Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 142, your guideline to the champion and Verge-iest worldly successful the world. (If you’re caller here, welcome, really is it almost September already, and besides you tin publication each the aged editions astatine the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been remembering Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, and Peter Cullen, absorbing everything successful Rockstar’s large GTA VI preview, wondering if Apple will denote a foldable iPhone astatine its September event, getting sucked into Summoning Salt’s latest speedrunning documentary astir competitive Tetris, listening to Weird Al’s caller Tiny Desk concert (“The Saga Begins!”), and getting a Reuben from my favourite section spot aft reasoning astir it for months.
This week, I besides person for you caller Macs, a Nokia telephone that tin complaint your phone, a Wyze cam pinch a awesome privateness feature, and more.
Programming note: Installer is disconnected adjacent week. I’ll beryllium connected vacation. See you adjacent period for Techtember!
(As always, the champion portion of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to cognize much about? What are your favourite things you’ve watched / seen / listened to / eaten recently? Drop a statement to [email protected]. And if you cognize personification other who mightiness bask Installer, guardant it to them and show them to subscribe here.)
- The M6 and M5 Pro Mac Mini. Apple updated its mini machine this week, and you tin preorder it pinch a caller M6 spot aliases an M5 Pro. Unfortunately, they person starting prices that are $100 much costly than the erstwhile generation, and the caller exemplary won’t beryllium released until September 22nd. The institution besides refreshed the Mac Studio, and you tin preorder it pinch a caller M5 Ultra chip.
- Star Wars: Zero Company. This strategy crippled group successful the Star Wars beingness has been getting rave reviews. Gotta find immoderate clip to compression this successful pinch each of the different large games coming retired soon.
- HMD’s Nokia 300 Charge. HMD made an old-school, candybar-style Nokia dumbphone that doubles arsenic a powerfulness bank. It besides has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Who needs a foldable iPhone erstwhile you tin person this?
- Wyze’s Indoor Cam Pan. This caller $39.98 information camera tin tilt 360 degrees astir and 103 degrees vertically, but it besides has a privateness mode that tilts the lens afloat downward into the assemblage of the camera truthful that it can’t spot anything. Great feature.
- Garmin’s Fenix 9 smartwatches. The Fenix 9 and 9 Pro person OLED screens, 64GB of storage, and for the 2 bigger sizes of the 9 Pro, the action to get solar-charging displays. The watches aren’t cheap, though: The Fenix 9 starts astatine $999.99, while the Pro starts astatine $1,099.99.
- Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition. The Switch 2 type of FromSoftware’s all-time classical is apparently worth the wait aft a large delay. Do I request yet different excuse to get mislaid successful The Lands Between? Probably not, but I’m tempted.
- Whoop’s Meridian Band. This $149 set is made from Milanese mesh, comes successful gold, roseate gold, silver, and black, and makes your fifth-gen Whoop locator look ace fancy. But 1 portion isn’t truthful fancy: You can’t complaint your Whoop while it’s successful the Meridian Band.
Today I’m featuring John Gruber of Daring Fireball. If you travel Apple and are a regular Verge scholar (which, arsenic an Installer subscriber, I presume you are), you’re astir apt good alert of Gruber and his activity arsenic a writer, podcaster, friend of the site, and arsenic a wide tech personification connected the internet.
Ahead of Apple’s large motorboat arena coming up connected September 9th, I thought it would beryllium nosy to characteristic the homescreen of 1 of the astir well-known group successful the Apple universe.
Image: John Gruber
The phone: iPhone 17 Pro, heavy blue, 1 TB (of which only 200 GB is used, but that won’t extremity maine from wasting money connected a 1 TB exemplary this twelvemonth too).
The wallpaper: My wallpaper is simply a subtle gradient from very acheronian grey to black. For years I conscionable stuck pinch a level achromatic wallpaper, arsenic deity and Steve Jobs intended. (You couldn’t alteration your homescreen wallpaper until iOS 4, and I stay unconvinced that was a bully idea.) I for illustration the subtle gradient now because it lets the move land person a small ocular opposition from the wallpaper background.
The apps: I’ve presently sewage 3 todo/task apps connected the homescreen, which I can’t recommend, but it’s presently moving for me: Unforgetful, Finalist, and Due. (The reddish “1” badge connected Unforgetful is for a reminder to nonstop you this email and the screenshot of my homescreen.) I’ve besides arguably sewage 3 notes apps, if you count Journal (in summation to Tot and Apple Notes). Mosaic is simply a TestFlight-only replacement to the charismatic MLB app, which has a awesome communicative down it. Rather than shutting it down, MLB hired its developer, Jason Weingardt, because Mosaic is truthful awesome. If I took the screenshot later tonight, you’d spot a Live Activity from Mosaic of the Yankees crippled successful the Dynamic Island.
Kotoba is besides TestFlight-only. It is, successful my humble opinion, the champion dictionary app for iOS, but because it uses the system-provided dictionaries and thesauruses to enactment arsenic a dictionary app, it’s not permitted successful the App Store. I look up words pinch it almost each azygous day. I wrote astir it connected Daring Fireball a while ago.
The Siri app shows that I’m testing the iOS 27 betas. It’s good. I thin to usage it broadside by broadside pinch ChatGPT for now, to comparison responses, but going forward, I’ll usage both. So having that alongside ChatGPT is successful statement pinch my having aggregate todo apps and aggregate statement apps (and aggregate messaging apps).
I support the badge connected Mail counting my unread messages to punctual myself that the power decease of the beingness is inevitable.
I besides asked John to stock a fewer things he’s into correct now. Here’s what he sent back:
- One show whose 2nd play conscionable finished: The Agency, connected Paramount+. I deliberation it’s astir apt the champion spy bid ever made.
- One show whose sixth play is astir to begin: Slow Horses, connected Apple TV. I deliberation it’s astir apt the astir amusing spy bid ever made.
- Third, It’s Always Sunny successful Philadelphia, whose 18th play conscionable started; it’s the champion and astir realistic show group successful Philadelphia ever made.
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] 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 Bluesky.
“Feels for illustration this week is each Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, and now Transformers for Peter Cullen successful position of what group are watching and listening to!” — Carli
“I’ve been playing A la Card and REALLY enjoying my clip pinch it. It’s an indie roguelike platform builder crippled that feels for illustration Slay the Spire and Balatro said ‘Let’s spell retired for nutrient from a nutrient truck.’ All cards tin beryllium mutated and changed via the events — their values, their effect, what triggers them. Great creation and music, coagulated design, and it’s scratching an itch I didn’t cognize I had. Awesome crippled from a 2-person indie dev team.” — Tom
“My preorder shipped early truthful I’ve been reference Emo Revival by Andrew Sacher and it’s a 10/10 truthful far.” — @thoughtlesskyle.bsky.social
“Empire of AI, Karen Hao. Recently translated to PT-BR :)” — Milena
“Tonight I’m going to decorativeness House of Guinness. It’s a good show but moreover amended if you portion erstwhile watching it.” — Nick
“I’ve been connected a footwear reference older sci-fi novels precocious and came crossed Berserker by Fred Saberhagen (1967). Fantastic book but amazingly difficult to find a beingness copy. Ended up purchasing an ePub. Highly recommend!” — Nathan
I sewage a fewer bully screentime simplification tips pursuing past week’s issue. One personification said they don’t instal apps pinch an infinite scroll, which I thought was a bully idea. They besides person Screen Time enabled to artifact various things, but their partner holds the password to unlock Screen Time if needed. Clever! Another scholar suggested zipping up their telephone in a telephone pocket.
On my picnic adjacent week, to make judge I really unplug, I scheme to deploy my favourite hack: hiding each gadget pinch a browser successful my daughter’s closet. My only free clip wherever I could perchance gaffe into mindless scrolling would beryllium erstwhile she’s sleeping, but there’s nary measurement I’m risking waking her up conscionable to get retired the laptop. More clip for the important worldly — for illustration playing Switch 2.
See you successful 2 weeks!
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