Travis Larchuk

Find out who lives and who dies as Verge staffers travel the treacherous Oregon Trail in a live playthrough of the classic edutainment game. This season, Version History is going back to school: We’ll talk about the TI-84+ graphing calculator, One Laptop Per Child, Chromebook, LeapPad, and the overhead projector. Our premiere episode about The Oregon Trail is already live!

Senior reviewers Allison Johnson and Victoria Song trade host and guest duties in a Vergecasting ouroboros that’s never been attempted before and will probably never be attempted again. Allison talks about the iPhone 18 Pro’s new camera, Victoria talks about the Watch 12 and Ultra 4’s new sensors, and they both give their verdicts on who should upgrade.

Last week, an Anthropic researcher resigned and posted on X, “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” These warnings are nothing new, but this one managed to go mainstream. So, do the people making AI really think it could kill us all? How? And if it really could be as dangerous as they say, why would anyone continue to work on it? Senior AI reporter Hayden Field joined us to answer your questions about the AI freakout.

Sean Hollister got his hands and face on Valve’s new VR headset, the Steam Frame. It’s expensive, starting at more than $1,000. It’s buggy — he and CNET’s Scott Stein both felt like beta testers as they reviewed it. But it’s also full of interesting ideas, including the promise that Steam games could one day come to your mobile phone. This week on The Vergecast, Sean and Scott discuss who exactly this device is for, in a world that mostly seems to have moved on from VR.

AI doomerism broke containment last week with an Anthropic researcher’s proclamation that there’s a >10% chance AI could kill all humans within the decade. The Vergecast is recording an all-AI hotline with senior reporter Hayden Field, and we want to hear from you. Comment on this post, e-mail vergecast@theverge.com, or call us at 866-VERGE-11.

Following Apple’s “Surprise and Shine” event, The Vergecast is going live to share our first reactions and answer your questions. Folding phones, non-folding phones, non-phones, we’ll talk about it all. Come hang out!

At this year’s London Marathon, two runners completed the route in under two hours, becoming the first people to ever do so on an official course. It’s a feat that Outside magazine’s Alex Hutchinson once thought wouldn’t be accomplished until 2075. The Verge’s senior policy reporter (and marathoner) Lauren Feiner talks to Alex about “super shoes” and the other surprising technological advances that led to this moment.

Apple’s big hardware event is coming next week. iPhones are the main draw, but senior reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy has her eyes on the rumors around — what else? — smart home gadgets. Andrew O’Hara from the Smart Home Insider podcast joins Jen to fire up the Vergecast Rank-o-Matic and speculate on which rumored gadgets are most likely to see the light of day.