Hello, mates! Welcome to Installer No. 16, your information to the most effective and Verge-iest stuff on this planet. (For those who’re new right here, welcome to our pleasant nook of the web, sorry about all of the productiveness apps, and in addition, you possibly can learn all of the previous editions on the Installer homepage.)
Hope you all had a fantastic vacation, or no less than a fantastic week with one fewer e mail in your inbox. This week, I’ve been testing Supernotes as a every day diary app, studying about what it takes to make an iPhone in India and no matter “gamified theater” is, unsubscribing to each model that despatched me a “Blissful Holidays!” e mail, trying to find video games to play on my new Spine controller, watching Mike Birbiglia’s glorious The Previous Man and the Pool particular (and listening to his podcast, Working It Out), and ramping up my vacation film watching in an enormous manner.
I even have for you a brand new truck (you recognize which one), some enjoyable year-end wrap-ups, a few new exhibits to look at this weekend, a number of concepts for making YouTube a saner place, some cool AI initiatives, and extra.
As all the time, the most effective a part of Installer is your concepts and suggestions. What do you need to know extra about? What superior tips have you learnt that everybody else ought to? What app ought to everybody be utilizing? Inform me every thing: [email protected]. And if you recognize another person who may get pleasure from Installer, ahead it to them and inform them to subscribe right here.)
We’re just a little extra entertainment-heavy than standard this week as a result of ’tis the season I suppose. However numerous enjoyable stuff to get to. Let’s go.
- The Tesla Cybertruck. It lastly launched! Ish! I’ve spent so many hours watching and speaking about this factor for the final 4 years, and I nonetheless can’t resolve if I really like or hate the design. Slowly however certainly, it appears like we’re about to begin seeing them within the wild — and till then MKBHD’s 40-minute video should do. Additionally, for those who purchased one… wanna street journey?
- iA Author 7. I love the best way this writing app integrates ChatGPT: it detects once you’re pasting in generated content material and prompts you to notice what’s human and what’s AI, and it treats AI extra as a “assist me brainstorm and assume” device than a “simply write this for me” one. Tons of intelligent UI, and I feel precisely the suitable strategy.
- Godzilla Minus One. This feels like a extra advanced film than your common monster flick, however in a very great way. And simply from the trailers and photos I’ve seen, this one’s going to be value viewing on an enormous display simply to see the best way director Takashi Yamazaki depicts the beast itself.
- Spotify Wrapped. All of the year-in-review stuff appears to have kicked off this week — YouTube, Apple Music, Pocket Casts, and extra — however Spotify’s simply higher at this than all people else. The AI-powered “DJ: Wrapped” function has been a very enjoyable technique to journey again by all of the bizarre stuff TikTok acquired me into this yr.
- Apple’s and Google’s apps of the yr. That is the opposite year-end supply of fine stuff: the app retailer lists are all the time a mixture of very talked-about apps you undoubtedly already know and a smattering of actually cool, unknown stuff. I’m loving Stumble Guys thus far, and the way did I not learn about Mubi earlier than?
- Teenage Engineering’s EP-133 KO II. I’m probably not a musician, however I discover myself desperately wanting the brand new $299 KO II, which is each a cool music-making machine and only a attractive set of buttons and knobs. (I acquired a bunch of crap in our feedback for calling it a synthesizer and never a sampler, which, honest! Sampler is extra correct. However the distinction is blurry, and it doesn’t actually matter — this factor appears enjoyable it doesn’t matter what you name it.)
- Dot Social. This is likely to be the primary “model” podcast I’ve ever advisable right here. However it’s a great one! Flipboard is all in on the fediverse and the open net, and CEO Mike McCue’s plan is to speak to sensible individuals about it. The 2 episodes are with a few of the smartest individuals on this house, and so they’re each glorious.
- Obliterated. Apparently, this new Netflix present, which feels like The Hangover meets Zero Darkish Thirty, is unhealthy. I don’t care. I’m completely assured I’m going to like it and watch each single episode — I’m a sucker for a spy flick, and a foolish comedy, and particularly the intersection of these two issues.
- Gradual Horses season 3. This present, then again, undeniably guidelines. (As does the guide sequence it’s primarily based on, by Mick Herron.) It’s a narrative about washed-up MI5 brokers roped again in for another job… after which a bunch extra jobs. From what I hear, season 3 is the most effective but — add it to your vacation watching listing for positive.
- Proton Mail. The most recent launch notes on Proton’s mail and calendar apps are tremendous humorous. There’s nothing large and new right here, it’s identical to, “We mounted all of the stuff you wished us to repair, right here you go!” And it’s nice. For those who’re on the lookout for a privacy-focused different to the entire Google suite, Proton’s a fantastic one. (The Drive file-storage app is a specific favourite.)
YouTube is an incredible platform, and all these years later, I hold being amazed by the stuff on it. The opposite night time, I watched a 13-year-old video of a dude placing collectively a crib that’s now not bought, and it helped me do it myself! What!
However YouTube as an app… type of sucks. You simply need to watch a video, and also you’re overrun by suggestions, one million social options, and too some ways to purchase one thing. YouTube doesn’t have a single respectable technique to save one thing to look at later, and it’s all algorithmic to the purpose of being unusable typically.
So just lately, I’ve been exploring a bunch of massive and small methods to enhance the YouTube expertise a bit. I’m not attempting to do away with advertisements or beat the system, simply… get pleasure from YouTube extra. I’ve discovered some I actually like! So I figured I’d share:
- The Play app. I now open this as an alternative of the YouTube app. It’s an app for storing and organizing video from all around the net, however I just about solely use it for YouTube. After this week’s replace, it will probably routinely usher in movies from channels you subscribe to, which makes it much more helpful. It’s Apple-only, sadly, nevertheless it works throughout Apple units, together with the Apple TV. That is so significantly better than attempting to handle a library within the YouTube app.
- Piped. Piped is a intelligent workaround: it makes use of the YouTube API to allow you to seek for and watch something on the platform however doesn’t ship any information again to Google about you or what you watch. There are Piped-compatible cellular apps, too, and for those who’re feeling enterprising, you possibly can even self-host the app and run it nonetheless you need.
- Unhook. There are a bunch of browser extensions on the market that allow you to take away stuff from the YouTube interface to get a quieter viewing expertise. Unhook’s my favourite as a result of it’s so customizable — I turned off all of the suggestions and sidebars however left chapters and feedback. And because of a beautiful Unhook setting, my computerized YouTube homepage is now my subscriptions and never the default For You feed.
- Enhancer for YouTube. One other browser extension, and type of the non secular reverse of Unhook. This one can disguise issues like feedback and proposals, however it will probably additionally add a lot extra stuff to YouTube. A number of it’s actually helpful! I like having a one-click technique to screenshot a body, a few of the keyboard shortcuts are useful, and I’ve very a lot loved creating my very own customized YouTube theme. (It’s very grey.) I’ve seen some people having points with it just lately, nevertheless it continues to work effective for my functions.
- Bookmark It. One final browser extension, which helps you to take time-stamped notes on a YouTube video and return to them later. I take advantage of this after I know I’m going to need to come again to a selected second later, which occurs extra typically than I anticipated.
My new YouTube technique is working properly thus far: after I discover one thing I need to watch later, I dump it into Play. I’ve a couple of folders for instructional stuff and longform interviews, however principally, every thing simply goes within the pile to be watched later. After I need to discover one thing particular, I am going to Piped, particularly if I don’t need my YouTube algorithm to be overrun by, like, plumbing movies. In any other case, I’m utilizing YouTube — however a a lot much less chaotic model.
The objective was all the time to seek out the stuff I need to discover on YouTube and never be bothered by every thing else on the platform. I’m getting nearer! If in case you have concepts for what else I / we are able to do to make YouTube higher, I’m all ears: [email protected].
For those who’ve been a part of the Installer neighborhood for very lengthy, you recognize I can’t assist myself from continually switching to-do listing apps. I sincerely assume I’ve tried all of them. However I hold coming again to Todoist, which is on the market in every single place, super-duper quick, and simply is smart.