Hello friends! Welcome to Installer #42, your guide to the best and Verge-the best things in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, you’ve inspired us a lot, and you can also read all the old editions here. Installer Home page.)
I’ve got a new minimalist phone for you, a book to read, a documentary to watch, a fun hack for your Rabbit R1, and more. Let’s enter.
(As always, the best part Installer your ideas and advice. What are you playing, reading, downloading, buying or obsessing over this week? What are you doing that others should be? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy it Installertell them to subscribe here.)
Drop
- Light phone 3. The new version of one of the best minimalist phones comes with a better screen, camera, NFC chip and some big ambitions to change your phone. I don’t think I’m physically capable of throwing away my smartphone, but I really want this thing.
- Apple passwords. We’ll talk more when all of Apple’s WWDC announcements start rolling out, but it’s worth thinking about now: Apple’s cross-platform, presumably well-integrated password app looks really good. It might be time to start compiling all your passwords and passkeys.
- Connected to the moon. Robin Sloan is one of my favorites Writers on the Internet, and both of his previous books were excellent. It’s a deeply meta fiction epic that looks like its weirdest yet – and I mean that in a good way.
- How music became free. For people of a certain age, this Paramount Plus doc will feel like reliving a few formative years — remember Napster, Kazaa, and LimeWire, and when the internet completely disrupted the music industry? There are many fun stories in this story.
- Dragon House season 2. I admit I’m not really into it Dragon House last season, but so many people have told me they’re excited for the new one starting this weekend that I feel like I need to catch up to be ready. Everyone will be talking about it on Monday.
- “I installed Android on Rabbit R1 and found it useful.” The best comment on this video simply says, “They accidentally made a great dumbphone.” It’s kind of true! The R1 is a fun gizmo with bad software; as a small android tablet i admit i love it again. I even got mine out of the drawer to try it out for myself.
- Yahoo News. Yahoo bought and shut down Artifact earlier this year. It was sad. It’s even better: some of that recommendation technology makes its way back to the new Yahoo News, which has tons of customization, strips, tabs, and all that good stuff. I am again using Yahoo! Who would appreciate it!
- “Inside ‘Area 51’, Where Disney’s Lightsabers and Other Technics Were Invented.” Lanny Smoot seems like a super cool guy with a super cool job, and this video does a great job of showing off all the wild, futuristic stuff he and Disney are working on for the company’s theme parks and other products. Give me that multi-directional treadmill Now.
- Nightmares. It’s for a week, but 100 of you recommended it this week, so I’m making an exception. (Thanks to everyone who told me about this!) It’s a really oddly structured show, and you definitely can’t watch it halfway through, but I’m digging it so far.
Screen sharing
Andrew Liszewski has been one of my favorite bloggers on the internet for a long time. He spent his years Gizmodo I write about the weirdest, funniest, silliest, most interesting things on the internet, and I must have spent thousands of dollars because he wrote about it.
Now Andrew is working The Verge! It’s only been his first week and he’s already causing chaos on Slack. It is the best. I asked him to share his home screen with us to see if I could get any tips on how he browses the web. He didn’t reveal all his secrets, but now I know more about the weather in Canada, so there’s something.
Here’s Andrew’s home screen, plus some info on the apps he’s using and why:
Phone: iPhone 12 Pro (with age-sensing battery).
Wallpapers: I like a very minimalistic wallpaper under my apps, but I found the solid black too reflective of the screen, so I created a custom subtle blue gradient that I’ve been using for the past five years. (I use one of these for my lock screen Mikael Gustafsson dreamy nature scenes.)
Programs: Google Calendar, Clock, Photos, Camera, Google Home, Google Photos, Find My, Instagram, Google Maps, WeatherCAN, Nest, Google Chat, Settings, Clock, Chrome, Apple Books, 1Password, App Store, Apple Notes, Phone, Gmail, Messages, Apple Photos.
The iPhone’s main home screen is where all my daily driver apps live. This includes Instagram, Google Home, the outdated Nest app (which includes functionality for my Nest thermostat that I couldn’t find anywhere else), Chrome, 1Password (I finally solved my password worries after switching), IMDb, Paprika 3, countless smart home remotes, and most importantly , Environment Canada weather program so I know when to mow before it rains. I’m obsessed with removing notifications from my home screen, but I’m happy to stack them on a secondary screen where I like to keep all my other installed apps accessible.
I also asked Andrey to share a few things he’s up to at the moment. Here’s what he sent back:
- I’m a big fan of retro games and recently added the little ones Ambernic RG28XX to my ever-growing collection of handheld emulators. The Game Boy Micro remains one of my favorite handhelds of all time, but with the RG28XX, I can leave all the cartridges at home.
- Our house is somewhat addicted to reality series Aloneand we’re excited to dive into the season 11 premiere this week.
- I just finished reading (aka) Bill Hammack “Engineer boy“ on YouTube) book, Things we doIncludes fascinating deep dives into the engineering of everything from medieval cathedrals to how the microwave oven was invented.
- When I’m having trouble falling asleep, nothing calms my mind faster than sleep Joe DIY Instagram accountFeatures videos of detailed restorations of classic die-cast toys. Give it a chance. It’s quite satisfying to watch a rusted truck transform back into a bright yellow Tonka toy.
Crowdsourced
Here’s what Installer community enters this week. I also want to know what you are up to now! E-mail installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here each week. See the answers for more recommendations than I can fit here This post is in Threads.
“Recently I came across this Australian company Juicy crumb specializes in creating custom motherboard replacements for older iMacs that allow people to easily use them as monitors. And they did one for the iMac G4! Trust me, I’ve never hit buy so quickly (lol). Anyway, I ordered it a few months ago and recently swapped it out for a 20 inch G4 and it worked like a charm! I plugged it into the M1 Mac Mini I had and now I’m using an iMac G4 again like it was 2004.” – Ryan
“I LOVE the Surface kickstand, I enjoy typing on the screen (I’ve been doing it for 14 years, tbf) and I hate the cases on my Apple devices. I’m obsessed This is a magnetic back cover With stand for iPad. It was only available from Amazon Germany, but they shipped free to New Zealand. Bad result.” – Brandon
“The one you mentioned Inbox On Makes you think you’ll appreciate Tony Hsieh Yesterbox A method I have used successfully for years!” – Deb
“I love writing a journal Daily, especially since it is completely private and local. If you want to sync between devices, you can use cloud sync of your choice—it even syncs with Fitbit, Instagram, Strava, and more to add everything you’ve done throughout the day to your log entry. can sync read-only with apps like .” – Michael
“I recently subscribed to Scott Belsky’s Results newsletter, and I’m sure anyone interested in the future of technology and culture should, too.” – Ricky
“I just discovered the program Croutons for recipe collection and it’s best at clearing the URL for the actual recipe. You can even take a photo of a cookbook page and it will generate a recipe. It’s probably the best real-world use case for artificial intelligence I’ve ever come across.” – JT
“I enjoy the novelty MLB Morning Shift podcast. Each episode is 10 minutes or less and features the previous day’s box scores and news. It’s a great way to get the best of the sport.” – Mario
“I tried it Star Wars: The Huntsmen on iOS after finally launching. This is a PVP arena fighting game and I love it so far. The hunters are all unique and fun, not too heavy for a paid game and pretty good for a quick game. It’s not perfect (the UI is atrocious), but it’s a good start.” – Matt
“Puzzmo has added a new game to its catalog, Pile-Up Poker, and he is a star.” – Luke
“My friends introduced me to it Call of Duty-Like a very popular shooter in India. It is called Free fire max. The reason for its popularity is its ability to work on any device.
You must try. The graphics are mediocre, but the experience is great.” – Rudrajit
Exit
A few days ago I wrote in Threads that my number one productivity tip is to take a 25 minute nap in the middle of the day. Although I was absolutely right, it made a lot of people feel emotional and asked questions. (It’s just science. I don’t make the rules.) But for all the people out there asking for advice, here’s mine.
A perfect 25-minute nap involves three things. First, realize that even if you don’t sleep, lying there with your eyes closed for 25 minutes is still very relaxing; not stressing about going to sleep makes sleep easier. Second, an episode of a TV show I used to watch (I watch a lot Parks and Recreation) can help calm my mind and make it easier to fall asleep. Third, I put on my smartwatch and set an alarm there; waking up to the hum of a wrist is infinitely better than the sound of gravel. Naps are great, eternal naps, happy naps, everyone.