New yr, new Change, new Severance

Hello, pals! Welcome to Installer No. 67, your information to the very best and Verge-iest stuff on the earth. (For those who’re new right here, welcome, blissful Change week, and likewise you possibly can learn all of the previous editions on the Installer homepage.) 

This week, I’ve been watching Black Doves and The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, studying about Lorne Michaels and rodeos and Ben Shapiro, restarting Twin Peaks in honor of David Lynch, wading nervously into Lemon8 and RedNote, catching up on previous episodes of Working It Out, and watching altogether too many Balatro strategy videos.

I even have for you my most anticipated gadget of the yr, the brand new season of Severance, an extremely cool tech design exhibit to discover, a nifty new AI productiveness software, and far more. This week has been wild, with the potential TikTok ban and the upcoming US inauguration and seemingly 40,000 different issues occurring — however we’ve received some nice methods to decompress. Let’s dive in.

(As at all times, the very best a part of Installer is your concepts and ideas. What are you studying / watching / enjoying / cooking / constructing / reducing into small items this week? Inform me all the things: installer@theverge.com. And if another person who would possibly get pleasure from Installer, inform them to subscribe right here.)

• The Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo is launching this factor in a usually odd, usually Nintendo-y approach — so all we’ve actually seen of the brand new system is a two-minute video with some particulars and vibes. However I’ve seen sufficient. That is the Change successor I hoped for.
• Severance season 2. I simply rewatched the primary season and cherished it much more the second time. One among my favourite reveals in years, and by all accounts, the second season is well worth the wait. I’d put the primary season up in opposition to any season of something, in order that’s excessive reward.
• The Nokia Design Archive. A bunch of researchers spent a number of years placing collectively an enormous, interconnected historical past of Nokia’s design work — from its wacky telephone ideas to its greatest concepts about the way forward for all the things. You may spend weeks digging round in there.
• An Update on Our Family. As a nonetheless new-ish dad, I spend a lot of time enthusiastic about how a lot of my private and household life to share on-line. This story is, like, the other: what when you created a private and household life simply to share it on-line? It’s a wild journey.
• Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. Whilst you’re ready on the brand new Change, right here’s a brand new recreation for the previous one. I really like Donkey Kong the way in which lots of people love Zelda and Mario, so the concept of an up to date, upgraded, super-challenging side-scroller is precisely up my alley.
• “The Science of the Matrix with Laurence Fishburne.” A considerably sudden episode of Neil Degrasse Tyson’s StarTalk podcast, however oh BOY was it enjoyable to hearken to Morpheus himself discuss via purple tablets, the absence of spoons, and The Matrix’s deepest ideas about all the things.
• Raycast Focus. Raycast has turn into the primary app I set up on a brand new Mac, and I exploit it for all the things. Love this new function, which may block particular apps or web sites — and makes use of a countdown timer to assist preserve you centered. 
• SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night. One other one for the SNL Fiftieth-anniversary content material machine: a four-part NBC doc about among the greatest moments within the present’s historical past. It’s an formally sanctioned factor, so don’t count on fireworks, but it surely’s a enjoyable dive into the archives.
• ChatGPT Tasks. A tremendous primary function up to now, and fairly buggy — it invented a dentist appointment that I didn’t have? — however I’m actually intrigued by the mix of a to-do checklist app and chatbot. I’ve it sending me a brand new oatmeal recipe and exercise concept each morning, and it’s a fairly cool system.

It’s an unintentional custom at The Verge that new folks at all times appear to begin in extremely chaotic conditions. Typically, it’ll be a author’s first day on, like, the day of the iPhone launch, or they’ll be quarter-hour out of HR orientation and Elon Musk will all of a sudden purchase Twitter. For Todd Haselton, our new deputy editor for opinions and commerce, the chaos was CES. Todd began in the beginning of this yr and was instantly inundated with 90,000 tales about bizarre devices no person’s ever heard of. Welcome to the crew!

I wish to ask new Verge staffers to share their homescreen with us to see what we will study them by how they use their telephone. You possibly can pretend it at work, however you possibly can’t pretend your telephone, ? Right here’s Todd’s homescreen, plus some data on the apps he makes use of and why:

The telephone: iPhone 16 Professional Max. I’ve been utilizing the most important iPhone for years. I even have an previous Galaxy Z Fold 3 that I’ve been enthusiastic about upgrading to a different folding telephone. 

The wallpaper: It’s an image of me at my commencement from Lehigh College with my grandfather and my uncle, who additionally went to Lehigh. They’re my position fashions. It’s a reminder to myself to work exhausting and to be grateful for what I’ve. (My twin brother is lower off on this shot. Sorry, bro.)

My lockscreen background is a rotating image of my household.

The apps: Images, Calendar, GroupMe, Xbox Cloud Gaming, ChatGPT, Gmail, The Verge, Messages, Cellphone, Safari, Digicam.

David, are you certain you wished me to do that? It is likely to be probably the most boring homescreen you’ve ever printed. It’s virtually the default.

GroupMe is for staying in contact with my school pals and likewise the place my city’s volunteer hearth division retains in contact. I haven’t been as energetic as I’d wish to be because the summer time. Xbox Cloud Gaming is there as a result of I at all times inform myself I’m going to have all this free time for gaming on the go. However I don’t.

The picture body widget rotates footage of journeys I’ve taken and members of the family. It is a shot from my brother’s wedding ceremony in Santa Monica.

Simply in case folks suppose it’s rigged: the Verge icon was there earlier than I began. I’ve been studying because the web site was began, and I subscribed earlier than I joined.

I additionally requested Todd to share a couple of issues he’s into proper now. Right here’s what he mentioned:

• Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. I simply began it so don’t ask me what it’s about. I spend most nights studying on a Kindle Paperwhite. For those who’re on the lookout for different suggestions, although, another books I simply completed and loved: Trust by Hernan Diaz, Stoner by John Williams, and The Little Friend by Donna Tartt.
• I principally recreation on Friday nights with my school pals from about 9PM to 11PM. (We’re all dads now, so… early bedtimes.) It’s a ritual we began through the pandemic, and it’s a very good and completely senseless approach for us to remain in contact. Players are gonna hate, however proper now, it’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 with the Nuketown map on repeat. Only a traditional map.
• I’ve been actually into the McDonald’s two-cheeseburger meal. It’s a bit of restaurant close by with good costs, and the burgers are strong. I get it DoorDashed. Beginning a brand new job is at all times a bit of annoying (in a great way!), and that is my stress meals I assume. The Dasher is ready for my order proper now.

Right here’s what the Installer group is into this week. I need to know what you’re into proper now as nicely! E-mail installer@theverge.com or message me on Sign — @davidpierce.11 — together with your suggestions for something and all the things, and we’ll function a few of our favorites right here each week. For extra nice suggestions, take a look at the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky.

“Unhinged, a delightfully easy temper tracker app that doubles as a micro-journal. I’ve at all times struggled to stay with journaling, however this makes it easy (it takes simply 15 seconds) to seize my ideas and particulars about my day.” – Austin

“Sakamoto Days on Netflix. It’s an anime about the very best hit man on the earth who retired and settled down with a household. Extraordinarily tropey, I do know. Largely simply watching to see this cutie kick ass.” – Ryan

“Making an attempt to get higher at Dutch, and downloaded the superb Mochi app. Like Anki however so a lot better in each approach.” – Hannes

“I simply found Stremio and I’ve a profound feeling it’ll change my life perpetually. Okay, at the very least the way in which I devour media. With all the value hikes and plenty of providers not accessible within the Netherlands, this looks as if an awesome various.” – Jasper

“MacDroid. I at all times again up my full-resolution photographs to an exterior exhausting drive each few months along with Google Images, however rattling is it a ache to do this on the Mac. Tried MacDroid right this moment and immediately signed up for a lifetime subscription. A lot time and stress saved!” – Josh

“Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Xbox. It’s the very best Indiana Jones factor made in many years. I’m shocked at how a lot enjoyable it’s to discover and the way they hit the tone completely. And wow did the voice actor nail younger Harrison Ford. It’s virtually eerie.” – DSquiz

“I began studying One Piece from the start final yr after watching the Netflix show — it’s very enjoyable, it’s lighthearted, the artwork’s nice, and the characters are all lovable and simple to latch on to.” – Luis

“Acquired again into Apple Arcade JUST to play Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! A solitaire horse racing recreation developed by Recreation Freak (the Pokemon folks), initially for 3DS, despite the fact that it appears SO cell. It’s amazingly enjoyable and I can’t cease enjoying.” – Uli

“The superb Safari extension Keyword Search! It permits you to run customized net searches by including a key phrase or letter, so including ‘wiki’ or ‘yt’ will search these respective websites as an alternative of your default search engine.” – JME 

“Have you ever tried News Tower but? Whole blast.” – Dave

The Australian Open is occurring proper now, which implies it’s the a part of the tennis calendar the place I get up within the morning and it’s 6AM and in some way half the matches are already over and one thing actually thrilling is inevitably occurring. It’s pleasant. The tennis has been nice, however the actual story of this yr’s match is the YouTube channel.

For classy rights causes, the group behind the Open is streaming the matches on YouTube, however not such as you’d suppose: all the things is live-animated and everybody appears like Wii Sports activities characters. It’s deeply weird and intensely hokey, however in opposition to all odds, it completely works? The Guardian has a good story on the way it works and why it’s essential. I at all times thought these “various broadcasts” have been simply silliness, however I feel there is likely to be one thing right here. Subsequent yr: actual tennis, however make it Mario Tennis. I’ll be there.