Hello friends! you are welcome installer Number 106, your guide to the best and the verge-The best stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, Happy Thanksgiving Week, and you can also read all the older editions here installer home page.)
This week, I’m reading about prediction market And Hilary Duff And matt belloni And yeastclearing space for a steam machineplay news tower thanks for doing Stephen Totilo’s recommendationChecking to make sure I remember everything Wicked Lyrics before watching (I know, don’t worry). for good, Leaving your fantasy football team, and recording season two version history, This is fun.
I have a new way for you to use a Windows computer, Google’s new LLM, a documentary that will make the most of your entire weekend, and much more.
(As always, the best part of installer Have your thoughts and suggestions. What are you reading/watching/playing/building/snacking 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.)
- raycast for windows, Raycast – a launcher, clipboard manager, shortcut system, and more – is the first app I install on any new Mac. Now it’s finally on Windows too! it extremely There’s an equivalent to the Mac app in this public beta, but it’s close enough, and I suspect it will make a lot of things about your computer better.
- Kirby Air Riders, I don’t think anyone expected this game to be a Switch 2 sequel to an enjoyable but extremely strange GameCube title. It’s a racing game and a war game, and it doesn’t let you do much but feel like it’s full of mayhem and chaos all the time. The perfect combination if you ask me.
- Marvel’s Deadpool VR, I can’t remember the last time I had to take my Quest out of its charging stand because of a new VR game. But this one, which has Neil Patrick Harris voicing Deadpool and has a lot of the same crazy action energy as the movies, might just tempt me to play again.
- gemini 3, Google’s LLM seems to be one of the best all-purpose models available at the moment, and you can use it practically everywhere. It’s in apps, it’s in search, you can use it to create apps and visualizations and all kinds of things. Google…could win.
- samsung smart keyboard, An extremely lightweight, very small keyboard is a great travel accessory – bring it and your phone or tablet, and you’ll be surprised how much you can get done in a pinch without needing your laptop. You can find models cheaper than $110, which will break the bank, but the size and weight are hard to beat.
- Comet for Android, All AI browsers seem to start on Apple devices – and mostly only Macs – so it’s good to see them spreading to the rest of the ecosystem. Quick summaries and answers are actually a great use case for mobile browsers.
- American Revolution, Ken Burns alert! And an occasional one, at the time, was when Burns taught a 12-hour history lesson on how the United States was formed. Even the pieces I’ve seen are complex and would drive some people crazy – but no one does it like Burns does.
- ,NASA Shares Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Images, NBD is simply a set of data and images about a comet traveling by Another terrifying solar system. This stream is an hour long but totally worth it, and is a great lecturer Also on NASA’s site.
- analog 3d, I’ve been waiting for this thing – an analog console based on the Nintendo 64 – for so long I basically gave up hope that it would ever ship. But now it’s shipping! The reviews are excellent, the games are plentiful, the only problem is that this thing may be out of stock.
At the moment, my most used device other than my phone is my Boox Palma. If you’ve been reading this newsletter, or my other work, for a while, this will come as no surprise to you. As a result, over the years I’ve become a lot of people’s palm guide – turns out I’m not the only one who’s sold on the idea of a more focused, minimalist device that fits in my pocket.
I just reviewed the new one palma 2 pro (which I was excited about and very disappointed by), so I had the opportunity to reconsider my Palma usage. I like where my new homescreen ended up and I ported it back palma 2 I still like. I thought I’d share. Here it is:
(Fun thing about that screenshot: It doesn’t look like that on my device! On Palma’s E Ink screen it’s black and white. It looks much better this way.)
Wallpaper: It’s called “Tree” and it’s one of the built-in wallpapers. I’ve had it blank for a while, but for some reason I like it better.
Apps: Cloud, NYT Games, MyMind, Libby, Roku, Kindle, ReadWise Reader, Workflow, Spotify, Pocket Casts.
It’s really pretty straightforward. Kindle and Libby for reading books, Reader for reading articles. Spotify for listening to music, Pocket Casts for podcasts. (I Hatred Spotify as a podcast app.) Workflow for taking quick notes (it’s a very sparse app, which is perfect on an E Ink screen), MyMind for saving quotes, screenshots, and other snippets of stuff I come across. NYT Games because that’s what I do in bed and this thing stays by my bed most of the time. I’ll do anything to avoid a lot of typing on Cloud-Palma if I need to look something up. And the Roku as a backup TV remote in a pinch, which has come in handy more than once.
The only other app I have installed on the Palma is 1Password, but it doesn’t have to be on the homescreen. This setup does everything I need and really nothing else. Which is exactly what I’m looking for.
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 replaced the battery in a 10 year old PS Vita with iFixit kit And it took me about 20 minutes and it was actually a lot of fun. -Jonathan
“After years of ignoring good advice about this new and unusual way of learning a language, I finally gave in and listened to some brief language transfer Lesson. I have never been so impressed by a teaching method: seemingly nothing special, yet in reality it is a true game changer. By explaining how a language works through short conversations, you really understand and learn it. I also adjusted my own language lessons (I teach in secondary education). The language transfer is that good. And it’s free.” – Peter
“currently reading This amazing coffee table book All about Jordan Brand. It is about endorsements, his brand, photography etc. rather than his career as a player. The first chapter is about 40 years of the evolution of his shoes..” – Boukou
“See again stranger things Seasons 1-4 before the final season drops next week.” – Alex
“I’m into physical pocket notebooks again. I bought a space pen Because it’s nice and small, and now keep one field notes The notebook is with me at all times and I use it for everything: to-do lists, ideas, journaling, etc. It’s quite addictive and I highly recommend it.” – Josh
“Trying out a new animated wallpaper app for Mac backgroundIt’s the only one I’ve seen that integrates an animated wallpaper between your desktop and lock screen, – Juice
“Just started reading beyond a limit By CLR James. It’s been billed as the greatest sports book ever written, but I mostly enjoyed it because I enjoyed black jacobinsAlso the cover is easily in the top 5 of all time (1st place is forever the Penguin Galaxy version), left hand of darkness– Rich
“My recommendation is cyberspace.onlineIt’s social media, but text based; Like when the internet was good, I haven’t had this much fun online with the original Tumblr since 2007!” -Jordan
“Writing to make a recommendation.” rock planner App for iPad. It’s buggy, it’s primitive, but – and I hope you’re ready for this – you can annotate your calendar entries! It displays your calendar and then allows you to write on it with a pencil. It even has a work section next to it. It was created by the people who created it Rock Paper and Pencil Tip (Highly recommended, by the way).” -Mario
We live in strange times, where it’s often hard to know what’s real and what’s not. When I first saw a photo of a skydiver facing the sun, I filed it under “AI” and went about my day. But I was wrong! instead of what it is One of the most remarkable photos I’ve ever seen: A shot with remarkable detail that required a surprising amount of planning and very human creativity. And photographer, Andrew McCarthy – who you may know as @cosmic_background on Instagram – has a portfolio full of similarly awe-inspiring work. My favorite follow in a while.
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