HBO's no good very bad rebrand

HBO's no good very bad rebrand

The Vergecast · 2025-05-16

Names are hard — but they don't have to be this hard. Nilay, David, and The Verge's Jake Kastrenakes start the show with some personal news, before digging into the monumentally silly thinking behind Warner Bros. Discovery re-re-naming its streaming service HBO Max. After that, and some more streaming news, we turn our attention to the gadget news of the week, including the long-awaited release of CarPlay Ultra and the latest announcements from the Android team at Google. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a Dummy, some debate on the future of Airbnb, and a brief party speaker update. Because the mystery continues.

Further reading:



It’s not Max, it’s HBO Max




Max was an all-time bad rebrand

How HBO’s creatives survived corporate chaos

ESPN’s standalone streaming app launches this fall for $30 a month

Fox One streaming service will arrive just in time for football season

Netflix’s ad tier is growing really fast — and that means more ads

Netflix is bringing back Star Search as a live show

YouTube will stream an opening week NFL game for free

Peacock’s NBA coverage will add an overlay with live shot stats








Apple’s CarPlay Ultra is finally here, if you have a new Aston Martin

Apple’s fancy new CarPlay will only work wirelessly

Android 16 Material Three Expressive UI coming in beta this month

Google’s splashy new Android UI is coming in beta this month.

It’s Dieter!









Warner Bros. is launching a cinematic universe for brands




Here's How NBCU Is Integrating Brand Sponsors for SNL50


FCC threatens EchoStar licenses for spectrum that SpaceX wants to use



Airbnb’s new app has all of your vacation extras in one place




Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.


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The Vergecast

The Vergecast is the flagship podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, hosts Nilay Patel and David Pierce hang out and make sense of the week’s most important technology news. And every Tuesday, 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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