Hello, friends! I’m welcome Installer No. 129, your guide to the best and the edge– The most things in the world. (Welcome if you’re new here, Come on you Gunnersand you can also read all older editions. Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been mostly sick, which means almost a complete overhaul. Parks and Recreation Alternately sleeping and feeling bad for myself but I’ve been reading about it too. Nick Fuentes And clownListen to old episodes of A brief history ofchecking. Next Sense Smart Buds When I sleep, I write. outer line Markdown app beta, and eagerly looking forward to what’s to come. Flapper one.
Today’s issue is a little shorter since I’ve been out, but I didn’t want to leave you completely hanging. Other than that, it’s a good week, including my favorite new browser in years, a new one Star Wars movie, two great new tech books, a surprisingly great set of earbuds, and more. Let’s do it.
(As always, the best part of Installer Have your thoughts and suggestions. What are you reading/watching/listening/playing/streaming on Hotspots from the Beach this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy. Installerforward it and ask them to subscribe here.)
- Vivaldi 8.0. For the first time in five years, I have a new default browser on all my devices. (RIP Arc.) I’ve loved Vivaldi for a long time – it’s very fast, Unbelievably Full of customization, and clever organizational tools — but I’ve always found it irresistibly ugly. The new design is much cleaner than the box, so I’m perfectly happy to use it all the time. You should budget a long Time spent tinkering with settings to customize Vivaldi to your liking, but this browser is a winner.
- Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogo. Its reviews are a bit all over the place, as they seem to be forever. Star Wars stuff, but I’m thrilled to be back on the big screen for these silly space adventures. Give me all the things Gurugu as possible, as long as possible, please and thank you.
- Steve Jobs in exile. This is a lot It’s hard to find new stories to tell about Steve Jobs, but from what I’ve read so far, Geoff Kane’s new book is full of them. This book is the story of NeXT, Pixar, Jobs’ deep personal transformations, and how the guy who nearly destroyed Apple came back to save it. Other than that, just a very fun read.
- How to rule the world. Two great tech books this week! It’s from a Stanford student, digging deep into his world and his strange and disturbing and highly successful relationship with the tech industry. Stanford and Silicon Valley have. always Tied together it’s a great look at what it really means.
- Anker SoundCover Liberty 5 Pro. I can’t say I expected to get too excited about a pair of Inker earbuds that cost about the same price as AirPods, but my colleague John Higgins says they’re the best phone call earbuds he’s ever used. How should I not buy them now!
- The Age of Audio: The Inside Story of Podcasting. But a great history lesson from the people Twenty thousand hertzwith some great stories from a bunch of legendary podcasters. is connected to A recent documentary The same name as I am now. a lot Eager to find a way to see.
- Forza Horizon 6. Beautiful, ultra-realistic cars that you can tinker with and drive endlessly across beautiful, ultra-realistic Japanese landscapes. Yes, it might be a very intense racing game, but I’m here to watch too. Forza Almost…comfortable. Sometimes you just need a Sunday drive, you know?
- McStories Shortcut Playground. On Federico Viticci and the gang McStories Apple are true masters of shortcuts, and they have. Made something really cool: A method of using cloud code or codecs to simply specify the shortcut you want, and have it magically appear. (They also released A huge set of shortcuts They have made, many of which are very good.) This is how shortcuts are supposed to work!
what is here Installer Community is in this week. I want to know what you are into right 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. For more great recommendations, check out the answers This post on Threads And This post on Bluesky.
“Found one Oculus Go for $10 at a thrift store. Most apps don’t exist outside of YouTube, and that’s amazing… right? I wonder if wearable AIs will be useful for a long time in the future. Apple devices seem to be the only group that are still usable after half a decade. – Allan
“My mother told my son, O Sticker box For his 9th birthday. My kids and their friends have collectively spent hours making stickers for everything and everyone. I love that it embraces simplicity while toying with the AI and the screen. It’s also great that there is no subscription! – Matt
“A man on the moon One of the best non-fiction books I’ve read in a long time by Andrew Chaiken. I don’t often run to books anymore, but I kept up my race cadence by listening to the Apollo 11 moon landing section. – James
“I’m going to experiment with a few alternatives to Google Docs this weekend. The writer And oval — and working on a slog to transition away from Gmail (I’ve had mine since you needed an invite). – Winter Song
“I bought a new pair of headphones this month: Sony WH-1000XM5. They sound amazing, and the sound quality feels incredibly professional. – Sabi
“You recommended a cable last week, and that prompted me to tell you about it. Allroundo Eco cable from Vonmahlen; A short, coiled USB-C to USB-C cable in a compact case. But what makes it special is that it also includes USB-A, microUSB and Lightning adapters in the case. I don’t know what the speed rating of this cable is for power or data transmission, but it’s such a wonderful package that I’ve been using for years that it’s a big deal for me! – Mach
“Almost done. Bringer of light (Red Rising Book 6) On Mary Xteink X4! – Tynan
“But was messing up Record ClubA European indie marketing itself as a musical letterbox. I wish they had a section for your vinyl/CD/cassette collections, but it’s a really nice site and the new social sharing images are a nice touch. — in a humorous way
“Looking again Scavengers Reign Because it’s coming to Netflix at the end of the month! – Frying
“After a few years of bouncing between multiplayer games we’d try for six weeks and then drop, me and the homies stood up on Monday evenings. Diablo IV History, which has been extended by the new. Lord of Hate Extension.” – Louis
This was the final week of Stephen Colbert’s run on. The Late Show (And the ending too The Late Showpolitics politics, late-night TV is dying, anyway, moving on), and for my money the brightest silver lining to the whole story was that Strike Force Five The group came back together. If you don’t remember: Strike Force Five was a podcast started by five late-night hosts during the writers’ strike in 2023, and produced at least one episode (See Strike Force!) that made me laugh so hard I had to stop listening for a while.
Anyway, the boys got back together. For another episode Celebrating Colbert’s Run (plus A long hiatus on Colbert’s show), and it’s predictably delightful — and made me think I should start wearing suits for everyone. Vergecast The episode though, might be awkward to do in my basement studio. So much to think about.