The Installer reward information, half two

Hello, pals! Welcome to Installer No. 63, your information to the perfect and Verge-iest stuff on the planet. (When you’re new right here, welcome, it’s numerous stuff to observe this week, and in addition you may learn all of the outdated editions on the Installer homepage.) 

This week, I’ve been studying about clog crime and bright headlights and Robert Pattinson, beginning my 564th rewatch of Community, testing Sill as a part of my information studying move, taking copious notes on Mrwhosetheboss’ new office setup, watching numerous videos about sports activities stadiums for some motive, attempting out all of Esquire’s best podcasts of 2024, and persevering with to eat an excessive amount of Swedish sweet. For journalism, I swear.

I even have for you an important new function for an important to-do checklist app, a brand new Peloton app, a comic book ebook sequence price your time, a few good tech-culture documentaries I feel you’ll like, and much extra. We’re positively in “new stuff to observe on chilly evenings” season somewhat than “new apps and devices” season, however I’m not mad at it. It is chilly on the market. 

(As at all times, the perfect a part of Installer is your concepts and ideas. What are you into proper now? What ought to everybody else be taking part in / studying / watching / consuming / constructing / doing by the hearth this week? Inform me every little thing: installer@theverge.com. And if you realize another person who would possibly take pleasure in Installer, ahead it to them and inform them to subscribe right here.)

(Additionally, in the event you purchase one thing from a Verge hyperlink, Vox Media might earn a fee. See our ethics assertion.)

• “I tracked down my WhatsApp crypto scammers.” Christophe Haubursin’s new YouTube present, “Tunnel Imaginative and prescient,” appears to be like extraordinarily up my alley. For the primary episode, he goes deep on all issues crypto scams — the episode jogs my memory of a Search Engine episode on the identical topic, and each do a wonderful job of creating the entire system make sense.
• Twos. I’ve talked about Twos right here earlier than, and it’s nonetheless one in all my favourite apps for easy duties and notes. However I’m notably into its new AI options, which don’t attempt to do unimaginable, wild issues however as an alternative simply, like, search Google for you with one faucet. I’ve been utilizing the good options quite a bit and love them. (You may get previous the waitlist with the code “Verge” if you need, too.)
• Creature Commandos. This present appears to be the unofficial official reboot of the DC universe, and by all accounts, it’s off to a very good begin. We’ve all been burned by the DCU earlier than, after all, however the vibes across the place are fairly good proper now. I’ll at the least be sticking this one out.
• Y2K. All of the opinions for this film recommend that it might need been higher as an SNL sketch or a enjoyable 20-minute YouTube bit. However I don’t care. A film full of AIM references, landline telephones, and crappy camcorders is precisely my jam. And I will probably be there for it.
• Spotify Wrapped. My Wrapped this 12 months is arms down probably the most embarrassing it’s ever been. I don’t even wish to share my #1 track. However nonetheless, despite the fact that all people appears to do some model of this year-end factor now, no one does it in addition to Spotify. And the AI podcasts that include it this 12 months? Surprisingly enjoyable.
• Peloton Strength Plus. Makes whole sense that Peloton would finally double down on weight coaching — however I truly didn’t anticipate to be this compelled by the app. It’s cheaper, for one! Nevertheless it additionally has numerous actually helpful options and courses and appears like the right combination of structured and versatile. Possibly I’ll even return to the gymnasium. (Narrator voice: he received’t.)
• Biggest Heist Ever. There are numerous bonkers crypto crime tales on the market, however the story of Razzlekhan and Dutch — which includes dangerous rap music, billions in crypto, and simply numerous dumb shenanigans — positively belongs on the Mount Rushmore of the style.
• Pop Culture Jeopardy! My mind was full of fascinating details about historical past and the world, however now it’s simply Olivia Rodrigo lyrics and telephone specs up there. This Prime Video present makes Jeopardy a group sport, which is enjoyable, but in addition has extra questions I can reply now.
• Glitter and Greed: The Lisa Frank Story. Possibly you have been round for the early days of Lisa Frank’s mega-colorful equipment, or perhaps you bought into them in a retro, vintage-y method the previous couple of years. Both method, you’ll in all probability see quite a bit you acknowledge on this (additionally on Prime Video) sequence about how the corporate truly labored.

Final week, I shared a bunch of stuff I feel would make good presents. I could have been accused a few times of getting boring style, which, truthful! However I’m simply saying, if you wish to win my coronary heart, Bluetooth audio system are the best way.

Plus, fortunately, you all have significantly better style and higher concepts than I do. So now it’s your flip: listed below are just a few of the perfect reward suggestions I’ve gotten the final couple of weeks, each belongings you’d like to obtain and belongings you’d confidently give.

• Home Assistant stuff. I confess I’m more and more type of… over good residence stuff. However tremendous hackable, in-the-weeds, make-it-do-anything-with-a-little-engineering good residence stuff? I’m in. And so are you, apparently.
• The Raspberry Pi 5. Extra light-touch hacking gear! Raspberry Pis are tremendous enjoyable presents for anybody in search of a techy venture, and it’s so low-cost to get began! (Although I’d urge you to spring for the total starter equipment, which simply makes it simpler to get the factor operating.)
• Hoto stuff. Hoto makes among the most gadgety instruments you’ll ever discover — Ryan emailed in and known as it “the Apple of instruments.” I personal and love the screwdriver, however I’m additionally type of in love with this tool set, too.
• Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. This ebook has come by way of my inbox so many occasions this 12 months. It’s form of a productiveness ebook, nevertheless it’s principally a reminder that life is brief, that’s okay, and that being productive is about giving your self area to reside, no more to do. Barely deep for a vacation reward, perhaps, however an important learn.
• The new Mac Mini. I in all probability ought to have included this in my information final week. It’s definitely no stocking stuffer, nevertheless it’s fairly low-cost as high-end computer systems go, and Apple acquired just about every little thing proper on this one.
• A espresso grinder. Matt despatched me this great James Hoffmann video of reviewing a bunch of high-end espresso grinders and identified that they make nice presents. It’s true! Such a great way to improve somebody’s setup with out a lot work. My father-in-law might use one.

Curiously sufficient, hardly anybody hit me up with good concepts about the best way to reward software program… or to agree with my concept about reward playing cards being superior. Nevertheless it’s okay. I’m proper. Present playing cards eternally. Good luck vacation procuring this 12 months!

I at all times suspected Kristen Radtke, The Verge’s artistic director, may be the good individual I do know. Then, in the middle of like 48 hours a few weeks in the past, I each found her fantastic ebook Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness and acquired a peek into her extremely put-together, deeply cool residence workplace. We additionally randomly acquired to hang around a bunch and work on stuff collectively, and all of it simply mainly confirmed her suspected coolness.

I requested Kristen to share her homescreen, questioning if her legendary consideration to element and kind and every little thing would carry over to her telephone. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. And I feel that may be the good attainable final result.

Right here’s Kristen’s homescreen, plus some data on the apps she makes use of and why:

The telephone: iPhone 15 Professional Max.

The wallpaper: My cute-ass child.

The apps: Digicam, Images, Google Maps, Clock, Climate, Calendar, Notes, Slack, Instagram, Bluesky, Calculator, Venmo, Wells Fargo, American Categorical, Lease the Runway, Google Images, Google Dwelling, Peloton, Apple Well being, White Noise, Uber, Resy, Seamless, Settings, Telephone, Messages, Gmail, Chrome.

All of my gadgets are fairly chaotic — I don’t arrange my recordsdata or apps or clear up emails or texts or clear my notifications. When my pals or husband use my telephone, they’re horrified. (The one exception to my negligence is my calendar, which I replace meticulously and reference always: if it’s not within the calendar, it’s not occurring.) 

I write all my drafts and hold analysis within the Notes app; if it ever crashes, I’m doomed. When it comes to hours, no app surpasses my beloved White Noise, which is $39.99 a 12 months and homes a large library of no matter ambient noise fits you greatest. I flip it on each night time earlier than I am going to mattress and every time I want to dam out sound whereas I’m working.

I additionally requested Kristen to share just a few issues she’s into proper now. Right here’s what she despatched again:

• I simply did the simplest bathe improve ever with a Sproos showerhead, and now my bathe is way more organized than my telephone.
• The bizarre little handmade objects on the one-person on-line store Rosehound Apparel have made their method into many rooms of my condo.
• I’m hooked on a new-ish cafe / wine bar / restaurant in Brooklyn known as Che. It’s run by a gaggle of greatest pals: the dream.

Right here’s what the Installer neighborhood is into this week. I wish to know what you’re into proper now as effectively! Electronic mail installer@theverge.com or message me on Sign — @davidpierce.11 — together with your suggestions for something and every little thing, and we’ll function a few of our favorites right here each week. For much more nice suggestions, take a look at the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky.

“I’ve been irrationally obsessive about designing cute little 3D print designs for the Mac Mini. The newest one is a MagSafe charging topper that’s an homage to Apple’s six-color rainbow stage at Apple Park.” – Jerrod

“I’ve been messing round with utilizing my iPad as an exterior monitor for my digital camera for a private venture I’m taking pictures. Orion has been a godsend.” – Eddy

“I’m taking part in Kill Knight on my Swap and it’s nice for brief 10- to 15-minute periods. You get dropped into an enviornment and face limitless waves of enemies.” – Filip

“When you favored Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, I extremely advocate trying out one in all his different books, Recursion! I learn it proper after Darkish Matter and it was nice!” — Amelia

“Revisiting James Clear’s excellent post on saying ‘no.’ Workdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas are a productiveness wormhole, and saying no with conviction and frequency is likely one of the solely methods to remain sane!” – Ryan

“Simply completed a binge of the newest spherical of Against the Rules with Michael Lewis. Sports activities betting is pervasive and deep.” – Matthew

Wish to lose your weekend? get Factorio: Space Age. It should scratch all of the the engineering components of your mind, but in addition eat all of your free time. The brand new additions of different planets change up the gameplay in a good way.” — Kyle

“The Freedom app. It was $80 for a lifetime subscription throughout Black Friday. I can block time-wasting web sites on my Mac, iPad, and iPhone all on the identical time on a customizable schedule.” – Irfan

“Came upon that AirServer on Xbox permits you to use it as AirPlay (and Chromecast and Miracast) and helps background audio. This implies you may stream every little thing out of your telephone when you play.” – Uli

“I’m studying Playground by Richard Powers. One other nice novel from his hand about colonialism, biodiversity, friendship and sure, synthetic intelligence(!).” – Anders

I get numerous crap from Installer readers for not together with sufficient Android apps. Which is truthful sufficient! There are numerous causes for it, solely a few of which I management, however I’ll attempt to do higher. Fortunately, as ever, Reddit is on it. Someone posted on r/androidapps this week asking folks to share the perfect apps they found this 12 months. It has a pair hundred feedback and possibly 1,000 app suggestions. They vary from teeny-tiny single-purpose utilities to large, large life-changing instruments, and folk love and vouch for all of them. Go peruse the thread — your telephone will probably be higher for it.