Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 81, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, happy Finally Feels Like Summer Week to at least everyone who lives near me, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about tech bro group chats and the history of ChatGPT and The Rest is History, wondering if maybe I should buy a Xiaomi car while simultaneously configuring a Slate Truck I never end up reserving, marveling over Steven Soderbergh’s filmmaking skills, testing out the Limitless Pendant, hanging out in courthouses for US v. Google, and dusting off my Mario Golf skills thanks to the recent N64 update in Delta.
I also have for you a great new companion to a great power-user Mac app, the best Marvel movie in years, a new phone and new headphones to try, some weird AI and some good AI, the highest-tech planter you’ve ever seen, and much more. Let’s dig in.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be watching / reading / playing / buying / building / listening to / throwing in a tote bag 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.)
- One Million Chessboards. From the creator of One Million Checkboxes, one of the internet’s most bizarre and riveting social experiences, this is even more fun: a million chessboards, all playing at once. And once I discovered you can move pieces between boards, my brain truly began to melt. I got into this pretty early, and it’s been really fun to see it take off.
- Meta AI. I don’t know, y’all. Is an endless social feed of AI-generated stuff a good idea or a deeply horrible one? I have a theory, but I’m trying to stay open-minded. I do know that I’d rather use Meta AI in its own app instead of inside of Instagram. So that’s something.
- Kayak.ai. This is the kind of AI I’m more bullish on. It’s a conversational interface on a bunch of structured data — hotels, flights, rental cars — so you can just describe the trip you’re looking for rather than deal with a billion drop-downs and menus. This one’s not perfect, but I already like it better than the normal booking experience.
- Raycast for iOS. Raycast continues to be the first app I install on a new Mac, and while the iOS app isn’t nearly as powerful — right now it’s really just an AI chat tool and a way to sync notes — it’s still been a handy addition to my homescreen. Hoping there’s lots more to come here. (If you’re new to Raycast, Chris Lawley just made a great video about his setup that has lots of good tips.)
- Thunderbolts. Is Marvel… back? I did not expect the reviews on this movie about a bunch of lesser-known antiheroes to get rave reviews, and yet by all accounts this is the best thing since Endgame. And I’ll watch Florence Pugh in anything.
- Shokz OpenDots One. The ear-clip headphone design is really growing on me, and these new $200 ones look like the perfect thing for sticking on one ear during dog walks and boring meetings. And the fact that they’re interchangeable, so you can put either one in either ear? Game changer.
- The Nothing CMF Phone Pro 2. The first CMF Phone was among the coolest cheap Android phones I’ve seen in years, and the new model follows it well. It’s even more modular (though annoyingly not really backwards compatible), has more cameras, and remains extremely nice to look at. I am very sad this isn’t officially coming to the US.
- Letter Lock. A new daily (and single-player) game inside of Words With Friends, which does a good job of being easy to understand but hard to master. I find the WWF app to be completely hideous, and I’m still opening it every day to play this.
- Wonder Blocks. The folks behind the delightful Bird Buddy now have a little nature-in-a-box kit that I suspect even I could successfully keep alive. It’s a Kickstarter, but the company’s legit, and it already smashed its backing goal. If you don’t want the whole setup, you can get the extremely cool Petal camera on its own.
The best part of Installer is, and always has been, all of you. This whole thing just literally doesn’t work without your recommendations, your questions, and your feedback. And a very cool thing that has been happening more and more is that some of you, my friends out there in the Installerverse, have started sending me your extremely rad homescreens in response to the folks we feature here. So we’re leaning in: Once a month or so, in addition to all the cool folks we feature in this space, I’m going to start featuring you as well! If you like and want to share your homescreen, hit me up. I’ll ping you back for more info, and we’ll feature as many cool Installer folks as we can.
First up, we have Zach Schiffman, who in addition to being an Installer subscriber also happens to be my colleague at Vox Media. (Is this cheating on my new idea immediately? I don’t know. Maybe.) Zach is a social media editor for New York Magazine, and from my experience with New York folks that means he is, like, terminally cool and cultured. And his homescreen… I mean, you be the judge. Here it is, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
The phone: iPhone 15 Pro.
The wallpaper: It’s Street, Dresden by the German expressionist painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. It’s also the wallpaper on my computer and my iPad. I had a different Kirchner painting (Playing Naked People) for a long time, but recently got sick of it, and I love the two ladies greeting me every day.
The apps: Fantastical, Photos, Overcast, Slack, Apple Notes, Apple Fitness, Gmail, Camera, New York Times, Google Maps, Instagram, Spotify, Clock, Citi Bike, Barcodes, Settings, Venmo, YouTube, Substack, Riverside, Reeder, New York, Readwise Reader, CityMapper, Phone, Outlook, Safari, Messages
The only app I am ever behind on notifications for is Messages. It ruins my life. Outlook is the only email app that works for me because I am dragging around an ancient iCloud email address that I am desperate to migrate from. I’ve been using Fantastical and Things for years and paid for lifetime subscriptions, but I am always wondering if my life would be easier if I just used the native calendar and reminders apps.
I will ride for Overcast until the day I die, and I don’t care that it’s redundant to have both the icon and the widget on my homescreen. I use the Riverside app to record my strange podcast (Out of Breath) where I interview a guest while I am going for a run in Prospect Park.
I recently switched to the workout app Ladder from Future only because it is way cheaper, but I really do miss Future’s interface. I love Reeder and the Substack app to catch up on my newsletters and RSS feeds. I don’t get any real news from there, it’s more where I read more specialized voices. Readwise Reader is the best read-later app of all time, and I am so grateful to Installer for introducing me! The shared highlights are extremely useful for me when I am reading New York stories, so I can pull out sections I want to use for captions / social content.
I also asked Zach to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:
- I am short, so I can’t wear a backpack around New York or I will look like a middle schooler, but I have been putting my shoulders through too much trying to be a heavy tote bag person. I just got a Static Comp Bag from Colin Meredith — it’s a messenger bag that distributes weight better, has great pockets, fits my 14-inch MacBook Pro, and can be worn both crossbody or like a tote. (I got the rec from one of my favorite menswear Substackers: Street Night Live.)
- I am a musical theatre freak year-round, but it’s particularly fervent this time of year with Tony campaigning in full force. This week, I have had the new cast recording of Gypsy starring Audra McDonald on repeat. If you are also a reformed theatre kid, I highly recommend spending some time with New York’s Broadway Legends package from earlier this month.
- I recently upgraded to Up First Plus from NPR. Normally I am actually fine with ads on podcasts and don’t skip, but for a daily news podcast, it’s nice to shave off the three minutes and listen uninterrupted while I brush my teeth and pour my coffee.
- We just got a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 for social videos, and I am watching every YouTuber making Osmo Pocket 3 content I can find. What a gorgeous little community for this strange camera that you can’t put down on a table!
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.
“Mini PCs! They are small, have some serious power, and seem like a nice way to start a home lab. Personally researching amongst the more popular brands out there right now like Beelink and Minisforum. Although tariffs seem to be impacting prices, which sucks.” — Cizzo
“OneCast for Xbox remote and cloud gaming. Don’t like third-party apps, but I tried it on iOS (only) and it works really well. Looks better and sharper than the web apps (sorry web apps, I still believe in you). It has a trial and a one time only purchase.” — Uli
“I watched this great video about how gondolas 🚡 are emerging as a public transit solution uniquely suited to Latin American cities.” — Mark
“I wanted to recommend Sunderfolk because it’s the first RPG that’s finally gotten my wife to play video games with me — something only the Jackbox Party series managed before. Sunderfolk’s clever use of phones as controllers, and its very approachable, co-op fantasy world make it incredibly accessible for non-gamers.” — Paulo
“Been revisiting Mixolumia (“lesbian Tetris”) recently. It’s sort of like if Tetris was harder and prettier. It takes some practice, but it’s worth it I think.” — Sophie
“I stumbled across this YouTube video the other night: “The Internet Used To Be A Place.” Sarah Baker goes into detail about how the internet used to exist as a physical place, isolated to a shared computer in a family room, that took a physical act to log on, and logging off was an actual thing.” — Nicholas
“I bailed on Pinterest and have been using Cosmos for organizing visual inspo. Pinterest lost its way and has gotten pushy and distracting. Cosmos is bringing it back to basics, feels calm, and has a pleasant house style.” — Brooks
“I’m currently watching Loot on Apple TV, starring Maya Rudolph as the divorced wife of a tech billionaire working with her charity foundation and struggling with her vast wealth to fit in with ‘normal’ life, a comic concept clearly based on Mackenzie Scott / Jeff Bezos. Great ensemble cast and incredibly easy to watch, the funniest show I’ve seen this year along with The Residence.” — Ben
“I am playing ‘Arena’ mode from the VR game Space Pirate Trainer DX. It is like being inside Quake in a 10 x 10m arena. Super niche but awesome for people with a Quest headset and a friend with Quest.” — Filip
We all watched Conclave over the last week or so, right? If not, you should, that movie rips. All religion aside, the Pope selection process is thoroughly fascinating — secretive, complicated, frankly kind of weird, and hugely important in so many ways. If you want to know how it all works, CPG Grey’s “How to Become Pope” video is a really great primer. There’s also a long doc on Max about the history of popes, which is also kind of the history of the Catholic Church. And in an extremely 2025 turn of events, you can bet on who will be the next pope. Because you can bet on everything. The next conclave starts next week, and I will be ready for it.
