The Team Coco Radio logo. | Image: Team Coco This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.It’s only Tuesday, and it’s already been a packed week for podcast news. Shortly before hitting publish on this issue of Hot Pod, I got the news that just about every late-night talk show host in America is teaming up with Spotify to launch a limited podcast series about the Hollywood strike. The five hosts: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, have all had their shows on pause since May due to the Writers Guild strike. Strike Force Five will launch on Spotify and other platforms on August 30th, and the plan is for the limited series to run for at least 12 episodes. Notably, the proceeds from the... Continue reading…

Foldable phones are becoming more prevalent as a serious consideration for the average consumer in 2023, but up until now, it has been mostly Samsung leading the charge. There have been a ton of different foldables debuting in Asian and European markets, but the level of competing in the North American market hasn't been up to par. That is, until now. After a slew of early summer releases, Samsung now has serious threats to its big and small foldables coming from Google and Motorola, respectively. The question is, are those challenges enough to dethrone Samsung as the leader in foldable smartphones in North America?

Samsung's latest flagship foldable is finally on sale, and you can grab it through various retailers or your favorite carriers. While you can no longer utilize the preorder benefits to make the purchase easier on your pocket, there still are a few good deals on the Galaxy Z Fold 5. If you're considering picking one up, check out the Galaxy Z Fold 5 deals below and get a free storage upgrade, enhanced trade-in credit, and other goodies.

Buying a new laptop is always hard, but it's not for lack of choice. There are lots of fantastic laptops out there, and even a lot of great deals you'll see on Surface devices, so choosing one can be tricky. There are different form factors, sizes, processors, and many other factors to consider. But one factor that tends to be pretty important when choosing a laptop is its weight. Laptops are meant to be portable, and carrying a heavy device in your backpack gets uncomfortable very quickly.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon will offer a new $90 monthly cellphone plan called Unlimited Ultimate, announced in an update to the May blog post that announced its myPlan lineup. It offers 60GB of mobile hotspot data (double what you get with the $80 Unlimited Plus plan), 10GB of unthrottled international data, and includes access to the company’s 5G Ultra Wideband network that's a mix of the company’s C-band wireless signal and its faster mmWave 5G. T-Mobile similarly just introduced an expensive new "unlimited" data plan to its Go5G line with the $100 per month Go5G Next plan to complement its C-band spectrum. It offers slightly less hotspot data at 50GB but comes with Netflix Basic and Apple TV Plus and the option to upgrade your phone on a yearly... Continue reading…

Microsoft and Qualcomm first introduced Windows on Arm back in 2017, but it took some time for Arm devices to catch on. The ability to run Windows on Arm-based processors is a big deal. Arm processors offer always-on connectivity, instant wake, and many of them come with cellular connectivity without adding a premium to the price. The first few Windows on Arm devices all had the same processors, which weren't very good.

Chromebooks offer much more than just a web browsing experience in 2023. Just like Windows laptops, Chromebooks now come in all shapes and sizes and are solid options even against MacBooks. There are a wide variety of devices to choose from, including ChromeOS clamshell laptops, convertibles, and even desktop Chromeboxes.

There are a lot of critical components when it comes to building a PC, and while the process can be fun, sometimes it can be a little daunting if it's your first time. Luckily, there are now wide range of quality options, making it more affordable than ever to build your own computer.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab S9 series brings some notable upgrades over the existing lineup, upping the ante again in the Android tablets space. The company has updated all three models this year, which means we also have an upgraded Ultra variant. The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra was already an excellent tablet with powerful internals and a massive 14.6-inch display — so has Samsung done enough to differentiate and make the new Galaxy Tab S9 model stand out? Let's take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra compared to the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra to see what's new in the upgraded tablet and whether you should consider it over last year's model.

The Steam Deck’s biggest weakness is battery life — and yet somehow, every challenger has failed to raise that bar. The Ayaneo 2 showed us that AMD’s Ryzen 6800U wasn’t ready to compete; the Asus ROG Ally revealed that AMD’s Z1 Extreme couldn’t pull ahead if Asus insisted on matching the Steam Deck’s 40 watt-hour battery pack. But Ayaneo may have an answer: it’s stuffing a 75 watt-hour pack into a larger, heavier handheld called the Ayaneo Kun that — it now claims — can last nearly three and a quarter hours at 15W TDP. That’s nearly double the battery and runtime you’d expect from a Steam Deck at that wattage, though it appears it wasn’t captured while playing a game, exactly. Image: Ayaneo Ayaneo Kun battery... Continue reading…

Illustration by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The US government just helped dismantle a massive network of computers infected with one of the world’s most notorious pieces of malware. According to the FBI, a multinational effort led by the US took down Qakbot, a malware that made its way into over 700,000 computers around the globe.Hackers typically target victims with Qakbot by sending them spam emails containing malicious attachments or links. As soon as a victim downloads the attachment or clicks the link, Qakbot infects their computer, which then becomes part of a botnet — or a network of infected computers controlled remotely by hackers. From there, bad actors can install additional malware on their victims’ devices, such as ransomware.Today, #FBI Director Christopher Wray... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Copyright Office is opening a public comment period around AI and copyright issues beginning August 30th as the agency figures out how to approach the subject. As announced in the Federal Register, the agency wants to answer three main questions: how AI models should use copyrighted data in training; whether AI-generated material can be copyrighted even without a human involved; and how copyright liability would work with AI. It also wants comments around AI possibly violating publicity rights but noted these are not technically copyright issues. The Copyright Office said if AI does mimic voices, likenesses, or art styles, it may impact state-mandated rules around publicity and unfair competition laws. Written comments are due... Continue reading…