Hello, pals! Welcome to Installer No. 18, your information to the very best and Verge-iest stuff on the earth. (In the event you’re new right here, whats up, blissful holidays, and likewise you possibly can learn all of the outdated editions on the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been combing this list for new board games to try, studying about the NFL’s obsession with ping pong and the rise of chess influencers and the wacky history of Yahoo Pipes, watching Lupe Fiasco thoroughly explain how rap works, testing Anytype as a Notion different, making an attempt to determine find out how to justify shopping for myself a Lego Polaroid, and including Us to all my phrases on Threads to welcome my European pals.
I even have for you a brand new solution to play Grand Theft Auto, some new AI-powered note-taking and journaling instruments, new stuff to observe this weekend, a glance into the creator financial system, and way more.
I even have a query. We solely have another Installer this 12 months, so I figured now’s the time to do it: what was your favourite factor of 2023? I promise I received’t maintain this to, like, a authorized commonplace of that is your solely favourite eternally. However whenever you look again on the final 12 months, what new present / guide / weblog / app / creator entered your life that you just’re significantly blissful about? Inform me one, or two, or three! Doesn’t need to be new this 12 months, simply new to you. Electronic mail [email protected], or textual content / WhatsApp me at (203) 570-8663, and inform me the whole lot. All issues Favorites, coming your method in two weeks.
(As all the time, the very best a part of Installer is your concepts and ideas. What do you need to know extra about? What superior tips are you aware that everybody else ought to? What app ought to everybody be utilizing? Inform me the whole lot: [email protected]. And if you wish to get Installer in your e mail inbox a day early, subscribe here.)
The Drop
- The NPR app. In the event you gave me $100, I couldn’t let you know the distinction between the NPR One app and the NPR app, or why they each existed. Fortunately, they don’t anymore! There may be simply the brand new and good NPR app, which does a great job of each curating tales into newsy playlists and simply enjoying the reveals I’m in search of.
- The GTA trilogy on Netflix. Netflix’s gaming providing is changing into actually spectacular, actually shortly. In the event you’re a subscriber, you now have free entry to a bunch of excellent video games, together with three all-timer GTA titles: San Andreas, Vice Metropolis, and GTA III. They’re outdated, however they nonetheless rip.
- Finalist. One of many niftier to-do listing apps I’ve seen shortly. My predominant challenge with Finalist firstly was I hated the colour selections. With the brand new model, you possibly can design the app any method you need! And it’s nonetheless a super-simple and fairly intelligent duties system.
- How Much I Make on TikTok vs Shorts vs Reels from Hank Green. No person explains the creator financial system like Hank Inexperienced. (In the event you’ve by no means seen his rant against TikTok and creator funds, go watch it.) That is an unusually trustworthy, and type of bleak, have a look at how a lot cash there actually is on this sport and the place it comes from.
- Journaling Suggestions in Day One. Once I wrote about Apple’s Journal app — which is out for everybody now in iOS 17.2! — I stated that Journaling Strategies, the API that combs by way of your pictures, actions, areas, music, and extra to give you stuff to journal about, was the most intriguing part of the product. Day One, my favourite journaling app, now integrates Strategies proper into the app. It really works very well.
- Epic’s holiday sale. This is without doubt one of the higher “free video games!” offers you’ll discover: Epic is freely giving a collection of older titles over the course of the holiday season. Proper now it’s the Future 2: Legacy Assortment, which is a large quantity of Future content material — and there are 16 extra video games left to assert. I’ll be maintaining a tally of this one over the following few days.
- The new Apple TV app. Every single day, I swear, my Roku TV will get a little bit slower. And every single day, I get a little bit nearer to only plugging in an Apple TV. I actually like what Apple’s making an attempt to do with this app — common search, cross-platform suggestions, straightforward shopping for and renting — regardless that it’s lacking Netflix and some different vital providers.
- NotebookLM. Google’s AI-powered notes app nonetheless doesn’t have many options, and I nonetheless don’t completely perceive why it’s not only a function of Preserve or Docs… nevertheless it’s a nifty app nonetheless. Add your docs, summarize them, ask questions on them, make finding out or researching a little bit simpler.
- Xbox Cloud Gaming on Quest 3. This is perhaps the very best purpose but to purchase a VR headset. In the event you’re a Sport Move subscriber, now you can join your controller, hearth up an enormous digital TV, and play video games from wherever. That is going to develop into a part of my bedtime routine method too shortly.
Deep dive
For a extremely very long time, Instapaper was the most-used app on my cellphone. (This was again within the pre-TikTok period, once I spent extra time studying and fewer time scrolling. However let’s not dwell on that change.) I learn so much for work, I’ll learn any celeb profile wherever, and I’m eternally in search of a greater solution to handle all of the stuff I’ve to learn.
This 12 months, type of by chance, I wound up doing a tour of all the very best choices. And excellent news, there are a bunch of them! Instapaper continues to be nice; Matter is attractive; Omnivore is tremendous highly effective; Upnext is doing a little intelligent AI stuff; even Pocket nonetheless does the job, although I dislike numerous its current design adjustments. We’re form of spoiled for alternative on this division.
However I’ve discovered the one for me, no less than for now. It’s Readwise Reader, which works on iOS, Android, and the net. It’s nonetheless technically in beta however is already completely indispensable in my life and workflow. Right here’s a couple of the explanation why:
- Reader can deal with the whole lot. It can save you articles, add books, add movies, import RSS feeds, subscribe to newsletters, and extra. The app does a extremely good job of sorting issues into the precise locations, so that you’re not simply caught with a large mass of stuff. However it will possibly parse, retailer, and manage virtually something of any file kind, and I find it irresistible for that.
- It’s greater than only a queue. The very first thing I beloved about Reader was the homescreen, which reveals you classes like “fast reads,” “lengthy reads,” and “just lately added.” There’s additionally a Digest function that simply grabs a bunch of stuff you’ve saved and tells you to learn it as we speak. I attempt to get by way of my digest every single day, and so I’m truly studying stuff I saved greater than ever.
- It’s additionally type of a note-taking app. Readwise’s unique shtick was to compile all of your notes and highlights from locations like Kindle and Pocket right into a searchable, reviewable archive. With Reader, I can spotlight something I add, or any stay webpage altogether, and the whole lot goes into that very same notes archive — all of which might sync to Notion, Obsidian, or different note-taking apps, too. All my studying, and all my notes, now stay in the identical place.
- You possibly can… learn… video. I watch numerous YouTube, for, uh, journalism. Reader provides a (good however not good) transcript to each video you save, so you possibly can spotlight and take notes identical to on an article. Every part will get time-stamped, too, so you could find it later. It’s so useful.
- It’s tremendous quick. One purpose I’ve stopped utilizing Reader previously is that the app was type of sluggish. A type of apps that all the time felt prefer it was working, you recognize what I imply? However just lately it has been slimmed down and sped up, and now it feels fairly zippy — besides when it’s loading the AI voice to learn an article aloud, which takes eternally, however I don’t take care of that function a lot anyway.
I solely have two ongoing points with Reader, actually. One, it’s not essentially the most engaging app; it feels extra Productiveness Device than Stunning Studying Area, you recognize? (I hate the app icon, too. Fingers crossed there’s a greater one coming.) And two, it truly may need too many options for my style. You possibly can add tags, there’s an Inbox and a Feed and Library and a Later and an Archive, there are one million Views, simply determining the place the whole lot goes takes some time. Oh, and a bonus third factor: it’s not low-cost. The entire Readwise service — word syncing, Kindle integration, all that — prices $8 a month. Properly price it, should you ask me, however not low-cost.
Talking of: should you use this link, I believe you’ll get two free months earlier than you begin paying as a substitute of only one. Give it a whirl, let me know what you suppose and what you employ to learn in your gadgets!
Display share
Tom Warren’s dwelling workplace is probably cooler than yours. It’s positively cooler than mine! He has a teleprompter, an outrageously cool custom-built PC, some sick wall artwork, and extra. Tom is a setup connoisseur, along with being The Verge’s predominant authority on all issues Microsoft, and I respect him for each issues.
If you’d like all of the desk-setup deets, you possibly can find them here, on Reddit, or ping Tom on Threads. However I needed to know if he cares for his small display as a lot as the massive ones, so I requested him to share his homescreen with us.
Right here’s Tom’s homescreen, plus some data on the apps he makes use of and why:
The cellphone: iPhone 15 Professional.
The wallpaper: It’s one among The Verge ones I believe. (Editor’s word: it’s this one.)
The apps: Cellphone, Clock, Images, Digital camera, App Retailer, Telegram, Messages, Settings, Slack, YouTube, Google House, Discord, Instagram, Unread, Twitch, Xbox, WhatsApp, Outlook, Chrome, X, Threads, Bluesky.
The 2 widgets are sensible ones that rotate between Spotify and my 30-min electrical energy price on the precise, and my calendar and the climate on the left. The electrical energy one is there to observe the very best instances to run home equipment and cost my EV, as a result of electrical prices within the UK spiraled after the invasion of Ukraine. I even have fast entry to my safety cameras by way of Google House, which itself has widgets for sensible dwelling controls. I’ve X, Threads, and Bluesky multi functional simply accessible folder as a result of I can’t determine which one replaces Twitter!
I additionally requested Tom to share a couple of issues he’s into proper now. Right here’s what he shared:
- The Wombles. I used to be an enormous fan of The Wombles rising up as a child, so once I’m not listening to EDM loudly in my headphones, you’ll discover me listening to an episode of The Wombles on BBC Sounds. It’s delightfully enjoyable, because of the voice performing of Richard E. Grant.
- TeeDee. TeeDee got here on my radar when he did a mixture of Dave and Secondcity’s “I Wanna Feel” final 12 months. Since then I’m absolutely invested in his SoundCloud as a result of he continuously produces absolute bangers.
- The Finals. I’m obsessive about The Finals in the mean time. It’s a damaging first-person area shooter that’s blowing up on Twitch and Steam. It’s a giant break from the standard Name of Obligation, Overwatch, or battle royale components, and I can’t cease smiling once I discover some new solution to explode buildings within the sport.
Crowdsourced
Right here’s what the Installer group is into this week. I need to know what you’re into proper now as nicely! Electronic mail [email protected] along with your suggestions for something and the whole lot, and we’ll function a few of our favorites right here each week.
“I used this shelf app known as Anybox. This app is a field to shortly entry any kind of merchandise: picture, textual content, doc, and hyperlinks. The app permits customization for default motion based mostly on saved merchandise kind, we will preview, copy, share, and so forth.” — Krishna
“Watching Fisk on Netflix. This Australian quirky comedy simply launched a second season this month. I really like the quick 25-minute episodes, makes it straightforward to observe and luxuriate in.” — Carter
“As you have been speaking about media group / assortment apps, please try the game-tracking app developed by IGN known as Playlist. It’s free and I’m liking it.” — OK
“Analogue Duo baybee.” — Chris
“AI wallpapers on the Google Pixel! I’ve been hooked on creating AI wallpapers and it feels just like the mixtures are actually infinite. Going from an AI-generated portray of a mountain and spaceships to a surreal citadel made from muslin with completely different coloration shades is wildly enjoyable!” — Michael
“Listening to The Vergecast podcast on how Twitter formally died this 12 months and Watching Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix. I extremely advocate it to anybody who likes animation.” — Paul
“If it hasn’t been talked about but, or even when it has, it’s best to try the present Scavengers Reign on Max. Good and freaky sci-fi wonderfulness!” — Edward
“Utilizing Calibre to subscribe to newsletters / newspapers and have them seem on my kindle each morning offers me a fantastic little ‘gradual web’ expertise whereas I sip my espresso.” — Jon
“This week I found Mammoth, an insanely attractive Mastodon app. Till now I’ve not been capable of see previous Ivory. Additionally Longplay is a superb iOS app to rediscover my album assortment in Apple Music.” — Chris
“Spotify audiobooks. I do know you don’t personal the audiobooks after however it’s actually handy to get 15 hours free of charge. It’s sufficient to get me by way of no less than one medium-sized guide every month. I take advantage of it with Libby and Audible to learn a bunch in the course of the month!” — Harrison
Signing off
This week, The Verge printed one among my favourite packages we’ve ever completed, all about the death of Twitter. The tales are good, learn all of them, however significantly, y’all: it’s a must to go to The Great Scrollback of Alexandria and spend a couple of minutes / hours / months scrolling by way of hundreds of the very best tweets of all time. The listing reorders each time you open the web page, and if there’s a backside of the listing, I certain haven’t discovered it. Twitter was actually a deranged, horrible, fantastic place. And should you get to the 3944 tweet (you’ll realize it whenever you see it), simply know that I laughed for absolutely quarter-hour at that tweet. I hope you do, too.
We’re off subsequent week for the vacation. Hope you’ve got an awesome one, and see you in two weeks!