Letterboxd Video Store is a great new idea around streaming

Hello friends! Welcome to Installer No. 109 is your guide to the best and edge-The most wonderful things in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I hope you’re staying warm, and you can also read all the old editions at Installer Home.)

This week I was reading about it Google Maps and com. shopaganda and Life as a pop star, finally Get watching F1 Now that it’s aired I’m rewatching it Firstly two Avatars before the next Release the pretense Taylor Swift’s new tour doc It is a reasonable alternative to actually seeing the tour, and purchasing a set of IKEA smart buttons Now that it’s on sale in the U.S., it’s being played with premium new ones Obsidian Update for mobile devices, And I spend a lot of time trying to figure out why my house is so cold.

I also have a fun new resource for movies you can watch, a game you can play this holiday season, a new speaker worth listening to, and so much more.

I have a question, looking forward to the last Installer From the year: What’s your favorite new thing from this year? It doesn’t have to be new this year, just new You. (And you don’t have to pick your favorites forever, just tell me something new you loved this year.) I want to hear about the books you discovered, the podcasts you love, the old games you love, the things that made your home or office or whatever better, and anything and everything is fair game. I’ll share mine if you share yours – email me at installer@theverge.comFind me on topics at @imdavidpierceOr message me on Signal at @davidpierce.11.

Well, there’s a lot of stuff this week! Let’s go.

(As always, the best part of… Installer These are your thoughts and advice. What are you playing/reading/watching/listening to/cuddling by the fire this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy it InstallerSend it to them and let them know Subscribe here.)

Ravi Chilingarian Spotted in prod It has long been one of my favorite sites for finding great designs and product touches from around the web. (I feel like if you’re an app developer, your goal should be to create something weird and cool enough to catch Ravi’s attention.) Ravi is also a designer and developer. He says he’s currently working on two apps for iOS, a competitor to Strava Playback buds And a very smart alarm app called Converts Designed to help you wake up early.

This is all well and good, but my favorite thing is Ravi His new personal websitewhich includes an actual interactive version of his phone, so you can tap on his home screen and see his apps. Dude took the whole “show us your home screen” line and made me blush. (It’s also a .zip domain, which I like for a personal website?)

Anyway, all I have is a modest screenshot, but this is Ravi’s home screen, along with some information about what apps he uses and why:

Phone: iPhone 15 Pro.

wallpaper: Solid gray background.

Applications: Retro, camera (not boring), Google Maps, Photos, Cloud, Safari, Apple Notes.

I’ve organized my apps into 4 folders (Money, Work, Social, and Feelings), but that’s a bit boring so I’ll break them down like this:

I also asked Ravi to share with me some of the things he’s interested in now. Here’s what he sent back:

Here’s what Installer community this week. I want to know what you’re up to now too! Email installer@theverge.com Or send me a message on Signal — @davidpierce.11 ​​— with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here each week. For more great recommendations, check out the responses to This post is on topics and This post is on Bluesky.

“Now that the finals are over, I’m diving into it Ute ghost. Beautiful, crazy game.” – Jeremy

“Finally reading”The Anthropocene reviewed By John Green. Although John lives a very different life than me, his experiences and understanding of the world bear many similarities to mine. I give it five stars.” – Christopher

“I feel like everyone is asleep Amazon Lunathe cloud gaming platform that Amazon includes with its annual subscription. It always has A+ games. I’m currently addicted to the latest Bethesda Indiana Jones game…I plugged in my PS4 controller and played one of the greatest games of the last few years at no extra cost. — Alex

“audible I had a crazy three months on a $1 deal, so I went back to audiobooks while doing housework and commuting. Currently listening to/reading chemical By SenLinYu which is awesome. – Colin

“I got myself a Engineering Teen PO-12 Drum machine for sale rare. What a glorious little device. Beautiful design, and hours of music enjoyment, even for complete amateurs like me. Plus, it has a headphone jack! However – I wish I had PO-20 instead of.” –

“Stone block 4amazing Minecraft modpack, is ruining all my productivity this week. – that

“Yesterday I saw a badass Polish guy Skiing Mount Everest without oxygen. This achievement is incredible, but I keep thinking about the amazing shots. -Denim

“I’m obsessed with X-Bloom The robotic barista machine I’ve had for a few weeks. It’s basically like having a barista on call 24/7 – if you like drip coffee, this is the ultimate coffee machine. -Andrew

“+1 l Ski story. also, OST…👌” -Andy

I’ve spent a lot of time this week learning about the Model Context Protocol, which is one of those things that most people will never think about but may be essential to how technology works in the future. MCP’s story is fascinatingbut if you just want to quickly understand how the protocol works, and why it’s important for the supposed future of everything AI-based, you should Watch this 20-minute video. Greg Isenberg and Russ Meek walk through the entire set at the perfect level of complexity, and with visuals that actually help (unlike many of the videos I’ve watched this week). If every YouTube tutorial was like this one, I would be a smarter person.

Another one Installer To come this year. See you next week!