Hello! Welcome to Installer No. 89, your information to one of the best and Verge-iest stuff on the planet. My identify is Jay Peters, and I shall be caring for 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 look ahead to 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. (In case you’re new right here, welcome, and in addition you possibly can learn all of the outdated editions on the Installer homepage.)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 season Video games Achieved Fast speedrunning marathon. In case 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 stage to lift cash for charity. All through the week, I’ll tune in when I’ve a second after which discover myself watching any individual obliterate a beloved traditional or a sport that I’ve by no means heard of.
The present, which you’ll be able to watch totally free on Twitch, usually ends very early within the morning on Sunday, and you may watch replays on the Video games Achieved Fast YouTube channel. My two favourite runs thus far have been a Beat Saber showcase and a nail-biter Cuphead race. (When you’ve got any steered runs I ought to watch, let me know — perhaps I’ll function 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 all the time, one of the best a part of Installer is your concepts and suggestions. What do you need to know extra about? What superior tips have you learnt that everybody else ought to? What app ought to everybody be utilizing? Inform me all the pieces: installer@theverge.com. And if another person who would possibly 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 appears to be like. 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 very good improve.
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 8: As Victoria Music stated, “the squircle has taken over”: Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Traditional 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 very good factor to me; I’ll all the time take a thinner watch over a bulkier one.
- Nothing Cellphone 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 telephone as its “first true flagship” — although maybe probably the most noticeable factor about it’s its uncommon digicam 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 package deal, 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 all the time ought to have been, regardless that HBO Max isn’t a terrific identify, both.
- Perplexity’s Comet browser: The AI “reply” engine’s new browser naturally makes use of Perplexity as its fundamental search engine but additionally has an AI assistant inbuilt. Browsers might be the subsequent huge turf warfare for AI firms, and Perplexity is beating OpenAI to the punch. There’s a catch, although: proper now, it’s solely accessible to subscribers of Perplexity’s $200-per-month subscription.
- Anker’s Nano Wi-fi Automotive Charger: This new automobile charger with an extended, versatile arm appears to be like like an excellent helpful and malleable approach to mount your telephone inside your automobile. I don’t even personal a automobile and I would like 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 appears to be like nice, too — 2025 is shaping as much as be an enormous superhero summer time.
In case you adopted the Reddit protests in 2023, then you definately 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 adjustments had 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 known as Pixel Friends, is an advisor to the brand new Digg, and just 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 acquired to meet up with him to find out about his homescreen and what he’s into.
Picture: Christian Selig
The telephone: 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 appears to be like on the house display screen with the default iOS blur utilized.
The apps: I attempt to maintain issues easy and positioned in an easy-to-reach space. I don’t maintain social media apps on my telephone in an try to be more healthy, so it’s principally issues which are 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 Friends 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 just a few issues he’s into proper now:
- I’ve gotten into chess these days, 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 condominium with our very restricted area, however my associate and I purchased land just lately and are excited to go down the photo voltaic route and hopefully acquire some power independence.
And about his function at Digg:
- What an advisor means on this case is principally simply being brutally sincere with the staff on what I take into consideration their cellular 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 acquired on board, I’ve simply type of been unhappy in regards to the fashionable state of neighborhood in social networks. Even exterior of the Reddit API stuff, Reddit itself simply feels an increasing number of these days like a company shell of its former enjoyable, vibrant community-based self. Kevin Rose appeared so jazzed about the potential of imagining a neighborhood for the individuals of the longer term, and that actually spoke to me as one thing that I additionally needed to see exist on the planet.
- As you possibly can think about, a number of people have pitched me on “Reddit however higher!” pie-in-the-sky concepts over time. Kevin was the primary one to come back 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 staff at “New Digg,” I really feel that much more so. They’ve acquired some actually shiny individuals.
Right here’s what the Installer neighborhood is into this week. I need to know what you’re into proper now as properly! E mail installer@theverge.com along with your suggestions for something and all the pieces, and we’ll function a few of our favorites right here each week. For much more nice suggestions, take a look at the replies to this publish on The Verge, this publish on Threads, and this publish on Bluesky.
This week’s part is a mixture of everybody’s favourite non-famous apps and a few extra typical suggestions.
“I need to give a shoutout to my favourite cellular sport designer who’s based mostly right here in Germany: Arnold Rauers and his little studio Tiny Touchtales develop some stunning, 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 actually like it. In all probability my favourite app. Mimestream can be implausible! Can’t look ahead to the iPhone model.” — Jeanne
“My favourite non-famous app is Stay Soccer TV. Reveals you the entire worldwide soccer schedule, and the record of broadcast networks/platforms in every county airing the sport. Been on my house display screen 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 adjustments.” — Dustin
“I’m continuously shocked at any time when suggestions come up for recipe apps that Crouton shouldn’t be talked about. To me, if Apple had been to have made a recipe app themselves, this could be it. Even higher, it’s low-cost — solely $14.99/yr and has some extremely cool options like ‘arms free’ mode that means that you can merely blink your eyes to maneuver to the subsequent step of a recipe for these instances when you have got rooster juice throughout your fingers.” — Justin
“All of Claire North’s books are implausible! Her stuff is tremendous unique: sci-fi-ish however extra about huge concepts like time, reminiscence, and identification. She does a very good job of bringing out the nuances and real-life emotions and penalties of the roles her characters have. It’s sensible and emotional with out being heavy, and her characters all the time follow me. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August or Contact are nice locations to start out.” — 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 thus far and this offers my youngsters issues that assist them tickle their mind with logic. Additionally, all of the totally different variants for the playing cards are actually cool to see.” — WALL-E
“Been utilizing Folio as my Pocket alternative and have been fairly pleased.” — 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 accessible too, if you’d like the prolonged play model (which you’ll).” — Kevin
“Regardless of my backlog, I’m trying out A Solitaire Thriller, as I’ve no alternative 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. Exterior 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 latest finish of the most recent sequence 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, sequence 19, was my favourite set but: the forged of comedians (the primary to function an American, Jason Mantzoukas) had been all hilarious, and the duties had been ridiculous.
In case you’re in search of one thing new and humorous to look at, I can’t advocate sequence 19 sufficient. Better of all, you possibly can watch each sequence of the present totally free on YouTube. Your time begins now.