado just sounds like, if you think about it, I just said it. It sounded like Furtado to me. Yeah. Anyhow, not important, not an interesting point. Not anything that anybody should ever hear somebody say. Also not a fun fact. Did you just check your watch? I got an alert. So, okay. Mr. Smart Watch over here. What do you want? So I was sitting here eating. I got an alert on my Asha, okay? Let me just get to that in several minutes. It was the worst alert ever. We'll be back in four hours. What was it? It was that your L train to Brooklyn is not backed up right now. Womp, womp. That's okay, because you're not going to be on the L train for quite a while. That's right. We got a long night ahead of us. Just get ready. Just get comfortable. No, but that's the thing that sucks about smart watches. I was sitting, having dinner with my parents a couple weeks ago wearing my Pebble, and I kept looking every time I got a notification. And my mom got mad at me. She was like, do you have somewhere to be? Why are you... And I was like, no, I just keep getting emails. It's either that or pull out my phone. But it was deeply offensive that I just kept looking at my watch, being like, I gotta go. Once people get used to the idea that notifications are watches, then the social signal of looking at your watch will no longer be like, when can I get the hell out of here? I guess that's true, but right now that's more offensive than pulling my phone out of my pocket. Really? Josh, what are you doing? I'm going to tweet a photo. I'm going to try to tweet a photo from here. Do you think I can tweet a photo from the Asha? Is there Twitter on the Asha? Yeah, there is actually. 20 minutes while... It's loading right now. Oh my God. Huh? Let's see if I can tweet an Asha photo. It's pretty bad. It's pretty bad. It's like two megapixels, right? It's two megapixels. All right, here we go. That's all you need. Here we go. Tweet. Can I add... Oh my God, I can. This is crazy. This is really good verge casting right now. Listen, this is classic verge casting. All right, I'm just loading my gallery here. This is all I wanted to know about all week. If you were to send me a DM from that, it wouldn't be encrypted. Nailed it. Trying to make a transition while we're waiting. I don't know what that means. Twitter gave up on encrypting direct messages because they got other stuff to do. Yeah, Twitter's like, oh, we're busy. Oh yeah, right. Are we talking about that? Uh-oh, hold on. I need to type out... It's hard to type on a physical keyboard. Is this working? I can't tell if this is working or not. It's loading. I'm going to say the Asha, not for people who are in a hurry. Or for people recording podcasts. If you're in a hurry, don't worry about it. It's cool. These guys are used to this. That should be their slogan, chill out. You see this shot, load the picture. You also definitely just tweeted, cool pic and no picture. No. Retweet. One of the best tweets ever. I got to do a proper retweet. I hate you guys so much. Hold on a second. Thanks a lot, Asha. Everybody, please retweet Josh. Old school retweet in case he deletes it. No, yeah, that's a good point. Come on, man. I'm doing both. I'm not deleting it. Trust me, guys. I'm in for the long haul. Hold on. This is good stuff. We've just created a viral moment here on the Orangecast. I just got there was an error posting your message status as a duplicate. I've already RTUed too many times. What? No, you went too fast. You went too fast. Just wait until you see the pic I'm actually going to post. You guys are not going to be very happy about it. I bet not. You're going to feel like, you know, intense comeuppance. There are so many people tweeting this and retweeting it. I hate everybody. It's cool. Let's make this the most retweeted tweet ever, guys. Yeah, that'll work. Let's beat the Oscar tweet. If it could just be cool pic was the most popular tweet of all time. I think I got it. I think it's going to happen now. Yeah. Wow. Where is it? We're looking at your... Everybody's like a little bit mad at you. I like it. Cool pic. Oh, there it is. Look at all those megapixels. This is it. This is it. The Asha. This is what the Asha does. What's going on with my hair? I don't know. It's like weirdly flat. It's causing me to leap out of my chair. You're like, I'm out of here. That's pretty suspicious. I'm also... Close application. No. Hold on. Thanks. Oh, no. Hanks. That's not what I wanted. Tom Hanks. Also a good Steve Jobs. Can't go. You want to talk about Elon Musk before we get out of here? I just try to touch the screen. Don't do that. And New Jersey? Yeah, Elon Musk. Let's talk about him. Sorry, guys. This is more important than the Vergecast is me doing an Asha tweet. It is. So basically... So Elon Musk... So Jersey was like, hey, we're going to ban direct sales to consumers of Tesla. Yeah, manufacturers can't... It was all that. All carbon. It has a law that you can't sell vehicles directly to a consumer. They didn't change... They're not the only place. Manufacturers. This rule is not new for Tesla. Tesla's been skirting it and avoiding it. And they came out and they're like, we're going to enforce this now. So get out. And Elon Musk kind of went nuts in the way only billionaires like Elon Musk are allowed to. Just so you know, the cool... I mean, he went nuts. I mean, he was basically like, you know what's stupid is New Jersey. They're all the mafia. The cool people. Can I just say something? Sorry. The original cool pick has 78 retweets. They just went up twice while I was trying to tell you that. 78 retweets. 44 favorites. In case you're wondering. I'm really glad to know that I can tell people what to do. What are we like halfway to the... Twitter for Nokia S40.... to the challenge of New Jersey tweet? Come on, guys. I want it to be the most retweeted tweet ever. They can't even get S60 on the thing. I want to break through my least 200. Show me what you got. Okay. Anyhow. So Elon Musk. Yeah. So Ben Popper went and talked to some people, including Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automobile Retailers. Can we hear... We just had some things to say.... or NJ Carr. Can we hear a little bit from him? He needs to stop and take a breath. If you're an internet billionaire... I'm not going to try and do a Jersey accent. Don't do a Jersey accent. If you're an internet billionaire, maybe you think... You can just imagine the Jersey world revolving around you... Imagine he was running a gold chain.... and the world springs from your laptop. Well, I got news for him. This is not a new law. Tesla is operating illegally. Because of April 1st, they'll be out of business unless they decide to open a franchise. That sounds really outrageous. We're going to shake you on down. No, it's insane actually, but this whole concept is totally insane. Oh, it's crazy. A guy from a BMW dealership, they want to go direct, which means on Salesforce, that's cutting out a lot of people. No way that's going to fly. Yeah, because we invented some fake rule about needing to sell cars through middlemen. Well, it's this old rule that was designed to help car dealerships catch on in New Jersey. Whatever. They can't sell cars. And now it's a stupid rule. I mean, it's just like, you know what? Free market. Let it happen. They're trying to prevent... Everybody's trying to prevent Amazon from doing. It's just like selling directly to people for less money. I'm sorry, but... And by the way, this goes for anybody. I'm surprised that... Why can't I buy a car from Volkswagen directly from them? Why do I have to go through a middleman? Why don't I just go and get the car from a Volkswagen? The whole dealership concept seems totally bong to me. I mean, also, have you ever been to a car dealer? That's awful. Have you ever been to an showroom? That's super fun. It's not a good experience. I just went to one. And it was... Are you buying a car? What? I'm looking. I own a car. Yeah. You're like shocked. You're like, I need eight more cars. I'm shell shocked that I'm... No, I'm thinking about getting... You know, I'm a dad now and I need a bigger car and I want a nicer car. You're going to get like a nice Honda Odyssey. My car's paid off so I can do whatever I want. I could see you rocking a minivan. I'm not going to rock a minivan. I could see you rocking a minivan. I'm just throwing that out there. I think you're very confused about who you're talking to right now. Listen, you're a dad now, Josh. Come on. You can only be... There's autos.aol.com. The number one best thing on AOL is their auto comparison tool. Look at that Chrysler Town and Country. You missed the obvious thing about this picture by the way. You stick your head out of that. You're like, hey ladies. I hate your guts. Who even knows? Who knows what happens? I hate you so much. I say hate you so much, it's not even funny. You get this in like a sleek black, like just murdered out rims. You're the worst person in the world. This would be incredible. I would buy you this car. You're like the guy at the end of True Detective. That's how bad you are. You're like the bad guy from True Detective. Look at that engine. That's serious business. You're Errol. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. You don't know who Errol is if you're watching True Detective, but that's who you are. I just launched it by the way. Spoiler alert. Sorry guys. This car is just hot. It probably has driver assist. It'll park for you. You have to do a hashtag. You have to do a hashtag. I was trying to. You don't do True Detective season two without a hashtag, my man. No, you do. You need to step into the zone of knowledge. It's sub. I mean, come on Josh. Please step into the zone of knowledge. Silver could work. What about like a yellow? Let me check in on these retweets. I can give you like yellow type of country. 113 retweets. 56 likes. Step it up. I should delete the other one. It's probably sucking energy away from that other tweet. It's true. You don't want to. 39 on that one. You don't want to split the heat. I don't get it. I don't get this at all. People love the Asha. Everyone's going crazy for it. Series 40 man, forever and ever. It's the best. If you use that in your mini-viz, you'll be the coolest guy. It's just as 40. What is this? Please, please. I can't read that. Sometimes you don't want to put things into the zone of knowledge. You don't want to put it. That seems very clever because you hashtagged it. Very clever. You can't watch the Vergecast unless you're also watching our Twitter streams. Otherwise these jokes make no sense. And you can't watch the Vergecast unless you're also high and or drunk. Right. Ideally and. It's better forever. Ideally you're candy flipping. You're drunk. You could run a car dealership in New Jersey. What? Oh yeah, right. Anyhow, you should read this piece that Ben did. It's great. Candy flipping in case you're wondering is taking acid and ecstasy at the same time. What is this? What is this? Now we owe AutoPie like a thousand dollars for the use of this incredible clip. I'm trying to come around to the mini-viz. I don't know if the Chrysler is. You get some black rims. You get like a boss stereo system. Like you would be the man. I don't know if the Chrysler is the right one for you. The man in a mini-viz is like a blog. I'm going to write this. I think you're the single worst person. I think the Chrysler is you in a mini-viz. The single worst person I've ever met. Josh is not a town and country man. I think you're like an Astro van kind of guy. Let me tell you what I'm looking for. Like an Aztec? PT Cruiser. Can we get a PT Cruiser? PT Cruiser. It's got all the stowage, all the storage rooms. That's just Twitter. Stowage and storage. Stowage room. It's got all the room that I need. What about like a Scion? Honda Odyssey. We could like pimp out a Scion for you. Can we bring back Pimp My Ride for Josh Dupulsky? No. You could get like a river in your back seat. Can I answer a question? Somebody just asked me on Twitter. Somebody just asked me a question on Twitter. Do I use any music streaming services? Oh God. Well, it's funny you should ask that. Actually, I use all the music streaming services. How many are you paying for right now? Spotify and RDO and also I don't pay for Google. I'm actually paying for Beats. I discovered that yesterday. I'm paying for Google, Pandora. You pay for Pandora? Beats and Spotify right now. Wait, you pay for Beats? I like did it and I haven't turned it off yet. Beats is too close to the system. I keep forgetting to cancel Beats. Beats is too close. There's a new Sonos app out. You know I'm a big fan of Sonos. It's really nice. The app is really nice. The new Sonos app, Universal Search, which is a killer feature. So now you can plug in all of your different music sources, Pandora, Spotify, RDO, whatever, and you can search. Sorry, this Diet Coke is very bubbly. Very bubbly. No, the search used to be really bad. You could be like, I will find this only on Pandora. No, the search was bad. It was awesome and it's super exciting. And that's a big deal for me personally. The app is just nice looking too. It used to be really ugly. But yeah, I subscribe. Sorry, I got stuck into some tweets and I was very confused. I subscribe to a bunch of services and I'm just throwing my money down the drain, just throwing it away into the garbage. Which one do you use? Like most? What's your default? RDO, I use a lot. RDO is my default. RDO is just pretty. I use RDO because it's better looking. But you'll find that if you follow me on RDO, which I hope that you don't. If you follow me on RDO, your feed has been overrun with white noise. Because the baby loves white noise. We have like two main white noise jams. It's business class, which is the sound of business class. It's really great. And then there's another one. Yeah, here we go. What's the one with the purpley one to the left? White noise therapy volume one. Yeah. What's my main track? What? Yeah, just let's have you heard of this is amazing. Oh, yeah. Did you hear about this? This this album that Wolf pack posted on Spotify. It's called sleepify. It is a full album of silence, complete and total silence, very cage of them. And so they want you to like before you go to sleep, hit play and repeat on the album. And then they're funding their tour with it. 131 retweets. That's kind of awesome. Let's take it. Let's take it to 200. Is there anything else to talk about? I'm just searching white noise volume. It's a white noise going. There's a band called white noise that makes like music. So I have an announcement to make. Oh, oh, yeah. Exciting. You know, I don't know. I'm reconsidering. We've got the gasoline right there. You gotta. So here's my are you ready? Everybody get ready. Vergecast listeners. Well, it's not we don't crazy about it or anything. So I was so so we're going to go on. All over. People are going to like people are going to like freak out on me now. I can just tell. Yeah. I mean, you just got to do it. Just tear off the word. Don't it's just it's just I just don't I don't think I should do it. I don't think I should do it. I shouldn't say anything. You have to now. Now let's just keep going to now. Just keep going. No. OK, so, hey, listen, we're going to put the Vergecast on a hiatus. We're going to we're going to postpone, not postpone. We're going to halt. What is hiatus? What are some synonyms for hiatus? Can we get some up on the view screen? Pause. We're going to pause. Let me just see what's going on. Pause. Break. We're going to take a break. We're going to take a little Vergecast lacuna. We're going to take a lacuna. A recess. Recess is pretty good. We're going to take a recess. Yeah, we're going to pause in the Vergecast. So here's the thing. Vergecast has been going since the actually like a hundred years ago. So we started a podcast at Engadget. They used to have a podcast, and when I became editor in chief, Neal I was like, we should start up the podcasting because they hadn't been going on. This is in 2008. We started doing the Engadget podcast again. And you know, it was it was, you know, insane. It was fun. And a lot of yelling. We did it there for years. And then we then we in between Engadget and the Verge we did. This is my next podcast, which was this amazing, which was a continuation. Oh, wow. Look at that. This is like old school. Look at our old office. I'm sitting on the shelves. I'm getting like teary eyed. I know. Look how shiny I am. My God. Let me dab that forehead. It's unbelievable. It was actually the whole. My hair looks incredible. I feel like this was I feel like this was the day of our photo shoot or something. Your beard is like really neat. I look really, really good. You're very put together. I don't know what just happened there. Anyhow, so then we went from we went from from Engadget to doing the This is My Next. Oh, my God. Look at Paul. Look at Neal. His hair is crazy. They're like 14 years old. Everybody looks 14 in this in this image. The Verge has aged us all. And and then we went into we went from that. And then when the Verge cast, we've been doing this for like, you know, two years, over two years, over two years. And I just think I just realized, like, hey, you know, we are we did the last couple hours with TC and Katie. And we were like talking about things that weren't gadgets, news, weren't technology. We were like, it was wine. It was completely insane. I went on a thing about, you know, George Bush being as bad as Hitler or something like that. And one of the things I say when I've had a glass of wine, I actually didn't say that. I actually didn't say that. What I said was what I said was that's like two glasses of wine. I think what I said was Fox News is the worst thing to happen to journalism since Hitler controlled newspapers. That doesn't make a lot of sense. No, it makes perfect sense because they're a propaganda machine. And anyhow, so like I was just like, you know what? Like I kind of want to rethink like, what can we do with the Verge cast? What can we try that we haven't done? Like are there different things that can happen on the Verge cast? Could we try new things? We would be doing video where like it's just three people sitting around in a room. Maybe we could be doing video from locations. Maybe we could be, who knows? I don't know. So anyhow, we're going to put the, my Twitter feed is, you guys seem really upset. So we're going to put it on hiatus for a little while and retool, rework. It's happening out there. Re-re-re-think and then ultimately reboot into the next generation. Is anybody with me here? I'm with you. It's going to be good. And honestly, like, and part of this is driven by like a desire to retool and reboot, but then a part of it is also like, I have a baby right now and it's a brand new baby. And there's like, work is really super duper busy. You have a lot of vans shopping. We're doing all kinds of insane things. And so like, you know, it's just like, we, I'd love a little bit of time to like rethink it and anyhow. So that's the news. People are very upset. Let me give you some, it's just a hiatus. This news fucking blows is something. Oh yeah. This was a nightmare. This was a, this was a big one. This very dark. Angry looking people sitting there right now. Somebody said I'm retiring, take care of kids and travel the world in a mini van. I'm not doing that. David, thanks a lot for planting that. Josh is buying a town and country. You heard it here first. This guy, this guy just discovered, one person just discovered that it was, it was, I was the person who messed up their audio feed with my white noise. Um, anyhow. So yeah, so that's, that's it. That's the news. It's not that really not that big of a deal. I don't know. And I don't know how long the hiatus plus it made me remember the word lacuna. And so it was all worth it. We're totally lacuna. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to be on the Tata. No get out. Um, so anyhow, so we're going to take a little break and then we're going to come back and it's going to be amazing. It's going to be even better. And then is there anything else that we need to know? I mean, is there any other news? I mean, we can't top that camp. Can't wait. So Hey, actually, here's a great thing that you, if you guys love the verge cast and watch the verge cast and you are bummed because we're taking a break to three, think it, send an email. This is actually a great segue. Send an email, start a forum thread. So there actually are some good, like interesting forum threads about verge cast. Maybe we could try this, maybe we could do that. Like here's an opportunity. I would love to hear from people who've watched it for a long time who want to see it and are thinking about like what they might like to see on it. Um, you know, tell us, give us ideas, give us, tell us what you'd want to see, tell us what you think would be cool because we kind of have an amazing opportunity. We have like this incredible video team. We've a wonderful staff here and like, you know, we're just doing like the bare minimum that we've always done basically, which is like three people sitting in a room bullshitting, which is great. You know, I totally get it. Like, but we'll keep doing, we're going to, where there's going to be some variation of that is going to continue happening. There will be bullshitting. Um, somebody asked how long the break is going to be. I don't really know. I don't think it's going to be, you know, super duper long, but it probably won't be super short either. Is that helpful? Thanks Josh. It's not helpful at all. I guess I should point out, I mean, we haven't done the verge mobile show in a couple of weeks. We're going to do one or do something. We'll do something next week, probably. But we're also going to, you're going to, you're going to look, you know, we're going to, you get your hiatus. We're lacuna. So the verge mobile show will also lacuna. Yeah. Yeah. Look, listen, we guys, we've been, we've been doing this stuff for a while. I think we should, I'm like excited cause it'll give us an opportunity to think about like what could we do that we haven't done yet? You know, besides talk over each other, which is hard to do when we're doing it. When it's every week, you gotta be like, okay, we got to get on there. Talk over each other. Uh, what? I tried to talk over there, but you didn't stop. I stopped cause I know you're talking over me. You're too polite. This is an actual real problem. Okay. So anyhow, that's it. That's the verge cast. For now and forever. No, I mean it's not forever. No, no, no. We're going to, it'll be back. Don't get bent out of shape. You're going to make me cry. But that's the verge cast for yeah. Verge cast 2.0. We're not going to call it that. Somebody just, somebody just tweeted about it. So it's a good idea. Um, come up. So names are a good idea. Yeah. The intro is going to include me driving up in a minivan. Yeah. With a bunch of babies. Don't you dare get my hopes up. Bunch of babies. A handful of babies. Uh, so that's the verge cast for this week. Um, you, if you want to get in touch with us, you can email us at vergecasttheverge.com. And I highly recommend you do, especially if you have thoughts or ideas about how we can make a more awesome verge cast, um, or things you might like to see on something that is like a verge cast. Um, there's already for it. What? There already is a forum thread. Yeah. Ross Miller made a forum thread for us. So if you have ideas, drop them there. Oh my God. Crazy. Um, you can, uh, you can, yeah, you can write something in the forums. You can leave a comment on this post when it goes up. You can find us on Twitter. The verge is at verge. I'm Josh Wytopolsky. Dieter is back line. David is, David is Pierce David, you know, whatever. I've discovered recently that is being unused on Twitter. And so I'm currently on a, no, at just at Pierce. You should totally get it. It's like somebody had it, but it's never tweeted. So I'm like, I'm starting a covert campaign at AT Pierce at at Pierce. That's the worst. Great stuff. Good stuff. Great way to end. Great way to end this, uh, this final iteration of the verge cast. And yeah, so we'll be back. Who knows when, but when we do come back, it's going to be really awesome or terrible. Could be also horrible, but you know what? You don't know yet. And I don't know yet. And that's, what's so exciting. The idea of the unknown creeping up on you silently with a knife or just for a hug. Anyhow, I think that is a great way to end this verge cast. Uh, we'll, we will be back. And until then, I mean, honestly, because of the length of time, I highly suggest you, you buy a firearm to protect your family from what is coming for you because it's not good and it's coming soon.

It's Thursday, March 20th, 2014. I'm Jake Kastronakis and you're gonna play with that light right now? Oh, good for you, you f***ing son of a b***h! According to The Wrap, Christian Bale is director David Fincher's first and only choice to play Steve Jobs in the upcoming film written by Aaron Sorkin. However, if the stars align and everyone signs on, then Steve Jobs may finally get the film that he deserves. This week has been all about Google's new smartwatch platform, Android Wear. But let's not forget about Samsung's wearable trio, which is just a few weeks away. AT&T has announced that the Galaxy Gear 2, the Gear 2 Neo, and the more intriguing Gear Fit will all arrive in April. The Gear Fit, which eschews the typical square design for a gorgeous curved OLED display, will cost $199. If you're still on Samsung's smartwatch vision, preorders start this week alongside the upcoming flagship Galaxy S5. And finally, scientists have discovered a new way to treat tumor cells in the brain. Blow them up. By screening over a thousand different types of molecules, scientists have managed to identify a compound that can literally blow up tumor cells belonging to the most aggressive form of brain cancer. The molecule works by shutting off the cancerous cell's ability to control what gets in and out of their walls, causing bag-like vessels to accumulate in the cell, eventually making the cell explode. So far, tests have only been conducted on mice, and human trials are still far away, but this latest discovery is an important step toward finding a cure. That's it for today's top stories. Coming up tomorrow, Department of Health officials shut down the Keebler Elf cookie baking facility after discovering countless fire safety violations. Mainly, the building is made of wood.

I'm Sean Hollister with The Verge and I'm about to put my eyes into a video game. Sony has a demo at GDC 2014 of eye tracking technology and we're about to calibrate it right now. Let's go ahead. About 60 centimeters away from the screen, all I have to do is look at these two dots and this sensor bar in front of me knows where my eyes are, where I'm looking at. It's a gaze tracking system. And as you'll see in a moment, we'll jump right into a game and I'll be able to look at whatever I want to see. All I have to do is turn my eyes in a direction and it's going to look at whatever I'm aiming at. Right now I'm just going to look for the top of the space needle and it's there. It stops as soon as I get there. It knows that's what I'm looking at and it stops the camera right there. If I want to go back and look at that power beater of the wall again, eyes look for that box. It stops right there. I'm not touching anything. I don't have the controller in front of me. I just look at something and it goes there. So now I'm playing an actual part of the game. I'm just running around this environment. I can throw fireballs. Previously I'd have to use this right analog stick to carefully aim where I want to go. Maybe even I'd have to stop in my tracks if I wanted to be able to accurately aim a fireball. Now fireballs go wherever I'm looking. Now I'm in a combat scenario. I've got some guards here. They've all been patrolling with submachine guns. Normally I'd probably have to stop or maybe enter a bullet time mode and shoot them. But here I can just dance around. I'm just looking at these folks. I can run towards them. Run away from them. Just keep tapping. I'm just shooting wherever I want. Wherever I look. Wherever I think I want to hit something. Out comes a fireball. That's particularly well when I'm running away from a target too, which is something that's completely counterintuitive normally, but something that I guess a superhero would probably be able to do.

I'm Addie Robertson with The Verge at the 2014 Game Developers Conference and I'm here with Project Morpheus, Sony's experimental PlayStation 4 virtual reality headset. So the thing I'm trying out right now is a game called, or a demo called The Deep. It's developed by the London Studio and first thing I'm noticing here is that the screen is actually fantastic. There's a sort of screen door effect that I've tried with earlier Oculus Rift demos. There's also pretty fantastic positional tracking. I'm able to sort of lean over and it feels as if I'm actually looking over the side of this. Alright, so I'm playing a build of Eve Valkyrie which is a CCP developed game that we've previously seen on the Oculus Rift. So it's a space dog fighting game and one of the things that's interesting about it is that it uses the headset to lock on. So if I spot an enemy I can use head tracking and it'll find them and then I can fire some missiles. So actually the thing that makes this so good for VR is the fact that the gaze tracking is actually totally vital. So I'm playing a castle sword and punching demo basically and the thing that's unique about this compared to the other demos I've played is that it uses the move controller. The end of this demo is that you get eaten by the dragon and that's one of the things that virtual reality does really well is a sense of sort of imminence of things coming up and getting right in your face. So when people talk about immersion that's really one of the things that immersion means right now. I think a better field of view is also one of the things that's going to improve immersion on this. Right now I mean it definitely feels like you're there but it is like you're there wearing a space suit. This was great. Unfortunately I did just accidentally punch someone which may be one of the hazards with multiplayer here. One of the things that's actually interesting is that you can see what the person wearing the headset is seeing. Obviously not in virtual reality but this opens up a lot of sort of interesting spectatorship opportunities or just asymmetrical gameplay. One person can be playing on the screen and another on Project Morpheus. It's not going to convey the whole experience but you'll be able to look and say oh this looks like a fun game. This looks like something I want to try out for myself.

It's Wednesday, March 19th, 2014. I'm Ross Miller and... Wait, I had the joke. Hold on. No, that's not it. I'll remember it later. This is 90 Seconds on the Verge. This week, during the annual Game Developers Conference, Sony revealed Project Morpheus, a virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 4. The prototype, which is the first major competitor to the Oculus Rift, uses a 1080p display, offers a 90 degree field of view, and will integrate with both the PlayStation Camera for tracking and the PlayStation Move for motion control. Sony says it's released in an SDK in the near future, but a consumer version is not coming out this year. It seems every few weeks we get a little bit of additional information on the next Star Wars. And here's more. Lucasfilm and Disney have announced that the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII will take place 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi. The company has also teased that characters from the original trilogy will be making appearances in the new film. And in case you're wondering what Lando Calrissian's been up to for the last 30 years, well... And finally, I've got incredible news! Don't roll your eyes at me. Brad Bird is currently writing a sequel for 2004's The Incredibles. The first film was a critical success and earned Bird an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. In less exciting news, Disney Chairman Bob Iger confirmed they're planning a third Cars film. Cars? Sounds more like a bust. A buss-t. And that's it for today's top stories, but coming up tomorrow, I'm told to stick to the script and stop acting. I guess you could say that's my punishment.

This is Sean Hollister with The Verge and I'm here with the new Oculus Rift Developer Kit 2. The latest version of the virtual reality headset that Oculus has been prototyping for over a year now. It's basically the same as the Crystal Cove that we saw at CES, that blew us away at that show. Except all the infrared LEDs are now hidden behind this transparent plastic, which is still opaque enough you can't quite see through it. It's got refined latency of sub 20 milliseconds. There's a 1080p screen in there now compared to the 720p version of the developer kit a year ago. The lenses in here have a new resin that makes them a little bit better for the use. And most importantly, it doesn't make you nearly as sick as when you use it as with the original developer kit. It was a bit of an issue at first. You could get sick, a little bit of motion sickness, simulator sickness, when looking around the environment particularly if you were moving. But now this camera here tracks these LEDs. The OLED display inside has a low persistence screen such that the pixels don't smear the same way across your vision. It looks clear, it looks glassy compared to the blurry pixelated original. So this is VR Knights. It's an Oculus Rift experience by Epic. And I've got this little, this female knight, this little avatar, like an action figure I'm controlling. And you can actually see my hands and my legs, you know, sitting at this chair. And the other player as well. But we're both controlling these, like the animated action figures. I can roam around this living room arena and follow her up these set of bookcases over here, the stacking bookcases. Get some higher ground. Rain down some fireballs across the room. The objective is just to smack this other avatar a few times to demonstrate my dominance. So not only do I have this little avatar, but my body is also, my virtual body and hands are also in this game. And so is the other players. I'm playing with somebody else sitting right next to me on a couch. And I can just jump on their lap and smack them around a bit, jump up on their head, do a dive attack. Lots of objects in the arena you can knock off. It's a pretty simple game, but it shows some of the potential of this for being more than just a first person adventure game for sure. This is going to be $349 for this developer kit in July. And pre-orders are opening this morning at 8 a.m.

It's Tuesday, March 18th, 2014. I'm Sam Sheffer, and we just got a pretty big donation from our new executive producer to help with the show. This is 90 Seconds on the Verge, sponsored by my great Aunt Liz. Google is officially getting into smartwatches in a very big way. The company today announced Android Wear, a version of its popular operating system designed for wearables. Details are still forthcoming, but here's what we know so far. Taking a cue from the company's own glass headset, Google now plays a major role here, providing automatic, passive reminders. The watches will also connect with Android smartphones, so that you'll be able to get all the notifications you want. You'll be able to interact with an Android Wear device, either by touch screen or by using your voice for things like dictation and search. So five, be there in two. What's the serial cue score? Okay, Google, open Verge. And because it's a wearable, the watches will track your steps. Best of all, Android Wear will support circular watch faces, and Motorola has wasted no time taking advantage of that. The company is calling it Moto 360, and it's much more elegant than any smartwatch we've seen thus far. Motorola hasn't released any details like battery life or screen resolution, but it's promising the watch will launch globally this summer. LG has also announced the G Watch, with the more smartwatch conventional square screen. The company says it will come out in the second quarter of this year. Google says it's working with a handful of other Android partners, including Asus, HTC, and Samsung. And that's it for today's top stories. Coming up... Our executive producer says I need to settle down with a nice girl and to call her more often.

The final tally is expected in the coming days, but the head of the referendum committee reports that 95% of residents backed annexation. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the vote to discuss the possibility of having international observers help stabilize the region. Rumors of Apple's fitness push have been cropping up lately, but we reportedly now have the first screenshots of the upcoming Healthbook iPhone app. The ambitious app will apparently be able to track and analyze everything from activity and heart rate to blood oxygen levels. Healthbook can also reportedly keep tabs on blood work, which includes blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Many expect the app will be introduced with iOS 8 at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, but there's still the possibility that it could be delayed or scrapped altogether. And finally, Newsweek's alleged face of Bitcoin just lawyered up. The publication returned to print last week with a cover story alleging Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto was the enigmatic Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Dorian Nakamoto has subsequently retained legal counsel and issued a very blunt, pointed statement this week. Quote, I did not create, invent or otherwise work on Bitcoin. Now the question turns to whether this Nakamoto will sue the publication for turning his life upside down. That's it for today's top stories. Coming up tomorrow, I learn 29 tips for a fabulous workout in the multiverse after picking up this month's issue of Cosmos Polyton.

Hey and welcome to the Vergecast for the week of January 21st 2013. I'm Josh Topolsky. I'm Neelay Patel and a special guest here with us. Ben Popper. Ben Popper. Yeah. A reporter extraordinaire. A popper. So beautiful man. Jalapeño popper. Soon to be a father. Yeah. Forthcoming father. Yeah. Owner of many chickens. Owner of a number of chickens. Part time urban farmer. Part time herb farmer. Also herb farm. Herb farm. Yeah. It's a herb farm. Herb. It's British. Herb farm. It's terrible. We don't know where Paul is by the way. We don't know Paul. Paul was supposed to be on the, he was supposed to be on the Vergecast today. We don't, we don't, we can't find him. Paul is a wall. My guess is he's either his, his bone battery is dead or he's dead. Either way, either way, great loss. Terrible loss for humanity. What's going on with my hair here? This is really just like just hanging out there. Anyhow, we got to talk about breaking news right now. Yeah. Yeah. Breaking breaking news. Minutes ago, JJ Abrams is going to direct the next Star Wars. What? Yes. And, and, and, and I have to say, Neal I told me, and I had to do a double take, like Star Wars. Yeah. Right. So by the way, is this, this is unprecedented. I think that a director has done a Star War, we'll do a Star Wars and a Star Trek movie. Yes. That's right. I feel like I have to say there needs to be some kind of crossover. There needs to be a wink. I'm sure there will be, I mean, he he's, he's into the winky stuff, but like this is a disaster. It's a disaster. I understand that the new Star Wars movie is going to end. They finally get the hatch open and then it ends episode. I mean, who's that? John? Yeah. He likes that. I mean, what? Hey, everybody's like, Hey, it's a bad idea for them to go back to the Star Wars. Well, and I understand they sold it to Disney and Lucas is out and like whatever fresh new talent. I think the mistake is not making a Star Wars a very expensive, beautifully produced Star Wars series on television. I think that's what they should do. They should just make game of Thrones for Star Wars. Oh yeah. I mean, I would watch that religiously and I think that a lot of millions and millions and millions of other people would go deep, go deep into the novel. They have the whole, the cannon, you know, they've got this whole huge arrangement of, of stories and backstories and side stories. Like they've got tons of books, right? Just so much content to pull. Who would you pick to play? Go give me the leads. Who would you pick to play? I don't know. I don't know where we're at. Where are we at? The story? I mean, you tell me, I mean, we're just going to start with the canonical, you know, starting with like new hope group. We're going to start on Tatooine. You know, we're just going to pick up like, like at what point is, is, is Luke born? Is he, is he, he's a sort of, he's a teen teen Luke. Yeah. He's a tween. Yeah. That's Bieber. All right. Let's let's say teen Luke. Bieber. Bieber's not casting a drug, like a singing drumming sensation. It's like, if they like have to work it in every episode, it's like, it's like, you know, he's, he's a, you know, uncle, uncle Ben comes to, and he's like, what's all that racket. And he's like solo. They go to this base canteen and he like jumps up on stage. I don't know what, I don't know why he's playing guitar. I'm sure. Let me just see what happens when you Google hottest teen vampires. That doesn't make any sense. I think that for a young Luke best team vampire, I don't know any young stars. So I think it would be weird if I was like, obviously somewhere in the young description of tiger beat. I'll be honest with you. Tiger beat actually write some really in depth stuff. They had a great expose here on the vampire diary's webpage. These are C lists, dude. Yeah. But you want, you need HBO. We're talking high class. You could get anybody. Yeah. But Peter Dinklage would be Yoda, you know, thing. This is wrong. This is wrong, but he would make a good Yoda Yoda. He'd be like more of a, he'd be a bigger Yoda though. Yoda is really tiny. Yoda's like two feet tall. Is there really a guy named Steven Armour queen in this world? Yes. Anyhow, we've done no casting whatsoever. Well, I think anybody named Steven Armour queen. Anyhow, this is the verge cast where we talk about the weekend. By the way, Steven Armour queen as Luke Skywalker is a great, it just sounds like it's Luke Skywalker from two live cruise. He's still with us, right? On the, he's still in the living room, right? I think he's around. I'd like to see Luke Skywalker. That would be a really different take on the mythology. Any other diverge cast where we discuss the week in technology, culture and culture, culture. And, and this was a crazy week. We've had a crazy week ending with, or getting towards the end with this JJ Abrams news, which is totally bonkers. YOLO, you know? Oh, right. And the YOLO, we saw the YOLO smartphone announced today from Intel, uh, which they, and they've done it's an, for Africa, it's an Android device and they've done nothing to promote the fact that the name is like super trendy and really useful. Right. But they do have will.i.am on staff making these kinds of decisions. That's a lie. He's into, no, he's officially Intel's like director of innovation. Will.i.am. Yeah. What is Will.i.am's voice? Like I imagine it's like, Hey man, it's not like that though, is it? No, not at all. It's like, uh, but that's also your Tim Cook voice. Hey, hey, hey, hey, no, Tim Cook is like, Hey, I'm down here. It's me, Tim Cook. We had a record, record, record, record, record year. Record order. Too bad about our stock though. We'll talk about that. Our stock's been totally destroyed. Yeah. Down really bad. 13% 13% now on a bit of a slump. It is, it is, it is. I feel, I really, really feel for the guys who were like bought it at six and they're like, it's going up to a thousand. And then it went to like seven. Really? Here we go. And now it's like four 30 and I'm like, wait a second. I don't think Gene Munster hasn't gotten out of bed in like three, maybe four days. Gene Munster. He doesn't need to. Gene Munster is part of the problem. All right. We should get to that later. Let's do we want to bring theater in? Yeah. We had, we ran a huge story live via satellite this morning. We had a huge story this morning, which is still like, uh, still rocking along. It's doing bonkers traffic and people have really been into it. Um, we did this story about Google, uh, and their design, their kind of like rebirth of design or actually just birth like number one started design. Um, they've, you know, Google has in the last year or two years really altered their, the UI and UX of their products unified. They've unified, but they've also dramatically altered. And in fact, I think like in the mobile space, they've done some really innovative stuff. Um, and in webs, in the web space as well. But so we did, we kind of went into the guts of Google and we said, tell us, yeah, tell us your story. And Dieter bone and Ellis hamburger worked a ton on this report. And collectively, Ellis apparently would work so hard on the last night that he wasn't available to come in. They worked, they worked so much on it that we had to, we were trying to invent a name for them, which is either hamburger bone or, um, what was it? Dieter, Dieter hamburger. Can we get Dieter hamburger on the line here? I think we have him via Skype. There he is. Dieter burger. Hey, Hey, tell us, tell us where are you? That's a beautiful backdrop. You have, this is, this is the, the virtual offices. The last time I was there, they didn't have any artwork or anything. This is verge. I love it. It's amazing. You can see we've got a beautiful, look at that table. You have a TV over there. You have classy. Now I can't see what that image is over your shoulder, but it looks like a, like a cartoon duck face with really small eyes with a, wearing some sort of wearing some sort of wearing some sort of like, um, chunky sweater. That's not what he is though. Is it? What is that? No. What is that? This thing right here? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ooh, well done. Yeah. It's a, it's a space helmet. It's a pretty close, pretty close cartoon duck face. Where the chunky sweater is basically like space helmet. Can you, can you tell us about, first off, thank you for joining us. I mean, not like you had a choice. You, you work for the verge. So say no, I don't think so. Um, tell us about this, this Google piece. Tell us about what you learned. So, I mean, we, like everybody else, we noticed that Google's apps look really good, especially on the iPhone. So we said, Hey, Google tells what the story is and they said, come on over. So we interviewed a whole bunch of people. We interviewed Matias Duarte. We interviewed John Wiley, who leads up the search team, a maps guy, their Gmail guys, a Chrome team. And they, we said, how'd you manage to do this? And the story basically works like this. Uh, when Larry Page came up, came on, he said, look, we need to get better at design, do it now. And they formed like this like super team of designers and they picked a direction. They call it, they code named it Kennedy. And that turned into what we saw on search and Gmail and everything else on the web, but just a few months later. And then they just continued that sort of urgency and that way of working where they have like a core team of designers that sort of does the vision. And then they distribute it out to all the different product teams. And that's allowed them to make rapid improvements on their apps, especially on iOS. Uh, so like Gmail went from being terrible to being really pretty good. Maps of course came along. Um, and so like the, the super interesting thing is they're not doing this the same way that like Apple does design. They don't have, I keep calling it a grand pooba, but that sounds really weird. They don't have a grand master of design. They just, they've got a core team of guys and then, you know, the, whatever the latest thing is, they say that looks really cool. Let's use that to build on it, to keep building the design language forward. Yeah. I mean, he was right by the way, like they really did need help in the design department. I mean, it, I mean, it's, you kind of forget how bad some of Google's design was. I mean, it was terrible. They were knocked for it constantly. Um, but now you look at what they've done and you look at stuff like Gmail, you know, which still has its kinks and quirks, but some of this, like the Google now we're looking at right now is just, um, they really did some impressive clean, you know, they, they let stuff breathe while that shirt, the Matias is like, he has all this crazy clean design. I think he's messing with us. And then he wears the most insane shirts. I think Matias is now just kind of screwing with us, but every time we hang out with him, he's got like a more outrageous shirt on. The next one's just going to be like weird spikes that defy the laws of physics. Like, it's going to be like, his shirts be a black hole that you see through him on it. Anyhow. Um, but, uh, I, I have to say, I mean, I thought the report and the video, can I just, you know, I'll, we, how long, how many takes did you do of the, the bicycle? Did you fall off the bikes at all? If you guys haven't seen this video, by the way, you should watch it. Yeah. The, the sun was going down. And so if you see some of the, uh, the standups where, where Ellis is talking to the camera and it's like dark and it looks like it looks like a scene from heat. Um, so we were fighting the sun going down. So we, we managed to get it done in maybe like four or five takes. I think this is incredible. And these are the Google bikes, by the way, that are just hanging out on cameras. You can just grab and ride around. Right. Didn't that comfortable actually? Yeah. Well, they don't want you to get that way. Be too comfortable. You gotta get back to work. You only did a thousand. So let me ask you this. So Google was famous and I know this is like a Larry page thing, but during sort of when Marissa Maya was there, she, the Google is really famous for we're going to AB test 41 shades of blue or whatever. This was actually a famous quote from one of their design. Right. He quit. They were like engineering, which blue they were going to use. So is there any element of that still going on or is it now just completely designer driven? So there's still AB testing stuff, especially on the website. Cause obviously it's a lot easier to do testing on web pages. But they're not doing it down to that granular level. They're still letting, what they're doing now is they're letting their designers kind of create an overall vision and make decisions based on like their aesthetic judgment and then AB testing where appropriate, instead of like AB testing everything and not having an overall design vision driving what their stuff looks like. Yeah. It does seem like they're, they've actually accepted, I think Google's done this in a lot of places where they've just accepted, Hey, you can't engineer your way out of every problem. Sometimes you actually just have to design it or build it by hand. But I think it's like more Googly cause they're all working on it in concert and suggesting things. Not a Steve Jobs or a Joni Ives saying this is the way it will be, you know, an aluminum band, come hell or high water. Right. No, it's definitely, there's definitely seems to be a, I mean, is this, is there a, yeah, is there a dictator here? Or is it more like they're all collectively working to make this stuff. So it's, it's a very like Google way of thinking about it. There there's no dictator, but there is this sort of central team of designers that is called UXA, which is sort of like a really secretive kind of group. Yeah. There's not a whole lot of information about them out there on the web other than like job listings basically. But that group kind of came out of the team that built that this first Kennedy redesign and they, they make the vision, but then when it comes time to actually implement it in a product, it's not like the, you know, the designer working with the product team has to like go back and say, is this okay? Is this okay guys? You know, they just implement it and work with their team to put it out there. And that's one of the reasons that you'll see, you know, small variations between apps. So, you know, the, the low, the loader on the Google plus, when you pull it down as like those four bars and the colors change. And then they iterate it on an app with Gmail with the little circular spinner thing. So like they're building off of each other, but they're not like in lockstep. They're just sort of, you know, in writing together. The, the, the, uh, this UXA group is in New York. Is that right? Are they all based in New York? Yeah. And, and well, so most of them, yeah. I mean, I'm not, you know, we don't know the full story on it. Uh, we know, you know, it's a few people, right? Cause they actually are really closely with everybody. They're actually trying to keep some of this like a little bit mysterious. This is the area 51. Yeah. Do you think, do you think they, they are, are they worried about poaching or are they trying to, do they just want this thing to be able to operate in, in, in total secrecy like this, this other group they have? So the thing you need to understand about Google is, uh, none of it's top down. Uh, you know, Larry Page has made some changes, but it's still a whole lot of independent teams. And so if you want to get something done and, and effect change across the company, you know, you need, you need, you know, you need the remit from Larry to do it, but you can't just walk into a group and be like, all right, you guys do this thing because they're all collaborative and they all need to work together. Right. So I think that like having this team be kind of under the radar means that they actually get to be collaborative and get to work with people instead of dictating something. And I think that, you know, that's a very Google way of thinking about design and you know, who knows how long it'll, it'll be kept up. But for now it seems to be working really well. So what I think is really interesting is that it's kind of like all this doesn't matter for Android, right? So Matias is there, um, and they, you know, they, they, I think Android has begun to look extremely beautiful. Like on my Nexus four, I look at them like, this is awesome. Yeah. Um, but like Samsung sells all the phones and they just do whatever they want. But then there's their iOS apps where they're able to fully express their vision of design because they control the apps. And I look at Gmail, the Gmail app on my iPad, and I'm like, this is amazing. I do my email in that app now. Well, it's amazing in some ways and also sort of, well, it's frustrating. It has, it has, it has execution from a visual design standpoint. It looks really good from a UX standpoint, from an actual, like how you get from point A to point B, you know, like picking a label is, is way more steps than I think they could have come up with. You know, I think, I think you have a lot of, I think you have far more labels than I do. I don't, even if you have one label, you have to get to labels. You have to go through like three button presses. You push a button and then another button and then another button. Yeah. In the video, you know, they were saying how maybe some of it hearkens back to like that original Google splash page, right? Super simple with the colors and a little bit of cartoony. And I like how this is clean, modern design, but it's also like hand drawn, you know, it's a little playful. Right now, like the city drawings are really, I actually feel like it is that exact, the funny thing is, you know, you talk about like this extreme digitally native with Microsoft, you know, whatever they call it, not digitally native, but digitally authentic. Yeah. Right. And then, so, you know, you look at, at, at windows and it's, it's very much windows and windows. So it's a spectrum. It's, you've got Apple way on the other side, Microsoft, it's completely flat and sparse. And Google's like charting a course right down the middle. And Google's like, you can have a little bit of playfulness in the digital stuff, right? But not like so playful that it's leather stitching. And I think they got it right. You know, they realized, I mean, I, and I feel like that's for the web as well as back on devices. It's just enough from real world stuff. But that's my question, I think, to Dieter, which is they're expressing this on the web, which is their native platform. I think that's still Google's native platform. They're expressing it on iOS, I think very well. I think their apps on iOS are best in class in terms of UI, maybe not always in terms of execution. I think there's issues, but they're, they're really beautiful. And then there's like this disaster of Android, which is their platform. Well, so there's one place on Android that's not a disaster. That's Google now. And I think that shows both on Android where they had a, they had a fresh, clean space to design in and on iOS where like, they, you know, there's, there's no like legacy there. There's not a long legacy that they have to work with. And so when you've got a fresh, clean slate and you've got good ideas, you're going to get good design. The problem with Android is that it's not a clean slate. My guess would, might, I would have to clean slate for Samsung. I mean, if the galaxy S four comes out and Samsung wants to change touch with completely, it doesn't matter what Google did. But I think that, but I think that my impression is that they, you know, they had a break with their design language at honeycomb, right? Honeycomb suddenly something changed where they were like, we're not going to do what we were doing before. We're going to take it in a totally different direction. And, and that since honeycomb has been progressing. And I feel like they're at a point looking at Google now, looking at some of the changes they've recently made to Gmail, looking at some of the stuff that happened in 4.2, like the camera UI, for instance, which is a totally rethought UI. My impression is they're going to hit Android five and it is going to be like Google now, everything does that match up with the timeline? Like Larry page comes back and then honeycomb and does that match up with the time? I think the honeycomb timeline starts with Matias Duarte being there and, and starting to say like, Android's going to have a design. It's going to have a sense of design. Like the thing there was that Android up until that point had an extremely weird, bad, like we threw a bunch of parts together and some of them look like this and some of them look like that. And there were places where you would select text one way. And then there were other places where you'd select text in other way. Like I wrote, I remember writing my review of gingerbread and whatever the device was. I think the nexus S and just saying like, this doesn't make any sense. Like why are you selecting texts in two different ways in the same device? So they like kind of clean the slate or started cleaning the slate on that stuff. Right. I think that, um, but I think there is to your point, Eli, there is a design. There does seem to be like a disconnected point, you know, right. But, but also like, think about how long it took for them to get to bring Google docs into their new design language. It didn't happen overnight. It was like Gmail and then a couple of other things. Well, I just, it, the calendar still looks a little bit. I'm actually just, I'm very curious to see if theater like asked this question. I mean like Android scene, it's a complete wild West because you can, the OEMs change everything about it. Nobody ever sees the Android. Nobody ever sees like there's one, there's an export. It's so sad. Only Googlers who get the phone. A small part of the audience that sees it's really kind of depressing to me. What was your sense there when you mean, did you talk about Android a lot or are you mostly talking about the web and the iOS stuff? Like you talked to Matias. We talked with Matias Duarte a lot about hollow. Cause I, you know, I started out like Google now it doesn't look like hollow. He's like, wait, wait, wait. Hollow is actually like a, it's not a design language per se. It's more like setting up the rules for how the universe works. So it's like the physics of the Android universe and things move this way and things move that way. I kind of understand that, but there are definitely hollow design guidelines. Yeah. Like hollow actually, we have threads in our forums that are like list all the hollow apps and they all look the same. Right. But I mean, I think it's because, but you do say like, you're going to use panels and suddenly people go like, well, what should my panel look like? And you've got this off the shelf. Anyway, continue, Dieter. We don't need to. Dieter. Oh no. So like Matias Duarte makes the case that hollow is flexible enough to have something that looks like Google now sort of fit into its framework. And I think it's just a matter of like they just need to decide what they want Android to look like going forward and keep pushing consistency and not make quick changes on one app, but not the rest. So it's sort of, they just need another project to sort of get everything together. And I'm really hoping that's what the next version of Android is. But I do think it is. If they're able to execute quickly. Yeah. But it is telling, right? It is telling that they are not, that version of Android is never shown to anybody. I mean, they don't, who sees it? I mean, even in a Motorola device, which is now at, you know, Jelly Bean 4.1, like at my Droid, Razer Max HD 7. Cool dignity. Yeah. Cool. But like even that has, they altered icons, they altered the dialer, they all, there's pieces of it that have been altered. And it just, isn't that, I mean, I don't know if you discuss it with them, but that must be, I can't believe that Matias Duarte or any designer is satisfied when you say, Hey, great new design, beautiful stuff. We're going to take this and just totally revamp it and change it. Like, I don't believe. And we're going to call it TouchWiz. Yeah. And I don't believe that kind of like this company line where they are like, we love that it's, you know, Holo is just the physics of our world. We don't really want it to look good. Like I don't believe that. But didn't Larry Page get a little aggressive in that interview he gave to Wired like a week or two ago, we hit this where he said, Facebook doesn't make good products. Like they don't make good mobile product. He's kind of highlighting what they're doing and also calling out the competition. So, right. But Facebook's not the competition in an operating system. Right. I mean, in the sense that, that, that, that, you know, they have to be able, this thing has to live on a thousand different phones. But in the sense that they both want to be the apps on the home screen of your phone that you use first. Yeah. No. What's so good. But that's, and that's definitely true. Dieter, I think that Google now is an attempt to not be the app on the home screen of your phone. Right. It's an attempt to make Google like be a forceful presence in your life. It's like, up in your shit hole. But the app itself is not, doesn't push into the rest of your phone in the way that the web presence of it does. I think, I think the goal of Google now, I mean, I think Google now will eventually be the home screen of an Android phone, but you will pick it up and unlock it. All that widget crap will be an optional thing. But the main thing that we'll see is Google now. I mean, cause that may be a, that may be a view. No, I mean, I think he'll unlock the phone. I would love if Google now were like my lock screen where I could, you know, I can swipe to the right and get my camera or swipe to the left and they've got those widgets. I don't care about all that. Just don't give me a weather widget over there. Give me my Google now on my lock screen. That would be amazing. That would be all about that. It doesn't seem like it would be very hard for them to do that. They're just not now isn't there. It's just not a finished product. It's not there yet. Now it's not there yet. Now is next. Now is coming. Now is coming soon. At the end of the earnings call Larry Page kind of, did you hear that where he was like, Google now is amazing. Like it's really a focus for us. We're going to this science fiction place. Like imagine if Google now is so good that all the questions you finance guys just asked, we would have just answered without you even asking them. That would have been great. Did he actually say that? He said that was like the last thing he said on the call. Yeah. That's the place. That's where that's where Google starts to veer into creep, creep, creep Google. Where they're like, what if it knew what you wanted to eat tonight? What if we were just already feeding you? Yeah. What if, what if Google now could hold a spoon to your mouth and shovel in human food? Maybe we'll be able to do that. So did you get a sense of what's next for this design team? Like, are they going to stay? Are they going to get more centralized? Are they going to stay all distributed? Are they going to keep revamping the products? Is it iterative now? Yeah. Dieter, we know what's now, but what's next? I think the next is more of now. I think we're going to see more of what Google now is doing across multiple products. We've already seen it. Like it's in search. Some of those cards are showing up in search and there's a different kind of metaphor. Like those cards are when Google gives you the information instead of a link out. So we're going to see more of that. And I think in terms of like their process and how they're doing design, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And they, you know, they finally got something that's working and it's this nice middle ground between the way Apple works and you know, the way Google used to work, which was, you know, utter madness and everybody doing whatever they felt like. And so like they've got something that like works for the company and I don't see why they would change it until things start breaking again and start looking bad again. I think it'll be interesting to see what the competition does in the sense that we know what Windows Phone is doing. They have a pretty strict set of guidelines. Beautiful handcuffs, man. I told you. I'll be honest with you. From the beginning that was going to be beautiful handcuffs. Can you even think of a single Metro app or you're like a third party app where you're like, yeah, this really knocks it out of the park using Metro design language. No, because the goal of Metro, and this is a fine, a fair goal for Microsoft. The ultimate goal of Metro is to make every app look and feel like an integrated part of the system. Right. Which is fine. Which is great. But do any of them pull it off in a way that you're like, this feels like a perfect integrated part of the system. Because there's no, the incentive for an app developer is to not do that. Right. Way out. You mean to differentiate? Yeah. Like Android phone makers. I mean, there's just, I don't know how you convince any, even the Skype app, which is Microsoft. But I wouldn't mind, what I worry is that Metro in some fundamental ways is like not a 100%. It's not, it's not a- If the world was a perfect place, Metro would be awesome. Right? But I think there are Metro, but okay. But so I was going to say like, we kind of know where Metro is. Not to get on, I don't want to get on a Metro rant. Oh, God. I think OS is, and I think the conventional wisdom is it's due for a refresh of some sort. Yeah. I mean, maybe they're not going to do it because OS 10 has been looking pretty much like OS 10 for- I think if you're at Apple today and you're looking at, and you're looking at the Apple mail client and then you go look at Gmail, I think you're thinking to yourself, wow, we just got shown up on our own. I don't know about that. I think people- Because I opened mail- I think people at Apple look at mail and I know a lot of people who are Apple, you know, major Apple fans and like love what Apple does and they think mail is a really effective tool. It might be an effective tool, but I'm saying, you know, actually Gruber wrote this- Gruber, we talked about mail. He uses mail. He doesn't touch Gmail. He doesn't even know what it does. He doesn't want to know. He said this thing, which I think is interesting across the industry because we're starting to see this like five inch 1080p display, which is insanely high resolution, just hit the entire industry. And he's like- Thanks Sharp. And he's like all- Is it Sharp? I don't know who makes it, but it's- The display. It's great. It's beautiful. It was on the- I mean who makes it. I think it's LG and I think probably Sharp makes it too. What was that face for? You just grilled him. You locked him up. You were like, who makes it? Well, I expect D-Line knows this stuff. He's like- So if you guys don't know this, when we hired Ben, and I just want to point this out, Ben showed up and it was like, I'm never covering gadgets. Never. Never you saying that. But actually, I came around to this because there's so much cool stuff in hardware. When we were just having that talk about Google and their design, and then you guys started talking about phones and I like tuned out or whatever. I was thinking about how dope it would be to have the Google Glass on and to be like, okay, you know, like you change the themes in your Gmail. You'd be like, you change the theme. So you'd be like cartoon or like Chrome. Yeah. You'd be like Google Hangouts projected on top of the people you're talking to. That would come from Verizon. Everything would have Verizon on it. I would do like a fresh skin on the world. Every day I could do like a different skin. That's totally doable too. Yeah. I'm just saying the problem is that would be provided by Verizon and you would look at a store and it would be like the VZ zone. But it's like you're getting caught in this dystopian thing about the carriers and the OEMs and that's why you live in an imperfect world. That's where I live in my head. Go where Ben lives. I like that. Let me just finish this. Ben's one thought. Pots, pots. John Graber, his whole theory is we, Apple stuff was designed for lower resolution displays. Yeah, I heard that. And they did all this cruft to hide how bad the displays look. And now they look bad on high resolution displays because they're not actually, it's not actually fine wood paddling, right? It's a cartoon. Or there's just one toke over the line when it comes to like a certain type of design. Like they didn't start with stitched leather. They didn't start with ripped pages. They actually started with like stuff that still felt somewhat digital. I mean, if you look at the original, if you look at like the clock, the alarm selector on the iPhone, you know, and I think it's actually unchanged. Let me just, let me just punch this up here on my iPhone that I have, I happen to have sitting here and punch up is a thing that people do, by the way, that's an official, it's an official type of terminology. So if I want to set an alarm here, let's do, let's do this. So this thing here, this is not really like a real world item. I don't know what that is. It's representative of something like a real world item. But have you ever used anything like this in the real world? You should show the people. Okay. Well, it's like a very old school analog might look like it's a dial, but, but, but no one in this generation. And even in the previous uses anything like this, it's almost an industrial kind of reference. Put your punch card in and like flips it when I unlock a crappy bike lock, something like that. But so, so like, and this actually doesn't look like an object in the real world to me. It looks like a weird digital dial that has some familiarity to real world items. Like, but I think you're making a really good point. Like, you know, it was designed for crappier screens and now these better screens are coming and suddenly you realize, oh, it doesn't look good. It's like that uncanny valley thing, right? Where it's like when you couldn't really see it that well, it looked great and like kind of had its own vibe. And then when it got, the picture got a little too clear, you were like, oh, this is terrible. That's true for something. But I do think that right at the start, I mean, from, from day one with anything that went beyond some of their, some of their stuff was like once they got into the linen and once they got into the stitch leather and they started like really going hard on real world materials. My point about this clock is that it doesn't look like, it looks like a thing that has a relationship or is familiar to me in a real world sense, but is not a representation of an actual real world thing. And so, or one that I'm very familiar with or most people be familiar with. And so it's, it feels clever and useful. And I think that they went away from that cleverness into the zone of it's going to be a knob. And then somebody was like, we're going to do it. It's going to be like a knob. And they're like, oh, you mean, so it'll kind of look like a knob. They're like, no, no, it's going to be a knob. And when you, when you turn the phone, it'll be like, there's brushed metal on the knob and you'll see, it is a cool detail, but like, you know, that's the thinking is we want it to be like a real thing. Better to like invent your own design world than to like try and make this photo copy of the real world. Because I think that the real world has great cues for design, obviously, or else nothing would exist. But, but, but deep, but a cue for design versus a just absolute copy. It's very different. Anyhow, we should move on because we want to talk about theater. Thank you for joining us. And thank you and Ellis for producing such a wonderful, awesome piece. And I do want to say like, you know, Ben was involved at intervals, Thomas Houston from features was, had a huge hand in it. James, James, our video team, James, who did the design, our video team, everybody. And I'm not sure everybody who did the video part, but was it Billy and Jordan? I don't know. We have a billion Jordan and obviously we have editors and Rondo and all. Anyhow, but it's like many things that we do at the verge was a big team collaborative effort. And I think like it is so amazing to see it come together like this. And you look at that piece and you just go, we had cool, a cool story. We told it in a cool way. It looks really beautiful. It's really readable. It's got this great video thing. And so I'm just, I'm just like, I'm always, I get excited. I mean, you know, I don't see these all the way through. Like I, it's like the ideas here and then they, they end up on the site and I'm like, wow, this is exciting. Deeter Deeter before you go, you know, there was a poll on the web yesterday about who is the best looking urge writer. And your way bone zone was way out ahead. It wasn't even close. What about Alice? Look at him. He's blushing. He's turning tomato. Wait, where was this? Somebody just threw up a poll. I saw it on Twitter. I clicked there. It was like six of us. I was not even on it. It wasn't really fair. You were on it. I'm like real. I think you were second. And then the bone zone was like, oh, I know that. I've seen a lot of like mean tweets about how ugly I am. I get it guys. I'm not very handsome, but you know what? What I, what I, but Deeter is handsome. Although we saw a picture today, we said, Deeter, this is really funny. Deeter, we got, we had took team photos when we had our all hands back in September. You guys don't care about that, but we have a bunch of really terrible photos. No, they're great. And, but you and Thomas Ricker are like before and after you're like, it's like, you're like young Thomas Ricker before the drugs and alcohol caught up with him. I mean, Thomas looks like a bad ass, but he looks like a bass. He's seen some shit. He's late period. Late period bone.com. Check it out. Everybody. All right, Deeter. Thank you so much. Look like Thomas Rooker. I'll be a happy man. Wouldn't we all, we'd all be happy. All right. Thanks man. And keep, keep, keep on rocking in the free world. Why? Too many words. Okay. Before we go on, Hey, control room. I am being told that our live stream is skipping like crazy. They know. Okay. What is that casual head nod in there? Like, it's a big deal. Hey, Oh, well time for more. The uploads. Good thing in our new office, we're getting a big fat nasty fiber pipe. Sorry. Inspiration fans. Sorry. If you wanted any sports video or news right now, great 49ers video. I know. Did you see the headline on that? Zing. Really good. Who did, who worked on that? Somebody worked that headline over almost like it almost like something you should give that guy an award. I'm actually pretty psyched because I love MMA and they do the MMA hour here. So I feel like I'm sitting in like, you know, close to, did you watch the one that he did with the dude? Oh, like long, I know all about it. What was up with that? That guy is, you know, he's like, he's like professional wrestling, you know, where you'll play this character of like the heel, but he's also like, he took it a little too far, you know, like an Andy Kaufman or something like that. That's cool. Yeah. Um, yeah. You're in MMA. You actually are a professional Jiu Jitsu fighter. That's right. My gym is like four blocks from him. So you ever considered doing MMA, like getting into some, I think there's a lot of brain damage in MMA. So I stick to Jiu Jitsu based on that interview. I'm sure your wife would not be very pleased. No. Do you, but do you fight? You don't do like, uh, I do. I do very, very sort of, uh, grappling like a new grappling, no punching and kicking the head. It's pretty homoerotic. I'm not going to lie. It's like hugging. Who is the violent hugging? Sometimes I grab a single leg, I run the pipe and I go to a rear naked choke. That's who hasn't done that last night twice. Um, do you, who is the fighter? There was a fighter who was a UFC fighter who was, was like the whole guy who was really popular in like the early two thousands. He won like constantly. Do you know what I'm talking about? So there's these guys from my family, a family, the Gracie family, the Gracie. So I train with them four blocks away. Shut up. Really? Enzo Gracie, cousin of Hicks and Gracie and Hodger Gracie. And you train with, they all have, they all have an R in their name and they all pronounce it like an H. That's a Brazilian thing. Yeah. But you train with the Grazies? Yeah. So they have like one of the biggest academies. I don't, I mean like it's not like me and like the ultimate badass. He owns the academy and I'm a student there. Okay. One of many, you know that you're learning the Gracie techniques. Yes. I'm learning the Gracie family technique. Is that a situation where like in a, in a, uh, you know, somebody is mugging you. Self-defense. Is this a self-defense thing? Excellent for self-defense. Really? They teach it to the Rangers. So they have a guy has a knife. Yes. Who has it? By the way, who mugs with a knife? Nobody. Nobody. A taser these days. A guy has a gun. A taser. If a guy has a gun, I will give him my money. I could hand to hand, this could be a thing. They teach you that. Like once you got like a little bit of confidence, you know, you're a white belt with a couple of stripes. They're like, listen, in a self-defense situation with a gun, don't, don't try any of the things we taught you in here. Even if you're successful, like the gun might just go off anyhow. Don't let it go to your head that you're good in this class. What is your belt? I have a blue belt. That's, and how close is that to black? It's white, blue, purple, brown, black. So you got a ways to go at least 10 years. Oh geez. I got a ways to go. That's a long time. Now that we've discussed all of your physical fitness, what else is on our topics list here? Well, Ben's piece, man. We could talk about my piece. Yeah. Ben did a crazy. So after the election there was a lot of your political, your political hot politically charged piece. Yeah. No, there was a lot of talk about how the Obama campaign had this like technical operation, this app, this like, what was it called? Get out the vote. Narwhal. Narwhal. And then Romney, which is a, which is a mythical, uh, like whale with a seal with a unicorn seal with a unicorn. Yeah. And then the great episode of Futurama that's centered around. And then Romney had, yeah. And then Romney had one that sucks called Orca that's supposed to eat a narwhal. Yeah. But it crashed. But it hit an iceberg. I don't think he lost. I think he lost a significant amount of votes in the swing States in the swing States. Well he lost, it's like, but it wasn't that sudden how like an algorithm failed and those votes appeared. It was that, yeah, now that things failed that we're supposed to tell them what to do. People out there are supposed to turn out their vote. They try to open the Romney app and it just crashes and they're like, I can't, you know, I don't know which doors to go knock on. Oh boy. Oh boy. Anyway, but that's, that's that part of the story. So Ben, you want to walk us through it's happening now with the Obama side of narwhal. Let's so the post-mortem the election was, you know, the Democrats had a big tech advantage and they sent guys out to Silicon Valley and recruited him from Google and Facebook and Twitter. And you know, they took sabbaticals and went to work on the campaign. Um, but I actually got a call just sort of over the transom, some of the developers from the campaign, which is now ended. And when campaigns in, it's kind of this weird, you know, the entity continues but the campaign is over. It's kind of weird. So this guy's still technically part of the campaign. Yeah, they tear it all down. And they were basically wanted to voice their anger and their frustration that the code, all the architecture that they wrote for the software, the email, the mobile app, the website, the donate, um, was going to be in their opinion, mothballed at the DNC and not used and not shared with other democratic progressive organizations. So there's two problems with that. One is that they built off of open source software. And so there's this ethical philosophical thing that developers have. We should share it back with the public. Right. And the other half is, you know, bite right then, then Orca Orca can get it right. So the, you know, well, okay, so it's funny during the campaign, these guys are saying, you know, they used to scrape our sites, they would look at our tech and steal it. And there was actually a point where the Romney donate page like did a find and replace and they forgot to change enough of the text and they got caught during the campaign. It was like Romney donates tech is the exactly the same and even like the text on the page is the same as the really except for like Obama is replaced by Romney, like same graphics, same HTML stuff. Yeah. Okay. So they were already doing that, right now. Um, and I think the idea is if we don't respect open source principles, we're not going to have this same advantage recruiting tech folks next time around. And then there's the idea of bite rod. And me and Neil, I talked about this, but a campaign is like you spin it up and you spin it down and the time in between, you don't think about it. But if you have software and you don't touch it for four years, all the API's are going to be broken. It's going to be out of date. It's worthless. You can't just be maintained. Right. You have to keep working on it, improving it. And because the guys who run these campaigns, they literally do think of spinning it up, which is classically it's we're going to print out a bunch of forms, put them on clipboards, hire a bunch of like phone lines, and then have volunteers sit there with a clipboard calling the phone shred, shred that stuff. We didn't use when we're done. Right. And then, you know, four years from now we can just print out the forms again, hire a bunch of phone lines. We're back up. I mean, it's a, it's a new age and it's definitely, you know, you can't, I love the, I love the concept of bite rot and the, the, just the, just the, the idea that like it doesn't go to sleep now the way that it would have gone to sleep. Right. Yeah. But they, but don't they start spinning up? Aren't they right now planning 2016? I mean, I find it hard to believe that there is not a group of people sitting in a room right now working on algorithms for what 2016 is going to look like. So, but if it went to the DNC, you know, I talked to a couple of people, they have less tech staff than they did in 2009, you know, they're not really equipped, you know, like the campaign was. How does that work? They laid off some people who worked on the tech side, you know, they don't, they didn't keep that side staffed up. Yeah. The DNC, you know, which is separate from the campaign. The DNC would be the organization that goes on during those four years and decides what might happen to the tech and stuff. Right. So you know, they definitely don't have the level of talent. The DNC is the CEA of the, right? What is their job? Like they're kind of getting ready to plan the next convention. Right. Exactly. Right. They're doing that. And they're also like, you know, they're in charge of like, I don't know, primaries and stuff like that. Right. But they have no actual power in terms of political power. Right. I mean, the DNC is a kind of a organizational. It's like an administrative. Yeah. It's an administrative. It's like, we need to get the, all the Democrats like a memo. I mean, so to me that what this is running into is politics. I think it was valid. We talked about it a lot on this podcast, like the use of technology, like dramatically shaped politics in the cycle. Uh, the, it was validated by the fact that Obama won and this technology was good. This was a, this was like, there's no, this isn't like Twitter where there's a company and a product, like they're done. Like those people have accomplished the goal. I think the, we know what the answer is. I mean, they need to start thinking of part of their business as making really good software. Right. So they made a good suggestion. Somebody made a good suggestion, which was they could license this stuff out. They could be like, listen, we have the best tech. We won the presidential election. You can license this from us for your local campaigns and whatever. And that will be the way to keep it self-sustaining. We'll employ a couple of people and license this stuff out. But nobody wants to do that, which is, you know, there's a company, but you automatically cut your market in half, right? Cause they're not going to want to license it to the Republicans. Right. That's true. But there's this company, blue state digital. Those were actually the tech guys who worked on the Howard Dean campaign. And then they went private and they helped work on the first Obama campaign. So the model has been, if you work on the campaign, then afterwards you take that tech and you, you make it into a startup. You make a business out of it. Right. What do you, what businesses do you think they could make out of this technology? Let's let's let's ideate here for a moment. Well, actually it's funny cause they were saying, you know, you could use this for anything. Like this donate button could be used for, you know, raising money by anybody. It doesn't have to be a political campaign. It's just great web architecture. We were some, they were saying we were some of the first guys to really work on responsive design like polygon has. They said we were doing that, you know, really advanced stuff with that before anyone. So we'd love to share that. Maybe we should talk to some of these guys. We should get a donate button. Bring them into Vox and donate button. I've had people say, you know, Hey, I'll pay X amount of dollars if I don't have to see ads. I feel like there would not be enough people for that to be like, make any sense for us. It would be sweet if you could give somebody a cookie and they could pay and not have ads just like that. Give somebody a cookie, an actual cookie. What's that exchange like here's an O mail raise in. But the donate button, that's an interesting one that that doesn't strike me as the one that's the most valuable. They do. They did a lot of great stuff. I mean, donate buttons are not the most valuable piece of what they did. What they did, the most valuable piece of what they did is they came up with ways to analyze voter data and tell people how to act based on the voter data. Yeah. That stuff's a little, I didn't get into it, you know, the voter rolls, but they actually created this organization that has the right to lease and license that stuff out. So it's very obviously prickly cause it's a lot of private information to the Republicans, to a Republican, to anyone who, well, I don't think they would release it to the Republicans. I don't know. I can't speak to them, but then, you know, they create an organization after the campaign to basically say, this is the gold mine of data we've got. Yeah. And I think this is, if you're, this is, if you're a, if you are a coder, like Republicans got to be recruiting hard now, right. For software guys. I mean, if they were smart, they must know, they must know they failed out on that stuff. So if it were, if I were, if I were the RNC, I'd be like, we need to get a team together. Right. It's tough. You know, Nate Silver did a piece on this. Like what are the demographics of the places where coders live, San Francisco and New York, whatever. And the politicians definitely, how does this break out? How does it break down? So the politicians can't hope to match the pay of the private sector, like a Twitter or Facebook or Google. So basically the people have to do it because they believe in your, but a Romney could. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, Romney could tenfold. Yeah. Yeah. He's a multimillionaire. Right. Let's talk about, Oh, I was going to make a vine on the broadcast. Oh yeah. So vine, everything changed again. Yes. Yeah. Everything changed. Yeah. There has been this, uh, you know, race battle. People knew this was coming, a competition to create the Instagram for video. Yes. Oh yeah. And today. And, and, and we, there was, there was some maybe sense that that cinema gram had started to get a little bit of traction. My feeling was suddenly I was starting to see them pop up. Uh, but Twitter has, this is broken. This is a broken, this is a broken arm. Um, but Twitter has now put the kibosh on their forward motion by creating vine, which is a standalone app that lets you create six second videos, which you can stop and start at intervals. Right. There's no editing. Sort of. There's some interesting differences. So like cinema, gram, some video of it, cinema, gram is gifts, right? It's just that format, you know, silent, right? Uh, and you can play them forwards and backwards and silent. They look like gifts and I love it. And I think there's a lot of cool stuff and there's cool like people doing backflips and cool sports highlights. And also like loop the loop thumbs. There's all this like teenagers doing silent comedy, like teenagers doing like Charlie Chaplin routines, which is amazing. So the difference obviously with vine is that their sound, which totally changes everything and the way the app is set up, it's kind of like you're supposed to shoot a montage. Neely will show you his shot. And it's also, and it's also, um, you know, in a way this is like very snapchatting. I feel cause snap, I get a lot of snapchats from like my brother is in Florida visiting my parents and he's been sending me snapchat videos of like five second clips of them hanging out or whatever. Um, so, but you could, this has sound. Yeah. So it's got, it's, it's this HTML five format, which I think is interesting. You know, it comes as a feed. Like that was the thing I didn't think it would work is like a feed with sound because it would be too confusing, but it's neat. Like you scroll down to it and it sort of unlocks it, unpauses and starts from the beginning and plays with sound and only the sound from one at a time plays. So like I got to download it. Can I use my Twitter credentials to get into this? Right? Yeah. Obvi, obvi, obvi. It comes as a Twitter card. It goes right there on the front page vine, but they do integrate with Facebook and you can find your Facebook friends and share to Facebook. They have an Android app. No iOS only. That is so old. It's iOS and a BB. I uploaded my vine. Seriously? No, I was going to say, like, John, can you, can you find my vine? That is so old of them. They need to relaunch. Can we get some Medivine? Yeah. They need to launch with both. I think that's really unfair to the Android users, the people who supported them. But I think it's cool. The idea that, you know, like right now, if you were to do a video live of something and try and upload it and share it quickly, it would be hard. But now you could take a moving image easily with sound and share it, you know, pretty frictionlessly the way Instagram made photos. Just everybody. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. It's cool. Yeah. This is, um, this is good. I think this is a big deal for video except, you know, I mean it is, it is funny that it operates very much in the way that Twitter operates where you've got this huge limitation and that obviously is meant to be right somehow that's going to six seconds. But I think that's a good limitation service that did little like 32nd. There's been a lot, right? What was the web? There was a web service. I don't know. There's somebody said to Coob. Have you ever heard of a Coob? Oh my God. No. What's that? It's like this horrible flash version of this where it's like you could record it through a second part of the part of the action here is that like this is HTML five. It's built in a, I just created my account. Good. I'm going to do a, I'm going to do a vine right now. I'm going to vine you vining. This has got to be some of the worst of all verge casts. This is a meta vine. All right, hold on. Let's see here. I don't want to, I don't want to see these people in my feed. How do I get these people out of my feet? God, it's just doing whatever it wants. Vine you crazy. Just can't it just get put my Twitter friends onto here to automatically. You should stop doing that. This is already way too much work. I've already made a vine man. I'm doing, I'm vining you guys. I did tweet my vine. Okay, hold on. Vine has been tweeted. It just froze. Twatted. It doesn't, it froze. You don't understand how it works. You have to hold it. You go like this. You hold it. The longer you hold it, it goes. So it's like you're holding it. It's taking recording. Then you stop. It's not, I don't see anything though. It's frozen. It's taking recording. It's frozen. Keep holding dude. It's just frozen though. Yours is just frozen. It's broken. I've actually crashed. Here's what's going on with my vine. Can we get a closeup of that? Get onto my close, get onto my, my single shot. This is just frozen on a blurry shot of. When Topolski speaks, people listen. So this app is now dead in the water. That sucked. That was not cool. End of that app. Okay, here we go. I'm going to try this again. They have a little momentum. Do I still have a vine? Okay, I'm vining. I just vined. See? That hasn't loaded yet. Everyone vines all the time. I have to say it. Like I, um, I will say this. I generally hate apps. I don't like them. I'm not an app guy. I just, all these, you know, anyway, but I think this is great. Like this is, I don't actually use Instagram. The potential for sending, you know, moving images that are sexts is just mind boggling. The potential to do harm to yourself and others is mind boggling. Uh, okay. Is there, yeah, I think the penis detection software on this is like a little bit better than chat roulette. What is, um, what is it when I'm, when I'm, so there is dong recognition when I'm, when I'm, is it vining? Is that just like, is that like on GitHub? Like you can like download the library. Am I, hold on. I gotta know. Is this, am I vining? You're vining. Yeah, you're vining right now. Is that V-I-N-I-N-G? You're vining down. Yeah. Cause it looks like vinning. No, V-I-N. Like Charlie Sheen? Vinning. Is that, it's like a really old Jewish guy saying winning. What? That's incorrect. I'm vinning. I'm allowed to say that. This is stupid. Sorry, man. I think V-I-N-I-N-G. It's terrible. No way. V-I-N-N-I-N-G. No, it just looks wrong. Just go with vine time. No, I'm not doing that. Share on Twitter. Yes. Share on vine, share on Twitter. Vining from guys. Isn't this the best Virgcast stuff you've ever heard in your entire life? Vining and dining. Wow. You know, Ben is fired. I'm bringing it. First of all, I just want everybody to know that I have now fired Ben on the air. Goodbye, Ben. Bye. He deserved, let's be honest. He had it coming. Yeah. Here we go. Here we go. Done. Vining from the Virgcast. It's on. Oh, there it is. What? Stash is looking. That's your vine. It threw up the vine. Can you, hey guys, I just tweeted mine. You can see my vine. They're all, they're all the same. This is going to be completely bonkers when people start using it. All right, come on. So I was talking to a guy today though at Spreecast and he said something interesting, which is like, you remember during occupy wall street, people will be out these little backpacks and they'd be shooting live video. And like pretty soon he was saying, we're going to be able to do that two ways. So like I'm at an event and I'm like talking to you and looking into my phone and I'm just doing that with just a phone as if I was like a CNN truck with a van and a satellite. Like that's going to be coming pretty soon. It's pretty sweet. Yeah. You know what I mean? You mean like real time interviews? Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, a face time, but only six seconds. No, no, no. Like, like a real time interview. Yeah. Like just keep it on 4g, just run it. And you know, that would enable anybody to do really interesting stuff. Citizen journalism. Yeah. Yeah. I, I reported. Yes. I report. I report. I report. You decide. All right. So vine is, we're going to see, it's a new thing. We're going to check it out. It's going to be good. I just want to find my friends. I just, you know, it's funny cause I didn't call her, try to do this. Wasn't this their last pivot? Yes. And I just like failed out. So why will this succeed? But they sold to Apple. So they're technically a success. Whatever world you live in has completely skewed, skewed ideas about what success is. Speaking of completely skewed ideas. Yeah. Apple just had a record. Wow. What a segue home. Super pro segue from my friends here. And I don't see, you got it. You got to stop using vine. No, I'm into wine. Let's talk about Apple. So we're talking about bizarre worlds. Inverse bizarre worlds. Yes. Apple just had its record day of record days. They have more records on this day of records than any day before. We actually counted Ross Miller sent me an email. He was counting cause he's at Sundance. More iPhones, more iPads. They use the word, they use the word record more times than any other earnings release. Yeah. Ross has some sort of fever. He woke up from a fever dream and did it started charting. How many times? Let me just say it's snowing in Sundance for Ross. Apple had a record. Do they know it's Christmas? And so of course after day of record of records, your stock goes down 10%. Yeah. It's way down. I bet it's 13 now. I mean there are, there are, there are, there are reasons this happened. Yes. There are actual financial explanations. 12.35% to a lay person like myself. It's like they made more money than ever. They sold more stuff than ever. Right. They beat, they missed expectations by like narrow margins. Like, like, you know, a rounding error. Right. You know, we predicted 54 billion. It was 52, 53 billion. Their stock went down 13% today. It's crazy. I mean, I understand this. Yeah. I mean, I have, I understand it. I don't think that I agree with it, but I understand the logic. Explain it to us. Their growth is slowing down. So they had a record, but the amount that their revenue grew slow from the way it used to be growing leaps and bounds. And what does that, what does that indicate? So you're moving from being a growth company, which is growing leaps and bounds to being a mature company, which is in this case just printing money. But what the people, the stock traders are interested in is what's your momentum? Are you getting better every quarter than you were the quarter before? Right. You know, what's your market? If, if you've already sold an iPhone to everybody in North America, how are you going to get, you know, 10 times as big? And they're saying, Hey, we're going to make a cheaper iPhone but that's, you're looking at developing nations. And we know that that when invest, when it comes to investors, they don't look at rim who's selling phones to developing nations and go great strategy for growth because they love Apple's high margins, high margins. Right. Cause it's their luxury goods basically. They were selling luxury goods at a pace that at no other luxury goods maker could touch. So on the call yesterday, so after they released your names, they have a call with Tim Cook and Peter Oppenheimer is a CFO and the call was really strange because what they were really talking about in the call was not, you know, they, they, it was very boring. Like last quarter, like cook, like went on a rampage and called surface a bad product and we're never going to make a seven inch tablet. We think that iPad mini is the right, all this stuff. This quarter he would basically said nothing. Gene Munster straight up asked him if they were going to make a TV. I could tell you this, it's an area of intense interest for them. Yeah, no, he gave the same actually, actually what he opened with, he laughed. He literally Tim Cook laughed at Gene Munster as this analyst who's constantly predicting the Apple will make a TV. Um, cause his question, like Munster's question really was like, I mean, is it hard? Are you guys trying? I bet it's hard. Is it hard? Is it hard? Tell me if it's hard. I mean, that's what it sounded, you know, like I bet you have content problems. Is it going to be a box or TV? Is it trouble to strike deals with an industry that doesn't want to give you any money? He ends his question and there's just like moment like where you can hear all the other analysts like laughing and, and cook is like, you're asking questions I'm just not going to answer. Yeah, but I think it's true that Apple needs a new narrative and that could be, we have a TV. That's the one there. But so, but here's the other, I don't think that's the new narrative for the company, but then all the other analysts, they would, we were asking whatever their two part question was like, how are DRAM prices affecting your supply? And then the second question was, Oh, Apple, you've changed your guidance. So the thing that used to happen was Apple would blow away their earnings and then they would release some like fake low ball numbers, but what they think they're going to do the next quarter and then they would blow away that guidance. So wall street stopped listening to those numbers. They started coming up with whatever other crap they wanted. They were letting wall street dictate their guidance. So now they're like, we're changing our guidance. Instead of giving you one number, we're going to give you this like massive range and we think we'll hit somewhere in that range and they're either going to make $1 or $100 billion. The range is like $5 billion. It's a huge amount of money and the range is only, I believe for their like revenue, not for their profit, which is the more important. Yeah. Apple beat their own guidance yesterday. And you know, when they always beat their own guy, they always, you always, you always have. And you know, like we looked at other companies like Google, which missed its marks and was up 10%. So it's definitely, and Netflix, which made like, you know, Netflix made the most infinitesimal profit, you know, and, but was up 40% because it's about, you know, narrative. They were saying, look, our subscriber number, our subscriber growth suddenly is really turning on. We know, we know, we know that, that, that wall street operates in a, in a world of fear, uncertainty and doubt. I mean, it is true though, but let's, let's be clear, right? I mean, just like when you get right down to trading, right? It is not, people are not trading. Like sometimes they're using data that is real. A lot of the time they're using like a vibe, right? They're saying like, this doesn't feel right. Or the data is telling them that it's giving them some bad vibes and then it's like a domino effect. Once somebody has a bad vibe, once somebody big enough or enough people have a bad vibe, then it's like a domino effect. But it's true that Apple is, I mean, you don't know, you don't have a sense of expectation right now. I think you have a sense of the TV has been rumored forever. Their wall street journal has reported, has reported repeatedly that they've had content issues. There were some stories, but it's, I mean, here are just some numbers and MG Sigler tweeted this and I was looking at it. Of course, of course it is because it's his job to defend Apple. Yes. Counting the water. Fair enough. It's right. Microsoft's revenues last quarter were 21.46 billion. The revenues for the iPhone this quarter, 30.66 billion. Right. Not counting the iPad, not counting the Mac, but he's missing the picture. That stuff is not connected. Like, no, but I'm saying the iPhone business for Apple is bigger than Microsoft's business. It's staggering. And they got that. It is incredible. They got that premium. So the thing you're saying Josh about like it being, you know, fear, uncertainty and doubt. If you're trading on a day to day basis, a week to week basis, month to month, you know, it is going to swing wildly like this. You know, if you're longterm, it's more about the fundamentals of Apple, right? Like if you bought the stock two years ago, you know, you made a ton of money because the company has had an incredible run. You had made a lot more money six months ago, five months ago. Right. If you got off at the top. But you know, I think it's interesting what you were saying, like, what are we going to see next? Like what has been sort of the stuff that they've released, you know, since Tim Cook came on, we wrote about this, like, you know, a slightly bigger iPhone, a slightly smaller iPad. You know, people want to see something different. Design that we are now talking about all the time. Like, Hey, what's up with this stuff? They've had software, it's behind senior execs leave. Oh, they've had a ton of senior, they've had an enormous amount of, of upheaval in the senior team. Scott Forrestal. They had this stuff with, with who's the Mansfield, Bob Mansfield, where he came in and he was out and then he was back in and brow leading the retail. Right. He's gone. Right. They just got rid of some other some didn't get rid of, but he quit an SVP in retail. Yeah. No, I mean like there's, it's like regardless of all of that, right? The company is like cruising along. They're doing, they're doing exactly what they always do. And I think, and I think it's, I think it's insane. Don't get me wrong. Like when people were tweeting yesterday about how they missed their, they missed their, the, the, uh, light on revenues. Right. Yeah. Which is amazing. We were treating revenue. I mean, this is the title. His headline was Apple whiffs. Like this is whiffing. I want to whiff every day, every day. I want to whiff like Apple whiffs, but it's like, it's like, but there is, I think is the momentum question. If you're Michael Jordan and you don't come up with a new dunk every game. Like I've seen this dunk before or, or it's like, it's that, you know, you think like we know what he can do dunk wise and he's not going to do new dunks. Right. Like, and the hype about his, for his hot new dunks. Right. Horrible analogy. We've seen the best of his. We've seen the best of his. We've seen like all the, we, I think the impression now the narrative is, I mean, jobs is gone. Right. That's a real thing. Like it's clear. Like if you track it from the death of Steve jobs to now there is, I like would find, I would find it hard to believe there's no correlation. There is a correlation between the sense that Apple is continuing to climb the mountain versus that they've, they're at the top of the mountain. So here's a, they hit the top. Tim Cook, you know, he's the logistics guy who came in and he can continue to run the business, you know, tremendously well and they will mint money. Yeah. But is he not an innovation guy? Well, Joanie I've stepped up and Howard Linsen said this great quote, which I think a lot of people repeated on our site, which is Apple has never traded on its profits. It's traded on its innovations. You know, that's how this, this sort of the value of the stock is assigned. Right. And I think that, that, that there, I think that, you know, in, in Silicon Valley, in the tech world in general, you really are only as good as your last product. And I think that, you know, their last products were, were really, you're watching, this is making me hungry. I know, but you're, you really aren't only as good as your, as your last product in that people are very fickle. Consumers are extremely fickle, particularly technology consumers. I mean, I think what we've seen, you know, I, I've talked about this before, I think probably a bit like the browser fickleness is incredible. You know, I remember when I use internet Explorer and then I switched to Firefox and then Firefox was lame and I switched to Safari and then Safari was lame and I switched to Chrome and now I'm on Chrome. And by the way, the next guy who comes out with a better browser, I'm probably going to switch to it. And it's like, people are very fickle. You really need to keep like, you gotta work really hard in technology to retain them. Apple is there's like, I think the thing is, is Apple, have they have their days of innovation past, have their great products ended? Right. I don't think that's necessarily true. I think it's going to be, I think if Johnny Ive, but I will say this, if Johnny Ive and his new bigger role in software, if whatever their next big thing is, isn't really great, isn't actually like, Whoa, this is cool. Like people are going to be really into this. If we're not impressed by it, I think that's it. I think that's an issue. What I think is really interesting is that's a big sign. I mean, I think Apple still makes the best hardware in the business. Right. But what's interesting is that I don't think Apple has ever really wanted to be cast as a hardware company. They want to be cast as either, you know, the best software makers in the world, or I think what they would really prefer is to be the integrated solutions company. Right. And end to end is the goal. Right. And I think, you know, I don't think anyone's close to surpassing the way they build hardware. The scope of their end to end is staggering. Like I think this is the thing to think about. Apple cemented in the world, the concept that you needed to control every piece of your business, not just you make great hardware and great software. You want to sell music? Uh, here's all the music. Here's the music consortium. We got this right. Or here's universal. We got this. It's Apple's like, here's what we're going to do. We're going to make the best hardware. We're going to make the best software that goes on it. And then we're also going to come up with the best services and content distribution for that stuff. I mean, they're trying to do services. They're trying to do mail and cloud storage and, and sinking and stuff like that. They're not really there yet. I don't think, you know, they're the biggest seller of music. They're, they sell a lot of video. Uh, they would sell more if they had televisions probably if they could actually sell people televisions. But, but the scope of what they're trying to control is insane. I mean, that's part of the problem, you know, like, I mean, it's part of the winning side of Apple. It's also part of the side that's that's hurting right now, which is like when you control everything and you have a miss, like when, when one of those links in the chain is a little bit broken or you have a little bit of an issue like Apple maps, it can make all the rest of it feel, you know, it pulls the, it, it stops the whole thing. You know, I think we were talking before about how Google is like structured very differently. And so we knew that Steve Jobs was the guy making the decisions. If you came in with an iPod and he dropped it in the fish tank and could see air bubbles, it wasn't good enough. Right? Like he was like, go back and work on it some more. So now that he's not there, it's like, who's that guy? Tim Cook doesn't seem like that kind of guy, that kind of perfectionist. I think Johnny Ive is always seen as the natural successor to him in terms of creativity, product manager as the product manager. But you know, now he's got a hand in software, so we'll have to see, but I think there is something to that. Also Google is known to fail, right? Google has a reputation for failing and making, you know, Jobs has that reputation in some ways, but, but his, his, the bigger reputation is as, as, as a success. Well, so, but here's the thing, and I think this is, this is Apple saving grace, right? If they are the maker and I believe that they continue to make the best hardware and the software they need to revamp thoroughly. But these devices, the iOS devices, I sold 75 million of them in the quarter, right? They sold 4.1 million max down from 5.2 million a year. There has to be a crossover point there. Well, so, but this is happening for them. Like they're, um, Brian Bishop wrote a report on this for this morning, which is, yeah, you know, they had problems shipping the iMac and they weren't on sale until the end of the quarter. So the numbers dropped, but Cook was like, if you look at our portable sales, they're tracking IDC, which is like the big numbers they're tracking the PC market. And that's like the first time they've ever said that. What they usually say is we're outgrowing the PC market. Every one of our computers is selling faster than the PC market. Like the PC market grew at 6%. We grew at 25%. Cause people want max more than PC. So our market share is exploding. Now they're like, we're tracking the PC market while their sales of the mobile devices explode. And so their business is changing dramatically. Like whether or not they want to admit it, which I don't think they do. But they changed it. You know, Cook is like, we welcome cannibalization. It's a great opportunity for us. But if they're, they're now moving to a point where they're wholly dependent on their end, end integration working. Cause if you buy a Mac and iTunes doesn't work, like you put Spotify on it, you never think about iTunes again. It never occurs to you that you have to think about iTunes. Most people aren't doing that though. But that's beside the point is that people aren't buying the Macs. They're buying the iPads. If you buy this and you use Spotify, you run into all kinds of places. But then Apple gets into the most dangerous, one of the most dangerous spots for them, which is one that I tweeted about the other day when they pulled this 500 picks app for having nudity in it or whatever they found objectionable, which is this is, and this is what people didn't understand what I was saying. And I just, it's worth reiterating. Like imagine a world where iPads are the dominant computer, which is the world, which is where we're headed, which is here's the deal. Laptops are dying. Like sales of laptops are dying out. Tablets are on track to replace and then exceed sales of laptops. Apple has the leading market share in tablets by a large margin from what I understand. I haven't looked at the most recent numbers, but it's probably in the vicinity of 70%, 75, something like that. Not the penetration that Windows has in PCs, but certainly a high penetration that's growing. Their competition still is not caught up with them in any significant way. So imagine a world in five years, two years, three years, let's say where everybody uses an Apple product as their main computer, as that's how you get on the internet. That's how you find stuff. That's how you use apps. And Apple is using these, what I consider to be bizarre, bizarre and somewhat concerning ideas about what is permissible, including, but not limited to the mail client you can use, the browser you can use, what you can look at within those apps. It's like the only app that you can look at nudity in is Apple's supported browser. You can look at another browser, but Apple ships a browser. You can look at the nastiest porn in the world. It's like, at what point does that stuff not match anymore? This is like Josh Kopstein's ultimate nightmare, right? Every kid in five years will be born buying an iPad with a store that decides what software you can have. This is why at some point there will be, someone's going to bring a case. If that market share happens, you're going to see litigation that is kind of like what we saw with Microsoft in what, 95 or whenever it was when they were litigating over the browser stuff. Someone's going to say, you can't do this anymore. You can't be Apple here. There has to be some restraint that is loosened. The same way things, this happens to Google now when they introduce their own products in search, right next to it. These are our flight results and here are the search results that you wanted. You can't really tell the difference. They're right next to each other. Yeah. But Google just slap on the wrist and get out of here. We got to wrap up. Do we want to talk about, was there anything else we want to talk about? Apple has one secret weapon. Is it the jobs? Oh, they got one movie. The movie that is going to change the tide. Another pro segue from Ben Popper. I mean, you mean, give it up. I think you mean jobs. J-Hobes. Jobs. Jobs. The new movie starring Ashton Kutcher. Disclosure. He is a advisor to Vox media. He is. Or Vox as I like to call it. He's like Will. I mean, he's our innovation creationist specialist. He's actually working on iPhone cases for us right now that have an awesome interchangeable lens. But there's a movie about the early days of jobs. We saw a clip from it today and he does, I will say this, Ashton Kutcher looks exactly like Steve Jobs when he was young. But when he speaks, it's like pure Kelso. All you can hear is Kelso. It's like Kelso talking about the advent of the modern computer. And it's weird. And I don't think I like it. You know what? Ross, I believe Ross Miller. Ross is at Sundance. Ross is at Sundance. We are going to have the premieres tomorrow. We are going to have exclusive shaky cam footage. No, no, no, no. We're going to pirate. We're going to have exclusive content related. We're going to vine the crap out of it. Here it is right here. We're going to have exclusive review. By the way, you know, Wozniak today said to some other outlet, this scene never happened. I was just working on it for my own. It was a hog. Exactly. Exactly. For your own. For you. It's what you wanted. It's what your gut and your instinct wanted. Your big, evolved brain wanted something and it didn't exist. So you just willed it into existence. Jackie. What do you call the system? The operating system. The operating system. And it just shows. Yeah, it's just a real time display of current operations. You can see what you're working on while you're working on. This is freedom. You try to do and to do and to build and as artists, as individuals, you're overreacting. Even if you were developing this for freaks like us and I doubt you are, nobody wants to buy a computer. Nobody. Somebody know what they want if they've never even seen it. Boom, boom. Nailed it. I'm sorry. I don't know. That voice is just killing me. All right, I got to go. I'm late for dinner. By the way, I'm very mad. Baltimore sun. Steve Wozniak challenges accuracy of the clip we just watched. But it's a movie. It's a movie. How much stuff is in Pirates of Silicon Valley that never happened? Like the scene where Jobs stabs Wozniak while on acid. Woz commented on Gizmodo and then the Baltimore sun somehow picked it up. I don't even know. Everything about news on the internet is terrible. Not close. We never had such an interaction in roles. I'm not even sure what it's getting at. Personalities are very wrong, although mine is closer. Don't forget my purpose was inspired by the value. The nerd personality does seem to be nailing it there. It doesn't say much. That's pretty close to me. Yeah, I don't know, man. We got to go. We got to wrap it up. That's all over. That's the Verge cast this week. If you want to get in touch with us, you can email us at vergecast at the verge.com. You can leave us a comment on the post when it goes up. We love that. We'd love to read your comments. They're always so, oh, my vine got fined. I so polite. Um, and uh, and of course you can find us on Twitter. I'm Joshua Topolski. Neela is reckless. Yes. Ben Popper is Ben Popper. Also reckless on vine. He's also re I'm also Josh with Topolski on vine. Yeah. Ben Popper on vine. Hashtag Yolo. That is not a way to find me. Ben is fired once again. And the verge is at verge. Um, and that's show we'll be back next week. And until then, um, so sorry to hear about what happened. Rock and roll. Paul. Yolo.

It's Friday, March 14, 2014. I'm Ellis Hamburger, and I'm so tired of people sending fast food to my office. I just don't get it. Can you just please stop? This is 90 Seconds on the Verge. The Russian government this week ordered national internet providers to block access to many prominent websites that have been critical of President Vladimir Putin. Authorities justified the crackdown, saying the targeted sites promoted quote, illegal activities. For several years now, the Kremlin has been gradually tightening its grip on Russian news media, including replacing top editorial positions at some news agencies with Putin allies. Amazon's rumored set-top box is all but a reality at this point, as some images of the company's game controller have leaked. The photos depict a traditional-looking, yet quite boxy controller with media control buttons at its bottom. The rumored set-top box is said to run a forked version of Android and also focus on gaming. Amazon reportedly scheduled the launch for holiday 2013. The recent leaks, however, suggest an official announcement is imminent. And finally, it's the remix album no one has been asking for. Avicii, BT, and Cascade are among the artists featured on Deconstructed, a 14-track collection featuring EDM remixes of classic Disney songs. Seriously. Films represented range from Tron and Monsters University to The Lion King and even The Muppets. Deconstructed will go on sale April 22nd. But be careful when you're out at those clubs, kids. Someone could slip you a Mickey. And that's it for today's top stories, but coming up tomor- Oh, I get it. It's because my last name's Hamburger.

Hey and welcome to the Vergecast for the week of March 10th, 2014. I'm Josh Dabulski. I'm TC Sotic and this is my third week in captivity. Please help. And I'm Katie. Yeah, Katie. Good old TC and Katie. My two favorite people to do the Vergecast with. I look like there's an oil spill on my head with this hair, with my hair. It's getting really long. It is getting long. Here's the question. How long will it get? Pigtails long. I'm thinking mini pony. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like Jared Leto. Yeah. I want to have like a Jared Leto style hair situation. His hair is very long. I'll never be as beautiful as Jared Leto, but I can have long hair like him. I want to be like, he looks like a beautiful horse running through the fields of... No, like a tiny little pony. Like a pony. Who loves his mom. Like a beautiful pony. Yeah. I think we, oh, we're drinking. Yeah. Cheers. Look at him. He's a beautiful man with a beautiful head of hair. I need to get some highlights like that though. He has really nice bone structure. He looks like Gaius Baltar from Battlestar. He really does. With long hair. He really does. Let's have a little clink of the old... Cheers. Cheers. What do they say in Canada when you cheers? Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, our glasses touched. Sorry. Sorry. This is such an aggressive action. I didn't mean to... Please forgive this intrusion on your personal space. Someone asked me to wear this hat today. Who's someone? Who's that? Someone I've ever... A fan. A special fan. A special lady in your life. A special fan. Someone in your life. Special lady maybe. Special dude. Special bro-ham. I'm not judging. I'm cool with whatever. I'm not judging. Can I call you a fan, man? He just tweeted, ugh. So glad you're a cowboy. I'm an urban cowboy. Oh yeah, check it out, guys. Should have worn my boots today. Tried to bring my bolo tie, but I couldn't. Anyhow, this is the Verge cast. This is the Verge cast, man. That's it. What did you guys wanna talk about today? Well, there's a lot to talk about, I think, right? Yeah. We were talking about just before we started rolling. I was talking about how I wanted to murder TC. And I was saying... He was like, please kill me. I mean, he wasn't like, and I don't think he was joking. It was like, I'm ready to be done with life. I've had it. Why? And then, and I was saying how amazing it would be if I killed him live for real on the Verge cast. Like that would be one, that'd be a podcast you'd never forget. We have a spear in the office. That would be really easy to convict too. We have a giant spear. Unless it could be, there was some, that's like on the Good Wife, you know, do you watch the Good Wife? I just, season two, episode 20. There would be a scene, there's like, he killed him on the Verge cast, and there's like, there was video, 20,000 people, a million people watch it. Or it's 20,000 by the way, don't worry, it's not a million. But it would be like the Wedge cast or something. Something like that, right. And then be like live, but then like the Good Wife be like, wait a second, that knife wasn't even his. And like his hand is like, look, it's been edited or something. And then she'd make out with her, with Will. Hey, spoiler alert, okay? Maybe. No, they make out, they do. Oh, I haven't seen that episode yet. They get hot and heavy. I haven't seen it yet. They do everything. Spoiler. And they show it on CBS, which I thought was shocking. I need to catch up, I'm still watching Scandal. Full frontal nudity. Really? What are we looking at here? What is this? A clip, just a random clip from a trailer for The Good Wife. John showed the nudity. It's such a good show though. If you haven't seen it, it's incredible. It's unbelievable it's on CBS, a network known for several horrible, horrible programs. I hear it's better than House of Cards. I actually think, look, House of Cards is very good. I think some of it strays into a level of incredulous, you know, nests. That is pretty. I find it a little bit sort of meandering. Meandering is, I think, well, that's not my main issue. When he kills the president, it just goes way over the top. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. But that's the thing about House of Cards, that could happen on that show. And they'd be like, yeah, that's a totally reasonable plot point. Frank Underwood puts ricin in his Stevie. It's kind of like Homeland. Multiple shows. Spoiler alert. I hope, by the way, I hope you're not watching this Virgcast for any information about anything or any real conversation. Important opinions, though. So Katie, we were talking about your haircut. You said you get your haircut by a woman named Letitia. Yes, in Brooklyn Heights. And I was like, oh, you're wearing a Brooklyn, you're like showing off your Brooklyn street cred. Yeah. Brooklyn Nets. I went to one game a year and a half ago. How was it? It was okay. I love the Nets. Yeah, me too. I'm a big fan. I have their t-shirt. Did you see Jay-Z? No, Jay-Z was not there. He's at every game. It was for Carl's birthday. Does he like the Nets? No, we just decided together that we were gonna like the Nets. And so we both bought t-shirts. Well, they're awesome. They have all black uniforms. They're in Brooklyn. They just seem really cool. They all listen to, I'm trying to, Deer Huff or whatever. I don't know what. Excuse me? I'm trying to think of a band. They're all really into Interpol. I don't know, what's a cool? Interpol? I don't know, my references are all off. I don't know. I have not been sleeping a lot. What's a cool band now that everybody's like, it's like indie, but they're cool? The National? No doubt. Now, The National's really popular. Yeah, they're too popular. I think they played at the Barclay. Oh, they did, but I didn't go, because I was like, I'm not gonna see them at fucking Barclay. I gotta say something about The National. I really have a new. Well, it's too big a venue. I agree, not intimate enough for, because you're into that intimate indie vibe. So here's what I wanna say about The National. Uh-oh. I didn't realize this. Number one, they're from Cincinnati. Oh, I didn't know that. Which is a tough place for anybody to be from. And I think people in Cincinnati will back me up on this. They've been at this for a long time. 99 is when they formed. Wow. So just nothing but respect for The National. Also, the lead singer, if you saw him on Saturday Night Live, they were just on with Lena Dunham, he is a dead ringer for Randy Quaid in Independence Day. A particular Randy Quaid in Independence Day. Here he is. Can we get a close up on him? I mean, he looks so much like Randy Quaid from Independence Day. Oh my God. Can we get a shot of Randy? Yes! Side by side. Wow, just get in there. Can we get a side by side of Randy Quaid from Independence Day, please? I'm just gonna wait. They're like live. I love that they're doing this live. Aliens! I like, I like. So you're Randy Quaid in Persons. Yeah, I don't even remember what he sounds like. That's what he sounds like, exactly. I'm supposed to be the person keeping us on topic today and I'm just gonna let everyone know I'm not gonna do my job. Let's do it, what's the first topic? What's the topic? We're supposed to talk about... Worst Verge Casting ever, am I right, guys? This stuff that happened. No way, this is awesome. Down in Austin, Texas. They're so... South by Southwest. South, otherwise known as Brand Hellworld. Brand Hellworld. Where's my side by side? This is nonsense. What's worse, watching this or listening to it? Being in it. Wow, oh John, you don't like, I'm sorry, John, in the control booth, I was just told being in that room is the worst. You know what, you don't have to be in there. The free wine's okay. The perpetual bondage. No one's forcing you, I mean it is your job, but... You're getting paid right now to drink wine and just like talk about whatever you want. Yeah, it's amazing. But you guys don't see what happens off camera. Somebody just asked have I completely, have we completely given up on the illusion of discussing tech on the Verge Cast? You guys want to discuss some tech? As long as I'm on it, yes. Let's discuss some tech. I think, I think... You want to talk about tech? I think that I'm like not going to talk about a smartphone for... Don't talk to me about it. Like it's gotta be a really interesting development in smartphones to talk about it. Yeah, I don't know, I'm just not interested in talking. I mean, certain technology, like, I would talk about the, well, I mean, it's not really a tech story, but I would talk about what Casey wrote at South by Southwest, which is about how... Yes, everyone should talk about that all the time. Which is about how South by Southwest Interactive, which is supposed to be this place where like, beautiful, amazing new ideas about like the future of our world are born, is actually, has actually become this like really weird brand. Like he, you know, it's like called an orgy. Yeah. And... A rollicking corporate brand orgy. Yeah, which I think is like totally valid. Who is this guy? Dan Boyd, who's a little old, wants us to talk about tech. Doesn't use capitalization when spelling his name. Who is he, Dan Boyd? Yeah, here we go. Look at this, unbelievable. Oh man. No, that's not it at all. That's not a good picture. Were you drinking on Saturday? No, I'm telling you, he looks like him. You just, it's the wrong angle. Yeah. I'm a little disappointed. Can we get him in a plane or something, flying into the alien ship? I got what you need, John. Suppose you got the right image. I got it. He really does look like him. Anyhow. So what were we talking about? Oh, South by Southwest. So yeah, the thing is, I mean, it's not a surprise. I think this has been this way for a long time, but it's just like a, it's just like a brand, it's just a cluster fuck of brands, and it's all really nasty, lame shit. It's like, this guy's Shingy from AOL. Do you know this dude, this digital prophet? This guy's like my least favorite. And by the way, I'm sure he's a really nice guy, and I feel bad saying this, because I'm sure he's a lovely man, but he calls himself a digital prophet, or that's what AOL calls him or something. Can we get a picture of Shingy up on the screen, view screen here? Can we just get Shingy, just do a Google search for Shingy. It's really great if you could just get an image of him up. I'm not gonna talk till there's an image of Shingy on the screen. I don't like to put people on blast, but he kind of looks like what Sonic the Hedgehog would look like if he was a human being, I imagine. He looks super excited about everything. I feel like, well, he's profiting off of the digital, fourth-gubby digital. Wow. Here's Shingy speaking. It's a better image of Shingy. This is too dark. I need to see Shingy up close. Wow, there he is. Can we get audio on this? Is this him profiting, right, being a prophet? Profiteering. Look at those nails. You can be called what your brand in the middle of those, or even deliver one of those experiences. Is he a- The first largest contributor to stress today is media overload. What? We know that there's a challenge in terms of attention, but if you do get it right, mindshare equals market share, and that's where consumers are going to pass your brand on. Nice. Whoa, here he is thinking. Mindshare equals- It's Catherine Hepburn, and this is it. What? If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun. I think what we need to do is get into a fast experimentation mode. The platforms allow us to do that because you fundamentally have between six seconds and 13 hours to tell your brand story today. You're not limited- That's a big window. To 30s and 60s across the day. How are you telling your brand story? You have these different brand expressions today, these different engines to tell your story. Yeah. So I would love to see you embrace- This is really long. We need to- All right, that's enough. That's enough of Shingy. I can't do it. Wait, just to clarify, he is employed by- He's employed by AOL, as far as I know. That's amazing. His title is Digital Profit. Of course it is. And he's talking about how you can get your brand, just jam on your brand, get it jammed up into somebody's area. Jammed up. Anyhow, but that's South by Southwest. Here's the most striking image, actually, Valleywag. Sam Biddle, I think, posted this. It was a picture of Shingy on Mashable's wrecking ball. There it is. That's what South by Southwest is. It's like a sandwich of garbage. I'm sorry, Shingy. I'm sorry. I know you're a nice guy, but you're a human being and I don't want to diss you. I'm sure you're a lovely man to hang out with, but your stuff that you say sounds really horrible. To each his own, your look is your look, whatever. But being called a digital profit and saying shit like brand message or whatever is the worst. So, I mean, is that tech? Is that a tech conversation? I don't know. Hey, wait a second, buddy. Hold on, huh? Don't forget Shingy Jr. over here. I'm changing my title too. New trend will be befriending unfollowing. Shingy. Anyhow, so that may be a tech story. I think that's the kind of tech story I'm interested in is how South by Southwest went from a really cool, interesting group of people telling each other very interesting stories and sharing knowledge to an Oreo, 3D printed Oreo like marketing machine. And Casey Newton, one of our writers, wrote a really cool story about, by the way, I'm not like bitter. This sounds like I'm bitter or whatever. Like that's just one. No, but that's just like one small part of like what's going on in the world. That to me is, and I think some of like, you know why I don't want to talk about like the new smartphone or like, I don't want to talk about like iOS eight leaks, except I will say there's this like Mark Gurman from 9to5Mac had these iOS eight leaks and they're like, they're gonna have like text edit or something, or it's, you know, some really sad stuff. They're gonna- Walking public transit directions. Yeah, public transit directions and maps. Like it's just the saddest update you can think of because all this stuff is incremental. And that's why like you don't hear us talking a lot on the Vergecast anymore about these like weird little incremental, like, hey, there's a new 6.5 inch smartphone. Like we're very, you know, I'm sure there's a set of people who's interested. We'll cover those when appropriate. We review them when appropriate. But like, when it comes to the Vergecast, like, you know, I don't want to sit here and talk about a 6.5 inch screen on a smartphone unless there's like a really good reason to talk about it. I kind of do. Look, and you know what? This is the sleepless mind of a baby daddy. What is happening? Anyhow, so are we talking about tech Mark Little? No, we should- Where appropriate, my man. We should talk about Cosmos. Although wait, Mark Little also points out that he came up with drum roll as a replacement for Vergecast. It's pretty good. Which I thought was pretty fucking good. Mark Little, I thought you were not on our side, but now you maybe are on our side. Yeah, that's pretty awesome. Anyhow, but so what's in the news? What do we have on our list? Tech is dead. Is tech dead? Is tech dead? There's no more technology. It's all been done. I don't think that's true. There we go. There we go. Yes. That's more like it. I still feel like you got the wrong image on the right now. Look, he looks like Randy Quaid, okay? He looks good there. Okay, Katie, that's enough. Maybe you gotta back off that wine a little bit. We don't want anything embarrassing to happen here. Like the entire thing. We wouldn't want that to happen. Okay, so what's on our list? Yeah, she's in the F word pretty early today. She's in repeatedly. Okay, so Neil, hey, you know what? No, Cosmos. Cosmos, I was gonna say, Katie did an amazing interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson. He came to our office, our studio, and sat down with us. And obviously, he's a super fascinating guy. Brilliant dude. We interviewed him, I interviewed him a couple years ago on The Verge, the first season of On The Verge. And he was so, were you there? Yeah, I was there. Yeah, he was like so engrossing. I don't know if he did this with you, because I don't know the whole thing. But he would like, and I was like, oh, we gotta wrap up. It's like 45 minutes. I was like, we gotta wrap up. He's like, no. And we talked for like another 15 or 20 minutes because he just wanted to say more stuff. He's so smart and interesting that it just makes you feel like, it made me feel like the dumbest guy in the world. Oh, I didn't feel dumb. Okay, okay. Well, you know. I guess you're smarter. I feel like talking to a peer. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. That's the thing about him though. He's like super in your face. What an ego. What an ego. But it's an awesome kind of like super in your face. Like he. Yeah, yeah, no, it's like you want him in your face. Yeah. Some people you're like, dude, get out, just stop. Yeah, he's like an evangelical scientist. He's extremely intelligent, but I also find him extremely kind and thoughtful. No, he's, yes, yeah, totally. And like very easy to talk to. Like I was nervous. This was the first one-on-one like sit down video interview I've ever done. And I was very nervous, but we made eye contact the whole time. It was. That's good. We drank wine. You did have wine with him. Yeah, yeah. Which just proves my theory that you have a drinking problem. No, I mean, so. I'll drink to that. All right. Cheers. We don't have to do this every time. Yes, we do. Sorry. Why shouldn't we do it every time? Let's talk about more tech. No, but so Neil. Okay, here we go. Dr. Tyson. Oh, all of a sudden, Neil. Actually. Doctor. Is a huge wine buff, which I found out when I interviewed him for the Verge 50. And he hated, he hated your wine. He did hate the wine. Just think about the kind of wine he's drinking. Cause let me tell you something. No, I know, right. So I said. He has the money to buy good wine. He has a wine cellar at his house. Oh God. I'm so envious. And so I said to the guys buying the wine, I was like, get something nice. They got a $32 bottle of wine. I'm like, okay, fair. Like that's a nice bottle of wine by my standards. And he took one sip and was like, yeah, this could use another eight years. Another eight years. And he would know. And he would know. You can tell he's somewhat disgusted by the wine he's drinking. But he drank a full glass. He drank a full glass and I did not because I was trying to like. And it was like one in the afternoon. Be a professional. Yeah, that's so great. Well, I was gonna, my week would be shot. Dude, I mean, he's gonna get in. He gets into some sick limo and just goes to his next awesome event. And I saw him outside leaving and he got into a big, like a, not a Hummer, but like a. Like a Suburban. Yeah. At New Orleans. He's a total player. I mean, I mean, that's, I only, like Suburban is apparently like, that's the car. Like I now get Uber once in a while, I'll get an Uber black car. And a lot of times they send, cause they have like Uber T, Uber X, Uber black car and then Uber, whatever's above that. It's like something. A jet? It's like Uber. Uber ultimate. I don't know. It's like a Bentley. Anyhow, but they send Suburbans all the time. That's nice. Which are like huge. Maybe he got an Uber. I don't know. Anyhow, he was getting into a car. Yeah. And then what? He was with People Magazine. Probably a very different interview. I bet. Right? But he talked a lot about wine. That was probably most of the interview off camera. Gave us lots of good wine advice. But you know, and also said some really interesting stuff. I wish I could use some of that advice today with this bottle of wine that we're drinking. God knows. I don't have a wine to go, but I can tell you this is crap. I like it. Shout out to Justin. Yeah. Thanks Justin. The wine brand. By the way, Borough man just said he would, he's gonna fight somebody. I know it's good. But wait, Atlas Hamburger, is he trolling us on Twitter? Yeah. This is the worst broadcast ever. Can I just say? It is kind of bad. Can I just say before we started, we were having like a really great, exciting conversation. And then something happened during the intro that just threw us off. It was TZ's stupid hat. Yeah, probably. Anyhow. No, let's talk about Odyssey though. Space Time Odyssey. Cosmo? Yeah, let's. Okay. Have you seen it? We all watched it, right? I only started watching it. I didn't, I have a baby. All right, well I'm gonna talk to you now. Do you understand? You understand, right? Yeah, go ahead. You guys talk. What did you think? I'm gonna join my wine. I thought it was fantastic. I thought it was really great too. I was surprised at how closely he stuck with the Carl Sagan. Like, I mean, like the cosmic calendar. Yeah. The spaceship of the imagination. It was all like, I'm not gonna say ripped off. He used the word borrowed, sort of like as an homage. It was a reboot in like a very literal sense. Yeah, he said it's a continuation. It's like the second season of Cosmos, but it's 30 years later. Which I did not know was what they were gonna do. I think the most controversial part of that first episode though was the religion segment. I mean, he's clearly a hardcore atheist. Definitely, and he's made very strong statements to that effect before. And he's unabashed in his sort of, you know, science as religion viewpoint. And I mean, I don't think religion in the sense of like worship it, but just. You know, I really appreciate the fact that they included that thread though, because I think one, and it was very clear at the end when he talked about Sagan and what Sagan's mission was and how this is a very practical thing. It's not just like, oh, look at these cool NASA photos. It's like science is a real fucking thing that improves our lives. F-bomb. Yeah, it's a real thing. Yeah, it's real. It's absolutely necessary. Not only to improve our lives, but from a nationalistic standpoint, like, you know. And no, that's one of his huge trips and one of the things he talked about when he was on the verge. And I know that he speaks about often is this concept of the love and appreciation and need for science as like an underlying driver of like in America, who we are and what we do and what we'll build and how like we will, you know, it's not about just about like, hey, it's like cool to experiment and find something out. It's like, hey, this stuff actually leads to legitimate new areas of exploration of business, of intellect. And it's not, and that drives like a nation or a world, you know, forward. And I think that's true. You know, I think science underlies, it's, you know, so many of the advances of civilization. You know, I think about like longevity and I mean, health in general, just full stop, like anything related to health is like, that is science in action. That is, you know, that is like really insane progress. We've expanded and extended like the human lifespan by 40 years or something in the last 100 years, or, you know, 250 years or whatever it is, just because like we know we've learned things about how stuff works. And like, you know, learning about how things work and taking that apart and utilizing it is, there's, you can't put a price on it. You know, it's the most valuable thing. I'm really glad they, you know, opened with the cosmic calendar concept, cause it's like one of, you know, just putting the historical perspective in there is so important. You know, just the idea that in 500 years, we went from like inventing the first telescope to putting someone on the moon is absolutely insane. No, it's crazy. I mean, it's crazy. The things that, that even in the last hundred, the things that have occurred in terms of discovery are, um, astounding. Well, and also that when put in, in perspective, that that's what it was, what, like five minutes at the end of an hour. Right. Or something. Like all of meaningful modern history was like six seconds or something in the final minute, in the final hour. Right. It's just, it really is a, I mean, I hope, I don't know if it's happening or not. I do hope things like this spark a new appreciation for, I feel like we went through a period and I'll just say it, like the Bush era was the, was the, you know, pinnacle of just utter ignorance and stupidity amongst like the populace of America, where it was like just denial of facts, you know, and like our, up from there, from our government down to like just ended the average citizen. We were like denying truth and facts in replacing it with, I don't know what greed or, you know, like just forced ignorance, if purposeful ignorance. I don't really understand it because to me, you know, like it's the most disturbing thing in the world to imagine that like the president of the United States lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to like spark a war, which we know basically happened for real, like definitely happened. And you know, I think that if I were a part of the populace that voted for that guy and like was like, yeah, creationism and all this other stuff that was happening during that time, I would feel like this wine is definitely having an effect. I just want to say, cause I'm way down a rabbit hole in this one. But I think that we, but I think that we're like, progress is not inevitable. No, it is, it is real. It is real. And we're, and we're still coming out of this like period of just like, like sustained in unbelievable ignorance that like, it's like either you're not paying attention or you don't care, or like you're, you're just doing it to be an asshole. Like you're being ignorant to be an asshole. Like I think that we're still coming out of that. And I really hope that things like Cosmos start to help to shake more people out of this weird trance they've been in about, you know, and I think the internet is like one of those tools where it's so easy to convince yourself of that you're right. And that the things you believe are true because there's a bunch of people on the internet who are like, yeah, you're right. Those things you believe are true and finding truth and finding real answers to real problems is like the basis of science, you know? And I think it's so important that we actually put value in that, like consider that to be a highly valued thing. I mean, I don't know. What the solution to that problem is. I mean, a TV show, like it's a great show. I enjoyed it a lot from what I've read. The ratings had not been what they were expected to be, which is disappointing. But I don't know how you solve that problem, right? Like NASA's budget this year is flat again. It's the same shit. Pop culture is a huge deal. Especially like a network like Fox, like that's one of the things that I was most excited about. Right. Fox is far and away the biggest launch of any television show in history. Yeah, it's weird. Like Fox puts so much money. It's so weird that's on Fox. Yeah, it's really weird. It's like they have to pay back all the damage they've done. Yeah, a network that's known for American Idol and Family Guy. And also for Fox News. It's known for like the most destructive force in journalism since, I don't know, like Hitler controlled newspapers in Germany. Other than the daily RIP. Other than Fox News, but it's all the same. Oh, except for the daily. The daily RIP. Which was an amazing beacon of light in an otherwise gloomy place. Yeah. But you know, RIP. Yeah, RIP daily. RIP daily. It was a good year. But yeah, no, Fox definitely has to pay it back. And that's what they're doing now. I just think it's so crazy to me that we have this almost like a real, I don't know if this is true in other countries. I can't speak, I don't want to speak for other countries. I live in America. And I grew up in America. But it does seem like, and I don't know if this happened during the Reagan years, and then it sort of got solidified in the Bush years. But this appreciation for, it's like a willful ignorance that is almost like it's not cool to be smart. It's not cool to know things. It sucks. Like you're a terrible person if you read books. And I think that really has cemented itself in some part of the firmament. Some part of the layers of dirt that we stand on. I don't know what I'm talking about right now. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't think, I honestly don't think it's a modern phenomenon. No. I mean, probably not. I mean, knowledge is scary. The thing about atheism and religion is that it's, speaking as an atheist, it's scary to go like, oh, yeah, there are no easy answers. There isn't a simple, like, God's got it. Why do you think I have a drinking problem? No, tell me about it. I know, sure. Because you recognize the absurdity of life. Well, but you still believe in the heaven that exists above the planet. Where there's lots of Philadelphia cream cheese. Fully spreadable cream cheese, just so soft, ready to go on any bagel that you choose, no matter what type of bagel. I couldn't even eat bread. I have a gluten intolerance. That was racist. You know, an everything bagel, onion bagel, raisin bagel, you want to put cream cheese on that? No one's going to stop you. Anyhow. Continue. Bagel up in your bagel heaven. What was I talking about? Atheism versus. Yeah, it's just scary to go like, hey, God doesn't have it, because he doesn't exist. Because that's a made up idea. Because, anyhow, right now I'm getting so many death threats and hate mail. I can't even keep up with it. But here's what I'll say about it. I'm talking about atheism, and I'm sure people will be up in arms. But the most controversial thing that I've ever said in public is about being a vegetarian. That's like far and away. Like right now, if I was like, meat eaters are terrible, way more controversial than like, God is dead or whatever. I mean, I'm on certain audiences, I'm sure. Here it is. Is this a real thing? What is this? Is this bagel heaven? That's heaven. This is real? That's how I learned what heaven was as a child. My parents put me in front of the TV, and I watched those ads. This is an ad? Is it a print ad? What is that? It's an ad. This is fucking insane. Well, here's the thing. I'm probably within this group as an agnostic atheist, but I'm not every. I'm writer than you are. What was I saying? I don't know. I don't know. We should have started drinking this wine so early. I was saying, not everybody that believes in God completely disavows science. That's a completely idiotic connection. It's just that the Bible contradicts all scientific discovery. Well, yeah, but not everybody believes the Bible literally. No one will know, but then what is religion? I'm sorry. I have to ask that question. If you don't believe the, OK, literally, what is the Bible's purpose? But if you believe in it. There's praxis and community involved and all kinds of other things that are unrelated to the scientific method. No, I mean, there's good rules for living, but you know not to murder people without the Bible, right? It's called morality. You don't need the Bible to tell you not to steal from people. I do. Maybe you do. Oh, boy. I should not be going down this path. Where's Paul Miller when you need him? This would be a great conversation for him to join in on. Is this the commercial? This is real? That's my lady. What? That's my lady. Did you have this in mind when you were talking about cream cheese heaven? It looks like Sandra Bernhardt's sibling. Disturbing. I grew up watching these ads. And there's this beefcake, this beautiful beefcake there, kind of watching her. Only Philadelphia cream cheese. Like growing up, that's actually what I thought heaven was. The first cast brought to you by the Philadelphia cream cheese. Yeah. It's creamy. Is that their tagline? It's heavenly. What's Philadelphia cream cheese's tagline? I need to know right now. A little taste of heaven. I'm pissing so many people off right now. No, that's actually what their tagline is. I'm sorry. I'm just seeing tweets from people who are like, I've offended. Listen, I just want to say, if I offended you at all, that was not my intention. If you are a Christian and you believe in science, that's wonderful. I think that's great. I do think at some point you get to a, what is religion? If you are a believer in science. Well, you're not. Here's the thing. There's a difference between the Christian who is on board with science. It's a safety net. Totally comforting. I agree. I wish I could be comforted by religion the way that other people are. Me too. I mean, I'm sure that, look, when I feel bad turbulence on a plane, I get really religious really fast. Because you're like, well, you never know. I'm going, the plane's going down. So I better just be like, hey, God. This is why I need Xanax to get on my plane. The only time I'm religious, the only time I feel even the slightest hint of religion is the plane, terrible turbulence on the plane. It's like white knuckle turbulence. And I'm like, all right, God, I know you don't exist. But if you do, I don't want to die. You're like the worst kind of atheist. I am. Terrible. I can't believe I admitted that to the world. Who knows atheists and foxholes? I don't know what that means. I don't know what that means. It means when you're on an airplane that's going down, you're not an atheist. Yeah, you're like, God, help me out. Because you'll just grasp it. You're like, I'll take anything. Somebody threw me a parachute. I'd be like, cool, I'm out of here. I mean, I'd be calm. And by the way, the idea of jumping out of a plane. Plenty of cream cheese coming. You're like, I would welcome death because I want it so badly. The idea of jumping out of a plane is terrifying to me. But I would happily take a parachute if I felt my plane was going down. Yeah. Think about that shit. Let that stew for a minute. I try not to fly. Are you finishing? Oh, it's the worst. OK, fine. I hate it. Yeah. All right, can we talk about something that isn't atheism or religion? This one's, this is the worst. I mean, when I say it's the worst. I think this is great. We come back. We're going to come back to this every week. Let's talk about tech. What's going on with tech? Tech. I have no idea. Are there any cool? What kind of smartphone do you think God would use? A huge one. He could use one. A huge one. He wouldn't have to. He doesn't have to worry about the size of the hand. He probably needs a much bigger than a 6.3 screen. Yeah. Curved, though. Curved. Keep the glare of heaven out. You just want to see cream cheese reflections while he's checking his Google Calendar. On the eighth day, God created it. Oh, yeah, by the way, God uses an Android phone. Did I mention that? OK, there we go. Jay Wayne. I finally found it. Mayher Jr. wants us to move on. What about we could do, speaking of airplanes, we could do the Malaysian tragedy. Jay Wayne does not like this conversation. Not surprised. I am so sorry. By the way, this is not the worst. I'll say, this is not the worst Virgcast has ever happened. I've been on worse. I think this is great. I'm having a great time. Whatever. It doesn't matter. It matters to me. So there's this airplane that was in the sky, and then it didn't land. Oh, the Malaysian Airlines. I mean, this story is fascinating. Let's talk about this. This actually is a bit of a tech story. I mean, here's the thing about tech. Let me just say this so I can just get it out in the open. The way The Verge thinks about technology is that it is deeply connected, intrinsically connected, to so much of what is going on in our world that this isn't about tech. It's like, hey, there's this gadget over here. This stuff is all strewn in together. It's all connected. And so this Malaysia Airlines story is really interesting because there is a news aspect to it. Like, oh my god, this plane's missing, and did it go down, and what happened? But the actual story is like, how did it go missing? Where did it go? What do we know about it? How do we track it? How do you track planes? You know, it's really sad, but it actually reminds me of the movie Contact, where Jodie Foster is falling at the end, falling through that ball. Spoiler alert. And they're like, yeah, spoiler alert for a movie from the 90s. It's a good movie. It's a great movie. Yeah, they're like, oh, you were only falling through the air for 15 seconds. And then they were like, oh, wait. The in-ball recorder had like 24 hours of time. It's chilling. It actually reminded me of Scandal. OK, spoiler alert on Scandal because I've never seen a single episode. And I know Carl's like, Scandal's the best. It's terrible. That's how Carl talks about it. That's his voice. Is it terrible? It looks terrible. It's amazing. It looks like the worst. If you like the Good Wife, like, game over. You'll love Scandal. Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. All right. I'll watch it. Don't listen to Katie. Seriously, you think it's bad? I think it's terrible. Shut up. Sorry, I just caught this headline on our site. Can we talk about this for a second? Disney has released an EDM album with remixes from Mavici and Cascade. Sorry, who? Disney. Disney. The Walt Disney Company. Disney. The Walt Disney Corporation. I know them. If you like The Little Mermaid, you'll like Skrillex. Wow, wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Hey, what's the name of the crab in The Little Mermaid? Sebastian. Sebastian. It's like the Sebastian, like, snippy-snap remix. It's like samples of Sebastian. And it's like, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Well, I guess Disney did Tron. Well, they funded and released Tron. Yeah. Yeah. God, this is the, come on. Let's talk about something. Malaysia Airlines. Yeah. So. Where the fuck's that plane? Wow. Where is the plane? So we were talking to Chris Ziegler about this. He's actually, Chris is like an airplane buff. He is. He's an airplane nerd. Like, he knows stuff about airplanes that you can't even begin to imagine. It's true. That's past experience. He's actually working on something right now, like a story about something about what's, there's a new discovery that this, there are electronics that we're transmitting on this plane or from this plane for five hours after it kind of dropped off of radar. Interesting fact, like, it drops off a radar 100 miles outside of Malaysia. Right. I had no idea that. Yeah. When they're over the ocean, they're flying blind. Which is terrifying. Like, hey, just check it out. I mean, I assume that they can see other planes. But in terms of. I'm never leaving the continent. Yeah. You don't want to do that. You don't want to fly over the ocean. That's insane. But so the story's got a little bit more interesting because there's this now they're saying, like, hey, the plane, it was like, hey, the plane went into the ocean. It dropped from radar and it probably crashed. And they just can't find it. Right. Now they're saying, well, there's five hours of transmitting data past the point where it dropped off a radar. And what Chris was saying to me, which I find fascinating, is that it might have landed somewhere. They're like, what are you doing? What's happening? Can you stop that? We're on now we're on a national international broadcast right now. She's whispering trash talk. Are you trash talking to him? This is outrageous, Katie. What did you say? He's just like threatening me. He's threatening. Are you threatening her? This is the worst. This is the worst thing I've ever done. Did you threaten her? Be honest. Absolutely not. It's the same accusation she leveled last week. She's a black. Listen, people's lives are at stake here. And we're having a petty feud. They're not at stake, I'm pretty sure. All right. We don't know. What I was saying is Chris was like, we don't know what happened to this plane. It's possible it could have landed somewhere. Yeah, that's weird. And it just is, yeah, it's on the lost island because that doesn't exist. Wow. This feels really insane. You know why? Because it was from a TV show. Yeah. I mean, I didn't watch the show. On ABC. It was interrupted by commercials. There's a golden retriever. So like this whole thing from the stolen passports to now, wasn't anyone else just like, how the hell? Yeah, apparently that happens all the time though. People stealing passports. Oh, yeah, now you're going to edit yourself on a hell? How the heck? How the heck do you? Hey, I'm going to cream cheese heaven. Keep it clean, Katie. That's great. I'm going to cream cheese heaven. OK. How? Yeah, keep your language nice and clean on this Verge cast. We want you to say anything that was off color. Go on. I was just really taken aback by the fact that you can steal a passport and then fly, take an international flight somewhere. Well, I mean, it's probably not that simple. But apparently it happens all the time. No, I don't know. You have to. You have to. Somebody just tweeted that somebody was standing behind me. You just, that was a made you look moment. No, somebody was like, who's the person? Here's what they said. You just got trolled. Why has that same guy been standing behind the glass near Josh the entire podcast? Oh, that's a creepy. Tired of seeing his ass, literally. Oh, it's Evan. Is it Evan? He's got a nice ass, though. Yeah, he does. It's pretty good. That's technically a violation of some type. You know how you said you were going to murder me earlier? We have this ass comment on record for HR now. Wow. Believe me. You just self-doxed yourself. Believe me, there's plenty of bad stuff on record for me. Who is doing this? This woman, Tricia Nieder, is doing drawings of members of the Verge. Have you seen these on Twitter? Oh, this is the creepiest thing I've ever seen. So she just did one. Can we get this up? Can somebody just look at who just tweeted at me in this image? First off, it's a great drawing. It's disturbing. It's upsetting. But I like it. There it is. Can we zoom in on that? Is that you? I don't know. You tell me. Yeah, that's definitely me. Is it me, or is it Randy Quaid? I think that's you. Or the lead singer of the national? No, that's definitely you. We got to do this one with Dieter. That's very well done. Dieter. It's at the top. What did Dieter do? It's at the top here. Would you just tweet it? John. No. You dropped it. It's coming up. It's coming up. OK. Great. Dieter Bone. Bone Zone. He was almost on this. What is this? Arielle is, hold on. Do I follow her, by the way? I need to. I can't believe I wasn't. So Arielle, our new writer, just dissed me on Twitter. She did. Josh's lack of cream cheese ad knowledge makes me wonder if the quote, cream cheese taught me about heaven thing is Canadian specific. I think it might be. Dude, Arielle like, yeah, cream cheese heaven. It sounds like it. You probably didn't run this ad in America. You know why? Probably not. Because we know what real heaven's like. We don't call macaroni and cheese Kraft Dinner. You ride on a gold bus. Do you remember this article that was written in like, the Atlanta Journal? Hey, guys. Hey, you know what? You saw that. You saw that. You saw that. I did see that in his upsetting, Katie. Don't do an F bomb to him quietly on the Verge cast. That's not right. Who taught you it's Canadian manners, I guess, is what we're seeing here. I don't think she's a real Canadian. Really? Please elaborate on that. She doesn't say sorry enough. I say sorry constantly. Why don't you say like, sorry? You say sorry less when you say the F bomb. Sorry. You say the F bomb a lot. That's not very. Sorry, dad, that you have to watch this. He's not watching. Is he watching this? He watches every week. Oh, he's like, well, Josh, he talks a lot. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry. You know what? I'm the host. And that TC is really abusive. Traditionally, I am the host of the Verge cast. Well, you're very talkative. I am talkative. It's probably because I'm Jewish. I thought you were an atheist. Well, I was raised Jewish. Socially, culturally Jewish, religiously atheist, which means I'm just very nervous. Right? Yeah. So apologies to your dad if you're watching. Hi, Katie's dad. I guess I'll let Katie talk more. Your daughter's normally very nice. Katie, why don't you run the rest of this thing? OK, great. Thank God. Take a break. Drinks with a Fina. I'm all right. Cheers. Cheers. Bilateral cheers. Do we want to talk about gas leaks? Oh my god. Yeah, I'm terrified. I'm super freaked out. So I was listening to NPR today. And NPR, it's funny. WNYC, which is the NPR. Of course, I was listening to NPR, right? So I was just stereotyped. But that's cliche. New Yorker. Jewish New Yorker listens to NPR. OK. They had a show on a couple of days ago. It was about the failing infrastructure of New York. And today, they're like, yeah, this could be evidence of the failing infrastructure of New York. I live in a house that was built in 1860. You do? Yeah, for real. I live in a very, very old. Yeah, for real. It's super duper old. And now, every day, my family is going to blow up. 1860. That's like Civil War era. Yeah, it's really old. Are you kidding me? That's when it was built. We have records. Yeah. It's actually, what's interesting about my house is that Thomas Ricker, who lives in Amsterdam, has a very similar tiny house. I have a very tiny house. And Thomas Ricker's, that's so upsetting. Can we get that on screen, please? The Dieter image. Totally unrelated to my house and to explosions. Please get the Dieter graphic on screen. Immediately, I won't say another word until it happens. There we go. There we go. That was the longest moment of silence ever in the history of the Verge cast. In the history of Josh. In the history of me. Actually, yeah, my uncle used to pay me money to be quiet. He'd be like, how long can you be quiet? I'll give you a dollar if you can be quiet. I was, I'm not a terrible kid, terrible doll. What are you going to do? Anyhow, so yeah, so there was this terrible huge explosion in Harlem, East Harlem. Apparently a gas leak, leveled two buildings, seven people are dead. I mean, just look at this. I mean, just, it is breathtaking that something like this could happen. It's not, it wasn't, it didn't happen on purpose. It wasn't planned. There were no explosives in this building as far as we know at this point. And I think probably for real. Ariel, our new writer, did a great piece about how this happens and why this happens, which is really interesting. But it just made me feel just utter and constant fear now about my house exploding. Yeah. What's especially insane is that apparently they have been like reporting the smell of gas or a gas leak for like two weeks before this happened. So what I read, which was very, very sad, was a woman talking to the New York Times and her husband was unaccounted for and they lived in one of these buildings. So super sad. But she said to them something along the lines of, we thought we smelled gas before we went to bed, then it went away. So we just went to bed and then the next morning there was this explosion. And I think in terms of Ariel's piece, what was most disturbing to me was I think it was something like 35 or 38% of gas mains in Manhattan are made of chrome. What is the makeup? Whatever the material is that makes them more vulnerable to these cracks and predate 1960. In other words, they're outdated and they are vulnerable to cracks. That's terrifying. No, it's- That's terrifying. No, I mean, on NPR they were saying that the average age of the mains in New York is 56 years old, which is really old. And that they're made of this, what is it? Cast iron. Cast iron, that's what it is, not chrome. No, not chrome. I'm thinking about- Chrome is what you put on your wheels. Chrome is what you- I wouldn't know. Is a browser. Yeah, it's an internet thing. It's weird that my reference point was about wheels and yours was about a browser. Just shows how out of touch you are. Tech, tech, tech talk, tech talk right there. But so anyhow, it's just terrifying. And since my house is a super duper old, I'm just imagining everything in it is ready to explode at any given moment. And today we had our heat on and it's making some weird screeching noise. It's hot water heat, it's not gas or anything, but it's making some weird high pitch screeching noise and it's like, oh, this is it, here we go. We're going to blow up. So it's a terrible tragedy and a shocking story. And also I think not to get all political on you yet again, but is a demonstration of the need for us to be concerned about the infrastructure in America. Not just this is a privately owned company that is responsible for these gas lines, but they're responsible to the citizens of this city. It's a public utility though. It is a public utility, but I mean, like ConEdison has the privilege of being National Grid. National Grid. I think. No, it's ConEd. ConEd doesn't do gas. Yeah, they do. Do they? They're my gas. They do gas? I thought they only do electricity. Very confused. At any rate, also I've been drinking. At any rate, this wine is really affecting me. I have to say it's just in high in alcohol content. I don't think so. I just didn't have lunch. I'm just messing me up. The point is, infrastructure is a real issue. I mean, there have been, Frontline Act I think actually did a great piece on infrastructure, if I'm not mistaken, a couple of years ago. I could be totally making that up, but there's definitely our roadways, bridges. Bridges. They're collapsing. Bridges are a big thing. America is like falling apart. It's like, think about how much money the federal government spent on public projects in the last hundred years. National park building, international. There's a great chart of the spending, our budget in the US. Look at the budget for defense spending versus the kind of spending we're doing on things like infrastructure. It's depressing. It's insane. It's insane. Yeah. Look, so far, I don't know. I'm not going to get into terrorism and stuff, but we've had 9-11 is awful. It's just such an obvious- But this is awful too, and a hundred of these is even worse. If the infrastructure doesn't get... If we don't care about it, we don't think about it, a hundred of these is what's in store. But it should be such an obvious and uncontroversial point that this public stuff that we spend money on as a society enables us to do things privately. The interstate highway system. That wasn't a bunch... That wasn't a company like Google or Microsoft saying, oh, we need to build some roads. It was all of us together doing it. This gets to the... This kind of leads back to net neutrality and talking about what we value here and how we manage it. I think net neutrality is a great... The internet is a great example of the next infrastructure crisis in America where it's massively needed utility for all citizens of this country and of all countries. We have the ability and the opportunity to make it a widespread, easily accessible, open thing. The direction we're headed is the FCC in cahoots with private companies is managing it into a private, expensive service, which will be controlled by people who have interests outside of what the citizens of this country need. They're controlled by monetary interests and in the interest of making money and getting paid for everything. It's one of these things. We can't keep up the infrastructure we have that is shared. We can't build new infrastructure where we need things like an open and free internet. What is the future of America if we don't do something about it? Also, no one gives a shit about science. This is why the space program is being taken up by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Because NASA gets $17 billion a year. I'm not saying they don't want profits from that stuff, but at least that will drive them to do something. In America, we can't even see... The government can't even see the reason why we would want to work on a space program. They can't see the value in it. It's a long-term thing and profit-seeking companies are absolutely essential for innovation and driving the economy and everything else, but they're also beholden to shareholders in a way that makes them focus on quarterly results. We have big problems that require really long-term investment. Most companies aren't Apple in the sense that Verizon's not Apple. Verizon is happy to be relatively complacent with what they have. If they weren't, the widespread Fios would be happening right now and it's not. Comcast and Time Warner, this disgusting merger that's probably going to happen where it's going to create this insane conglomerate. Their motivation for innovation doesn't exist. It sounds at a very basic level like, oh, that's some nerdy... What does that matter? I need cable. That's not important. But it'll matter when you can't get the things you need on the internet because they have decided that it's more profitable to charge you for them. It's really a disturbing situation we have in this country. Well, what are we supposed to do about it? A violent revolution. I said this a couple of Vergecasts ago. The only answer ultimately is a violent overthrow of a corrupt government. That's a joke around a little bit, but also somewhat... Look at other countries. What's happening is violent overthrow of a corrupt government. Our government is... We have a great way of demonstrating that we like to act like we're not corrupt and it seems like we're not corrupt. We have a tremendously corrupt, diseased government in America, which is poisoned by private interests and people who want to hoard money. It damages the populace of this country in ways that we can't even begin to understand. And yet, this fucking wine. And yet- Cheers. And yet, we're not... Occupy Wall Street was the closest thing we had to violent revolution. It was a whiff of... It was a babies... By the way, as a new father, I'm aware of what babies can do. Not very much. It was a babies version of a real revolutionary movement. And I think that... I'm not saying we need to overthrow the government. That would be the worst thing that could ever happen. Let me just say this clearly. Do not overthrow the government. That would be a bad idea. But I do think we need a stronger reaction to this stuff. You guys... Net neutrality sucks. We'll black out our website for a day or something like that. That can work in small doses. No, but we can't overthrow the government every two and four years. No, but yeah. Like literally overthrowing- Yeah, but- Yeah, but- But it's like you're trading one... You're trading one evil for another. Unless you're a two evils. Exactly. Right. Yeah. I don't feel like I'm overthrowing the government when I vote every four years. But I think it requires a fear and knowledge and understanding of what is going on at a level that will make you do something far more meaningful. And that's not- You're saying we should vote for Rand Paul. No, don't vote for Rand Paul. Don't do that. Rand Paul 2016. But I do think people getting involved... Stop. I think people getting legitimately involved in what is going on in their local governments and trying to find ways to effect real change by displacing, by removing people who are cancerous is a serious component of it. I'm really on a roll here. My God. I'll probably get shot leaving the building. Don't say that. By me. Oh my God. I'm like, T.C. just behind me, just clips me and that's it. Anyhow, I just think, look, we have... I don't know. What do you do? We're not going to have a revolution in America until it gets really bad. But I will say this, we have a growing disparity between the haves and have nots. Everybody knows that. And at some point that begins to really rot. And when it rots, I don't know. You don't know. I mean, shit gets bad. Shit gets funky. I'm so glad to be a Canadian citizen right now. Oh yeah, you think you can run up to Canada? Yeah, I'm a dual citizen. Guess what? Nuclear conflagration, that wave of nuclear waste will just flow right up to Canada, right? What are you talking about? Judgment Day is what I'm talking about. Universal healthcare. You're basically in America's anyway. How's that universal? Most Canadians live within 100 miles of the US. How's that universal healthcare going to help you when a wave of nuclear waste from our- What nuclear waste? Judgment Day. Judgment Day. What are you talking about? Have you never seen Terminator? Terminator 2 or Terminator 3? No. What about Terminator 4? No. You've never seen any of the Terminator movies? No. Are you kidding me? No. There's a door. Please leave. No. Just get out of here. No. How have you never seen a Terminator movie? I don't know. I watched a lot of like Melrose Place. This is disturbing. I had two older sisters. We watched Beverly Hills. You gotta admit, this is the worst Verge cast ever. I think it's great. You do, really? I've been talking about violent revolution and overthrow. I'm going to be arrested as soon as I leave. That's your problem, man. People have been tweeting me. They want me to talk about vox.com, the new news. Oh, let's talk about that. That's exciting. The new news vertical that is being launched by Vox Media, our parent company. I would love to talk about that if we're allowed. I mean, we could talk about it. All I can say is it's an exciting and interesting new venture for our company. It is going to be very different than what we do. Very different than... Here's a little bit of their... They have a wonderful video, actually. Ezra Klein may be a bigger nerd than anybody at the Verge. Ezra Klein is a big, big nerd. I really like him. I have to say- He seems like a super nice dude. He's not only super nice, but he's super smart. Everybody who's... Did you say he's not super nice? I said he's not only super nice, but he's super smart. I think you skipped a word there. No, he's not super nice, but he is super smart. He's nice and smart, but that whole team, they're very smart people that have very good ideas about how to cover a broader, more general news scope in a new way. It'll be different than the Verge. If you read the Verge, you'll find it's a very different publication, but I'm excited about it. I can't really reveal- They're hiring incredible people. I can't reveal much because I know a lot. I'm not going to tell you guys what's going on. What I will say is that the thinking that's going into what they're doing and the stuff that our product team is building with them is really exciting, and I'm very excited about it. What's going on with you guys? Are you threatening each other again? Are you? I have to say... Someone wants to be there. Oh, J. Wayne Mayer wants us to talk. I don't know how you pronounce your last name. Mayer? Marr? Marr? Bill Marr? Like Bill Marr. So Ariel is finally got my back here. I'm going to have to go to the bathroom. I'm going to have to go to the bathroom. I'm going to have to go to the bathroom. I'm going to have to go to the bathroom. I'm going to have to go to the bathroom. Yo, wait a second. Since when do you need to go to the bathroom? What's going on right now, Tobin? You guys think we need to... Wait, so the way that we've been on radar is constantly looking at the vendor, not just watching them致 What's going on, Tobin? So as part of the Say what's going on with our sales meeting? So I think we need to take really serious partnerships right now in terms of声 Really is gone with the way the generational thing is Lawrence of Arabia is is is Ben Hur is Citizen Kane is Do you just sit at home and watch Turner classic movies with penny all day? Yeah, I'd stop That guy that's been behind This is the control is the control booth going crazy what's going on with those guys they look to be under control When do we start this? Seems like we should be ending pretty soon. Can we not? Should we talk about need for speed? Can we not broadcast? Is there a way that we can just this will be the live one? You'll ever see this Are you serious John You're not serious about what about what he just said to me So you're just kidding is what you're saying what you just said to me. Okay, nothing is about a conversation John and I had earlier. Yeah I have nothing to say about I didn't see the movie Chris did not like Okay, let's talk about Aaron Paul yeah, he's just I want to hear what Katie I say about Aaron Paul very good-looking Human you have a thing for like boy Carl is watching this I don't know Carl. No, no Carl looks Carl looks a lot like Aaron Paul. I disagree strongly disagree. Well, you're wrong Aaron Paul has like a boyish kind of like blonde no No, he's not yeah Aaron Paul has blonde hair brown hair dirty blonde it's like brown He's got a blonde face and you know it a blonde You know what else you were saying Brian Bonsall you were really into and I think he's got kind of this blondish boyish thing going on I'm worried about you and also Carl Carl does not look anything like Aaron Paul You need glasses Are you wearing contacts right now? Yeah, they're not working. Yes, they are new ones that function. I've talked to my sisters about this We all agree. Well, your sister's just humoring you I think no, no, no way. Do they look alike? Facial hair No TC please back me up on this I'm not gonna get involved. Oh, really now you're not gonna get involved. Here's your chance looks nothing like it. That's right Thank you. I mean, I look more like Aaron Paul than Carl does No, you do not. I don't look anything like him. That's my point. I don't look anything like him That's what I'm saying. I look like Zach Galifianakis a little bit a little bit Yeah, so anyway, this was moving to France. Oh, we get Can you tell us about it a little bit There were there was Aaron Paul. Oh Jesus and It was basically Jesse Pinkman driving cars. I don't understand. This is not part of the Fast and Furious franchise Is it it's just like no, it was a video game. There's a video game that EA made. Okay, and we Know it was unbelievable. We got into the theater and the EA logo Splashed up on the screen as if you were playing a video game and everybody just started cracking. Wait, what happened? You're in the theater. You know how like it shows all the studios No science bitch That's it that was the week of March 10th From our family to yours don't use natural gas. No You're not ending this You don't get to say when it ends You see you got a cowboy hat on you're in control. You're not in control. Do you feel in control? No, you're not That's the Verge Castro this week Mm-hmm. I'd like to thank Katie and TC for being on it. It's great always a great time I'm sorry guys. You know what? It's I guess want to talk about gonorrhea real quick I Think we're upsetting Billy and John our producers. Oh, yeah, they thought this was such hot shit before we started They're like, it's so great. We love the verge cast. What do you think about the verge cast now guys? How you feeling about it, huh? That's what I thought. Can we talk about see you in hell? Can we talk about hat technology? No, we gotta wrap up That's the first cast for this week. Very sorry, by the way, very sorry about about sorry. Sorry I'm not drunk. I'm just tired and I am a little maybe a little buzzed That's the verge cast for this week. We're very sorry about what it seemed like to you I assure you that there is some audience for this you just weren't it probably If you want to reach out to us and send us a message about how much you disliked what we did today You can email us at verge cat. Sorry at verge cast at the verge calm you can You can leave a comment on the post when it goes up or the one that has gone up You can drop something into the into the forum into the forums on the verge Please don't don't do this you're doing this. I hope you don't have lice. That's all I have to say And It's so sweaty in here, this is so disgusting And yet I do actually think this is kind of a good that's the best you've ever looked. It's kind of a fresh look I've known you for three years. That's the best you've ever looked. I'm not gonna lie to you But this may become my thing. I'll be like the guy. Oh, they're like Oh Josh Dupolsky the guy who wears the cowboy hat like yep, that's me Any other by the way solves my hair problem completely. I Guess like bald dudes are super into hats right there like hey check it out. I got a thing going on up here It's not hair, but it's a thing That's the verge cast. You can email us at verge cast at the verge calm you can Leave a comment. You can throw something into forums You can send us a message. I hope you don't have lice. That's all I have to say So you can find us on Twitter the verge is at verge. I'm Josh with the Polsky TC is laughing stoic. Don't say it. Totally garbage garbage Twitter name Katie drumming is Katie drum with two M's because she doesn't know how to spell drum properly because she can't spell drum Yeah in Canada, that's how they spell it with two M's and and That's it that's it for this verge cast and Could be it for every verge cast ever frankly Somebody just said best verge cast ever So we just tweeted that it'd be it was probably my dad. It wasn't oh really is your dad named Henrik Jansen no Well, then I guess it wasn't your dad Let's anyhow, that's that's it for this verge cast and really we're not gonna talk about gonorrhea Okay, what would you like to say next week? We'll talk about it because by then there will be so Trisha nieder just did a new image. Can we get can we get this image up? I don't know how she's turning these around so quickly Can we just get the new image that she did for us up? It's of me It's very good. Very good stuff. It looks a lot like what you're looking at right now. You guys are too slow Yeah, look at my feed. There it is It's like a fedora though people really are liking the hat All right. Hey, that's the verge cast this week. We'll be back soon with so much more and Until that happens I have to warn you Something bad is coming for you and your family and I can't stop it May God be with you

It's Thursday, March 13th, 2014. I'm David Pierce, and despite Austin's best effort, I made it out without a single barbecue stain on my shirt. Dreams do come true. This is 90 Seconds on the Verge. For the first time ever in the US, Amazon is raising the price of its Prime membership to $99 a year, up 20 bucks from what it's been for nearly a decade. While no new services are being added, Amazon is citing Prime's increasingly substantial offerings as reason for the jump, including more items eligible for free shipping and the addition of Amazon's instant video service. The price change goes into effect on April 17th, so you've still got a few weeks left to renew at the cheaper price. Actually, I should do that now. Apple just released iOS 7.1 this past Monday, so that's old news. Let's talk about iOS 8. A pair of screenshots posted to a Weibo account today were reportedly confirmed by 9to5Mac. In them, we see the icon for a new Health Book app, which is said to track your vitals and supposedly sync up with the oft-rumored Apple smartwatch. The screenshots also show placeholder icons for new text edit and preview apps. It's an unusually early time to see iOS screenshots, which is likely to be unveiled this summer. Siri getting on my case over fluctuations in my weight is just what I need. And finally, voiceover artist Hal Douglas has died at the age of 89, and while you may not know him by name, you certainly know the legacy he's left behind. Douglas' legendary voice made him a go-to in Hollywood movie trailers for decades. Those films include Forrest Gump, Lethal Weapon, and Meet the Parents. Paramount Pictures presents The Bad Guys Don't Stay a Chance. Meet the Parents. And that's it for today's top stories. Coming up tomorrow, I kiss a complete stranger. But we know each other. Shh, it's okay.

Hey, this is Brian Bishop with The Verge and I am here with the director of the new Godzilla, Gareth Edwards. Gareth, thanks for sitting down with us. Where is he? I want to meet him. He's over there. It still hasn't hit me. Like when people say that you go, oh yeah, I guess we did. I guess we did the film. Yeah, well we're here at South by Southwest. Last night you debuted a new clip from the movie where you just like screw up and jack up Hawaii all over the place. It looked awesome. Thank you. Can you talk, I mean there's some clips from that that have been in the most recent trailer. Can you talk a little bit about what that sequence was and what it was about? Yeah, I mean I guess it's fair to say that it's the big reveal of Godzilla. I knew when he saw a glimpse it was actually like twice as long but we couldn't show all of it last night. And so I felt like in the film he needed a really good introduction. I didn't just want to throw it away. So I spent like, there's a ten minute piece that builds up to the first proper reveal of him in the movie. And it's one of my favorite parts of the film. I love the suspense. I love, in a weird way when you do a film like this, there's like an unwritten agreement with the audience that they want to be teased and they want to be pulled in slowly. And this is kind of like what I'd call cinematic foreplay that goes on before the climax. And I think that's as much fun as the big fight sequences and things. Definitely. And I love there's that one shot where it's in the trailer where he kind of like goes underneath the ship. It has shades of jaws and just feels like that build before the tidal wave is great. And then the dog thing happens but I'm not going to talk about that because people will be sad. Yeah, we don't want to talk about the dog. So about the creature design. It was the big reveal. Like there was, you're very true to the 1954 original but also it feels like a real creature, like the folds of skin around his face. How did you, when you set it up to do this, how do you say we're going to go and bring all the different elements together that people know about the character? Yeah, I mean the design of Godzilla was predominantly worked on by Weta Workshop in New Zealand. And I was in the UK at the time so we did everything via Skype. And so I'd be up till like 4 or 5 AM and they would share their desktop with my desktop so I could sort of watch them work and we would chat. And the simple way to approach it was, I mean they did hundreds of designs but we had this 3D model of Godzilla and an artist there called Andrew Baker was kind of in charge of pushing and pulling all the points and sculpting this thing. And we basically said to ourselves like we would turn it into a silhouette. So instead of seeing it all like a grey clay thing it would be just pure black on white and because it's such an iconic silhouette and in our film you see it as a silhouette you know a lot so we wanted to get that right. And so basically we had this model and we turned the silhouette until we saw it doesn't look right let's push and pull that, turn it a bit, now we've ruined this bit. And it's like a Rubik's cube, like you get one side right and you look, ah I've ruined the other side now. And our goal was to do this until we could rotate it 360 degrees and not want to change anything. And I thought that would take a few days and it took months and I am very hard on myself. I don't like often whatever I do I think it could always be better. And I look at that sculpture that we have, I've got a copy in my office and I have no regrets at all. I kind of go okay he's cool. I'm really pleased with what we did there. Awesome and what about you know you've teased this before other creatures being in the movie. Was it the same kind of process and how did that, obviously monsters there are many, many creatures in that film. Yeah I mean I think it's out there now that there is maybe something else in the film obviously. Possibly. Possibly. And we wanted to do something unique. Trying to find a unique monster in this day and age. One of the designers summed it up well and said it's like trying to find the last parking space at Disney World or something. It's like so many monsters have been done in so many films. Like trying to come up with something that feels different is really hard. And we spent, I mean we must have spent over a year or so designing whatever it is. And we basically looked at all our favorite monsters from a T-Rex to a H.R. Guy Goes Alien to Starship Troopers to Jaws to King Kong. And what is it about each one that makes them like so iconic. And then tried to dial those aspects in. And it's funny because we didn't do it consciously but we kept trying about this, try this, try this. We kept mutating it and doing different things and having different generations until we found this, until we sort of arrived at something we thought okay that looks really cool. And then we looked back at it and went hang on the head looks like that monster and the arms look like that monster. And realized that all these inspirational creatures it kind of ended up in our thing. And that felt appropriate really because we set out to kind of do this, kind of try and combine all those elements but in a way that felt like a cohesive creature that wasn't like a Frankenstein's monster. But like yeah it all looks like it was evolved from the same organism. A little bit that we saw was very, very exciting. So thank you. Excited for audiences to see even more. And I want to talk about updating the film. The original Godzilla 1954 there's obviously a lot going on thematically about what Japan had just gone through. Nuclear attacks and the big, big monster movies in general are kind of like an allegory for nuclear paranoia and fears. When you were set down to adapt the movie or update the movie how did you decide to go and attack it and make it relevant for 2014? Were there things you already had in mind? Was it already relevant? No, I mean I like a bit of meat on my bone. And I think the great thing about good science fiction and fantasy is that they can work on two levels. Like you can have on one level it's just a fun piece of entertainment and you come to see monsters fighting or whatever it is and it's great. But then I like another level that if you want to look for it or it's there subconsciously is that there's some meaning behind it and it has a point in a way. And I think all good stories they shouldn't preach or anything but they should have a point or be about something. And there's many ways we could have gone like in a million directions and we have various aspects in our film. And I think man versus nature is the predominant theme in the movie. And there's obviously a nuclear theme within that. An idea that being that probably the most powerful thing that we've discovered in terms of nature is the nuclear age is the power of splitting the atom or whatever and that was always at the heart of the original. And so something that came for free with the Godzilla movie was we've spent the last few decades going with this amazing abuse of nature really. This Pandora's box that we've opened with the nuclear power. And it's like yeah we can have weapons and you can't have weapons. You're not allowed to do that. And these countries can have nuclear power and these countries can't. And then what naturally comes from Godzilla is well what if there were giant creatures that were attracted to radiation. Suddenly everything would be flipped and you wouldn't be getting rid of this stuff. And so that was for me that was really interesting and a good basis for our film. And it's all like subtext but I really like when films like this have a bit more weight to them. Because the ones that stand the test of time that you watch again that are still on your DVD shelf that they still show 60 years later at festivals like this are ones that are about something. And so it was really important to me and everyone who worked on the film that we find that layer that will make it mean something. Yeah. Well that notion of resonance and genre is so good at dealing with that and sometimes the opportunity just gets thrown away which is a shame because it can be such a good allegory and function to get people thinking about different topics. I was wondering about the continuity of the universe. Where does this film fit into the continuity of the other films? Is it part of it? Do those films exist in this movie's universe? How does all the pieces fit together? The Godzilla movies don't exist in our universe but monster movies exist. There's a… I mean I can probably say it's no big deal. Our main character is a child. You see his bedroom at one point and in the bedroom is a Japanese monster movie poster. And so they obviously exist. You know what I mean? It's something that's happening there. But we didn't want to make Godzilla part of popular culture in that world. We wanted… This was kind of like the origin story. This is kind of like where the world finds out about these things. And so yeah, the Toho movies were not… probably don't exist obviously in the world that we created but I like to think after the events in this film there will be lots of monster movies being created about Godzilla in the world that we've set up. Does that mean you already have ideas in mind for sequels? Should it go over as well as the preview did last night? The clip last night? I don't know. I mean, you know, it's… Obviously you make a film because you want people to like it and you want everyone to go see it and I don't know how people are going to respond to it. Hopefully they will like it but I feel like we've set up… Like we've done the hard work of setting up this thing and now there's so much fun to be had. Like there's… I get excited about what you could do after this but I don't want to… I want to wait and see what people make of it really and see how everyone responds. Yeah because it's up to everyone else if we get to do another one. Right. Well I can't wait to go and see the movies. It comes out May 16th I believe is the date. So great. Great meeting you and thanks for taking the time. Thank you. Have a great one. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.

This week, TV audiences around the world zipped through the universe during the premiere episode of Cosmos, A Space Time Odyssey. The show, whose premiere was simulcast across 10 US networks and broadcast in more than 180 countries, is an ambitious continuation of Carl Sagan's 1980 classic. And it wouldn't have been possible without Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, a renowned astrophysicist, internet meme, and outspoken science advocate who has the daunting task of stepping into Sagan's shoes. Neil deGrasse Tyson, everyone's favorite astrophysicist, Twitter personality, and now host of Cosmos, A Space Time Odyssey. This is a huge potential audience that you're reaching here. What is the audience that you are hoping to reach out of that just sort of massive pool of potential viewers? I quote the executive producer and writer of the series, Ann Drehan, who wrote for the original Cosmos. It's anyone with a beating heart. And then I got me thinking, well, do zombies have beating hearts? Because I want to get them too. But everyone is the audience, because science is not the purview of a demographic. It's the purview of us all as human beings, as a species who are charged by ourselves with being tenders, people to tend to our civilization. Who else are you going to do it? Is somebody from the outside going to say, oh, fix that and kind of move this in? And let me give you some advice there. Thank you, goodbye. I'll go back to my planet. No, we are here, masters of our own destiny and masters of our own demise. And I noticed, you know, you touch on religion and you touch on faith. And it got me thinking, when you're reaching such a big audience, I mean, do you need to sort of adjust the way you navigate some of those waters, sort of the way you navigate, you know, faith and science in an episode like that? I mean, is that something that you've got into? Navigation implies that there are some landmines that we're avoiding. We are offering science, the world as science has come to reveal it. We are also describing stories of scientists of the past, thinkers, searchers of the past who have arrived at emergent truths. And we show the struggles they encountered upon sharing those truths with others. So the issue of that first episode, which featured Giordano Bruno, our hero of the story, he's, by the way, a monk. He's a monk, a Christian monk. And he dies a Christian monk. He's martyred for his ideas. His ideas were bigger than the ideas prevailing. The issue here is not religion or not religion, because he's religious and he was persecuted by the Inquisition. So it's not religion or non-religion, it's emergent truths about the universe versus dogma. And dogma can manifest in any number of ways. It can be political dogma, social cultural dogma, things your community doesn't want you to believe or accept as true, so you deny it in spite of it actually being true. So in that first episode, he, my favorite line from it is, as he's being attacked by people who are sure that Earth is in the center of the known universe and Earth is the object of God's creation, he's thinking that the stars in the night sky are just like the sun, and if they are, then they must also have planets. And if they have planets, then they might have life. And if they have life, then God is bigger than just God of the Earth, it's God of the universe. This is his idea. So do you want to call that anti-religion? I'm saying it's what happened, and we're presenting it, and it's an idea that was, where they attempted to suppress it, because it conflicted with dogma. Sure. Ended up being a pretty good idea. Really good idea. Yeah. I also noticed in the episode last night that there are these, so many elements that are so true to the original, things like the spaceship of the imagination or the cosmic calendar. Was it important to you when you were coming up with this 2014 edition, or reboot as it's been called, to honor that original? Well, so I think the word reboot showed up in a very early press release, but it's not, it's a continuation of the story. All the stories are new for all 13 episodes. We continue to use some of the potent storytelling tools that were developed in the original series. The cosmic calendar, but now brought into visual effects that are just stunning, as well as the spaceship of the imagination, which got some mixed reviews in its early incarnation. Why is he there? What's he doing? And we were ready to just not even go there until an idea was put forward for what the new spaceship of the imagination might look like. You got to admit, it's bad ass. I don't know if you've seen it. Yeah, I have seen it. It's just bad. It's a bad ass spaceship. But it's a ship that's not just through space. As you will see in later episodes, it goes through molecules and dew drops. It goes wherever we need to go to tell the story that we're telling, and it becomes a literal and a figurative vehicle to enable that storytelling. I mean, obviously you've done plenty of TV, radio, public appearances, etc. How was filming this different or unique or challenging for you? Everything. Everything about it. When you see in the award ceremonies where people are thanking the whole list, that list is a fraction of who really should be thanked. They're thanking the important people who will influence their later lives. But the gaffer and the sound design and the graphic design, it just goes on and on and on. So all of that was novel for me. And it's not something I do all the time. I mean, the next time I'd just rather stay home, let somebody else do it. Really? Yeah, because I was a lot of time away from home, and my kids are growing up, and I want to see them grow up, continue to see them grow up. So it's not like I had two years, yeah, I'm not doing anything else, just book me around the world and film this. No, it interrupted other things in life. So I don't regret having done it. But the reality of it is, it's not something I would do as a career. It's not, oh, I've got five other film projects. No, I'll go back to the lab. I'm ready. After I go to the Bahamas, then I'm going to the lab. Well earned, I think we can all say. What's next? What do you hope to investigate? Well, I hope, yeah, great question. I want to continue to write, which was put on hold for a book and contract and another one half written and another one that's an idea. And I like writing because I'm at home and I can do that. We're in my office. I want to reinvigorate my research program. As a scientist, that's what fuels my energy to even communicate in the first place. So I don't want to ever lose track of that. So I'm happy to just recede for a couple of years, let somebody else, let the press go to other people. And at the end of that, for the viewer, for the audience, what's the call to action here? Yes, there are people, not in this audience, but this audience, would be in the category of people who know they like science. We got that. Then the people who don't know that they like science. I don't think they're watching Verge, okay, because they don't even know that that's something interesting to do. Cosmos will fan a flame that might have just gone dormant within them. I'm pretty sure of that. But then there's the third category of person, the people who know they don't like science. What are they doing? What are they saying? You know, that's not a problem unless that's how you feel and you're in power. Then that's dangerous, because in this 21st century, science matters in a big way. And the people who know they don't like science or cherry pick science to resonate with their philosophies, they are, I think they just don't know what science is. I don't think they learned what science is and say, okay, I'm going to reject that. I think they never knew it. So I'm not here to beat them over the head for feeling the way they do. I'm here to show them something that they might not have ever learned. What science is, how it works, why it works, and what it means for a scientific truth to emerge from the efforts of observations and experiment. And at that point, I think it's harder to turn around and say, while you're on your mobile, on your smartphone, listening to the car GPS tell you to turn left, say, I don't like science. I don't need science. It's like, what? So it's an awakening. And after that, I'm not going to tell you how to vote. I'm not going to tell you where to live. I'm not going to tell you anything. But however you decide what your life will be, I think there is no rational argument for you to defend that you want to be less informed about it rather than more. The cosmos is a way for you to become more informed about the role of science in all of our lives. And do you worry that that role has been diminished? I guess I'm talking about it on a federal level. You just mentioned people in power. And I know you've talked before about a need to fund NASA to a greater extent, for example. Do you worry that we're maybe missing out on breakthroughs or new technologies or new scientific truths? Completely. Oh, yeah. And one of the many good things about science, although bad for us here in America, is science crosses borders. No one has exclusive rights to make a discovery. So if America fades, just watch other countries rise up for having done so, for having not done so, for investing in science and technology that they came to recognize and understand are the seeds of the engines of tomorrow's economies. So if we don't, China will rise up, India, Russia, Singapore. Somebody's going to come up and take that slack. So as a scientist, I don't really care. Well, if somebody does it. But as an American, I grew up in an era where we led the world in everything. Everything. It was essentially everything. Everything that actually shaped the 20th century. We invented computers. We invented the assembly line. We invented, look at the things that are all around us now and what role Americans play. We invented television. We invented radio. There were some Italians who thought about radio waves, but radio as a communication, as a means of entertainment. So much of that shaped the century. And I don't want to be on the sidelines for the 21st century. I want to be there. And what about kids? I think this is obviously a show that will appeal to them if they're allowed to stay up and watch it. What should they be taking from this? What do you, not should, what do you hope they take from this? No, kids are already scientists. I think they'll enjoy it. They'll enjoy the visual effects. They'll enjoy the storytelling. We're a storytelling species. We like telling stories and listening to stories. They're already there. I don't have to worry about them. I worry about the adults. And adults outnumber children five to one. Once you are informed by how and why science works, you will recognize that that'll be the center of so many issues that come up, challenges that face our culture, our civilization going forward, on energy and transportation and health, security. And these go beyond just, oh, I can't wait until the next app comes out for my smartphone. These are bigger issues that require major attention and investments. Without it, we'll just, we might as well just move back to the cave. Yeah. That's where we'll end up. And you haven't taken a sip of your... I took, I did take one sip. Of your decoy wine. I did take... See how purple it is? It's what it looks like when it's in barrel. And so would you say that this is a... I would put it away and open it in eight years or so. Eight years. We're eight years too soon. Maybe five. I'll give you five. Five years. I can't wait that long. So what you do is you buy wine and then put it in the closet. And then five years later, you can pull out a five-year-old bottle every time you buy a brand new bottle. I don't know if I have that kind of patience. Yeah. It takes... You have to think about tomorrow. Yeah. Okay. I'm not quite there yet in my life or in my wine collection. So I mean, what kind of wine would you suggest that somebody drink, say, next Sunday when they're sitting down to watch Cosmos? Oh. Oh. Well, actually I have a great quote from Galileo, if I may. Paraphrase. And I'm going to paraphrase it because I don't have the exact words. And he would have said it more poetically, but I'll give it my best shot. The sun holds all the planets in their appointed orbits, yet can ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the world to do. Ooh. So on that note, cheers. Congratulations. To Galileo and all those who have wondered about how to turn sunlight into gold.

It's Wednesday, March 12, 2014. I'm Nathan Seidkert, and I'm pretty sure there's a mole at the verge. I just don't know who it is, but I'm going to figure it out. This is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Starting April 1, electric car maker Tesla will be banned from selling its vehicles directly to customers in New Jersey. Unlike other automakers, Tesla sells its Model S through company-owned retail stores, claiming it does so to properly educate customers about going electric. As you might guess, Tesla is expressing outrage, saying Governor Chris Christie's administration went back on their word just 24 hours before the decision was made, and saying the amendment is, quote, an affront to the very concept of a free market. Yesterday saw the release of Titanfall, easily one of the most anticipated games of the year. And let's just say that Titans weren't the only thing crashing. Xbox Live went down last night, making Titanfall, well, unplayable. The game is a multiplayer-only game that's dependent on Xbox Live. You can't even play the tutorial without a connection. Service has since been restored, and Microsoft is investigating the issue. And finally, my dream of scoring points in Scrabble with the word forget about it may soon become a reality. Hasbro is allowing players to submit words they'd like to see added to the Scrabble dictionary, and one of them will be chosen for the books update this year. Current suggestions include twerk, ew, and just more words with the letter Z in them. The updated official Scrabble players dictionary will be released in August. And that's it for today's top stories. Coming up tomorrow, sir, I've never seen you before, but there's a mole around here. Could you only find him?

This is Russell Brandom with The Verge and right now this machine is scanning my brain. It's part of the Art Project Mental Fabrications. Basically I'm going to watch this video and then the signals from my brain are going to be turned into a 3D model that we can 3D print. I'm actually the first person to do this. They tell me it's safe so let's see what happens. The team shot a lot of really close up 4K footage of these sorts of natural phenomena. There are these metal shavings, there are hydrophobic blobs, there are burning matches and the question is what's happening in my brain as I'm watching this? What does the geography of the mind look like? That's the question that we're trying to answer. And creating these models through the 3D printer using EEG machines and headgears, we can start exploring the landscapes of the human mind. So using the video we can actually create these moments where through relaxation or through concentration or through stimulus, the brain can start pushing in and out this landscape which is pretty much a plane creating these topographies. When it's over you get a 3D model that looks like this built from whatever was happening in your head. So meditation, concentration, whatever was in there turns into these peaks and valleys and texture. What results is kind of like this cloth that has been pushed up and down with different kind of hills creating a kind of topography or landscape. And if you're calm, then more calm than focused, then that hill will be poked up. And if you are focused, more focused than calm, that hill will be pointing down. They're doing all this with a desktop size MakerBot, the standard consumer grade 3D printer. Papien says it makes prototyping easier and faster and it makes the final product feel more precise, less organic. If you want to make a digital rendering into a tangible object, this is the easiest way. When you look at the model you can actually see, okay, in this instant I was so focused or I was so calm in my mind or kind of like a mixture between the two. EEG was created to monitor epileptics and coma patients and we're still figuring out what the readings mean for a healthy adult brain. The first wave of EEG products were simple games like Pong controlled by raising your alpha waves, but the signal wasn't reliable enough to really work as a proper interface. Papien's on to something else, treating the signal as interesting in itself. It's not science anymore, it's art. These technologies don't have a specific role as of yet, but we can find and hack them to use as art installation technologies, to use them as generators of form.

It's Tuesday, March 11, 2014. I'm Addy Robertson, and when I'm sad, I handcuff people in DayZ and force feed them rotten apples while their screams resonate through my speakers. I also do puzzles. This is 90 Seconds on the Verge. Barack Obama was the latest guest on Zach Galifianakis' spoof public access talk show Between Two Ferns to promote healthcare.gov. It turns out the plan to boost visits ahead of the March 31 cutoff has worked, as Funny or Die is currently the leading source of referrals to healthcare.gov. So don't be surprised when FCC chair Tom Wheeler does a video with YouTube sensation Jenna Marbles about things US senators don't understand about boys and net neutrality. The CIA may gather information on terror threats around the globe, but that doesn't stop it from snooping around its own neighborhood. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Intelligence Committee, claims the CIA searched Senate computers for copies of an internal agency interrogation report, accusing it of violating both anti-hacking laws and the Constitution. CIA head John Brennan has denied Feinstein's accusations, saying that the idea his agency would break into Senate computers is, quote, beyond the scope of reason. And finally, want to hear Skrillex's new album early? Get ready to play an incredibly boring iPhone game. It's a simple, no-frills asteroid-style game with no mention of Skrillex whatsoever. But playing through the levels will unlock 11 new Skrillex songs to stream. Recess, Skrillex's first ever full-length album, is due out March 18. And that's it for today's top stories. Coming up tomorrow, I play Michael Bolton's Easter Egg iPhone game, where you unlock new songs by collecting broken hearts falling from the clouds. I'm supposed to live without you.

I've been looking for the perfect mirrorless camera for years. The perfect combination of image quality, control, and compact size in a no compromise package. I think I might have found it. This is Fujifilm's new X-T1 camera. The new $1300 X-T1 takes everything Fujifilm has learned from its earlier models and adds some new things to make it the company's most interesting camera yet. The X-T1 features an all new interchangeable lens design, complete with a litany of control dials and customizable function buttons. The X-T1 is Fujifilm's first weather sealed camera, and though it doesn't have the same heft and gravitas of a full frame DSLR, it is really well built and feels solid when you hold it. It's die cast metal like a real camera should be, and it's covered in a grippy rubber everywhere your fingers touch. The control dials, all five in total, have a more intuitive layout than Fujifilm's prior cameras, and there are six function buttons that are fully customizable, including one on the front of the camera that lands directly under my middle finger. I've got that set to change my focus points, but there's a half dozen other functions that it can be set to. There are many little things on the X-T1 that appeal to seasoned photographers, such as the physical switches to change metering or drive modes, or the dedicated dial for changing ISOs. All of them are designed to keep you out of on screen menus and focus on your subject. Other Fujifilm cameras have taken the look of a classic rangefinder, but the X-T1 looks more like a miniature SLR. That's because of the massive hump in the middle of the camera that houses its brand new electronic viewfinder. Electronic viewfinders have typically taken a backseat to traditional optical viewfinders, but one look at the X-T1s will change even the most diehard SLR shooter's opinion. It's positively massive, has an incredibly high resolution, and according to Fujifilm has one tenth the lag of prior viewfinders. There's also a high resolution tilting LCD panel on the back of the camera, which works great for viewing photos after the fact. You can shoot with it too, just like any other digital camera, but if you're passing up the opportunity to hold this camera up to your eye and peer into its viewfinder, you're really missing out. Auto focus on the X-T1 is lightning quick, it's easily one of the fastest mirrorless cameras I've ever used, and Fuji claims that its.08 second lock time is the world's fastest. And compared to other mirrorless cameras, the X-T1 hunts less in low light and finds focus more reliably. All of those things matter little if the X-T1 doesn't have great image quality, and fortunately it's really solid there as well. It's got the same 16 megapixel X-Trans APS-C sensor used in Fujifilm's X100S and X-E2, and it's just as impressive here. It's got great color reproduction, captures a lot of detail, and can be pushed to high ISOs without turning into a noisy mess. Fujifilm's color technology draws a lot from its years of experience producing films, and it shows in the way it's able to reproduce skin tones and other difficult colors in a pleasing and attractive way. It shoots 1080p video at 60 frames per second, but the video features are definitely taking a backseat to the stills. It's also the first Fujifilm camera to have remote shooting via smartphone, and that's actually really impressive. The X-T1's built-in WiFi lets you transfer images to your phone or use the Android or iOS apps to take photos with the camera, complete with full control over exposure and settings. It's really fast and responsive, and doesn't have the lag that I've seen on other camera remote apps. I tested the X-T1 with Fujifilm's 18-55mm kit lens and a couple of its faster primes, the 35mm 1.4 and the 27mm 2.8 Pancake. All of these lenses are made of metal and have a higher level of build quality than is typically found on mirrorless cameras. But that isn't to say there aren't some nagging things on the X-T1 that I'm really not a huge fan of. The 4-way buttons on the back of the camera are small and fiddly, and the rear control dial can be really hard to use when you have the camera up to your eye. It also suffers from pretty poor battery life, a common problem with mirrorless cameras. But when looked at as a whole in the grand scheme of things, those are pretty minor complaints, and they don't take away from the overall package. The Fujifilm X-T1 isn't a camera for everybody, it's a focused tool for experienced photographers that know the principles of photography. At $1300 for the body or $1700 with an 18-55mm lens, the X-T1 isn't really priced for the casual photographer either. It's like Fujifilm listened to what a lot of photographers were asking for and then included them in its camera without compromising on what it's set out to do with this series. Make a compact camera that offers great image quality. It doesn't have the wow factor of a full frame camera like Sony's A7, but it offers a better shooting experience and still has the image quality that demanding photographers look for. And really, at the end of the day, it's just a fun and rewarding camera to shoot with, and it makes it really hard for me to put down.

It's Monday, March 10, 2014. I'm Michael Shane, coming to you from South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Just kidding. They wouldn't let me go. This is 90 Seconds on the Verge. It's cold out here. After 30 years, Cosmos has returned. Carl Sagan's seminal science series on life, the universe, and everything first debuted in 1980. The new 13-part series stars Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and features major visual updates to the original show's iconic spaceship of the imagination and cosmic calendar. Who knows where the spaceship of the imagination will end up next? Apple has released a new iOS update that should fix those random reboots. In addition to minor visual tweaks and other bug fixes, the long-awaited version 7.1 also adds carplay. iOS 7.1 is available now for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. And finally, everyone seems to be popping up in Austin for South by Southwest, including Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and even Edward Snowden. The famed NSA leaker addressed a packed auditorium today speaking via Google Hangouts from Russia, but it looked more like a Bad History Channel special. Snowden spoke on the NSA, bulk data collection, and even made a Harry Potter reference, calling encryption, quote, the dark arts in the digital realm. When asked if he regretted his decision to leak NSA documents, Snowden said he would absolutely do it again. That's it for today's top stories. Coming up tomorrow, I begin my career as a magician! This was working yesterday.

Bitcoin, the virtual currency that approximates cash on the internet, has been around for five years now. At first, it was just for geeks. Then, as the price started to rise, it attracted speculators. Now, it's starting to be used in the mainstream, as retailers like Tiger Direct and Overstock.com start accepting it. But it's still clunky to use and not that easy to get a hold of. And that's why the new gold rush is in Bitcoin ATMs. Michael Peary, I brought the first bi-directional Bitcoin ATM to the United States. We put the first one in Handlebar here in Austin, then we put another one at Dominican Joe's coffee shop. What we're doing here with the Bitcoin ATM is trying to provide liquidity in the market. Traditionally, the way people buy into and sell their Bitcoin is through websites like LocalBitcoins, and they have to meet up with people. They charge really high prices for doing it. We don't charge those prices. We make it easily accessible. You know, wherever they're located, you can go to them at any time and buy and sell your Bitcoins. So, who would ever want to use this thing? According to Bitcoin users and business owners who are putting the machines in bars and coffee shops, it's actually a lot of people. We're a little over two weeks now. We've had over 400 transactions, almost 500 transactions, something like that. I just cashed my Bitcoin out because I have to pay some bills. You know, I got rent and other things. You can't pay rent as easily with Bitcoin as you can with cash. I think as a means of making payment in a kind of a secure and quick way, it's a fantastic idea. I'm just not sure the current iteration of Bitcoin is the one that will be stable over the long term. This ATM is made by Robocoin, a company based in Las Vegas, and it has some serious security measures. To use it, you have to give it your cell phone number, PIN, and government-issued ID, let it take your picture, and even scan the veins in your palm. Now, I have to put my palm in. Even if you guys know my cell phone number and my PIN, it doesn't really affect it because you need my palm in order to conduct the transaction. So at this point, I'll use my wallet. This is my online wallet. I'll scan it here in the QR code reader. Here's my address. It's going to send it to that address. Right now, it's $669.90 for one Bitcoin. I want to send $10. I'm going to insert it here, and I'll just hit finish. So it's going to print a receipt. This is my proof of purchase here. I got a text message saying that my Bitcoin is on the way. I feel very secure using this machine. I don't feel like there is going to be any backlash from the government or anything. I'm going to use the receipt to help pay and organize my taxes and stuff. It's a little bit complicated the way it works, but there's a lot of people out there that are helping with the tax portion of how to deal with your money that you made in Bitcoin. So I'm not really scared that they're going to come after me and confiscate my Bitcoin in the future. I don't think that's going to be possible. Like anything, in its early stages, there's going to be teething problems. It's very unregulated at the moment. So Mt. Gox, depending on who you read, wasn't particularly well run. I think what you're going to see is an early stage fallout of probably quite a lot of businesses coming into it, going out of it. And then over time, that will balance out and stabilize as people become a little bit more responsible with how they manage Bitcoin effectively. The ATM is the easiest way to trade Bitcoin for cash on the spot, and advocates believe that machines will help bring the currency to the masses, therefore disrupting the government financial complex. Still, it took five minutes to register an account in order to buy the virtual currency, and around 15 minutes to get a transaction confirmed and cashed out. It's a little disappointing when contrasted with the hyper-optimism in the Bitcoin community, and most of the people who stopped by just wanted to gawk, not buy. I like the technology. The technology, whether Bitcoin stays or goes, the technology is here to stay. It's an excellent technology. It's the ability to send money from here to any part of the world instantaneously, and at minimal fees to no fees at all, depending on how you send it. We need to do this. We have to disrupt finance in the same way we've disrupted all other industries. The internet and the way in sort of spreading kind of responsibility for an entire industry and crowdsourcing an industry has to happen in finance the same way it's happened in other industries as well. And it will happen. I think that Bitcoin is the first step to doing that. I don't see why a payment system should be managed completely centrally. There's no reason why that shouldn't be spread over a whole load of different users. I just think that right now, I'm not sure I'd want to put my money into Bitcoin at this stage. In my mind, the success is defined by basically the number of uses of Bitcoin. If you can use it to do more and more things, that will be its success. So now that I can cash out easily, that's success. If I can go to, say, a taco truck in Austin and buy a taco with Bitcoin and they accept Bitcoin, that is success. There are now at least four Bitcoin ATMs in Austin, one in Albuquerque, one in Boston, one coming in Seattle. They're also in Calgary, London, South Korea and other places around the world. Some people believe they'll become as common as cash ATMs in under five years. The entrepreneurs buying them sure hope so, considering a machine costs $25,000 just for the hardware. But hey, that's only what, like 40 Bitcoins?

This isn't your average fish and chips, and not just because it's made with raw snapper and plantains. Remember Watson, the IBM supercomputer that won Jeopardy two years ago? Yeah? Well, Watson is a chef now. We started this project about two years ago. We wanted to see if computers could be creative, if they could not only reason about the world as it is, but try to create new products, things that have never been seen before, and things that are also valuable. This is really a collaboration between the human and the computer. There's that constant interaction with the system. You choose what you want to make because you have to direct the computer in a certain direction, and then the computer gives you suggestions. It tells you, oh, you chose chicken. Chicken is used a lot in maybe Singaporean cuisine. Do you want to make a Singaporean dish? And then it's going to give you a list of dishes that you find in Singaporean cuisine. So there's that interaction that happens all the time. But what makes the system creative is that it's able also to assess the products that it creates. So once it generates combinations of ingredients, it can tell you what combinations are going to be novel and surprising by comparing them to existing recipes. It can also predict the pleasantness of the dishes. It can predict how pleasant the dish will smell and taste. When you start combining ingredients, the number of possible combinations grows exponentially. If you have a recipe with maybe 10 ingredients, it's not rare to have something like a trillion or a quadrillion of possible recipes using those 10 types of ingredients. Of course, this is way more than any human could possibly think of, or not even to mention to try. What makes cognitive computing different is that the computers are able to learn new things and reason about the world as it is. And also now we see that they're able to create new products that have never been seen before. We have a lot of ideas about what we could do with this technology. We're here at South by Southwest precisely to learn what people expect from a cognitive system, from cognitive computing, and figure out then what we can do next to help them in their daily lives.

People love reading comics on tablets, but the medium hasn't changed much in the transition to digital. Publishers have tried to add motion and sound to comics before, but it's an expensive process that never really took off anyway. Now Marvel is betting big on its adaptive audio technology, which enhances comics with dramatic music and sound effects. That may sound cheesy, and it's dangerously close, but it kind of looks like Marvel could maybe pull it off. The feature is called adaptive audio because the sound changes depending on the reader's pace. Linger on a page, and the music will loop. Tap forward, and you'll be segued into the next mood. You can also turn the sound off if you want. The first adaptive audio comics will be Captain America The Winter Soldier Story by Ed Brubaker, issues 8, 9, and 11-14, which are available exclusively through the subscription app Marvel Unlimited. Audio will be added to comics in the back catalog on a case-by-case basis. Marvel has been playing with other enhancements to its comics, including behind-the-scenes video and motion comics, neither of which have really caught on. But this is the first feature that seems to actually enhance the comic reading experience, at least for me. The music isn't disrupted. It feels like the opposite. It draws you into the story and helps you understand what's going on. I even slowed down my normal rapid pace of reading and absorbed more of the story, and other people I showed it to seemed to like it right away. But I'm still skeptical. The publisher drafted an Emmy-nominated composer to score the scenes for the feature's big debut. But is Marvel really committed to handcrafting sound for each of its storylines?

We're here at Chaotic Moon Studios. They've got an autonomous Taro MR-6 hexacopter, and they've decked it out with an 80,000 volt stun gun. My name is Whirly. I'm the co-founder of Chaotic Moon Studios and chief innovation officer, and we are in a new, soon-to-be-expanded-into space at Chaotic Moon's offices here in Austin, Texas. So what we wanted to do is we wanted to take some of these issues that people have been talking about, about drones patrolling the skies and being weaponized and all of these things and actually do some real-world engineering work around that to kind of raise the awareness. South by was a perfect area to do that. The original demo we did, we looked at three areas. We looked at personal safety, we looked at personal privacy, and then we looked at kind of some law enforcement implications. In the personal safety, kind of personal drone stuff, which is where we came up with the name Cupid, right? Chaotic Unmanned Personal Intercept Drone. What we did is we took a scenario of you're on a large swath of property, someone crosses a line, sets off an alarm. The drone then deploys itself. It finds the person. It kind of buzzes around them, and then you get a phone notification, and it says, you know, shows you a video from the drone. It says, detain or authorize. And if you say detain, then at that point, it goes back to fully autonomous. It's got its instructions. It notifies the authorities, the prerecorded message, and it tells you to please kneel down on your knees on the ground and put your hands behind your head. If you were to run away from the property line, the situational analysis would say, you're leaving. You're becoming less of a threat. And so it just hovers and stays there, and it lets you go. If you were to continue to advance or if you were to try to take out the drone, then it can make several semi-autonomous and autonomous decisions on whether it should tase you or not. And then it can continue to tase you until the authorities arrive. While this demo is entirely piloted, they say Cupid's capable of running the same test with almost no human intervention. I thought a lot about the situational analysis of, like, how could this be used, say, to keep officers out of danger? So perhaps there's a raid on a house, and somebody runs. Why send somebody with a gun chasing them down the alley? The drone could just go and detain them, and then you could just come in and pick them up. One of the interesting things is we looked at fencing and other areas and the physics of that. It's kind of like a parry and a thrust so that we could program when it's fully autonomous, it can put enough slack in the cable so that when you fall or if you run or if you flop, that it doesn't pull the drone out of the sky or pull the cable out of your back and so on and so forth. So it's actually aware of all of that situational analysis, and then it takes action accordingly based on kind of the physics of the environment. What we wanted to use was the stage of South By to raise awareness of, this is actually something that's possible now, so that we can kind of start a conversation about how do you feel as a citizen about police having that? How do police feel about having it? What do congressmen think? What does the FAA think? You know, so on and so forth. Because we think that there's not enough conversation right now, it's educated conversation, occurring around the entire kind of drone industry. In the end, it's a simple proof of concept. If we want to turn drones into non-lethal security guards, we know how to do that. So how do we feel about this? If you need a security guard, would you rather have a drone with a taser or a human being with a gun? With an idea this new, it's hard to say for sure. Even if we can build it, it feels like maybe we shouldn't.

For years and years now, South by Southwest has been accused of going corporate. And really, there's no better example of that than Pennzoil's Mario Kart racetrack. Pennzoil wanted to sell you motor oil, and Nintendo wanted to sell you a video game. So the two of them got together and created a go-kart experience. You are bad at Mario Kart. I'm literally going to end your life right here. Four racers get on the track, and they strap into electric go-karts. This is me. See you right there. Very good. This marker is going to literally be in a thousand tiny little pieces by the time I'm done with it. Each go-kart is equipped with a GoPro camera and a bunch of RFID sensors. As you drive on the track, you can go over certain markers that give you power-ups or hurt your speed. You race on the track, and you try and win. It's just like Mario Kart, but your kart speeds up or slows down depending on whether or not you hit certain markers. Ugh. All day. All day. Playing Mario Kart in the real world is just a lot like driving a go-kart. There's no augmented reality or shells flying at you. You're just driving over some markers and running around in a pretty slow electric go-kart. What? I was in first! Those were the days! Go-karting is always fun, and Mario Kart is always fun, but putting the two together doesn't really quite work out. The fun of shells flying at you and crashing your friends into the wall from Mario Kart doesn't really translate into go-kart, which is all about safety and honestly not going quite that fast. It's not the dream of actually throwing blue sparks as I drift around the curve in a go-kart, but as South by Southwest PR stunts go, I really can't complain. I was still driving a go-kart, and even though I lost, I can't blame that on corporate influence. I beat Dieter. That's the only thing that matters. I'll get you next time, Pierce.

It's Friday, March 7th, 2014. I'm 90 seconds and this is Nathan Seidk- Cut, cut. It's Friday, March 7th, 1937. Cut, cut. No. It's Friday, March 7th, 2014. You're on the wrong side. I'm Nathan Seidkren and this is 90 seconds on the verge. You're on the wrong side. Following backlash from yesterday's claim that a man by the name of Dorian Nakamoto is the creator of Bitcoin, Newsweek is standing by its story. The publication says its reporter did not violate any ethical issues or expose Nakamoto for ulterior reasons. Meanwhile, Nakamoto has denied his involvement in the cryptocurrency, reporters have chased him through LA, and Reddit users have pooled together over $11,000 in Bitcoins to send to him. Either Nakamoto is in fact the creator of Bitcoin and is working tirelessly to hide the truth, or this is a very unfortunate case of mistaken identity. Say goodbye to six second porn. Vine has officially banned all sexually explicit content. Vine says that depictions of nudity or partial nudity that are quote, primarily documentary, educational, or artistic in nature are still allowed under the new rules. Something tells me we're going to start seeing very artsy porn. And finally, fans rejoice The Last of Us was not the last of the franchise. Sony subsidiary Screen Gems will be releasing a film adaptation of the critically acclaimed PlayStation 3 game. Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures will collaborate with game studio Naughty Dog to make the film. Any chance for a Bioshock Infinite film? And that's it for today's top stories. Wait, don't you usually do a bit here? A bit?

Hey and welcome to the Vergecast for the week of March 3rd, 2014. I'm Josh Dapolsky. I'm TC Sadek and I've been forced here against my will. I'm Katie Drummond and same thing. Yep. I did not volunteer for this. Did I say this was the Vergecast? Please help. I meant it's the prisoner cast. Please help. Seriously, this hair is out of control today. This is the first time I've seen it and it sucks. Look at this. It's like 1980. The year is 1988. Michael Keaton is preparing for his role in Batman, Tim Burton's Batman and this is my hair. Anyhow, this is the Vergecast where we discuss the week and topics of interest to you. Maybe or maybe not. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter because we're going to talk about them anyhow. You can't stop us. TC and Katie are here, which I'm very excited about. Katie doesn't want to be here against her wishes. No, it's fine. I'm happy to do it. Oh and we're classing it up. These guys had a plan. I came in and they're like, we're going to class it up with a bottle of wine. What is that? Tell us about this wine. It's a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2011. Do you hear that pronunciation? That's because Katie is not only a wine drinker, but a Canadian who is a native French speaker. True. Is that true? C'est vrai. Yes. Of course, as we know, the Canadian variation of French is quite guttural in its sound. No, I'm kidding. Animal. It's like animal grunting. No, it's a beautiful language and a beautiful people. Thank you. It's so wonderful that we have one of them on the show today. Thank you so much. I'm a real fan. I came from a doctor's appointment, a baby doctor appointment. Let me tell you about the baby. Yeah, definitely. The baby's great. It's confirmed today. I don't know what those sounds I just made were were not actual sounds. Did I tell everybody the name of my baby? I don't know if I want to dox my baby. Don't dox it. I didn't want to do it. The baby's name is... Don't say it. It's private. It's private for right now. It's a Satoshi Nakamoto. My baby has been doxed. She is the creator of Bitcoin. Okay, so this is a story to be... Aggressively doxed. Aggressively doxed. But that's okay. Reddit's going to get back at those people, at that writer. So really interesting story in Newsweek today. They claim that it has discovered the true Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. But the story is really weird because it doesn't actually provide any... There's no evidence whatsoever besides the name and some coincidences. I mean... He's like a libertarian. There's no smoking gun. They're like, he likes computers and he hates the government. He's a Ron Paul stuff. Well, I think that's a little bit of a flip reaction. I think coincidences, it's like a series of pretty compelling timeline and some pretty compelling facts. You're trying to balance this opening of the wide with... No, okay. This is not a very compelling one. No, no, no. The story is actually really interesting and I agree though. It is like, as I read through it, I wish there had been one thing there where I was like, yes, definitely, slam dunk. Well, what about the... Sorry. No, go ahead. What about the quote from him where he, it sounds like said something along the lines of, I'm no longer involved with that. It's been handed off to other people. I really want to be a private person. I don't know. I feel like, yes, that's kind of a smoking gun. It all feels... And that combined with his name is... It all feels a lot like a plot from The Good Wife, as far as I'm concerned. I'm on season two right now. Oh my God. It's great. I don't want to ruin it for you, but there is a Bitcoin plot. Yeah, it kind of seems like this guy just was a nerd who created this thing with his real name on it. Yeah. But then because nobody knew who he was, it became his big conspiracy theory. What is the saying that it's... Serve myself first over here. It's never, never... It's like, don't assume something is highly complex when it's actually probably pretty stupid. The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. No, that's not it. That sounded really smart. It's not the one where if you eliminate all possibilities, whatever remains, it's not that. I'm sure just tweeted me if you know what I'm saying, but there's this saying, which is... This is exciting. It does feel classy. Cheers. It does feel... Yeah, hold on. Wait, let's all cheers. Can I have- Thank you to Avalon. No, don't thank you to Avalon. We paid for the wine. Avalon did provide us with wine. I'm making them for me tonight. Are you cheering for me? I was going to double fist, but... Let's do a little... All right. To a more classy... I'm coming underneath. Experience. Okay. All right. Bottoms up. It's good. What a great mouth feel. I like that. It goes perfectly with the mouthwash I just swished with 20 minutes ago before leaving the house. Very, very bold. It tastes a little cheap at the end. Yeah. It has a finish of a stingy jerk. Right? Yeah. Like somebody like asking for more... You're splitting a check and they're asking for more money than they're putting in. Anyhow. Thanks to Ross Miller, our in-house sommelier. Yeah. Ross, great job-ish. Great-ish job. It'll do. Katie, come see this. It'll do, Ross. I have to say, I'm sorry if you're listening to this or watching this right now because it can't be entertaining, but I think it's relatively entertaining to us. So anyhow, the Bitcoin story. Now the interesting follow on to this is not that they have potentially discovered this guy who is... Occam's razor is what everybody's saying is the thing. What is the actual rule though? I'm trying to remember the wording of it and I can't. This is what people are tweeting at me right now. Occam's razor? Yeah. What's Occam's razor? I can't remember. Literally, it's just coming in. I keep seeing this alert that people are like, Occam's razor. So immediately after Satoshi Nakamoto was doxxed by this writer, Reddit took to action, flew into action, ready to doxx the address, the home address, social security number and phone number of the writer for doing... It was a woman, right? What is her name? Yeah, Leah McGrath Goodman. Yeah, for doing her job as a reporter. This is what reporting is. It's like you don't know something. There are some legitimate ethical concerns that were brought up. She went undercover. She misrepresented her identity. So you're on Reddit, you're like, let's get rid of it. First of all, I'm so sick of Reddit. I'm sick of their sanctimonious bullshit about anonymity. It's like 4chan with an agenda or something. It's like 4chan where the messages don't go well. It's like 4chan for Ron Paul supporters. But I don't know, I read this first thing this morning and just as a reader, it made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. Great journalism is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. I was gonna say that, but... That's not a rule, by the way. It's just like the showing up at someone's house when they don't want you there. There's something about it that just doesn't appeal to me as a reader or as a reporter even. I think the question is if this guy were responsible for some kind of crime, then you could have a little more behind it. I don't have a problem with it because the story needs to happen. We need to just discover who this person is and get over it. The question is, is this information in the public interest? Is there a compelling need for people to know who the guy is? I have read that argument today. I think there's an argument for that. I think there's an argument. I mean, I think that... I don't think it's a great argument, but I think you can make one. I think it would be tough to say, no, it's not in the public's interest to know this. When you get right down to it, we're talking about potentially a emergent currency or commodity and it would be good to know where it came from. But why? I don't know. I don't have an answer for that. This guy just wants to live his life privately with his family in California. I don't really see what public good it does. Well, it's his fault for creating a cryptocurrency that took off. I mean, that's what happens when you become... he shouldn't have used his real name if he didn't want to be found. That's what I'd have done. Pseudonym. It's what everybody thought it was. You don't want to be discovered. Don't put your name on it. I mean, there are a lot of factors. Like he might've had no idea that it would get as big as it is today. I mean, when I write all my hate speech on the internet, I use a pseudonym because I don't want it to get back to me. My thousands and thousands of pages of hate speech that you don't know about. Joshua Ryan. DJ Joshua Ryan. Yeah, no. I see the argument, but I also think it's a really interesting story and I think that people have been asking this question for a long time. And also he put his name on it. And I think that if the name was like, you know, Dr. X, it would be, you know, you might go looking for the guy, but it would be much harder to find him. Something tells me that at some point he maybe wanted to be found. And that's the other thing is that he has how many hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin that he couldn't cash in because it would have doxed him. No, would it have? That's not the point of it? That's what I've been reading today. Well, Bitcoin transactions are not like perfectly anonymous. Someone really wants to find out who you are and they can do that. Presumably he would have like a lot of Bitcoin and he would stand out in a crowd in terms of Bitcoin transactions. So the argument is like he's not like a Bill Gates or like a Steve, well, whoever. He has 1.5 million Bitcoin. Right. Oh, really? That's not like liquid cash and the guy is just living in a rent, like a random house. What's the value of 1.5 million Bitcoin? Its current value is $645. You mean one Bitcoin? Yeah. So what's that? $645 times 1.5 million. Dude, cash this in now. Almost a billion dollars. I just would just say, just cash it in. Oh yeah, you're done. Just get your billion. Buy an island. Just get your billion and invest it in something like solvent. And then you can buy some security guards. That's crazy, by the way. Yeah, it is. That's crazy. But here's what's crazy about it. He was like, hey, what if I created a currency and now he has a billion dollars worth of it and it's three years later or something. It's not like, you know, how long has it been around? And not just him, but there were other people like early on who were just like, yeah, I'll spend 10 bucks on Bitcoin when it's nothing. And now they have millions of dollars. It's funny, somebody tweeted me, they're like, do you have a bunch of Bitcoin? You guys write about it so much. I was like, I don't have any Bitcoin. But in the early days of Bitcoin, I had a friend who was overseas and he was like explaining Bitcoin to me and he's like, here, I'll show you how it works. Get this set up and I'll send you a Bitcoin. It was when it was worth like $2 or less or something. And then recently, and I just had it sitting there, one Bitcoin. And it was like recently when it was worth $1,000. He's like, hey, can I get that Bitcoin back from you? I literally had to get a laptop out of my closet from like three years ago and open it up and like update stuff and find the software and like just give him his Bitcoin back. Oh, so you gave it back? Of course. I mean, it wasn't mine. Well, it was. It was. Possession is 10 tenths of the law. You were holding it. I mean, that would have been really messed up if I was like, nope. Yeah, well. Would it? He gave it to you as a gift. No, he gave it to me to demonstrate how Bitcoin functioned. Well, his mistake. That should have kept it. Like now I got this thousand bucks. Yeah, exactly. And I went on a crazy shopping spree. Cutting out a sweet haircut. I mean, it was like a big when he gets like the loft and the arcade machine and he gets like some kind of crazy car. He has a go-kart. It would have been just like that except for a thousand dollars worth. So it would have been like me getting a bunch of sandwiches at a bodega. It was like, hey, remember the movie with that kid who just found a million dollars? Richie Rich? No, not Richie Rich. I haven't seen either one of these. It's a different movie where the kid just found like a million dollars. The one directed by Danny Boyle, director of 28 Days Later. What was it called? Blank Check. Blank Check. Blank Check is so good. John in the control room like. Can we play the trailer? He's like, that's my favorite. Blank Check trailer. It's a great movie. Never seen it. Never heard of it. This kid just like finds a million dollars in this botched robbery. What actors are in this? He buys like $20 million worth of stuff. It was some cutie little heartthrob. Yeah, here it is. It's from 1994. So I was. I'm sorry, did you refer to this nine-year-old as a heartthrob? I was nine years old when this came out. I was nine. If a man had said that about a girl, boy, the cops would be in here right now. He was like the. Double standard. Like Macaulay Culkin, like B-list edition. Who is he? It's probably Stephen Dorff or something. And Bonsal? Oh, Brian Bonsal. Is it Bonsal or Bonsai? Brian Bonsal. Don't know either one of those people. He's a former child actor. He was in a TV show. He played the part Klingon part human son of Worf on Star Trek The Next Generation. That's the show that he was in. I'm very familiar with this actor and very familiar with one of his most beloved characters. He is retired from acting. Such a shame. He has no interest. Oh, he's had some substance abuse problems. Well, he was a child actor that kind of goes to the territory. When you get your first contract as a child actor, they also hand you a crack pipe. Yeah, sounds like it. Like you'll need this to just get through the next few years. That's effed up. Is it? Why is that effed up? You know it's true. Look at Lindsay Lohan. This is so sad. Have you seen Lindsay Lohan has a new. Oh, the Oprah funded documentary. Well, it's like a reality show. Reality show. But it's like a little bit more classy. So it's like a documentary. Watch it with that. We only have one bottle. Yeah, take it easy. We know how you like to hit the wine. Am I right? This guy's Instagram. It's like looking at a liquor store. Don't dox my Instagram. This guy's Instagram is like, hey, check out what we got on the shelves of our liquor store. Quit doxing me. I'm like, wait a second. This is TC's house. It's upsetting, disturbing, and I'm worried about him. Anyhow, so maybe the creator of Bitcoin has been revealed, and also it's extremely mundane. It's not like a conspiracy. It's not a shocker. The thing that really gets me is like there's definitely a balance somewhere. But if all you do is read Reddit, it's like if you unveil someone, their real identity you're literally worse than Hitler. They get so mad. Their jimmies get really rustled. Except when you're trying to find the Boston bomber, that it's safety's off, fire at will. If you're looking for a brown guy, no problem. But it's like, I don't know. I think it's a real double standard on Reddit. Well, you know. It's not like they have some law books, some rules. They're like, hey, this is how we do it on Reddit. No, they do have rules. It's like no doxing is their number one rule. Yeah, right. And they ban. I'm sure we'll get banned for talking bad about Reddit. That's what they love to do. They're going to dox me. These are compromised journalists because they don't like Reddit. They're going to find the name of my EverQuest character and look at my- You mean, I'm trying to think of a cool name for an EverQuest character and I didn't have anything at all. I'll never tell. Give me a name. Don't give me the actual name. Give me the kind of name you might give to an EverQuest character. Just like a- Like Greyhorn? Greyhorn? Greyhorn? Yeah. Like Lothar Greyhorn? Something like that? You obviously play. I'm a level 400. Can you get to 400? No. All right. Anyhow, moving on. What's our next topic? I mean, for God's sake. This is definitely a different pace to this than the last one and to any past. Yeah. A more boring pace? I just want to say- No, it's all right. Occam's razor, by the way. A more boring pace? We consider it a good principle to explain the phenomenon by the simplest hypothesis of it possible. Yeah. That's not really like layman's explanation. Yeah. I don't like this. It kind of works. Okay. What else in the news? Oh, this is speaking of Bitcoin. Oh, yes. Adrian Jeffries did, I think, a really excellent report this week on the Lakota tribe creating its own, it's called Mazacoin, its own cryptocurrency for Native American tribes, for that particular tribe. And they're basically saying, look, we're a sovereign nation. We have a right to have our own currency. It's not covered under the laws, the laws of the federal government and how we regulate currency. And we're going on our own on this one. And they're basically like, yeah, it's like we're going to battle the US government for whether or not we can have our own currency. How do you think this will turn out? I mean, the government has said, like a lot of different regulators have said, well, we're not really responsible for this. So I don't think it's going to come up for a little while. Yeah. Right. And I mean, I think, as Adrian pointed out really nicely in the piece, they depend on a lot of money from the federal government. And I mean, that's a huge problem. But there is a concern that introducing this threatens to diminish the amount of money that they're receiving through that channel. The situation is insane. I mean, let's just be clear. The whole concept of Native American tribes in the United States of America is completely bizarre and not really a... None of it seems possible. It all seems... Yeah, I was just going to say, it seems very hard to wrap your head around the fact that this is actually a situation. Right. And that sounds like a very ignorant New York thing to say. No. But it's completely reasonable to say because it's such a complex and impossible thing to do, which is like, they're like, yeah, oh, yeah, hey, we stole your land and killed you. And we're going to give you that back and you're going to be sovereign, but actually not really at all because we're entangled in all of these ways and you need things from us now. And it's like to detach those things at this point, it just seems really... Yeah. Well, they're not even... They're sovereign, but in limited ways. Right. They're what's called domestic dependent nations. Right. So we don't even treat them like we do foreign nations. We treat them like children. Right. It's insane. It's insane. We're terrible. America is terrible, but also the greatest country in the world. Don't get me wrong. I love it. Love it or leave it. These colors go on, et cetera. No, it's a really interesting situation because it creates a unique... Like you had Paul Krugman come out and talk about... Krugman? Why Krugman? Krugman? It doesn't matter. Talk about how Bitcoin's evil, and that was the headline of his piece. Well, that was the headline of his piece, but his actual piece wasn't really about Bitcoin being evil. Right. And in a functioning society and nation that has a government backed currency, sure, maybe that there are arguments who made there, but there are really interesting reasons for why this could be valuable to different communities who don't have their own currency. Yeah. Yeah. Like keeping the money in the community. Right. I think it also is... You can see a place for something like Bitcoin in a lot of... It's not just about like, oh, they have this sovereign state, but you can see it's like this circumvents currency. If you have enough people using it, it becomes a currency unto itself. And there's a big question, I think, because it's not physical. It's not backed by banks. I think it raises a lot of questions. This is interesting to me because if it could work within these communities, it seems like an incredible opportunity to see a cryptocurrency blossom as a day-to-day verifiable, usable form of currency. I just don't see how the US government would ever allow that to truly happen. I mean, the other wrinkle in this is that it sounds like some of these people are using like paper printouts of Mazacoin and like a paper wallet and they need to like... Sounds legit. Yeah. That sounds legit to me. The logistics of it seem like an additional challenge there. It's not sort of a really easy to use digital... Not that Bitcoin is particularly easy to use, I guess. No, it's not. It's all very difficult. And most likely if you do use it, wherever your money is will be stolen. Like nine times out of 10. Yeah. I mean, that's a big problem. There are like a lot of legitimate concerns about this, including like if the value fluctuates wildly, like these communities are already so impoverished that that could be catastrophic. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, really. I mean, the question is about Bitcoin or Mazacoin or any cryptocurrency is like, if it's not backed by banks and institutions, like major institutions, who protects it? How do you protect it? Like how do you pay for the things you need to protect it? And I don't think anybody has the answer right now. Like Mount Gox was not the best place for people to be keeping millions of dollars. I mean, it was run by like two guys. Should call it Mount Dox. Get out. Good one. Just leave right now. But you know, I just think it's... swine's almost gone. Really tearing through it. My lips are so dry right now. It's so dry in New York. Here you go. Do you have any balm? What do you got? Here you go. I don't want to... Oh, it's so good. It's Carmex. No, Carmex is my brand, but I don't know. I use Carmex also. You put it on your finger and then you put it on your lips. It's the finger system. Are you kidding me? You got Carmex strawberry? Yeah. My girlfriend got that for me. That's funny. Actually, that's weird because I just said to Laura, I was like, I was looking on Amazon because I need to refill my Carmex supply. You buy an entire supply of Carmex on Amazon? Add on item. Okay. And I was like, did you know Carmex has a strawberry? You don't mind if I do this? Please be my guest. Uh-huh. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Tastes good. It's got a good lip feel. Here you go. This is a disaster. Can we end? Is it done? We hit an hour? Oh, God. No one's watching. Zero viewers. We can finally talk about what we want to talk about. TC. Should we call our moms? What did you want to talk about next? You want to talk about the hoverboard? Oh, yeah. We need to talk about this stupid- Funny or Die. They're amazing. Worst viral stunt in history. Has everybody seen this? It's Funny or Die created by the same person. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. It's a comedy. That's gonna be the stuff that will be coming up next. one day is so ridiculously unbelievable for starters. This CarMax is amazing. Yeah, it's so good. But then there's a bunch of obvious tells in these videos. And I mean, they're pretty well done. But still, seriously, you're going to make it look like the one from Back to the Future, which is definitely copyrighted in all kinds of ways. That looks fake. That looks totally fake. I'm sorry. Anyhow, so it turned out to be a fake, funny or die viral video. And that's Moby. I mean, I'm confused. Did people actually, actually think this was a thing? Yes. Yes. Yes, they did. That's terrible. Yeah, well, the thing is, like, Funny or Die really, like, fucked it up. Because there was like two, or even a day went by, and they posted all these Facebook things being like, oh, it's real. No, we swear, it's real. And then immediately after that, Funny or Die, instead of milking it, like, what was their end game? Like, oh, we made it. I think their end game was we'd get views on Funny or Die videos. I guess. You know? I mean, this is one of my greatest, one of the greatest tragedies of the internet in its current form is that major brands and companies feel like they need to create viral sensations to have a viable business. I'm not going to name names, but there are plenty of people out there who think it's part of their job to be part of what is viral on the internet. And let me just tell you, brands with millions of dollars creating viral videos, you've ruined everything that is good about what is viral on the internet. You've basically taken something that is sacred and special and magical and turned it into a bullshit garbage marketing campaign, and you've ruined the fun for everybody. Like, when you, with your million dollars, create some sort of scheme to dupe everybody. This goes for Jimmy Kimmel as well, who does the same stuff. It's like, I get that people are dumb and can be easily convinced of things that aren't real are real, convince the things that aren't real are real. But when you do it, particularly when you're the kind of brand that not only will do the stunt, but then write about it or talk about it as if the stunt is a real thing, you ruin what is one of the things that is best about the internet. And it's really gross. We actually went to RaffleCon, I think, two years ago, which was a gathering of people who had become viral sensations on the internet, the old way. The kids these days, the millennials now, they don't know what it's like anymore. But people used to become real viral sensations because they did something stupid or awesome or whatever, like were caught on camera doing something horrible or created some weird piece of art, and it was a real thing on the internet. People are like, oh my god, that's hilarious. Rickrolling wasn't created by Mattel or whatever. Mattel doesn't exist. Rickrolling wasn't like a CNN eye report. That was a thing that happened. That was a thing that came from the ephemera of reality. I don't know what that means. That doesn't mean anything. But it bubbled up out of something natural, which is where many of the greatest things come from, most of the greatest things. Well, the worst is when the brands on Twitter have their rapid response to natural disasters. Oh, you mean like Oreo? Like 27 people get stabbed to death in China by Band-Aids. That's not an actual thing. Sorry, Band-Aid. But what you just said is a bunch of people got stabbed to death in China. We're living in a reality where it's possible. I'm not saying it happened or it will happen. But it's possible that the company that makes Band-Aids, who is this? Probably Johnson & Johnson who makes Band-Aids. They're like, we're here, China. Don't worry, or something like that. Because that's what these stupid brands are doing. You've got to take a variety of things. The thing I was talking about is brands with millions of dollars creating fake viral sensations so they can be part, ultimately marketing something, either themselves or a product, to make money off of the people who watch the stuff or see the stuff, who have completely ruined the concept of what is true viral, true virality on the internet in the sense of things that are created from the kind of dark heart of the internet, the weird place that you don't know where things come from. Who first made that joke? There used to be like, you look, you even. Oh, yeah. Here's one. Pornhub on Martin Luther King Day said, happy MLK day. In honor of his death, make sure to only use the ebony category today. That's real. That's a real tweet. Oh, no. That went around. I mean, not like we expect Pornhub to be classy or something. Just let's baseline. Baseline Pornhub's not going to be. They really bottomed out there. That was, is that a pun? No. Bottomed out. No, like hit off bottom. That's a pretty good pun. You've got to admit. I mean, anything could be a pun right now. Not really. I mean. I think. But they really blew it. I mean, I thought this whole video was dumb, and I just ignored the whole thing. Come on. No? Nothing? OK, anyhow, the point is, it's a slow burn. That's a slow burn. It's still up. It's still up. I'd have been like, yeah, I guess that wasn't poor taste, even for Pornhub. But that's one thing. But the other thing is, I'm actually less upset about people capitalizing on things that happen. Like, yeah, it's gross and horrible, but at least it makes sense, because you're a business trying to get people to look at your thing, and you're just being like, hey, look at our thing. I'm more annoyed and saddened by the idea that Funny or Die has gone from making funny videos on the internet, like funny sketch comedy videos, to we're just going to pretend to do, we're going to be like the double rainbow guy. By the way, the double rainbow guy, for all I know, is just an invention of Levi's. But actually, this does have a history. Good jeans, though. Speaking of jeans, well, that's what I was going to say, is that Levi's did this in 2004 with the I Kiss You dude. What was that? Do you remember I Kiss You? No. No. Do a search for I Kiss You. I think that's what it is. I can't think of his name right now. John, somebody in the control booth must know this. Control. What's his name? He had a name. He was like this weird Eastern European dude who was writing in broken English. It's kind of like the thing that Borat is modeled after, but like a real guy. But he's not a real guy because it was like a Levi's campaign in 2004 on the internet. Nobody knows what I'm talking about. Anybody? People on Twitter, help me out here. Am I crazy? Did I just make this up? And it's almost preferable to where Levi's went, which was like super serious. What if you realized that everything that you believed was a lie? Yeah, I'm not seeing this any more. We got it right here. Oh. I kiss you. Can I get, can somebody tell me what's going on here? But seriously, how long until we have real hoverboards? Katie, our science expert. Let me ask you, Katie, you're a scientifically minded individual. How many years would you say away are the actual hoverboards? 30. That's a long time. That's the default response a scientist would give you when they have no effing idea. So 30 years. Ross says they have no idea what I'm talking about. This just goes to show how quickly the internet moves. Of course, that was 10 years ago. Five years is like, yes, it's happening. 10 years is like, we're kind of working on it. 20 years is like, it's a theory. And anything beyond 20 years is like, we have no idea. I think all the, I think all the. I just hated this whole story. I think all that matters is, I mean, the thing is you don't think it's going to happen. You say 30 years, and then somebody's going to come up with it. All that matters is that we now know. Well, maybe that's why everyone fell for this video, right? We now know Doc Brown will do it. That's the problem with hope. Here, is this the guy? Is this the dude? This is the I kiss you guy? Is this a trailer for Alias? It's a trailer for this dude. This is actually like a later in the game situation here. There he is. He had a website that was like a GeoCity site. Yeah, that's him, the dude in the jacket. That is the guy. And what is his vibe? His thing was like, it was like a viral, like, oh my god, this is hilarious. Look at this crazy website this guy made. He's like looking for a wife. He's like looking for a date on the internet. He doesn't understand how the internet works. This is before Tinder. It was like all this crazy, you know, it was like GeoCities, like animated, like all kinds of animated shit on the page. And you wanted to kiss the ladies? It was like, I kiss you, like I want to be, or whatever. But then it turned out that it was like some weird viral, like Levi's marketing for like jeans. Did he wear Levi's? Yeah, I assume. Why would you want that creep in your jeans? It gets people talking, you know? It gets a buzz happening about things. All right. Well, the one thing we've learned from this is that Doc Brown will take a check for literally any brand. Wasn't he doing? Here it is. Here's his page. Here's the page. This is the thing here. So this was like fake. This guy's like an actor or something. And it's just like he talks about, he's like, it's like a personal ad. I mean, that's kind of funny. This is proto-Bora. There he is. Oh, there he is in Levi's jeans, you see? Yeah, he likes sex. I like travel. I go three, four country every year. That's pretty funny. I mean, basically. Oh, he's a journalist. Basically, this is ripped off from, I mean, this is what Borat ripped off to be Borat. But whatever. Long and short is we've lived with these kinds of memes for a long, these fake memes for a long time. But now it just seems like they're all over the place. Nobody cares. Let's move on. Nobody cares about this topic. You guys are not with me. I can tell. It stinks. That's fine. You had a moment. I had a second. So one of our new writers, Ariel Duhem Ross, who is also Canadian and has a great name, very classy, like way too classy for The Verge name. And a great talent. Very wonderful talent. Not just a name, also a great writer. Did a piece today, which everybody should read. It basically is like, there are some people, have you ever met a person who's like, I don't like music. I just don't like, I don't listen to it. I don't like it. A study has now sort of proven out or found that there are people who just doesn't, their brains don't work that way. They just can't appreciate or enjoy music, which is crazy. They don't show a physical or emotional response to familiar songs. Are those people, is there a higher instance of serial killers in the people who don't like music? What's going to be interesting is that after this, they're planning to do brain scans on some of these people and try to figure out what is different about them. And I think if that sort of can perhaps match up with other fMRI studies on serial killers. I don't think there's any correlation. You never know. Seems like you go hand in hand though. But if you're looking at sort of the brain's reward system, I mean, who knows? I just think it's fascinating. There's a very, very weird, weird study. Anyhow, I think we came up with maybe one of our greatest headlines ever. I think, Katie, did you submit the bad brains part of it? This was me. It's just, you have to know who bad brains are to get it. But it's a really great. Just very interesting to me that somebody tweeted me, they're like, is this the new face blindness? I think there is something that, is there something similar about it? In the sense that you have a kind of a, you naturally assume that everybody feels the way you feel about basic things. Like, oh, you hear music. It creates an emotional response. Like, either it makes you happy or makes you sad, or I don't like the way this sounds, or I do like the way this sounds. It's hard to imagine, sort of like colorblind, is I guess for me when I think about it. I can't imagine not knowing what colors are. This one seems more severe, more deep. It seems more deep. Because it's like, music is basically producing some kind of emotional response. So it's like you're missing the ability to get a very common emotional response. I mean, I guess you'd save a lot of time. I feel like I spend a lot of time on music. Like making playlists. You'd also save a lot of time if you just didn't exist. By the way, somebody just tweeted. You are out. Can I just say something? We were making it. Death threats. What happened? You made a death threat? It's not a death threat. It's a philosophical. What was it? Can I hear it again? You'd save a lot of time if you just didn't exist. You wouldn't have to worry about laundry. You said that to Katie? Is that to Katie? No, no, no. You wanted to do laundry again. Things got dark here. You wouldn't have to have a job. Listen, I think what he meant, he was being pragmatic. He meant that living takes up a lot of time. Think about how much time you'd save if you weren't. Save a lot of time. Save infinite time. I wouldn't have time. But that's the beauty. I think that's the beauty. That's not, that's awful. No time is all the time in the world. Do you remember what it was like to be before you were born? This is like being. This is like what keeps me up at night. I can't talk about it. This is like being in a black hole. We could start doing Zen Koans if you want. Right, am I right? This is like if you're in a black hole. Imagine the faces of your parents before they were born. It's horrible. What? This all makes me really uncomfortable. I think about conversations about like before I was born or after I die. Why? Or then I think about like, well, even if I go to heaven at some point, heaven will stop existing. No, it won't. No. No, it will. Wait a second. First off, hold on. Because the universe will just implode in on itself. And then what am I? Heaven's not part of the universe. Not the known universe. Heaven's not like up in space. It's not like a planet. But you know, it's fine. It's not a planet we haven't visited yet. First off, heaven doesn't exist, number one. If I'm just like zipping around out there somewhere. Yeah, in a DC-8 in space. I don't want to be in limbo. So you think that after you. And even if I am in limbo at some point, everything will collapse inwards and we will all just be nothing. Do you believe that after you die. Not if you reunite with Xenu. Hold on a second. Well, Xenu's part of the universe. So consider that. The thing that I hate to think about is the space in between things out in space. That's creepy. Which is nothing. Like if you're one of those people that has tryptophobia or whatever it's called. I don't mind thinking about that. Where you're afraid of holes. That kind of hurts my brain a little bit. Get me in a rocket ship. Just hang out. You want to go to Mars One? Would you be comfortable with being in a rocket ship? Have you seen Gravity? I have. Yeah, I find that the concept now, especially having seen Gravity, but prior to Gravity, the idea of being in space, so utterly terrifying. I mean, I'm not gonna be. It's like, dude, have you seen Event Horizon? Oh my God. No, I'm done. You go to that. You end up in hell. If you go far enough into space, you go to hell. Sorry, spoiler alert. That's what Event Horizon is about. They fly into space and they end up on hell. No, they fold space, right? Whatever they do. Whatever they do, like devil, devil. And they don't have Buffy the Vampire Slayer on board. Have you ever played Dead Space? Because it's the plot of Dead Space. I got it for free because EA did such a bad job with Simpsons. Dead Space is a really, really good game and everybody should play it. But it reminds you of the horror of space, as does Gravity, as does what you were just saying about. This isn't on our agenda, but it really dovetails well with this other thing that just came out today, which is this Mars One documentary teaser. Oh yeah, hold on a minute. Hold that thought. I want to get back to Katie's. I saw that. I want to get back to Katie's depiction of heaven. So I'm very interested in several things. One, that you believe in heaven. No, I don't. I mean, that was just like a word. But I would like to think that I get to hang out somewhere after I die. Heaven is a bottle of Avalon, Napa Valley Cabernet. Yeah, you do, in the ground. You get to hang out, or unless you're cremated, in which case, not in the ground. Unless you're buried. This is horrible. But here's my other question. So you think that heaven could end? I mean, everything will end. No, heaven doesn't. The whole concept of heaven is that it defies the laws of space and time. Like, if you believe in heaven, you gotta go whole hog. You gotta be like. But I just said that I don't believe in heaven. No, okay, but then whatever kind of thing, you just believe in a cool planet where stuff is free or something. Or I'm just zipping around. I gotta say, my favorite depiction of heaven. You don't zip around in heaven. I don't think that's what goes on there. I'm not in heaven, because I don't believe in heaven, but zipping around somewhere. Yeah, but everyone has a space segue. But you don't die and then start zipping around into the universe. I do. That's like a Scientology thing, right? You wear white robes and the Backstreet Boys are there and they're always performing a live concert. That's the end of a movie. And you're eating cream cheese. Yeah. Is that a part of heaven? On the cloud? I don't know, it's white. Everything in heaven. That's a bagel commercial. Okay. You're like, I'm on a cloud having delicious Philadelphia cream cheese. That is an ad for, that's like a viral campaign for Philadelphia cream cheese. That's where I learned about religion. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention, the Virgin House today brought you my Philadelphia cream cheese. It's the lightest, creamiest cream cheese in America. It seems to be controversial, but heaven has nothing to do with Philadelphia. No. If anything, if anything, it's quite the opposite. Let's put it that way. Anyhow. So, music? Yeah, some people can't appreciate music. And as a result, they'll never get to heaven where they zip around eating cream cheese. Okay, moving on. I enjoyed that. I liked that. That's my favorite part. Those are my favorite conversations that anybody can have on the Verge cast. No, but we're talking about space. It was this Mars One video that came out today. It was a trailer for this documentary about all these Mars One. Mars One's a company that wants to send. People who are gonna take a one-way trip to Mars. But can I interject briefly here? I actually saw the entire documentary because we were gonna do. We were working on the story. We were working on the exact same thing. Yeah, my great minds, great minds think alike. And then we went to do an interview in DC, I think, and they were like, oh, you gotta check out this documentary we did. And we were like, what the hell? And we're like, guess we won't be doing the exact same story. Guess we won't be doing the exact same story. But really cool, cool documentary. Basically the idea is that everyone who wants to go to Mars is supremely depressed. Of course, they're like, get me off this planet. I don't care if I ever come back. There's one guy who's like, the only thing that would keep me here is if my son asked me not to go. But then he was like, well, even then, it's kinda cool. I don't know, if you've lived through the winter that we've lived through in New York, a one-way trip to Mars is starting to sound pretty good. I need some more Carmex. Do they have Carmex in space? No. If you take it with you. Do they have Carmex in heaven? In heaven, you just think about Carmex and it's applied to your lips. You don't need Carmex. Well, that would be the thing, wouldn't it? Is that your lips never get dry in heaven. Do they ever go off topic in heaven? That sounds like the title of a country song. Your lips never get dry in heaven. I do pity the listeners today. What is this note? You wanna talk about Shaq? Shaq Fu? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Game of Thrones rap album? Can someone explain this to me? This is ridiculous. Can someone explain it to me, please? So I mean, I don't watch Game of Thrones, but I did listen to the song that's on the album. We're gonna play a clip of it in a moment. Great, I thought it was terrible. Can someone explain the concept to me? Because I didn't actually, I saw the headline, I have not read the article yet. According to the Wall Street Journal, they want to appeal to African-American and Latino demographics by releasing a free rap album featuring popular artists. So not only is that horrible as a marketing, it's like pandering. Straight up on the record about it. Lame, sad, also, you know what? Make your show more diverse or something if you want to attract a larger audience, a more diverse audience. Is this it? This is Catch the Throne. Also, how lame, it's like Watch the Throne, but they just changed it. Here we go, let's listen. It won't be that much longer Before Khaleesi take the Iron Throne They call her the mother of dragons You under attack and they get this eye on home Targaryen, the rightful bloodline So don't you ever give up on him Oh, just stop it. Turn it off, turn it off. This is funny, okay, but here's the thing. Last week, you weren't here last week, but you were, we talked about the trend of in the 80s, people doing songs from movies, like rap songs where they rapped about what was going on in the movie, like in Ghostbusters II. Bobby Brown has a song and there's like, or he has a rap, the whole song is about the Ghostbusters basically. There's actually a couple of songs in that movie because I just watched it. This is much closer to like McDonald's. But they're like mentioning, they're like mentioning like the Targaryens in the rap. It is the worst, that's like, first off, that's like, oh yeah, I have this shitty beat, not even B-side, like C-side that I was never going to release. Like you'll pay me several hundred thousand dollars for it. This is like when McDonald's does raps about chicken nuggets. Those are more enjoyable. Yes, I'm more interested in a chicken nugget than I am about hearing a rap about Game of Thrones. It's just so off, so out of, so tone deaf. Yeah, it's really bad. It's out of control. Anyhow, I don't have anything else to say about it. The track was called Mother of Dragons. That's wack, is that Big Boy? I'm never gonna be invited back. I saw a Big Boy show at Brooklyn Bowl a few years ago and he was great. And I even touched his, I touched his leg. Wait, what? You touched Big Boy's leg? Because I was in the front row. I'm sorry, I'm confused. What's going on here? I haven't seen one episode. He was really good live. Trey has something to say. Trey Shallehorn, our new Verge video producer. Let's give him a round of applause. Let's get on the mic here. I'm actually African American as you can see. Wait, hold on, slow down. I'm confused, okay. And I've never seen Game of Thrones. I haven't either. I haven't seen one episode. Are you not watching because you feel like it lacks racial diversity? No. You're not watching because you're not interested. Because I'm not interested. Are you more interested now? Oh, here we go. However, after hearing that, I'm even less interested. Boom. And watching it. Boom. You're driving away. You're driving away an African American audience. No, I'm less interested in watching. Me too. This makes HBO seem a lot lamer. So you're not loving it. I'm offended. I'm not. Yeah, I was partially offended. I mean, it's. You should be fully offended. I'm offended. I can be a little bit offended, but you also did. Partially because I mean, the assumption is that all African Americans listen to hip hop. That's also offensive. It's not just that it's bad. It's not just that it's bad and like tone deaf and pandering and like it's just like this lame way to seem like you're more diverse than you are. But also the assumption that like every African American is like, oh yeah, I love hip hop also. Like that's my favorite music. They should have had Keith Urban do it. That's what you're a big country fan, right? Yeah. Are you a country fan? I'm not a country fan actually. Okay. I have no idea what he looks. That would be. Say the other genre. We just met. I don't even know his name. Trey. Yeah, Trey. You guys haven't met? I think we met yesterday. You were in the meeting the other day with the team. You were very cold. Yeah, you were cold. What is wrong with you? I'm starting to think, look, I don't want to call you up. I'm starting to think, do you see that you're racist? That's all I can imagine. I'm racist against new people that I don't know about. Anyhow, I'm going to thank you for actually like chiming on this because it's like, it's a perfect example of why HBO is blowing it on this. Like that's great. And also Trey, you're a wonderful man. And by the way, now I think the best dresser in the office in Chad is going to be Chad Mum. It's really nice to have like an Annie Hall moment too. You know, like when we need an expert on hand, we're like, oh, if only we had an African-American on hand. I thought you meant a well-dressed man. I feel like we're going down a racist path here, TC. Very upsetting. Anyhow, Trey, thank you. And as far as I know, TC is not a practicing racist. Not practicing. It's terrible. It's gone off the rails. In remission. Anyhow. This is a really weird tangent, but speaking of Game of Thrones, I did this DayZ story. You remember that game, DayZ? Yeah, it's a really sadistic game. But anyway, you can like kidnap people and handcuff them. Do all kinds of weird things to them. And a favorite tactic of- By the way, weird segue. That's the weirdest segue. But one of the best tactics for avoiding being captured and handcuffed is to just start telling Game of Thrones spoilers over the microphone. If you were run away from you. Yeah, it's like- That's great. You could do any spoilers. It's like mutually assured destruction. Like any nerd spoilers. Like you could be like, well, maybe I could handcuff this guy, but maybe he knows Game of Thrones spoilers. He can't make you stop talking. Exactly. They should figure out a way if you've got somebody in handcuffs that you can like- You can put duct tape over people's mouths, but it's not- But it won't turn off your audio. It's an alpha. It's not in the game yet. Eventually. That's insanely horrible. Anyway, moving on. Speaking of games, Shaq Fu. Ugh. Shaq Fu is a fighting game based around- It's all I'm offended by this, too. Based around Shaquille O'Neal. And Shaq is going to fund this. What's he doing, a Kickstarter? Yeah. What's the story? If you- Oh, he's doing an Indiegogo project for Shaq Fu 2. Somebody asked him, there was an article a few months ago, and it was like, what's up with- it was random. Can we just show the photo of Shaq in the motion capture? I think I actually met the journalist actually. I was talking to him at CES. He was like, yeah, I got this weird scoop out of nowhere. I ran into Shaq, and I was like, hey, what's up with Shaq Fu 2? And he was like, it's happening. And it turns out, thank you for topping me off. Is this a trailer for Shaq Fu 2? Yeah. I'd play this. No. What's the plot of Shaq Fu? Can anybody tell me? What's the- is that Shaq? Shaq's way more muscular in the game than he is in real life. I was just going to say, there's a picture in here of Shaq 2014, and his abs definitely do not look like that. They look like a gut. His abs look like a gut, basically. So here, I'm getting this. This is the story of Shaq Fu 1. I'm going to read it to you. In the game storyline, Shaquille O'Neal wanders into a kung fu dojo while heading to a heavily emphasized charity basketball game. Heavily emphasized? I think they mean advertised? Charity basketball game in Tokyo, Japan. After speaking- I assume this is from the Wikipedia entry. After speaking with a kung fu master, he stumbles into another dimension, where he must rescue a young boy named Mizzou from the evil mummy Sat Ra. Totally sound- that sounds completely reasonable to me. This is from the 90s. This game is from what, 19- I'm going to say 1994. This sounds a lot like the plot to Kazam. I'm going to say 1994. It's like a really, really bad Street Fighter knockoff, right? And this is like version 2.0. I mean, this looks identical to a Street Fighter. No, this is the original right here. Check this out. Oh. You know, when I was a kid- Hey, remember 4-3 ratio? I mean, this is like Ryu's level in Street Fighter. This is a complete rip off of Street Fighter. I'm like mad. I'm like legit mad about Shaq Fu ripping off Street Fighter. Do you want to feel even more mad? Yes. If you fund it for $500, I can't speak. If you contribute $500 to his campaign, he will follow you on Instagram. Yeah, Shaq. Shaq will follow you on Instagram for $500. I don't understand what the value of that is. Isn't that just- just makes me feel sick. We have- what's this? Oh, we have all of the- And a nice little- What are the- hold on, hold on. We have 10 stills. What are the Shaq rewards if you fund this? Can you tell me what they- what are they? Where's the list? Do we not have a list? I have a couple here. He'll record a- you can record your own voiceover for the game. I don't know what that means. Or he'll record a voiceover for you. How much do you have to invest? You can record a line in the game? Yeah. Like what? Like let's fight? Yeah, like ow. Mo cap, a signature move. How much do you have to pay to mo cap a signature move? Let me load this up. This is not going well. For $750, you get a personalized YouTube message. By the way, $21,000 have been raised so far out of- Who are these people? Out of the $450,000 goal. And can I just say, I get that he's demonstrating the popularity of it and the need for an audience, but- But he should have remade Kazam instead of making this video game. Here's the thing. Can we get the Kazam track? Can Shaq fund it himself? That's a question on the page. Fair question. Of course he's got money. I guess he'll be investing a lot of his own time and money in this project. He also wants your money. But he'd rather not spend half a million dollars on this crappy video game, to be perfectly honest. Exactly. That's money he could use for things that he enjoys and wants as opposed to this game. So here we go. Here are the levels. You ready? For $15, you get a copy of the game. Digital PC copy. $25 DLC for life. That's by the way, what I have tattooed across my chest. $35 limited edition character. What does that mean? I think that means you'll get like a character that is not available to everybody when they first get the game. Like a secret character. 45 bucks beta access to it. This is by the way, we're just doing a big ad for Shaq Fu too. $50 you'll get the game plus the digital soundtrack. $55 gets you a Shaq Fu t-shirt. There's like 80 levels of this. By the way- I kind of want a t-shirt to wear ironically. It's funny because I was gonna say, if you're into the Shaq Fu t-shirt, there's probably something really wrong with you. You're like, yes. You're like, yes. I mean, I would probably wear that. Everything up to this, I was not interested in, but the Shaq Fu t-shirt is. For $250, you can get sheet music. Spelled with a Q. Sheet music? Please don't jump ahead. M-U-S-I-Q. For $100, you get a Shaq Fu poster. Nope. For $150, you can record your own voiceover. You will get to record a special line and have your voiceover integrated into the game and receive a credit as a voice actor. By the way, this gets you into the Actors Guild into SAG. $200 Shaq Fu signed poster. You get the poster, but it's signed. A sheet music, that's misspelled. You're right. It's got a Q on the end. I don't know exactly what I got. So who knows what you actually get? Yeah. It's like, what's music with a Q on the end? I don't think that actually counts as a thing. For $300, you get, okay, I don't know what this means. Turn up the volume. Steve has graciously decided to offer an in-person or Skype lessons on the keys. So this is the composer of the soundtrack, Steve Mullitz. Or Mullitz, depending on who you talk to. For $375, you can mocap your signature move. One of our motion capture artists will create a custom animation based on a recorded signature move that you submit. What does that mean? You'll be in the background somewhere doing a signature move? Yeah. I can think of, I would spend $375 if I knew. You know 4chan's gonna troll me. If I knew the signature move I wanted to put in the game would go into the game. For $400, Shaq Fu launch party in New York. I guess that means you get to attend or you're helping to fund it, I'm not sure. You plan it and he shows up? We were going to party like it's 1999. It's like, I got bad news for you. 1999 came and went. I'd rather party like it's this year. Yeah, but the graphics are from 1999. Right. For another, for a different $400, you get a Shaq Fu launch party in LA. 475 signed Shaq basketball. $500 signed Shaq Fu figure. $500 Shaq follows you on Instagram. $500. $500. That's amazing. Score the score. This is insane. For $500, collaborate with Steve and Shaq on making music for the game. I play the recorder in elementary school. You're doing that at $500? That feels slightly desperate to me at $500. How many, so you get 100 people to invest for $500. How are you gonna use all 100 pieces of music or whatever? Okay, anyhow. I mean it doesn't sound like they're making any promises in there. I'm gonna just jump ahead. Let's just be honest, this game's never coming out. British people put this together weirdly because it personalized with an S. Voicemail by Shaq. What's the most expensive that you could fund? For $35,000. Mr. Word in there. For $35,000, an evening at TNT Studio. The slam-dug perk of all time. One fan, only one, gets to bring two friends to TNT Studios, which by the way, what is that? TNT, the TV station? No, that went out of existence didn't it? No, no, no, no, TNT exists. Exists? Yeah. You bring two friends to TNT Studios for a meet and greet to watch the taping of NBA on TNT and to have lunch with Shaq at the studio. If you have to pay $35,000 to hang out with Shaq, you can do something more interesting for 35. If you have the money to do that, you should do something more interesting with your money. Now I gotta say the best reward here, Shaq is basically using this like eBay. If you pay $3,000, you get two floor seats to a King's game. Which is basically just like Shaq has season tickets and he's like, yo, I don't need these, I'm not going to these games. You pay $25,000 dinner with Shaq. I would go to dinner with Shaq just to troll it. I would just be trolled. Be like, sorry, I paid $25,000, you gotta hang out with me. I gotta ask you some really annoying questions. Maybe The Verge could do a story on this and then we could just pull it out of our budget. No, I'm not gonna spend $25,000 just to do a story on Shaq. Can I have a t-shirt? I would be willing to get you a t-shirt if you can really produce some great content around the Shaq food to get video game. You hate video games, so. That's just like an impossible triangle. That's not fair. All right, well, you know what, sorry. This is what dinner with Shaq looks like by the way. Can we get the dinner with Shaq graphic up? Okay. So good. I'm putting it in the thing. Somehow I'm not surprised. It's at the top, John. By the way, if you have six friends with $3,600 each, then you can group together to get this awesome perk. So Shaq will have dinner with six people. Listen, guys, I'm willing to put in $3,600. Who's with me? Message me on Twitter. Six of us will go to dinner with Shaq and we'll all take our shirts off halfway through the meal and make him extremely uncomfortable. This is the worst topic we've ever discussed. Can I just say? Yeah, I hate this whole thing. All right, do we want to talk about Watch Dogs? No, I don't know. I'm so tired of this bullshit. I feel like Watch Dogs was a really cool thing before all these NSA leaks came out. Yeah, now it's all too real. Katie won't talk about video games. Let's talk about LSD being used as drug therapy for the first time in 40 years. Let's talk about that. So LSD is a hallucinogen. True. It can create a wide variety of responses in users. In fact, users of LSD report wildly different experiences. Now for instance, when I took acid back in the 70s, now I knew people who would take acid and they would get like wild visual, they'd be like wild visuals. They'd be like, oh my God, I'm seeing, you know, they would see the things that you associated with people seeing with acid, like a cat, the Cheshire cat is like doing some. Sounds wild. If I had ever done LSD, I could tell you I did not get any visuals. It was all in my head. Anyhow, but so Katie, can you explain this? I would love to. Finally, something you want to do on the Vergecast. Stop being so goddamn polite. No, no, you really have been. This entire time. To you, Katie, for, you know, why don't we just. Cheers. Cheers to you for just one of those right there. So classy. What's going on? Let's just get this over with. Come on, guys. Please don't, don't fight. I don't want, I want there to be peace between the two of you. I need peace on this Vergecast. So basically this was the first study in the world in 40 years using LSD, and they were looking at cancer patients, most of them terminally ill, to see whether an LSD trip under the supervision and guidance of a therapist could relieve some of the anxiety around the illness and sort of the idea of impending inevitable death. Wow, that's a downer. I thought they were gonna be like, oh, it turns out LSD can cure cancer. We've been ignoring it this whole time. I wish. Not nearly as cool as that. No, and so the results, it was a very small study. The results weren't great. Some of the patients experienced about a 20% improvement in anxiety levels based on evaluations and questionnaires, but the results weren't statistically significant. I think sort of the real win here is a win for the idea of using psychedelics like LSD in future research and in sort of medical protocols. I mean, I think that's- We sort of take in drugs like LSD and said, this is just bad. Just avoid it at all costs. Don't look at it, don't study it anymore, don't think about it. It's illegal. It's illegal, it's dangerous. Yeah, right, and we just kind of put it in a safe somewhere and we're like, leave it alone. And I think it's something that in the last five or six years has seen a real sea change or an evolution in sort of how it's perceived in the way the FDA and the DEA are handling studies like this with LSD or with MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, even marijuana. So I think this is an interesting example. Doesn't sound like it does great stuff for anxiety, which I can understand. It's a little inconsistent. I feel like this would not be my go-to if I was trying to treat anxiety. I wouldn't be like, oh, you know what would be good is the unpredictable, sometimes terrifying LSD. Let's give that to people with anxiety. There used to be a lot of LSD testing though. Yes, definitely. Like we have a video here, John, of the British Army during World War II testing it on British troops. Really? Oh my God, can we see that? They found that they just became completely ineffective. Of course, of course, they were having too much fun. Can we see it? Absolutely, one guy climbed a tree, I think. I just wanna say don't do drugs, everyone, unless they're really good. Unless you want to. Unless you feel like it. Can we see the clip? Do we have the clip or no? No clip? I thought we had the clip. Great stuff, tight ship we got here. Really ruddy, just smooth, smooth, cool rudder. There we go, here it is. It's like Reaver Madness. Do we have sound? Is there sound on this clip? No sound, I guess we can just imagine these guys are like whoa, things seem weird. I mean, I don't know what they'd be saying. They have guns too. I wouldn't wanna. I don't feel good about this. I wouldn't be like, hey, take this acid and here's a rifle. Yeah, this guy just lost it. After 35 minutes, one of the radio operators had become incapable of using his set and the efficiency of the rocket launcher team was also very impaired. So dangerous. No. 10 minutes later, the attacking section had lost all sense of urgency. What are they thinking? They noticed the bunching and indecision as they enter a wood occupied by the enemy. Yeah, I'd be like, no, don't go in the woods. The second commander tried to use a map to find the location of troop headquarters and the prisoner's escort had to have the way pointed out to him, although it was in plain sight 700 yards away over an open country. Embarrassing. We all been there. 50 minutes after taking the drug, radio communication had become difficult, if not impossible, but the men are still capable of sustained physical effort. However, constructive action was still attempted by those retaining a sense of responsibility in spite of physical symptoms. But one hour and 10 minutes after taking the drug, with one man climbing a tree to feed the birds. Yeah. Wow. Wow. What I think is so wonderful is. We need to do more studies like that. Absolutely. What is so wonderful is how like in the old days they'd be like, let's just give them some acid, keep the guns on them, take the rocket launcher and just do your thing or whatever. Like nobody was worried that they would shoot somebody. It was just gentler time, a dumber time when people didn't know anything. That's great. That was hilarious. I think those guys look like they're having the time of their life. So actually there's a lot of like drugs, drugs as a thing are sort of back. They're back. And there's like, you know, our attitudes are definitely changing. Colorado of course, weed is legal in Colorado now. And there's the first ever commercial, TV commercial for weed, I think, Legal Weed that we ran a story on. Do we have a clip of that? It's actually pretty good. I'd love to see it. It's pretty good. It's an ad for weed, correct? Yeah. Can we see a clip of the, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you guys that I, they're getting it. If you've seen an ad on the internet, it's 100% legal bud. Yeah, and what do you do? Is it for Colorado? I haven't seen the idea. Is this it? Can we get audio? Yeah, well it's for medical marijuana. Can we get this? Can we start this over? I know that. Ain't nobody selling but me. I got tuna, I got salmon, I got sweet shrimp. I got the finest sashimi this area has seen in years. You need me and I need you. Let's make this work. You buy some sashimi, I'll throw in some rice paper, man. Totally free, gratis. I got everything. Even California rolls, baby. You wouldn't buy your sushi from this guy. So why would you buy your marijuana from him? MarijuanaDoctors.com is the only service that connects patients with real doctors for medical marijuana recommendations. Simple, confidential, safe. Visit MarijuanaDoctors.com or call 1-866-996-1999. No, that's, well first off, that guy was a little, okay, that's a great ad. I wanna say something. That guy was, I've never met a drug dealer that excited. Nobody's buying weed from a guy. Not that I've ever met a drug dealer, mind you. But if I had, I've certainly never met one that excited. And like, kinda nice, really. I don't know why he was throwing the edamame everywhere. He was just showing he had a lot of it. It was no big deal for him to. He's making it rain. He's like, listen, when it comes to edamame, I've got plenty of it. Which by the way, I think for sushi restaurants, very true, plenty of edamame. It's like bread. Fish is on endless. Yeah, endless edamame. Breadsticks with the alcohol. That's right. I think it's a great ad. It also, I think drives home a really important point. Like, who wants to buy drugs from a weird drug dealer when you could just, when the government gives it to you. It's just kinda so surreal to see something like that. And no, it's on national, well, not national television, but local television. Where is that for LA? Is that for California? Well, I think it's either for, actually, I don't know where it's airing. Is it medical? I know it was on CNN. Is it medical marijuana in Colorado, or is it just weed for people like Amsterdam? No, no, no, it's recreational. It's medical and recreational. Do you need a license? Do you? Not for recreational, no. Right, so how does that work in Colorado? Are there weed shops there now? Yeah, absolutely. And you just go, I'm in Denver. I just go to a weed shop. I gotta go to Denver. This is amazing. This is so weird. It's really weird. We've spent our entire lives being told that this stuff is the worst thing in the world, and you gotta stay away from it. And if you smoke one puff of weed, you're immediately gonna be a heroin addict. And like now it's like- Reefer Madness, John. Yeah, I've seen Reefer Madness. I've actually watched it. It's depressing, by the way. It is. You think Reefer Madness is gonna be like a funny movie, like, oh, these guys in the 50s, they made this hilarious, or 60s, they made this hilarious movie. I think it's from the 50s. Maybe actually from earlier, 40s. Anyhow, but it's actually a huge downer. And then you realize it's all about- 36, it's from 1936. It's actually really, really depressing. And it's about like, it's very sad people in very sad situations. Oh, here it is. Look at this. Wait, this is colorized. I'm gonna go in for this colorized BS. Hey, if I wanted to see things in color, I would watch network television in 2014. What is going on with my hair? It only has two stars on it, DB. This hair is so, what do they know? It's so messed up. Your hair is- It's getting really long. On drugs. Just do that first. Maybe it's time for a haircut. It is time for a haircut. What are you saying? Is it time for a haircut? I think we need to end so you can go get a haircut. You know what? I think it is time to wrap up, unfortunately. This was a weird one. Yeah. I think this is a long week. I'm very tired. Me too. And we drank an entire bottle of wine. We drank this wine. I didn't even realize, I haven't finished. I still have like quite a bit, but you refilled, so. I finished mine. I had a baby. I had a baby. I got this week, but it's tiring. But we know now officially that it is a baby. Let me tell you about my baby. Yeah. It's put on weight, which is very good. It? She has put on weight. I don't want to reveal too much. What's her name, Link? Hey, come on, man. How much did she weigh when she was born? Six pounds, nine ounces. Oh, a little one. She was early. That's like medium. No, it's close to right on. It's a midsize. Now she is eight pounds, 10 ounces. Great. Which, fun fact, is how much I weighed when I was born. I was a huge baby. Yeah. Huge. And I'm a huge adult, weirdly. I think my brother was like 11 or 12. Oh my God. And now he's like 105 pounds. Like he's this small. Yeah, and I was small, and now I'm, you know. Medium. The Michelin man. You're the Michelin. Don't listen. That's, the Michelin man actually looks like he's in better shape, frankly. Yeah. That's terrible. Wyatt, this is abuse. Is the baby polite or rude? The baby is wonderful. She's great. She only has one problem, which is, she doesn't, she's not perfect. Well, she's a baby. She doesn't sleep at night. Ugh. That's not that bad. I mean, it's horrible, but. I take sleep very seriously. No, no, I know you get like nine hours a night, which is so insane. Every night you get nine hours? Can you imagine? Eight to nine. Anyhow, but she's a joy and a wonder, and you know, I don't know. Are you gonna have another one? You know, that's a great question. It's very insane. It's an insane experience. It's horrible for the mother. For women, I really, it's sad. Like, it sucks. I wish there was another way to do it, because women have the, get the worst, they have the worst situation. They have to carry that baby around for nine months. Then they have to have it, which is insane. Any way you have it, it's crazy. And then they're responsible for kind of everything. Like, I can't feed the baby. I mean, I could if I wanted to give it steak, but you can't give it steak. Well, there's always science. You know, we had that story on cultured beef a while back. You know, maybe we're gonna have cultured babies. I think that's great. Actually, peanut. That is actually a thing. That's a thing that I'm interested in. Me too. We have, I think we'll have more on that. On The Verge, actually. Funny you should bring it up. Okay, I think that's, we should wrap up on that point. Anyhow, I don't know. I think I'd probably like to have, I don't, only kids are weird, right? Only kids are, are. Yeah, that's my. I feel like they're lonely. Like, they always want. I want one, and then my partner in creating a baby is like, no, then there'll be a weirdo. We need to have two. He's right. That sounds expensive and annoying. Here's a photo of my, here's a photo of my daughter. Single children are so entitled. Well, you do have more. You can give. Well, we have pennies, so it's already like, we have two babies. You know what parents love is when people compare a pet ownership to being a parent. No, here's the thing. Like their favorite thing. No, but here's the thing. And maybe I said this in the last one. I think that's totally reasonable. I think I learned a lot from having a dog. It's like not that wildly different. Your responsibility level is much higher. No, I'm sorry. I think it is. I learned a lot from having a dog, and I think it was less of a crazy, like, oh my God, this thing needs me to feed it and take care of it and make sure it's healthy and take it to the doctor. And like, you know, make sure it's loved and all this. Like, it's very similar. It's like a Fisher Price training baby. But it's like 10% of how the, 10% of the intensity. 10% is fair. It's 10%. I accept that. But the basic rules are the same. All right, this was the last Vergecast. I don't think so. Ever. Canceled. This is the beginning of the end. Or is it the end of the beginning? Winecast from now on. I like it. I like the wine. Next week we're gonna talk about cats. It's gonna be the Vergecats. I like the mellow nature of this, and I like that we touched on some topics that we don't normally touch on. Like heaven. Heaven. I would like to talk more about heaven. Me too. That's for damn sure. We should. All right, that's the Vergecast for this week. If you wanna get in touch with us, you can email us at vergecast at theverge.com. You can leave a comment when this story goes up, this post of this thing. Actually, there's a post that is already up you can leave a comment on, if I'm being honest with you. You can write something in our forums, start a conversation in our forums about the Vergecast. And you can also find us on Twitter. The Verge is at Verge. I'm Joshua Topolsky. TC is laughing stoic. I need to change that. It's horrible. I'm verified. I'll lose the blue check mark. It's like some weird emo. Yeah, I don't like that. And Katie Drummond is, whoa, wow. The wine really is taking effect here. The wine is really having this profound effect on Katie Drummond. Stop laughing, John. Normally mild mannered, I don't know if I've ever heard her use the F word. He threatened me. Physically? Guys, okay. I'm never drinking wine with her again. I like this dynamic. I'll be honest with you, it's a little uncomfortable, but I find it to be somewhat enjoyable. I'm gonna let her sit next to you next time. Katie or Katie Drum? With two M's. Two M's, sorry. Of course. I forgot. Yeah, you need to change that. It's really stupid Twitter now. You know, because there are two M's in your last name. Yeah. Which is Drummond. Yeah. Learn how to spell drum. You didn't want to have Drummond in the whole thing? It was taking. Too long? This is another Katie Drummond. She's a real bitch. Wow. And that is the Vergecast. As always, we thank you for watching and listening. And I think it goes without saying, my family, your family, and the families of everyone you know and love are in great danger. I can only hope they make it to the next Vergecast. And we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

It's Thursday, March 6, 2014. I'm Jake Kastronakis and I'm here to formally announce that next month I will be traveling to space. Camp. I'm sorry, I should have read that faster. Space camp. This is 90 seconds on the verge. Has the elusive founder of Bitcoin been found? Newsweek claims that it's uncovered the real identity of the cryptocurrency's creator, previously known only as Satoshi Nakamoto. Turns out, his real identity is apparently Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto. The news magazine spoke with friends and family of Nakamoto and even with Nakamoto himself, who has since denied his involvement in Bitcoin. This might be the closest anyone has gotten to finding Nakamoto, but it raises a bigger question. Is it fair to expose a man who has gone to great lengths to stay anonymous? What does a show about dragons, sword fighting, and incest need? How about a mixtape? HBO is releasing a 10-track album called Catch the Throne, featuring hip-hop and Latin music artists rapping about Game of Thrones. Artists include Common, Wale, and Outkast's Big Boi. Now HBO just needs a True Detective Mariachi album. My collection will be complete. And finally, 20 years after the critically panned 16-bit fighting game Shaq Fu was released, a sequel is in the works. Shaquille O'Neal recently launched an Indiegogo campaign for Shaq Fu, a Legend Reborn, seeking $450,000 to bring the game to life. Interested in chipping in? If you donate $1,000, Shaq will follow you on Twitter for a year. That's it for today's top stories. Coming up tomorrow, Charles Barkley announces work on an official Barkley Shut Up and Jam sequel titled, Barkley 2. Why isn't anyone jamming with me?