We've been covering what's happening in Minnesota, and the killing of Alex Pretti, all week on The Verge. To begin this episode, Nilay explains why — and why so many others seem to feel the same way right now. After that, the hosts talk about the CEO-studded screening of Melania Trump's documentary last weekend, the disastrous public appearance from Tim Cook, and whether Cook and other CEOs have any other option but to capitulate to the Trump administration. Then it's time for some gadgets: we talk about the super-foldy, super-expensive Samsung Galaxy  Z Trifold, the Clawdbot / Moltbot phenomenon, and whether Google can finally put Chrome OS and Android together the right way. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a dummy, Tesla's anti-car pivot, Apple's design hires, and more.



Further reading:


  On the ground in Minneapolis after the killing of Alex Pretti 



  I grew up with Alex Pretti 



  Creators and communities everywhere take a stand against ICE 



  It doesn’t matter if Alex Pretti had a gun 



  Why won’t anyone stop ICE from masking? 



  Tim Cook, Andy Jassy, and AMD CEO Lisa Su are at the White House for a VIP screening of the Melania doc.



  Tim Cook had ‘a good conversation’ with Trump about deescalation 



  Cook in 2020: Speaking up on racism




  From The New York Times: Amazon’s $35 Million ‘Melania’ Promotion Has Critics Questioning Its Motives




  From The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Melania’ Set for a $3 Million Opening Despite Amazon’s $35 Million Marketing Push




  Here’s Tim Cook hanging out with accused rapist Brett Ratner at the Melania screening



  What TikTok’s new owners mean for your feed 



  TikTok USA is broken 



  TikTok is still down, here are all the latest updates 



  TikTok is still struggling in the US due to a “cascading systems failure.” 



  TikTok US is mostly back up and running 



  TikTok blames its US problems on a power outage 



  Oracle admits it broke TikTok.



  Congress doesn’t seem to know if the TikTok deal complies with its law 



  Is New TikTok banning the word “Epstein” in DMs? Not really. 



  TikTokers are heading to UpScrolled following US takeover 



  Mark Zuckerberg is all in on AI as the new social media 



  Meta is stopping teens from chatting with its AI characters 



  Bluesky is testing ‘live’ features to take on X 



  Best gas masks



  The Samsung Trifold will cost nearly three grand 



  Google just leaked a first look at Android for PC in action 



  Chromebooks train schoolkids to be loyal customers, internal Google document suggests 



  Moltbot, the AI agent that ‘actually does things,’ is tech’s new obsession



  
Clawdbot’s bad day 




  I used Claude to vibe-code my wildly overcomplicated smart home



  The FCC’s Late Night Comedy Show



  Tesla discontinuing Model S and Model X to make room for robots 



  Tesla says production-ready Optimus robot is coming soon 



  Tesla hits a grim milestone: its second straight year of decline



  Elon Musk invests $2 billion in Elon Musk



  Hang on, there’s a Trump Phone Ultra coming too? 



  Halide co-founder Sebastiaan de With is joining Apple’s design team 



  The Stream Deck-packed gaming keyboard is a monster of good ideas


Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Vergecast

The Verge

Tim Cook is destroying his own legacy

JAN 30, 202695 MIN
The Vergecast

Tim Cook is destroying his own legacy

JAN 30, 202695 MIN

Description

We've been covering what's happening in Minnesota, and the killing of Alex Pretti, all week on The Verge. To begin this episode, Nilay explains why — and why so many others seem to feel the same way right now. After that, the hosts talk about the CEO-studded screening of Melania Trump's documentary last weekend, the disastrous public appearance from Tim Cook, and whether Cook and other CEOs have any other option but to capitulate to the Trump administration. Then it's time for some gadgets: we talk about the super-foldy, super-expensive Samsung Galaxy  Z Trifold, the Clawdbot / Moltbot phenomenon, and whether Google can finally put Chrome OS and Android together the right way. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a dummy, Tesla's anti-car pivot, Apple's design hires, and more. Further reading: On the ground in Minneapolis after the killing of Alex Pretti  I grew up with Alex Pretti  Creators and communities everywhere take a stand against ICE  It doesn’t matter if Alex Pretti had a gun  Why won’t anyone stop ICE from masking?  Tim Cook, Andy Jassy, and AMD CEO Lisa Su are at the White House for a VIP screening of the Melania doc. Tim Cook had ‘a good conversation’ with Trump about deescalation  Cook in 2020: Speaking up on racism From The New York Times: Amazon’s $35 Million ‘Melania’ Promotion Has Critics Questioning Its Motives From The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Melania’ Set for a $3 Million Opening Despite Amazon’s $35 Million Marketing Push Here’s Tim Cook hanging out with accused rapist Brett Ratner at the Melania screening What TikTok’s new owners mean for your feed  TikTok USA is broken  TikTok is still down, here are all the latest updates  TikTok is still struggling in the US due to a “cascading systems failure.”  TikTok US is mostly back up and running  TikTok blames its US problems on a power outage  Oracle admits it broke TikTok. Congress doesn’t seem to know if the TikTok deal complies with its law  Is New TikTok banning the word “Epstein” in DMs? Not really.  TikTokers are heading to UpScrolled following US takeover  Mark Zuckerberg is all in on AI as the new social media  Meta is stopping teens from chatting with its AI characters  Bluesky is testing ‘live’ features to take on X  Best gas masks The Samsung Trifold will cost nearly three grand  Google just leaked a first look at Android for PC in action  Chromebooks train schoolkids to be loyal customers, internal Google document suggests  Moltbot, the AI agent that ‘actually does things,’ is tech’s new obsession Clawdbot’s bad day  I used Claude to vibe-code my wildly overcomplicated smart home The FCC’s Late Night Comedy Show Tesla discontinuing Model S and Model X to make room for robots  Tesla says production-ready Optimus robot is coming soon  Tesla hits a grim milestone: its second straight year of decline Elon Musk invests $2 billion in Elon Musk Hang on, there’s a Trump Phone Ultra coming too?  Halide co-founder Sebastiaan de With is joining Apple’s design team  The Stream Deck-packed gaming keyboard is a monster of good ideas Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices