Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 134, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you’re okay in all this heat, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about Polymarket lies and Jalen Brunson and the Arts and Crafts Movement, watching Not Suitable for Work and way too much of the World Cup, trying to catch up on The Bear before the final season starts, playing a bunch of Hank Green’s 4×3 game, trying my absolute hardest not to preorder this amazing Stanley Kubrick collection even though I’m obviously going to, buying a bunch of new AirTags and charging cables during Prime Day, poring over oral histories of data centers and Steven Spielberg, and thinking rude thoughts about whoever decided to kill Notion Mail.
I also have for you a smart speaker worth a look, a great new remake of a great old game, a couple of excellent video essays, and a Netflix hit to binge on your vacation.
Oh, and two more things. One, we’re off next week for the holiday weekend. And two, I have a question: What’s your reading setup? I mean reading in the broadest sense: books, long articles, newsletters, weird zines your kids make, anything and everything. I want to know the apps you swear by, the decade-old Kindle you won’t let go of, your go-to used bookstore, your favorite brand of highlighter, anything and everything. I have some thoughts on the subject, too. We’ll talk.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you reading / watching / listening to / playing / gluing together this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)
- The Google Home Speaker. Nine months later, it’s finally on sale! I mostly really like it so far — for its size and $99 price it’s a very serviceable speaker, and since all I really need is “put this on my calendar” and “play this song on Spotify,” Gemini is a winner. Still a little worried about Google’s ongoing interest in the smart home, though…
- Star Fox. I was very much raised by the Nintendo 64, but I confess I never really got into Star Fox. This is good news for Adult David, because now I get to experience this game — which is by all accounts a pretty faithful and solid remake of the original — for the very first time. I have a lot of flying to do.
- The Atonemo NTS Radio Player. I don’t know why I’m such a sucker for adorable little music players, but there’s just nothing I can do about it. This one is beautiful, and I love that it both supports streaming services and offers a bunch of just-turn-it-on radio options. The NTS infinite mixtapes always seem to hit.
- “The Revolt Against Technology.” Really great video from Jared Henderson about what he calls “the new Luddites,” or more broadly the ongoing backlash against everything tech has become in our lives. I don’t agree with everything in here, but I nodded a lot at the stuff about the future we were promised that simply never arrived.
- Claude Tag. Work chat is so obviously a useful place for AI as a way to find information and accomplish simple stuff. There are going to be a lot of weird social questions to figure out here — can you @claude a request from your boss, right in-line in Slack? — but I suspect I’ll end up using this a lot.
- Meta Glasses. I’m so torn on these. Love that they’re cheaper, love that they’re lower-profile, even love a couple of the styles. But… Meta. I wish I could get a pair of these that were just a camera, a microphone, speakers, and precisely nothing else.
- Deltarune Chapter 5. A bunch of new content for an absolutely beloved game just dropped, and both the Steam charts and my social feeds suggest that people are into it. If you’ve been in this world for a while, it apparently ties a lot of things together; if you’re new, like me, it feels like the perfect time to dive in.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender season two. An Installerverse favorite is back! Heard a bunch of good things about this season, too; the general consensus seems to be that nothing could or will ever top the original, but that’s okay and this one’s a great time. I’m always in the market for shows that are just a great time.
- “Why Everyone Wants A ‘Live-Service’ Game.” Jason Schreier’s (still new-ish) YouTube channel is full of good reporting and good stories, but this one in particular did a really nice job of answering a really complicated question: Why does everyone keep making these huge, expensive, oversized games that keep failing miserably? I think I get it now.
Three or four times a year, I decide to try and make my iPad my main computer. This is almost always Christopher Lawley’s fault. He is always making these extremely cool, glamorous videos about how to use your iPad! Tablet life seems so peaceful and sane when Chris does it.
I’ve been a fan of Chris’ work forever, and got excited all over again when I saw that he’s been working on a new tasks / planner app called Parchment. (Not to brag, but I am in the TestFlight.) We’ll dig into the app another time, but I figured this was a good moment to ask Chris to share his iPad setup as it stands right now. Maybe I’ll go full iPad again.
Here it is, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
The device: 13-inch, 2TB M5 iPad Pro. I like working from the iPad because it is a more focused environment. I have ADHD and I can easily distract myself. A lot of people complain about the iPad because it is constrained compared to the Mac; I find that to be its biggest benefit. When I need to focus on some script writing, podcast prep, photo or video editing, or even administrative tasks the iPad is the device I grab.
The wallpaper: The wallpaper I am currently using is a photo I took at Bass Lake. About 12 hours from this point, a massive snowstorm rolled in and trapped us for an extra day — it was a fantastic trip.
The apps: Files, Safari, Mail, Obsidian, Drafts, Parchment, Reminders, Calendar, Stocks, Notability, Codex, Siri, Reeder, Quick Reads, Final Cut Pro, Lightroom, Photoshop, Messages, Indigo, Apple Music, Overcast, PCalc, Shortcuts.
Oh boy, do I love apps. That was the whole reason I started my YouTube channel almost 10 years ago.
I have to start with my beloved Obsidian. At its core Obsidian is a lightweight note-taking/writing app. If you will allow me a self-indulgent plug for a second: If Obsidian seems daunting to you I made a starter’s guide for it. Obsidian also has a web clipper that I use for research, saving articles, and even YouTube videos. It’s really good at pulling a lot of metadata.
During Apple’s OS beta season I always switch back to Reminders and Calendar as my core productivity apps. I do this so I can properly cover them in detail in the fall. I have some issues with Reminders and how long it takes to input simple stuff, but it’s very powerful for a free task manager. I manage my whole business out of a task manager, and it’s just this free tool that comes with our devices.
I spent four years working a full-time job while trying to build my YouTube channel. I never automated my creative work, but even with a YouTube channel there is a ton of administrative work that goes behind the scenes. For years I used Shortcuts (technically it was Workflow—that was what the app was called before Apple bought it). Lately I have been using agentic AI, specifically Claude Cowork and Codex. I’ve been using this so much that I built a shortcut that jumps right into Codex. I even had Codex extract its own app icon so I could just place it in the dock.
A few creative apps I use on my iPad are Final Cut Pro, Lightroom, and Photoshop. I did try to go all in on Apple’s Creator Studio, but the lack of lens profiles in Pixelmator Pro specifically caused me to go back to Lightroom. For me, I can get my work done in all of these apps. They do have some features missing that their desktop counterparts have, but I make it work. It all goes back to the iPad being the platform I like to work on.
My pal Matt Birchler has been on a bit of a tear lately making a bunch of apps. One of his more recent ones that I have fallen in love with is Quick Reads. This is a read-it-later service, with support for listening to articles with really good, natural-sounding voices.
I have been desperate to replace Twitter ever since its downfall. I have ended up in two places, Mastodon and Bluesky. Indigo combines both feeds into a single timeline. You can even post to both platforms at once. I really like it as a way to keep up with friends and people I follow.
An app that isn’t on my home screen but I use a lot is the Nintendo Music app. I love this app for when I need to get work done. I am somebody that can’t focus when music with lyrics is playing, but a completely quiet room drives me up the wall. Nintendo has done a great job curating some of the best music in video game history into one place. There is even a killer feature for some supported tracks to extend the song up to an hour. This works with a lot of overworld music; lately, I have been playing the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom tracks. The Animal Crossing tracks are also great to work to. There is even a feature to sync the Animal Crossing tracks with real-world time.
I also asked Chris to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:
- I just finished 007: First Light. What a fantastic game. As somebody who has seen every 007 movie a few times (yes, even Die Another Day), I loved this version of Bond. What a great game.
- I’ve been really into 3D printing lately. I got a Bambu Lab A1 for Christmas. I had been printing Gridfinity almost nonstop, organizing my office/studio. I finally finished that. Now it’s time to do the rest of the house.
- Lastly, my girlfriend and I adopted a new puppy. Her name is Riley. She is an almost 4-month-old golden retriever. She has her own Instagram account that my girlfriend manages.
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky.
“I have been looking into the Polastax project, which basically uses a cheap film holder to let you shoot Instax film on old Polaroid pack film cameras. It’s super kludgey: You can only take one shot at a time and then you have to put it into an Instax wide body to ‘develop’ the shot. But most other ways to do this cost hundreds of dollars or require an engineering degree, this is slightly more attainable!” — Richard
“Watching Star City (spin-off of For All Mankind) actually made me rewatch FAM season 1, and there are nice call-backs. These TV shows are top notch for me.” — Fabrice
“I got a pair of XReal One Pros and I’ve been using them to watch movies and play games on the Steam Deck. Really cool tech. The way it can 3D convert any video on the fly so seamlessly is amazing. It has a very crisp image as well.” — Yoinks
“Over-the-air HD digital broadcast is still a thing and, coupled with a cheap DVR like HDHomeRun makes catching the World Cup when time permits super easy (and free, too!).” — David
“Currently I’m following up on some Installer advice from a few weeks ago and listening to soundtracks while I’m working. It’s difficult to focus, though, while the score for Into the Spider-Verse is pulsing through my speakers.” — Ben
“Just started Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike, by Phil Knight. Excited to hear the story of one of the world’s biggest brands, especially right now as it struggles to adapt to the modern era of running shoes.” — Ryan
“RE: PopSocket Low-Pro Grip. OhSnap did it first, and it’s great!” — Deb
“Lately I’ve gotten into fountain pens and inks. I love, love, love the online shop by Italian company Stilo & Stile. Inks are swatched and so are most of the fountain pens, plus you can whittle it down to every nook and cranny! JetPens has a terrific online store as well. Probably two of the best online stores I’ve run into.” — Elif
The game On-Together is kind of having a moment right now. Though I’m not even sure I’d call it a game. It’s just an online space: You join a server, walk around for a while, find a spot to sit, and sit. Sit a while, get tickets, buy new stuff for your avatar. That’s it! But there’s something about the idea of this sort of digital co-working that really seems to work for people — it’s not at all a new concept, but I think there’s something really cool about the way On-Together actually makes these spaces feel communal.
Right next to this game’s popularity is the concept of “admin nights,” which is basically when you get together with a bunch of strangers to accomplish all your boring tasks together. I love this idea! We should do an Installerverse admin night one of these days. I have… a lot of boring tasks to accomplish. And in general, I think there’s something powerful about finding even these very low-touch ways to be together. We should all do that more.
