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Hello friends! Welcome to Installer No. 118, your guide to the best and edge-The most wonderful things in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome. Please take my Switch away so I can get some work done. You can also read all the old issues at Installer Home.)
This week I was reading about it Moon Factories and Railway monopolies and Support in parking spacesAnd finally dig in acquired Podcast archives, taking lots of notes Michael Pollan’s new book on consciousness-Watch everything Look, mom, there’s no computer ever made, My computer broke trying to get in Obsidian CLI To work for me and give Zain browser Another hypothetical attempt is to build a set of Ikea furniture for my bedroom. I love Building IKEA furniture.
I also have a new cheap laptop from Apple, a new model of OpenAI, a fun new feature for your Pixel phone, and tons of great games for you to play this weekend. Let’s do this.
(As always, the best part of… Installer These are your thoughts and advice. What are you watching/reading/playing/listening to/staring sadly at right now? 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.)
- Apple MacBook Neo. I described this on vertcast You can stream as “Fisher Price My First MacBook,” and I think that’s correct. But I think this thing will be just the right combination of fun colors, just enough power, and a great price ($599!) to make it a lot From the first MacBook to the people. I will say though: I don’t like yellow. Indigo all the way.
- OpenAI GPT-5.4. OpenAI pays difficult To catch up with Cloud Code, I keep hearing that this new model is a big step in that direction. Plus it adds native use of the computer, which you have to take very carefully, but it puts the LLM in a position to be more useful. One to play with this weekend for sure.
- Formula 1 on Apple TV. First, I think if you’re reading this, there’s a strong chance you’ll appreciate Formula 1, which is as much a technical thing as it is a sporting thing. Second, the races will now be on Apple TV, and so far Apple seems to have some great ideas on how to show them. You have until Sunday to catch up Driving to survive!
- Slaughtering the spire 2. Oh child There have been a lot of you in my inbox about this week. The long-awaited sequel to the beloved roguelike has just been released (technically in Early Access, but looks to be very playable already), and I know it’s already ruined the productivity of a lot of us in the Installerverse. Don’t miss this one.
- Pokemon Bucopia. What a week for endless gaming! imagine Pokemonbut instead of spending all your time fighting and collecting, you’re mostly having fun, making friends, and building things. it’s not Animal crossing or Minecraftbut it is Definitely that stuff-ish. And I mean that as a compliment.
- Android desktop mode. If you have a recent Pixel phone, you need to update to the latest version of Android and then connect your phone to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. No, we’re not yet at the “it’s just a Chromebook!” Levels of greatness. But desktop mode really works. I’m so excited about it.
- Marathon. This is the kind of massive live service game that never works anymore. (So far, next fortnite It’s just… fortnite.) but Marathon At least it’s a very good, very shiny, very intense game, the kind of game you’d hope and expect Bungie to pull off. Don’t sleep on this – You never know how long it will last.
- Glaze by Raycast. Efficient encryption may not be encryption, but it is still technically complex. I like this approach from Raycast, which tries to automate a bunch of design work and product implementation, so all you have to do is describe the features you want. I’ve been playing with it for a few days, making millions of little gadgets that I use but don’t need, and it’s a lot of fun.
- Headphone None A. I’m introduced to Nothing’s retro-futuristic headphone design, and I really like the whole set when they only cost $199. I wish the microphone sounded better, but it has all the controls, connectivity, and battery life you could ask for.
For the past few nights, it feels like 2018 again. I get a notification a few minutes before 9, and out of the blue Scott Rogowski On my screen there is a live view of the games. It’s not HQ Trivia anymore, it’s not even just trivia anymore. The application is called Savvythe game is called test safy, It runs like real time word a race. It’s so different, so fun, and I can’t believe how quickly the game became part of my evening routine again.
The game has been in testing for a while, but was officially launched this week. To mark the occasion, I asked Scott to share his home screen, in hopes of seeing whether or not he actually cheats during matches. (I swear it’s not.) She also wondered if he still had HQ on his phone, as she had for several years.
Here’s Scott’s home screen, plus some information about which apps he uses and why:
Phone: iPhone 16 running iOS 18.5.
wallpaper: My big busty five year old Buscemi, in a barrel.
Applications: Messages, WhatsApp, Savvy, Notes, Camera, Settings, Slack, Substack, Google Calendar, Phone, Mail, Safari, Google Maps.
Call me crazy, but I use my phone mostly for communication: messages (turn off notifications), WhatsApp (my sister lives in Scotland, and I have a bunch of friends abroad), phone (missed calls are all spammers… I’ll get back to them soon), Gmail…
Calendar is probably my most used app, there are always so many tasks to do, and I always forget when it’s time to do them. I used to keep a notebook all the time when I started doing comedy; I still write things down constantly, but now they’re in the Notes app.
I started Substack On my 40th birthday, and it was one of the most fun, creative experiences of my life. I write about whatever the hell I want, and I make podcasts about whatever the hell I care about. I’ve just started “The Savvy Diaries”, where I share the joys and challenges of running a mobile app for a startup at the nexus of technology and entertainment (techno-entertainment?).
I also asked Scott to share some of the things he’s interested in now. Here’s what he sent back:
- The first thing that comes to my mind are those black and white pictures, Paranormal activityI see the style of TikToks every time I open the app, where cats break into bedrooms and wake up their French-speaking owners by playing the guitar or piloting a pirate ship. I don’t know, maybe it’s artificial intelligence.
- Ben and Emil Show. I’m biased because Ben is a friend (and softball teammate), but he and his friend Emil make quality content on a regular basis, including a modern masterpiece called “We took acid at the train festivalDrop everything for the next 20 minutes and watch it now. Hilarious, heartwarming and absolutely wonderful.
- Lowkey obsessed Clavicle…I’ll never forget where I was the day I learned I’d been photographed by a hyper leader at ASU (I was in the middle of pranking a group of Foids). I started a campaign to get him to co-host with me on TextSavvy – it even started Direct call for him. Unfortunately, the hashtags #TextClavvy and #Savvcular didn’t take off as well as I had hoped. (Editor’s note from Scott: Mr. Rogowski wants to make clear that his interest in the clavicle extends only to the young man’s status as a cultural artifact—and what that means for the social organism that creates this kind of celebrity.)
- Am I allowed to deliver? myself? I co-founded and financed Savvy, so the game should really be called “Win Scott Rogowsky’s Money.” One could argue that I’m funnier, more or less Joyer Ben Stein – with better politics.
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.
“As a fellow parent of little humans, I suggest trying the sling bag. I’ve been using it Vero Seta Sling 3L Every day and it’s a game changer. It was nice to have my wallet, keys, headphones, and phone easily accessible and collected in one place. Especially useful while wearing a diaper backpack. -Cuporer
“I went back to the MP3 days and burned all my CDs. If anyone has recommendations for apps that will automatically tag a huge collection of MP3 files, I’ll take them.” —B
“room room and BBS Kids Fight way above their level of children’s games. There is a deep, untapped market for unobtrusive toddler toys. – Rahul
“Relisten to the audiobook version by Dan Simmons” Hyperion Cantos After his death last week, while I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my own hardcover edition. – Marcus
Obsessively listening to podcasts: Well, there’s your problem, Tran Gerlismoand Remap the radio.“- Olive Oil Train
“Reverse: 1999 Released the latest version of The creature crashedwhich is an incredibly nice auto-battle mode (think TFT from Riot). Although I’ve loved the entire game since day one, I love this mode which is released 2-3 times a year more than anything else. -Kero
“Payment It’s all weather On iOS and Android. It uses the National Weather Service as its source, and it is presented well. Almost all of them are free. It even includes space weather. – Kurt
“Holo heavenSeason 1 and Season 2 (so far). See what the human spirit is going through and how it is prevailing in unprecedented times. – Sam
“This is new Video/mini-documentary on HyperCarda forgotten gem from the golden age of the Mac that lets everyday people build apps. A kind of web before the web.” — Gregory
“pentatone: He just plays music. This has flown under my radar for a very long time, but in the end it’s a very clean, very focused FLAC player that’s attractive enough for audiophiles and focuses on only playing the files well and that the DAC and headphone are aware of the playback. The best part is that you just point it to a file folder and that’s it: no copies, no renamed files, no weird extra directories for weird UUID aliases… it just reads files and their tags. And it restarts *perfectly*.” — Noah
Allow me some very brief promotion for myself: the new season of Release date Launching this weekend! We’re getting better and better at making this show, and I’m really loving the six episodes this season. First up is Furby, which is a really wild episode. Drops this Sunday.
To that end, I have a favor to ask. We created new pages for Release date on Tik Tok, Instagramand YouTubeAnd I will be too So Grateful if you subscribe or follow one or all of them. Growing new things is really hard, and I really love this show, and we have big plans for it. So check out new episodes, like, subscribe, tell your friends, keep their eyes and ears open while they watch too, and know that I am eternally grateful. The Installerverse remains undefeated.
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