A better way to buy and read books

Feb 02, 2025 08:00 PM - 6 days ago 8066

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 69, your guideline to the champion and Verge-iest worldly successful the world. (If you’re caller here, welcome, get fresh for immoderate web-slingin’, and besides you tin publication each the aged editions astatine the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been reference astir Elon Musk’s gamer habits and spy satellites and how Bluesky works, trying Llamao for immoderate offline AI-ing, organizing my photos pinch the Proof beta, buying much BonBon candy than I’m proud of, testing the Marginalia hunt engine, plotting to break into the caller Dude Perfect office, and seeing if a $56 Casio tin beryllium capable smartwatch for me.

I besides person for you a caller spot to bargain and publication books, the return of 1 of my favourite shows, a awesome book for anyone looking for a amended online life, a mates of awesome Spider-Man things, and tons more. Let’s do it.

(As always, the champion portion of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into correct now that everyone other should beryllium playing / building / reference / watching / learning / penning / hanging from ceilings? Tell maine everything: [email protected]. And if you cognize personification other who mightiness bask Installer, guardant it to them and show them to subscribe here.)

  • Bookshop.org ebooks. Bookshop.org does a awesome occupation of supporting independent section bookstores, and now it sells ebooks! The corresponding app is beautiful basal truthful far, but it works, and I’m shifting my book-buying beautiful quickly. (It useful nicely connected my Boox Palma, too, successful lawsuit you were curious.)
  • Mythic Quest season 4. This is 1 of those shows that would beryllium 100x much celebrated if it were connected Netflix and not Apple TV Plus. I deliberation the first play is fundamentally flawless, and since past it’s been consistently astatine slightest very good. I’ll ever thrust for 30-minute, endlessly rewatchable comedies, and this qualifies connected some fronts.
  • “AI Software.” My favourite tech-related SNL skit successful a infinitesimal — the thought of school things via an AI-generated bro-y podcast is hardly moreover a joke anymore, and the cadence of the podcast is perfect. I presume the NotebookLM squad is very happy astir this.
  • Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. I americium petrified of the anticipation that Marvel is going to oversaturate and wholly ruin Spider-Man, the measurement it has, uh, tons of different things. But this? This feels for illustration an updated type of the Saturday greeting cartoons I grew up with. It’s axenic Millennial-nostalgia bait, and I’m present for it.
  • The Sirens’ Call, by Chris Hayes. There’s a delightful irony successful a agelong book astir our progressively unspeakable attraction spans, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve publication truthful acold and really place pinch Hayes trying to understand attraction astatine a macro level and just, like, effort to return his ain encephalon back. I person a lot of notes and highlights successful this book truthful far. (If you want a shorter deed connected immoderate of the large ideas, Hayes was awesome on The Ezra Klein Show.)
  • “We made MKBHD’s Dream Phone. This is truthful interesting! Nothing sewage Marques Brownlee to spec retired his perfect phone, and it does a really bully occupation of moving down what that telephone would cost, really companies prime parts, and why it’s each much analyzable than it sounds.
  • Spider-Man 2 for PC. Speaking of awesome Spider-Man things — this is simply a very bully larboard of a very good PlayStation game. You’ll request a beefy-ish GPU to really make the crippled sing, but it’s worthy it conscionable to walk dozens of hours web-slinging crossed the city.
  • Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080. And speaking of GPUs! (I’m honestly not doing this connected purpose.) The $999 5080 is retired now, and my workfellow Tom Warren found it to be… fine. It’s fine! But the bully news is you tin safely bargain hunt for a 4080 aliases 4090 instead.
  • No Man’s Sky: Worlds Part II. A gorgeous, impossibly huge, endlessly explorable crippled just sewage impossibly huge-er. Billions (billions!) of caller star systems, trillions (trillions!) of planets, I deliberation you could play this crippled for the remainder of your life and ne'er spot the extremity of it. Challenge accepted.

Right earlier Dominic Preston started moving astatine The Verge, I learned an important portion of accusation astir him: he’s an Arsenal fan. I already knew I liked his activity from Android Police and elsewhere, but it’s bully to cognize group person bully sensation successful sports teams, you know?

Dom’s based successful the UK and has been connected our squad for a fewer weeks now. And erstwhile he’s not penning astir tech, he besides has a genuinely delightful nutrient newsletter called Braise. I’m staring astatine his madeleines recipe correct now, and it’s… I request to move on. Too good.

Here’s Dom’s homescreen, positive immoderate info connected the apps he uses and why:

The phone: Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

The wallpaper: My lockscreen is apparently 1 of the generic preinstalled ones from Xiaomi. The wallpaper is simply a photograph of a mates Arsenal players I started utilizing erstwhile I needed to trial iOS 16’s customizable lockscreens and haven’t touched since then. Can you show I don’t deliberation astir my wallpapers very often?

The apps: Calculator, Strong, MyFitnessPal, Clock, Nike Run Club, Google Keep, Spotify, Google Translate, Todoist, Zero, Instagram, Duolingo, Bluesky, Marvel Snap, NYT Games, Google Calendar, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Photos, Play Store, Phone, Messages, WhatsApp, Chrome, Camera.

I alteration phones beautiful often for reviews, truthful I person to rebuild this homescreen connected the regular. The apps enactment mostly consistent, but the bid ne'er does. About a 4th of the database is dedicated to fitness, 1 measurement aliases another, moreover the almanac and timepiece — it feels silly keeping some pinned to the homescreen, but they’re by acold the quickest ways to fig retired what weight I request to assistance adjacent and really agelong I request to clasp a plank for.

Google Translate is location because I’m trying to study Italian and make myself publication a mates pages of an Italian caller each day. I’m astir to decorativeness Italo Calvino’s If connected a Winter’s Night a Traveler, and Translate is my backup for the galore times I deed a connection I don’t know.

There are only a fewer different apps present I’m guaranteed to unfastened each azygous day: Instagram and Bluesky arsenic my existent societal networks of choice; Todoist because different I person nary thought what I’m expected to beryllium doing astatine immoderate fixed time; and NYT Games because I for illustration playing Wordle, Connections, and The Mini Crossword first point each morning, 1 of those worrying signs that I’m getting much for illustration my mum pinch each passing day.

I besides asked Dom to stock a fewer things he’s into correct now. Here’s what he sent back:

  • Severance. I know, maine and everyone else. But play 2 has been awesome truthful far. I’m supremely into the full aesthetic, and it feels for illustration a dainty conscionable to get a TV show that’s assignment viewing again.
  • New Philosopher. Before I was ever a journalist, I thought I was going to do a PhD successful philosophy. That didn’t activity out, but this mag keeps that spot of my encephalon ticking. Every rumor centers astir a taxable — for illustration technology, play, aliases courageousness — and features world philosophers tackling it from each angle, but (crucially) successful a non-academic style.
  • Vittles. This Substack is the main logic I emotion reasoning astir nutrient (almost) arsenic overmuch arsenic eating it. The edifice sum is UK-focused, but that’s really not the constituent — I emotion the essays that return nutrient arsenic a lens done which to look astatine politics, immigration, sustainability, and more.
  • Arcs. Root is 1 of my favourite committee games, and until a fewer weeks agone I’d wholly missed that its designer Cole Wehrle released Arcs past year. It’s fundamentally the Mario Kart of sci-fi strategy games: it seems for illustration it rewards galaxy-brain thinking, but really you should conscionable clasp the chaos and thrust your luck.

Here’s what the Installer organization is into this week. I want to cognize what you’re into correct now arsenic well! Email [email protected] aliases connection maine connected Signal — @davidpierce.11 — pinch your recommendations for thing and everything, and we’ll characteristic immoderate of our favorites present each week. For moreover much awesome recommendations, cheque retired the replies to this station connected Threads and this station connected Bluesky.

“Great new euphony video from OK Go. 64 videos connected 64 iPhones! There’s besides an absorbing behind-the-scenes video to spell pinch it.” – Owen

Pataal Lok connected Prime Video is phenomenal. Season 2 conscionable dropped and is group successful a portion of India that moreover astir Indians are unaware about. Check it out.” – Krishnan

“About 2 weeks agone my Telly yet arrived aft ~1.5 years of being connected the waitlist and it perfectly lives up to the hype! My 1 large asterisk is that the integrated soundbar and secondary ‘Smart Screen’ astatine the bottommost make the TV overmuch taller than you expect. It didn’t fresh successful our intermezo halfway and we had to get a caller 1 that didn’t person immoderate shelving supra the TV to make judge it’d fit.” – Drake

Cine2Nerdle Battle has been taking up a batch of clip for maine this week. You link films based connected shared formed aliases crew. Super nosy for movie nerds.” – Mark

“I americium utilizing ChatGPT Tasks. I’ve since revised my first effort to see 3 chopped gratitude penning prompts and 3 chopped AI news items. I’m besides a Dallas Cowboys instrumentality (don’t judge) and person ChatGPT monitoring their hunt for a caller caput coach. It really updated maine this greeting that the Cowboys had successful truth hired a caller caput coach. My woman and I baked a mean Linzer cooky pinch fig jam based connected a look that ChatGPT provided me.” – Tony

“This week I’ll beryllium taking isolated my PC and transferring everything into a caller Phanteks Evolv X2 case.” – Sean

KTool. It lets maine get my RSS feeds and my newsletters to my Kindle truthful I tin publication them for illustration a mag and limit my scroll time. It’s amazing.” – Murphy

Kvaesitso is an Android launcher that isn’t disposable connected the Play Store, but arsenic personification who loves to dabble successful launchers, it’s 1 of the smartest I’ve ever used. It’s truthful clean, ace intuitive, but acknowledgment to an bonzer hunt function, it’s besides SO powerful.” – Luke

“Switched complete to Zen Browser. Basically Arc, but open-source and built connected Firefox. Hoping for folders to beryllium implemented soon.” – Phase

“Have made reference a large extremity for this year. To that end, my partner and I started immoderate extremity search done an app called The StoryGraph, wherever you participate what you’re reference each time and it provides a bully summary, which you tin stock pinch others. I’ve already publication aliases vanished 3 books this month, which is simply a large improvement.” – Colin

On Monday this week, I hopped connected a formation to West Palm Beach, FL, to spell to a play match. But not a normal play match: I went to spot TGL, a caller indoor and simulator-based play convention that has a genuinely astonishing magnitude of caller exertion baked in. (ESPN has a bully story astir really TGL useful and wherever it came from.) I besides sewage to deed into the five-story-tall screen, and I didn’t wholly embarrass myself!

I’m going to person a bunch of worldly connected The Verge about that travel successful the adjacent mates of weeks. But successful the meantime, if you attraction astatine each astir golf, you should cheque it out. Honestly, moreover if you don’t, the tech itself is worthy checking retired each connected its ain — here’s a awesome YouTube tour of the full setup. I request a surface this large successful my life much often.

See you adjacent week!

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