The Vergecast The real price of a free TV
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Oct 3, 2025 Emma Roth, a reporter for The Verge, shares her experience of living with Telly, the ad-supported free TV. She details the setup process and the intrusive nature of the always-on ad bar, which can be quite distracting. Emma also explores Telly's potential as a social hub, testing features like Zoom and fitness apps while noting some hardware limitations. The team discusses whether the trade-offs of free hardware with constant ads are worth it, touching on privacy concerns and user experience.
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Echo Shows Feel Like Tablets Now
- Amazon redesigned Echo Shows to behave more like tablets by improving touchscreen speed and responsiveness.
- Faster processors and a floating screen improve interaction and make smart displays feel significantly more capable.
Design Changes To Improve Voice Recognition
- Amazon repositioned the Echo Show screen to improve microphone pickup and voice recognition.
- The floating display plus a bigger rear speaker aim to solve the common issue of smart displays not hearing you reliably.
Choose An Ecosystem By Tradeoffs
- Pick a smart home ecosystem based on which tradeoffs you accept: hardware breadth, privacy, or no ads.
- Consider options: Amazon for lots of hardware, Google for privacy tradeoffs, Apple for premium costs, or self-hosted for control but complexity.