Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer<\/em> No. 34, your guide to the best and Verge<\/em>-iest stuff in the world. (If you\u2019re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer<\/em> homepage<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I also have for you an excellent new video game show, a new ebook reader worth a look, yet another doc about how bad tech is, a sweet new drone, and much more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I also have a question, one I can\u2019t believe I haven\u2019t asked yet: What do you use AI for? <\/strong>Are you using Copilot to write all your emails? Cooking with the help of ChatGPT? Querying your every thought with some app I\u2019ve never even heard of? Not getting anything out of AI at all? I want to know the apps and platforms you\u2019re using and how you\u2019re using them \u2014 I\u2019m obsessed with trying to figure out what AI is actually for<\/em>, and I want to hear all your thoughts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Alright, lots to get to this week, and I have a plane to catch. (If you\u2019re in Chicago, come see me talk AI<\/strong><\/a>, and come say hi!) Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n (As always, the best part of Installer<\/em> is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be into right now? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com<\/a>, or hit me up on Signal. I\u2019m @davidpierce.11<\/a>. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer<\/em>, and tell them to subscribe here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019ve known Eric Migicovsky<\/strong><\/a> since he was making smartwatches, way before everyone was making smartwatches cool. After years of running Pebble and a stint as a VC, he\u2019s spent the last few years building a cross-platform messaging app called Beeper<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s a great app, had a messy fight with Apple, and recently was acquired by Automattic, which owns WordPress.com and Tumblr and a bunch of other things. Eric\u2019s now in charge of Automattic\u2019s big messaging plans \u2014\u00a0and they\u2019re seriously big.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I asked Eric to share his homescreen knowing two things: he\u2019s an Android fan through and through, and he uses a lot of messaging apps. I mean, he made a messaging app to collate all those messaging apps, so what do you expect? Eric\u2019s also Canadian, which means\u2026 I don\u2019t know, exactly. But I wanted to find out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s Eric\u2019s homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The phone: <\/strong>Samsung Z Flip 5 \u2014 smallest Android phone on the market right now!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The wallpaper: <\/strong>No idea, probably a default one?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The apps: <\/strong>Maps, Photos, YouTube Music, Phone, Camera, Superhuman, Beeper, Chrome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One of the things I love the most about Android is how few taps are required to perform tasks. I love having Calendar and Google Search right on the homescreen. We added a search button to the Beeper Android widget for the same reason! One click + type name = message anyone you want.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I still have ALL the chat apps installed because I need to keep tabs on them!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I also asked Eric to share a few things he\u2019s into right now. Here\u2019s what he shared:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s what the <\/em>Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you\u2019re into right now as well! Email <\/em>installer@theverge.com<\/em><\/a> or message +1 203-570-8663 with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we\u2019ll feature some of our favorites here every week.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cTom Scott\u2019s Weekly Newsletter<\/strong><\/a>. I\u2019ve gotten some of my favorite stuff on the internet from that newsletter, like Kern Type<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, this post on anagrams<\/strong><\/a>, and so much more.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Nachiketa<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI picked up Grindstone<\/strong><\/em><\/a> after a while away from it and have managed to 100 percent complete the main levels, the bonus levels and the \u201ccosmic darkside,\u201d and collect all the achievements. It has been worth the price of Apple Arcade on its own!\u201d \u2013\u00a0Rod<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019ve recently moved to the UK and I needed to get a bank. I chose Revolut<\/strong><\/a>. The app is feature-packed, reminding me a little of Simple (RIP). It\u2019s a little loaded, and I really had to get used to it, but it works, and it\u2019s pretty incredible. The multi-national, multi-currency use is impressive. It\u2019s available in the US, too!\u201d \u2013\u00a0Greg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been using AntennaPod<\/strong><\/a> for over a year, and it\u2019s a perfect app to replace Google Podcasts. It\u2019s open source, no ads, no analytics, and the people who work on it are amazing: they regularly conduct community calls to discuss the project and take feedback very seriously. Android only!\u201d \u2013\u00a0Chethan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPlaying Dune: Imperium<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (on Android). Such a great way to experience this incredible board game! The AIs are tough!\u201d \u2013\u00a0Gary<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been catching up with the criminally underrated John Rogers<\/strong><\/a> on YouTube. He typically makes history videos walking through the various boroughs of London, but the one that has caught my attention is him walking to North Ockendon<\/strong><\/a>, a small village that is technically considered part of London.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Joe<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been rewatching early episodes of The Big Bang Theory<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and marveling at all the older tech. iPod docks in every apartment, an entire subplot about Siri when it launched on the 4s, and the super chunky Windows laptops.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Kaleb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019m giving Lyrak<\/strong><\/a> a shot this week. Yes, ANOTHER social media app. They claim it\u2019s built to be more real time than Threads, so better for news, which is good, and built on ActivityPub, which is great. Federation for the win! Still giving it a shot, but it\u2019s interesting.\u201d \u2014 Sighjinks<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSo I was playing Rytmos<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, an iOS puzzle game with a really great visual design themed around world music. They\u2019ve got a bunch of Spotify playlists with examples of the music that inspired the game, but I\u2019m an Apple Music user. So I turn to SongShift<\/strong><\/a>, a surprisingly handy little app that can, say, give you the Tidal link for a song you scrobbled on Last.fm or copy your old iTunes playlists right into YouTube. Even when it can\u2019t find a track, it makes it really easy to help you, a human, match the correct one. It\u2019s super handy to switch music streaming services and continues to be handy to send and receive links to my Spotify friends.\u201d \u2013 Daniel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A couple of weeks ago, I complained here about my busted keyboard and my complicated relationships with clicky mechanical keyboard. Thanks to everyone who reached out with ideas! Some of you were like, \u201cBuy these switches and this keyboard and do this customization and it only costs $95,000,\u201d and to all of you: thank you, you\u2019re my favorite. But the main recommendation I got was for the Logitech MX Keys<\/strong><\/a>, which I ended up buying. I love <\/em>this thing so far. I\u2019m certainly no expert, but it\u2019s clicky without being loud, it has approximately six trillion shortcut keys and customization options, and it feels both fantastic and easy to type on. The backlight is kind of finicky and uneven, but I\u2019ll take that in exchange for the hardware microphone-mute key that has already made every meeting 10 percent more manageable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Thanks to everyone who recommended stuff! Someday I will go Full Mechanical Keyboard, and I promise to update you with all the dumb decisions I make.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe Drop<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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Screen share<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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Crowdsourced<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Signing off<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n