David Pierce

Valve’s Steam Machine might be exactly the living room console you’ve been waiting for. Or it might be too expensive, totally pointless, a waste of everyone’s money and shelf space. The Verge’s Sean Hollister joins the show to talk through all the feedback we’ve been getting about our coverage and our review. Is Valve’s history a pro or a con? Is the price reasonable or ridiculous? Who is this device actually for? We have much to discuss.

AI-generated music is suddenly everywhere. On social media, music streaming services, and elsewhere, stuff made on Suno is becoming unavoidable. The Verge’s Terrence O’Brien joins David to talk about where Suno came from, whether it can truly change the way we create and consume music, and how we can and should respond to AI music. We also have some thoughts on whether these songs might someday be bangers.

So far, there have been exactly zero great AI-first gadgets. But that hasn’t stopped the tech industry from trying to figure out what shape and size these new gadgets might take, and whether any of them can best the device in your pocket. The Verge’s Allison Johnson and Victoria Song join David to rank all those shapes, from pendant to smartwatch to rectangle, to see whether there is actually a next big thing out there.

We have all become desensitized. Every place is like every other place, every experience is happening at a remove and on a screen. And Ian Bogost, a Washington University professor and a writer at The Atlantic, argues in a new book called The Small Stuff that this “dematerialization” is making our life worse. He tells us of the magic of paper tickets, why he’s kind of obsessed with the rubber on his water bottle, and why you don’t need to throw phone into the ocean — but you should probably watch more ASMR videos.

Pete Holmes has a lot of good tech takes in this Wired interview. He also, against all odds, made me want the iPhone Air:

Did you see that Bloomberg report yesterday about the Netflix shows that fall way off in their second season? Our friend Ryan Broderick over at Garbage Day has a good take on what’s going on — and why it’s about more than just production times.