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Meta is opening a pop-up retail store for the Ray-Ban Meta glasses

The store will be around from November 8th to December 31st. | Image: Meta

Meta announced it is opening up Meta Lab, a pop-up experiential retail space for its Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses starting November 8th in Los Angeles. The temporary store will be around through the end of the year and allow customers to try out the glasses and customize their glasses cases as they shop. Meta Lab will also have local events with various creators, including stand-up comedians, live podcasts, and cooking classes.
This particular retail store is an extension of the Meta Lab experience earlier this year at Connect 2024. At that time, Meta had unveiled the transparent versions of its Ray-Bans. The company says that over 90 percent of Connect attendees had attended, with more than 25 percent then purchasing a pair. It appears the LA pop-up won’t be exactly the same thing, as it’s themed to tie-in with LA and Southern Californian lowrider culture. It’ll also include an “immersion experience room” that allows people to view an AI-generated Malibu beach.

Pop-ups and retail stores have gone hand-in-hand with smart glasses in the past. Snap Spectacles famously garnered buzz with vending machines that sold the glasses in random locations around the country. Focals by North also had mobile pop-ups and a Brooklyn retail store so people could try the device and get fitted.
That said, maintaining permanent spaces can be costly for emerging tech — especially in expensive metropolitan areas. That’s likely a big reason why this current pop-up will only be open for a limited time, closing on December 31st. Another Meta Lab experience is planned for Phoenix at the end of January. Meta didn’t say whether we’ll see any further pop-ups beyond that. For now, Meta is using these pop-ups as a test run to see whether there’s a future for Ray-Ban Meta glasses in more permanent retail spaces.

The store will be around from November 8th to December 31st. | Image: Meta

Meta announced it is opening up Meta Lab, a pop-up experiential retail space for its Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses starting November 8th in Los Angeles. The temporary store will be around through the end of the year and allow customers to try out the glasses and customize their glasses cases as they shop. Meta Lab will also have local events with various creators, including stand-up comedians, live podcasts, and cooking classes.

This particular retail store is an extension of the Meta Lab experience earlier this year at Connect 2024. At that time, Meta had unveiled the transparent versions of its Ray-Bans. The company says that over 90 percent of Connect attendees had attended, with more than 25 percent then purchasing a pair. It appears the LA pop-up won’t be exactly the same thing, as it’s themed to tie-in with LA and Southern Californian lowrider culture. It’ll also include an “immersion experience room” that allows people to view an AI-generated Malibu beach.

Pop-ups and retail stores have gone hand-in-hand with smart glasses in the past. Snap Spectacles famously garnered buzz with vending machines that sold the glasses in random locations around the country. Focals by North also had mobile pop-ups and a Brooklyn retail store so people could try the device and get fitted.

That said, maintaining permanent spaces can be costly for emerging tech — especially in expensive metropolitan areas. That’s likely a big reason why this current pop-up will only be open for a limited time, closing on December 31st. Another Meta Lab experience is planned for Phoenix at the end of January. Meta didn’t say whether we’ll see any further pop-ups beyond that. For now, Meta is using these pop-ups as a test run to see whether there’s a future for Ray-Ban Meta glasses in more permanent retail spaces.

1 week ago
0

Audi launches a new brand in China without the four-ring logo

The new “AUDI” logo and E concept for China. | Image: Audi

Audi is making a big change to its branding for the Chinese market with a new logo that lacks the automaker’s famous four-ring emblem. Today in Shanghai, the company showed off the new “AUDI” logo — yes, it’s just Audi in all caps — on the front of a new E concept electric Sportback that notably lacks its broadly used “E-Tron” branding.
In a press release, Audi’s CEO Gernot Döllner said it’s hoping to tap into China’s “more tech-savvy” customers who “expect leading connectivity as well as automated driving.” Reuters reported in August that Audi was planning a rebrand for China, where the automaker sold less than 10,000 vehicles in the country in the first half of 2024.

Image: Audi

Audi says the AUDI E concept represents a preview of three upcoming mid- and full-sized models it will introduce starting in mid-2025. Audi formed a partnership with Chinese state-owned SAIC Motors and placed its former electric models head, Fermín Soneira, as the new team’s CEO. A new Advanced Digitized Platform was developed through the partnership, featuring an 800-volt architecture that underpins the E concept.

Image: Audi

Soneir, who has been with Audi parent company Volkswagen for 25 years, says the partnership is set up to “jointly organize development, purchasing, production, and sales.”
VW is struggling in China as home-grown automakers like BYD have won over consumers with cheaper, more tech-advanced cars. Human rights groups have also called out VW that its supply chain may have been linked to forced labor of the Uygur Muslim population in Xinjiang.

The new “AUDI” logo and E concept for China. | Image: Audi

Audi is making a big change to its branding for the Chinese market with a new logo that lacks the automaker’s famous four-ring emblem. Today in Shanghai, the company showed off the new “AUDI” logo — yes, it’s just Audi in all caps — on the front of a new E concept electric Sportback that notably lacks its broadly used “E-Tron” branding.

In a press release, Audi’s CEO Gernot Döllner said it’s hoping to tap into China’s “more tech-savvy” customers who “expect leading connectivity as well as automated driving.” Reuters reported in August that Audi was planning a rebrand for China, where the automaker sold less than 10,000 vehicles in the country in the first half of 2024.

Image: Audi

Audi says the AUDI E concept represents a preview of three upcoming mid- and full-sized models it will introduce starting in mid-2025. Audi formed a partnership with Chinese state-owned SAIC Motors and placed its former electric models head, Fermín Soneira, as the new team’s CEO. A new Advanced Digitized Platform was developed through the partnership, featuring an 800-volt architecture that underpins the E concept.

Image: Audi

Soneir, who has been with Audi parent company Volkswagen for 25 years, says the partnership is set up to “jointly organize development, purchasing, production, and sales.”

VW is struggling in China as home-grown automakers like BYD have won over consumers with cheaper, more tech-advanced cars. Human rights groups have also called out VW that its supply chain may have been linked to forced labor of the Uygur Muslim population in Xinjiang.

1 week ago
0

iRobot is laying off staff for the second time this year

Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

iRobot, the parent company of robovac maker Roomba, is laying off around 105 employees. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission spotted by TechCrunch, iRobot says the job cuts will impact 16 percent of its current workforce.
The company announced the news as part of its earnings report released on Wednesday. “These moves, while challenging, have fundamentally changed the way we work with our partners to efficiently develop and build our robots,” iRobot CEO Gary Cohen said during an earnings call.
In January, iRobot laid off 350 workers after Amazon’s deal to acquire the company fell through. The company also appointed Cohen as CEO, who shut down Roomba’s subscription service iRobot Select.
Additionally, Cohen said the company’s “new operating model is able to deliver a significant increase” in new products at a lower cost and with fewer resources. iRobot has released several new products in 2024, including a more affordable self-emptying robovac. That’s opposed to the one or two new models iRobot typically launched each year in the past.

Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

iRobot, the parent company of robovac maker Roomba, is laying off around 105 employees. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission spotted by TechCrunch, iRobot says the job cuts will impact 16 percent of its current workforce.

The company announced the news as part of its earnings report released on Wednesday. “These moves, while challenging, have fundamentally changed the way we work with our partners to efficiently develop and build our robots,” iRobot CEO Gary Cohen said during an earnings call.

In January, iRobot laid off 350 workers after Amazon’s deal to acquire the company fell through. The company also appointed Cohen as CEO, who shut down Roomba’s subscription service iRobot Select.

Additionally, Cohen said the company’s “new operating model is able to deliver a significant increase” in new products at a lower cost and with fewer resources. iRobot has released several new products in 2024, including a more affordable self-emptying robovac. That’s opposed to the one or two new models iRobot typically launched each year in the past.

1 week ago
0

Star Wars is reportedly getting a new film trilogy

Image: Disney / Lucasfilm

The future of Star Wars movies just got a little more confusing. Deadline and Variety both report that Lucasfilm has tapped Simon Kinberg, best-known for his work on the X-Men films, to write and develop a new Star Wars trilogy. Kinberg will be working alongside Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy to produce them, according to the reports.
Just what that trilogy will look like is unclear. Deadline says it could a continuation of the Skywalker story, which would make these episodes 10-12. But it could also be a brand-new saga that is tied in part to the other three Star Wars movies that Lucasfilm announced last year, which will be directed by James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Lucasfilm previously said that Obaid-Chinoy’s film would bring back Daisey Ridley’s Rey as she attempts to build a new Jedi Order.
However it shakes out, the news shows just how difficult it has been to transition Star Wars into a new era of film. While the franchise has expanded quite a bit through streaming series on Disney Plus — including The Mandalorian, The Acolyte, and Ahsoka — there hasn’t been a new movie in theaters since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. The only current firm release on the schedule is a Disney Plus spinoff, with The Mandalorian & Grogu slated to hitstheaters on May 22nd, 2026.

Image: Disney / Lucasfilm

The future of Star Wars movies just got a little more confusing. Deadline and Variety both report that Lucasfilm has tapped Simon Kinberg, best-known for his work on the X-Men films, to write and develop a new Star Wars trilogy. Kinberg will be working alongside Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy to produce them, according to the reports.

Just what that trilogy will look like is unclear. Deadline says it could a continuation of the Skywalker story, which would make these episodes 10-12. But it could also be a brand-new saga that is tied in part to the other three Star Wars movies that Lucasfilm announced last year, which will be directed by James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Lucasfilm previously said that Obaid-Chinoy’s film would bring back Daisey Ridley’s Rey as she attempts to build a new Jedi Order.

However it shakes out, the news shows just how difficult it has been to transition Star Wars into a new era of film. While the franchise has expanded quite a bit through streaming series on Disney Plus — including The Mandalorian, The Acolyte, and Ahsoka — there hasn’t been a new movie in theaters since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. The only current firm release on the schedule is a Disney Plus spinoff, with The Mandalorian & Grogu slated to hitstheaters on May 22nd, 2026.

1 week ago
0

The Fitbit Inspire 3 is down to just $70, its best price yet

The Fitbit Inspire 3 offers a bright, easy-to-read OLED display, which is a nice perk at this price. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Google’s Pixel Watch 3 is still down to a record low price, but honestly not everybody wants to — or even needs to — fork out $275 on a smartwatch. That’s especially true if all you really need is something to help you keeps tabs on basic health and fitness metrics basics. The Fitbit Inspire 3 is a better, more affordable alternative, one that’s currently down to its best price of $69.95 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Google.

The comfortable tracker does a good job of delivering the essentials, helping you accurately keep tabs of basic health and fitness metrics while lasting up to 10 days on a single charge. It also comes with some extra conveniences found in pricier trackers, from a bright OLED screen to features like irregular heart rate notifications, advanced sleep tracking capabilities, and several stress management features.
Of course, there are some trade offs to make at this price. You don’t get a lot of the smarts you’d find in a smartwatch like the Pixel Watch 3, so don’t expect contactless payments, built-in GPS, or support for virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. But honestly, if all you really need is just a simple and straightforward fitness band, you probably won’t miss those features much anyway.
Read our hands-on impressions of the Fitbit Inspire 3.

The Fitbit Inspire 3 offers a bright, easy-to-read OLED display, which is a nice perk at this price. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Google’s Pixel Watch 3 is still down to a record low price, but honestly not everybody wants to — or even needs to — fork out $275 on a smartwatch. That’s especially true if all you really need is something to help you keeps tabs on basic health and fitness metrics basics. The Fitbit Inspire 3 is a better, more affordable alternative, one that’s currently down to its best price of $69.95 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Google.

The comfortable tracker does a good job of delivering the essentials, helping you accurately keep tabs of basic health and fitness metrics while lasting up to 10 days on a single charge. It also comes with some extra conveniences found in pricier trackers, from a bright OLED screen to features like irregular heart rate notifications, advanced sleep tracking capabilities, and several stress management features.

Of course, there are some trade offs to make at this price. You don’t get a lot of the smarts you’d find in a smartwatch like the Pixel Watch 3, so don’t expect contactless payments, built-in GPS, or support for virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. But honestly, if all you really need is just a simple and straightforward fitness band, you probably won’t miss those features much anyway.

Read our hands-on impressions of the Fitbit Inspire 3.

1 week ago
0

Google could add AI replies to its handy call-screening feature

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Google could soon add “AI Replies” to the Phone app’s call-screening feature. A line of code spotted by 9to5Google suggests the app will generate “new AI-powered smart replies” based on how someone responds to the call screen.
Google widely rolled out its call-screening feature in Android 12. It allows you to filter calls and have Google Assistant respond with an audio message to ask who’s calling, rather than having to pick up the call yourself. Late last year, Google added “contextual replies,” which use the context of someone’s call to serve up customized audio responses. It also updated its call-screening feature in March with a way to respond even when the caller is silent.

Image: Google
These are some of the options Google’s call screen tool currently has.

It looks like Google is trying to expand on this by using AI to better understand why someone’s calling and generate more appropriate replies. Perhaps this is part of what Google meant when it hinted at “multi-step, multi-turn conversational AI” last year, which could make call screening more effective.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Google could soon add “AI Replies” to the Phone app’s call-screening feature. A line of code spotted by 9to5Google suggests the app will generate “new AI-powered smart replies” based on how someone responds to the call screen.

Google widely rolled out its call-screening feature in Android 12. It allows you to filter calls and have Google Assistant respond with an audio message to ask who’s calling, rather than having to pick up the call yourself. Late last year, Google added “contextual replies,” which use the context of someone’s call to serve up customized audio responses. It also updated its call-screening feature in March with a way to respond even when the caller is silent.

Image: Google
These are some of the options Google’s call screen tool currently has.

It looks like Google is trying to expand on this by using AI to better understand why someone’s calling and generate more appropriate replies. Perhaps this is part of what Google meant when it hinted at “multi-step, multi-turn conversational AI” last year, which could make call screening more effective.

1 week ago
0

Microsoft Outlook now has dynamic AI-powered themes

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is adding AI-powered themes to Outlook today. Dubbed “Themes by Copilot,” this AI-powered feature will require a Copilot Pro or business license to add a more personalized look to Microsoft’s email client.
The themes will appear across Outlook for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and on the web, and they’re designed to make “Outlook more beautiful and approachable,” according to Microsoft.
You’ll be able to create a theme based on the weather or locations, and they can dynamically update every few hours, each day, weekly, or monthly. “If you’ve enabled location permissions in Outlook, the My Location theme will bring you imagery uniquely inspired by your locale, dynamically updating for you as you head out the door on a trip or vacation,” says Microsoft.

Image: Microsoft
How the themes work on Outlook mobile.

Every AI-generated theme has a wallpaper for the background on the desktop version of Outlook or the top section of the iOS and Android apps. There’s also an accent color that themes the rest of the Outlook client.
Microsoft is also releasing a collection of non-AI-powered themes for everyone without a Copilot license. The collection includes green, red, and purple themes that are available across the web, PC, Mac, and mobile versions of Outlook.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is adding AI-powered themes to Outlook today. Dubbed “Themes by Copilot,” this AI-powered feature will require a Copilot Pro or business license to add a more personalized look to Microsoft’s email client.

The themes will appear across Outlook for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and on the web, and they’re designed to make “Outlook more beautiful and approachable,” according to Microsoft.

You’ll be able to create a theme based on the weather or locations, and they can dynamically update every few hours, each day, weekly, or monthly. “If you’ve enabled location permissions in Outlook, the My Location theme will bring you imagery uniquely inspired by your locale, dynamically updating for you as you head out the door on a trip or vacation,” says Microsoft.

Image: Microsoft
How the themes work on Outlook mobile.

Every AI-generated theme has a wallpaper for the background on the desktop version of Outlook or the top section of the iOS and Android apps. There’s also an accent color that themes the rest of the Outlook client.

Microsoft is also releasing a collection of non-AI-powered themes for everyone without a Copilot license. The collection includes green, red, and purple themes that are available across the web, PC, Mac, and mobile versions of Outlook.

1 week ago
0

The gorgeous Mononoke movie is coming to Netflix later this month

Netflix

Toei’s Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain from director Kenji Nakamura is one of this year’s most visually stunning anime films, and it’s making its way to Netflix in just a few weeks.
Like the Mononoke series, Phantom in the Rain tells the tale of an unnamed merchant (Hiroshi Kamiya) who, in addition to selling medicines, specializes in exorcizing “mononoke” — malevolent spirits who terrorize the living. When the Medicine Seller arrives at the imperial palace, his senses tell him that a mononoke is lurking somewhere deep within the building’s innermost chambers.
As a man, the Medicine Seller is forbidden from stepping foot inside of the imperial harem of women like Asa (Tomoyo Kurosawa) and Kame (Aoi Yūki), who have gathered in hopes of becoming mothers to the next royal heir. But with the mononoke’s presence posing a threat to the entire palace, the Medicine Seller has to break its rules, and Netflix’s new trailer for the film gives you a sense of the dazzling chaos that ensues.
As gorgeous as the movie is, you’d think Netflix would have been making more noise about it well in advance of its November 28th streaming premiere. But at the very least, we won’t have to wait long to see it.

Netflix

Toei’s Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain from director Kenji Nakamura is one of this year’s most visually stunning anime films, and it’s making its way to Netflix in just a few weeks.

Like the Mononoke series, Phantom in the Rain tells the tale of an unnamed merchant (Hiroshi Kamiya) who, in addition to selling medicines, specializes in exorcizing “mononoke” — malevolent spirits who terrorize the living. When the Medicine Seller arrives at the imperial palace, his senses tell him that a mononoke is lurking somewhere deep within the building’s innermost chambers.

As a man, the Medicine Seller is forbidden from stepping foot inside of the imperial harem of women like Asa (Tomoyo Kurosawa) and Kame (Aoi Yūki), who have gathered in hopes of becoming mothers to the next royal heir. But with the mononoke’s presence posing a threat to the entire palace, the Medicine Seller has to break its rules, and Netflix’s new trailer for the film gives you a sense of the dazzling chaos that ensues.

As gorgeous as the movie is, you’d think Netflix would have been making more noise about it well in advance of its November 28th streaming premiere. But at the very least, we won’t have to wait long to see it.

1 week ago
0

What’s really behind Big Tech’s return-to-office mandates?

Image: The Verge; Getty Images

Today, we’re talking about work. Specifically, where we work, how our expectations of working remotely were radically changed by the covid-19 pandemic, and how those expectations feel like they’re on the verge of changing yet again. For many people, the pendulum has swung wildly between working fully remote and now a push to return to the office from their bosses, and there are a lot of theories about what might be motivating big companies to try and bring everyone back.
Here on Decoder, I’ve talked to lots of CEOs about the benefits of working fully remote versus hybrid or having everybody back in the office over the past several years, and I’ve heard the full spectrum of responses. Some executives are adamant that people need to be in the office, and others are equally adamant that fully remote is the way to go. We’ll play some of those answers for you as we go so you can get a sense of the enormous range of opinions here.

If you look at the surveys, it’s basically 50/50 — quite a lot of people want to work remotely, and they can be pretty loud online. But there are a lot of people, who are often quieter, who want to go back to the office for pretty good reasons. Some folks just don’t have the space to work from home, or they’re simply tired of making video calls in sweatpants all day and never really leaving the house. I know some people who really like just being able to leave work at the office when they head home for the day, and I’ve heard from a lot of younger people who are struggling to get face time with the more senior and experienced people at their companies in order to build relationships and grow their networks.
The messy middle of all this is what quite a few companies have settled on: hybrid work, which allows for a combination of in-office and remote work. This is how The Verge runs, and I quite like it — but it’s not perfect. Like so many people who work in a hybrid environment, there are days where I go into a mostly empty office and then sit on Zoom in a phone booth, and there are days when I realize I’m the only one in a meeting sitting at home because everyone else has gone into the office.
Figuring out how to make hybrid work is a long-term cultural project that we really only started in 2020. While there are some obvious benefits, it’s not clear if anyone’s really cracked it in a way that scales across different kinds of companies.
Now, some companies have decided the nuance just isn’t worth it. In September, Amazon mandated that all employees would return to an office five days a week starting in January. In the memo announcing the change, CEO Andy Jassy argued that the company had “observed that it’s easier to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture,” that “collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective,” and that “teams tend to be better connected to one another” when everyone is in the office.
Amazon isn’t alone in wanting employees back at their desks. Companies like Disney and Salesforce have also pushed for employees to come back to the office at least four days a week, making similar arguments. Other companies, like Apple, have been steadily pressuring workers to come back for quite some time — that beautiful new spaceship office in Cupertino wasn’t built to stay empty.
But is the return to office really about building company culture and being more creative and productive? I have to tell you, there is a huge chunk of The Verge and Decoder audience that is absolutely convinced that any big return-to-office policy change is actually just a layoff in disguise — we get emails making this case virtually every time one of these moves is announced.
Jassy even addressed this directly, just a few days ago, in an all-hands meeting. Responding to claims that the return-to-work mandate is a quote “backdoor layoff,” he told employees that that is simply not true. We’ll come back to that later on.
So I wanted to know what’s been going on, what the real reasons behind return-to-office might be, and where this is all headed next. To explain it, I caught up with two experts on the subject: Stephan Meier, a professor of business strategy at Columbia Business School, and Jessica Kriegel, the chief strategy officer at workplace culture consultancy Culture Partners.
We dive into what’s been happening to the nature of work today, and you’ll hear both of them lay out some of the key reasons behind the return-to-office push. We also try to figure out whether Amazon is just an outlier or, as you’ll hear Jessica say, “the tip of the spear” in what could be something much bigger.
Here are some of the news stories, surveys, and studies we discussed in this episode, if you’d like to learn more:

Amazon is making its employees come back to the office five days a week | The Verge

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy denies that 5-day office mandate is a ‘backdoor layoff’ | CNBC

Bob Iger tells Disney employees they must return to the office four days a week | CNBC

A quarter of bosses admit return-to-office mandates meant to make staff quit | Fortune

More Americans now prefer hybrid over fully remote work, survey finds | Axios

Google tells staff: stay productive and we’ll stay flexible | Business Insider

The list of major companies requiring employees to return to the office | Business Insider

Thinking Inside the Box: Why Virtual Meetings Generate Fewer Ideas | Columbia

Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn wants you addicted to learning | Decoder

The CEO of Zoom wants AI clones in meetings | Decoder

Sundar Pichai on managing Google through the pandemic | The Vergecast

Image: The Verge; Getty Images

Today, we’re talking about work. Specifically, where we work, how our expectations of working remotely were radically changed by the covid-19 pandemic, and how those expectations feel like they’re on the verge of changing yet again. For many people, the pendulum has swung wildly between working fully remote and now a push to return to the office from their bosses, and there are a lot of theories about what might be motivating big companies to try and bring everyone back.

Here on Decoder, I’ve talked to lots of CEOs about the benefits of working fully remote versus hybrid or having everybody back in the office over the past several years, and I’ve heard the full spectrum of responses. Some executives are adamant that people need to be in the office, and others are equally adamant that fully remote is the way to go. We’ll play some of those answers for you as we go so you can get a sense of the enormous range of opinions here.

If you look at the surveys, it’s basically 50/50 — quite a lot of people want to work remotely, and they can be pretty loud online. But there are a lot of people, who are often quieter, who want to go back to the office for pretty good reasons. Some folks just don’t have the space to work from home, or they’re simply tired of making video calls in sweatpants all day and never really leaving the house. I know some people who really like just being able to leave work at the office when they head home for the day, and I’ve heard from a lot of younger people who are struggling to get face time with the more senior and experienced people at their companies in order to build relationships and grow their networks.

The messy middle of all this is what quite a few companies have settled on: hybrid work, which allows for a combination of in-office and remote work. This is how The Verge runs, and I quite like it — but it’s not perfect. Like so many people who work in a hybrid environment, there are days where I go into a mostly empty office and then sit on Zoom in a phone booth, and there are days when I realize I’m the only one in a meeting sitting at home because everyone else has gone into the office.

Figuring out how to make hybrid work is a long-term cultural project that we really only started in 2020. While there are some obvious benefits, it’s not clear if anyone’s really cracked it in a way that scales across different kinds of companies.

Now, some companies have decided the nuance just isn’t worth it. In September, Amazon mandated that all employees would return to an office five days a week starting in January. In the memo announcing the change, CEO Andy Jassy argued that the company had “observed that it’s easier to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture,” that “collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective,” and that “teams tend to be better connected to one another” when everyone is in the office.

Amazon isn’t alone in wanting employees back at their desks. Companies like Disney and Salesforce have also pushed for employees to come back to the office at least four days a week, making similar arguments. Other companies, like Apple, have been steadily pressuring workers to come back for quite some time — that beautiful new spaceship office in Cupertino wasn’t built to stay empty.

But is the return to office really about building company culture and being more creative and productive? I have to tell you, there is a huge chunk of The Verge and Decoder audience that is absolutely convinced that any big return-to-office policy change is actually just a layoff in disguise — we get emails making this case virtually every time one of these moves is announced.

Jassy even addressed this directly, just a few days ago, in an all-hands meeting. Responding to claims that the return-to-work mandate is a quote “backdoor layoff,” he told employees that that is simply not true. We’ll come back to that later on.

So I wanted to know what’s been going on, what the real reasons behind return-to-office might be, and where this is all headed next. To explain it, I caught up with two experts on the subject: Stephan Meier, a professor of business strategy at Columbia Business School, and Jessica Kriegel, the chief strategy officer at workplace culture consultancy Culture Partners.

We dive into what’s been happening to the nature of work today, and you’ll hear both of them lay out some of the key reasons behind the return-to-office push. We also try to figure out whether Amazon is just an outlier or, as you’ll hear Jessica say, “the tip of the spear” in what could be something much bigger.

Here are some of the news stories, surveys, and studies we discussed in this episode, if you’d like to learn more: