What does Alexa Plus actually do better?

This week, everything is a HomePod. And has ads. The Verge’s Jen Pattison-Tuohy joins the show to talk about all of Amazon’s new hardware, the current state of Alexa Plus, and whether the new Kindle Scribe is the one we’ve been waiting for. Then, The Verge’s Emma Roth tells Jen and David about her experience with Telly, the TV that ships to your house for free in exchange for showing you ads all the time. Telly may not be for everyone. Finally, in the lightning round, the gang talks about a handy new Spotify feature, Emma’s first Waymo ride, and the glory that is Chunk.

Further reading:

• Amazon’s 2025 hardware event: the 8 biggest announcements
  

• Here’s where to preorder all of Amazon’s new Alexa devices and when they arrive

• Amazon finally did the damn hardware right
  

• Amazon’s new Echo Dot Max smart speaker bumps up the bass
  

• Alexa Plus is smarter — but it’s not yet smart enough
  

• Alexa Plus on the TV is made to save you from your phone 

• Alexa Plus is smarter — but it’s not yet smart enough
  

• Alexa Plus on the TV is made to save you from your phone 

• Amazon sticks two cameras together for the 180-degree Blink Arc
  

• The new Google Home Speaker is built for Gemini
  

• Hey Google, meet Gemini: the new voice of your smart home | The Verge
  

• I spent three months with Telly, the free TV that’s always showing ads
  

• OpenAI made a TikTok for deepfakes, and it’s getting hard to tell what’s real

• Spotify now lets you exclude specific songs from your algorithm
  

• All hail the new Fat Bear Champion
  

• Ring launches upgraded cameras with ‘Retinal Vision’ 4K recording

• Microsoft is giving Copilot AI faces you can chat with
  

• Waymo adds YouTube Music

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices