Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where we discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.
This week on The Vergecast, Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and Russell Brandom start the show with news of federal judge James Boasberg allowing the FTC to proceed with an antitrust lawsuit against Meta. The crew explains why the case can go forward after a dismissal last year and what can happen next.
The next topic of discussion focuses on the viral success of the web-based puzzle game Wordle and the race to clone it. The Vergecast walks you through the drama, resulting in a bunch of Wordle clones being removed from Apple’s App Store.
Later in the show, Verge deputy editor Dan Seifert stops by for this week’s gadget talk. On the docket: Canon printers abandoning their DRM toner (for now), reports of the PC market experiencing its first big growth in a decade, and the takeaways from this year’s CES.
There’s a whole lot more discussed in this week’s show — like the White House hosting a tech summit, the bugginess of Android 12, and, of course, RCS discourse — so listen here or in your preferred podcast player for the full discussion.
Here’s a full list of stories discussed in this week’s show:
White House to launch COVID test-ordering site ‘by this weekend,’ reports say
White House hosts tech summit to discuss open-source security after Log4j
Google calls for new government action to protect open-source software projects
Judge says the FTC’s Meta monopoly lawsuit can go forward
Meta’s real antitrust problems are only beginning
Want the ‘TLDR’ on a site’s terms of service? There’s a bill for that
Apple says App Store developers have earned more than $260 billion
The App Store clones are here to profit off Wordle’s success
The Wordle clones have disappeared from the App Store
Wordle copycat creator apologizes for ripping off the popular free word game
The real beauty of Wordle is how its emoji results tell a story
Alleged Apple App Store scammer AmpMe lowers prices and says it’ll investigate its ‘consultants’
Google exec says Apple is ‘holding back’ customers who text
Google says Apple ‘should not benefit from bullying’ created by iMessage lock-in
It fills me with glee that Canon printers now think Canon’s own toner is fake
Apple’s $19 polishing cloth is back in stock online
Ford doesn’t want the F-150 Lightning’s launch to be plagued by scalpers
Tesla removes 2022 production date from Cybertruck website
The PC market just had another big year thanks to pandemic demand
TSMC earmarks record $44 billion for chip manufacturing expansion in 2022
The pandemic has blurred the lines between laptop categories
Sony Xperia 5 III now shipping in the US, almost nine months after initial announcement
The Nvidia Shield is getting Android 11 and other upgrades
Sony says it’s still making new PS4s, but most stores aren’t selling them
Google’s Android 12 update has been the rockiest one in years
Ford doesn’t want the F-150 Lightning’s launch to be plagued by scalpers
Wear OS will work better for lefties… eventually
Tesla removes 2022 production date from Cybertruck website
GM is creating an online used car marketplace
Buy Nothing exploded on Facebook — now it wants a platform on its own