China has some big ideas about smartphones

is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. The US smartphone market is pretty boring. There are iPhones, there are Galaxies, Google will happily give you a Pixel if you remember it exists, and that’s about it. But as soon as you get out and see the world a little, you realize: there are a lot of new ideas about smartphones out there. After that, we pivot to a new take on an old idea about social networks. Digg is back! Sort of. Right now, it’s a landing page and a waitlist, but an all-star roster of social veterans is serious about rebooting one of the internet’s first huge social hits. Kevin Rose and Justin Mezzell join the show to talk about why they’re bringing the platform back, how communities have changed online in the last two decades, why they think AI can make lives so much easier for moderators, and more. Finally, we answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline ... Read full article.