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The Vergecast

The Vergecast
Author: The Verge
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The Vergecast is the flagship podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, hosts Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz hang out and make sense of the week’s most important technology news. And every Wednesday, David leads a selection of The Verge’s expert staffers in an exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives – and which ones you should bring into yours.
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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Tom Warren discuss the biggest announcements from Microsoft Build 2023.
Later, the crew discuss the launch of Warner Bros. Discovery’s combined streaming service Max.
Further reading:
Elon Musk fails to launch Ron DeSantis in disastrous Twitter Space
Microsoft Build 2023: The 5 biggest announcements
Microsoft’s Copilot and Bing AI plug-ins will be interoperable with ChatGPT
Bing is now the default search for ChatGPT
Microsoft 365 Copilot is getting plug-ins
Microsoft’s Edge browser is getting the 365 Copilot AI assistant
Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott thinks Sydney might make a comeback
Microsoft announces Windows Copilot, an AI ‘personal assistant’ for Windows 11
Max has arrived, and it’ll feel very familiar to HBO Max customers
Max will stream over 1,000 movies and TV episodes in 4K at launch
Warner Bros. Discovery apologizes for crediting writers and directors as ‘creators’ on Max
HBO Max remote button killed in Max rebrand — 9to5Mac
HBO Max now Max: lacks native video player features; 'Up Next' support bugs - 9to5Mac
Sony’s new Q handheld is official: 8-inch screen, streams PS5 games
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Today on the flagship podcast of the Purah Pad:
02:19 - Senator Ed Markey chats with Nilay Patel about the importance of keeping AM radio in cars after many EV manufacturers have started to remove it from new models.
Cars would be required to keep AM radio under new bipartisan bill
The shift to EVs is slowly killing off AM radio — and that’s bad for emergency broadcasts
22:09 - Alex Cranz and Sean Hollister talk with SVP of networking at Nvidia Kevin Deierling live at the Computer History Museum for the 50th anniversary of ethernet about the future of connectivity.
Wired: 50 years of ethernet
CHM Live | Ethernet@50
52:51 - David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Ash Parrish discuss why The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom works so well and what the rest of the gaming world should do about it.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review: new powers, new places, but less wonder
A conversation with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s creative leads
Tears of the Kingdom’s dungeons were designed with seamlessness in mind
Tips and tricks to get you through Tears of the Kingdom
Zelda players turned Tears of the Kingdom into a Korok torture chamber
The wildest Tears of the Kingdom builds we’ve seen
Tears of the Kingdom’s puzzle designers are fantastic trolls
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom walkthrough and guides - Polygon
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Adi Robertson discuss Montana being the first state to ban TikTok, the Supreme Court ruling against reexamining Section 230, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testifying before the Senate.
Then, David interviews vlogger Hank Green about the TikTok ban in Montana.
Later, Verge senior news editor Richard Lawler joins the show to discuss this week in gadgets, from the free Telly TV to the Beats Studio Buds Plus.
TikTok is now banned in Montana: here’s what you need to know
Montana bans Telegram, WeChat, and Temu from government devices
Full Hank Green interview here
TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform
Supreme Court puts off showdown over Texas and Florida social media laws
Supreme Court rules against reexamining Section 230
Congress hates Big Tech — but it still seems optimistic about AI
This free TV comes with two screens
The free TV company briefly wasn’t sure what it should do with data from kids
Amazon’s latest Echo Buds have an all-new design and much cheaper price
Amazon’s new Echo Pop is a $40 smart speaker
Beats Studio Buds Plus review: it’s cool to be clear
CueCat
YouTube is bringing unskippable 30-second ads to TV
Max promises shorter ad breaks than other streamers when it launches May 23rd
Netflix’s ad tier has attracted almost 5 million users
Apparently, they were all losers in the race to 5G.
Tesla’s humanoid robot can pick things up and put them down
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Today we're sharing an episode of Into It: A Vulture Podcast with Sam Sanders
AI is making fake Drake/The Weeknd songs, weird images, and there’s a worry that TV and movie scripts could be written by ChatGPT. But it’s also about to dramatically change the way we consume, share, and obsess over pop culture. Nilay Patel, Editor-in-Chief of The Verge, explains to Sam how pretty much everything we search on the internet is mediated by Google… and how AI is about to disrupt it all.
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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss the big announcements and takeaways from Google I/O 2023.
Further reading:
The nine biggest announcements from Google I/O 2023
The AI takeover of Google Search starts now
Google Perspectives: the new search feature helps you find human information online
Google rebrands AI tools for Docs and Gmail as Duet AI — its answer to Microsoft’s Copilot
Google’s new Magic Editor uses AI to totally transform your photos
Google drops waitlist for AI chatbot Bard and announces oodles of new features
Google announces PaLM 2 AI language model, already powering 25 Google services
Google teases Project Tailwind — a prototype AI notebook that learns from your documents
Android’s new generative AI can reply to your texts and design its own wallpaper
Google’s Find My Device will soon use billions of Android devices to locate your stuff
Google is bringing YouTube, Waze, and Zoom to cars with native Android software
The Pixel Fold is Google’s $1,800 entry into folding phones
Google’s new Pixel Tablet is a $500 slate for the home
Google Pixel 7A review: a better deal
Google’s new Project Starline prototype isn’t a giant booth
Disney is finally combining Hulu and Disney Plus into the same app
Apple launches Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro on iPad with new subscription pricing
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Today on the flagship podcast of unfolded aspect ratios:
01:03 -The Verge's David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and Alex Cranz discuss the present and future state of Google — it’s this big, complicated, massively successful company that suddenly feels like it’s under threat in a huge number of ways. The crew lay out the stakes and try to figure out where Google is headed. Hot takes included.
38:55 - David, Allison Johnson, and Dan Seifert talk about the hardware revealed at Google I/O: the Pixel 7A, the Pixel Tablet, and the Pixel Fold.
Further reading:
Google I/O 2023: news, rumors, and announcements
What happens when Google Search doesn't have the answers?
The Pixel Fold is Google’s $1,800 entry into folding phones
Google’s new Pixel Tablet is a $500 slate for the home
Google Pixel 7A review: a better deal
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Sarah Jeong discuss Bluesky gaining popularity and why it may be Twitter's most chaotic successor.
Also: is AI going too far too soon?
Further reading:
shop.theverge.com
Google announces the Pixel Fold
Everything happening on Bluesky, Twitter’s most chaotic successor
Bluesky is starting to feel like Twitter
Mozilla’s new Mozilla.Social Mastodon instance is an attempt to reinvent content moderation
‘Godfather of AI’ quits Google with regrets and fears about his life’s work
White House rolls out plan to promote ethical AI
Snapchat is already testing sponsored links in its My AI chatbot
New ChatGPT Zillow plug-in rolls out to select users today
AI is being used to generate whole spam sites
AI offers new tools for making games, but developers worry about their jobs
Writers are striking and AI rights are on the table.
Microsoft is forcing Outlook and Teams to open links in Edge, and IT admins are angry
Microsoft’s Bing chatbot gets smarter with restaurant bookings, image results, and more
Andreessen Horowitz saw the future — but did the future leave it behind?
Now Gmail has blue verified checkmark icons too
Google accounts now support passkeys for password-free sign-in
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Today on the flagship podcast of questionable .mkv files:
02:46 - The Verge's David Pierce chats with Matt Johnson, director of the upcoming movie BlackBerry about what tech movies get wrong, why the BlackBerry really died, and how to portray the rise and fall of a top-of-the-world gadget.
BlackBerry director Matt Johnson on why the iPhone won and why most tech movies suck
30:38 - David and Vergecast producer Andru Marino try to find out why it's so hard to find director's commentary on streaming services and the obstacles movie fans go through to listen to them.
Where’s the director’s commentary on streaming?
57:25 - David talks with the directors and producer of the movie Missing about a new genre of movies that take place entirely on a computer screen, and how they get made.
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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, Alex Cranz, and Andrew Hawkins discuss what's happening in the world of EVs and where that industry is headed.
Also: more Apple headset rumors and whatever the heck that Humane demo was last week.
Further reading:
Apple’s AR/VR Headset Plans: iPad Apps, Fitness+, Sports Viewing, Gaming, Music - Bloomberg
Apple’s mixed reality headset could connect to a battery pack that looks like the iPhone’s
Humane’s wearable screenless AI assistant leaks in first demo clips
Apple is reportedly building a paid AI health coach
Should we trust Apple with mental health data?
2023 Toyota Prius review: EV reality check
GM is ending Chevy Bolt EV and EUV production at the end of the year
GM killed the Chevy Bolt — and the dream of a small, affordable EV
GM, Hyundai announce EV battery plants for the US
Honda’s making a bigger electric SUV to follow the Prologue — due 2025
Tesla’s carbon footprint is finally coming into focus, and it’s bigger than the company let on in the past
Cruise continues to burn GM’s cash as robotaxis expand to daylight hours
Amazon shuts down Halo division and discontinues all devices
Disney sues Florida for ‘government retaliation’ in escalating feud y
Apple is reportedly developing its own journaling app for the iPhone
Dyson Zone review: an absurd pair of air purifying ANC headphones
Come see a screening of Blackberry with us!
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you!
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Today on the flagship podcast of overthinking thermometers:
The Verge's David Pierce and Dan Seifert discuss what’s happening in the weather app world, and hear from the developers of Carrot Weather and Hello Weather.
Apple’s Weather chaos is restarting the weather app market
A Eulogy for Dark Sky, a Data Visualization Masterpiece
forecastadvisor.com
Carrot Weather
Hello Weather
Flipboard CEO Mike McCue joins David and Nilay Patel to discuss the potential of ActivityPub, a new standard for social networking that is more open, more user-centric, and potentially more powerful than Twitter and Facebook.
Can ActivityPub save the internet?
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Today, things got a little loose in the studio of The Vergecast. Switched on Pop's Charlie Harding joins Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce to make their own version of Drake's AI summer classic. We're not saying a laser bong was involved, but we're not not saying that either.
Then deputy editor Alex Heath stops by to tell us about Snaps latest announcements and give us an update on the latest round of layoffs at Meta.
Finally, a lightning round with all the big headlines in tech from this week.
Further reading:
AI Drake just set an impossible legal trap for Google
Google employees label AI chatbot Bard ‘worse than useless’ and ‘a pathological liar’: report
What’s really going on with ‘Ghostwriter’ and the AI Drake song?
Family of F1 legend Michael Schumacher plans legal action over fake AI interview
Snapchat releases My AI chatbot to all users for free
Google’s big AI push will combine Brain and DeepMind into one team
Netflix is shutting down its original DVD business after 25 years
Netflix is out of the DVD business because streaming won – now, can Netflix still win?
Twitter begins removing blue checkmarks from all legacy users
It’s a laser bong
SpaceX’s Starship successfully takes off before bursting into flames
BuzzFeed News is being shut down
Social media is doomed to die
Google Fi has a new name and expanded connectivity support for smartwatches
Leak: Google will announce the Pixel Fold at I/O and beat Samsung on battery
Everything spy movies get right (and wrong) about smart glasses
Microsoft is reportedly working on a smaller Surface Pro and Arm-powered Surface Go 4
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Today on the flagship podcast of quantum dots:
02:33 - Makena Kelly explains the various attempts from the US government to ban TikTok, and how that could actually work.
TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform
Inside the US government’s fight to ban TikTok
25:06 - Allison Johnson explains the state of the Android phone market, and where it’s headed next this year.
The best Android phone to buy in 2023
51:28 - Chris Welch explains why this may be the best time to buy an OLED TV.
This is the best time in a decade to splurge on a premium OLED TV
Making sense of new TV features in 2022
Vote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast: http://bit.ly/3moCTDs
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.
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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss Warner Bros. Discovery's new streaming service, Sony's mobile gaming move, and Twitter's feud with Substack.
Further reading:
HBO and Discovery’s ‘Max’ streaming service is here
Max is charging more money for 4K, and that means it can't suck this time
What we’ve learned about Sony PlayStation’s new smartphone games team
Sony is gearing up for a new cloud gaming push amid rumors of a PlayStation handheld
NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube starts at $249 for the 2023 season
Google TV’s live guide is getting crammed full of over 800 free channels
Microsoft is experimenting with a Windows gaming handheld mode for Steam Deck-like devices
NPR becomes first major news organization to leave Twitter
PBS also stops tweeting after being hit with ‘government-funded media’ label
Is Substack Notes a ‘Twitter clone’? We asked CEO Chris Best
Mini’s cars are getting an ‘intelligent personal assistant’ named Spike
You can now talk to Microsoft’s Bing chatbot from your keyboard in iOS with SwiftKey
Nvidia RTX 4070 review: a $599 RTX 3080 — kind of
Vote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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What are the best streaming services in 2023? Nilay, Alex, and David decide in the most chaotic way possible: with draft-style picks. The crew debates the best roster for the future of entertainment — from Netflix to Hulu to HBO Max to a few surprises. Who is the MVP, and who gets snubbed? Find out in our inaugural Vergecast streaming draft.
Read more: theverge.com/streaming-wars
Vote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast: http://bit.ly/3moCTDs
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Pierce, and Alex Cranz discuss the end of Twitter and the future of infotainment.
Links:
The color quiz
Twitter tried to hide who pays for their checkmark, but life finds a way.
https://twitter.com/AlexBlechman/status/1641905502043926530
Substack is getting a Twitter-like ‘Notes’ feed
Elon Musk’s obsession with blue checks is a verified problem
Twitter yanks the New York Times’ checkmark in verification overhaul
Today in Twitter: where are the retweet labels, and why did Doge replace the bird?
Spotify shuts down its Clubhouse competitor
Spotify shows how the live audio boom has gone bust
Everybody hates GM’s decision to kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs
The rest of the auto industry still loves CarPlay and Android Auto
GM is cutting off access to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its future EVs
Could a new PlayStation handheld be built for Remote Play? I like the idea
Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC is no April Fools’ joke
Walmart’s redesigned website looks better than Amazon
Donald Trump was arrested, please like and subscribe
The Home Assistant SkyConnect is a combination Zigbee and Thread dongle for better smart home control
Vote for us in the People’s Voice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast!
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Today on the flagship podcast of peer-to-peer wireless networking:
02:31 - David Pierce talks with smart home reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy about Amazon’s network of smart home devices called Sidewalk and the state of Matter, the promised smart home standard.
Amazon just opened up its Sidewalk network for anyone to build connected gadgets on
32:16- Monica Chin brings six laptops to Times Square in New York City to test out the microphones.
48:47 - Tom Warren joins the show to explain how AI is being integrated into Microsoft’s products, which may be more promising than Bing’s chatbot.
Microsoft’s new Copilot will change Office documents forever
Microsoft Security Copilot is a new GPT-4 AI assistant for cybersecurity
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.
Vote for us in the People’s Choice Webby Awards for Best Technology Podcast!
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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce discuss AI image generators getting better, Apple WWDC 2023 rumors, and the other big stories in tech this week.
Further reading:
The swagged-out pope is an AI fake — and an early glimpse of a new reality
Another hurdle for AI image generators: unicycles
It’s so hard to be worried about AI when the shit is so funny.
AI-generated video is still in its “demonic phase.”
Elon Musk and top AI researchers call for pause on ‘giant AI experiments’
UK rejects idea of dedicated AI regulator.
The US government is gearing up for an AI antitrust fight
FTC should stop OpenAI from launching new GPT models, says AI policy group
Apple’s WWDC 2023 kicks off on June 5th
Apple staff reportedly express doubts about mixed-reality headset months ahead of launch
Apple Pay Later is finally launching
The ugly economics behind Apple’s new Pay Later system
Apple Music Classical is now available from the App Store
Disney just laid off the guy it bought Marvel from... but that’s probably a good thing
Elon Musk is now the most-followed person on Twitter
Twitter is secretly boosting Elon Musk, Dril, and MrBeast for some reason
Google’s ADT partnership finally has a new home security product to show for it
Sony’s new ZV-E1 camera is designed to help your vlogs suck less
The TikTok ban is a betrayal of the open internet
Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter?
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.
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The Verge answers questions from The Vergecast Hotline.
We hear from David Pierce on balancing privacy and modern conveniences for digital journaling, Alex Cranz on tablets for reading, Dan Seifert and Allison Johnson on tech reviews at The Verge, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on smart home routers and doorbells, and Monica Chin on laptops for college.
Further reading:
My impossible search for the best, most powerful, most private journaling app ever
The best iPad to buy in 2023
Ethics Statement - The Verge
Nest Wifi Pro review: better, faster, shinier
Eero Pro 6E review: faster Wi-Fi but flakier performance
Aqara Video Doorbell G4 review: this battery-powered buzzer needs to go back to basics
The FTC wants to ban those tough-to-cancel gym and cable subscriptions
Best laptop 2023: 15 best laptops you can buy
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, and David Pierce are joined by policy reporter Makena Kelly, who is on the ground in Washington for the House Energy and Commerce Committee's hearing on TikTok. Later, we dive into all the other news from this week, from Google's release of Bard to OpenAI's rapid expansion of ChatGPT. It was a big week.
Further reading:
TikTok ban hearing: all the news on the US’s crackdown on the video platform
TikTok bans deepfakes of nonpublic figures and fake endorsements in rule refresh
Google opens early access to its ChatGPT rival Bard — here are our first impressions
Google says its Bard chatbot isn't a search engine — so what is it?
Testing Google Bard: the chatbot doesn’t love me, but it’s still pretty weird
Google and Microsoft’s chatbots are already citing one another in a misinformation shitshow
Sundar Pichai expects that ‘things will go wrong’ with Bard
Can AI generate a way to pay for itself?
GitHub Copilot gets a new ChatGPT-like assistant to help developers write and fix code
Mozilla.ai is a new startup created to build more open and trustworthy AI
OpenAI is massively expanding ChatGPT’s capabilities to let it browse the web and more
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Today on the flagship podcast of over-the-air interactive television:
David Pierce is joined by Alex Cranz and Janko Roettgers to talk about ATSC 3.0, the new standard for over-the-air broadcasting.
The future of TV is up in the air
Mitchell Clark joins the show to discuss his next endeavor.
Mitchell's gear list
Dan Seifert explains which iPad you should buy and how to make the iPad work better for writing by hand.
The best iPad to buy in 2023
Yes, paper-feel screen protectors for the iPad are good
This Apple Pencil clone provides 80 percent of the experience for a quarter of the price
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I think the Verge is way biased against samsung watches for some reason. the apple watch looks like a frigging 80's calculator watch. the Samsung galaxy watch pro has amazing battery life and health tracking is great. While performance isn't quite to the same level as the apple watch pro it's also significantly less expensive. The list of ways I disagree with your assessments of the different watches is long but no way is that pixel watch close to looking that much better than the watches that Samsung offers.
I use AutoHotKey and a Logitech G915 keyboard, which has five additional function keys on its left side.
C
Excellent Podcast, Very much enjoyed.Love the honesty Deb.👍
love what you did with the thumbnail 😆
laptop with best cooling system
That advert for jewelry - natural diamonds, was scripted by a 6 year old. So grim.
Wow that perfunctory discussion was painfull. Let's contradict each other for 40 minutes, starting with a disagreement and back tracking down to point where no one is actually saying anything. Bother were meek and feckless. Meh
we in the UK have had a clean and easy to use government website to order a test for many months now. Also a 3 digit number can be called
Google search is just over rated.
Wow Awesome Podcast really enjoyed just hope that things get better soon. Thanks for sharing Deb 😉✌
Would it make sense to do dual CPU, if that is possible, in the Surface Book Pro? One powerful in the base together with the GPU and one less powerful in the screen? Does the technology exist nor is it to expensive?
Niley & Alex Can't thank you enough for touching base on this and Security in general. I have been dealing with tech for Year's and been having issues for some time and to be honest many talk about it, But nothing gets done.So appreciate more people talking about it because it can be frustrating.Thanks so much Deb.👌✌
Wauw Paul... What a great guy you are...
Paul Miller is the best thing about the Vergecast 😭
Nilay, Dieter and Paul Very much enjoyed and so agree hope that Security issues get better soon and hoping that the merger works out well.Thanks for sharing Deb 👍✌
Adobe Aero 2020 at newserialkeys lets you Create interactive experiences without relying on a developer. Apply behaviors to your content to create combinations of triggers and actions that allow the viewer of your experience to advance the story and engage with the story.
Awesome Job Amy and Nilay,Someone did her Homework very much enjoyed Deb.😉👍✌
I absolutely loved this and listening to someone explain music that I listened too when I was so young.Whats even better is listening to them in person Thanks all absolutely amazing Deb👌👍✌
Absolutely Awesome Podcast really enjoyed and always nice to hear from someone who has level head.Also loved how she brought her Dad into by just going around meeting people.Thanks for sharing Deb 👌✌