Hello! Welcome to Installer No. 89, your information to the most effective and Verge-iest stuff on this planet. My identify is Jay Peters, and I can be taking good care of Installer whereas David is on parental go away. All of us right here at The Verge are very excited for him and his household, and he’ll be again later this yr.
It’s an enormous honor to be scripting this. I stay up for Installer each week to see what superior issues David is obsessive about and what you all are into. (Due to everybody who despatched over their favourite non-famous apps to get me began. Maintain studying for a few of these!) I’m actually excited to maintain the social gathering going. (When you’re new right here, welcome, and likewise you possibly can learn all of the outdated editions on the Installer homepage.)
This week, as I’m at round this time yearly, I’ve been obsessive about the annual Summer time Video games Accomplished Fast speedrunning marathon. When you’ve by no means watched, the occasion is an annual, weeklong, always-on livestream of individuals taking part in video video games at an especially excessive degree to lift cash for charity. All through the week, I’ll tune in when I’ve a second after which discover myself watching someone obliterate a beloved traditional or a sport that I’ve by no means heard of.
The present, which you’ll watch at no cost on Twitch, sometimes ends very early within the morning on Sunday, and you may watch replays on the Video games Accomplished Fast YouTube channel. My two favourite runs to this point have been a Beat Saber showcase and a nail-biter Cuphead race. (When you have any advised runs I ought to watch, let me know — perhaps I’ll characteristic them in a future Installer!)
Anyway, let’s dive in. This week, I’ve for you some new Samsung foldable telephones, a check-in with the developer of one of many nice Reddit apps, and extra.
(As at all times, the most effective a part of Installer is your concepts and ideas. What do you wish to know extra about? What superior tips are you aware that everybody else ought to? What app ought to everybody be utilizing? Inform me every part: installer@theverge.com. And if you recognize another person who may get pleasure from Installer, inform them to subscribe right here. It’s free, and also you get it a full day early!)
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Foldables have by no means actually me, however even I’m extraordinarily impressed by simply how skinny the Z Fold 7 seems. However then I take a look at the value: $1,999, a $100 enhance from the Z Fold 6! Too wealthy for my blood. The Z Flip 7, with its edge-to-edge cowl show, additionally looks as if a superb improve.
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 8: As Victoria Music mentioned, “the squircle has taken over”: Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Basic now have circle faces set in rounded sq. our bodies. The change means the watches can sit flatter in your wrist, which feels like a superb factor to me; I’ll at all times take a thinner watch over a bulkier one.
- Nothing Telephone 3: This was technically introduced final week, however Installer took the week off for the July 4th vacation within the US, so I’m together with it now. Nothing is touting this cellphone as its “first true flagship” — although maybe essentially the most noticeable factor about it’s its uncommon digital camera format.
- Nothing Headphone 1: Nothing introduced its first pair of over-ear headphones final week, too, they usually look like an honest pair of cans. The translucent design isn’t my cup of tea, however props to Nothing for making an attempt one thing funky and new.
- Tony Hawk’s Professional Skater 3 + 4: This sport places remakes of two classics into one bundle, and it’s superior. I’ve been taking part in on my Change 2 — the place it runs fairly properly! — and have had a blast reliving my youth. Seems that I’m fairly rusty now, however fortunately, the sport has some useful settings to make issues simpler for the much less expert amongst us.
- HBO Max: Max is HBO Max once more, prefer it most likely at all times ought to have been, regardless that HBO Max isn’t an incredible identify, both.
- Perplexity’s Comet browser: The AI “reply” engine’s new browser naturally makes use of Perplexity as its foremost search engine but additionally has an AI assistant in-built. Browsers might be the subsequent large turf struggle for AI corporations, and Perplexity is beating OpenAI to the punch. There’s a catch, although: proper now, it’s solely out there to subscribers of Perplexity’s $200-per-month subscription.
- Anker’s Nano Wi-fi Automobile Charger: This new automotive charger with an extended, versatile arm seems like an excellent helpful and malleable strategy to mount your cellphone inside your automotive. I don’t even personal a automotive and I need this.
- Superman: I don’t have any sturdy emotions about Superman or DC Comics, nevertheless it looks as if James Gunn’s new
DC cinematic universe Hail Marymovie is really fairly good. The Incredible 4: First Steps seems nice, too — 2025 is shaping as much as be an enormous superhero summer season.
When you adopted the Reddit protests in 2023, then you definitely most likely acknowledge the identify Christian Selig. He was the developer of the beloved Apollo for Reddit iOS app, however he turned a central determine of the protests as a result of Reddit’s API modifications have been going to be so cost-prohibitive that they pressured him to close Apollo down.
I’ve gotten to know Selig, and these days, he works on an app referred to as Pixel Buddies, is an advisor to the brand new Digg, and lately posted a nice PC construct video that has greater than 2.5 million views. (Sure, he does poke enjoyable at one other, let’s say, notorious PC construct video.) I obtained to meet up with him to study his homescreen and what he’s into.
Picture: Christian Selig
The cellphone: iPhone 15 Professional Blue Titanium 128 GB
The wallpaper: I’m fairly positive it’s simply one thing random somebody posted on Twitter ages in the past that I saved. However I really like how easy it’s, and I really like the way it seems on the house display with the default iOS blur utilized.
The apps: I attempt to hold issues easy and positioned in an easy-to-reach space. I don’t hold social media apps on my cellphone in an try to be more healthy, so it’s principally issues which might be helpful: car apps (nonetheless a bit chilly in Canada, so gotta love having the ability to preheat your car), with Overcast for podcasts, Microsoft To Do (née Wunderlist) for my to-dos, ChatGPT as a result of it’s 2025, YouTube as a result of I spend means an excessive amount of time there, Pixel Buddies as a result of it’s an app I construct so I prefer to have it good and useful, the Chess.com app for passing a while, and the alpha for Digg, which has been a ton of enjoyable to make use of.
I additionally requested Christian to share a number of issues he’s into proper now:
- I’ve gotten into chess recently, and that’s been a ton of enjoyable to mess around with and be taught as a complete noob.
- I’ve been digitizing outdated VHS and Hi8 tapes from my childhood and that has been such a large rabbit gap to go down, however so, so cool and satisfying to see the outcomes of.
- I’m tremendous into all issues photo voltaic and battery know-how. I’ve a really novice setup at my house with our very restricted area, however my accomplice and I purchased land lately and are excited to go down the photo voltaic route and hopefully acquire some vitality independence.
And about his function at Digg:
- What an advisor means on this case is mainly simply being brutally trustworthy with the workforce on what I take into consideration their cell app (what’s nice, what sucks, what might be improved) in addition to advising on their developer technique as they get into that sooner or later. No bullshit, they’ve been phenomenally receptive and humble in getting suggestions.
- As for why I obtained on board, I’ve simply form of been unhappy concerning the fashionable state of neighborhood in social networks. Even outdoors of the Reddit API stuff, Reddit itself simply feels increasingly more recently like a company shell of its former enjoyable, vibrant community-based self. Kevin Rose appeared so jazzed about the potential for imagining a neighborhood for the folks of the longer term, and that actually spoke to me as one thing that I additionally needed to see exist on this planet.
- As you possibly can think about, plenty of of us have pitched me on “Reddit however higher!” pie-in-the-sky concepts over time. Kevin was the primary one to return to me with concrete plans for a contemporary, community-based platform that felt prefer it had precise wooden behind the arrow. And having now talked to the oldsters that make up the workforce at “New Digg,” I really feel that much more so. They’ve obtained some actually vibrant folks.
Right here’s what the Installer neighborhood is into this week. I wish to know what you’re into proper now as properly! Electronic mail installer@theverge.com along with your suggestions for something and every part, and we’ll characteristic a few of our favorites right here each week. For much more nice suggestions, try the replies to this submit on The Verge, this submit on Threads, and this submit on Bluesky.
This week’s part is a mixture of everybody’s favourite non-famous apps and a few extra typical suggestions.
“I wish to give a shoutout to my favourite cell sport designer who’s based mostly right here in Germany: Arnold Rauers and his little studio Tiny Touchtales develop some lovely, addictive mild technique video games. My favorites are Card Thief, Geo Gods, and Miracle Service provider.” — Nick
“I exploit Panic’s Nova to make web sites and really find it irresistible. In all probability my favourite app. Mimestream can also be unbelievable! Can’t await the iPhone model.” — Jeanne
“My favourite non-famous app is Dwell Soccer TV. Exhibits you the whole worldwide soccer schedule, and the record of broadcast networks/platforms in every county airing the sport. Been on my house display for ages now. It merely does what it says it does. No fluff and for five {dollars} a yr, I pay for the advert free improve. Good app. Hope it by no means modifications.” — Dustin
“I’m consistently shocked every time suggestions come up for recipe apps that Crouton isn’t talked about. To me, if Apple have been to have made a recipe app themselves, this is able to be it. Even higher, it’s low-cost — solely $14.99/yr and has some extremely cool options like ‘fingers free’ mode that lets you merely blink your eyes to maneuver to the subsequent step of a recipe for these instances when you’ve gotten hen juice throughout your fingers.” — Justin
“All of Claire North’s books are unbelievable! Her stuff is tremendous authentic: sci-fi-ish however extra about large concepts like time, reminiscence, and identification. She does a extremely good job of bringing out the nuances and real-life emotions and penalties of the roles her characters have. It’s good and emotional with out being heavy, and her characters at all times persist with me. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August or Contact are nice locations to begin.” — Dave
“I do know it’s been out for some time, however my complete household is hooked on Marvel Snap. The brand new season with The Incredible 4 is de facto enjoyable to this point and this provides my youngsters issues that assist them tickle their mind with logic. Additionally, all of the completely different variants for the playing cards are actually cool to see.” — WALL-E
“Been utilizing Folio as my Pocket substitute and have been fairly completely satisfied.” — Carter
“All 4 The Journey motion pictures are streaming on Criterion Channel. Very humorous, very imply comedies — and the longer BBC episodic cuts are additionally out there too, in order for you the prolonged play model (which you’ll).” — Kevin
“Regardless of my backlog, I’m trying out A Solitaire Thriller, as I’ve no selection however to play something from the Baba Is You developer.” — Tristan
“Simply made the swap to the Pixel line from iOS, and I’m actually digging making an attempt a brand new OS. Outdoors of that, I’ve been taking a slight tech break and going again to bodily portray, studying paperbacks, and being current.” — EmpireStrikesBacktotheFuture
All week, I’ve been mourning the current finish of the most recent collection of Taskmaster, a British comedy present the place 5 comedians should all full absurd duties and be graded on them by the present’s mercurial host. This batch of episodes, collection 19, was my favourite set but: the solid of comedians (the primary to characteristic an American, Jason Mantzoukas) have been all hilarious, and the duties have been ridiculous.
When you’re on the lookout for one thing new and humorous to observe, I can’t advocate collection 19 sufficient. Better of all, you possibly can watch each collection of the present at no cost on YouTube. Your time begins now.
