Hello, buddies! Welcome to Installer No. 82, your information to the very best and Verge-iest stuff on this planet. (Should you’re new right here, welcome, hope you’re caught up on Andor, and in addition you possibly can learn all of the previous editions on the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been studying about AI prophets and ChatGPT cheaters and the lives of NFL prospects, watching the new season of Taskmaster and an entire bunch of Mulan, taking part in PGA Tour Pro Golf on my iPhone and the unique Mario Golf on my Change, lastly stepping into Barbarians at the Gate, and doing numerous eBay purchasing for classic devices. For work, I swear.
I even have for you an ideal new gaming controller, a podcast about emojis, a brand new super-high-end health tracker, an entire bunch of GTA VI content material, and way more. Enjoyable, gadgety week this week! Let’s get into it.
(As all the time, the very best a part of Installer is your concepts and suggestions. What are you watching / studying / taking part in / listening to / studying on the harpsichord this week? What ought to everybody else be into proper now, too? Inform me all the pieces: installer@theverge.com. And if you already know another person who would possibly take pleasure in Installer, ahead it to them and inform them to subscribe here.)
- The Backbone Pro. I’ve had and beloved a Spine controller for some time — it’s a terrific gaming accent in your telephone. The brand new mannequin is much more bold; along with your telephone, it could additionally join wirelessly to iPads, Steam Decks, good TVs, and extra. No Change or Xbox or PS5, for annoying causes, however nonetheless an ideal cross-device concept.
- “Emoji Law.” An prompt basic of a 99 % Invisible episode, about how a thumbs-up emoji in response to a contract proposal became an enormous lawsuit over what a thumbs-up emoji truly means. A wonky story in the very best approach, and an ideal hear.
- The Microsoft Surface Pro 12. I stay barely skeptical that any Home windows on ARM gadget will be actually nice, but it surely seems like Microsoft got the spec sheet right with this one. The Professional is skinny and light-weight, highly effective sufficient, with good battery life, and begins at $800… I’ve excessive hopes for this one.
- Poker Face season two. This present by no means fairly received its due, I assume largely as a result of it’s on Peacock and no person actually cares about Peacock. (Disclosure: Comcast, which owns Peacock, is a minority investor in Vox Media.) But it surely’s a terrific thriller present, and the second season is simply as shocking and weird as the primary.
- Amazon Kindle for iOS. That is largely a PSA: due to the current ruling in opposition to Apple, builders like Amazon can now include links to purchase stuff on the internet. Amazon’s one of many first I’ve seen to take benefit — you possibly can simply click on to purchase a ebook! What a world! Delta and other apps are additionally already altering the way you pay for stuff, and there’s absolutely extra to return quickly.
- “Handhelds (and Games) I’m Playing Right Now.” A enjoyable Retro Video games Corp tour of a bunch of attention-grabbing and enjoyable handheld consoles — together with a pair I didn’t find out about earlier than — and a few enjoyable video games to play on them. I’ve bother maintaining all of the retro handheld stuff straight, and this video was tremendous useful.
- Whoop 5.0. Whoop has all the time been slightly an excessive amount of for me. It’s an ideal health tracker for, like, professional athletes, but it surely’s greater than most individuals want. The new one, although, is smaller and longer-lasting and extra targeted on total well being monitoring. It’s nonetheless a lot of metrics, although, and also you’ll pay as much as $359 a 12 months to get all of them.
- “GTA 6 TRAILER 2 REACTION & BREAKDOWN.” Two full hours of frame-by-frame evaluation of a two-minute trailer for a sport that’s not popping out for a year, from a giant title in GTA streaming, who spends half the stream simply being blown away by the graphics? Sure, please. I watched the entire thing with out even that means to.
I’ve talked about this earlier than right here, however I’ve an actual weak point for notebooks. On some degree this is unnecessary: I sort all day, I write by hand rarely, and my handwriting is horrific. And but there’s nothing I really like greater than the appear and feel of a very nice pocket book. I’ve been a fan of the Sidekick Notepad from Cortex for some time, and was very excited to see the launch of the Sidekick Pocket this week. There are three flavors of the brand new mini pocket book: one with lined paper, one with a dot grid, and one only for writing checklists. The proper reply is all three.
One half of the Cortex crew is Myke Hurley, who you may also know because the cofounder of the Relay podcast community and the host of tech-focused reveals like Connected and Upgrade. I’ve been a fan of Myke for a very long time, and wished to see how a man who makes beautiful notebooks thinks about his telephone.
Right here’s Myke’s homescreen, plus some information on the apps he makes use of and why:
The telephone: iPhone 16 Professional in Desert Titanium. I’m within the No Case Membership with my iPhone (though I really like my MagSafe Popsocket to assist with grip), so I prefer to have a telephone with as a lot shade as Apple will give me.
The wallpaper: This can be a picture of the wallpaper in The Beverly Hills Lodge, which I took whereas on vacation in LA final 12 months. This wallpaper offers me pleasure, despite the fact that my buddies REPEATEDLY inform me that it makes my homescreen too busy. But it surely’s my telephone!
The apps: Apple Notes, ChatGPT, Citymapper, Mango Child, Photographs, Instagram, Messages, Readwise Reader, Todoist, Notion, Safari, Overcast, GameTrack, Owlet Dream, Kindle.
As you possibly can see, I really like widgets on my homescreen, and I take advantage of stacks fairly a bit. So that you see Carrot and Due there, for example, however they’re hiding widgets for Fantastical and Reminders, respectively.
I discover myself utilizing ChatGPT increasingly more to switch Google Search. Having the ability to ask follow-up questions on what I’m looking for may be very highly effective, and sometimes helps me discover what I would like.
My spouse and I lately had our first youngster, and we now have been utilizing Mango Baby to trace all of the essential issues it is advisable to monitor for child well being. It’s made by a single developer, it seems nice, and it helps all the brand new Apple applied sciences like interactive widgets and stay actions.
I’ve lately taken all text-based social media off my telephone, and am making an attempt to do this stuff on work gadgets solely, in an effort to be much less distracted. So I’ve began saving articles to Readwise Reader. I actually like the way in which the app seems and works — however I particularly like its highlighting options.
I actually love Widgetsmith’s picture widgets. The built-in widget from Apple is nice, however you by no means know what it’s going to point out you.
I additionally requested Myke to share a couple of issues he’s into proper now. Right here’s what he despatched again:
- The Studio on Apple TV Plus is my absolute favourite present proper now. It’s an extremely enjoyable and entertaining present that’s additionally a technical masterpiece. All the pieces I see about how this present is made simply makes me love and respect it extra.
- Kinda Funny Games is a gaming-focused YouTube channel / podcast community that brings me a lot pleasure. It’s an 11-person firm based mostly in San Francisco, and so they produce a number of reveals on daily basis. The gang has such nice camaraderie I really feel like I’m hanging out with buddies after I tune in.
- Should you’re not listening to The Rest is History, it is best to change that. It’s an unbelievable historical past podcast hosted by Tom Holland (not that one) and Dominic Sandbrook. They’ve a approach of bringing historical past to life that I discover so compelling. There are such a lot of wonderful sequence of episodes to undergo, however I like to recommend the episodes on the Assassination of JFK as a very good place to start out.
Right here’s what the Installer neighborhood is into this week. I need to know what you’re into proper now as properly! Electronic mail installer@theverge.com or message me on Sign — @davidpierce.11 — along with your suggestions for something and all the pieces, and we’ll characteristic a few of our favorites right here each week. For much more nice suggestions, take a look at the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky.
“I’ve began taking part in one other every day phrase sport referred to as Raddle. It’s a phrase ladder the place you must get from one phrase (or phrase) to a different, however as a substitute of simply altering one letter like in a conventional phrase ladder there are a sequence of clues like ‘change the center letter with a double letter to get a time of day.’ The catch is that the clues are in a random order so it is advisable to determine which clue applies proper now.” — Kyle
“The Seat on Netflix, regardless of the very cringe WhatsApp sponsoring, is an interesting watch of a prodigy child nonetheless dwelling together with his mother and father who’s about to hitch one of many prime F1 groups. What Drive to Survive might have been.” — Greg
“Simply received completed with Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, and loved it.” — Hobie
“Pocket Casts launched transcripts finally! Just for Plus and Patron members, it seems like, but when I wasn’t already a Plus member, this might’ve immediately made me one. It will assist my fixed battle of wanting to modify to Apple Podcasts considerably.” — Omesh
“After Omnivore shut down, I received harassed and began wanting into self internet hosting. Struggled till I arrange YunoHost to self host Wallabag and Miniflux on a Raspberry Pi.” — Ronin
“I’ve been taking part in Kero Kero Cowboy for Sport Boy, which simply received launched after a profitable Kickstarter. It has sturdy Kirby vibes and has been a blast up to now.” — Justin
“I’m wanting on the Alfred Field Guide from MacSparky, and making an attempt to see if I can match it into my price range this month. Been a Powerpack person for years, however I’ve by no means realized the ins and outs.” — Ben
“The Pitt on Max is the very best new present I’ve seen this 12 months.” — Yury
“I’ve mainly sunk my week into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I don’t need to sound overly dramatic, however I feel it’s the largest leap in mature online game storytelling since The Witcher 3. Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 improved on The Witcher, however CO seems like one thing solely new.” — Laszlo
I’ve gotten a few emails in the previous few weeks that every one say mainly the identical factor: dude, it is advisable to jailbreak your Kindle. The pitch makes numerous sense! The Kindle is a stunning piece of {hardware} that’s annoyingly tied to all of Amazon’s bizarre concepts about software program and books.
I’ve spent a while this week on YouTube watching individuals jailbreak their e-readers — Dammit Jeff has an ideal explainer, as does Simon Feilder — and so they all present that the Kindle could be a way more attention-grabbing and versatile gadget. Additionally, individuals actually like KOReader. Amazon, in fact, doesn’t need you to do any of this; it already patched a few of the jailbreak exploits, and I assume this cat-and-mouse sport will proceed ceaselessly. However I can be jailbreaking my Paperwhite as quickly as I can, and I’ll report again.