logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2021
40m 58s

Chrome and the Android Wars

Vulture
About this episode
Today, nearly all of the world's smartphones are powered by Android. Which means Google is the gatekeeper to the Internet for billions of people. The story of Android is the story of how Google became so big. And it started with an existential threat. With Google in survivalist mode. Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz) ... Show More
Up next
Mar 2021
Planet YouTube
When Google bought YouTube, it went from being a company that helps users search the Internet, to a company that shapes the Internet itself. With 2 billion users, YouTube generates its own gravitational pull on society and culture worldwide. And as an open platform that allows an ... Show More
50m 7s
Mar 2021
The Moonshot Factory
Since they were Stanford grad students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have had big ideas for technologies that could change the world. Only now, they have Google's nearly limitless resources to turn those ideas into reality. Some of Google's projects seem like a vision from the futu ... Show More
38m 38s
Mar 2021
A Military Contract Tests Google's Open Culture
One of Google’s long points of pride was its open, collaborative, and transparent company culture. But many Googlers feel like that's slipping away. Over our next two episodes, we’ll tell the story of a breakdown of trust inside Google — between management and employees. Starting ... Show More
42m 20s
Recommended Episodes
May 2023
Google AI and foldable phones
Today on the flagship podcast of unfolded aspect ratios: 01:03 -The Verge's David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and Alex Cranz discuss the present and future state of Google — it’s this big, complicated, massively successful company that suddenly feels like it’s under threat in a huge num ... Show More
1h 17m
Apr 2021
Land of the Giants: The Google Empire
Vergecast is on vacation this week, so instead we'll share an episode of Land of the Giants from our friends at Recode. Land of the Giants is a podcast that explores the five biggest tech companies and their impact on our world, and this season is all about Google. The episode we ... Show More
43m 26s
Nov 2021
Blackberry vs iPhone | The Smartphone Generation | 5
It’s a GPS! It’s a camera! It’s a computer! It’s...your smartphone. And in 2021, it feels like you can’t live without it. But when Blackberry and iPhone got into the game in the mid-2000s, that wasn’t yet the case. In just 15 years, our technology has changed dramatically — and s ... Show More
26m 9s
Jun 2018
Google, the Pentagon and AI
<p>Google -- or, more properly, Alphabet -- is a huge company, and is at the bleeding edge of numerous technological innovations. So, while it wasn't necessarily a surprise that Uncle Sam wanted Google's help building AI, it certainly disturbed a great many people, some of whom w ... Show More
1h 1m
Nov 2024
Remix: Google Zero is here — now what?
For nearly 20 years now, the web has been Google’s platform; we’ve all just lived on it. Google is constantly changing that platform — it launched another attempt to combat ‘parasite SEO’ just this week — and not all of those changes have worked well. Earlier this year I talked ... Show More
30m 1s
Dec 2023
Google Takes a Big L & YouTube Soars Past TikTok
Episode 211: Neal and Toby talk about Epic Games latest victory against Google that could shift the app market. Next, the economy’s biggest threat doesn’t come from financial institutions, but our geopolitics. Then, will a buyout of Macy’s ultimately mean its demise? Meanwhile, t ... Show More
27m 43s
Apr 2025
Everybody wants to buy Chrome
Some weeks, it just feels like everything is up in the air all at the same time. Nilay and David are joined by The Verge’s Jake Kastrenakes to talk about all the unrest, starting with the ever-changing tariff rules that are making gadgets hard to price, hard to find, and hard to ... Show More
1h 47m
May 2024
Don't Be Evil: Google's Secret War
<p>Josh Bachynski, Host of the SEO + AI Show, talks about the little-known story of Google's secret war to uphold its famous motto, ‘Don't be evil’. For many years, Google was seen as a champion of the small business owner, prioritizing quality content and relevance over advertis ... Show More
22m 52s
Jan 2024
AI-powered search engine Perplexity AI, now valued at $520M, raises $70M
As search engine incumbents — namely Google — amp up their platforms with gen AI tech, startups are looking to reinvent AI-powered search from the ground up. It might seem like a Sisyphean task, going up against competitors with billions upon billions of users. Learn more about y ... Show More
8m 19s
Mar 2019
Galaxy S10E review and Spotify takes on Apple
The Verge's Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, Natt Garun, and Paul Miller discuss the changes in the new Android Q beta as well as a review of the Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+. and S10E. Which phone is best? Also, Spotify files antitrust complaint over 'Apple tax' All that and much more on t ... Show More
1h 17m