We just don’t really understand why you’d make a pair of $200 headphones without Bluetooth. But we absolutely understand why you’d want a 57-inch Samsung monitor.
Can you make a top-notch PC out of a block of wood? Maybe more to the point, would you want to? And can Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, or anyone anywhere, build a true super app? Today on the show we accidentally investigate the biggest and smallest visions of computing, all in one place.
Computers used to be made out of wood, endlessly customizable, and totally personal. Now they’re all metal rectangles. Can one guy in his LA house help bring the old way back?
IBM, which owns The Weather Company and brands like Weather.com, Weather Underground, and The Weather Channel app (but not the TV channel, it’s all very confusing) is selling all its weather assets to a private equity firm.
It sounds like Francisco Partners has consumer-friendly plans, but this might be bad news for your favorite web app. Weather data is a big and competitive business, and a new owner might not be so friendly about it.
Which, to be fair, should not be even remotely surprising. But discussing the 25th anniversary of the iMac did give us a chance to talk about the official iMac class system, wonder why the Dalmatian colors ever existed at all, and reminisce about the computer rooms of old. Also: TV in a suitcase, y’all.
It’s all a lot of screens on this episode, really. Screens in suitcases next to pools. Screens that look like sunflowers. Screens for scrolling, screens for tapping, screens that show everyone yelling at each other while you try to watch football. It’s The Vergecast, the flagship podcast of the hutch your family computer used to be in.
College football conferences: super confusing, ultimately made up, and surprisingly important to the future of entertainment. Oh, and if you haven’t seen The YouTube Effect yet, this podcast will still make total sense, but you should add it to your watch list for sure.
