The Verge's Will Poor recently came home from vacation and discovered he had an insect problem. More specifically, his Sonos speaker had an insect problem. Will brings us the story of what really happened there, and what he discovered about how the animal kingdom — and the electronics world — works. After that, The Verge's Andru Marino tells us about his research on all things AI podcasts. He tells us why people are so hooked on NotebookLM's Audio Overviews, where these generated shows fall short, and what all us human podcasters could learn from the bots. Finally, The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy helps us answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) all about smart lights. Which get complicated faster than you think.

Further reading:


  Oh no, Google is turning everything into a podcast

  Google’s NotebookLM AI podcasts add ‘interactive’ mode for some Q-and-A

  Steven Johnson on Google, NotebookLM, and AI research

  A guide to getting started with smart lighting: When to use smart switches and smart bulbs

  Inovelli smart switches


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A buggy Sonos mystery