Hello friends! Welcome to Installer #36, your guide to the best and most modern things in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I’m delighted you found us, Installerverse loves you, and you can read all the back issues on the Installer home page.)
I missed you all last week! I was at a friend’s bachelor party in South Carolina, playing golf and eating burgers while mostly staying offline. Thank you to everyone who contacted us to say you missed the newsletter! But now I’m back, and so is the Installer. We are back. This week I was writing AI gadgets AND iPadswatching Little reindeer AND Autumn guyreading Drink before the warand listening to great ones Challenger Scoring.
I also have a new browser for Windows, some new mobile audio options, some fun things to watch this weekend, coffee nut apps, and more. Let’s dive in.
(As always, the best part of The Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you interested in now? What should everyone else be interested in right now? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know anyone else who might like The Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)
Riley Testut he’s had a busy few weeks. A few months, actually. Years, honestly. He is the developer Delta, the gaming emulator that has taken over the App Store over the past few weeks and may also signal a whole new era of apps. It has been working on making its app store, AltStore PAL, available to users in the EU, while also trying to get some Pokémon into the game.
I asked Riley to share his home screen, partly to see if I could see his Delta and ROM configurations. I have my wish! Here’s Riley’s home screen and information about the apps he uses and why:
Telephone: Purple iPhone 12 Mini. I absolutely LOVE this phone and I’m afraid I’ll eventually have to upgrade to a larger one. (I would get the 13 Mini if it weren’t for the fact that it doesn’t come in purple.)
Wallpaper: A photo of a Mew-shaped Pokémon drone show, originally taken by Joe Merrick (of Serebii fame) and then slightly modified.
Apps: Phone, FaceTime, Photos, Camera, Notes, Maps, Calculator, Find My, Files, Pokémon Sleep, Settings, 1Password, Alamo Drafthouse, Messages, Mail, Safari.
My co-founder/roommate Shane and I are obsessed with Pokémon Sleep (we compete to see who can get the most sparkles), so we’ve earned our way to first place. My social folder contains my most used apps (Ivory and Threads) and below is the Alamo Drafthouse app which I use A LOT as I love going to the movies and have an annual pass ¯_(ツ)_/ ¯
1Password contains literally everything important in my life, so it’s also a staple, but I only created the Delta folder recently when it was released in the App Store. It includes the app itself, as well as the Pokémon Emerald and Pokémon HeartGold launchers, as well as the amazing Ketchup pokédex app, so I can easily view Pokémon stats.
And since I can’t use AltStore PAL outside the EU, I have a regular AltStore widget that reminds me to refresh the app every week!
I also asked Riley to share some of the things he’s currently interested in. Here’s what he shared:
- I bought myself A Steam deck a few months ago and I loved it! In fact, it’s the main way I kept myself entertained when we were stuck in Europe trying to get AltStore PAL up and running (God bless the Dolphin emulator and Super Mario Galaxy 2).
- I’m also a sucker for cutting-edge science videos on YouTube, and the History of the Universe channel is literally the perfect thing to have in the background while I’m building Legos or something. I also recently discovered the Technology Connections channel which basically scratches the same itch but for technology. I will also forever be a fan of Nirvanna the Band the Show, and Shane and I love their “Update Day” music video so much that we even used it to announce the release of AltStore PAL.
- At the same time… I am also deeply engaged in the ongoing UFO discourse. It’s exciting that Congress and others are taking seriously something that has been dismissed for so long, because that’s how science progresses!
Here’s what the installer community is up to this week. I also want to know what you are doing now! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal – @davidpierce.11 - with your recommendations on anything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here each week. If you want even more good stuff, check out the replies to this post in Threads.
“Neal Brennan Crazy good is the funniest stand-up special on Netflix since Ali Wong Little Cobra” – Christopher
“I’m obsessed with note-taking apps again because I’m crazy. I tried recently Isand it’s amazing. It seems to be the most natural way to take notes (bullet journal, tasks, project management) and will probably convince me to ditch Logseq, Obsidian and everything else. -Rin
“Traveler. This interesting social media app focuses on posting trips. From day trips to overnight adventures abroad. I’ve tried it out a bit, but it seems geared towards a travelogue. It seems new and interesting.” – Santa Claus
“3Blue1Brown. Overall, I really like this YouTube channel and I really enjoy watching it this playlist. He breaks down very complex math concepts into bite-sized, easy-to-digest pieces, using examples and great visuals. This playlist seems particularly relevant to anyone looking to delve deeper into the technologies and algorithms driving this wave of AI hype.” – Abie
” new video from David Imel How the ✨ emoji came to symbolize artificial intelligence is about 1,000 times more interesting than I thought. I don’t want to spoil anything, which is weird for a movie like this, but honestly, the name of the movie only scratches the surface of how cool it is.” – Łukasz
I played Bonk games for GameBoy using Delta and writing about games on Arrearswhich is a fun video game review site built very similarly to Letterboxd” – Sawyer
“My newest rabbit hole is comics and graphic novels, and as someone who DRM-frees my e-books, I’m still trying to find Caliber comics. I landed YACReader and the YACReader library. It’s good enough, but I feel like there’s still room for a really good app.” –Kevin
“I’m starting to pay more attention to healthy eating and I remember hating MyFitnessPal. Application found Chronometer, which is a great freemium alternative. Highly recommended!” – Jonathan
“I just wanted to share how much I love the new AppleTV Plus series Sugar with Colin Farrell as private detective John Sugar, dealing with the case of his missing daughter. It has a great camera, the atmosphere and overall aesthetics are amazing. The plot is even better, with subtle details throughout the series. I just watched it again for the third time (there are only four episodes so far) and I noticed a lot of hints of later development that I hadn’t noticed before. “I feel like the showrunners spent ages developing this show.” – Wojtek
“I just got back on Castro trendy podcast app. It is under new management and they are iterating. The queue system is 🔥.” – Advanced
I’ve been reading and hearing a lot over the last few weeks about how much people like it Boox Palma. It’s basically just an Android phone, but it has a Kindle-style E Ink screen, which means it’s terrible at a lot of things, but it allows you to download all your reading apps and news apps. I still have a lot of testing ahead of me, but so far I really like it. It’s a little slow and a little wonky, but it fits in your pocket and is the perfect device for reading and taking quick notes. Over the years, I’ve switched between carrying a notebook everywhere, relying on my phone for everything, trying to cram another device into my work, and even sometimes being the weirdo who carries an iPad. The Palm isn’t perfect, but in this form factor – an Android device with an E Ink screen – it can be. I’ll be writing a bigger article about it in the next few weeks, but if you’re intrigued, I’m really liking it so far.
Credit : www.theverge.com