By The Verge | Created at 2025-04-04 13:21:54 | Updated at 2025-04-05 00:43:27
12 hours ago
First things first, some exciting news: The Vergecast has been nominated for a Webby Award! This one means a lot to us, especially because it’s an award you get to vote on. We’d be so grateful if you’d go vote for us once, or 40 times, or however many times the site will allow. (Also, honestly, you should listen to some of the other nominees; all four are great shows. Just don’t vote for them.)
Now, as for this episode. This is a seriously Vergecast-y week, actually, in the sense that two of the year’s biggest news stories — the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Trump administration’s disastrous economic policy — are both unfolding simultaneously, and stand to affect one another in unusually direct ways. So in this episode, that’s what we talk about: the gadget we’re all eagerly awaiting, and the policy chaos that could change the way it works.
First, we talk Switch. Nintendo’s Direct announcement this week brought a lot of new information about the company’s new console, and a peek at some of its most anticipated games. Nilay, David, and The Verge’s Richard Lawler dig into what we know, what we still don’t, and whether this is shaping up to be a worthy successor to one of the most successful consoles ever. We also talk about the latest on the TikTok ban, and the best gadgets Microsoft ever made.
After that, we talk tariffs. (Which might make the Switch a lot more expensive than it already is.) The hosts run down the news of the week, most of which makes no sense whatsoever, and then enlist Tuneshine creator Tobias Butler to explain how tariffs change the way companies do business. Butler explains why Alibaba is such an important platform for hardware companies, how even small price changes can have large knock-on effects, and whether his delightful music gadget will have to change to fit the new system.
Finally, in the lightning round, it’s time for another round of “Brendan Carr is a Dummy.” Because somehow, there’s always material. Then we talk about Sony’s truly bonkers new TV names, Tesla’s plummeting sales, the mysterious “launch” of Alexa Plus, and the surprising, Lazarus-like revival of the Coyote vs. Acme movie.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on the Switch 2 and other tech news:
And in tariffs news:
And in the lightning round:
