Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 140, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, don’t forget to hydrate, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about Will Ferrell and Fabrizio Romano and Heather Cox Richardson, scrolling and scrolling through Ordinary Abundance, watching Avatar Aang (which is as good as you said it was), finally getting proficient in CapCut, obsessing over the latest scandal unearthed by PTFO, rewatching Tires now that the third season is out, trying Spark’s AI tools for solving my inbox (so far… meh), revisiting Reply All after the great Hyperfixed episode about its end, and trying to get all my dentist, doctor, haircut, and other appointments done before this baby arrives.
This is my last Installer before heading out on parental leave! Thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes and sleep tips. I need them all. For the next several weeks, you’ll be in the very good hands of Jay Peters, and I’ll be back in early October. For now, though, I also have for you the new phone hotness from Google, a shockingly good dinosaur movie, a look at the Chinese tech industry, and much more. Let’s do this.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / reading / playing / listening to / packing in a cooler this week? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)
- The End of Oak Street. A little bit Wizard of Oz, a little bit Jurassic Park, a premise that nobody expected to work that apparently completely, totally, 100 percent works! This seems to be everybody’s pick for the surprise hit movie of the summer, and I cannot wait to see it.
- Unforgetful. Marco Arment likes the Apple Reminders system but doesn’t like the Reminders app itself, so he built a better one — and wow is it a better one. With the better notifications and snoozing, plus a design I much prefer, I think this could be all the to-do list a lot of people need.
- The Google Pixel 11. Look, I don’t think this is the most exciting year in Pixel history. (And the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is still the most interesting phone of 2026.) But Google has the best take on Android, the most useful AI tools, and in this case some really thoughtful ideas about smartphone cameras. If you’re going Pixel this year? I’d start with the base model.
- Lanterns. Speaking of surprises! “Let’s do more Green Lantern stuff” is a sentence no one has said in a very long time. But a gritty, buddy-cop drama brought to you by Damon Lindelof appears to be just the thing this story needed — I’m pretty hard to hook on a superhero story, honestly, but I’m signing up for this one.
- “What I found in China’s city of the future.” Tom from Byte Review went to Shenzhen — as did Isaac from Canoopsy — and came back with interesting footage and interesting ideas about how China has embraced tech. Boy are the reasons for that complicated, and about a lot more than the tech industry. But there are some fascinating products in these videos.
- The Commodore TAC-2. An all-time great joystick controller, resurrected with supposedly identical features and attention to detail, plus a little extra resilience. A lot of retro gamers still use the original model, and the new team at Commodore has done right by the old products so far… this should be great.
- Matic Cues. Matic was probably already the best robot vacuum on the planet, and this update might cement its place. Telling it where to go with your voice, or what to clean just by pointing at it? That’s the good robot stuff.
- Bingers. How did I miss this last week?! A new media-tracking app from the creator of TV Time, with a smart emphasis on discovery and reviews. There’s something Letterboxd-y about this app, in a great way.
- Finalist 4. This app has slowly but surely turned into one of the most robust and clever planner / to-do apps out there. The new update adds a note-taking feature I really like, and while I still find the design a smidge busy, I really like its ability to run your life all on one screen.
I’ve been watching Silo recently — it took me a couple of tries to get into, but once I got to about episode 3, it absolutely hooked me. The show has in turn gotten me into the books they’re based on, by Hugh Howey. I’ve followed Hugh’s work for years, both as an author and as that jacked dude who sometimes appears on my Instagram feed, but I also discovered this week he’s a product guy!
After almost a decade of work, Hugh just launched a writing tool — the one he’s been building for himself — called Neo. It is very specifically a tool for writing books, and very specifically for writing books the way Hugh Howey writes books, but I really enjoy the app even as a look into someone’s very particular process. I don’t know any author who likes the tools they use to write books; maybe Hugh’s onto something.
Anyway, I asked Hugh to share his homescreen with us, to get another peek into his process and life. Here it is, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
The phone: It’s a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. I feel kinda bad, what with a show on Apple TV right now, but Android is just better. I use a MacBook Air and iPad to help offset the guilt.
The wallpaper: It’s a photo of my wife, Shay, and me on the deck of a friend’s boat, one of the few times we were on a boat and fully clothed, so I wanted to document the occasion.
The apps: Orca, Windy, SmartLife, Smart Fittings, Navily, Threads, Instagram, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, Clock, QRme, Board Game Arena, Pocket Casts, Stellarium, Moon Phase Calendar, Chase, Gmail, Calendar, Play Store, Photos, Phone, Messages, Google Maps, Chrome.
The top row is there because my wife and I live on a sailboat full-time. Orca is for navigation. Smart Fittings tells me the current load in tons on the main shrouds, so we know when to put in a reef. SmartLife lets me control the hot water heaters so the batteries and Shay are both happy. Navily gives us reviews of anchorages and where to clear customs. BGA (Board Game Arena) might be the most entertainment you can possibly have on a phone (Ark Nova is my fav). And Pocket Casts is by far the best podcast program ever made.
I also asked Hugh to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:
- We recently binged Widow’s Bay for the second time. Flawless show.
- My longtime podcast obsession is Omnibus, where Ken Jennings and John Roderick try to talk about an esoteric topic but mostly stray and ramble in the best way possible.
- An app that’s keeping me busy these days is Neo, a novel-writing piece of software I created. It mostly keeps me busy because I’m writing in it all the time.
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email [email protected] or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky.
“I’ve had a chat with my coworker about the Tin Can phone for kids. Looks retro cool.” — Bart
“Guildrun, the best demo for a game I’ve ever played.” — Adam
“I’m training for the Berlin Marathon next month and I downloaded an app called CheerMyRun. My family and friends will be able to send me audio messages that will play at specific miles during the race. I told them it could be encouraging, or just shouting expletives at me. Should be fun!” — Brian
“After a three-year break, I’m watching the final season of Servant. Penultimate episode.” — Simon
“Big Walk. A game that naturally turns into just hanging out with friends. I’d use it instead of Zoom if I could.” — BTTK
“Just wanted to shout out the new 8BitDo FlipPad. Being able to carry around classic games on your phone is amazing, but on-screen controls for these can die a very hot death in a very hot fire. This sucker is super small and lightweight, clips on in a second, and feels damn close to the original inputs. I naturally went for the very Nintendo-inspired color version.” — Ryan
“Watching Spider-Noir. In black & white, of course.” — DHRME
“Been enjoying Standard Reader as a reading app for blogs on the ATmosphere.” — Tynan
“Just read The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami, set in a slightly-distant future where people can have ‘dreamsaver’ technology implanted in their heads. Upside: more restful, restorative sleep in less time. Downside: the government harvests and surveils dreams to identify ‘risky’ citizens.” — Jennifer
“Games like Truxton Extreme don’t always get the spotlight, but I am a shmup fan through and through and it is a decent shmup that tries its best to pay tribute to its predecessors. For all of the jaded gamers out there, shmups are alive and well — both retro and modern — and we welcome you to the arcade philosophy with open arms!” — Vin
Okay, so all the stuff we’re learning about The Social Reckoning suggests it might not be a great movie. Fine! It has already given us two great things: a Jeremy Strong press tour that is going to be one of the all-time method actor moments, and this really fabulous interview with Aaron Sorkin about writing, humanity, social networks, AI, and much more.
I know, “Aaron Sorkin is a good writer” is a super hot take, right? Here’s a hotter one: Sports Night is the best show he’s ever written. If you can find it streaming, watch it ASAP.
I’ll be back in a few weeks — you’re in good hands with Jay. See you soon!
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