Hello friends! you are welcome installer Number 129, your guide to the best and the verge-The best stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, Come Gunners, and you can also read all the past editions here installer home page.)
This week, I was sick most of the time, which meant watching almost the entire movie again parks and Recreation While alternating between napping and feeling bad about yourself. but i’m also reading about it Nick Fuentes And Jokerlistening to old episodes of Brief history ofis testing NextSense Smartbuds when i sleep i write outline Markdown app beta, and eagerly looking forward to upcoming things flipper one.
Today’s issue is a little shorter since I’m away, but I didn’t want to leave you totally hanging. Plus, it’s a good week, including my favorite new browser in years star wars The movie, two great new tech books, a set of surprisingly great earbuds, and much more. Let’s do this.
(As always, the best part of installer Have your thoughts and suggestions. What are you reading/watching/listening/playing/streaming on the beach hotspot 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.)
- Vivaldi 8.0. For the first time in nearly five years, I have a new default browser on all my devices. (RIP Arch) I’ve liked Vivaldi for a long time – it’s very fast, unbelievably Customizable, and packed with clever organizational tools – but I’ve always found it extremely ugly to look at. The new design is much cleaner out of the box, to the extent that I’m perfectly happy using it all the time. you should make a budget tall Spend time in the settings to modify Vivaldi to your liking, but this browser is a winner.
- Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. The reviews for this one are a little all over the place, as is always the case star wars stuff, but I’m straight up thrilled to bring these silly space adventures back to the big screen. Please give me all the Grogu stuff as big as possible, for as long as possible, and thank you.
- Steve Jobs in exile. it is Very It’s hard to find new stories to tell about Steve Jobs, but from what I’ve read so far, Geoff Cain’s new book is full of them. This book is the story of NeXT, Pixar, Jobs’s deep personal changes, and how the man who almost destroyed Apple came back to save it. This is also a lot of fun to read.
- how to rule the world. Two great tech books this week! It comes from a Stanford student taking a deep dive into his world and its strange and problematic and wildly successful relationship with the tech industry. Is in Stanford and Silicon Valley Always have been tied together; This is an excellent look at what this actually means.
- Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro. I can’t say I expected to get overly excited about a pair of Anker earbuds that cost almost the same as AirPods, but my colleague John Higgins says they’re the best phone-call earbuds he’s ever used. Now how can I not buy them!
- The Age of Audio: The Inside Story of Podcasting. A wonderful history lesson from the people here twenty thousand hertzWith some great stories from a group of famous podcasters. connected to a recent documentary Same name as I am now Very Eager to find a way to see.
- forza horizon 6. Gorgeous, ultra-realistic cars that you can tinker with and drive endlessly across gorgeous, ultra-realistic Japanese landscapes. Yes, it may be an extremely intense racing game, but I also came to see it forza Almost… comfortable. Sometimes you just need a Sunday drive, you know?
- McStories Shortcut Playground. Federico Viticci and the gang macstories Apple are true connoisseurs of shortcuts, and they’ve created something really cool: a way to use cloud codes or codecs to describe the shortcut you want, and have it magically appear. (He also released A huge set of shortcuts They’ve created many, many of which are extremely good.) That’s how shortcuts work!
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.
“Got one oculus go At a thrift store for $10. Most apps don’t exist except YouTube, and that’s surprising… right? I wonder whether future AI wearables will be useful in the long run; Apple devices seem to be the only group that’s still usable after half a decade. – Alan
“My mother gave my son a stickerbox For his 9th birthday. My kids and their friends have collectively spent many hours making stickers for everything and everyone. I love that it takes simplicity while still toying with AI and screens. It’s also great that there is no subscription!” – Matt
“a man on the moon Written by Andrew Chaikin One of the best nonfiction books I’ve heard in a long time. I don’t often run to books anymore, but I kept up my running rhythm while listening to the Apollo 11 moon landing section. – James
“I’m going to experiment with some Google Docs options this weekend – Author And ellipses -And working on an effort to move away from Gmail (since you need an invite, I have mine).” -Wintersong
“I bought a new pair of headphones this month: Sony WH-1000XM5. They’re amazing, and the sound quality sounds incredibly professional. – Apple
“You recommended a cable last week, and it inspired me to tell you about it VonMuhlen to Allroundo Echo Cable; A short, coiled USB-C to USB-C cable in a tiny case. But what makes it special is that it also includes USB-A, MicroUSB, and Lightning adapters in the case. I don’t know what the rated speed of this cable is for power or data delivery, but it’s such a great package that I’ve been using for years and it’s a moot point for me! -Mitch
“Almost done bringer of light (Red Rising book 6) Over me Xteink X4!” – Tynan
“There’s a mess going on.” record clubA European indie that’s selling itself as a letterbox of music. I wish they had a section for your vinyl/CD/cassette collection, but it’s a really nice site and the new social-sharing images are a lovely touch. – funny tinyhat
“See again rule of scavengers Because it’s coming to Netflix at the end of the month!” – fry
“After a few years of bouncing between multiplayer games that we’d try for about six weeks and then give up on, me and the guys have a Monday evening Diablo IV Date, which is extended by new god of hate Detail.” – Lewis
This was the last week of Stephen Colbert’s run the late show (and also the end of the late showPolitics politics, late night TV is dying, anyway, moving on), and for my money the brightest silver lining of the whole saga was that strike force five The gang got back together. If you don’t remember: strike force five was a podcast started by five late-night hosts during the writers’ strike in 2023, and produced at least one episode (Strike Force Wives!) This made me laugh so hard that I had to stop listening for a while.
Anyway, the guys got back together for one more episode To celebrate Colbert’s run (plus) A Long Stop on Colbert’s Show), and it’s predictably delightful – and I thought I should start wearing a suit to everyone vergecast case. However, it might be awkward to do this in my basement studio. There is a lot to think about.
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