The speech police came for Colbert | The Vergecast

Once again, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and his bad ideas about free speech have rankled a late night host. And once again, Nilay and David talk through what the equal-time rule actually means, why organizations keep caving, and why it’s apparently up to people like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel to fight back. After that, the hosts discuss the facial recognition feature Meta hopes to launch for its smart glasses, plus the gadgets we’re likely to see Apple launch in the couple of weeks. In the lightning round, we get some bleak news on Tesla’s self-driving skills, a robovac security disaster, and the future of Warner Bros. 0:00 Welcome to The Vergecast (and TV is just YouTube marketing now) 00:46 Show rundown & why we’re starting with “Brendan Carr is a dummy” 03:02 Colbert vs. the FCC: the equal-time “chilling effect” explained 08:47 The Streisand Effect: banning the interview makes it blow up on YouTube 10:07 What the law actually says: news exemptions, precedent, and why CBS could fight 12:37 CBS’s weasel statement & The Verge’s “put your name on it” policy 18:19 Is Brendan Carr ‘winning’? Media owners, speech policing, and the Murdoch comparison 27:12 Meta Ray-Bans and the ‘Name Tag’ facial recognition plan 32:14 Why face-ID glasses are the killer app—and a surveillance nightmare 39:26 Apple’s March 4 press briefings: spec bumps, new iPads/Macs, and pricing anxiety 42:21 RAM shortage fallout: pricier consoles, scarce gadgets, and AI data centers hogging supply 45:53 Apple’s AI gadget roadmap: glasses, camera AirPods, and the ‘pendant’ 47:28 The iPhone stays the hub: battery, connectivity, and Apple’s services reality 49:35 Visual intelligence is hard: cameras, Google Lens, and the content moderation problem 52:36 AR’s political minefield: truth, labels, and getting hauled before Congress 55:13 Will new interfaces kill the phone? Input revolutions and Apple’s leadership moment 01:00:04 Pixel 10a hands-on: minimal upgrades, flush camera, and the best ‘berry’ color 01:04:41 Lightning Round: DJI ‘Romo’ Robovac hacked—7,000 devices exposed via AI tools 01:09:37 Galaxy S26 privacy display leak: anti-shoulder-surfing (and subway phone-watching) 01:12:55 Epstein file oddities: 4chan denial, email encoding, and the PDF Association 01:16:55 Streaming merger chaos: Warner/Paramount/Netflix bidding war heats up 01:20:15 Tesla Robotaxi crash stats vs humans + a WordPress AI assistant ( Subscribe: http://goo.gl/G5RXGs Like The Verge on Facebook: https://goo.gl/2P1aGc Follow on Twitter: https://goo.gl/XTWX61 Follow on Instagram: https://goo.gl/7ZeLvX Follow on TikTok: http://bit.ly/42VeCVU Watch The Vergecast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/40RFRkg The Vergecast Podcast: https://bit.ly/3WQDexZ Decoder with Nilay Patel: http://apple.co/3v29nDc More about our podcasts: https://www.theverge.com/podcasts Read More: http://www.theverge.com Community guidelines: http://bit.ly/2D0hlAv Wallpapers from The Verge: https://bit.ly/2xQXYJr Shop our Verge merch store here: https://bit.ly/4kPCmEc Subscribe to The Verge: https://bit.ly/3FT6n5S Subscribe to The Vergecast on YouTube, new episodes on Tuesday and Friday: https://bit.ly/3I6nJtz If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may receive a commission without exerting any influence on editorial content. For more information about our ethics policy, visit: https://www.theverge.com/ethics-state...