Tesla Roadster Reveal Explained Why the Electric Car Needs to Fly

Hello and welcome to the Vergecast, the flagship podcast of cold gas thrusters. I'm your friend David Pierce and today on the show, we're talking about the most recent Tesla Roadster reveal and why that car even exists in the first place. But first, here's everything else happening on The Verge today. This is 90 seconds on the Verge for Thursday, October 22nd, 2026. President Trump loves renaming a body of water and now he is apparently interested in rebranding, get this, the Atlantic Ocean. He said at a rally on Wednesday night that he reached out to Google CEO Sundar Pachai to feel him out about changing the name to either Trump or America Ocean. Seriously, that's a real thing that happened. Anyway, it appears

Pichai said no, which means Google's moral compass points to somewhere between a great lake and an ocean. Actually, what Pai said, according to Trump, was, "Please don't ask us to do that." Anyway, Trump is still pushing to change New Mexico to New America and says he wants a river and an ocean. So, I guess Pacific, watch your back. Meanwhile, One Password just announced a new feature that lets AI agents sign into your accounts without actually accessing your passwords directly. This is a big deal. Using an AI agent requires trusting that agent with an incredible amount of data and autonomy. And it's encouraging to see companies try to lessen that a little bit, whether it's payments or passwords or anything else. Attaching AI to systems you

already trust is just better than constantly asking you to trust new systems. This should also make using agents quite a bit easier going forward since you might not have to log in directly to everything all over again. One password's UI seems kind of complicated, but this is still a step in a good direction. Finally, Oppo just launched the world's first 200 megapixel camera phone called the Find X10 Pro Max. The Verge Dominic Preston has used the thing and seems impressed by it. Most of us will never actually be able to buy this device, but this is yet another sign that there are still huge smartphone camera improvements to be had on all of our devices. I hope

eventually. You can read more about all of this at the verge.com. That is 90 seconds on the verge for Thursday, October 22nd. So last week Tesla held an event after delaying it a couple of times to show off the new Tesla Roadster. And it kind of did that. But mostly what it did was show a pretty remarkable demo of a car that could climb up a wall, go vertical upside down, and then fly down to the ground. They showed one that could flip and jump over a bunch of other cars. Does that car bear any resemblance to the actual new Tesla Roadster that may or frankly may not ship at some point? Who knows? We didn't actually get all that much new information at this event, but what we did see was a pretty cool

demo. And frankly, I just want to talk about it. But before we get into it, just a quick disclaimer that we should probably do before we talk about Elon Musk on this show, which is that I think there are a lot of problematic things about him as a person and a lot of problematic things about the things that he does. And yet, it is still true that his companies are massively influential and his products are often very successful and sometimes we have to talk about them. So, we're going to try to be as straightforward about the pros and cons of all of this and about the Elon of it all, but we do have to talk about it. So, with that, Andy Hawkins is going to come on. Let's get into it.

Andy Hawkins, welcome back to the show. Hello. Good to be back. Sometimes we get to talk about wild weird things like bike buses and then every once in a while we get to talk about really boring things like flying cars. The bike bus won an Emmy. That's true. Congratulations, Emmy winning Andy Hawkins. I should start introducing you this year. Yes. the Demerge editor, Emmy winner, bike bus champion, Andy Hawkins. So, we're here to talk about the Tesla Roadster, which um I think is one of the strangest car stories in recent memory, culminating in this big event last week where the car

did or did not flip, did or did not fly, was or was not a car. We'll talk about all those things, but first I want to just speed through the history of the Roadster because the Roadster is actually a really interesting car in the whole history of Tesla. Um, so give me a sense just sort of very briefly on what the Roadster has meant to Tesla over the course of its history. There's now a gener a real generation and a fake generation. Run me through the Roadster so far. Absolutely. So the Roadster was um noteworthy because it was Tesla's first car. It was sort of this proof of concept that uh an electric powered sports car um could find an audience. And so when Tesla first got started uh the Roadster was that was

that first product. It was sort of their halo vehicle. Um that then led into uh the flagship vehicle which was the Model S. And then in 2017 uh while they were while the company was introducing the semi-truck for the first time. Oh yeah. Um forgot about the semi. Yeah. We'll get back to that. Uh Elon came on stage and did his uh one more thing that Steve Jobs obviously made famous and brought out a what they were calling at the time the second generation roadster. This was a you know sort of uh design-wise it looked a little sleeker and but I think what was really impressive uh to a lot of people at that uh 2017 event was that this was going to be this like you know sort of

like the end all be all of electric supercars. like there wasn't much of an electric supercar market at the time in 2017. And so Tesla was going to come in and build this electric second generation roadster and really kind of just like make a statement about electric supercars. And this was going to have like, you know, a 0 to 60 time in perhaps less than 1 second and a 600 mile uh battery uh range. Uh and just all these things that were just really on the surface seemed uh outlandish. But I think at the time I think a lot of people believed uh you know Tesla was sort of viewed as being somewhat as being able to make it happen, right? They were in the midst of the Model 3 roll out uh which was you know despite the production snags

was looking like it was going to be a real hit for the company. So I think that the company had a lot of goodwill at the time and so people were willing to believe that this next generation roadster would indeed roll out in 2020 which was the initial promise. Right. Spoiler alert, it didn't didn't happen. did not happen. Uh that date got pushed uh many times. Uh and now we're you know nine years later after that initial announcement of the second generation Roadster and we got uh a demo of an entirely different car with an entirely different set of capabilities and now a theoretical 2028 uh production time. So I think it's, you know, sort of and obviously Tesla as a company, Elon Musk as a as the CEO, much different place uh

than he was in 2017. Uh I think that the goodwill is gone. Uh but still people are very excited and then we got this demo that we saw last week. So obviously Tesla is uh famous for dates that do not come true. Um, do you talk the Roadster up to normal Tesla delays? I feel like nothing from Tesla has ever shipped on time, or is there something different about this Roadster that it took 9 years? Like, looking at the car we've seen now, is there a reason that's obvious that it took nine more years than we thought it might? I think it's it's probably a combination of uh the insane level of uh expectations that Elon Musk apparently was delivering to his engineering team.

Like it just kept getting he just kept upping the ante as these deadlines would slip past, right? Like, oh, it's it's late again. I'm so sorry, but now it's going to be even faster. Oh, I it's late yet again, but now it's going to fly. Uh and so I think those are two things that literally happened, by the way. Those are not hypothetical examples. Well, we'll get to that, too. Uh, but I do think that it was sort of like with the deadlines passing and Tesla just missing all of its pro, you start breaking all of its promises to these reservation holders, people who were putting down $50,000, upwards of

$250,000 to reserve one of the founder editions of the Roadster. These are essentially interest free loans to the company uh that they were, you know, able to do whatever they wanted with. uh they were they had to keep sort of upping the ante and sort of like making the car seem even more ludicrous than it was. So I do think that it was a combination of sort of this engineering challenge that uh Elon was creating uh for his team, but also I think the car just got it became less interesting, right? They were in the midst of model 3 and model uh model Y uh production. Then the cyber truck came along and then the cyber cab and then AI and the Optimus robot and all these other things

sort of like cropped up in the interim that sort of uh shifted into the to the center of the focus whereas the roadster just kind of got pushed further and further back onto uh you know into sort of it was almost like out of range for for a lot of people. So I think it was just like and also in the interimm too we have we now have an electric supercar market. There's the uh the Rimac and there's uh you know Bugattis that can go like insanely fast and there are uh these hypercars and these lowvolots and all these other sort of like crazy uh engineering feats that all these other companies have come along uh to sort of uh supplant and replace the Roadster and a lot of people's imaginations. So I do think that the as a combination of like the

engineering challenge was insane and then also the roadster just kind of got less relevant over as the years kind of slipped past. I think you just made the launch event make sense to me, right? Because I think if you're if you're at a point where you're like, "Okay, this car is super late and the stakes for it have gone up over time, but also we are launching this into a market that is going to be much less impressed by the car we showed them 9 years ago. We have to blow everybody's minds if we want to live up to expectations." This is how you get the launch event. So, last Thursday, this all builds to this big reveal that I think was supposed to happen a month ago. Even the launch events for the delayed cars get delayed. Um, tell me about this launch event.

Yeah. So, you know, it was undeniably pretty rad. I, you know, like I've I've witnessed many, many Tesla events over the years. Uh, Tesla events are famously pretty awkward. It's like they always are really late. It's Elon being kind of weird. He's many things, but he's not a particularly charismatic speaker. We got the famous incident of the Cybert truck uh with the broken window. Well, that one was great. That one is like an alltime live demo moment. But this one Yeah. But I think that speaks to the awkwardness that you're referring to. Yes. Very much so. Yeah. And so I think my expectations for what are these things going to be in terms of sort of razledazzle are very low and this one

feels like it was just all razledazzle. Yeah, absolutely. It was a party trick and it was a really impressive party trick at that. But I do think that like, you know, aside from the fact that it was just a demo, you know, I think that once the next day sort of dawned, I think people were like, "Wait a second." You know, and I think a lot of things started, you know, people started realizing a lot of things about that demo. Oh yeah. So what we saw was, you know, a pretty absurd specs list 0 to6 under a second uh cold gas space X thrusters um allegedly enabling sort of this flight that we saw which I think is more of a graceful landing than a flight. Uh falling with style. I don't know how nobody maybe I'm the only one watching

Toy Story right now, but I watch that thing and I'm like this is Buzz Lighter flying through the living room falling with style. Like this is what this is. That's the best. That's not flying. analogy with style. That is the best analogy. Uh all the parents out there will immediately get what you're talking about. Uh yeah. Well, I mean, okay, so it can hop, right? So, one of the demos was the uh the Roadster uh sort of drove up to a lot a line of uh Tesla's other models, right? The Model 3, the Model Y, uh the Cyber Cab, the Cybertruck, and the Semi, and it hopped up over and then did a kick flip over the cars and then landed on the other side. Uh arguably very cool, very cool thing. Apparently,

all the people that were there, uh, the Verge was not there. Unfortunately, we don't get invited to these events by Tesla anymore, uh, because we're, I guess, too critical of the company. But, uh, you know, everyone that was there was seemed like they were very impressed by it. I guess everyone had to wear ear protection because these cold gas thrusters are extremely loud. Uh, and I should also note that the car did drive up a vertical ramp uh, and then also upside down where it stayed for a second before then uh, uh, flipping off the edge of the ramp and then landing again. Uh, so there was uh, I think a couple things that we need to note.

There's obviously the SpaceX thrusters uh, and the uh, ultra uh, high pressure air compression uh, tanks that they have in the vehicle. Uh but then there's also a separate technology which is this fan technology that they're using uh which I think is actually really interesting. Uh you know they're using the fans uh to create a lot of downforce um that sort of basically you sort of like glues the car to the road. That's how they were able to achieve sort of the vertical uh um uh party trick and then also driving upside down. This is a technology that exists, right? We've seen some other proof of concepts, some other science experiments around fan cars as a way to improve acceleration time, uh improve handling

and grip, uh in cornering and sort of like uh um uh performance in race, uh um situations. So, it is I think that what they are seizing on here is something that has been proven before and I think that they're sort of taking it to that next level uh in the way that Tesla does, which is very interesting. So, okay, at the risk of asking a really stupid question, that car you just described, what actual resemblance does that bear to the actual Tesla Roadster that might actually exist someday in the future? Like the debate on the internet has gone all the way from this is the Tesla Roadster people will be able to buy. Oh my god, it flies. That's clearly not correct. They said this car is not road legal. People were screenshotting videos of the bottom

where there's just nothing in the car. Like this is not the Roadster people will buy on the road. It's also not just a completely separate science experiment as far as I can tell. So what is it? What car did we see doing all of these tricks? There's not a ton of information about the actual car that was used in the demo. Although we did catch a glimpse of that bottom that you spoke of where it did seem that the car was basically missing its entire battery. Um, and if that's the case, uh, the car would be obviously not be weighed down. EV batteries are incredibly heavy, the heaviest part of the car, uh, uh, for the most part. And I think if they were to able if they were removing that, I think that it

raises some serious questions about the thrust and the flying and the SpaceX thrusters. Uh, because I think what they're what they're showing is a car that's not the car that they were purported to actually uh, sell to people. And the intimation was that this is the Roadster, right? They were not like, "Look at this cool thing we did." They're like, "Here's the Tesla Roadster." Correct. Yeah. It wasn't until after the event that the website updated and that we got some details about the different trim levels. Uh they didn't really give any of that information out at the event itself, but there was actually So, what we got and there was also a couple of videos.

Hagerty put out a video uh interviewing uh Tesla's uh engineering uh executives as well as a couple of other outlets and they went into a little bit more detail about the technology behind this. So, you can tell that we're we're not entirely dealing with smok and mirrors here. That there is some real tech um that's backing some of this up. But what I do think that is important to note is that rocket uh trim, the one that they showed off doing the party tricks, uh flipping off of the ramp, jumping up over Tesla's other uh the rest of the Tesla's lineup. Um that's the supposed rocket trim that will be available invite only. They say also fine print, not legal for public use. So, I mean, it's just sort of like it's

kind of all right there, right? You won't be able to just buy one. Uh, even if you are like the wealthiest person in the world, you won't be able to just buy one. You need to have some sort of connection to Tesla to get one of these invites. And who knows how many of those are going to go out. And then when you do have it, you can't drive it anywhere or you at least can't use this party trip that uh with the thrusters. So, you know, sorry to everyone who made you who posted an AI generated video of themselves uh in a Tesla Roadster leaping over uh you know uh traffic and gridlock. Uh it's a nice idea, but it will never exist in real life. You'll never see any of these out on the road doing this stuff. I think of them a

little bit like Formula 1 cars in the sense that like is it in some ways a real vehicle? Sure. Are you ever going to see one on a road near you? No. Right. like they're they exist for a purp they are sort of the shape of a car but they do not exist to do car things and that's fine that's like it's it's fine the only part that I find frustrating is the intimation that yes this is the Tesla Roadster you've been waiting for 9 years that's where you lose me right yeah there the messaging was very muddled and I mean that's you know that's classic Tesla right that where they sell a product called full self-driving that is not actual

10 years ago they told us would drive was coast to coast without even needing to charge. Exactly. You know, the real ones remember. Um, but I think like the to me the thing that really kind of uh just was the icing on the cake of this whole thing was if you look at the terms and conditions of the new Roadster, which also updated the website and that was posted as well. Um, right there, I think it was number four out of all the terms. It was only a two-page document. Number four basically said um Tesla does not guarantee that it will deliver the version of the car you ordered or that it will deliver any version of the car that you ordered.

Wow. They are already absolving themselves of missing deadlines, missing production timelines. I just don't understand how anyone could have any sort of trust uh in this company that this car will eventually uh come out uh when they've already missed nine years u of deadlines and now they are sort of just openly admitting in their own terms and conditions, their own legal ease uh that this is this car may never uh see uh you know the light of day. So it's just I don't know. I've lost the ability to be shocked by Tesla, but I am still somewhat shocked by this. Support for the show comes from built.

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Did we learn anything about the actual Roadster? The car that they claim is going to start shipping to people who bought it 9 years ago in 2028. Did we get any new information about the actual street car? That car is dead. I mean, that version of the car that we saw in 2017, there were some prototypes made. The one that people were initially putting down deposits for, that's gone. That's not that is not going to be in production anymore. And it's so now they're saying the only roadster is this one with all these fancy things that you might not be able to get on my ship. Anyway, the design for the design, it's this new sort of cyber design, right, with the light bars and it sort of looks like a cybert truck in some ways.

I got to say I liked it way better before. I went back and looked at some of the pictures from that first reveal of this of the Roadster 2. That car is hot. It's got some like nice organic flowing lines to it. This one's all sharp angles. It looks a lot more sort of like a classic wedge-shaped Lamborghini, if you will. Um, but no, so they will sell a base. It's apparently, it's not on the website, but one of the executives did say uh that there will be a base model version of this car uh without all of the party chicks, without the cold gas thrusters. Uh um that still will be a very impressive car. They're saying, you

know, a um a 0 to 60 time uh in under two seconds. But I think if you want the fan technology, you got to go up a trim level. And then if you want the rocket technology, then you got to be in this rarified where whatever it is uh group of invite only people. Okay. Oh, and I saw they also uh ratcheted the range way down, right? The 600 mile dream is long gone. That to me was the biggest crime of all was that they sold people on the dream of 600 miles of range and then they were like, "Oh, no, wait. It's actually just going to be 300." which I mean like I think everyone kind of knew at some point that was a fantasy of 600 miles uh especially with battery technology being what it is today. But yeah, that sort of went came and went with

very little uh acknowledgement. Yeah. So you mentioned that a lot about the car market has changed in 9 years. We've talked about it a bunch on this show, all the headwinds against the EV market in general. uh you could almost argue and I think you did almost argue that this car just doesn't need to exist at all that kind of the world has no use for the Roadster anymore. What do you think this car doesn't do in 2026 that maybe it needs to or that it would have done 9 years ago? Yeah, I think my argument there was that, you know, um that electric performance has since been sort of proven out, right? We've got Formula E.

We've got all these sort of like uh very uh impressive uh um supercars that, you know, sound like they're straight out of science fiction. Things like, you know, the Rimk Nea and Pinfherina's Batista. Um uh BYD has got an insane sounding uh electric performance car that they came out with. Uh, and then you've got, you know, like a whole class already of just high performance luxury EVs like Porsche, uh, and Audi and Mercedes, and then even just like a level down, you've got really like impressive performance cars from Hyundai, uh, in Kia. Uh, so I think just want to say, by the way, this is now two opportunities you've had to name the Ferrari Luche, and you haven't either time. And I just to all our

Ferrari fans, just email Andy and not me. That's all. I'm sorry. The Luch is still in the Roadster category. It has yet to reach a single customer. So I can't I legally cannot acknowledge it as a real car. Fair enough. But yeah, I just think that like we've we've seen like, you know, since that sort of initial 2017 announcement like the electric performance space has really kind of proven itself out. I mean Tesla itself, right, they put out the Model S Plaid U which had like an under two second 0 to 60 acceleration. I mean just like lots of you know like that's a car that they already put out. So, it sort of like kind of undercut the purpose or the reasoning behind the

Roadster, which I think is why they ended up going with this more SpaceX coded ludicrous. And if you want to talk about the SpaceX element of all this, let's not forget Elon uh CEO of SpaceX or I'm sorry, the owner of SpaceX, CEO of Tesla, they're long rumored he wants to merge these companies. And I think like demonstrating synergy between the two companies is maybe what this demo was really all about to begin with. Who's to say? So that's one answer to the next thing I was thinking about, which is kind of why do this at all? Like you were talking earlier about how not only has the world sort of left the Roadster behind, but so has Tesla in a lot of ways, right? This is a company

that has declared itself to be a robot company and they're they're off doing the cyber cab and they're doing the cybert truck and the company that they were in 2017 is sort of unrecognizable to the company that they are now. So, I don't actually think anyone would have been surprised if we had just never heard of the Roadster again and they either gave people their money back or didn't. And I like I don't know uh I didn't give them any money. I don't know. But uh that if they had just sort of let it fade into the background as they moved on to humanoid robots and all the other things that they claim Tesla is about right now, is the SpaceX thing the most logical answer to why keep banging on this drum at all? Like why keep

making the Roadster at all? It makes a lot of sense to me, but I do think that there is like some effort to continue to market Tesla, especially after a particularly bad couple years for the company in terms of vehicle sales. Um they're kind of a little bit on the upswing, although not really. It's been a tough road since Trump was elected and the EV credits, tax credits went away and sales kind of cratered obviously due to the um uh protests against Elon Musk uh and against Tesla and against Tesla. I do think that there is an effort the company sees an effort to market itself continually on the on the vanguard right as a future forward company. You know it their uh their strategy documents talk a lot about the

future and abundance and creating sort of this abundant future where there's you know sort of uh endless supplies of clean energy uh and electric mobility and we're going to Mars uh and all that fun stuff. And I think that maybe Tesla and Elon Musk in particular can feel some of that slipping away um given like sort of some of the difficulties that the company's had. So I do think that they needed to sort of put on a good show and you can't really do that with the semi truck because it's just a truck. Although it is it honestly is among the more impressive products in Tesla's lineup right now. The Cyber Cab is still very much a science project in a lot of ways. Although there are dozens um in Texas

today, it does seem like uh that there's going to be some limitations and how quickly the company's going to be able to scale uh its self-driving division. Yeah, as we've learned, the gap between dozens and everywhere is monstrous. Yes, it's as big as uh what is it? Snake River Canyon that Elon has said that he wants the roadster to jump over uh in a recreation of the evil conval stunt from the 1970s. Uh, we'll put that one on the calendar. One of the things our commenters kept saying about the event was uh, this just proves that Elon Musk has the sensibilities of a 14-year-old boy and like boy is that ever true. I think like honestly it's a seven-year-old boy. Uh, no insult to 14year-olds out there. I think

they're a little bit more sophisticated. Um, but no, yeah, I do I think that, you know, there's some logic to the to this to the merger, the SpaceX Tesla merger, uh, theory, but then I think it's also just sort of like, you know, Tesla's kind of in a rut. Uh, you know, and all the good engineers in the world are sort of going into AI and robotics, and there's not really, you know, the EV uh industry is shrinking in the United States. And so, I feel like that they probably are very concerned about their ability to retain talent uh and also to hire new people. I think that there's maybe some element of this event that was designed specifically at hey Tesla's still a really cool place to work uh and

look at some of the things that we can do. This is so much fun. Come work with us. So in that sense actually the Roadster kind of occupies the same space it always has right is that it is a kind of pinnacle. It is a thing that gets you to the next thing. It is like it is so cool and impractical that it is designed to like bring people along for the metaphorical ride in that case. Yeah. It's like a perpetual excitement engine, right? Like it just functions more um as like a way to like make the company look cool and f futuristic to people also with seven-year-old sensibilities about what is cool and

futuristic. Uh and then it's also just like, you know, they if they can continue to get people to plop down these gigantic uh interest free deposits for reservations for this car that will never come out. I mean, that's just an interest free loan program for Tesla. Uh that's, you know, probably pretty good for their bottom line. So, I think that they have like a couple of irons in the fire here for why the Roadster still remains relevant to the company. Yeah. Please don't deposit money you can't afford to lose for a Tesla vehicle. It's just that's all I will say. Yeah. Um, last thing, Musk's next big promise here is that this is the last Tesla to be built for humans.

Do you buy it? Uh, God, I mean, you know, the Cybertruck was uh not a great success. Nope. and they've discontinued the Model S and the Model X. So, I feel like the company is certainly telling us something about what they feel uh is the future of human driving. And while the Cyber Cab uh is in production and you know there are some of them out on the road, uh it still is a very big question as to what is the future of that particular vehicle. So, I think we need to sort of see, you know, it's and if anything, the Model 3 and the Model Y continue to print money for the company, right? So they have a little bit of runway to figure things out. Uh but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something come back in the future,

right? uh a revamped Model S, for example, or even some, you know, there's the uh you know, there's talk about uh you know, the a real cheap EV, like if Tesla actually went to work on like a Model 2, like a $25,000 electric vehicle that was just sort of bare bones and did the job of a Model 3 with maybe a little bit less content and a little bit little bit less uh you know, design work into it. That could be something that could be really successful for the company. I don't see Elon Musk making that decision, but you know, maybe if he is the CEO of Musk Holdings and somebody else is left in charge of Tesla uh at some point in the future, maybe those decisions uh change. Who knows? Yeah,

that's that's fair. There does seem to be a race toward Tesla doesn't want to be a car company anymore, fairly clearly. Self-driving is taking longer than anybody wanted. And at some point, they're going to need a hit again. And it and the how those things all crash into each other, I think you're right, is going to kind of answer this question. Yeah. Um, all right. So, here's a scenario for you. Elon Musk calls you. He says, "Andy, I love your work. You were so great on the Vergecast the other day." Uh, I want to give you the first ride in the cold thruster car. We're going up the ramp, you and me. Are you getting in? You're you're taking the first demo.

I got to check my life insurance policy first. I don't know. I don't know where what if this is covered or not, you know, like it just seems like just like all I imagine is like, you know, every time there's like a um a cool car chase in a movie and they have that shot from inside the car as it's like flipping over off a cliff or something like that and you just see like all the things in the car flying through the air like you know your diet coke and your uh your keys and everything like that and your backpack, your purse. It's just like that's is that what we want really? Is that what people wanted is to like do flips in their car? Seems awful. That's how you go through red lights

now. You just launch yourself over and spill everything in your car. That said, for the Verge, I would do anything. So, strap me in, baby. I'm ready to go. There you go, Elon. You heard it here first. Andy, good to see you. Thanks for being here. Thanks, David. Support for the show comes from IRA by Palo Alto Networks. Every new cloud workload or AI agent your team sends out is another identity that gets permanent access to your systems. And in 2026, those non-human identities with access outnumber actual human identities 109 to one. You need a tool built to manage them all. Human, machine, and AI. That's

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You've worked to grow your business, but that doesn't mean you're an expert at everything. Knowing when to hire help is a great start, but knowing exactly where to go for that help is even better. Upwork gives your business fast access to highly skilled specialists with deep expertise. With their help, you can fill critical skill gaps, launch projects faster, and scale support up or down without committing to full-time headcount. Find experts in everything from software development and AI implementation to marketing, design, and business operations. There's also Business Plus, which lets you access the top 1% of talent on Upwork. And when it comes to the operational

stuff, such as contracts and payments, Upwork takes care of it all. With over 170,000 freelancers holding five-star ratings, you can hire with confidence, knowing you're getting someone with a verified track record of applied expertise. Visit upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That is upwork.com to connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That's upw.com. All right. Thanks again to Andy. Before we go, one more thing. I just want to give you like a life tip that I've been trying recently and it's been really great. Um, this life tip is essentially to just keep a list of things that you

like. Recently, when I watch a movie that I like, I've just been writing it down on a list. And when I find a TV show that I like, it goes on the list. When I find an article I like somewhere on the web, it goes on the list. Just a sort of store of all of my favorite stuff. And I have found that in a world filled with AI, this turns out to be hugely useful. Like recently, I've just been going to Claude and being like, "Hey, look at the list of music that I like and recommend some new music." And it actually happens to work really well. And uh I was doing this a lot while I was on parental leave of being like, "Hey, I have watched these 10 movies in the last 2 weeks. What movies do you

think I should watch?" For some reason, that led me down a real rabbit hole of like Apocalypse movies. I watched 2012 and San Andreas and The Day After Tomorrow and Claude just kept being like, "Here's another movie about how the world ends." Um, I have no notes. It was awesome. Most of those movies are terrible and they're an incredibly good time while holding a baby at 2:00 in the morning. But I think people get into AI and start becoming like obsessive hoarders of data and you get into personal knowledge management and having a second brain. And I think that can just make everybody kind of go overboard with all of this stuff. But one very good thing is just having a store of

things that you think are good that you like that you can then plug into these systems in order to get more of these things. Ever since the beginning of LLM, I have liked to use them for recommendations. If you're just like, "Hey, I like this band, this band, and this band. What other bands might I like?" That's actually a thing LLM in particular are really well equipped to do. So do that. Do that as aggressively as you can. It's also fun to just have a list of movies that you like. So when somebody's like, "Oh, what have you watched recently that you like?" you can just go look at the list because if you're anything like me, I read a book or watch a movie and then instantly

forget about it forever and it's been helpful to have an actual place to go and be like, "Here is all the stuff that I like recently and I can revisit it. It's delightful." So, you can keep all that in a text file. There's also an app called My Mind that I really like for this. It's expensive, but it does some really cool AI organization stuff, too. But that's it. My recommendation for this week, if you listen to nothing else I say, and that's totally fair, is just make a list of stuff that you like. It'll come in handy. All right, that's it for the show. Thank you again to Andy for being here. And thank you as always

for watching and listening. If you have thoughts, feelings, feedback, if you pre-ordered a Roadster and you want to tell me all about it, verthege.com is the email. 866 Verge11 is the hotline. We love hearing from you about all this and everything else. And as always, the best thing you can do to support all of this is to subscribe to The Verge.com/subscribe. You get adree podcasts, you get exclusive newsletters, everything else we do. Verge.com/subscribe. The Vergecast is Verge production and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. The show is produced by Josh Kahas, Eric Gomez, Brandon Kefir, and Travis Larch.

See you tomorrow. Rock and roll.