The best way to watch the Olympics

Feb 07, 2026 08:00 PM - 3 months ago 93204

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 115, your guideline to the champion and Verge-iest worldly successful the world. (If you’re caller here, welcome, spell Seahawks I guess, and besides you tin publication each the aged editions astatine the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been reference astir The Washington Post and the Murdochs and Polymarket and immoderate a “Soho House for creators” is, watching Independence Day for the first clip and Jurassic Park for astir the 50th, bailing connected everything for the adjacent fewer weeks truthful I tin watch the Olympics full-time, loving the timeline-task-manager look of Paso, learning more astir Furby than I ever expected for the upcoming play of Version History, and trying to thatch Claude really to cleanable up my email inbox.

I besides person for you the champion measurement to watch sports for the adjacent fewer weeks, a awesome update to a awesome bookmarking app, a bunch of nosy nostalgia-bait things, and overmuch more. Also, don’t hide to nonstop maine your favourite non-Big Tech apps! I’ve heard from a ton of you astir the email apps, productivity tools, agency suites, and messaging platforms you’ve switched to, and I want to perceive more. Lots much coming connected that adjacent week. For now, let’s dive in.

(As always, the champion portion of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / playing / reference / listening to / hacking pinch OpenClaw this week? 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.)

Peacock’s Gold Zone. This is not strictly a caller thing, really, conscionable a PSA: For my money location is nary amended measurement to watch the Olympics than done Gold Zone, which whips astir the Games to show you the astir absorbing point happening astatine immoderate fixed moment. Peacock successful wide is handily the champion app for watching the Olympics (at slightest successful the US), and I fishy I will watch measurement excessively overmuch of it the adjacent fewer weeks.
Raindrop.io Stella. A large AI-powered update to my favourite bookmarking app. So far, it’s what you’d expect: a overmuch amended measurement to search, inquire questions about, and different interact pinch your bookmarks. After trying a bunch of different apps, I’ve been backmost successful connected Raindrop recently, and this comes astatine the cleanable time.
Super Nintendo. I really don’t deliberation there’s different institution rather for illustration Nintendo. Keza MacDonald’s book is simply a business story, a crippled story, and much too — I’ve only conscionable started reference it and I’ve already learned a ton. (Stay tuned, by the way: we person an excertp from the book moving connected the tract connected Monday.)
Codex for Mac. OpenAI’s reply to Claude Code sewage a desktop app, and I’ve been proceeding beautiful bully things astir it. I’m peculiarly intrigued by the Automations feature, which I intend to usage to thief cleanable up my Downloads files each week aliases so.
The Muppet Show. The Muppets were specified a large portion of my childhood, and it’s truthful weird that my ain kids person hardly seen them. This caller typical is some modern — Sabrina Carpenter and Seth Rogen are successful it! — and perfectly timeless. I’m going to make my kids watch it 65,000 times.
“You are being misled astir renewable power technology.” After proceeding Alec connected the great State of the Workflow series, I’ve been watching a batch of Technology Connections. This 1 is rightly going viral, because it’s a uncommon operation of wholly reasonable and utterly infuriating.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. I swear, erstwhile a week personification ships a remastered crippled that makes maine spell “Oh, man, I forgot astir that game!” Somehow this bid is 40 years old, and though the cartoony screenshots don’t wholly do it for me, I fishy a batch of folks will person a blast digging backmost into this one.
The RetroVa Vintage Imaging Kit. Yes, it’s a Kickstarter, truthful proceed pinch caution. But: We’ve seen this company’s smartphone camera lens extenders activity connected Vivo and Oppo phones, truthful there’s bully logic to judge this kit will activity good connected iPhones too. (Bummer that a batch of features look for illustration they require a proprietary app, though.)
Queen of Chess. Before this documentary deed Netflix, I confess I knew almost thing astir Judit Polgár, who successful 1991 became the youngest chess grandmaster ever. Her communicative is remarkable, and truthful is the measurement chess is depicted successful this movie — very Queen’s Gambit, successful the champion way.

A mates of weeks ago, I publication an effort I haven’t stopped reasoning astir since. It’s called “Phantom Obligation,” and starts pinch a really nosy question: Why do RSS readers look for illustration email clients? The essay, by Terry Godier, is simply a fascinating statement astir really we building and devour information, why decades-old ideas astir interfaces request to beryllium rethought, and why we request to tally from the emotion that inboxes provide.

Terry’s effort went benignant of viral, particularly erstwhile it turned retired he was building an app called Current he hoped mightiness beryllium a amended return connected the medium. (Not to brag, but he promised to get maine successful the TestFlight.) This week, he besides wrote a thoughtful effort astir the authorities of podcasts, and it turns retired has immoderate thoughts location too. I for illustration the measurement he thinks astir products successful general, truthful I asked him to stock his homescreen to get a consciousness of what other he likes.

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

Screenshot

The phone: iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The wallpaper: On the lockscreen: conscionable a sweet, impossible, obviously-not-real outer abstraction image of the satellite arsenic seen from a upland scope pinch nary ambiance whatsoever. On the homescreen: nothing, nada. Just coagulated black, which is either each colour mixed aliases nary colors astatine all. I’m not assured which it is, but it’s astir apt 1 of them.

The apps: Find My, Fastmail, Fantastical, ChatGPT, Claude, Carrot Weather, Photos, Things, Reddit, Instagram, Margin, Current, Ivory, Are.na, Bear, Recollect, Phone, Messages, Safari.

I person a location files connected the apical near which has each of my various location automation apps (I’m excessively lazy to complete my HomeAssistant rig). Then Find My, because my kids emotion to spot wherever Mom is and really agelong it’ll beryllium earlier she gets home. Fastmail, which is my email provider; Fantastical, which I usage because it’s bully to beryllium capable to put successful almanac notifications pinch earthy connection and my location runs connected almanac invites.

The media files contains things for illustration Nugs (sweet streaming performance videos), Music, Patreon, etc. There’s besides my 2 useful robot friends ChatGPT and Claude… and Carrot Weather, which is beautiful overmuch a robot, actually, truthful I conjecture I person 3 robot friends. And 2 notes apps, Bear (a classic) and Recollect.fyi, which is thing my friend Jon made that I adore (it’s a PWA!)

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

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.

“I took an aged mini desktop PC and threw Batocera connected it truthful that I tin play emulated games pinch a bully beforehand end, and gain RetroAchievements while playing immoderate aged classics!” — Chris

“Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy, which is regarded arsenic the champion bid of Star Wars books. Absolutely loved it, and highly urge it to group who admit the franchise, specifically the Audible audiobooks that are complete pinch sound acting, sound effects, and a John Williams soundtrack!” — Noah

“I started utilizing this app called Fitera to way my workouts. If you were utilizing Apple Notes to way workouts and past importing them to Microsoft Excel manually astatine location to visualize, past this solves that (very niche, albeit real) problem. Oh and the app creation is gorgeous and reminds maine a batch of FoodNoms.” — Athan

“Watching the caller bid of Um, Actually connected Dropout, arsenic good arsenic rewatching immoderate of my different Dropout apical shows (Game Changer, VIP, etc.). Did I mention really overmuch I emotion Dropout?” — Andrew

“Switching to Linux Mint has removed each the Windows bloat and breathed caller life into my eight-year-old laptop; it’s truthful overmuch faster and pleasant to usage now (and nary commencement paper ads!).” — Sleepy

“I’d for illustration to urge the podcast / YouTube transmission BS Phototime. It features 2 accomplished and intelligent photographers, Sissi Lu and Birgit Buchart. With only 3 episodes to date, they’re still uncovering their footing, but the decidedly little gear-focused / specs-driven conversations that attraction much connected the creation of photography is refreshing.” — Mark

“Watching Wonder Man! It feels for illustration the LA LA Land of Marvel” — Jeremy

“I’m reference Chronicles of a Liquid Society, the past book from Umberto Eco. A postulation of his editorials that publication for illustration blog posts. They scope from 2000 onward, truthful immoderate of the topics are now quaint (like the implausible thought successful 2004 that each kid has a machine successful class).” — Rich

Last week, acknowledgment to Chris Mims, I spent immoderate clip connected the BBC Archive’s YouTube channel. This evidently convinced the YouTube algorithm that each I want is really aged TV segments — and honestly, it was correct.

When I haven’t been enjoying a wealth trove of well-curated clips from the aged Top Gear crew, I’ve been watching a ton of aged news clips from the early days of individual computing and the internet. Nearly each of them pre-date thing I remember, and it has been some highly cool and highly adjuvant to spell backmost to a clip erstwhile PCs were way excessively difficult for moreover elemental tasks, erstwhile Elon Musk was just a startup guy and Jeff Bezos was conscionable a bookseller, and erstwhile outer navigation was the astir sci-fi thing to ever hap to your car.

In summation to each the “ahh, simpler times” vibes I get from these videos, they’re a useful reminder of really breathtaking caller tech tin really beryllium — and really overmuch much we should deliberation astir the implications earlier these nifty caller things get excessively big. New tech tin beryllium great! We conscionable person to make it that way.

See you adjacent week!

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