After a week of working from home, The Vergecast returns to recording remotely. There was a lot of coverage on the site this week about efforts for testing and containing the novel coronavirus pandemic, but one story, in particular, brought the discussion to the podcast: the confusion surrounding a Google-funded website meant help find coronavirus testing facilities.
A week ago today, President Trump announced during an emergency declaration that Google was developing a website to help people in the US get tested if they needed it. Vergecast hosts Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, and Paul Miller discuss the accuracy of the statements, who is actually building a website, and what the status of getting tested looks like today.
In the second half of the show, the crew shifts gears into the gadget world. Apple this week announced an updated iPad Pro and MacBook Air after weeks of rumors and leaks. Now that an iPad will have a trackpad, how thin is the line between the laptop and the tablet?
There’s also a whole lot more sprinkled throughout the show — like some in-the-weeds discussion about PS5 specs and Paul’s weekly segment “I’m a Moog man now” — so listen through to hear it all.
Stories discussed this week:
- Comcast modestly raises slow internet speeds for low-income users because of coronavirus
- AT&T is suspending broadband data caps for home internet customers due to coronavirus
- AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and others agree not to overcharge customers during coronavirus
- Verily’s coronavirus screening website launches with very limited access
- Trump’s Google testing announcement mixed up several real projects
- The White House still can’t explain what’s going on with the coronavirus screening website
- Coronavirus testing shouldn’t be this complicated
- Apple announces online-only WWDC 2020 due to coronavirus spread
- Apple announces new iPad Pro with trackpad support and a wild keyboard cover
- iPadOS 13.4 adds full mouse and trackpad support
- The iPad Pro is ready to supplant the Mac just as the MacBook Air is great again
- Logitech’s iPad keyboard case with trackpad costs half as much as Apple’s
- The new iPad Pro’s LIDAR sensor is an AR hardware solution in search of software
- The new iPad Pro’s LIDAR scanner can turn a living room into an AR game of Hot Lava
- You can try the iPad’s new trackpad and mouse support right now with Apple’s public beta
- Apple announces new MacBook Air with improved keyboard, faster performance, and more storage
- Moog and Korg are offering synth apps for free while we’re all stuck at home
- PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: a complicated battle of SSD and GPU speeds
- Sony says the PlayStation 5’s SSD will completely change next-gen level design
- The Xbox Series X specs look impressive, but that’s not enough
- Here’s how Xbox Series X removable storage will work
The Vergecast /
Weekly tech roundup and interviews with major figures from the tech world.