Hello friends! you are welcome installer Number 120, your guide to the best and the verge-The best stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, Get Ready for Penn Opinions, and you can also read all past editions here installer home page.)
This week, I’m reading about banksy And music apps And influential agentAbout watching Netflix docs manosphere And red hot chili peppersAre you surprised Ed Sheeran and Benny Blanco are writing songsEnjoying young sherlock More than I expected, subscribe immediately Joanna Stern’s new tech channelUsing the sleep with me Podcast to sleep, and make lots of brownies with it Unbeatable Costco Mix.
I’ve got a must-watch movie for you for the weekend, some fun new ways to play with AI, a piece of delightfully inventive furniture, and much more. let’s do this? let’s do this.
(As always, the best part of installer Have your thoughts and suggestions. What are you watching/reading/listening/playing/sticking to a thumbtack on the wall this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know anyone else who might enjoy installerForward this to them and ask them to subscribe here.)
- Project Hail Mary. Basically according to people I know and read, you should definitely watch this movie. In a theatre. As quickly as humanly possible. I admit that I didn’t like this book that much. Martian – I loved both that book and the movie – but I’m still getting tickets for it this weekend.
- airpods max 2. sincerely? It’s insulting to me that Apple updated these headphones without making them lighter or fixing the faulty charging case. But, in the sense that these “AirPods Max are just better,” they’re actually better in a number of useful ways. Just, I mean, the case. come on.
- jury duty season two. The first season was one of the secret joys of my recent TV history, to the extent that I still believe it was too good to be true. And apparently they’ve pulled it off again! The setup this time is a company retreat, and I’m all for it.
- Netlify.new. I recently discovered Netlify, which is a surprisingly simple way to deploy web apps. The platform’s newest feature — integrating AI agents so you can even create an app with a gesture — works surprisingly well, and is a fun way to noodle around with some really functional vibe-coded software.
- Boox Go 10.3 Gen II. A nice update to a big old e-reader. You get a newer version of Android, a nice front light (if you buy the Lumi model, which you should), and as usual all the Android apps you can find on the E Ink display.
- laundry chair. Nobody does it like Simon Giertz. This project is super fun and a little retro, and Too Amazingly practical! I’m always guilty of throwing my clothes on the chair, and the idea of organizing a little of that chaos without actually cleaning is very tempting. (This is technically from last week, but I forgot, so I thought I’d share it.)
- Cloud Cowork Dispatch. Another day, another openclaw but less dangerous. I’m fascinated by the extent to which messaging apps are becoming the interface for these AI agents, and how many powerful things people are willing to do with their phones.
- Google AI Studio Build. A big swing at Claude Code, done in Gemini-style. I’ve heard good things about what people are building (and I’m also hearing good things about StichingThe company’s new AI design system). It looks like we’re headed for a really interesting, three-way battle to become your AI everything app.
When I asked you for pen and notebook recommendations, I didn’t expect this Incredible The more referrals I get! (Apparently I should have done this, the lesson as always is to never underestimate the installerverse.) Since my screen share person fell through for the week, and I found a lot of cool stuff, let’s do an impromptu group project.
As I suspected, everyone has a favorite notebook and pen, and there are a million good options out there. (Thanks to Tim, who pointed it out to me Japanese stationery awardAn absolute goldmine of fantastic organization and productivity material, and to Omar for sending it to me Peter MacKinnon’s very inspiring setup.) But there are a few products and brands that hit my inbox a lot this week:
- Leuchtturm1917. The big winner in my inbox this week was this German company, whose classic notebook It appears to be quite universally liked. They come in many sizes and colors, but I have heard of the A5 size being the most preferred. I bought a pair.
- field notes. No particular surprises here – no one makes small, durable, well-designed notebooks like Field Notes. Some of you have mentioned using these as more disposable companions to larger, more permanent notebooks, and I love that idea.
- baronfig. Many of you like it confidant Notebook, is also one I’ve used before and liked. got some votes for landlord Also the pen, which costs $65, but you all swear it’s worth it.
- Travelers Company. It’s a fairly new brand to me, but it not only has popular notebooks, but an entire ecosystem of accessories, charms, holders, and clips, so you can completely overengineer your notebook setup. Just my kind of thing.
The pens were, if anything, even more diverse. There are a ton of recommendations I found that intrigued me, most of which are much more affordable than I expected! Turns out you can just go to the store and buy a really nice pen. I don’t know Anything Regarding pens, here are some recommendations I found:
- Lamy Safariand upgraded CP1.
- fischer space pen.
- lepen le pen.
- Uni-Ball Eye Fine And jet stream.
- Pilot Precise V5. (No one wrote about this, but my co-worker Liz would kill me if I didn’t mention her favorite pen in the entire world.)
You also shared a lot of good tips and tricks, some of which I’ve already taken into account. Thicker paper is better paper; The dot-grid notebook is an excellent catch-all; Don’t try to create a perfect beautiful system first; Do not purchase the entire fountain pen unless you are ready to use the entire fountain pen. I appreciate everyone who took the time to share systems and recommendations, and when my packages get here I think I’ll try and go… well, no full Analog, but at least a little bit More According. I am very excited about it.
what’s here installer Community is in this week. I also want to know what you are doing right now! email installer@theverge.com 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 more great recommendations, check out these answers This post on threads And This post on BlueSky.
“Just finished the first part of 13 Fela Kuti: Don’t be afraid man.which had completely passed me by until I saw it on both the new Yorker‘Sand GuardianYear-end podcast lists.” – Richard
“Unfortunately, I’ve become a little obsessed with Wikipedia GachaThe new Wikipedia card-collecting game.” – Yoinx
“I’m playing with a 10 year old Olympus Pen Lite E-PL8Map camera, taken in Tokyo. Small enough for everyday carrying, but big enough to take better photos than the iPhone (with the Micro Four Thirds sensor). And with the silver colored vintage lenses, great! – Brian
“I just found out about it rekindle Site that adds tons of tools/games/utilities to your Kindle right through the browser in an E Ink-friendly webpage!’ – Andrew
“I am looking The fall and rise of Reggie Dinkins (basically 30 rock) And scrubs (literally scrubs) So I’m desperately trying to trick my brain into thinking it’s 2008. – Zack
“As soon as 1Password raised the price I tried safe And this is even better.” -Sergehi
“After what felt like a street-level advertising blitz last Friday, I picked up mysterious descent On Steam and spent most of the weekend playing it! I haven’t played disco elysium Still, but I heard it’s in the same genre of games. It is advisable to step into the cleric’s shoes to find out what happened to the tea shop, as well as who to vote for.” – Adam
“I recently discovered the daily illustration that comes with each NYT connection The puzzle can be accessed by pressing the lightbulb icon above the puzzle. It gives a hint or two about the solution in a really nice creative way. Even though I don’t need to use it for help, I enjoy checking it every day and find it oddly soothing! – Tom
I wore an Apple Watch for years. then i found one of these new pebble 2 duoswhich I like! Except I don’t like how it looks. I also want a little less tech on my body at all times, so I’m back in the market for a relatively non-fancy but non-ugly watch to wear. Surprisingly hard to find!
So far, the best part of my trip has been going down the rabbit hole of Casio modders: watchmakers taking apart these simple digital watches and upgrading them in every way possible. Sometimes they get new features, sometimes they are fundamentally broken and rebuilt from scratch. i’ve been staring This is the modified A700 All week, and I love it Adam Savage’s Casio Royale watch. The modding community is so fun and full of good ideas, I think I’ll have a lot of watches by the end of it. However, nothing fancy.
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