Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer<\/em> No. 147, your guide to the best and Verge<\/em>-iest stuff in the world. (If you\u2019re new here, welcome, I missed you all, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer<\/em> homepage<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019m back from parental leave! Part time, anyway. Thanks to everyone who sent well wishes and tips for managing three kids. I need \u2019em all. This week, I\u2019ve been reading about McMansions<\/strong><\/a> and data centers<\/strong><\/a> and sports cards<\/strong><\/a>and ICANN<\/strong><\/a>, trying to run my life on the Dell XPS Googlebook<\/strong><\/a>, testing a new and very purple Kindle<\/strong><\/a>, reinventing my whole note-taking system now that Google Docs can handle Markdown files<\/strong><\/a>, listening to episode after episode of No Such Thing as a Fish<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,and watching all of Shrinking<\/em><\/strong><\/a>between the hours of 1 and 5AM while feeding a baby.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I also have for you the new Facebook movie, a tech-related procedural, a couple of great new gadgets, the Star Wars<\/em> game that is going to destroy my productivity, a terrific book about the AI industry, and much more. Let\u2019s do this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n (As always, the best part of Installer<\/em> is your ideas and tips. What have you been watching \/ reading \/ playing \/ listening to \/ putting in the air fryer this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com<\/a>. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer<\/em>, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One thing about parental leave is that it involves a lot of time with one hand free. Over the last seven weeks I\u2019ve spent dozens, maybe hundreds of hours on the couch while a tiny potato of a baby sleeps or cries or farts on top of me. So what did I do with all that time? Goofed around on my phone, mostly. Too much Reddit, too much TikTok, mercifully at least a little reading and crosswording.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I also redid my entire homescreen, because of course I did, and I figured I\u2019d share. Here\u2019s my current setup:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The phone:<\/strong> iPhone 17. I have no desire to upgrade to the 18\u2026 but I find myself hopelessly lusting after a Duo. I must not give in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The wallpaper:<\/strong> Black. I am on an endless quest to make my phone less interesting to look at, and this helps. It also helps make my phone a little less blaring when I\u2019m looking at it in the dark, which I do a lot these days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The apps:<\/strong> Unread, Instapaper, Google Maps, Capacities, Daygame, Flora, Phone, Pocket Casts, Spotify, Camera, Prism, Mimestream, Arc.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A few things I want to mention here:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Before I forget, a few more recommendations from my parental leave:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s what the<\/em> Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you\u2019re into right now as well! Email<\/em> installer@theverge.com<\/em><\/a> or message me on Signal \u2014 @davidpierce.11 \u2014 with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we\u2019ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to<\/em> this post on Threads<\/em><\/a> and<\/em> this post on Bluesky<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPlaying StarCraft II<\/em><\/strong><\/a> since the announcement of a new StarCraft<\/em> in 2030. Just learned that macOS will drop support of Rosetta 2 in 2028 so no more StarCraft<\/em> for Mac.\u201d \u2014 Christian<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019m going on a 13-hour road trip, once again guided solely by an old-school Garmin dashboard-mounted GPS. (DriveSmart<\/strong><\/a> series; I forget what size.) I like that it\u2019s a single-purpose device with no ads, no subscriptions, and that continues to get map updates.\u201d \u2014 sringsmuth<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe recent<\/strong> Hyperfixed<\/em><\/strong> podcast episode<\/strong><\/a> about the microwave popcorn button is one of the Verge-iest non Verge<\/em> podcasts I\u2019ve heard in a long time. A BUTTON IS A PROMISE.\u201d \u2014 MrEnthusiasm<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI recently finished playing Wolverine<\/em><\/strong><\/a> on PS5, and I\u2019m blown away by its incredible story and graphics. Insomniac delivered on that unspoken promise of slashing and dashing through bad guys \u2014 it feels like a whole new level for the character and for fans of Wolverine.\u201d \u2014 Josue<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cJust saw Other Mommy<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s like a fun amusement park ride in the form of a campy horror film.\u201d \u2014 Kevin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019m building a shed. The tech angle is learning new things using YouTube, online library books, and some AI reviews of local building code pdfs to check if I missed anything. I\u2019m probably doing it all wrong, but that\u2019s what the fire pit is for.\u201d \u2014 Tim<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI have fallen headfirst into retro gaming on a Nintendo 3DS XL<\/strong><\/a>. The catalog of DS & 3DS games is absolutely massive. Running on native, easily reparable hardware, it\u2019s hard to beat in terms of performance and cost. Ok\u2026back to Picross 3D<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.\u201d \u2014 Jacob<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe Ezra Klein interview<\/strong><\/a> with the ex-OpenAI guy and the Jon Stewart interview<\/strong><\/a> with the other ex-OpenAI guy.\u201d \u2014 Chung<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI have been listening to World War II<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Tom Hanks from the History Channel.\u201d \u2014 Michael<\/p>\n<\/div>\n You might already know about the HTX Studio<\/strong><\/a> YouTube channel, but if you don\u2019t, trust me<\/em>, you need to check it out. It\u2019s a team of makers and creators from China who are making some of the most innovative tech videos I\u2019ve seen in years. I have watched their video about AirDesk<\/strong><\/a> approximately 25 times, and I want that desk more every single time I see it. The channel is a bit over a year old, and I have yet to find an HTX video that isn\u2019t worth the time \u2014 even the one about the cow<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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