Hello! This is The Vergecast, the flagship podcast of The Verge... and your life. Every Friday, Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn make sense of the week's tech news with help from our wide-ranging staff. Join us every week for a fun, deeply nerdy, often off-the-rails conversation about what's happening now (and next) in technology and gadgets.

Of course Meta thinks gambling is the future

June 26, 2026 1:23:32 14.6 MB ( -14.61 MB less) Downloads: 0

Meta's business is doing just fine. But Meta as a company, and Meta as a series of products? That is, uh, messier. David and Nilay discuss the company's ongoing desire to be relevant and cool, the unceasing importance of Instagram, and why it makes perfect sense that Facebook would clone Polymarket. After that, the hosts talk about Apple's huge price increases, and the ways in which RAMageddon might change the gadget market forever. Then it's time for Brendan Carr is a dummy, the latest on the movie Artificial, and the looming fight over AI data.


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(Timestamps are approximate.)


00:01:00 Cannes Cold Open

00:07:00 Coach x Spotify Absurdity

00:10:00 Vox Media PMX Shakeup

00:14:00 Meta Chaos vs Money

00:26:00 Gambling as Engagement

00:33:00 Ramageddon Hits Gadgets

00:44:00 Slate Truck Price

00:45:00 Range And Truck Feel

00:48:00 Tech Bloat Backlash

00:50:00 BYD Versus Tesla

00:56:00 FCC Targets The View

01:04:00 Amazon Drops Artificial

01:08:00 Kaleidescape Versus Blu Ray

01:13:00 Bob Iger Merger Rumors

01:17:00 Blocking AI Crawlers

01:22:00 Wrap Up And Next Week

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